Footnotes
[1]. Vol. I, Chapter xx.
[2]. "There is more solid proof in favor of a prophet being divinely sent when his words are fulfilled than in all the miracles he can work." (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. X., 194.) "Prophecies are permanent miracles, whose authority is sufficiently confirmed by their completion, and are therefore solid proofs of the supernatural origin of a religion, of whose truth they were intended to testify: such are those to be found in various parts of the scriptures relative to the coming of the Messiah, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the unexampled state in which the Jews have ever since continued—all so circumstantially descriptive of the events that they seem rather histories of past than predictions of future transactions," Soame Jenyns, "A View of the Internal Evidence of the Christian Religion," p. 313.
[3]. Ether xiii.
[4]. Omni i: 19-22.
[5]. The matter is dealt with more at length in Volume I., Chapter xx.
[6]. Moroni x: 4, 5.
[7]. John vii: 16, 17.
[8]. So confident was President Brigham Young in the matter of the Holy Spirit bearing witness to the truth of the Book of Mormon that on one ocassion he said: "Nothing short of the Holy Ghost will do us any lasting good. I told you, in the beginning of my remarks, the truth as it is in heaven and on earth, as it is with angels, and with prophets, with all good people, and with every sinner that dwells upon the earth. There is not a man or woman who on hearing the report of the Book of Mormon but the spirit of the Almighty has testified to them of its truth; neither have they heard the name of Joseph Smith but the spirit has whispered to them, 'He is the true Prophet.' It is the spirit which is invisible to the natural mind of man, that produces effects apparently without causes, and creates mysteries, marvels, and wonders in the earth. These things we behold, but we cannot with the natural mind account for them, nor divine their ultimate end." (A discourse by President Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, June 13, 1852, "Deseret News." Vol. 4, No. 6.)
[9]. Matt. iii: 16; John i: 32-34.
[10]. I. Cor. xii: 3.
[11]. John xv: 26.
[12]. John xiv.
[13]. John xvi.
[14]. I. Nephi xiii: 35-37.
[15]. "Leaves from My Journal," Edition of 1909, pp. 84, 85.
[16]. F. D. Richards, Church Historian, in a sketch of the life of Wilford Woodruff, "Improvement Era," Vol. I, p. 871.
[17]. "Leaves from My Journal," Edition of 1909, pp. 88, 89.
[18]. "Leaves from My Journal," Edition of 1909, pp. 95, 96.
[19]. "Life of Heber C. Kimball," Orson F. Whitney, p. 402, 403.
[20]. "Life of Heber C. Kimball" (Whitney), pp. 34, 35.
[21]. St. John xvi: 13.
[22]. "My First Mission," p. 23.
[23]. Chapter xvi.
[24]. Ibid, chapter xviii.
[25]. Ibid, chapters xx, xxi, xxii, xxiii of "New Witnesses," Vol. I.
[26]. Ibid, chapter xxiv.
[27]. II. Nephi xxvii: 12, 13.
[28]. Ether v: 3.
[29]. II. Nephi xxviii: 2-14.
[30]. Mormon viii.
[31]. Church History, Vol. I, chapter xxxi.
[32]. History of the Church, Vol. III, chapter xii.
[33]. Ibid, chapter xiii. Seventeen were killed outright, twelve were savagely wounded. All that were killed had to be hurriedly thrown into an old well and buried without ceremony.
[34]. II. Nephi xxix: 1-3.
[35]. See New Witnesses, Vol. I, chapter viii; also Vol. II., ch. xxxvii, and notes.
[36]. Those who would have further evidence upon the subject are referred to all the early controversial literature of the Church, and especially to a Public Discussion between Elder John Taylor and three sectarian ministers in France, which "Discussion" is published with the early editions of Orson Pratt's works, and in which, among other similar passages occurs the following: "Rev. Mr. Carter. But the great consideration is, that these persons (Mormon Elders) pretend to add to; and supercede the Word of God. Now the Bible is the sheet-anchor of Christians, and it neither needs the Book of Mormon nor any other book, nor the assistance of Joe Smith or any other Joe. The awful voice of prophecy has spoken for the last time, and the cause of inspiration is closed."
[37]. Evidences of Christianity, p. 352.
[38]. II. Nephi xxix: 7-14.
[39]. Acts x: 34, 35.
[40]. The teacher alluded to is Frederick Denison Maurice, Professor of Modern Philosophy in the University of Cambridge. I feel much indebted to this teacher myself, and cannot recommend too highly, I am sure, his "History of Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy," two volumes, London, Macmillan & Co., 1872.
[41]. I. Nephi xiii: 24-29.
[42]. See "Golden Bible" (Lamb), Appendix "A," pp. 323-340.
[43]. I. Nephi xiv: 10.
[44]. Upon this subject I have elsewhere said: "The church of the devil" here alluded to, I understand to mean not any particular church among men, or any one sect of religion, but something larger than that—something that includes within its boundaries all evil wherever it may be found; as well in schools of philosophy as in Christian sects; as well in systems of ethics as in systems of religion—something that includes the whole empire of Satan—what I shall call "The Kingdom of Evil." * * The question was once submitted to me, "Is the Catholic church the church here referred to—the church of the devil?" "Well," said I, in answer, "I would not like to take that position, because it would leave me with a lot of churches on my hands that I might not then be able to classify." So far as the Catholic church is concerned, I believe that there is just as much truth, nay, personally I believe she has retained even more truth than other divisions of so-called Christendom; and there is just as much virtue in the Roman Catholic church as there is in Protestant Christendom; and I am sure there is more strength. I would not like, therefore, to designate the Catholic church as the church of the devil. Neither would I like to designate any one or all of the various divisions and subdivisions of Protestant Christendom combined as such church; nor the Greek Catholic church; nor the Buddhist sects; nor the followers of Confucius; nor the followers of Mohammed; nor would I like to designate even the societies formed by deists and atheists as constituting the church of the devil. The Book of Mormon text ought to be read in connection with its context—with the chapter that precedes it and the remaining portions of the chapter in which the expression is found—then, I think, those who study it in that manner will be forced to the conclusion that the prophet here has in mind no particular church, no particular division of Christendom, but he has in mind, as just stated, the whole empire of Satan, and perhaps the thought of the passage would be more nearly expressed if we use the term "the Kingdom of Evil" as constituting the church of the devil. "(Defense of the Faith and the Saints," Vol. I, pp. 30-31.)
[45]. Such is Lamb's argument on this point. "Golden Bible," p. 325.
[46]. "Jesus, the Messiah," By Edersheim, Vol. I., pp. 27-8, eighth edition.
[47]. Ibid, p. 29.
[48]. Ibid, p. 36.
[49]. "A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology," Vol. II, pp. 289, 290. By the way, may not this tradition about the three days' darkness over the whole earth at the completion of this regarded profanation of the Jewish scriptures, when they thus went forth for the first time to the Gentiles, be a misapplication of the prediction which Nephi declares was spoken of by the old Jewish prophet Zenos—whose works Lehi's colony carried with them into the wilderness—whom Nephi declares "spake concerning the three days of darkness which should be a sign of his [Messiah's] death unto those who should inhabit the isles of the sea" (I. Nephi xix: 10)? May not the matter referred to by Professor White be an interpretation of this old Jewish prophecy concerning the three days of darkness?
[50]. I. Nephi xi: 8-11.
[51]. Ether iii: 6-16.
[52]. See collection of passages in the author's "Mormon Doctrine of Deity," pp. 213-217.
[53]. II. Nephi x: 10-14.
[54]. This "Monroe Doctrine" derives its name from a message sent to Congress by President James Monroe, in 1823, in the course of which he said: "The American continents, by the free and independent condition which they had assumed and maintained, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European power." He further declared that any attempt by a European power to oppress or control an independent American nation would be regarded as "the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition towards the United states."
CHAPTER XLII.
INTERNAL EVIDENCES—THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY, (Continued.)
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: