Why I Believe the Book of Mormon to Be the Word of God

WHY I BELIEVE THE BOOK OF MORMON TO BE THE WORD OF GOD.

By William A. Morton.

I HAVE been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints thirty-three years. During that time I have read and studied the Book of Mormon a great deal, and I say, in all sincerity, the more I study the book, the more thoroughly I become convinced that it is a divinely-inspired record.

I believe implicitly in the Book of Mormon; I believe it to be the word of God to the ancient inhabitants of America even as I believe the Bible to be the word of God to the Jews and also to the Gentiles. There are two theories respecting the origin of the Book of Mormon. One of these is the Solomon Spaulding theory, which has been strongly advocated by anti-Mormons in order to keep people from believing the Book of Mormon to be of divine origin. According to this theory, a man named Solomon Spauld­ing, a graduate of Dartmouth College, Ohio, wrote a book in which he purported to give an account of the origin of the American Indians. After his death, the manuscript, so it is asserted, fell into the hands of Joseph Smith, who, with others, conspired to publish it and present it to the world as a sacred history of the ancient people of America. This theory is so absurd that it is surprising to me it did not, like the new moon, “set with its rising.” Mr. Spaulding was a Presbyterian minister; but this fact has been carefully concealed by those who advocate the theory that he was the author of the Book of Mormon. Had they let it be known they would, undoubtedly, have aroused suspicion and greatly weakened their argument. For this reason: Presbyterian ministers do not write books condemning, in the strongest terms, doctrine which they themselves fervently believe and which is advocated by their church. Take, for example, infant baptism, which has been practiced by the Presbyterian Church since its establishment. This is what the Book of Mormon says concerning it: “I know that it is solemn mockery before God, that ye should baptize little children … He that supposeth that little children need baptism is in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity; for he hath neither faith, hope, nor charity … Wo unto such, for they are in danger of death, hell, and endless torment. I speak it boldly; God hath commanded me” (Moroni 8:9, 14, 21). I cannot believe that a Presbyterian minister wrote that. There is in the Book of Mormon much more that is at variance with the doctrines taught by the Presbyterian Church; indeed, there is very little in the book that is compatable with Presbyterianism. A Presbyterian minister would not write the Book of Mormon if he could, and he could not write it if he would. With just as much reason might it be said that a Presbyterian minister wrote Payne’s “Age of Reason” or Ingersoll's “Mistakes of Moses.” Solomon Spaulding’s manuscript was found in 1844, and is at present in the library of Oberlin College, Ohio. It bears no resemblance whatever to the Book of Mormon.

The other theory—the one advocated by the Mormon Church—is that a heavenly messenger appeared to Joseph Smith and told the youth about a set of gold plates that were hid in a hill a short distance from his home, on which was engraved a history of the ancient inhabitants of America; that four years later Joseph Smith was permitted to take the plates from their hiding place; that through the gift and power of God he tran­slated them into English and presented to the world the Book of Mormon. Now, in order that the world might have this new witness for God and His Christ, the Church has spent tens of thousands of dollars in printing and distributing the Book of Mormon, and thousands of missionaries have carried it to many of the nations. I have read Joseph Smith’s account of the origin of the Book of Mormon many times, and I am thoroughly con­vinced that it is true. It is much easier for me to believe Joseph Smith’s story than to believe the Spaulding theory.

One of the strong reasons I have for believing the Book of Mormon to be the word of God is because I believe the Prophets, Christ and the Apostles. There are in the Bible numerous prophecies relating to the Book of Mormon. I will refer to a few of them. A short time before his death the Patriarch Jacob, in blessing his son Joseph, said:

Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel):

Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with the blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts and of the womb:

The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors, unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren” (Genesis 49:22-26).

This prophecy had the beginning of its fulfilment in the year 600 B. C., when, according to the Book of Mormon, a colony of Israelites, descendants of Joseph, the son of Jacob, was led by the Lord from Jerusalem to the land that is now called America, where they became a great nation. Prophets were raised up among them, who taught them the commandments of God, and also concerning the coming of Christ. After his resurrection, Christ visited them; he taught them the Gospel and established his Church among them, even as he did among the people on the eastern continent. For nearly four hundred years afterwards they lived in peace and happiness. Then pride began to mani­fest itself among them; they became divided, contentions fol­lowed. and later terrible wars, in which countless thousands of lives were sacrificed. The American Indians are the remnant of that once mighty people. This, in brief, is a history of Joseph’s branches referred to by Jacob, the branches that were to “run over the wall” (the great ocean) “even unto the utmost bounds of the' everlasting hills.”

It was concerning these people that Isaiah prophesied:

And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust” (Isaiah 29:4).

A similar prophecy was made by the Psalmist David. “Truth shall spring out of the earth,” said he, “and righteousness shall look down from heaven” (Psalms 85:11). This prediction was literally fulfilled when the angel Moroni came down from heaven and took out of the earth a volume of truth, the Book of Mormon.

Isaiah made another prophecy which the Book of Mormon—and the Book of Mormon alone—fulfills to the letter. It is as follows:

And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:

And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid” (Isaiah 29:11-14).

This prophecy had its fulfillment soon after Joseph Smith commenced the work of translating the plates. Martin Harris, who was acting as his scribe, asked permission to take the characters which the Prophet had copied to New York, to show to a learned man there. This is what he related on his return:

I went to the city of New York, and presented the characters which had been translated, with the translation thereof, to Professor Charles Anthon, a gentleman celebrated for his literary attainments. Professor Anthon stated that the translation was correct, more so than any he had before seen translated from the Egyptian. I then showed him those which were not translated, and he said that they were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyric, and Arabic; and he said they were true characters. He gave me a certificate, certifying to the people of Palmyra that they were true characters, and that the translation of such of them as had been translated was also correct. I took the certificate and put it into my pocket, and was just leaving the house when Mr. Anthon called me back, and asked me how the young man found out that there were gold plates in the place where he found them. I answered that an angel of God had revealed it to him. He then said to me, “Let me see that certificate.” I accordingly took it out of my pocket and gave it to him, when he took it and tore it into pieces, saying that there was no such thing as ministering of angels, and that if I would bring the plates to him, he would translate them. I informed him that part of the plates were sealed, and that I was forbidden to bring them. He replied, “I cannot read a sealed book.” I left him and went to Dr. Mitchell, who sanctioned what Professor Anthon had said respecting both the char­acters and the translation” (History of the Church, Vol. 1, p. 20).

Another prophecy, one made by Ezekiel, has had its fulfillment in the Book of Mormon. This is the inspired prediction:

The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,

Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:

And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.

And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these?

Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.

And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes (Ezekiel 37:15-20).