It is written somewhere in this book—the Bible—that "in the mouth of
two or three witnesses every word shall be established." These words
were recorded in the law of Moses, and referred to by our Savior, but
in what part of the Evangelists they are recorded I do not remember.
They occurred to my mind just as I rose to my feet. It seems to have
been the method in which God has dealt with the children of men, ever
since they have had an existence on the earth, to reveal certain
principles, and to confirm them by as many witnesses as seemed proper
to him.
Our Father, the Creator of this earth, has power, if he saw proper to
do so, to give a vast amount of evidence to the children of men,
concerning the divinity of a message which he might at any time offer
to them. It would be a very easy matter, if he saw proper to do so, to
inscribe, in the very heavens, in letters of light, testimony and
evidence which would be so conspicuous, and powerful, and plain, and
easy to be understood, that all the nations, languages, kindreds and
tongues upon our globe would know the truth at once, and have no
misgivings about the matter. But the Lord has not seen proper thus to
deal with the hu man family. He seems to require, in the first place,
faith on good, sound, substantial evidence, instead of imparting
knowledge at once.
There is a great difference between faith and knowledge. I am told
that there is such a country as China on the eastern borders of Asia;
but I never have been there; I never have seen that country; I cannot
say, most positively, that such a country exists, only on the
testimony of others I am informed that such is the case. I believe
that testimony, but it is not a perfect knowledge to my own mind,
obtained by my own experience. And so in regard to ten thousand other
facts or events. We are in many, indeed in almost all, instances
required to believe without a knowledge. The judge who sits in a court
of justice to decide upon the liberties and lives of his
fellow beings, does not decide from a knowledge; but from the
testimony and evidence presented before him he pronounces sentence of
imprisonment or death, because the evidence is sufficient to bear him
out in passing such a sentence.
A person cannot be a witness to that which he merely believes. God
requires mankind, or certain individuals among mankind, to be wit nesses for him—witnesses of his existence—so that they can
bear testimony to others. It is important and necessary that they
should have a knowledge of the things whereof this testimony is given;
hence, in some few cases among the inhabitants of our globe, there
have been men raised up to whom there has been a knowledge imparted
almost immediately, and they knew, most perfectly, concerning the
things which they were to communicate to their fellow beings. They
were true witnesses, and on their evidence and testimony the world
have been condemned, and will be judged in the great judgment day. For
instance, the Lord our God has revealed a system or plan of salvation
to the human family, requiring all men to repent of their sins, turn
away from everything that is evil, reform their lives, and to believe
in Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world, who died to atone for the
sins of mankind; to believe in his Father as the great Supreme Being,
the Creator of all things; to believe in that which God has ordained,
pertaining to the Gospel, that is intended for the salvation of
mankind, such as the ordinances of baptism, and confirmation by the
laying on of hands, and the administration of the Lord's Supper. All
these are principles and ordinances which God has revealed to the
children of men, making known to certain individuals that these are
divine, and commanding them to go and bear testimony thereof unto
others. Now, when a man stands up before an audience and says, with
all boldness and with all humility, that God exists, the question
might arise—"How do you know that he exists?" In reply, he says to his
audience, "He exists because the Bible speaks of it, the works of
Nature declare that there must be a Supreme Being, the wisdom that is
manifested in the works of creation show forth his attributes—his
goodness, his wisdom, and the adaptation of the various principles in
nature to other principles, show that there must have been an all-wise
Designer." "But," inquires an individual, of the speaker, "do you know
anything about this being of whom you say the works of nature declare
his attributes, and can you tell us whether he is a personal being, or
a widely diffused spirit that exists throughout all nature?" If he
cannot bear any other testimony than this, merely referring to the Bible
or the works of Nature, his hearers can say, "We have the same
evidence ourselves, and your testimony is no better than ours." But if
he stands forth as a servant of the Most High God, and declares that
he knows God exists, because he has received a revelation to that
effect, God has spoken to him, and his eyes have been opened to behold
his person and his glory, and that he has heard his voice, then that
man's testimony is greater than the testimony of those who depend
merely upon what God has said in past ages, written in the Bible, and
greater than that which arises from beholding the beauty, glory,
simplicity and wisdom that characterize the works of Nature. Such a
testimony, as I have named, where a person can bear testimony to what
his eyes have seen, and to what his ears have heard, concerning the
Almighty, to what God has revealed to him, will condemn the world.
Persons may pretend to be God's witnesses, and preach fifty, sixty, or
four score years in the ears of the people; but if they have never
received this testimony, their evidence will be of no effect in the
day of judgment. I have heard, in the course of my life, a great many
Christian ministers of different deno minations, many of them
no doubt sincere, say to their congregations, "I will be a swift
witness against you in the day of judgment." Ask these Christian
ministers, "Have you ever received a revelation from God yourself?"
"Oh no." "Has God ever spoken to you?" "Oh no." "Have you ever had a
heavenly vision?" "Oh no." "Has the Holy Ghost given you a new
revelation?" "Not at all." "When did God last speak to the human
family?" Says the Christian minister, "He has said nothing for about
eighteen hundred years; the last he said or spoke to the human family
is recorded in the New Testament." Such a minister might preach all
the days of his life, and so far as his evidence or testimony is
concerned, it would not condemn a solitary individual. Such men are
not witnesses for God. He never sent them, he never spoke to or
revealed anything through them; they have never seen his face or heard
his voice, consequently they know no more about him than the people in
the congregation to whom they are speaking. When, therefore, we speak,
in the language of our text, that "in the mouth of two or three
witnesses every word shall be established;" when these witnesses are
divine witnesses, sent forth to bear testimony of divine things, they
must have a knowledge of those things; not merely a faith, not a
speculative idea or opinion, but they must know, just as well as they
know concerning their own existence, of the things about which they
speak, and of which they bear testimony to the people. Then in the
great judgment day God will say to that people, "Did I not declare my
words unto you by my messengers whom I sent unto you, to whom I
revealed myself, and who had a knowledge of the things they bore
testi mony of?" And that will condemn the people.
In order to apply this to one particular subject, which now occurs to
my mind, I will take the Book of Mormon, for instance. This book
professes to be a divine revelation; it professes to be the writings
of a succession of ancient Prophets, the same as the Bible contains
the revelations and writings given in different ages to inspired men;
and while the Bible contains the writings of inspired men who lived on
the eastern hemisphere, the Book of Mormon professes to be the
writings of inspired men who lived in ancient times on the western
hemisphere. One is called, if we may so speak, the Bible of the East;
the other may be termed, with great propriety, the Bible of the West,
both of them being of the highest antiquity.
Now, if these books are divine, what evidence is necessary to convince
us of that fact? If the Book of Mormon is really a divine revelation,
containing the writings of ancient Prophets who dwelt on this American
continent before and after Christ, it is important that every man and
woman in the four quarters of the earth should understand this; for if
it be the word of the Lord, we shall be judged out of the Book of
Mormon as much as out of the eastern Bible. If it be not a divine
record and not the word of the Lord, it is absolutely necessary that
we should know it, in order that we may reject it, and reject it
understandingly. Take it either way, then, whether it is or is not a
revelation from God, it is equally important that we should know it.
Now what evidence have we that the Book of Mormon is a divine
revelation? I will bring forth some evidence upon this subject. Before
this book was permitted to be presented to the inhabitants of
the earth, the Lord raised up witnesses. Before it was printed, in the
year 1829, three witnesses were raised up to bear testimony to it.
Now, how could these witnesses get a knowledge that this book was
divine? Were they merely told that it was so by the Prophet Joseph
Smith, who translated the book from the metallic plates that were
taken out of a certain hill in the State of New York? Was this all the
information they had before they commenced bearing testimony to the
world of the divinity of the book? If this was all, then all who knew
Joseph Smith might be witnesses. But we are told in the forepart of
the book the nature of their evidence and testimony. We are told that
David Whitmer, Martin Harris and Oliver Cowdery, in the year 1829,
before this book was published, saw an angel of God come down from
heaven, and take the plates from which it was translated, and he
exhibited them before the eyes of these three men, turning them over
leaf after leaf. They saw the angel descend; they saw his glorious
personage; they beheld the light and glory of his countenance; they
saw the plates in his hands, and they saw the engravings upon the
pages of these plates. While the angel was doing this before them,
they heard a voice in the heavens, declaring unto them that the plates
had been translated correctly, and commanding them to bear testimony
of it to all nations, kindreds, tongues and people to whom this work
should be sent. They accordingly have prefixed their testimony to this
book, which those who obtain the book can read at their leisure; we
have not time on this occasion to read it.
What greater testimony concerning the ministering of angels has any
person ever given to the human fa mily, than the one I have named? We
read about angels ministering in ancient times on various occasions,
and for certain purposes—sometimes appearing in great glory, and
sometimes withholding their glory. Hence it is written by one of the
Apostles—"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for some, in so
doing, have entertained angels unawares," showing that angels have
sometimes withheld their glory, and appeared like common men, and that
they have been entertained as such. In other instances their glory was
exhibited before those to whom they revealed themselves, and they bore
testimony to the things they heard from the mouths of their divine
visitants.
A question arises here, Is there any testimony in the Old or New
Testament any more worthy of being received than that of these three
modern witnesses? Do angels live at the present day as they did in
ancient times? Everyone will say that they still live. Are they the
messengers of the Most High now as they were in ancient times? Yes.
Says one, "We suppose they are subject to the command of God now as
they were in ancient times. Is there anything in the Bible that
indicates that a period or day would come when the ministration of
angels would no longer be necessary? No, not one syllable in all the
Bible that indicates any such thing. To the contrary, we find that the
Apostle Paul, in speaking of angels, says—"Are they not all
ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who shall be
heirs of salvation?" Now, if there be any heirs of salvation on the
earth in the 19th century, why not those ministering spirits be sent
forth to minister for them? And if sent forth, why should they
withhold their glory and their personal presence from those to whom
they administer? Why not reveal themselves as they did in
ancient times, personally and bodily, so that the eye of the
individual to whom they administer may behold them? We can see nothing
whatsoever that indicates, in the least degree, that these privileges
are to be withheld from the children of men. Many, at the present
period, believe the testimony recorded in the Scriptures concerning
the ancient ministrations of beings called angels. They know not why
they believe this, only because it is popular, and it is recorded in
the Bible that they did appear. Ask these persons if they believe in
the ministration of angels at the present time and they will tell you
"no." They cannot give you any reason why they disbelieve in their
ministration now, only it is unpopular. It is popular to believe in
the ministration of angels, anciently, but unpopular to believe in
such a thing in modern times, consequently people go along with the
popular mind and believe in former-day administrations of those
heavenly messengers, but latter-day administrations of the same nature
they reject.
If persons raised up in ancient times had a knowledge, by the
ministration of angels, concerning the message which they communicated
to the human family, and their testimony condemned the generation to
whom they were sent, I ask, will not the same knowledge, communicated
in the same manner, in our day, condemn this generation, inasmuch as
the message is not received? Judge this for yourselves.
When the Book of Mormon was printed, early in the year 1830, with
these witnesses' names attached to it and presented to the human
family, they had the testimony, not only of these three witnesses, but
also the testimony of Joseph Smith, the translator, to the
ministration of angels, and concerning the existence of these plates.
Here then was the mouth of four witnesses, at least, that God gave to
this generation. Besides these four, we have it recorded here that
eight other men, men with whom I am, or was, well acquainted, some of
them are now dead. Eight other persons besides these four, knew of the
existence of the metallic plates, from which the Book of Mormon was
translated. Their testimony is also prefixed to this work, their names
given. They testify that they saw these plates, that they handled them
with their own hands, that they saw the engravings upon the plates;
that they took them in their hands, and that they knew of a surety of
the existence of those plates. They did not bear testimony that they
had seen an angel, but they bore testimony to that which they did
know, namely, the existence of the plates, that Joseph Smith, the
translator, was the person who exhibited the plates to them, and that
the characters or letters contained upon the plates had the appearance
of ancient work and of curious workmanship, and they bear their
testimony in the most positive manner to this thing, declaring in the
closing sentence that they bear testimony of these things, and "we lie
not, God bearing witness of it." Here then is the testimony of twelve
witnesses, four of whom saw an angel of God. Is not this sufficient to
justify the children of men in having faith in the Book of Mormon?
Faith is not a knowledge, but faith is the evidence of things not
seen. Now, I may not have seen the plates, you may not have seen the
plates, but we have the evidence or testimony of things not seen, by a
great number of witnesses who did see them.
"But," says one, "suppose that these witnesses were interested
persons, and they wished to combine together to deceive the children
of men." The same supposition might be made concerning ancient
witnesses, the Twelve Apostles for instance. They were chosen by the
Lord to bear testimony of the Gospel unto all nations, and, with the
exception of Judas, there was not a disinterested person among them,
not even the one appointed to fill the place of Judas; and these men
bore testimony to the most important truths that were ever revealed to
the human family. They did this with a perfect knowledge. The infidel
world will say they were interested witnesses, just the same as the
world say concerning the witnesses of the Book of Mormon. I would not
give much for a witness who was not interested; I would not give much
for the testimony of an individual who would come and say, "I have
seen an angel from God, but yet I am not interested in anything that
he said to me." No, let that man who receives a communication from the
Almighty, and who knows of a surety of the things that he brings forth
and bears testimony of to the world, let him be interested in his
testimony and show to the world by his works that he is an interested
witness.
Says one, "We have some disinterested witnesses with regard to the
truth of the Bible." I deny it, you have not one. You have eight
writers in the New Testament, but were they not all interested
witnesses? Yes. "But," says one, "were there not a great many not
connected with the ancient Church who saw the miracles of Jesus?" If
they did, we have not their testimony, not one. We find it recorded in
the Acts of the Apostles that when Peter and John healed the lame man
who sat at the beautiful gate of the Temple, there was a great
multitude around about who saw this miracle, but have you the testimony
and evidence of anyone of that multitude? No, you have not, no such
evidence or testimony has been handed down to our day. But we have the
testimony of the writer of the Acts of the Apostles that such was the
case. He says so, and we have to believe it on his testimony. So in
regard to the five hundred who saw Jesus after his resurrection. Paul
declares that he was seen of five hundred of the brethren at once. But
has one of those five hundred brethren handed down his testimony to
the 19th century? Not one: it all depends upon the testimony of one
writer. That writer says that five hundred men saw Jesus after his
resurrection. So in regard to all the miracles that are recorded, said
to be wrought by our Lord and Savior; so in regard to all the
miracles, wrought after his ascension into heaven, by his servants and
those who believed in his name. We have only the testimony of eight
witnesses for the truth of the New Testament, and they were all
interested.
Again. We know that there have been persons who have combined together
to deceive their fellow men, and how are we to know whether these
witnesses to the Book of Mormon were men of that class, or whether
they were really witnesses of the things of God? We cannot know it at
first; it is impossible for you and me to know that fact, unless we
obtain our knowledge from heaven. We can believe it, or their
testimony, but we cannot know it, or their testimony. Now the way I
would do, if I were an outsider and really desired to know
whether the Book of Mormon was a divine revelation or not, I should
examine the nature of this evidence which I have referred to, and then
I should examine the contents of the book. If I found the book
contradictory in its history, prophecies or doctrines, I should set
down these twelve witnesses, whose names are prefixed to the book, as
impostors; but if, after a careful perusal of this book, I found no
contradictions or inconsistencies in the prophecies interspersed
through its different parts, if I found that the doctrine was plain
and simple and easy to be understood, and not contradictory, then the
next thing with me would be to compare these prophecies with those in
the Bible, and the doctrines of the Book of Mormon with those of Jesus
and his Apostles. If I found no contradictions between the two
records, but that the same Gospel is taught in both, and that both
contain the same great chain of prophecy in regard to the events of
the latter days, only more fully exemplified and illustrated, perhaps
in different language, in the Book of Mormon from what it is in the
Bible, I should have no evidence whatever to condemn the book, or the
witnesses contained in it.
Furthermore, if I found certain promises in the Book of Mormon, to the
effect that all persons, in all the world, who would receive it, and
the message that God has sent forth by the administration of his
servants, and would repent of their sins, and be baptized by immersion
for the remission of their sins, and have hands laid upon them in
confirmation, should receive the Holy Ghost; inasmuch as I could find
no testimony against the book, but all these things in favor of it, if
I should repent of my sins, there would certainly be no harm in it. If
I should reform my life from every evil, according to the requirements
of the book, there would be no harm in that; if I should go forth and
be baptized, by those having authority, for the remission of sins, I
see no harm in that. If I should have hands laid upon my head, by
those messengers, for the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, I should
see no harm in this outward performance. If I did not receive the
forgiveness of my sins, and did not receive the baptism of fire and
the Holy Ghost, I should think there was no divinity in the book, or
else that there was some fault on my part, one or the other. And if I
examined myself and found that I had sincerely repented of my sins,
that I had lacked nothing on my part, and did really receive the
manifestations of the Holy Ghost, as they did in ancient days, then I
should have a testimony for myself, independently of these twelve
witnesses, and independently of the correctness of the doctrine
contained in the book, as compared with the Bible: independently of
these external evidences, I should have a testimony from God myself,
by the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, that the book was true.
"But," inquires one, "how are we to know when we receive the baptism
of fire and the Holy Ghost?" I think that every person may know this,
for there are certain manifestations that accompany the Holy Ghost,
that are of such a nature that they cannot be mistaken. I will
mention some of them. I do not mean those manifestations we sometimes
hear of under the name of "spirit rappers," "table turners," "writing
mediums," &c., but I mean those genuine, real manifestations,
as recorded in the Bible. To one is given, says Paul to the
Corinthians, the word of Wisdom by the Spirit, to another is given
the word of Knowledge by the Spirit, to another is given the
discerning of spirits by the same Spirit; to another is given the
working of miracles, to another is given the gift of prophecy, to
another is given the healing of the sick, speaking with tongues, the
interpretation of tongues, &c. All these come by the selfsame Spirit,
being given to every man, not to one or two, not merely to the
witnesses, but to every man in the Church, according as the Spirit
will.
Now then, if I receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, or if my brethren
receive it, I should expect that we would receive the manifestations
of these gifts, one receiving one gift and another another, according
to the Bible pattern. If we did not receive these gifts, then we might
doubt that we had received the Holy Spirit. We are commanded in the
Scriptures to try the spirits, for there are many spirits who are gone
abroad into the world who are false spirits. Try them: by what rule?
Try them by the written word, and see if we have the gifts as recorded
in the New Testament. If we have them, we may be assured that the Holy
Ghost has been given to us. For instance, if a person receives the
baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, and the heavens are opened to him
he is not mistaken. If the Lord inspires him to lay hands upon a sick
child or a sick person, and he commands the disease to be removed, he
knows that God is with him, and that he hearkens to the supplications
and prayers which he offers in the name of Jesus in behalf of the
sick. If a person has the vision of his mind opened to behold the
future and to know that which will shortly come to pass, and he sees
these things fulfilled, from time to time, he has every reason to
believe that he has really received the Holy Ghost. So in regard to
speaking in tongues. If an illiterate, uneducated man, who never
understood any language but his mother tongue, is inspired at the very
moment to rise and testify in an unknown tongue and to proclaim the
wonderful works of God, he knows whether his tongue has been used by a
supernatural power, or whether it is merely gibberish out of his own
heart. He knows it very well for himself; and so we might continue
throughout all the gifts mentioned in the Bible. If he beholds angels,
and they descend before him in their glory, and he hears the sound of
their voices, beholds the light of their countenances and the glory
that radiates from their personages, he knows for himself,
consequently this constitutes him a witness as well as those who
proclaimed this Gospel before him.
I will ask the Latter-day Saints—those now sitting before me
throughout this large audience, how did you know that Joseph Smith was
a Prophet of God when you dwelt in England and had never seen the man?
How did you know in Sweden, in Denmark, in Norway, Switzerland, Italy,
Australia and in the various parts of the earth from which you
emigrated? How did you know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God
before you crossed the mighty ocean and came to this land? You learned
this fact by a knowledge imparted to you by the gift and power of the
Holy Ghost in your own native countries. There you have been healed,
and have seen the manifestation of the power of God in healing the
sick from time to time. There you have had the vision of your
minds opened to behold heavenly things. There you have heard the voice
of the Almighty speaking to you by revelation and testifying to you of
the things of heaven. Many of you have experienced those great and
blessed gifts, that are mentioned in the New Testament, before you
emigrated to this land. You came here then, not to obtain a knowledge
of the truth of this work, but because you already had a knowledge of
it, and to be more thoroughly perfected in the ways of God, and to be
taught more fully in the things pertaining to eternal life and
happiness, than you could be in your own lands. Hence you are not
dependent now upon the testimony of two or three witnesses, or upon
the twelve witnesses in the Book of Mormon; but we have a vast cloud
of witnesses raised up among all nations, and kindreds, and tongues,
and people to whom this work has been sent. They are flocking from the
ends of the earth to these mountains, as doves to the windows, all
bearing the same testimony—that God has spoken and that the Book of
Mormon is true, for the Lord has revealed it to them. Moreover, in the
early rise of this Church, the Lord said to his servants—"Go forth and
bear testimony to the Book of Mormon and the doctrines contained
therein, and I will back up your testimony by signs, by the gifts,"
etc. Supposing this promise had not been fulfilled, would there be any
tabernacle in this desert today? Not any at all. Would this desert be
inhabited now by a hundred or a hundred and fifty thousand people? Not
at all. Would there now be a great highway cast up across this
continent from ocean to ocean? Not at all. It is because God has
confirmed the promise that he made to us in the early rise of this
Church, that these great events have been accomplished. No people
would have had the fortitude, courage and enterprise to come fourteen
hundred miles from civilization, so-called, to these mountain wastes
and deserts, to cultivate the land and perform the work that has been
wrought by this people, unless they had a knowledge from heaven,
concerning the truth of this great work. God fulfilled his promise
when he said to his servants—"In the name of Jesus you shall heal the
sick, you shall open the eyes of the blind, you shall unstop the ears
of the deaf." It is because of the fulfillment of this promise, that
you have been gathered and accomplished the work that has been wrought
out herein this country, and because of this stepping stone between
the two great oceans, a halfway house as it were, others have
ventured to come into these mountain wilds, and the Territory and
regions round about are beginning to be settled. Through these
facilities no doubt the railroad has been constructed something like a
quarter of a century sooner than it would have been otherwise.
When we contrast the evidence which we have concerning the divinity of
the Book of Mormon, with the evidence which this generation have of
the Bible, we discern that the Book of Mormon contains a vast amount
of evidence, thousands and thousands of witnesses of its divinity to
where the Christian world have one of the divinity of the Bible. "How
so?" you may inquire. These very Elders and missionaries who have gone
to the nations have kept their journals, and have recorded the
miracles which God has wrought by their hands. These are living
witnesses. Those who saw these miracles are still alive. Now, how many wit nesses have you that miracles were wrought in the days of
our Savior or in the days of his Apostles who succeeded him? You have
no person outside the Church only those who, like Josephus, bore their
testimony from hearsay. Within the Church you have six witnesses.
There are eight writers in the New Testament, but only six of these
eight have borne any testimony concerning the performing of miracles,
but you believe it on their testimony. The Book of Mormon, I presume,
has more than six thousand, if not sixty thousand witnesses to its
divinity and to the miracles that have been wrought in these
latter days. Which is the greatest? Has anyone you have ever seen at
the present day had an angel sent to him, who held up before him the
tables on which the law of Moses was written, commanding him to hear
testimony to the divinity of that law? No: no one in the Christian
world makes any pretension to anything of this kind. Then is not the
testimony in favor of the Book of Mormon superior to that which you
possess in favor of the law of Moses? Yes. We can show you witnesses,
men still living, to whom an angel appeared and told them that the
Book of Mormon was a divine record. The Christian world have no such
evidence as this in favor of the Bible, and they cannot, by any
living witness, substantiate the divinity of the Bible. Moreover, we
have another advantage; the Book of Mormon was translated directly
from the original. Now, have you, either in the Old or New Testaments,
a book that was translated directly from the original? Not one. Is
there one that was translated from a secondhand copy even? Not, one.
I presume there is not a book compiled in the Bible but what went
through many hundreds of transformations before it fell into the
hands of King James' translators. How do you know that these copyists
copied correctly? You have no access to the originals. It is true that
you have Hebrew Bibles, but they are not originals; they are only
copies. They were multiplied, before the art of printing was invented,
for many generations, and the copies that were in possession of King
James' translators had perhaps been handed down through a thousand
other copies of older date, and how can you be sure that they were
correct? We are told by some of our archbishops and learned men, who
have spent their whole lives in collecting copies of ancient
manuscripts from which to translate the Bible, that they at last
despaired of obtaining a correct copy of the work. One archbishop,
mentioned in the Encyclopedias, had collected a vast number of copies
of the Bible in Hebrew, as ancient as he could possibly get hold of
them. But when he came to compare them he found about thirty thousand
different readings. Almost every text would read different in one copy
from what it would in another. Finally, he gave up the idea of making
a translation at all, none of his copies being original; and
consequently when the translators of the English Bible performed that
work they did it according to the best judgment they had, and they no
doubt did it well as far as human wisdom could, under the
circumstances. Now, then, the difference between the Bible of the
West—the Book of Mormon—and the Bible of the East—the Old and New
Testament, is that one was taken directly from the original, the other
from a multitude of manuscripts which differed almost in every text.
It would seem, then, that when God saw the human family in
this great state of uncertainty and darkness with regard to divine
revelation, it would be nothing more than consistent to suppose that
he would bring forth, by his own power, as he has done, revelation
suited and adapted to the circumstances, revelation on which we could
depend, being substantiated by witnesses raised up especially to bear
testimony thereto, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses or as
many as seemed him good, every word might be established, that the
children of men might have no excuse in relation to these matters.
We might continue this subject and show you the fulfillment of many of
the prophecies in the Book of Mormon. It has been printed now for
upwards of forty-three years. During this time very many of the
prophecies it contains have been fulfilled; prophecies, too, that no
human sagacity could have perceived beforehand. Whoever would have
thought that, in this very country of ours, under American
institutions, where religious freedom has prevailed from one end of
the country to the other; who would have thought, when the Book of
Mormon was printed, that the blood of the Saints would cry from the
ground of this free American soil, because of their persecutors? And
yet it was all foretold in the Book of Mormon. Other sects had risen
and multiplied by hundreds on the face of this land, some of whom
experienced a little persecution; but who ever heard of their being
butchered in cold blood as scores and scores of this people have been
since the Book of Mormon was printed? We were told by revelation,
forty-three years ago, when this Church was organized, that its
members would be persecuted, and hunted from city to city and from
synagogue to synagogue, and that the blood of the Saints would cry
from the ground for vengeance upon the heads of their murderers. Has
it come to pass? It has. We were told in the Book of Mormon, which was
printed many years before it came to pass, that, if this nation would
not receive this divine message when God should bring it forth in the
latter days, he would bring the fullness of his Gospel and his
Priesthood from among the nation. We did not know how this would be
fulfilled, during the first seventeen years after the book was
printed. We could read the prophecy, but how God would ever bring it
to pass, we did not know, until the time of its accomplishment had
arrived, then it was revealed that this people should flee and leave
the nation to whom they had delivered their testimony for many years.
When we came here the prophecy was literally fulfilled. Thus we might
go on and relate prophecy after prophecy that has been fulfilled in
confirmation of the divinity of this latter-day work. The same
testimony accompanies the Bible. We believe it to be true because of
the prophecies therein that have been fulfilled.
Many other prophecies contained in the Book of Mormon, hereafter to
be fulfilled, are as great and marvelous as any that have been
fulfilled. One of the prophecies contained in the Book of Mormon,
delivered before there was a Latter-day Saint Church in existence,
which has been remarkably fulfilled, was that the servants of God
should go forth with this book to all nations, kindreds, tongues and
people, and gather out from among those nations a great people. That
has been fulfilled, and the inhabitants of this Territory are
a witness to the truth of this prediction or prophecy. If Joseph Smith
was an impostor, how did he know this work would go beyond his own
neighborhood? How did he know it would ever live to be proclaimed to
the different parts of the State where it originated, or where the
plates were found? How did he know that it would be preached to the
inhabitants of this great government, and then cross the waters, to
other nations, kindreds, peoples and tongues. Such a prophecy uttered
by an impostor, would be very unlikely to come to pass. Yet such a
prophecy was uttered; such a prophecy has been fulfilled, and the
nations of the earth, as well as the Latter-day Saints, are witnesses
to its fulfillment. We have seen this people come forth year after
year, crossing the ocean, first in sailing vessels, then in steamers,
by hundreds and by thousands, until they are now almost a little
nation here in the tops of the mountains. Amen.