Chapter II: Ancient Prophecy Regarding the Book of Mormon

=6. Ancient Prophecy= has been literally fulfilled in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. One of the earliest prophetic utterances directly bearing upon this subject is that of Enoch, the ante-diluvian prophet, unto whom the Lord revealed His purposes for all time. Witnessing in vision the corruption of mankind, after the ascension of the Son of Man, Enoch cried unto his God, "Wilt thou not come again on the earth?" "And the Lord said unto Enoch, As I live, even so will I come in the last days.... And the day shall come that the earth shall rest, but before that day the heavens shall be darkened, and a veil of darkness shall cover the earth, and the heavens shall shake and also the earth, and great tribulations shall be among the children of men; but my people will I preserve, and righteousness will I send down out of heaven, and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of Mine Only Begotten.... and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood to gather out mine own elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare."[793] The Latter-day Saints regard the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, together with the restoration of the Priesthood by the direct ministration of heavenly messengers, as a fulfillment of this prophecy, and of similar predictions contained in the Bible.

[793] Pearl of Great Price: Moses vii, 59-62.

=7. Biblical Prophecies and their Fulfillment.=--David, who sang his psalms over a thousand years before the "Meridian of Time," declared, "Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven."[794] And so also declared Isaiah.[795] Ezekiel saw in vision[796] the coming together of the stick of Judah, and the stick of Joseph, signifying, as the Latter-day Saints affirm, the Bible and the Book of Mormon. The passage last referred to reads, in the words of Ezekiel:--"The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions; And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand."

[794] Psalms lxxxv, 11.

[795] Isa. xiv, 8.

[796] Ezek. xxxvii, particularly verses 15-20.

=8.= When we call to mind the ancient custom in the making of books,--that of writing on long strips of parchment and rolling the same on rods or sticks, the use of the word "stick" as equivalent to "book" in the passage becomes at once apparent,[797] At the time of this utterance, the Israelites had divided into two nations known as the people of Judah, and that of Israel, or Ephraim. There would seem to be little room for doubt that the records of Judah and of Joseph are here referred to.[798] Now, as we have seen, the Nephite nation comprised the descendants of Lehi of the tribe of Manasseh, of Ishmael an Ephraimite, and of Zoram whose tribal relation is not definitely stated. The Nephites were then of the tribes of Joseph; and their record or "stick" is as truly represented by the Book of Mormon as is the "stick" of Judah by the Bible.

[797] See a corresponding use of the word "roll" in Jeremiah
xxxvi, 1, 2; and its synonym "book" in verses 8, 10, 11, and 13.

[798] Compare with Lehi's prediction made to his son Joseph, II
Nephi iii, 12.

=9.= That the coming forth of the record of Joseph or Ephraim is to be accomplished through the direct power of God is evident from the Lord's interpretation of the vision of Ezekiel, wherein He says:--"Behold, _I will take_ the stick of Joseph ... and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah."[799] And that this union of the two records is to be a characteristic of the latter days is evident from the prediction of an event which is to follow immediately, viz., the gathering of the tribes from the nations among which they had been dispersed.[800] Comparison with other prophecies relating to the gathering will conclusively prove that the great event is to take place in the latter times, preparatory to the second coming of Christ.[801]

[799] Ezek. xxxvii, 19.

[800] Verse 21.

[801] See lecture on "Gathering" in connection with Article 10,
page 341.

=10.= Reverting to the writings of Isaiah, we find that prophet voicing the Lord's threatenings against Ariel, or Jerusalem, "the city where David dwelt." Ariel was to be distressed, burdened with heaviness and sorrow; then the prophet refers to some people, other than Judah, who occupied Jerusalem, for he makes comparison with the latter, saying "And it shall be unto me _as_ Ariel." As to the fate decreed against this other people we read:--"And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust."[802]

[802] Isaiah xxix, 4--read verses 1-6.

=11.= Of the fulfillment of these and associated prophecies, a modern apostle has written:--"These predictions of Isaiah could not refer to Ariel, or Jerusalem, because their speech has not been 'out of the ground,' or 'low out of the dust'; but it refers to the remnant of Joseph who were destroyed in America upwards of fourteen hundred years ago. The Book of Mormon describes their downfall, and truly it was great and terrible. At the crucifixion of Christ, 'the multitude of their terrible ones,' as Isaiah predicted, 'became as chaff that passeth away,' and it took place as he further predicts, 'at an instant suddenly.'... This remnant of Joseph in their distress and destruction became _as_ Ariel. As the Roman army lay siege to Ariel, and brought upon her great distress and sorrow, so did the contending nations of ancient America bring upon each other the most direful scenes of blood and carnage. Therefore the Lord could, with the greatest propriety, when speaking in reference to this event, declare that, 'It shall be unto me _as_ Ariel.'"[803]

[803] Orson Pratt, _Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon_,
pp. 293-294 (Utah ed., 1891). For details of fulfillment of part
of the prophecy, see III Nephi viii-ix.

=12.= Isaiah's striking prediction that the nation thus brought down should "speak out of the ground," with speech "low out of the dust" was literally fulfilled in the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon, the original of which was taken out of the ground, and the voice of the record is as that of one speaking from the dust. In continuation of the same prophecy we read:--"And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver unto one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: And the book is delivered unto him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned."[804] The fulfillment of this prediction is claimed in the presentation of the transcript from the plates,--"the words of a book," not the book itself, to the learned Prof. Anthon, whose reply almost in the words of the text has been cited;[805] and in the delivery of the book itself to the unfettered lad, Joseph Smith.

[804] Isaiah xxix, 11-12.

[805] See pp. 273-274.