Scrap Book of Mormon Literature (Vol. 1 of 2) / Religious Tracts

by Unknown

THE RESTORATION OF THE GOSPEL

occurred in the following manner:

In the spring of 1820, Joseph Smith, then a lad between fourteen and fifteen years of age, being exercised on the subject of religion, and not knowing which of the contending sects of religion were accepted by God as His Church, fortunately came upon that excellent advice given by the Apostle James, viz.:

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him" (James i, 5).

In full, child-like confidence that God would fulfil His word, he called upon the Lord in prayer, and in answer received an open vision, in which he beheld the Father and the Son, who revealed to him the startling truth that man had transgressed the laws of the Gospel, changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant, and that none of the churches or sects were acknowledged of His as His church or kingdom, and he was commanded to join none of them. He was also informed that the time was at hand when the Gospel would be restored, and was told that he was a chosen instrument to assist in bringing about the purposes of God.

Let not the reader impatiently cast away this tract at the statement that God did not acknowledge any of the sects or churches as His church or kingdom. Let it be remembered, according to the prophecy of the Revelator we have quoted (Rev. xiv, 6, 7), that every nation, kindred, tongue, and people in the hour of God's judgment, are to be without the Gospel, or why would there be any need of an angel being sent from heaven with it to the earth, if it was anywhere on the earth? The learned John Wesley said that the reason the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were no longer enjoyed was because the love of many waxed cold, the Christians had turned heathens again and only had a dead form left (Wesley's works, vol. VI, ser. 89). The Church of England in her Homily on Perils of Idolatry (page 3) says: "Laity and clergy, learned and unlearned, all ages, sects and degrees have been drowned in abominable idolatry, most detested by God and damnable to man for eight hundred years or more."

But to return to our account of the restoration of the Gospel. More than three years passed before Joseph Smith was again blessed with a heavenly vision. But on the night of the 21st of September, 1823, while engaged in prayer in his bedchamber, "I discovered," says he,

"A light appearing in the room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bed-side, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor. * * * Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was gloriously beyond description; and his countenance truly like lightning. * * * He called me by my name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni. That God had work for me to do, and that my name should be had for good or evil among all nations, kindred, and tongues; or that it should be good or evil spoken of among all people. He said that there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this [the American] continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fullness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants [or America]. Also that there were two stones in silver bows (and these stones, fastened to the breastplate, constituted what is called the Urim of Thummim) deposited with the plates, and the possession and use of these stones was what constituted Seers in ancient or former times, and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book."

The angel then quoted a number of prophecies from the Jewish Scriptures, among them the first part of the third chapter of Malachi, and also the fourth chapter of the same book, the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, and the second chapter of Joel, from the twenty-eighth verse to the close. He stated that these prophecies would be fulfilled in this generation.

Four years after this first visit of the heavenly messenger, in the meantime being instructed by him in doctrine and principle, the tablets containing the ancient history of America, together with the Urim and Thummim by which they were to be translated, were given into his charge. In the course of two years the work of translation was completed, and in the winter of 1829-30 the Book of Mormon—for so the record is called—containing the "fulness of the everlasting Gospel," as taught to the ancient peoples of America, was given to the world.

Nor is the world asked to receive this important message on the statement of Joseph Smith alone, but the Lord has given other witnesses, and their statement has been published with every edition of the Book of Mormon, and is as follows:

THE TESTIMONY OF THE THREE WITNESSES.

"Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people unto whom his work shall come, * * * We declare with words of soberness that an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, * * and the engravings thereon, and we know that it is by the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that we beheld and bear record that these things are true; and it is marvelous in our eyes, nevertheless the voice of the Lord commanded us that we should bear record of it; wherefore, to be obedient unto the commandments of God, we bear testimony of these things. And we know that if we are faithful in Christ, we shall rid our garments of the blood of all men, and be found spotless before the judgment seat of Christ, and shall dwell with Him eternally in the heavens."

"OLIVER COWDERY,

"DAVID WHITMER,

"MARTIN HARRIS."

Though these three witnesses; through transgression, lost the Spirit of God, and wandered away from the fold of Christ, they never denied the testimony they bore to the truth of the Book of Mormon. Two of them previous to their death came back to the Church, and died in the faith. The other—David Whitmer—died at Richmond, Mo., in January, 1888, and on his deathbed, as he had always done previously, solemnly declared that his testimony concerning the Book of Mormon was true.