MORMONS 



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was a book deposited, written upon golden plates, 

 giving an account of the former inhabitants of this 

 continent, and the source from whence they sprung. 

 He also said that the fuljness of the everlasting 

 gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the 

 Saviour to the ancient inhabitants. Also, that 

 there were two stones in silver bows deposited with 

 the plates, and the possession and use of these 

 stones was 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 alxmt 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.' This visitation was supple- 

 mented by others, the same angel appearing to him 

 thrice that night, and afterwards paying him 

 several visits and instructing him at length in 

 relation to his prophetic mission. The spot where 

 the records lay concealed was descrilied as being 

 'on the west side of a hill, not far from the top, 

 About 4 miles from Palmyra, in the county of 

 Ontario, and near the mail-road which leads thence 

 to the little town of Manchester.' Thither the 

 youth repaired the next day, and was shown the 

 plates as he had been promised, but was not per- 

 mitted to take them. Four years later, however, 

 after due disciplinary probation, on the night of 

 September 22, 1827, the angel of the Lord delivered 

 the sacred records into his hands. They were en- 

 eraved on plates nearly 8 inches long by 7 wide, a 

 Tittle thinner than ordinary tin, and bound together 

 by three rings mnning through the whole. The 

 volume was altogether about 6 inches in thickness, 

 A part of which was sealed. The characters, 

 letters, or hieroglyphics upon the unsealed part 

 were small and lieautifully engraved. They repre- 

 sented an unknown language, which Mormons 

 have called the ' Reformed Egyptian.' Along 

 with them were found the I rim and Tliummim, 

 described by. the angel ; by means of this instru- 

 ment, which is said to have borne some resem- 

 blance to a pair of spectacles, the Lord enabled 

 the veiling man to translate the ancient records 

 into English. He read off by the aid of the 

 1'iini and Thummim to bis associate and scribe, 

 Oliver Cowdery, or other clerks, who wrote 

 <lown the words exactly as he gave them. The 

 first edition of the Book of Mormon (5000 copies) 

 was published at Palmyra, New York, in 1830. 

 It contained a prefatory testimonial, signed by 

 Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin 

 Harris, to the effect that an angel of God came 

 down from heaven and showed them the plates 

 from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of 

 Mormon ; and this was followed by the testimony 

 of eight other witnesses, among them Joseph s 

 father and two brothers, who affirmed that ' Joseph 

 Smith, junior,' had shown them the golden plates 

 containing the engravings. These were the only 

 persons who were permitted to see them. They 

 were returned to the angel after the work of trans- 

 lation was done. Only the unsealed portion of the 

 plates was translated, the sealed remainder being 

 reserved, with a promise of translation at a future 

 time. 



These records contain the primitive history of 

 America from its settlement by a colony that came 

 from the Tower of Babel, at the time of the con 

 fusion of tongues, to the l>eginning of the 5th 

 century of the Christian era. These primitive 

 colonists of North America were called Jaredites. 

 They were a race highly favoured of heaven, bat 

 degenerated and became wicked and corrupt, the 

 sun of their civilisation finally setting in a sea 

 of blood and civil strife, in which millions of souls 

 were slaughtered. But a new race came directly 



from Jerusalem aliout&XK) B.C., and in time peopled 

 both North and South America. The founders of 

 the new colony were Lehi and his wife, his four 

 sons Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi, with their 

 wives ; Zoram, a servant, and his wife ; in all 

 sixteen persons. They landed on what is now the 

 coast of Chili, in South America. After Lehi's 

 death quarrels broke out among the brothers. The 

 Lord had appointed Nephi to be the ruler of the 

 new race of colonists, but bis jealous elder brothers 

 rebelled, and were cursed by the Almighty for their 

 iniquities, and condemned to have dark skins, this 

 punishment to continue in their posterity. They 

 became ' an idle people, full of mischief and 

 subtlety, which did seek in the wilderness for 

 beasts of prey.' They were known as Lamanites, 

 and, according to the Book of Mormon, were the 

 ancestors of the American Indians. The Nephites 

 became highly civilised and prosperous, were fair 

 and beautiful to look upon, and were greatly 

 blessed of the Lord, though often ungrateful for 

 his goodness. Both Nephites and Lamanites 

 increased and multiplied, but were almost con- 

 tinually at war with each other. About the time 

 of the Crucifixion, awful earthquakes, darkness, 

 and destruction announced that event. Shortly 

 afterwards Christ himself appeared out of heaven 

 to the more righteous Nephites. He showed them 

 his wounded side and the print of the nails in his 

 hands and feet, instructed them in the truths 

 of his gospel, healed the sick, blessed chil- 

 dren, administered the sacrament, chose twelve 

 apostles, and gave them power to found his church 

 with the same orders of priesthood, the same 

 ordinances, gifts, powers, and blessings as in the 

 Old World. After a prolonged season of peace, 

 the result of the spread of the work of Christ, 

 which at one time was received by both Nephites 

 and Lamanites, hostilities between the two races 

 were resumed, gradually the purity of their faith 

 declined, and finally, about the year 385 A. D., 

 a decisive conflict, similar to that which had 

 destroyed the Jaredites in the same locality, took 

 place near the hill Cuniorah, where the Nephites 

 were almost totally annihilated. The Lamanites 

 remained a dark and benighted race, to people 

 the waste of ruin, and faintly perpetuate in their 

 customs and traditions the story of the illus- 

 trious past. Shortly before the battle of Cuniorah, 

 a Nephite prophet named Mormon had been 

 commissioned of God to write an abridgment of 

 the history of his people, from the records kept 

 by their various prophets and rulers, to be hidden 

 in the earth till God should see lit to bring it 

 forth and ' unite it with the Bible for the accom- 

 plishment of his purposes in the last days.' This 

 abridgment, written upon golden plates, was con- 

 cealed in the hill by Moroni, a son of Mormon, and 

 one of the survivors of the battle of Cuniorah. He 

 it was who appeared as an angel to Joseph Smith 

 and told him where the plates were deposited. 

 Such is the famous Book of Mormon, believed by 

 the Latter-day Saints ( hence called Mormons and 

 Mornionites) to be of equal authority with the 

 Jewish and Christian scriptures, and to form an 

 indispensable supplement to them, containing 

 God's revelations to the New, as the others to the 

 Old World. 



The work being published, attention was speedily 

 drawn to it. The opponents of the Saints alleged 

 that it was made up from a romance written by a 

 quondam clergyman named Solomon Spaulding 

 (1761-1816). This the Mormons emphatically 

 deny, and the discovery of the original MS. of 

 that romance by President Fairchild of Oberlin 

 College, 1884, corroborates their denial. Un- 

 deterred by ridicule and hostility, the Mormon 

 prophet and his associates declared that tho 



