A Marvellous Work and a Wonder: The Man, the Church, and the Book

A Marvellous Work And A Wonder

THE MAN, THE CHURCH, AND THE BOOK

FIRST OF A SERIES OF RADIO ADDRESSES DELIVERED BY

By Elder Cecil E. McGavin

Author of “Mormonism And Masonry" and “Cumorah’s Gold Bible”

ONE of the first revelations given to the Prophet Joseph Smith spoke of the restoration as “a marvellous work about to come forth among the children of men.” —Doctrine and Covenants 4:1.

The Prophet Isaiah had expressed the same thought centuries before, having in mind this latter day marvel which this modern seer was called to initiate. In connection with his prophecy about the “sealed book” which learned men could not read, Isaiah added these significant words:

“Behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.”—Isaiah 29: 14.

MARVELLOUS WORK

The restoration was certainly a “marvellous work and a wonder.” It was a thing of wonder that an unlearned youth upon the frontier could be directed by the Lord to perfect an organization, so thoroughly integrated that in this modern age of regimentation and technical design, a more perfect organization is not to be found upon the earth than the Church which the Lord established through the instrumentality of Joseph Smith, his associates and successors.

The Book of Mormon is certainly one of the marvels of the age. It is marvellous that immortal hands should bring it to the appointed seer who, enlightened by divine inspiration, would reveal its precious message to mankind. The book is marvellous because of the story it tells, the inspiring instruction it imparts and the prophecies it contains.

After more than a century of progress, much of it in an environment of bitter opposition, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is indeed “a marvellous work and a wonder,” and a testimony to the fact that he who uttered that prophecy a year before the Church was organized was a true prophet.

THE MAN

Because of the humble circumstances in which Joseph Smith spent his youth, there were few people in Palmyra who expected him to go far among the critical and worldly-minded people of the nineteenth century. A short time before this modern prophet met a martyr’s doom, the opinion of the people of Palmyra was well expressed by one of their old citizens, Daniel Hendrix, in these words:

“I can see him now in my mind’s eye, with his torn and patched trousers held to his form by a pair of suspenders made out of sheeting … and his uncombed hair sticking through the holes in his old, battered hat. In winter I used to pity him, for his shoes were so old and worn that he must have suffered in the snow and slush.”

Yet another person, a prominent visitor to Nauvoo, a short time before the martyrdom said of this man, who was considered by Joseph Quincey as one of the greatest men of the nineteenth century:

OVER LONG TRAIL

“It is no small thing, in the blaze of the nineteenth century, to give to men a new revelation, found a new religion, establish new forms of worship, to build a city with new laws, institutions and orders of architecture—to establish ecclesiastical, civil and military jurisdiction, found colleges, send out missionaries, and make proselytes on two hemispheres. Yet all this has been done by Joe Smith, and that against every sort of opposition, ridicule and persecution.”

It was a long trail from the log cabin in Palmyra to the Mansion House in Nauvoo. In a few short years this young man from a frontier village had become the mayor of the largest city in Illinois, the leader of one of the fastest growing religious denominations in America, Lieut.-General of the largest body of troops outside of the Federal army, and a candidate for the Presidency of the United States.

THE CHURCH

The Church that was founded in Peter Whitmer’s humble home at Fayette, New York, was no less of a marvel than the man who was instrumental in its organization. When six young men formed this unpretentious religious society, the ministers of the community looked upon it as a boys’ club which would not last long or attract many thoughtful persons.

One hundred years after the organization was started, an editor in Palmyra summarized the opinion at the time in these words:

“Joseph Smith was looked upon as a dreamer; a tow-headed, illiterate farmer boy, and when he organized a church the whole thing was branded as a huge joke. And when he gave to the world a book different from all other books, known as the Book of Mormon, purporting to be an abridged history of the ancient inhabitants of America, and that he had translated it from gold plates, delivered to him by a heavenly messenger, his claims were branded as a delusion, a fraud, a hoax.” —“The Palmyra Courier-Journal,” July 24th, 1930.

CHURCH OF CHRIST

But what a change has a century wrought! From every civilized nation of the world have come converts to this cause who testify with convincing sincerity that this is in very deed the Church of Christ restored to earth; that Joseph Smith was a true prophet divinely inspired and that the Book of Mormon is a divine record of great importance and value.

After more than a century this great movement continues to be “a marvellous work and a wonder.”

THE BOOK

And what of the book that was translated from the gold plates which had been preserved in Cumorah’s sacred hill? No book ever came from the press under such adverse conditions as this precious volume. One Christian minister has said of the poor reception the Bible has received:

“Oh! if books had but tongues to speak their wrongs, then might this Book (the Bible) well exclaim: ‘I disclosed to you the mysteries of hereafter, and the secrets of the throne of God. I set open to you the gates of salvation, and the way of eternal life, hitherto unknown. Nothing in heaven did I withhold from your hope and ambition; and upon your earthly lot I poured the full horn of Divine providence and consolation. But ye requited me no welcome, ye held no festivity on my arrival … and withdrew me to a mere comer of your time; and most of ye set me at naught and utterly disregarded me. I come, the fulness of the knowledge of God; angels delighted in my company, and desired to dive into my secrets.’ ”—C. E. Macartney.

Yet no book has had to overcome the opposition and ridicule which the Book of Mormon has so successfully overcome. The opinion of the prejudiced public was well summarized by an editor in Missouri in 1833, who said of it:

PREDICTION PROVED FALSE

“Every page bears the impress of its human authorship. … It is a collection of dull, stupid, and foolishly improbable stories, which no person, unless under the influence of powerfully excited feelings, can mistake for truth and inspiration. With its authors, the Book of Mormon cannot survive this generation. The next will remember it only to smile at the credulity of the present.”

One editor in Palmyra, however, had been fair enough to give the strange- book an opportunity to stand on its own merits—a privilege which few critics were willing to extend. Thus Obadiah Dogberry, publisher of the “Palmyra Reflector,” wrote at the time the book came from the press:

WISE DECISION

“The book, when it shall come before the public, must stand or fall, according to the whims and fancies of its readers. How it will stand the test of rigid criticism we are not prepared to say, not having as yet examined many of its pages.”

This was a wise decision, to let the book stand or fall upon its own merits. Its friends have been anxious to see it given this pragmatic test, rather than to be judged by the prejudiced predictions of misinformed critics.

Though it required seven years to sell the first edition, it now comes from the press at the rate of 35,000 copies a year. It has been published in nineteen languages, including the Deseret Alphabet, and has been translated, but not yet published, in five additional languages. A few years ago it appeared in a seven volume edition in Braille so that the blind might read the story that speaks from the dust.

It is significant that out of 1,000 different books published today, 700 never pay the cost of publication, 200 barely pay the expenses of printing, while 100 bring in profit to the publisher and the author. Furthermore, of the 1,000 different works, 650 are forgotten at the close of the first year, while the popularity of about 150 books lasts for three years. Not a tenth of the books printed enjoy a decade of popularity, and only a small number of these survive the generation which saw them published.

NO CHEAP ALLOY

Joseph Smith and his associates realized what a priceless treasure the Book of Mormon was, and they made provision for a first edition of 5,000 copies, which is much larger than the first edition of most books today. That large edition was an evidence of their estimate and appraisal of the Nephite Record.

The enemies of this modern book of scripture spoke of it as the “Gold Bible,” a term used in derision. But to the Latter- day Saints this great book is a “Gold Bible.” No dross is to be found on a single page, no cheap alloy can be detected in its most humble paragraph.

In ancient times tablets of clay or wax were used to write upon, as were skins of animals, papyrus, linen and stone. But the Nephite historians knew that they had a message too precious for tablets of clay or tanned skins. The writings of the Nephites and Jaredites were too sacred to be entrusted to these temporary and perishable devices which were suitable for other writings.

MESSAGE ETERNAL

The spiritual message of this sacred book is as eternal as the everlasting hills, as enduring as the sheets of gold on which its writings were inscribed.

This holy book is its own witness. The sincere reader does not ask to see the golden plates or the angels who assisted in the restoration of the Gospel. When the spirit of this book touches one’s heart he ceases to worry about the mysterious intricacies of the task of translating, the operation of the Urim and Thummim, reformed Egyptian and numerous other problems which enemies of the book do not cease to call to our attention.

To the devout reader this great book becomes its own witness. Its testimony is from within. The uncovering of ancient Mayan cities, calendar stones and sets of gold plates with hieroglyphic writing upon them, are purely incidental and insignificant compared with the evidence that is found on every page of the book.

BOOK STANDS TEST

Hundreds of books have been written against it, yet every argument has fallen to the ground. No book has been held up to the stubborn scrutiny of the world as has this volume, yet to the honest seeker after truth this book has stood the rigid test of time as no other book has done. Not one inconsistency, anachronism or error of any kind has been found in this remarkable book—a thing not true of any other book. Every modern discovery in Book of Mormon lands tends to verify the accounts which were published in the world in 1830. The increasing knowledge of linguistics, the study of migrations and customs of the ancients, all confirm the accounts related in this book more than a century ago.

Many philosophers and scientists who were looked upon a century ago as geniuses, whose theories and conclusions, it was thought, would endure for ever, have now been repudiated and rejected by the scholars of a later age. Theories of ancient Peoples and lands and customs, once regarded as invulnerable, (have been discarded. The wisdom of the past century has become the amusement and ridicule of the present. Many popular text books in 1830 were soon rejected because of the expanding realm of man’s increasing fund of knowledge. But the book the world has looked upon with derision and disdain as the “Gold Bible” has proved more golden than the name Amplies.

This book stands alone as the one book in the world dealing with a people entirely unknown at the time it was written, yet after more than a century is verified by the discoveries made by the renowned scientists of the world.

(To be continued)