Chapter V: Corroborative Evidence Furnished by Modern Discoveries (1)

=21. The Archeology and Ethnology= of the western continent contribute valuable corroborative evidence in support of the Book of Mormon. These sciences are confessedly unable to explain in any decisive manner the origin of the native American races; nevertheless, investigation in this field has yielded some results that are fairly definite, and with the most important of these the Book of Mormon account is in general accord. Among the most prominent of the discoveries respecting the aboriginal inhabitants, are the following:--

I. That America was inhabited in very ancient times, probably
soon after the building of the Tower of Babel.

II. That the continent has been successively occupied by
different peoples, at least by two classes, or so-called "races"
at widely separated periods.

III. That the aboriginal inhabitants came from the east, probably
from Asia, and that the later occupants, or those of the second
period, were closely allied to, if not identical with, the
Israelites.

IV. That the existing native races of America have sprung from a
common stock.

=22.= From the outline already given of the historical part of the Book of Mormon, it is seen that each of these discoveries is fully attested by that record. Thus it is stated therein:--

I. That America was settled by the Jaredites, who came direct from the scenes of Babel.

II. That the Jaredites occupied the land for about eighteen hundred and fifty years, during which time they spread over a great part of North and South America; and that at about the time of their extinction (near 590 B. C.), Lehi and his company came to this continent, where they developed into the segregated nations Nephites and Lamanites, the former becoming extinct near 385 A. D., about a thousand years after Lehi's arrival on these shores; the latter continuing in a degenerate condition until the present, being represented by the Indian tribes of to-day.

III. That Lehi, Ishmael, and Zoram, the progenitors of both Nephites and Lamanites, were undoubtedly Israelites, Lehi being of the tribe of Manasseh while Ishmael was an Ephraimite, and that the colony came direct from Jerusalem, in Asia.

IV. That the existing Indian tribes are all direct descendants of Lehi and his company, and that therefore they have sprung from men all of whom were of the house of Israel.

Now let us examine some of the evidence bearing on these points presented by individual investigators, most of whom knew nothing of the Book of Mormon, and none of whom accept the book as authentic.[811]

[811] =Acknowledgments.=--Many of the citations which follow, used
in connection with the extra-scriptural evidence supporting the
Book of Mormon, have been brought together by writers among our
people, particularly by Elder George Reynolds (see his lectures as
specified where quoted); also series of articles entitled
"American Antiquities," in Millennial Star, Liverpool, vol. xxi,
by Moses Thatcher (see a series of articles on "The Divine Origin
of the Book of Mormon," in _Contributor_, Salt Lake City, vol.
ii); and by Elder Edwin F. Parry (see tract, "A Prophet of
Latter-days," Liverpool, 1898).

=23. I. Concerning the very Ancient Period at which America was Inhabited.=--A recognized authority on American antiquities gives the following evidence and inference:--"One of the arts known to the builders of Babel was that of brick making. This art was also known to the people who built the works in the west. The knowledge of copper was known to the people of the plains of Shinar; for Noah must have communicated it, as he lived a hundred and fifty [350] years among them after the flood. Also copper was known to the ante-diluvians. Copper was also known to the authors of the western monuments. Iron was known to the ante-diluvians. It was also known to the ancients of the west. However, it is evident that very little iron was among them, as very few instances of its discovery in their works have occurred; and for this very reason we draw a conclusion that they came to this country soon after the dispersion."[812]

[812] Priest, _American Antiquities_, 1834, p. 219.

=24.= Lowry, in his "Reply to official inquiries respecting the Aborigines of America," concludes concerning the peopling of the western continent, "that the first settlement was made shortly after the confusion of tongues at the building of the Tower of Babel."[813]

[813] Schoolcraft's _Ethnological Researches_, vol. iii (1853).

=25.= Prof. Waterman of Boston says of the progenitors of the American Indians:--"When and whence did they come? Albert Galatin, one of the profoundest philologists of the age, concluded that, so far as language afforded any clue, the time of their arrival could not have been long after the dispersion of the human family."[814]

[814] Extract from lecture by Prof. Waterman, delivered in
Bristol, England, 1849; quoted in pamphlet by Edwin F. Parry, _A
Prophet of Latter Days_ (Liverpool, 1898).

=26.= Pritchard says of America's ancient inhabitants, that "the era of their existence as a distinct and isolated race must probably be dated as far back as that time which separated into nations the inhabitants of the old world, and gave to each branch of the human family its primitive language and individuality."[815]

[815] Pritchard, _National History of Man_ (London, 1845).

=27.= A native Mexican author, Ixtilxochitl, "fixes the date of the first peopling of America about the year 2000 B. C.; this closely accords with that given by the Book of Mormon, which positively declares that it occurred at the time of the dispersion, when God in His anger scattered the people upon the face of the whole earth."[816] "Referring to the quotations from Ixtilxochitl, seventeen hundred and sixteen years are said to have elapsed from the creation to the flood. Moses places it sixteen hundred and fifty-six, a difference of only sixty years.[817] They agree exactly as to the number of cubits, fifteen, which the waters prevailed over the highest mountains. Such a coincidence can lead to but one conclusion, the identity of origin of the two accounts."[818]

[816] Moses Thatcher, _Contributor_, vol. ii, p. 227, Salt Lake
City, 1881.

[817] See Note 2.

[818] Moses Thatcher, _Contributor_, vol. ii, p. 228.

=28.= Prof. Short, quoting from Clavigero, says: "The Chiapanese have been the first peoplers of the New World, if we give credit to their traditions. They say that Votan, the grandson of that respectable old man who built the great ark to save himself and family from the deluge, and one of those who undertook the building of that lofty edifice, which was to reach up to heaven, went by express command of the Lord to people that land. They say also that the first people came from the quarter of the north, and that when they arrived at Soconusco, they separated, some going to inhabit the country of Nicaragua, and others remaining at Chiapas."[819]

[819] John T. Short, _North Americans of Antiquity_, p. 204
(Harper Bros., New York; 2nd ed., 1888). See also _Contributor_
(Salt Lake City, vol. ii, p 259).

=29. II. Concerning the Successive Occupation of America by Different Peoples in Ancient Times.=--It has been declared by eminent students of American archeology that two distinct classes, by some designated as separate races, of mankind inhabited this continent in early times: Prof. F. W. Putnam[820] is even more definite in his assertion that one of these ancient races spread from the north, the other from the south. This is in agreement with the Book of Mormon record, which describes the occupation of the continent by the Jaredites and the Nephites in turn, the former having established themselves first in North America, the latter in South America. H. C. Walsh, in an article entitled "Copan, a City of the Dead,"[821] gives many interesting details of excavation and other work prosecuted by Gordon under the auspices of the Peabody expedition; and adds, "All this points to successive periods of occupation, of which there are other evidences."[822]

[820] Putnam, _Prehistoric Remains in the Ohio Valley_, Century
Magazine, March 1890.

[821] See _Harper's Weekly_ (New York), October, 1897; article by
Henry C. Walsh.

[822] See Note 3.

=30. III. Concerning the Advent of at least One Division of the Ancient Americans from the East, probably from Asia; and their Israelitish Origin.=--Confirmatory evidence of the belief that the aboriginal Americans sprang from the peoples of the eastern hemisphere is found in the similarity of record and tradition on the two continents, regarding the creation, the deluge, and other great events of history. Boturini,[823] who is quoted by most writers on American archeology says: "There is no Gentile nation that refers to primitive events with such certainty as the Indians do. They give us an account of the creation of the world, of the deluge,[824] of the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel, and of all other periods and ages of the world, and of the long peregrinations which their people had in Asia representing the specific years by their characters; and in the seven Conejos (rabbits) they tell us of the great eclipse that occurred at the death of Christ, our Lord."

[823] Chevalier Boturini; he spent several years investigating the
antiquities of Mexico and Central America, and collected many
valuable records, of most of which he was despoiled by the
Spanish; he published a work on the subject of his studies in
1746.

[824] See Note 4.

=31.= Similar evidence of the common source of eastern and western traditions of great events in primitive times is furnished in the writings of Short, already quoted, and by Baldwin,[825] Clavigero,[826] Kingsborough,[827] Sahagun,[828] Prescott,[829] Schoolcraft,[830] Squiers,[831] Adair,[832] and others.[833]

[825] Baldwin, _Ancient America_ (Harper Bros., New York, 1871).

[826] Clavigero, quoted by Prof. Short in _North Americans of
Antiquity_.

[827] Lord Kingsborough, _Mexican Antiquities_ (1830-37.)

[828] Bernardo de Sahagun, _Historia Universal de Nueva Espana_.

[829] W. H. Prescott, _Conquest of Mexico_ (see pp. 463-64).

[830] Schoolcraft, _Ethnological Researches_ (1851); see vol. i.

[831] Squiers, _Antiquities of the State of New York_, 1851.

[832] Adair, _History of the American Indians_, London, 1775.

[833] See Bancroft's _Native Races_, etc., vols, iii and v;
Donnelly's _Atlantis_, p. 391 (1882).

=32.= Prof. Short adds his testimony to the evidence of the aboriginal inhabitants of America being of "Old World origin," but admits his inability to determine when or whence they came to this continent.[834] Waterman, before cited, says: "This people could not have been created in Africa, for its inhabitants were widely dissimilar from those of America; nor in Europe, which was without a native people agreeing at all with American races; then to Asia alone could they look for the origin of the Americans."[835]

[834] John T. Short, _North Americans of Antiquity_ (1888).

[835] Extract from lecture by Prof. Waterman, delivered in
Bristol, England, 1849; quoted in pamphlet by Edwin F. Parry, _A
Prophet of Latter Days_, Liverpool, 1898.

=33.= It has been demonstrated that the aboriginal tribes were accustomed to practice under certain conditions the rites of circumcision,[836] baptism, and animal sacrifice.[837] Herrera, a Spanish writer of three centuries ago, states that among the primitive inhabitants of Yucatan baptism was known by a name that meant to be born again.[838]

[836] Lord Kingsborough.

[837] Donnelly's _Atlantis_, p. 144.

[838] Tract, _A Prophet of Latter Days_, by Edwin F. Parry, p.
106.

=34.= But it is not alone in the matter of custom and tradition relating to pre-Christian times that so marked a resemblance is found between the peoples of the old and the new world. Many traditions and some records, telling of the pre-destined Christ and His atoning death, were current among the native races of this continent long prior to the advent of Christian discoverers in recent centuries. Indeed, when the Spaniards first invaded Mexico, their Catholic priests found a native knowledge of Christ and the Godhead, so closely corresponding with the doctrines of orthodox Christianity, that they, in their inability to account for the same, invented the theory that Satan had planted among the natives of the country an imitation gospel for the purpose of deluding the people. A rival theory held that Thomas, the apostle, had visited the western continent, and had taught the gospel of Christ.[839]

[839] See Pres. John Taylor's _Mediation and Atonement_, p. 201.

=35.= Lord Kingsborough, in his comprehensive and standard work, refers to a manuscript by Las Casas the Spanish Bishop of Chiapa, which writing is preserved in the convent of St. Dominic; in this the Bishop states that a very accurate knowledge of the Godhead was found to exist among the natives of Yucatan. One of the bishop's emissaries wrote that "he had met with a principal lord, who informed him that they believed in God, who resided in heaven, even the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father was named Yeona, the Son Bahab, who was born of a virgin, named Chibirias, and that the Holy Spirit was called Euach. Bahab, the Son, they said, was put to death by Eupuro, who scourged Him, and put on His head a crown of thorns, and placed Him with His arms stretched upon a beam of wood; and that, on the third day, He came to life, and ascended into heaven, where He is with the Father; that immediately after, the Euach. came as a merchant, bringing precious merchandise, filling those who would with gifts and graces, abundant and divine."[840]

[840] Kingsborough's _Antiquities of Mexico_.

=36.= Rosales affirms a tradition among the Chileans to the effect that their forefathers were visited by a wonderful personage, full of grace and power, who wrought many miracles among them, and taught them of the Creator who dwelt in heaven in the midst of glorified hosts.[841] Prescott refers to the symbol of the cross which was found, by the Catholics who accompanied Cortez, to be common among the natives of Mexico and Central America. In addition to this sign of a belief in Christ, a ceremony akin to that of the Lord's Supper was witnessed with astonishment by the invaders. The Aztec priests were seen to prepare a cake of flour, mixed with blood, which they consecrated and distributed among the people, who, as they ate, "showed signs of humiliation and sorrow, declaring it was the flesh of Deity."[842]

[841] Rosales, _History of Chile_. See Pres. Taylor's _Mediation
and Atonement_, p. 202.

[842] Prescott, _Conquest of Mexico_, p. 465.

=37.= The Mexicans recognize a Deity in Quetzalcoatl, the traditional account of whose life and death is closely akin to our history of the Christ, so that, says President John Taylor, "we can come to no other conclusion than that Quetzalcoatl and Christ are the same being."[843] Lord Kingsborough speaks of a painting of Quetzalcoatl, "in the attitude of a person crucified, with the impression of nails in his hands and feet, but not actually upon the cross." The same authority further says: "The seventy-third plate of the Borgian MS. is the most remarkable of all, for Quetzalcoatl is not only represented there as crucified upon a cross of Greek form, but his burial and descent into hell are also depicted in a very curious manner." And again:--"The Mexicans believe that Quetzalcoatl took human nature upon him, partaking of all the infirmities of man, and was not exempt from sorrow, pain, or death, which he suffered voluntarily to atone for the sins of man."[844]

[843] _Mediation and Atonement_, p. 201; see Note 5.

[844] Lord Kingsborough, _Antiquities of Mexico_; see quotations
by Pres. John Taylor, _Mediation and Atonement_, p. 202.

=38.= The source of this knowledge of Christ and the Godhead, to account for which gave such trouble to the Catholic invaders and caused them to resort to extreme and unfounded theory, is plainly apparent to the student of the Book of Mormon. We learn from that sacred scripture, that the progenitors of the native American races, for centuries prior to the time of Christ's birth, lived in the light of direct revelation, which, coming to them through their authorized prophets, showed the purposes of God respecting the redemption of mankind; and, moreover, that the risen Redeemer ministered unto them in person, and established His Church among them with all its essential ordinances. The people have fallen into a state of spiritual degeneracy; many of their traditions are sadly distorted, and disfigured by admixture of superstition and human invention; yet the origin of their knowledge is plainly authentic.

=39. IV. Concerning the Common Origin of the Native Races on this Continent.=--That the many tribes and nations among the Indians and other "native races" of America are of common parentage is very generally admitted; the conclusion is based on the evident close relationship in their languages, traditions, and customs. "Mr. Lewis H. Morgan finds evidence that the American aborigines had a common origin in what he calls 'their system of consanguinity and affinity.' He says, 'The Indian nations from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains, and from the Arctic sea to the Gulf of Mexico, with the exception of the Esquimaux, have the same system. It is elaborate and complicated in its general form and details; and, while deviations from uniformity occur in the systems of different stocks, the radical features are in the main constant. This identity in the essential characteristics of a system so remarkable tends to show that it must have been transmitted with the blood to each stock from a common original source. It affords the strongest evidence yet obtained of unity in origin of the Indian nations within the regions defined.'"[845]

[845] Baldwin's _Ancient America_, p. 56; see citations of
conclusions regarding the characteristics of aboriginal Americans
by Bradford, in the same work.

=40.= Baldwin further quotes Bradford's summary of conclusions regarding the origin and characteristics of the ancient Americans, amongst which we read:--"That they were all of the same origin, branches of the same race, and possessed of similar customs and institutions."[846] Adair writes:--"All the various nations of Indians seem to be of one descent;" and in support of this conclusion he presents abundant evidence of similarity of language, habits, and customs, religious ceremonies, modes of administering justice, etc.[847]

[846] The same.

[847] Adair's _History of the American Indians_, London, 1775.

=41. Written Language of the Ancient Americans.=--To these secular, or extra-scriptural, evidences of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon may be added the agreement of the record with recent discoveries regarding the written language of these ancient peoples. The prophet Nephi states that he made his record on the plates in "the language of the Egyptians,"[848] and we are further told that the brazen plates of Laban were inscribed in the same.[849] Mormon, who abridged the voluminous writings of his predecessors, and prepared the plates from which the modern translation was made, employed also the Egyptian characters. His son Moroni, who completed the record, declares this fact; but, recognizing a difference between the writing of his day and that on the earlier plates, he attributed the change to the natural mutation through time, and speaks of his own record and that of his father, Mormon, as being written in the "reformed Egyptian."[850]

[848] I Nephi i, 2.

[849] Mosiah i, 4.

[850] Mormon ix, 32.

=42.= Now consider the testimony of Dr. Le Plongeon, announcing his discovery of a sacred alphabet among the Mayas of Central America, which he declares to be practically identical with the Egyptian alphabet. He states that the structure of the Maya sacred language closely resembles that of the Egyptians; and he boldly proclaims his conviction that the two nations derived their written language from the same source.[851] Another authority says:--"The eye of the antiquarian cannot fail to be both attracted and fixed by evidence of the existence of two great branches of the hieroglyphical language,--both having striking affinities with the Egyptian, and yet distinguished from it by characteristics perfectly American."[852]

[851] Dr. August Le Plongeon, in _Review of Reviews_, July, 1895.

[852] _Quarterly Review_, October, 1836; abstracted in _Millennial
Star_, vol. xxi, p. 467.

=43.= But the Egyptian is not the only eastern language found to be represented in the relics of American antiquities; the Hebrew occurs in this connection with at least equal significance. That the Hebrew tongue should have been used by Lehi's descendants is most natural, inasmuch as they were of the House of Israel, transferred to the western continent directly from Jerusalem. That the ability to read and write in that language continued with the Nephites until the time of their extinction is evident from Moroni's statement regarding the language used on the plates of Mormon:--"And now behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian being handed down and altered by us according to our manner of speech. And if our plates had been sufficiently large, we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also."[853]

[853] Mormon ix, 32-33. In connection with this important subject
see articles entitled "A Study in American-Hebraic Names" by Thos.
W. Brookbank, _Improvement Era_, vol. xx.

=44.= The following instances are taken from an instructive array of such, brought together by Elder George Reynolds.[854] Several of the early Spanish writers claim that the natives of some portions of the land were found speaking a corrupt Hebrew. "Las Casas so affirms with regard to the inhabitants of the island of Hayti. Lafitu wrote a history wherein he maintained that the Caribbee language was radically Hebrew. Isaac Nasci, a learned Jew of Surinam, says of the language of the people of Guiana, that all their substantives are Hebrew." Spanish historians record the early discovery of Hebrew characters on the western continent. "Malvenda says that the natives of St. Michael had tombstones, which the Spaniards digged up, with several ancient Hebrew inscriptions upon them."

[854] Reynolds' lecture, _The Language of the Book of Mormon_.

=45.= In all such writings, the characters and the language are allied to the most ancient form of Hebrew, and show none of the vowel signs and terminal letters which were introduced into the Hebrew of the eastern continent after the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity. This is consistent with the fact that Lehi and his people left Jerusalem shortly before the captivity, and therefore prior to the introduction of the changes in the written language.[855]

[855] See an instructive series of articles in _Improvement Era_,
Salt Lake City, vol. xvii, by Thomas W. Brookbank, entitled
"Hebrew Idioms and Analogies in the Book of Mormon."

=46. Another Test.=--Let not the reader of the Book of Mormon content himself with such evidences as have been cited concerning the Divine authenticity of this reputed scripture. There is promised a surer and a more effectual means of ascertaining the truth or falsity of this marvelous volume. Like other scriptures, the Book of Mormon is to be comprehended through the spirit of the scriptures, and this is obtainable only as a gift from God. But this gift, priceless though it be, is promised unto all who would seek for it. Then to all let us commend the counsel of the last writer in the volume, Moroni, the solitary scribe who sealed the book, afterward the angel of the record who brought it forth:--"And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost; and by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."[856]

[856] Moroni x, 4-5.

NOTES.

=1. Diversity of Literary Style in the Book of Mormon.=--"There
is a marked difference in the literary style of Nephi and some of
the other earlier prophets from that of Mormon and Moroni. Mormon
and his son are more direct and take fewer words to express their
ideas than did the earlier writers; at least their manner is, to
most readers, the more pleasing. Amos, the son of Jacob, has also
a style peculiar to himself. There is another noticeable fact
that when original records or discourses, such as the record of
Limhi, the sermons of Alma, Amulek, etc., the epistles of
Helaman, and others, are introduced into Mormon's abridgment,
words and expressions are used that appear nowhere else in the
Book of Mormon. This diversity of style, expression, and wording
is a very pleasing incidental testimony to the truth of the claim
made for the Book of Mormon,--that it is a compilation of the
work of many writers."--From Lectures on the Book of Mormon, by
Elder George Reynolds.

=2. Mexican Date of the Deluge.=--In speaking of the time of the
Deluge as given by the Mexican author, Ixtilxochitl, Elder George
Reynolds says:--There is a remarkable agreement between this
writer's statements and the Book of Genesis. The time from the
Fall to the Flood only differs sixty, possibly only five years,
if the following statement in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants
(cvii, 49) regarding Enoch lengthens the chronology: "And he saw
the Lord, and he walked with him, and was before his face
continually; and he walked with God 365 years, making him 430
years old when he was translated." The same statement is made in
the Pearl of Great Price, Moses vii, 67.--From lecture on
_External Evidences of the Book of Mormon_, by Elder George
Reynolds.

=3. Ancient Civilization in America.=--"That a civilization once
flourished in these regions [Central America and Mexico] much
higher than any the Spanish conquerors found upon their arrival,
there can be no doubt. By far the most important work that has
been done among the remains of the old Maya civilization has been
carried on by the Peabody Museum of Harvard College, through a
series of expeditions it has sent to the buried city now called
Copan, in Spanish Honduras. In a beautiful valley near the
borderland of Guatemala, surrounded by steep mountains and
watered by a winding river, the hoary city lies wrapped in the
sleep of ages. The ruins at Copan, although in a more advanced
state of destruction than those of the Maya cities of Yucatan,
have a general similarity to the latter in the design of the
buildings, and in the sculptures, while the characters in the
inscriptions are essentially the same. It would seem, therefore,
that Copan was a city of the Mayas; but if so it must have been
one of their most ancient settlements, fallen into decay long
before the cities of Yucatan reached their prime. The Maya
civilization was totally distinct from the Aztec or Mexican; it
was an older and also a much higher civilization."--Henry C.
Walsh, in article, _Copan--a City of the Dead_, Harper's Weekly,
October, 1897.

Baldwin in his valuable work "Ancient America" incorporates the
conclusions announced by Bradford in regard to the ancient
occupants of North America, as follows:--

"That they were all of the same origin, branches of the same
race, and possessed of similar customs and institutions.

"That they were populous, and occupied a great extent of
territory.

"That they had arrived at a considerable degree of civilization,
were associated in large communities, and lived in extensive
cities.

"That they possessed the use of many of the metals, such as lead,
copper, gold, and silver, and probably the art of working in
them.

"That they sculptured in stone, and sometimes used that material
in the construction of their edifices.

"That they had the knowledge of the arch of receding steps; of
the art of pottery, producing urns and utensils formed with
taste, and constructed upon the principles of chemical
composition; and the art of brick-making.

"That they worked the salt springs, and manufactured salt.

"That they were an agricultural people, living under the
influence and protection of regular forms of governments.

"That they possessed a decided system of religion, and a
mythology connected with astronomy, which, with its sister
science, geometry, was in the hands of the priesthood.

"That they were skilled in the art of fortification.

"That the epoch of their original settlement in the United States
is of great antiquity; and that the only indications of their
origin to be gathered from the locality of their ruined
monuments, point toward Mexico."--Baldwin, _Ancient America_, p.
56.

=4. American Traditions concerning the Deluge.=--"Don Francisco
Munoz de la Vega, the Bishop of that diocese (Chiapas), certifies
in the prologue to his 'Diocesan Constitutions,' declaring that
an ancient manuscript of the primitive Indians of that province,
who had learned the art of writing, was in his record office, who
retained the constant tradition that the father and founder of
their nation was named Teponahuale, which signifies lord of the
hollow piece of wood; and that he was present at the building of
the Great Wall, for so they named the Tower of Babel; and beheld
with his own eyes the confusion of language; after which event,
God, the Creator, commanded him to come to these extensive
regions, and to divide them amongst mankind."--Lord Kingsborough,
_Mexican Antiquities_, vol. viii, p. 25.

"It is found in the histories of the Toltecs that this age and
first world, as they call it, lasted 1,716 years: that men were
destroyed by tremendous rains and lightnings from the sky, and
even all the land, without the exception of anything, and the
highest mountains, were covered up and submerged in water fifteen
cubits (caxtolmolatli); and here they added other fables of how
men came to multiply from the few who escaped from this
destruction in a 'toptlipetlocali;' that this word nearly
signifies a close chest; and how, after men had multiplied, they
erected a very high 'zacuali,' which is to-day a tower of great
height, in order to take refuge in it should the second world
(age) be destroyed. Presently their languages were confused, and,
not being able to understand each other, they went to different
parts of the earth."--The same, vol. ix, p. 321.

"The most important among the American traditions are the
Mexican, for they appear to have been definitely fixed by
symbolic and mnemonic paintings before any contact with
Europeans. According to these documents, the Noah of the Mexican
cataclysm was Coxcox, called by certain people Teocipactli or
Tezpi. He had saved himself, together with his wife Xochiquetzal,
in a bark, or, according to other traditions, on a raft made of
cypress-wood (_Cypressus disticha_). Paintings retracing the
deluge of Coxcox have been discovered among the Aztecs, Miztecs,
Zapotecs, Tlascaltecs, and Mechoacaneses. The tradition of the
latter is still more strikingly in conformity with the story as
we have it in Genesis, and in Chaldean sources. It tells how
Tezpi embarked in a spacious vessel with his wife, his children,
and several animals, and grain, whose preservation was essential
to the subsistence of the human race. When the great god
Tezcatlipoca decreed that the waters should retire, Tezpi sent a
vulture from the bark. The bird, feeding on the carcases with
which the earth was laden, did not return. Tezpi sent out other
birds, of which the humming bird only came back, with a leafy
branch in its beak. Then Tezpi, seeing that the country began to
vegetate, left his bark on the mountain of
Colhuacan."--Donnelly's _Atlantis_, p. 99.

The tradition of a Deluge "was the received notion, under some
form or other, of the most civilized people in the Old World, and
of the barbarians of the New. The Aztecs combined with this some
particular circumstances of a more arbitrary character,
resembling the accounts of the east. They believed that two
persons survived the Deluge, a man named Coxcox and his wife.
Their heads are represented in ancient painting, together with a
boat floating on the waters at the foot of a mountain. A dove is
also depicted, with a hieroglyphical emblem of language in his
mouth, which he is distributing to the children of Coxcox, who
were born dumb. The neighboring people of Michoacan, inhabiting
the same high plains of the Andes, had a still further tradition,
that the boat in which Tegpi, their Noah, escaped, was filled
with various kinds of animals and birds. After some time a
vulture was sent out from it, but remained feeding on the dead
bodies of the giants which had been left on the earth as the
waters subsided. The little humming bird, _huitzitzilin_, was
then sent forth, and returned with a twig in his mouth. The
coincidence of both these accounts with the Hebrew and Chaldean
narratives is obvious."--Prescott, _Conquest of Mexico_, pp.
463-64.

=5. Mexican Tradition concerning the Savior.=--"The story of the
life of the Mexican divinity, Quetzalcoatl, closely resembles
that of the Savior; so closely, indeed, that we can come to no
other conclusion than that Quetzalcoatl and Christ are the same
being. But the history of the former has been handed down to us
through an impure Lamanitish source, which has sadly disfigured
and perverted the original incidents and teachings of the
Savior's life and ministry. Regarding this god, Humboldt writes,
'How truly surprising is it to find that the Mexicans, who seem
to have been unacquainted with the doctrine of the migration of
the soul and the Metempsychosis _should have believed in the
incarnation of the only Son of the supreme God, Tomacateuctli_.
For Mexican mythology, speaking of no other Son of God except
Quetzalcoatl, who was born of Chimelman, the virgin of Tula
(without man), by His breath alone, by which may be signified His
word or will, when it was announced to Chimelman, by the
celestial messenger whom He despatched to inform her that she
should conceive a son, it must be presumed this was Quetzalcoatl,
who was the only son. Other authors might be adduced to show that
the Mexicans believe that this Quetzalcoatl was both God and man;
that He had, previously to His incarnation, existed from
eternity, and that He had been the Creator both of the world and
man; and that He had descended to reform the world by endurance,
and being King of Tula, was crucified for the sins of mankind,
etc., as is plainly declared in the tradition of Yucatan, and
mysteriously represented in the Mexican paintings.'"--Pres. John
Taylor, _Mediation and Atonement_, p. 201.

=7. Survival of the Hebrew Language among American Tribes.=--"It
is claimed that such survivals are numerous in the religious
songs and ceremonies of many of the tribes. A number of writers
who visited or resided among the tribes of the northern
continent, assert that the words Yehovah, Yah, Ale, and
Hallelujah, could be distinctly heard in these exercises. Laet
and Escarbotus assure us that they often heard the South American
Indians repeat the sacred word Hallelujah."--Elder George
Reynolds, _The Language of the Book of Mormon_.

=8. "The Origin of the Pre-Columbian Civilization of
America."=--Under this title an instructive article by G. Elliot
Smith appeared in _Science_ vol. xliv, pp. 190-195 (August 11,
1916). As to the interest accorded to the subject, the author
says: "In the whole range of ethnological discussion perhaps no
theme has evoked livelier controversies and excited more
widespread interest than the problems involved in the mysteries
of the wonderful civilization that revealed itself to the
astonished Spaniards on their first arrival in America.

"During the last century, which can be regarded as covering the
whole period of scientific investigation in anthropology, the
opinions of those who have devoted attention to such inquiries
have undergone the strangest fluctuations. If one delves into the
anthropological journals of forty or fifty years ago they will be
found to abound in careful studies on the part of many of the
leading ethnologists of the time, demonstrating, apparently in a
convincing and unquestionable manner, the spread of curious
customs or beliefs from the Old World to the New." The writer
decries the fallacy of assuming that similarities in customs and
culture of widely separated peoples can be explained on any other
basis than that of a common origin, and proceeds as follows: "Why
then, it will be asked, in the face of the overwhelming mass of
definite and well-authenticated evidence clearly pointing to the
sources in the Old World from which American civilization sprung,
do so many ethnologists refuse to accept the clear and obvious
meaning of the facts and resort to such childish subterfuges as I
have mentioned? Putting aside the influence of Darwin's work, the
misunderstanding of which, as Huxley remarked, 'led shallow
persons to talk nonsense in the name of anthropological science,'
the main factor in blinding so many investigators to appreciate
the significance of the data they themselves so laboriously
collect results from a defect incidental to the nature of their
researches.... The failure to recognize the fact, recently
demonstrated so convincingly by Dr. Rivers, that useful arts are
often lost is another, and perhaps the chief, difficulty that has
stood in the way of an adequate appreciation of the history of
the spread of civilization." Dr. Smith presents an impressive
array of evidence pointing to the Old World and specifically to
Egypt, as the source of many of the customs by which the American
aborigines are distinguished. The article is accompanied by a map
showing probable routes of travel from the Old World to the New,
and two landing places on the west coast, one in Mexico and
another near the boundary common to Peru and Chile, from which
places the immigrants spread.

LECTURE XVI.

REVELATION, PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.

=Article 9.=--We believe all that God has revealed, all that He
does now reveal; and we believe that He will yet reveal many
great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

=1. What is Revelation?=--In a theological sense, the term _revelation_ signifies the making known of Divine truth by communication from the heavens. The Greek--_apocalypsis_, which in meaning closely corresponds with our word _revelation_, expresses an uncovering, or a disclosure of that which had been wholly or in part hidden,--the drawing aside of a veil. An Anglicized form of the Greek term--_Apocalypse_--is sometimes used to designate the particular Revelation given to John upon the Isle of Patmos, the record of which forms the last book of the New Testament as at present compiled. Divine revelation, as illustrated by numerous examples in scripture, may consist of disclosures or declarations concerning the attributes of Deity, or of an expression of the Divine will regarding the affairs of men.

=2.= The word _inspiration_ is sometimes invested with a signification almost identical with that of _revelation_, though by its origin and early usage it possessed a distinctive meaning. To inspire is literally to animate with the spirit; a man is inspired when under the influence of a power other than his own. Divine inspiration may be regarded as a lower or less comprehensive manifestation of the heavenly influence upon man than is shown in revelation. The difference therefore is rather one of degree than of kind. By neither of these directing processes does the Lord deprive the human subject of agency or individuality;[857] as is proved by the marked peculiarities of style and method characterizing the several books of holy writ. Yet, in the giving of revelation, a more direct influence is exercised upon the human recipient of the God-given message than is the case under the lesser, though no less truly Divine, effect of inspiration.

[857] See Notes 1 and 3.

=3.= The directness and plainness with which God may communicate with man is dependent upon the purity and general fitness of the person. One may be susceptible to inspiration in its lower and simpler phases only; another may be so thoroughly responsive to this power as to be capable of receiving direct revelation; and this higher influence again may manifest itself in varying degrees, and with a greater or lesser shrouding of the Divine personality. Consider the Lord's words to Aaron and Miriam, who had been guilty of disrespect toward Moses the chosen revelator:--"And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth. And He said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold."[858]

[858] Numb. xii, 5-8.

=4.= We have seen that among the most conclusive proofs of the existence of a Supreme Being is that afforded by direct revelation from God Himself; and that some knowledge of the attributes and personality of God is essential to any rational exercise of faith in Him. We can but imperfectly respect an authority whose very existence is a matter of uncertainty and conjecture with us; therefore, if we are to implicitly trust and truly love our Creator, we must know something of Him. Though the veil of mortality, with all its thick obscurity, may shut the light of the Divine presence from the sinful heart, that separating curtain may be drawn aside and the heavenly light may shine into the righteous soul. By the listening ear, attuned to the celestial music, the voice of God has been heard, declaring His personality and will; to the eye that is freed from the motes and beams of sin, single in its search after truth, the hand of God has been made visible; within the soul properly purified by devotion and humility, the mind of God has been revealed.

=5. Revelation is God's Means of Communication.=--We have no record of a period of time during which an authorized minister of Christ has dwelt on earth, when the Lord did not make known to that servant the Divine will concerning the people. As has been shown, no man can take upon himself, by his own act alone, the honor and dignity of the ministry. To become an authorized minister of the Gospel, "a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands, by those who are in authority," and "those in authority" must have been similarly called. When thus commissioned, the chosen one speaks by a power greater than his own, in preaching the gospel and in administering the ordinances thereof; he may verily become a prophet unto the people. The Lord has consistently recognized and honored his servants so appointed. He has magnified their office in proportion to their own worthiness, making them living oracles of the Divine will. This has been true of every dispensation of the work of God.

=6.= It is a privilege of the Holy Priesthood to commune with the heavens, and to learn the immediate will of the Lord; this communion may be effected through the medium of dreams and visions, through the visitation of angels, or by the higher endowment of face to face communication with the Lord.[859] The inspired utterances of men who speak by the power of the Holy Ghost are scripture unto the people.[860] In specific terms the promise has been given that the Lord would recognize the medium of prophecy through which to make His will and purposes known unto man:--"Surely the Lord God will do nothing but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets."[861] Not all men may attain the position of special revelators:--"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant."[862] Such men are oracles of truth; privileged counselors, friends of God.[863]

[859] See pp. 35-38 and Lecture xii.

[860] Doc. and Cov. lxviii, 4.

[861] Amos iii, 7; see also I Nephi xxii, 2.

[862] Psalms xxv, 14.

[863] John xv, 14-15.

=7. Revelation in Ancient Times.=--Unto Adam, the patriarch of the race, to whom were committed the keys of the first dispensation, God revealed His will and gave commandments.[864] While living in a state of child-like innocence prior to the Fall, Adam had direct communication with the Lord; then, through transgression the man was driven from Eden; but he took with him some remembrance of his former happy state, including a personal knowledge of the existence and attributes of his Creator. While sweating under the penalty fore-told and fulfilled upon him, tilling the earth in a struggle for bread, he continued to call upon the Lord. As Adam and his wife, Eve, prayed and toiled, "they heard the voice of the Lord from the way towards the garden of Eden, speaking unto them; and they saw him not, for they were shut out from his presence; and he gave unto them commandments."[865]

[864] Gen. ii, 15-20; Pearl of Great Price: Moses iii, 16.

[865] Pearl of Great Price: Moses v, 4-5; see also Doc. and Cov.,
Lect. on Faith ii, 19-25.

=8.= The patriarchs who succeeded Adam were blessed with the gift of revelation in varying degrees; Enoch, the seventh in the line of descent, was particularly endowed. We learn from the Old Testament that Enoch "walked with God," and that when he had reached the age of 365 years "he was not, for God took him."[866] From the New Testament we learn something more regarding his ministry;[867] and the Pearl of Great Price gives us a fuller account of the Lord's dealings with this chosen Seer.[868] Unto him were made known the plan of redemption, and the prospective history of the race down to the meridian of time, thence to the millennium and the final judgment. Unto Noah, the Lord revealed His intentions regarding the impending deluge; by this prophetic voice the people were warned and urged to repent; disregarding it and rejecting the message, they were destroyed in their iniquity. With Abraham, God's covenant was established; unto him was revealed the course of the creative events.[869] And this covenant was confirmed unto Isaac and Jacob.

[866] Gen. v, 18-24.

[867] Jude 14.

[868] Pearl of Great Price: Moses vi, vii.

[869] Gen. xvii, xviii; Pearl of Great Price: Book of Abraham.

=9.= Through revelation, God commissioned Moses to lead Israel from bondage. From the burning bush on Horeb, the Lord declared to the man thus chosen, "I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."[870] In all the troublous scenes between Moses and Pharaoh, the Lord continued His communications unto His servant, who appeared amidst the glory of the Divine endowment, a veritable God unto the heathen king.[871] And throughout the wearisome forty years' journeying in the wilderness, the Lord ceased not to honor His chosen prophet. So may we trace the line of revelators,--men who have stood, each in his time, as the medium between God and the people, receiving instruction from the source Divine, and transmitting it to the masses,--from Moses to Joshua, and on through the Judges to David and Solomon, thence to John, who was the immediate fore-runner of the Messiah.

[870] Exodus iii, 2-6.

[871] Exodus iv, 16; vii, 1.

=10. Christ Himself was a Revelator.=--Notwithstanding His personal authority, God though He had been and was, while the Christ lived as a man among men, He declared His work to be that of One greater than Himself, by whom He had been sent, and from whom He received instructions. Note His words:--"For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak."[872] Further: "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me."[873] And again, "The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.... And as the Father gave me commandment, even so do I."[874]

[872] John xii, 49-50.

[873] John v, 30.

[874] John xiv, 10, 31.

=11. The Apostles likewise=, left to bear the burden of the Church after the departure of the Master, looked to heaven for guidance, expected and received the word of revelation to direct them in their exalted ministry. Paul writing to the Corinthians said:--"But God hath revealed them [divine truths] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God."[875]

[875] I Corinthians ii, 10-12.

=12.= John, also, declares that the book which is known specifically as the _Revelation_ was not written of his own wisdom, but that it is:--"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John."[876]

[876] Rev. i, 1.

=13. Continual Revelation Necessary.=--The scriptures are conclusive as to the fact that, from Adam to John the Revelator, God directed the affairs of His people by personal communication through chosen servants. As the written word--the record of revelation previously given--grew with time, that became a law unto the people; but in no period was that deemed sufficient. While the revelations of the past have ever been indispensable as guides to the people, showing forth, as they do, the plan and purpose of God's dealings under particular conditions, they may not be universally and directly applicable to the circumstances of succeeding times. Many of the revealed laws are of general application to all men in all ages; e.g., the commandments "Thou shalt not steal," "Thou shalt not kill," "Thou shalt not bear false witness," and other injunctions regarding the duty of man toward his fellows, most of which are so plainly just as to be approved by the human conscience, even without the direct word of Divine command. Other laws may be equally general in application, yet they derive their validity as Divine ordinances from the fact that they have been authoritatively instituted as such; as examples of this class, we may consider the requirements concerning the sanctity of the Sabbath; the necessity of baptism as a means of securing forgiveness of sins; the ordinances of confirmation, the sacrament, etc. Revelations of yet another kind are on record, such as have been given to meet the conditions of particular times; these may be regarded as special, or circumstantial revelations; e.g., the instructions to Noah regarding the building of the ark and the warning of the people; the requirement made of Abraham that he leave the land of his nativity and sojourn in a strange country; the command to Moses, and through him to Israel, relative to the exodus from Egypt; the revelations given to Lehi directing the departure of his company from Jerusalem, their journeying in the wilderness, the building of a ship, and their voyage on the great waters to another hemisphere.

=14.= It is at once unreasonable, and directly contrary to our conception of the unchangeable justice of God, to believe that He will bless the Church in one dispensation with a present living revelation of His will, and in another leave the Church, to which He gives His name, to live as best it may according to the laws of a by-gone age. True, through apostasy, the authority of the priesthood may have been taken from the earth for a season, leaving the people in a condition of darkness, with the windows of heaven shut against them; but at such times, God has recognized no earthly Church as His own, nor any prophet to declare with authority "Thus saith the Lord."

=15.= In support of the doctrine that revelation specially adapted to existing conditions is characteristic of God's dealings with His people, we have the fact of laws having been ordained and subsequently repealed, when a more advanced stage of the Divine plan had been reached. Thus, the law of Moses[877] was strictly binding upon Israel from the time of the exodus to that of Christ's ministry; but its repeal was declared by the Savior Himself,[878] and a higher law than that "of carnal commandments," which had been given "because of transgression," was instituted in its stead.

[877] Exo. xxi; Lev. i; Deut. xii.

[878] Matt. v, 17-48.