WHEN DARKNESS COVERED THE EARTH
The Long Night of Apostasy
WE accept as fact the belief common to Christendom that the Church of Christ was established under our Lord's personal direction and that during the early period of apostolic administration the Church was blessed with rapid growth and marvelous development. A question of profound importance confronts us: Has the Church of Jesus Christ maintained an organized existence upon the earth from the apostolic age to the present?
We affirm that with the passing of the apostolic period the Church drifted into a condition of apostasy, whereby succession in the Holy Priesthood was broken; and that the Church as an earthly organization operating under Divine direction and having authority to officiate in spiritual ordinances ceased to exist among men.[1]
We affirm that this great apostasy, whereby the world was enshrouded in spiritual darkness, was foretold by the Savior Himself while He lived as a Man among men, and by His prophets both before and after the period of His life in mortality.
The apostolic ministry continued in the Primitive Church for about sixty years after the death of Christ, or nearly to the end of the first century of the Christian Era. For some time thereafter the Church existed as a unified body, officered by men duly invested by ordination in the Holy Priesthood, though, even during the lifetime of some of the Apostles, the leaven of apostasy and disintegration had been working. Indeed, hardly had the Gospel seed been sown before the enemy of all righteousness had started assiduously to sow tares in the field; and so intimate was the growth of the two that any forcible attempt to extirpate the tares would have imperiled the wheat. The evidences of spiritual decline were observed with anguish by the Apostles who, however, recognized the fulfilment of earlier prophecy in the declension, and added their own inspired testimony to the effect that even a greater falling away was imminent.
The apostasy progressed rapidly, in consequence of a cooperation of disrupting forces without and within the Church. The dreadful persecution to which the early Christians were subjected drove great numbers of Christians to renounce their allegiance to Christianity, thus causing a widespread apostasy from the Church. But far more destructive was the contagion of evil that spread within the body, manifesting its effects mainly in the following developments:
(1) The corrupting of the simple principles of the Gospel of Christ by admixture with the so-called philosophical systems of the times.
(2) Unauthorized additions to the rites of the Church, and the introduction of vital changes in essential ordinances.
(3) Unauthorized changes in Church organization and government.
The result of the degeneracy so produced was to bring about an actual apostasy of the entire Church.
The Apostasy Predicted
Isaiah beheld in vision the condition of mankind during the darkness of the spiritual night; and he pictures the earth as languishing in desolation: "The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant." (Isa. 24:1-6).
That the general transgression meant something more than a violation of Mosaic statutes is evident from the fact that nowhere in Scripture is the Law of Moses called an "everlasting covenant," but to the contrary, the covenant of the Gospel is clearly differentiated from the Law.
The prophet Amos foresaw the time of famine and thirst, the day of futile search for the Word of God. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." (Amos 8:11-12).
Christ specifically warned the disciples against the impending departure from the truth: "Take heed that no man deceive you" said He, "For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many." (Matt. 24:4, 5). And further: "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not." (Verses 23-26).
The Apostles bore warning testimony to the same awful certainty. Paul admonished the elders at Ephesus to be on their guard against the wolves that would invade the fold, and against false teachers who would assert themselves "speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them." (See Acts 20:28-30). The same Apostle thus wrote to Timothy: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron." (1 Tim. 4:1, 2; see also 2 Tim. 4:1-4; and 2 Thess. 2:3, 4).
Peter prophesied, in language so plain that all may comprehend, of the heresies that would be preached as doctrine: "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." (2 Peter 2:1, 2).
John the Revelator expressly predicted the restoration of the Gospel (Rev. 14:6, 7); and such restoration would be impossible had not the Gospel been taken from the earth. Book of Mormon Scriptures foretold in plainness the great falling away and the subsequent restoration of the Gospel of Christ. (See 1 Nephi 13: 5-9; 3 Nephi 16:7).
The Apostasy Affirmed
The apostate condition of Christendom has been recognized and affirmed by high ecclesiastical authority. Let a single citation suffice. The Church of England thus proclaims the fact of degeneracy, as set forth in her "Homily against Peril of Idolatry," published about the middle of the sixteenth century and retained to this day as an official declaration:
"So that laity and clergy, learned and unlearned, all ages, sects, and degrees of men, women, and children of whole Christendom—an horrible and most dreadful thing to think—have been at once drowned in abominable idolatry; of all other vices most detested of God, and most damnable to man; and that by the space of eight hundred years and more."
By revelation through Joseph Smith the prophet the Lord thus confirmed the predictions of His ancient servants with respect to the apostasy of mankind: "For they have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant. They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own God, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol." (D&C 1:15, 16).
The universal apostasy has been succeeded by the restoration of the Gospel, of which blessed truth the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bears testimony to the world.
1. See the author's "The Great Apostasy," 170 pp.,The Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah.
THE MORNING BREAKS, THE SHADOWS FLEE
Light of the Gospel Again Shines
WE believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, viz.: apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc. (Articles of Faith, No. 6).
As one of the signs whereby men may know when the Lord's coming is near, Christ specified this feature of the latter times: "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." (Matt. 24:14). As this follows in immediate sequence to our Lord's prediction of the general apostasy, incident to which false prophets would arise, iniquity abound, and love for the truth wax cold, an actual restoration of the Gospel had to occur, or the Savior's words recorded in the 24th chapter of Matthew would be inconsistent and their fulfilment impossible.
The Revelator John was shown the scenes of the days immediately before the latter-day advent of the Christ. In recording the vision as then already past he wrote:
"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." (Rev. 14:6, 7).
If an angel was to come to earth, bringing the Gospel, the fact is plain that the Gospel could not be at that time upon the earth. The Gospel, which the angel would bring, was to be preached "to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people"; and this in strict and logical consistency with the Lord's personal prophecy quoted above, that one of the distinguishing signs of the last days was that the Gospel of the kingdom, "this Gospel," that is to say, the Gospel that He had proclaimed, would be "preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations."
But, many have asked, had we not the Gospel? The Holy Bible, which is the scriptural repository of the Gospel record has been among men from the time of its earliest compilation; why then the necessity of a restoration? Yes, we had the Bible; but the Gospel is something other and greater than a book.
The Holy Scriptures, invaluable and sacred though they be, profess to be only the letter of the Gospel. Is it reasonable to assume that the mere possession of a Bible, or even a perfect memorization of its contents, could give to man the authority to administer the ordinances prescribed therein? It is quite as plausible to say that if one owns a copy of the statutes of his state or nation and learns therefrom the duties of sheriff, judge, governor or president, the knowledge thus acquired would be authority for him to administer in the respective offices. Statutes are not self-operative.
The Holy Scriptures define and prescribe certain administrative ordinances, such as water baptism and the laying on of hands for the bestowal of the Holy Ghost, which ordinances, unless the Lord Christ spoke fable and falsehood, are indispensable to individual salvation. But the right and authority to administer those essential and saving ordinances cannot be arrogated to one's self by ever so intensive a study of the scriptural record.
The angel seen by the Revelator, in vision of the then distant future, was to bring to earth not the bare record and letter of requirement as to baptism and other rites, for this the world already would have, in part at least; but he was to restore to earth the Divine commission, the actual appointment and authority to officiate in those sacred and saving ordinances, in short the power of the Holy Priesthood, which the world would not at that time possess.
We affirm that on the 15th of May, 1829, a heavenly messenger appeared on the earth in light and glory, and, laying his hands upon the heads of Joseph Smith and an associate in the ministry, Oliver Cowdery, conferred upon them the Lesser or Aaronic Priesthood, saying:
"Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness." (D&C, Sec. 13).
The personage who thus appeared and officiated as an angel of light announced himself as John, known of old as the Baptist, and stated that he acted under instructions from the Apostles Peter, James, and John, who held the presidency of the Higher or Melchizedek Priesthood in the earlier Gospel dispensation. Later, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were visited by the presiding Apostles of old, Peter, James and John, who ordained them to the Priesthood after the order of Melchizedek, which comprises the fulness of authority operative in the Church of Jesus Christ.
In accordance with this high commission the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been established; and presents to the world today "the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, viz.: apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc."
Come ye and share the priceless blessings of the restored Gospel, for verily, the darkness of the long night of apostasy has been dispelled, and the spiritual light of heaven again illumines the earth.
"The morning breaks, the shadows flee;Lo! Zion's standard is unfurled.The dawning of a brighter dayMajestic rises on the world."
"The morning breaks, the shadows flee;Lo! Zion's standard is unfurled.The dawning of a brighter dayMajestic rises on the world."
THE BEGINNING OF THE END
Ushering in of the Last Dispensation
THE inauguration of the last or current dispensation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is verily the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, was in this wise.
In the year 1820 there lived at Manchester, N. Y., Joseph Smith Jr. then in his fifteenth year, the third son in a respected and pious family. At the time of which we speak great excitement with much sectarian rivalry was manifest in religious matters, and the boy Joseph was seriously concerned as to which of the contending sects was the true Church of Christ; for it was plain that all could not be right. Let us read the account written by himself.
"During this time of great excitement, my mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness; but though my feelings were deep and often poignant, still I kept myself aloof from all these parties, though I attended their several meetings as often as occasion would permit. In process of time my mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect, and I felt some desire to be united with them; but so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong.
"My mind at times was greatly excited, the cry and tumult were so great and incessant. The Presbyterians were most decided against the Baptists and Methodists, and used all the powers of either reason or sophistry to prove their errors, or, at least, to make the people think they were in error. On the other hand, the Baptists and Methodists in their turn were equally zealous in endeavoring to establish their own tenets and disprove all others. In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself, What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it? While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contest of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
"Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. . . . At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to ask of God, concluding that if He gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture. . . . After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.
"But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.
"It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said, pointing to the other—This is my beloved Son, hear Him!
"My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right—and which I should join.
"I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in His sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that 'they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof."' (See Pearl of Great Price, pp. 83-85).
Thus ended the long night of spiritual darkness in which man had groped for centuries. Thus was begun the dispensation of which the ancient prophets had spoken, in preparation for the coming of the Christ to reign on earth as Lord and King.
This glorious and unprecedented manifestation of the Father and the Son to a mortal was followed in later years by visitations of angelic personages through whom the Holy Priesthood was again restored to earth, and under whose direction the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was established in April, 1830. Joseph Smith was a prophet of the living God. His testimony is before the world. The saving ordinances of the Gospel are again administered under Divine authority, and the means of salvation are offered freely to all mankind.
A GOD OF MIRACLES
Wonders Wrought by Devils
WE believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, etc. (Articles of Faith, No. 7).
The personal ministry of Jesus Christ in the flesh was characterized by many mighty works—signs, wonders, miracles, as they are severally called. The Apostles who labored to build up the Church after the Master's departure attested the divinity of their calling and priesthood by manifestations of power surpassing the ordinary attributes of mortals. Thus, these holy men were endowed with the ennobling gifts of the Spirit, which have been inherent in the Church of Christ in all ages.
Multitudes have been troubled by the disquieting query as to why the gifts of prophecy, visions, revelation, healing, and the power to speak in diverse tongues are not apparent in the sectarian churches of modern times, and have found partial satisfaction in the assumption, unfounded and unscriptural though it be, that all such gifts and graces ceased with the passing of apostolic days and are not required as testimonies of the Spirit in a more enlightened age. That these spiritual gifts did cease as the apostasy of the Primitive Church progressed is doubtless true; but that the cause of the cessation was anything else than transgression by which the apostasy was brought about is unsupported by Scripture.
In His parting commission to the Apostles, the Resurrected Christ gave this combined command and promise:
"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." (Mark 16:15-18).
It is evident that the several gifts of the Spirit are the products of faith in God and obedience to His commandments. That these manifestations are brought about through the power of the Holy Priesthood and are characteristic thereof is set forth in Paul's teachings: "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues." (1 Cor. 12:28).
Mormon, a prophet who ministered on the American continent in the latter part of the fourth century, solemnly declared that miracles will not cease in the Church so long as there shall be a man upon the earth to be saved: "For it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore if these things have ceased, wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain." (Moroni 7:37).
Mark his inspired words addressed to those "who deny the revelations of God, and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor speaking with tongues, and the interpretation of tongues."
"Behold I say unto you, he that denieth these things, knoweth not the gospel of Christ; yea, he has not read the scriptures; if so, he does not understand them. For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and for ever; and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing? And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in him there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles. But behold, I will shew unto you a God of miracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and it is that same God who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are." (Moroni 9:7-11).
Miracles are not promised save to those who believe and obey as the Lord hath commanded. However marvelous they may be as gaged by physical standards, the gifts of the Spirit appeal to the unbelieving and carnal mind only as unusual and curious phenomena; while to the man of faith they testify of the power and purposes of God. Many people followed Jesus about through morbid curiosity, clamoring to see some strange thing wrought; and degenerate Herod Antipas, before whom our Lord was brought in bonds, was interested and amused, because "he hoped to have seen some miracle done by Him." (Luke 23:8.) Through a revelation to the Church in 1831 the Lord Jesus Christ gave this solemn admonishment against the craving for spiritual gifts to gratify curiosity.
"Wherefore, beware lest ye are deceived; and that ye may not be deceived, seek ye earnestly the best gifts, always remembering for what they are given. For verily I say unto you, they are given for the benefit of those who love me and keep all my commandments, and him that seeketh so to do, that all may be benefited that seeketh or that asketh of me, that asketh and not for a sign that he may consume it upon his lusts." (D&C 46:8-9).
We are not justified in regarding miracles as infallible testimony of Divine power and authority, for powers of the baser sort work wonders, to the deceiving of many. The magicians of Egypt were able to imitate in small measure the miracles of Moses. John the Revelator told of evil powers deceiving men by what seemed to be supernatural achievements, and he saw unclean spirits, whom he knew to be "the spirits of devils working miracles." (See Rev. 13: 13-14, and 16:13-14). And the Savior Himself by this solemn warning armed the disciples against deception: "There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." (Matt. 24:24).
The distinguishing feature of a miraculous manifestation of the Holy Spirit, as contrasted with a wonder wrought through other agencies, lies in the fact that the former is always done in the name of Jesus Christ and has for its object the fostering of faith and the furthering of Divine purposes.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rejoices in the possession of the several gifts and graces with which the Church of old was endowed; and within her pale signs do follow them that believe. Come and see.
IS THE BIBLE SUFFICIENT?
Scriptures of Many Peoples
WE believe the Bible to be the word of God, as far as it is translated correctly. We also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. (Articles of Faith, No. 8).
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints accepts the Holy Bible for just what it purports to be, nothing less, nothing more. Taken as a whole the Holy Bible is a collection of sacred and historical writings, depicting though incompletely the Divine dealings with mankind on the Eastern Hemisphere from the creation down to about the close of the first century after Christ. The Old Testament contains a brief record of pre-Mosaic time, but is largely a history of the Semitic people or Hebrews, as they lived under the Law of Moses. The New Testament is distinctively the Scripture of the Gospel as contrasted with the Law, and is devoted to the earthly ministry of the Savior and to the growth of His Church under apostolic administration. The compilation as it now stands is the work of men, and our modern translations from the original Hebrew of the Old Testament and Greek of the New have been made by skilled linguists and learned theologians.
But the wisdom of even the wisest of men may be faulty, and the understanding of the prudent may be biased and dangerously imperfect. The many revisions and successive versions of the Bible, made as the errors of earlier renditions became strikingly apparent, testify to the unreliability of scholarship in the translation of sacred writ. Moreover, it is an indisputable fact that the compilation of books constituting our present version is incomplete; for within the Bible itself more than a score of books, epistles, or other writings not included are mentioned, and generally in such a way as to show that those lost Scriptures were considered authentic and genuine. Furthermore, numerous Biblical passages are tinged with what scholars call "gloss"—that is wording intended to convey the private interpretation of the translator.
The Latter-day Saints openly proclaim their reservation as to incorrect translation. We are in harmony with all able and earnest students of the Scriptures in accepting the Bible as the Word of God, only so far as it is translated correctly.
But we hold that there are now extant other Scriptures, of equal validity with those of the Holy Bible, and in no sense in conflict therewith nor a substitute therefor. For nearly six centuries before and about four centuries after the birth of Christ, the American continent was inhabited by a detached body of Israelites, who developed into powerful nations. Their existence was unknown to the people of the East. Is it unreasonable to believe that unto the western fold God sent His shepherds, and that prophets officiated amongst them by Divine appointment?
That the Book of Mormon would be rejected by many on the specious and untenable claim that they already had a Bible and that there could be no other Scriptures, the Lord foretold by the mouth of the prophet Nephi:
"And because my words shall hiss forth, many of the Gentiles shall say, A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible.
"Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth?
"Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together, the testimony of the two nations shall run together also.
"And I do this that I may prove unto many, that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word, ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be, until the end of man; neither from that time henceforth and forever.
"For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth, and they shall write it.
"And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews." (2 Nephi 29).
Thus is predicted the bringing forth of yet other Scriptures, not extant among known nations today, viz., the records of the Lost Tribes of Israel, to whom the Book of Mormon indicates the Resurrected Christ went to minister after His visitation to the Nephites. In the present or last dispensation numerous revelations have been given by Jesus Christ to His modern prophets. Many of these are before the world in the volume of latter-day Scripture known as the D&C.
It is noticeable that we make no reservation respecting the Book of Mormon on the ground of incorrect translation. To do so would be to ignore attested facts as to the bringing forth of that book. Joseph Smith the prophet, seer, and revelator, through whom the ancient record has been translated into our modern tongue, expressly avers that the translation was effected through the gift and power of God, and is in no sense the product of linguistic scholarship.
The Bible in its original form, and in modern versions so far as correctly translated, contains the Word of God. Without it, the world would be plunged into spiritual gloom. Nevertheless there are other Scriptures already published, and yet others are to come.
A MESSENGER
From the Presence of God
THE discovery of the ancient record known to mankind as the Book of Mormon was no affair of chance. To the contrary, both the finding of the plates of gold and the translation of the inscriptions were specifically the result of Divine direction. So the following facts attest.
On the 21st of September, 1823, Joseph Smith of Manchester, N. Y., was visited by an angelic personage who announced himself as Moroni, "A messenger sent from the presence of God."
"What!" the skeptical may exclaim, "A heavenly being visiting the earth and talking to a man in these modern days?" To which interrogatory a fair rejoinder is Why not? Has the God of Heaven changed in nature and attributes, or found need of altering and revising His former and most simple methods of communicating with men?
To the priest Zacharias in days of old came one saying "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God, and am sent to speak unto thee." (Luke 1:19). To the prophet Joseph Smith in latter times came a messenger with the same form of annunciation.
Both Gabriel and Moroni were ambassadors from the Eternal One, who is the same yesterday, today and forever, and "with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James 1: 17; Heb. 13:8).
Part of Moroni's message delivered at this visitation is thus stated by the latter-day prophet: "He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fulness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants. Also, that there were two stones in silver bows—and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the Urim and Thummim—deposited with the plates; and the possession and use of these stones were what constituted 'seers' in ancient or former times; and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book. . . . While he was conversing with me about the plates, the vision was opened to my mind that I could see the place where the plates were deposited, and that so clearly and distinctly that I knew the place again when I visited it."
On going to the place the next day Joseph Smith located the stone box, and with the aid of a lever removed the cover. His record continues:
"I made an attempt to take them out, but was forbidden by the messenger, and was again informed that the time for bringing them forth had not yet arrived, neither would it, until four years from that time; but he told me that I should come to that place precisely in one year from that time, and that he would there meet with me, and that I should continue to do so until the time should come for obtaining the plates."
At the close of the fourth probationary year, the plates and accessories were given into the custody of the latter-day seer. Of this occasion and subsequent developments he wrote as follows:
"At length the time arrived for obtaining the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate. On the twenty-second day of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, having gone as usual at the end of another year to the place where they were deposited, the same heavenly messenger delivered them up to me with this charge: that I should be responsible for them; that if I should let them go carelessly, or through any neglect of mine, I should be cut off; but that if I would use all my endeavors to preserve them, until he, the messenger, should call for them, they should be protected.
"I soon found out the reason why I had received such strict charges to keep them safe, and why it was that the messenger had said that when I had done what was required at my hand, he would call for them. For no sooner was it known that I had them, than the most strenuous exertions were used to get them from me. Every stratagem that could be invented was resorted to for that purpose. The persecution became more bitter and severe than before, and multitudes were on the alert continually to get them from me if possible. But by the wisdom of God, they remained safe in my hands, until I had accomplished by them what was required at my hand. When, according to arrangements, the messenger called for them, I delivered them up to him; and he has them in his charge until this day, being the second day of May, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight."
Subsequent revelations showed that Moroni was the last of a long line of prophets whose translated writings constitute the Book of Mormon. By him the ancient records had been closed about 420 A. D.; by him the graven plates had been deposited in the stone vault wherein they lay buried over fourteen centuries; and through his appointed embassage they were given into the possession of the latter-day seer whose work of translation is before us.
Joseph Smith, unschooled beyond the rudiments of what we call an education, unversed in any tongue but the vernacular English, was wholly unequipped according to all human standards to translate the language of a nation long extinct, and, except for certain Indian traditions, forgotten. But the operation of a power higher than human, by which the engraved plates were brought forth from the earth, was to be effective in making the long-buried chronicles intelligible to modern readers.
It was no part of the Lord's plan to entrust the translating to man's linguistic skill; and, moreover, at that time the Rosetta Stone still lay buried beneath the debris of ages, and there was not a man upon the earth capable of rendering an Egyptian inscription into English. As the Book of Mormon avers, the original writing was Egyptian, modified through the isolation of the ancient peoples on the Western Continent, and designated Reformed Egyptian.
It was divinely appointed that the sacred archives should be restored to the knowledge of men through the gift and power of God. Had it not been written that in the latter days the Lord would accomplish a marvelous work and a wonder, whereby the wisdom of the wise would fail and the understanding of the learned be hidden? (See Isa. 29: 13, 14). And this because men would put their dogmas and precepts above the revealed word? (Verse 13). In the translation of the Book of Mormon there was to be no gloss of fallible scholarship, no attempt to improve and embellish the plain, simple and unambiguous diction of the original scribes who wrote by inspiration. Therefore was the commission laid upon one who was rated among the weak of the earth, but whose ministry, nevertheless, has confounded the mighty. (See 1 Cor. 1:27, 28).
SCRIPTURES OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENT
The Book of Mormon
THE Book of Mormon is preeminently an American book, comprising the history of the aboriginal peoples of the New World. It professes to be the modern translation of certain records, covering the period from B. C. 600 to about A. D. 420, with which is incorporated the abridgment of a yet earlier history. The original account was inscribed on thin sheets of gold, in small characters of the Reformed Egyptian style. The plates were taken from their repository on the side of a hill near Palmyra, New York. This was in September, 1827; and in the early months of 1830 the English translation was published.
The Book of Mormon story deals in part with the general history of the ancient peoples, their rise and fall as nations, their wars and intrigues of state, their alternating epochs of material prosperity and adversity; but more particularly it preserves an account of the Divine revelations, the prophets and prophecies with which the ancient Americans were blessed; and thus the work stands before the world as the Scriptures of the Western Continent.
This is the story in brief. In the closing years of the 7th century B. C. there lived in Jerusalem a person of influence and wealth named Lehi. He was a righteous man and a prophet, of the tribe of Manasseh and therefore a descendant of Joseph, son of Jacob.
At the time of which we speak, Lehi and his wife were the parents of four sons, of whom the elder two were of disobedient and unruly character, in which respect they stood in striking contrast to their dutiful brothers. Other children, both sons and daughters, are of later mention.
Those were troublous days for Israel. The people had largely forgotten the God of their fathers; and the calamities voiced by Moses and the prophets as the contingent result of sins against which the people had been specifically warned, were multiplying apace. Already the shadows of the Babylonian captivity were falling athwart the nation. Many prophets, Lehi among them, lifted their voices in admonition and warning, crying repentance to the recreant Israelites, and predicting that unless they turned from their wickedness the City of David, their national boast and pride, would be despoiled and Israel be made captive. Instead of heeding these men of God, the people went wild with resentment and tried to slay them.
In the year 600 B. C., when Zedekiah ascended the throne of Judah, the word of the Lord came to Lehi directing him to take his family and flee from Jerusalem into the wilderness of Arabia. The scattering of the Israelitish nation had been foretold, and the departure of Lehi and his household, together with another entire family which was of the tribe of Ephraim, and part of a third, was in line with the general dispersion. Had it not so been declared by Isaiah? "For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this." (2 Kings 19:31; also Isa. 37:32).
The migrating colony journeyed by slow stages for about eight years in the desert, during which time Lehi and his faithful younger son Nephi received many revelations of the Divine word and will, through which the purpose of their own exodus was made known, as were also the portending vicissitudes of the nation from which they had become expatriated by the Lord's command. Eventually they reached the shores of the Arabian sea, where, divinely directed, they built a vessel, in which they were carried by wind and current across the ocean to the western coast of South America.
So long as unity prevailed the colony prospered in the Promised Land, and with high birth-rate and few deaths soon became a numerous people. With prosperity came pride and avarice, and the inevitable accompaniment, dissension. The more righteous part chose Nephi for their leader and called themselves Nephites, while the rebellious and evil faction came to be known as Lamanites or followers of Laman, who was the eldest and most wicked of Lehi's sons.
As the decades linked themselves into centuries the breach between Nephites and Lamanites became wider, the enmity fiercer, and the disparity in customs and culture greater; though for brief and exceptional periods there was truce between them. The Nephites maintained a relatively high standard of civilized activity, while the Lamanites became a degenerate people, of nomadic and predatory life, devoted mostly to warfare and the chase; and as a mark of Divine displeasure they were cursed with a dark ruddy skin. Many and bloody were the wars they waged against their more peaceable contemporaries. Nevertheless the Nephites developed and throve in proportion to their varying degrees of allegiance to the laws of God as made known by the succession of prophets whom the Lord raised up among them; and their departures from the ways of righteousness were followed by the disciplinary suffering incident to Lamanite victories, which were permitted to afflict them at intervals. They fled before their aggressive foes, moving northward and eastward; so that in the course of centuries they swept over a large part of the area now embraced by Mexico and the United States.
The Gospel of salvation was taught and the fundamental ordinances were administered among the Nephites; and the resurrected Lord, Jesus Christ, ministered among them in Person, and declared them to be the sheep of that other fold to which He had referred while preaching to the Jews. See John 10:16.
About 420 A. D., the Nephites, having fallen into wickedness all the more convicting because of their intellectual superiority, were utterly destroyed as a nation by their hereditary enemies. The exterminating conflict was fought in the vicinity of Palmyra, in the present State of New York. The savage but victorious Lamanites have lived on as the degraded race of red men, whom Columbus found in the land on the occasion of his re-discovery of the Western Continent. Such is the origin of the American Indians. They are of Israelitish descent, belonging to the House of Joseph who was sold into Egypt.
From the time of Lehi's exodus from Jerusalem down to the end of Nephite history, a circumstantial record was kept by scribes set apart to the work. That record has been restored to human knowledge, and the translated part has been given to the world as the Book of Mormon.
The announcement of such a discovery as that of the plates of Mormon, and of such an achievement as the translation of the records into English, could not fail to attract the attention of both layman and scholar. But the announcement was treated with contempt and vigorous denunciation.
The reason for this hostile rejection is found in the fact that Joseph Smith, the translator, avowed that he had not accomplished the marvelous work by his own or other human power alone, but that the resting-place of the ancient plates had been revealed to him by an angel, who appeared in light and glory, and announced himself as that same Moroni who had sealed up and buried the inscribed plates over fourteen centuries earlier. A further cause for the popular opposition to the Book of Mormon lay in Joseph Smith's solemn testimony that he had been empowered to make the translation through the direct inspiration of God.
This avowal introduced the element of the supernatural. If Joseph Smith spoke truly, miracles had not ceased, and direct revelation from God to man was of modern certainty. Such a conception was wholly opposed by theological theory and churchly dogma. And yet, why in reason should direct revelation from the heavens be more of an improbability today than in the centuries of long ago? Except as to the extent of the writing, is the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon any more of a marvel than the inspired reading of the mystic words by Daniel in the midst of Belshazzar's riotous feast? (See Dan. 5:25-31). And surely the means by which the writing was done appears far more mysterious in the case of the Chaldean king than in the ordinary and human way of engraving the Book of Mormon plates.
The Book of Mormon is before the world. It has been distributed by millions of copies in English and other modern tongues. Let it be understood that in no sense does the Book of Mormon profess to be a substitute for the Holy Bible, or to be in any way related thereto except as a parallel volume of Scripture. The Bible is essentially a record of the dealings of God with His people of the East; the Book of Mormon is an embodiment of Divine revelations to the people of the West. So far as the two books touch common themes they are in harmony; and in no particular are they contradictory of each other.