Sacred Metalic [sic] Plates

SACRED METALIC PLATES.

BY O. PRATT.

(Continued from page 764.)

Let us next inquire, how the Nephites preserved the knowledge of the Jewish Scriptures? Did they carry a copy with them from Jerusalem? Or were they merely dependent upon their own memories? They inform us, that they carried a copy with them, engraved on Brass Plates. These are described by Nephi, as follows:—

“My father Lehi took the records which were engraven upon the Plates of Brass, and he did search them from the beginning. And he beheld, that they did contain the five books of Moses, which gave an account of the creation of the world, and also of Adam and Eve, who were our first parents; and also a record of the Jews from the beginning, even down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah; and also the prophecies of the holy prophets, from the beginning, even down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah, and also many prophecies which have been spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah.

And it came to pass that my father Lehi also found upon the Plates of Brass, a genealogy of his fathers; wherefore he knew that he was a descendant of Joseph; yea, even that Joseph who was the son of Jacob, who was sold into Egypt, and who was preserved by the hand of the Lord, that he might preserve his father Jacob, and all his household from perishing with famine.” (Book of Mormon page 10.)

“And now when my father saw all these things, he was filled with the Spirit, and began to prophesy concerning his seed; that these Plates of Brass should go forth unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people who were of his seed. Wherefore he said, that these Plates of Brass should never perish; neither should they be dimmed any more by time.” (page 11.)

These Brass Plates, before they came into the possession of Lehi, were kept by one of the Elders of Israel, who was a descendant of Joseph, and had been handed down from his forefathers; hence the writing upon them must have been very ancient. It is very probable that this copy of the Scriptures is the oldest one in existence: it contains many sacred prophecies, such as the prophecies of Jacob, of Joseph in Egypt, the prophecies of Zenock, of Zenos, &c., &c., which are unknown in modem compilations. Being written in the Egyptian language, and undoubtedly in the Egyptian characters also, it will prove invaluable as a grand key for deciphering the Hieratic inscriptions of the ancient catecombs of that renowned country. During the many centuries that Israel were in Egypt, they, no doubt, adopted the language of that nation, and at the same time preserved, as far as possible, that of their fathers, or the Hebrew. The learning of Egypt, their language, their alphabetic or phonetic characters, together with their arts and sciences, formed, without doubt, a part of the course of education among Israel, from generation to generation, and especially among that branch of them, called the Jews; hence the Prophet Nephi says:—

“I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews, and the language of the Egyptians.” Again he says, “I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father.” (page 1.)

Four hundred and seventy-six years, after the Nephites left Jerusalem, king Benjamin gives some instruction to his sons, concerning the Brass Plates, as follows:—

“Were it not for these Plates, which contain these records, and these commandments, we must have suffered in ignorance, even at this present time, not knowing the mysteries of God; for it were not possible that our father Lehi could have remembered all these things, to have taught them to his children, except it were for the help of these Plates: for he having been taught in the language of the Egyptians, therefore he could read these engravings, and teach them to his children, that thereby they could teach them to their children, and so fulfilling the commandments of God, even down to this present time. (page 143.)

Thus we learn that Lehi was “taught in the language of the Egyptians,” from which we may infer that it was a language, the acquirement of which was considered important to a good Jewish education.

These Brass Plates have been preserved, and will, in a few years, be revealed for the benefit of all nations. The Prophet Alma, seventy-three years before Christ, writes thus:—

“It has been prophesied by our fathers, that they (the Brass Plates should be kept, and handed down from one generation to another, and be kept and preserved by the hand of the Lord, until they should go forth unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, that they shall know of the mysteries contained thereon. And now behold, if they are kept, they must retain their brightness; yea, and they will retain their brightness; yea, and also shall all the Plates which do contain that which is holy writ.” (page 311.)

As the pot of manna was preserved in its freshness and purity for generations, so the Lord has promised to preserve all the sacred writings, engraved upon Plates, among the Nephites, and not suffer the metal to become dimmed or oxydated to the end of time. A very great number of sacred Records were kept upon metalic Plates by the American Israelites, both in Hebrew and Egyptian. But, like all other languages and alphabets, they became, during the thousand years in which the history was handed down, altered and changed from the original Hebrew and Egyptian. The Prophet Moroni, after the destruction of the Nephites, near the close of the fourth century after Christ, in speaking of the Gold Plates on which he was about finishing the history and revelations which he had been commanded to write, preparatory to their being hid up, writes as follows:—

“And now behold, we have written this record, according to our knowledge in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down, and altered by us, according to our manner of speech. And if our Plates had been sufficiently large, we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no imperfection in our record. But the Lord knoweth the things which we have written, and also that none other people knoweth our language, therefore he hath prepared means for the interpretation thereof.” (page 515.) With all the advantages of printed characters and books, yet it has been impossible for the learned nations to preserve their languages, even for the short space of 400 years, from great changes or mutations. As evidence of this statement, compare the English printed works of the fifteenth century with those of the present period. The former can scarcely be understood. How great, then, must be the disparity between manuscripts written (not printed) at long intervals of five hundred or one thousand years? Besides the gradual changes, introduced by age, languages, or alphabets more especially, may be purposely remodeled, with the aim of obtaining something more suitable or perfect. This seems to have been the case with the Hebrew and Egyptian in America. The Hebrew method of writing, evidently was considered more perfect than that of the Egyptian. But as the translation, in the latter times, was to be given from on high, through the means prepared of God, it was certain that such inspired translation would be perfect, and correspond with the real sentiment, intended to be conveyed in the original.

We have the testimony of many popular and learned antiquarians, that the ancient Hebrews of Palestine, did engrave many of their sacred writings, upon metalic Plates, and that many leaves of such Plates were united together in the form of Books by rings, passing through near the edge or back of each; and that rods or bars, running through the rings, served the purpose of a handle, for the convenience of carrying. (See Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, page 1801; also many works on Biblical Antiquities.) These were also the general form of the American Israelites’ metalic Books. Future generations on the New World will be blessed with a large library of ancient sacred books, unfolding the wondrous history of nations, peoples, and tongues, upon that holy land, from the most remote ages of antiquity.

By reference to the article on the Sacred Stones, found in the Ohio mounds, published in the last No. of the Star, it will be perceived that the Hebrew writing, on the stone bead of a human figure, is translated by learned Hebraists, thus :—

“May the Lord have mercy upon (him) me, a Nephel.”

“NEPHEL” seems to have been the name of the nation to which the individual, buried in the mound, belonged. Is not “NEPHEL” the national name of the descendants of the Prophet NEPHI? The extracts from the Book of Mormon, published in a former part of this article, show that the people of “NEPHEL” or “NEPHITES” dwelt in the country of the mounds, from fifty years before Christ, till three hundred and eighty-four years after Christ. It is not, therefore, unreasonable to suppose, that the illustrious dead should have some token or pious sentiment, in the sacred Hebrew character, interred with them: indeed, it is the Indian custom, even to this day, to deposit with their dead, many implements or articles, as tokens of respect for their departed ones. What more religious sentiment, or pious ejaculation, could have been chosen, than the one inscribed upon this stone? What could have been more respectful to his ancestors, than this inscription in the sacred Hebrew, commemorating the national name NEPHEL—the descendants of their great leader and Prophet Nephi, who brought their fathers out of the land of Jerusalem, and delivered them from the cruelties of the Babylonish captivity? The very name NEPHEL, or as rendered in English NEPHITE, was a tower of strength to all his righteous descendants.

We shall now show the great probability, that the learned translator is mistaken in assuming the last letter in the word, which he calls NEPHEL, to be larnedh or l. He admits that some of the Hebrew inscriptions, found near Newark, exhibit the “Assyrian character,” being beautifully made.” By reference to F. Ballhorn’s compilation of ancient and modern alphabets, (Trübner & Co., London,) it is perceived that the alphabets of the ancient Hebrews, Phoenicians, Numidians, Syrians, and many other nations, closely resemble each other in many of their characters. For instance, on page 18, the Syriac Tau or t (marked 148,) is almost identical with the early Hebrew Lamedh or l, on page 8. The resemblance is so great, that the l might easily be mistaken for the t. May not this ancient Syrian form be the real Hebrew Tav or t? If so, the Hebrew word from the American mound would be NEPHITE, instead of NEPHEL; and the sentence would then be rendered,

“May the Lord have mercy upon me a NEPHITE.”

But let it be remembered that there are two great branches of the Abrahamic or Hebrew family, namely, Israelites and Ismaelites, or Arabians. It is reasonable to suppose, that the most ancient alphabetical characters of the two branches, would have a near resemblance to each other in the form of some of the letters. Accordingly we find that the lamedh, or I, in the old Kufic alphabet of the Ishmaelites, is precisely of the same shape as the lamedh on one of the Sacred Stones; and what is still more remarkable, the Kufic tau or t is precisely the same shape, though not quite so large, as the Kufic lamedh. The t, being of the same form as the I, might easily be mistaken for l. (For the Kufic alphabet, see page 9, Balhorn’s compilation.) Here then we have the strongest kind of evidence, that the word erroneously rendered NEPHEL should be NEPHITE. But if any learned Hebraist should maintain that the word was merely the name of the person buried, and not a national name, then we would refer them to the old Kufic yodh, in English called i, and they will at once perceive that the Kufic lamedh, tav, and yodh, are exactly of the same shape, and that each are precisely like the American Hebrew lamedh; hence, we are at liberty to translate it in three ways, namely, Nephil, Nephit, Nephi: nun, pe, and yodh would be Nephi, the same as lamedh, vav, and yodh are rendered Levi. Thus we should have

“Yerachamehu Adonai” Nephi.

“May the Lord have mercy on (him) me,” Nephi,

This would indicate that some illustrious descendant of the Prophet Nephi had inherited the sacred name of his venerable ancestor, and was buried with this memorable token.

It should also be borne in mind that the vowel, short ĕ is an arbitary substitution of the translator; a short or a long i, (called in the pointing of modern Hebrew, Chireq) could have been substituted before the last letter with equal propriety.

Let it be distinctly remembered, that this Hebrew sentence was taken from the bottom of an ancient mound, thirty-five years after the Book of Mormon, (which is a history of the NEPHITE nation,) was in print. The opponents of this book have, therefore, discovered and translated an ancient Hebrew inscription, inadvertently confirming in a most remarkable manner, the divine authenticity of the sacred Bible of the Nephites.