On Proving the Book of Mormon

ON PROVING THE BOOK OF MORMON.

“And now I speak unto all the ends of the earth. That if the day cometh that the power and gifts of God shall be done away among you, it shall be because of unbelief. * * * And I speak it according to the words of Christ, and I lie not. And I exhort you to remember these things; for the time speedily cometh that ye shall know that I lie not, for ye shall see me at the bar of God; and the Lord God will say unto you, did I not declare my words unto you, which were written by this man like as one crying from the dead? yea, even as one speaking out of the dust? * * * And God shall shew unto you that that which I have written is true.”

“And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that you would ask God, the eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.”

These quotations are from the last chapter in the Book of Mor­mon. They are the words of the Prophet Moroni addressed to his brethren the descendants of the Lamanites; and in part to all men, even unto the ends of the earth. He was just completing and sealing up the records which were to come forth, in the last days, as predicted by the prophets, and which he, as an angel' sent from the presence of God, actually delivered to Joseph Smith on the 22nd of September, A.D. 1827.

No bolder denunciation of unbelief or challenge to the incredu­lity of men was ever written than is found in those words of Moroni. They declare that the Lord will manifest the truth of the record to those who seek properly to know it. It is a challenge that has been taken up by thousands—thousands of sincere, earnest, intelligent men and women, of many nations, kindreds, tongues and people to whom the Book of Mormon has come. They have answered it; acknowledging in every instance, upon complying with the terms and spirit in which it was issued, that the challenge was true and the answer to their prayers of faith confirmed it. It is because of this, a sure way to learn the truth, that the Latter-day Saints are fearless in upholding the divinity of its origin, and the sacred character of its contents.

Most converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been readers of the Bible, and believers in it, as the sacred Scriptures. They have accepted it as the word of God, uttered by Him and His inspired servants. They, therefore, have had and held it as the criterion of holy writ by which all other writings of a sacred profession should be judged. The Book of Mormon has stood up to this comparison and triumphed. There is nothing in the Bible which controverts or disproves the Book of Mormon. On the contrary, every divine utterance in it sustains the Book of Mormon as a divine record, and in turn the latter sustains the Bible. They are the records of the sons of Judah, on the one hand, and of the sons of Joseph on the other, and have become one in the hands of those who read and understand both. It is as easy and certain to prove the Book of Mormon to be true by ap­plying the test above quoted from its last chapter, as it is to prove the Bible true according to the inference of the Savior: “Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me.”

To the incredulous the Bible is hard and not easy to understand; there is no promise that it shall be understood except by believers.* It must be read in faith and not in derision and doubt to be accepted as true. Even so, the Book of Mormon. To believers in either of these records they become as one. If we search the Bible we shall not only find that it testifies of Christ, but of the Book of Mormon also; and the latter in turn bears witness of Christ, and testifies of the Bible, and makes plain many things contained in it that would otherwise remain obscure.

There have been said and written many things by brilliant men and women against the Bible. Its meanings have been distorted and held up to ridicule by infidels and given strange incredible interpretations by professed believers, to its great discredit among those who truly desire to believe and to know that it is the word of God. Its construction is commonly enough condemned by infidel and insincere believers alike. They look upon the Book of Mormon, and condemn it in the same way and deny the story of its origin. But this treatment of either or both of these sacred Volumes proves nothing against them.

It is easy enough for the infidel to deny the divine authenticity of the Bible, and to ridicule its contents, but it is hard to other-, wise account for its existence, and uninspired men could not pro­duce the counterpart of its contents. It is just as impossible for unbelieving men to account for the existence of the Book of Mor­mon, or to disprove the sacred truth of its contents. Many have tried to, but they have not succeeded.

The Book of Mormon exists as certainly as the Bible, and its existence cannot be accounted for in any other way, than in the divine way Joseph Smith accounts for it. The truth of its con­tents may be disputed by unbelievers, by professing though in­sincere believers in the Scriptures and by infidels. It has, never­theless, become manifest and made known to believers, in the way promised by the Prophet Moroni. Tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints have proved it.

J.F.W.