Corroborating the Book of Mormon

CORROBORATING THE BOOK OF MORMON.

It is interesting to note, from time to time, the results of the study of learned men of the ruins, mounds, and other evidences of an early civiliza­tion upon the American Continent. It is particularly interesting to the believer in the divinity of the Book of Mormon, for the results of such investigations are evidences of the truth. Not that the truth does not bear witness of itself, but that mankind are so ready to reject what has upon it the mark of divinity, that any collateral evidence which appeals to the senses is acceptable as an additional weapon in defense of the truth/

The Book of Mormon came to the world in this age in a marvelous manner. It gives a brief history of the peoples who were led at different periods of time to leave the Eastern Continent, and settle upon what is now known as the American Continent. These people became very numerous, and built cities and prospered in the land. They were taught, by inspired men, the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When they lived righteous lives, they were happy and truly civilized; but when they departed from those principles, darkness took possession of their minds, and they became degraded. Like people elsewhere upon the face of the earth, they had their contentions and wars, and their seasons of prospe­rity and adversity. The Book of Mormon is of special benefit to man­kind, because of its inspired teachings of the Gospel, and because it con­firms the truth of similar teachings in that sacred record—the Bible. Evidences of the truth of its historical narrations go to prove its divinity, and thereby demonstrate the truth of its Gospel teachings.

There is no reasonable ground upon which to conclude that Joseph Smith, through whom the Book of Mormon came, could have gained the knowledge contained in that book other than by inspiration, and in the manner described by him. The plates which contained the record given in the Book of Mormon, came into his possession in the fall of 1827. There was but very little known about American antiquities at that time. It would have been impossible for a man to have written a book founded upon the knowledge then extant, that would accord with the light thrown upon the subject by subsequent investigations of ruins, and studies of the relics of the early races of that land. The Book of Mormon is confirmed in a wonderful manner. Many archaeologists are now convinced that a vast population of civilized people lived on the American Continent thousands of years before its discovery by Columbus. But we will quote the statements of some recent writers. From reading the Book of Mor­mon, an intelligent man would naturally conclude that the early inhabitants of America possessed many characteristics similar to the early Eastern races.

Prof. F. W. Putnam says in a foot-note to an article in the Century Magazine for March, on “Pre-historic Remains in the Ohio Valley”:

The late researches of Professor Virchow, in relation to the ethnology of Egypt, are of particular interest in connection with the corresponding facts in America. Professor Virchow has called attention anew to the existence of the early stone age in Egypt, or the paleolithic man of the Nile Valley. After him came the snort-headed race of the ancient Egyptians, with which the Egyptian sculptures agree; then the long­headed race. But with this change of race the peculiar character of early Egyptian art has been retained. The comparison may well be made in America. Here was also paleolithic man; here also a short-headed early race, far advanced in the arts, and in the early stages of hieroglyphic writing, with a well-organized social system, and a priesthood of great power—the Mexicans, Central Americans, and Peruvians. Here also was a long-headed race which came into contact with a branch of the more highly developed race; and here we have the mixture of to day, the In­dians, agreeing in many things among themselves, yet widely differing in physical character, in their arts, and in language; and among these we find the survival of ancient arts and customs.

Andrew S. Fuller, in an article in the April number of Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly says:

That the country west of the Mississippi once contained a population nearly as large as that now found east of it, can scarcely be doubted by any one who has ever examined the ruins of the cities and villages now strewn so thickly over this region. That Mexico and all of Central Ame­rica, and the west half of South America, sustained an equally dense population in pre-historic ages, is proved by the innumerable relics left as silent but incontrovertible witnesses of their time and civilization. But we need not go outside of our own country to find almost innumerable vestiges of dwellings erected by a people of whose existence even tradidition is silent.

Prof. Putnam, in the article before quoted, says:

In Ohio, and particularly in the valleys of the Muskingum, the Scioto, Brush Creek, the Little Miami and the Big Miami, and along their tribu­taries, are many “pre-historic monuments,” or earthworks and mounds, of singular forms and of unquestionable antiquity. Associated with these are mounds and works of later times, some of which were made by the historic tribes or their immediate ancestors. Studied as a whole, this valley affords undoubted evidence of successive occupation by different peoples, some of whom probably made it a brief abiding-place, while others were lost by absorption, or, possibly in some instances, were driven out by their successors. The fortified hills and other defensive works in the valley suggest many a long struggle, while the admixture of crania of different forms in some of the burial-places is evidence of the mixing of different peoples; and what more likely than that of the conquered with the conquerors?

In regard to two peoples, the same writer says:

Bearing upon this point of different peoples, we find that the prevailing form of the skulls from the older burial-places across the Northern por­tions of the continent, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, is of the long nar­row type (dolichocephalic), while the skulls of the old peoples of Central America, Mexico, and the southwestern and southern portions of the United States are principally the short broad type (brachycephalic). Following the distribution of the long and short skulls as they are now found in burial-places, it is evident that the two forms have spread in certain directions over North America; the short, or broad-headed race, from the south, spreading out towards the east and north-east, while the long, or narrow-headed race of the north has sent its branches southward down both coasts, and towards the interior by many lines from the north as well as from the east and west. The two races have passed each other here and there. In other places they have met; and probably nowhere is there more marked evidence of this meeting than in the Ohio Valley, where have been found burial-places and sepulchral mounds of different kinds and of different times. This variation of the character of the burial-­places agrees with the skulls found in them. Some contained the brachy­cephalic type alone, in others, both brachycephalic and dolichocephalic forms were found with many of the mesaticephalic or intermediate form, indicating a mixture of the two principal types, which seem to be of different races or sub-races, notwithstanding that several writers, whose opinions must have weight, regard all the native people of America—most, however, excepting the Eskimo—as of one race.

Thus evidence multiplies upon evidence in favor of the divinity of the Book of Mormon. It seems scarcely credible that men will reject that sacred record in view of the evidence in its favor. It is most unreasonable to believe that a mere fiction purporting to be a history, would be so mar­velously corroborated by the researches of scientific men. The fact is, the Book of Mormon is an inspired work, and those who reject it do so with an abundant evidence of its truth within their reach. Men may scoff in the future as they have in the past, but the truth will remain truth. Future investigations will still further corroborate it. We therefore invite the honest in heart of all nations to study the Book of Mormon. We invite them to compare its teachings with the teachings of the Bible, and to compare its historical narrations with the light thrown upon the history of the early races of America by recent studies and discoveries. We invite them to read the prophecies contained in that book, and to note the beginning of their fulfillment, and we feel assured, if they do so earnestly and sincerely, that they will be convinced that the Book of Mormon is indeed an inspired Record.

J.E.C.