Chapter XLII: INTERNAL EVIDENCES--THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY, (Continued.) (1)

The first Nephi, speaking of his people in the fifth century B. C., makes a number of prophecies respecting things that shall take place in the last days, following the coming forth of the scriptures of his people [i. e. the Book of Mormon] to the Gentiles. These predictions are found on one page of the Book of Mormon; and are at once so numerous and of such high import as to make that page unique in prophetic literature. With one exception, viz., the vision of Daniel, recorded in the second chapter of his prophecies, which deals with the succession of the several great earth-empires, I do not believe an equal number of prophecies of such high importance can be found within the whole range of prophetic literature in the same amount of space, and I here reproduce that page as it stands in the current editions of the Book of Mormon:

II NEPHI.

3. And now, I would prophesy somewhat more concerning the Jews and
the Gentiles. For after the book of which I have spoken shall come
forth, and be written unto the Gentiles and sealed up again unto
the Lord, there shall be many which shall believe the words which
are written; and they shall carry them forth unto the remnant of
our seed.

4. And then shall the remnant of our seed know concerning us, how
that we came out from Jerusalem, and that they are descendants of
the Jews.

5. And the gospel of Jesus Christ shall be declared among them;
wherefore, they shall be restored unto the knowledge of their
fathers, and also to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which was had
among their fathers.

6. And then shall they rejoice; for they shall know that it is
a blessing unto them from the hand of God; and their scales
of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and not many
generations shall pass away among them, save they shall be a white
and a delightsome people.

7. And it shall come to pass that the Jews which are scattered,
also shall begin to believe in Christ; and they shall begin to
gather in upon the face of the land; and as many as shall believe
in Christ shall also become a delightsome people.

8. And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall commence his
work among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and peoples, to bring
about the restoration of his people upon the earth.

9. And with righteousness shall the Lord God judge the poor, and
reprove with equity, for the meek of the earth. And he shall smite
the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his
lips shall he slay the wicked;

10. For the time speedily cometh, that the Lord God shall cause a
great division among the people; and the wicked will he destroy:
and he will spare his people, yea, even if it so be that he must
destroy the wicked by fire.

11. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and
faithfulness the girdle of his reins. [1]

A few lines extending on the next page completes the picture of peace and happiness that shall ultimately be diffused over the earth in that day:

12. And then shall the wolf dwell with the lamb, and the leopard
shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and
the fatling, together; and a little child shall lead them.

13. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie
down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

14. And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and
the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den.

15. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for
the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters
cover the sea. [2]

Let us now consider this prophetic page item by item.

I.

_Many Shall Believe the Words of the Book_.

For after the book of which I have spoken [i. e. the Book of
Mormon] shall come forth and be written unto the Gentiles and
sealed up again unto the Lord, there shall be many which shall
believe the words which are written.

Whether this declaration be accredited to the first Nephi, five hundred years B. C., or allowed no other authorship than Joseph Smith, and no greater antiquity than 1830, when the Book of Mormon was published, it is equally prophetic in character. And if it be insisted upon that it had no earlier origin than Joseph Smith's utterance of it, then it becomes all the more remarkable as a prophecy; for by the time it was put forth by him, he had very good reason--human reason--to doubt if the Book of Mormon would be extensively believed, or believed in at all; for by this time such opposition had appeared against it, and such ridicule and derision heaped upon himself and associates; and everywhere there had been such a manifestation of opposition to the forth-coming book, that naturally one would wonder if it would be overwhelmed by a universal ignoring of it. Still there stands the prediction:

There shall be many which shall believe the words which are written.

The only question is, Has it been fulfilled? In answer we have only to point to the present membership of the Church in all the world, say three hundred thousand people. But to the number of those who now believe it, and hold it to be a volume of sacred scripture, there must be added all those who have died in the faith; and again those who once accepted it in their faith and afterwards, by transgression, lost the spirit of the work and departed from the Church; but who, singularly enough, in the majority of cases, still continued to assert their faith in the truth of the Book of Mormon. And then to all those numbers there must be added that still greater number of people who have been brought to a belief in the Book of Mormon, but who have not had sufficient moral courage to forfeit their good standing among their fellows, and make other sacrifices involved in a public profession of their faith.

Let the numbers of these several classes be added together and beyond question the prophecy has been fulfilled. Many have believed in the Nephite scriptures.

As a further instance of the wide acceptation of the Book of Mormon, it should be mentioned that it has passed through many editions in the English language, both in America and England; and has also been translated into and published in the following languages: French, German, Danish, Italian, Dutch, Welch, Swedish, Spanish, Hawaiian, Maori, Greek and Japanese.

II.

_The Book of Mormon to be Taken to the American Indians--"and They Shall Rejoice_."

Following the declaration that "many shall believe the words which are written" is the statement, "and they shall carry them forth [the words of the ancient Nephites] unto the remnant of our seed." That is to the remnant of the seed of Lehi, the American Indians. And then follows this:

And then shall the remnant of our seed know concerning us, how that
we came out from Jerusalem, and that they are descendants of the
Jews. [3]

And the gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be declared among them,
wherefore, they shall be restored unto the knowledge of their
fathers, and also to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which was had
among their fathers.

And then shall they rejoice; for they shall know that it is a
blessing unto them from the hand of God; and their scales of
darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations
shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a white and
delightsome people.

Here we stand in the midst of prophecies. By which I mean that some of the predictions have been fulfilled, and others are yet to be fulfilled in the future, and involve the coming to pass of very remarkable events. Before calling attention to the parts that have been fulfilled I cite the prophecies under this subdivision as evidence against the claim that is sometimes made against the Book of Mormon, that all its prophetic parts end about the time the Book of Mormon came forth, viz., in 1830. The prophecies that many shall believe the book; that they shall carry its messages to the American Indians; that the Indians shall rejoice in the things the book makes known to them; that not many generations from that time the Indians shall become "a white and delightsome people"--as also indeed the prophecies relating to the Jews--all concern events that are to take place subsequent to the year 1830.

But now to take up the several prophecies being treated together under this sub-title II.

The "many" who believe the Book of Mormon, according to the prophecy, are to carry it forth unto the remnant of Lehi's people, the American Indians. It is notorious that they have done so. The Church had been organized but six months when in fulfillment of a divine appointment [4] a mission was sent to the Lamanites consisting of Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer, Jun., Parley P. Pratt, and Ziba Peterson. On returning from that mission Elder Pratt, after recounting their travels through the western states of the American Union, gives the following summary of what was done: "Thus ended our first mission in which we had preached the Gospel in its fulness and distributed the records of their forefathers among three tribes, viz., the Catteraugus Indians, near Buffalo, N. Y.; the Wyandots, of Ohio; and the Delawares, west of the Missouri." [5]

Since that time numerous missions have been undertaken among the Indians which have met with more or less success. Since the Church has been located in the Rocky Mountains various tribes have been visited by the Apostles and other Elders, and some success has been attained in colonizing Indians and teaching them the ways and arts of civilization. Some success has also attended the preaching of the Gospel among the natives in Mexico; and similar efforts, though as yet unfruitful, have been made in some of the states of Central America. It is more than likely that the Sandwich Islanders are descendants of Nephite colonists who went from America to the Hawaiian Islands, about the time of Hagoth's migrations in ships from the shores of the land Bountiful--near where the isthmus of Panama joins the South American continent. Their traditions and racial peculiarities all favor this view; and if our supposition be true, then the success of preaching the gospel to the descendants of the Nephites has been considerably augmented, for a number of thousands of these islanders have embraced the gospel, some of whom have gathered to the stakes of Zion, and others have been established in a prosperous colony in their own land.

While success in bringing the native American race to a knowledge of their forefathers and an acceptance of the written work of God revealed to their forefathers has been limited, yet it has been sufficiently extensive to fulfill the terms of the Book of Mormon prophecies, and certainly sufficient to create the most sanguine belief in a further fulfillment of it.

"Then shall they rejoice." This declaration, of course, indicates that the native American races would believe the message of the Book of Mormon; and so indeed they have, as is witnessed by the fact of many of them joining the Church of the Latter-day Saints.

In his account of the first mission to the Indians, Elder Parley P. Pratt gives the substance of an address of Oliver Cowdery's to the chief of the Delaware tribe of Indians, and the leading men of the tribe, who had assembled to hear the message which the missionaries had to deliver; Elder Pratt also gives the substance of the chief's reply, in which the latter especially expresses his gladness [6] at the message delivered to them. Elder Pratt represents the Chief as saying:

We feel truly thankful to our white friends who have come so far
and been at such pains to tell us good news, and especially this
new news concerning the Book of our forefathers; it makes us glad
in here"--placing his hand on his heart. "It is now winter; we
are new settlers in this place; the snow is deep; our cattle and
horses are dying; our wigwams are poor; we have much to do in the
spring--to build houses and fence and make farms; but we will build
a council house and meet together, and you shall read to us and
teach us more concerning the Book of our fathers, and the will of
the Great Spirit. [7]

During the sojourn of the Church at Nauvoo representatives of several tribes of Indians called upon the Prophet Joseph from time to time. One notable instance was the visit of a number of Pottawatamie chiefs in the summer of 1843, of which visit the Prophet in his journal gives the following brief account:

I had an interview with several Pottawatamie chiefs, who came to
see me during my absence. [8]

Elder Woodruff's journal gives the following more elaborate account of this event:

The Indian chiefs remained at Nauvoo until the Prophet returned
and had his trial. During their stay they had a talk with Hyrum
Smith, in the basement of the Nauvoo House. Wilford Woodruff and
some others were present. They were not free to talk, and did not
wish to communicate their feelings until they could see the great
Prophet.

At length, on the 2nd day of July, 1843, President Joseph Smith
and several of the Twelve met those chiefs in the courtroom with
about thirty of the Elders. The following is a synopsis of the
conversation which took place as given by the interpreter:

The Indian orator arose and asked the Prophet if the men who were
present were all his friends. Answer, "Yes."

He then said: "As a people we have long been distressed and
oppressed. We have been driven from our lands many times. We have
been wasted away by wars, until there are but few of us left. The
white man has hated us and shed our blood, until it has appeared
as though there would soon be no Indians left. We have talked with
the Great Spirit, and the Great Spirit has talked with us. We have
asked the Great Spirit to save us and let us live, and the Great
Spirit has told us that he had raised up a great Prophet, chief,
and friend, who would do us great good and tell us what to do; and
the Great Spirit has told us that you are the man (pointing to the
Prophet Joseph). We have now come a great way to see you, and hear
your words, and to have you tell us what to do. Our horses have
become poor traveling, and we are hungry. We will now wait and hear
your words."

The Spirit of God rested upon the Lamanites, especially [upon]
the orator. Joseph was much affected and shed tears. He arose and
said unto them: "I have heard your words. They are true. The Great
Spirit has told you the truth. I am your friend and brother, and I
wish to do you good. Your fathers were once a great people. They
worshiped the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit did them good. He was
their friend; but they left the Great Spirit, and would not hear
his words or keep them. The Great Spirit left them, and they began
to kill one another, and they have been poor and afflicted until
now.

"The Great Spirit has given me a book, and told me that you will
soon be blessed again. The Great Spirit will soon begin to talk
with you and your children. This is the book which your fathers
made. I wrote upon it (showing them the Book of Mormon). This tells
me what you will have to do. I now want you to begin to pray to the
Great Spirit. I want you to make peace with one another, and do not
kill any more Indians; it is not good. Do not kill white men; it is
not good; but ask the Great Spirit for what you want, and it will
not be long before the Great Spirit will bless you, and you will
cultivate the earth and build good houses, like white men. We will
give you something to eat and [something] to take home with you."

When the Prophet's words were interpreted to the chiefs, they all
said it was good. The chief asked, "How many moons it would be
before the Great Spirit would bless them?" He [the Prophet] told
them, "Not a great many."

At the close of the interview, Joseph had an ox killed for them,
and they were furnished with some more horses, and they went home
satisfied and contented. [9]

One other thing in these several prophecies should be observed, the very emphatic implication that the native American race will persist. The prevailing idea, however, is quite to the contrary. I may say it is the universal opinion that the native American race is doomed to extinction; and, in fact, that it is now on the high way to that finality. Against such general opinion, however, the Book of Mormon utters the surprising declaration not only that the American race shall not become extinct, but that fallen as its fortunes are, and degraded as it is, yet shall it become, and that before many generations pass away, "a white and delightsome people!" Than this declaration I can think of nothing more boldly prophetic, nor of any inspired utterance which so squarely sets itself against all that is accepted as the probabilities in the case. But with complete confidence we await the time of the fulfillment of God's decree; of its signal triumph over the opinions of men.

III.

_The Jews Shall Begin to Believe in Christ, and to Gather_.

And it shall come to pass that the Jews which are scattered also
shall begin to believe in Christ; and they shall begin to gather in
upon the face of the land; and as many as shall believe in Christ
shall also become a delightsome people.

There was nothing in the affairs of the Jews in the early decades of the 19th century that would lead any one to suppose that there was to be any marked change in the sentiments of that people towards Jesus of Nazareth; or that the time had come when there would be any disposition on their part to assemble upon the land of their forefathers--which is evidently meant by part of the prophecy just quoted. Yet the prophecy immediately before us makes both these astounding predictions; and, what is more to the point, both are now in progress of fulfillment. First let us consider the change which the Jewish mind is undergoing respecting Jesus of Nazareth.

To show the sentiment quite prevalent among the Jews during the life time of the Prophet Joseph, and to show that he was quite aware of its existence, I quote an entry from his journal under date of May, 1839.

"Tuesday, May 21, 1839.--To show the feeling of that long scattered branch of the House of Israel, the Jews, I here quote a letter written by one of their number, on hearing that his son had embraced Christianity:

RABBI LANDAU'S LETTERS TO HIS SON.

Breslau, May 21st, 1839. My Dear Son--I received the letter of the
Berlin Rabbi, and when I read it there ran tears out of my eyes in
torrents; my inward parts shook, my heart became as a stone! Now do
you not know that the Lord sent me already many hard tribulations?
That many sorrows do vex me? But this new harm which you are about
to inflict makes me forget all the former, does horribly surpass
them; as well respecting its sharpness as its stings! I write you
lying on my bed, because my body is embraced not less than my
soul, at the report that you were about to do something which I had
not expected from you. I fainted; my nerves and feelings sank, and
only by the help of a physician, for whom I sent immediately, am I
able to write these lines to you with a trembling hand.

Alas! you, my son, whom I have bred, nourished and fostered; whom I
have strengthened spiritually as well as bodily, you will commit a
crime on me! Do not shed the innocent blood of your parents, for no
harm have we inflicted upon you; we are not conscious of any guilt
against you, but at all times we thought it our duty to show to
you, our first born, all love and goodnesss. I though I should have
some cheering account of you, but, alas! how terribly I have been
disappointed!

But to be short; your outward circumstances are such that you
may finish your study or [suffer] pain. Do you think that the
Christians, to whom you will go over by changing your religion,
will support you and fill up the place of our fellow believers? Do
not imagine that your outward reasons, therefore, if you have any,
are nothing. But out of true persuasion, you will, as I think, not
change our true and holy doctrine, for that deceitful, untrue and
perverse doctrine of Christianity.

What! will you give us a pearl for that which is nothing, which
is of no value in itself? But you are light-minded; think of the
last judgment; of that day when the books will be opened and hidden
things will be made manifest; of that day when death will approach
you in a narrow pass; when you cannot go out of the way! Think of
your death bed, from which you will not rise any more, but from
which you be called before the judgment seat of the Lord!

Do you not know, have you not heard, that there is over you an
all-hearing ear and an all-seeing eye? That all your deeds will be
written in a book and judged hereafter? Who shall then assist you
when the Lord will ask you with a thundering voice, Why hast thou
forsaken that holy law which shall have an eternal value; which was
given by my servant Moses, and no man shall change it? Why hast
thou forsaken that law, and accepted instead of it lying and vanity?

Come, therefore, again to yourself, my son! remove your bad and
wicked counselors; follow my advice, and the Lord will be with you!
Your tender father must conclude because of weeping.

A. L. LANDAU, Rabbi.

That the sentiments of this letter respecting Jesus and Christianity are not peculiar to Rabbi Landau, but are representative of the sentiments of the Hebrew race at that time, I may quote the words of Dr. Isadore Singer, editor of the "Jewish Encyclopaedia," written in a letter to George Croly, author of "Tarry Thou Till I Come"--a version really of the legend of the "Wandering Jew" published in 1901. The letter here quoted was received from Dr. Singer in reply to one from the author of "Tarry Thou," asking the question, "What is the Jewish thought today of Jesus of Nazareth?" Dr. Singer, answered:

I regard Jesus of Nazareth as a Jew of the Jews, one whom all
Jewish people are learning to love. His teaching has been an
immense service to the world in bringing Israel's God to the
knowledge of hundreds of millions of mankind. The great change
in Jewish thought concerning Jesus of Nazareth, I cannot better
illustrate than by this fact:

When I was a boy, had my father, who was a very pious man, heard
the name of Jesus uttered from the pulpit of our synagogue, he and
every other man in the congregation would have left the building,
and the rabbi would have been dismissed at once. Now, it is not
strange, in many synagogues, to hear sermons preached eulogistic of
this Jesus, and nobody thinks of protesting--in fact, we are all
glad to claim Jesus as one of our people.

ISADORE SINGER. New York, March 25, 1901.

The question submitted by Mr. Croly to Jewish theologians, historians and orientalists resulted in quite a large collection of Jewish opinions of Christ, all of which are published in the appendix of "Tarry Thou;" and of which the following communications are thoroughly characteristic:

The Jew of today beholds in Jesus an inspiring ideal of matchless
beauty. While he lacks the element of stern justice expressed
so forcibly in the law and in the Old Testament characters, the
firmness of self-assertion so necessary to the full development of
manhood, all those social qualities which build up the home and
society, industry and worldly progress, he is the unique exponent
of the principle of redeeming love. His name as helper of the poor,
as sympathizing friend of the fallen, as brother of every fellow
sufferer, as lover of man and redeemer of woman, has become the
inspiration, the symbol and the watchword for the world's greatest
achievements in the field of benevolence. While continuing the work
of the synagogue, the Christian church with the larger means at her
disposal created those institutions of charity and redeeming love
that accomplished wondrous things. The very sign of the cross has
lent a new meaning, a holier pathos to suffering, sickness and sin,
so as to offer new practical solutions for the great problems of
evil which fill the human heart with new joys of self-sacrificing
love.

KAUFMAN KOHLER, Ph. D., Rabbi of Temple Beth-El.

If the Jews up to the present time have not publicly rendered
homage to the sublime beauty of the figure of Jesus, it is because
their tormentors have always persecuted, tortured, assassinated
them in his name. The Jews have drawn their conclusions from the
disciples as to the Master, which was wrong, a wrong pardonable
in the eternal victims of the implacable, cruel hatred of those
who called themselves Christians. Every time that a Jew mounted to
the sources and contemplated Christ alone, without his pretended
faithful, he cried with tenderness and admiration: "Putting aside
the Messianic mission, this man is ours. He honors our race and we
claim him as we claim the gospels--flowers of Jewish literature and
only Jewish."

MAX NORDAU, M. D., Critic and Philosopher. Paris, France.

The Jews of every shade of religious belief do not regard Jesus
in the light of Paul's theology. But the gospel of Jesus, the
Jesus who teaches so superbly the principles of Jewish ethics, is
revered by all the expounders of Judaism. His words are studied;
the New Testament forms a part of Jewish literature. Among the
great preceptors that have worded the truths of which Judaism is
the historical guardian, none, in our estimation and esteem, takes
precedence of the rabbi of Nazareth. To impute to us suspicious
sentiments concerning him does us gross injustice. We know him to
be among our greatest and purest.

EMIL G. HIRSCH, Ph. D., LL. D., L. H. D. Rabbi of Sinai
Congregation, Professor of Rabbinical Literature in Chicago
University, Chicago, Ill., January 26, 1901.

Later, viz. 1905, Dr. Isadore Singer, himself made such a collection of Jewish opinions on Jesus, which were published by the "New York Sun," and of which the following are typical:

It is commonly said that the Jews reject Jesus. They did so
in the sense in which they rejected the teachings of their
earlier prophets, but the question may be pertinently asked, Has
Christianity accepted Jesus? The long hoped-for reconciliation
between Judaism and Christianity will come when once the teachings
of Jesus shall have become the axioms of human conduct.

DR. MORRIS JASTROW, Professor of Semitic Languages in the
University of Pennsylvania.

I look upon him as a great teacher and reformer, one who aimed
at the uplifting of suffering humanity, whose every motive was
kindness, mercy, charity, and justice, and if his wise teaching and
example have not always been followed the blame should not be his,
but rather those who have claimed to be his followers.

SIMON WOLF, President of the Independent Order B'nia B'rith.

If he had added to their [the Jewish prophets'] spiritual bequests
new jewels of religious truth, and spoken words which are words of
life because they touch the deepest springs of the human heart, why
should we Jews not glory in him? The crown of thorns on his head
makes him only the more our brother, for to this day it is borne by
his people. Were he alive today who, think you, would be nearer his
heart--the persecuted or the persecutors?

DR. GUSTAV GOTTHEIL

The foregoing sentiments do not indicate the acceptance of Jesus by the Jews at his full value as the Messiah, or as the express revelation of God to man, or as God manifested in the flesh; but they do give evidence of a very marked change of sentiment among the Jews toward Jesus of Nazareth--and surely mark a "beginning" of belief in Christ, which has but to enlarge to become an acceptance of him as Messiah, so long expected by their race; and surely they indicate in quite a remarkable manner the _beginning_ of the fulfillment of the part of the prophecy here being considered, that declares that "the Jews which are scattered shall also _begin_ to believe in Christ."

Moreover some few families of Jews have believed the gospel as presented by the elders of the Church in this dispensation, and are identified with the Latter-day Saints; among them Alexander Neibaur, who joined the Church in England in 1840. He afterwards emigrated to Nauvoo, and the family came with the saints to Utah. Several of his sons and grand-sons have filled honorable missions for the Church in preaching the gospel. He is the author of the following well known hymn, published in the "Times and Seasons," in May, 1841:

Come, thou glorious day of promise,
Come and spread thy cheerful ray;
When the scattered sheep of Israel
Shall no longer go astray;
When Hosannas
With united voice they cry.

Lord, how long wilt thou be angry?
Shall thy wrath for ever burn?
Rise, redeem thine ancient people,
Their transgressions from them turn.
King of Israel,
Come and set thy people free.

O that soon thou would'st to Jacob
Thine enliv'ning spirit send;
Of their unbelief and misery
Make, O Lord, a speedy end.
Lord, Messiah,
Prince of Peace, o'er Israel reign.

Glory, honour, praise and power,
Be unto the Lamb for ever;
Jesus Christ is our Redeemer,
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Praise ye the Lord!
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord.

Again:

And the Jews which are scattered * * * shall begin to gather in
upon the face of the land.

Of course the idea that the Jews will sometime be gathered to the lands possessed by their forefathers is no new thought. It is not presented here as such. The Old Testament scriptures are full of predictions concerning the return of the Jews to Palestine of which the following are samples:

And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and
they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them. [10]

The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. [11]

For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God; the Lord they
God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all
people that are upon the face of the earth. [12]

The Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and
shall choose Jerusalem again. [13]

For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob and will yet choose Israel,
and set them in their own land. [14]

Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will take the children of Israel
from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them
on every side, and bring them into their own land; and I will
make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel;
and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more
two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any
more at all: * * * and David, my servant, shall be king over them;
and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my
judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. * * * Moreover I
will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting
covenant with them: and I will place them and multiply them,
and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My
tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and
they shall be my people. [15]

The fulfillment of these predictions has been the hope of scattered Israel, and from time to time societies have been formed to keep alive such hope as the promises inspired. It may be thought that said Jewish societies have accomplished but little. But really that little was much. They nourished in secret and through ages of darkness that spark of hope, the fire of which, when touched by the breath of God shall burst forth into a flame that not all the world shall be able to stay. These efforts in the past have made possible a larger movement which is now attracting the attention of the world, known as the "Zionite Movement." In reality this is but the federation of all Jewish societies that have had for their purpose the realization of the hopes of scattered Israel.

The Zionite movement proper, however, may be said to have arisen within very recent years, since it was in 1896 that it held its first general conference. This at Basel, Switzerland, in August 1896. Since then its conferences have been held annually and have steadily increased both in interest and the number of delegates representing various Jewish societies until now (1905) it takes on the appearance of one of the world's great movements. It is not so much a religious movement as a racial one; for prominent Jews of all shades of both political and religious opinions have participated in it. After saying through so many centuries at the feast of the Pass Over, "May we celebrate the next Pass Over in Jerusalem," the thought seemed to have occurred to some Jewish minds that if that hope was ever to be realized some practical steps must be taken looking to the actual achievement of the possibility--hence the "Zionite Movement."

The keynotes of that movement are heard in the following utterances of some of the Jewish leaders in explanation of it:

We want to resume the broken thread of our national existence; we
want to show to the world the moral strength, the intellectual
power of the Jewish people. We want a place where the race can be
centralized.

LEON ZOLTOKOFF.

It tries to restore the old solidarity, the old unity, of Israel;
not with a view to any mere monetary aggrandizement, but for the
purpose of securing the right and the opportunity for the Jews to
live and to develop. It believes that this is possible only if
there is some spot on earth which the Jews can call their own, and
which can be a place of refuge, legally secured by international
obligations, to which the oppressed of Israel may flee whenever
necessity arises.

RICHARD J. H. GOTTHEIL.

It is for these Jews (of Russia, Roumania and Galicia) that the
name of their country (Palestine) spells "Hope." I should not be a
man if I did not realize that for these persecuted Jews, Jerusalem
spells reason, justice, manhood and liberty.

RABBI EMIL G. HIRSCH.

Jewish nationalism on a modern basis in Palestine, the old home of
the people.

MAX NORDAU.

Palestine needs a people; Israel needs a country. Give the country
without a people to the people without a country.

ISRAEL ZANGWILL.

To find for the Jews a legally established home in Palestine.

BASEL PLATFORM.

In a word, it is the purpose of "Zionism" to redeem Palestine, and give it back to Jewish control, create, in fact, a Jewish state in the land promised to their fathers.

A few years ago negotiations were entered into with the Sultan of Turkey, within whose political dominions Palestine is included, for the purchase of the Holy Land for the Jews, and some announcements in the press by Dr. Herzel, of Austria, just previous to the assembling of the Zion conference in 1902, for a time justified the high hopes that were entertained of securing the promised land by purchase. These hopes, however, were doomed to disappointment by reason of a sudden change coming over the ruler of Turkey with reference to the matter. It is more than likely that his advisors persuaded him that the establishment of a Jewish state under his suzerainty would be adding one more perplexing feature in the administration of that heterogeneous collection of such states which already constitute the loose-jointed empire over which the Sultan presides, by the sufferance of the European powers. The matter of the Sultan's present refusal to grant, or sell Palestine to Jews is not a serious difficulty in the progress of such a wide spread movement as Zionism, however, for ere now the Lord has changed the hearts of rulers in order to bring to pass his great purposes, and may do so again. So Israel Zangwill, one of the most enthusiastic leaders in the movement, views that subject; and in like spirit also he views the difficulty of obtaining the necessary millions to purchase the land. On this subject he says:

It matters little that the Zionists could not pay the millions,
if suddenly called upon. They have collected not two and a half
million dollars. But there are millions enough to come to the
rescue once the charter was dangled before the Zionists. It is
not likely that the Rothschilds would see themselves ousted from
their family headship in authority and well-doing. Nor would the
millions left by Baron Hirsch be altogether withheld. The sultan's
present refusal is equally unimportant, because a national policy
is independent of transcient moods and transcient rulers. The only
aspect that really matters is whether Israel's face be or be not
set steadily Zionward--for decades, and even for centuries.

An interesting feature at the last Zion conference held in August of 1904, was the tender by the British foreign minister, Lord Landsdowne, on behalf of the British government of a tract of fertile territory in Uganda, British East Africa, for the establishment of the Jewish colony. It is an elevated tract of country extending some two hundred miles along the Uganda railway, between Man and Nairobi. It is said to be well watered, fertile, cool, covered with noble forests, almost uninhabited and as healthful for Europeans as Great Britain. This tender on the part of the British government was a cause of some confusion in the Basle conference, and is now a cause of great anxiety to the Zionists. It is a Jewish state in Palestine, not a colony in East Africa that the great body of Zionists are looking forward to; and when it was moved in the conference that a commission of nine be appointed to look into details and decide upon the advisability of sending an expedition to investigate the proposed site of the colony, even this preliminary step was so opposed by the Russian delegates that they arose en masse and left the conference hall, in protest against such a movement. The commission, however, was appointed and the investigation is in progress. Since the close of the Basel conference many of those interested in the proposition have been searching their scriptures and some claim to have found prophetic warrant for such a movement and come to regard the settlement in Africa as a preliminary to the final movement into Palestine. The prophecies supposed to justify this view are to be found in the following from Isaiah:

In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the
language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of Hosts; and shall be
called, the city of destruction.

In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the
land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord.

And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts
in the land of Egypt; for they shall cry unto the Lord because of
the oppressors, and he shall send them a savior, and a great one,
and he shall deliver them.

And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know
the Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea,
they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it. [16]

Whatever many come of this proposed colony scheme in Africa it can never be regarded as more than an incident in progress of this great movement among the Jews. [17] The land of their final inheritance is Palestine, not Africa, nor Egypt; and if the Jews shall halt for a time in the land of Uganda, under the benign protection of the British government, it will be only a temporary abiding place, where, however, they may obtain a very necessary experience in controlling a state and bringing their people to a unity of faith and practice under the old law of Israel.

What I am concerned with in this strange movement among the Jews, however, is not the details of it, but the fact of it; and the further fact that "Zionism" is doubtless the inauguration of a series of movements that shall culminate in the complete fulfillment of this great Book of Mormon prophecy.

In addition to the prediction of the Book of Mormon which brought the subject of the gathering of the Jews to their land vividly before the Prophet Joseph's mind, he claims that in the Kirtland Temple, in 1836, Moses, the great Hebrew prophet, appeared to himself and Oliver Cowdery and conferred upon them the keys of the gathering of Israel, and the power of restoring the tribes to the lands of their fathers. [18] Acting under the divine authority thus received, Joseph Smith sent an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ to the land of Palestine to bless it and dedicate it to the Lord for the return of his people. This apostle was Orson Hyde, and he performed his mission in 1840-2. Again in 1872 an apostolic delegation consisting of the late President George A. Smith (cousin of the Prophet) and the late President Lorenzo Snow were sent to Palestine. The purpose of their mission in part is thus stated in President Young's letter of appointment to George A. Smith.

When you get to the land of Palestine we wish you to dedicate
and consecrate that land to the Lord that it may be blessed with
fruitfulness preparatory to the return of the Jews in fulfillment
of prophecy and the accomplishment of the purposes of our heavenly
Father. [19]

Acting, then, under the divine authority restored to earth by the Prophet Moses, this Apostolic delegation--as well as the Apostle first sent--from the summit of Mount Olivet blessed the land, and dedicated it for the return of the Jews. It is not strange, therefore, to those who look upon such a movement as Zionism with faith in God's great latter-day work to see the spirit now moving upon the minds of the Jews prompting their return to the land of their fathers. To them it is but the operation of the Spirit of God in their souls, turning their hearts to the promises made to the fathers.

Meantime, and quite apart from the Zionite movement, changes are taking place in the promised land that augur well for the fulfillment of this Book of Mormon prophecy. For instance, the British Consul reports for 1876 give the number of Jews in Judea at from fifteen to twenty thousand. Twenty years later, viz. in 1896, the same authority gives the number of Jews at from sixty to seventy thousand; and what was more promising for the future both for the people and the country inhabited, this new Jewish population was turning its attention to the cultivation of the soil, which but requires the blessings of God unto it to restore it to its ancient fruitfulness, and which will make it possible for it to sustain once more a numerous population. [20]

Thus in the preparations evidently being made for the return of the Jews to the land of their forefathers, and their beginning to believe in Jesus, this remarkable Book of Mormon prophecy is in the way of fulfillment.

IV.

_The Work of the Lord to Commence Among all Nations to Bring About the Restoration of His People Israel, and a Universal Reign of Peace and Righteousness_.

And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall commence his work
among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, to bring about
the restoration of his people upon the earth.

The 19th century of the Christian era, especially the last three quarters of it, will be regarded as a most wonderful period of human progress. [21] An age of inventions and discoveries in all departments of human knowledge and human activities. During that time, through human invention, machinery was so multiplied and made to serve the industrial requirements of man that we may say that the race was emancipated from the drudgery under which it had sweltered for ages. In field and factory machinery was made to perform the labor which in ages hitherto had been done by human hands. Husbandry, by reason of so much machinery being applied to agricultural pursuits, became a gentlemanly occupation as compared with the farm drudgery of former years. The increased product in all lines of manufactures multiplied comforts and placed them within the reach of all, so that the standard of living among the common people was immensely improved.

This period also witnessed great advancement in the matter of transportation. On land it developed from the ox team and horse carriage to the automobile and lightning express train, capable of covering from fifty to seventy and now ninety miles per hour. It saw Europe and America converted into a net work of railroads, binding all parts of the respective continents together with easy, safe, and swift means of traffic, and carried to the markets of every city the various products of all the countries of the globe.

Water transportation within the same period developed from the slow sailing vessel, dependent on the winds and ocean currents to the modern "ocean greyhound" capable of making its way against both ocean current and winds at a speed never realized by the sailing vessel with both wind and ocean currents in its favor. The stormy Atlantic, to cross which in the early years of the century was a tedious and dangerous journey of many weeks, by the close of the 19th century was a matter of five days pleasure trip. All mystery and dread of "old ocean" had disappeared, and men no longer mourned the fate of "those who go down to the sea in ships," since ocean travel is far less dangerous than overland travel, and the oceans so far from being regarded any longer with the old time awe and mystery are now looked upon as merely convenient highways for the commerce of the world. By the speed of ocean travel we may say that all the continents and islands of the globe are married.

Running parallel with this development of transportation on land and sea, is what may be called the growth of our instantaneous means of communication. At the opening of the period we are considering the pony express and mail coach were our most rapid means of communication, and looking back to those days such means of communication seem marvellously inadequate to civilized life. At the close of the century, however, by means of ocean cables and telegraph lines, and telephone instrumentalities--to say nothing of the more wonderful wireless telegraphy now coming into use--we are in instant communication with all the great centers of civilization, and each morning may read the world's daily history gathered by these agencies for our instruction.

In the same period, in the matter of illumination, we went from the tallow dip and farthing rush light to gas and electricity. From the slow working hand press to the lightning Hoe multicolor printing press, capable of printing, in different colors, folding, pasting and counting from twenty-four thousand to one hundred thousand impressions per hour! Within our period improvements in telescopes have revealed new wonders of the universe. Improvement in microscopes have revealed wonders undreamed of in former times both in organic and inorganic nature. In the laboratories of the world new mysteries of light and heat and other elementary forces of nature were revealed. Substances which aforetime had been regarded as opaque were found in some lights to be transparent. Indeed in all the arts and sciences such progress was made as had not before been made in a period of a thousand years. [22] There seemed to have come an awakening of intellectual power in men, and the whole world was transformed by means of it. Political liberties were enlarged, old tyrannies were rendered for the present and future impossible in many countries, because of the consciousness of inherent power in the people.

Our period witnessed also the rise and progress of the peace movement. A movement whose chief purpose is to substitute peaceful arbitration as a method of settling international differences for the dreadful arbitrament of war. The first peace society was formed in America early in the century--1815--and while not attracting much attention at first, the movement gradually increased in importance until at last it arose from a merely national movement to an international one, as is evidenced from the fact that at its great conference at the Hague in 1899 there were accredited representatives from the following nations: United States, Great Britain, Russia, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, China, Denmark, Holland, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Norway, Persia, Portugal, Roumania, Servia, Siam, Switzerland, and Turkey. It was this conference of 1899 that finally established the world's permanent court of arbitration at the Hague, to which several important international questions have already been referred and settled. And while the peace movement and arbitration has not yet relieved the world from recurrence of dreadful wars, still the establishment of the permanent court for international arbitration is a mighty stride in the interest of the world's peace. It gives more than hope. It establishes confidence that the time will come when there will be a disarmament of the nations, and the old prophet's dream figured forth in his vision of the nations beating their spears into pruning hooks and their swords into plow shares will be realized, and the nations shall learn war no more.