New Witnesses for God (Volume 2 of 3)

by B. H. Roberts

BOOK OF MORMON LANDS.^[[1]]

The location of many cities mentioned in the Book of Mormon, and the districts of Nephite lands that would correspond to departments and provinces in the political nomenclature of modern times, may not now be definitely fixed upon. This circumstance arises largely out of the fact that the Nephite historians have said nothing explicitly as to the extent of those mighty changes which were wrought in the form of Book of Mormon countries by the awful convulsions of nature at the time of Messiah's crucifixion. That the changes were considerable no one can question; for while certain allowances must always be made for language used in describing such events as then took place, the very definite statements of the Book of Mormon with reference to these events leave no room for doubt as to the great transformations wrought in the physical aspects of the land by those great cataclysms. Three different writers make mention of the physical changes wrought at Messiah's crucifixion, two prophetically, and one gives two descriptions of the physical changes that took place through the convulsions of nature. I remark, in passing, that it must be remembered that the prophetic descriptions must be accounted as real as the historical descriptions; for as the prophets saw it, so indeed it came to pass. The first Nephi, in his description of the great catacylsms, says:

I saw a mist of darkness on the face of the land of promise; and I saw lightnings, and I heard thunderings, and earthquakes, and all manner of tumultuous noises; and I saw the earth and the rocks, that they rent; and I saw mountains tumbling into pieces; and I saw the plains of the earth, that they were broken up; and I saw many cities that they were sunk; and I saw many that they were burned with fire; and I saw many that did tumble to the earth, because of the quaking thereof.^[[2]]

The following is the prophet Samuel's description of the physical changes in the western hemisphere at the crucifixion of Christ:

Behold, in that day that he shall suffer death, the sun shall be darkened and refuse to give his light unto you; and also the moon and the stars; and there shall be no light upon the face of this land, even from the time that he shall suffer death, for the space of three days, to the time that he shall rise again from the dead. Yea, at the time that he shall yield up the ghost there shall be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours, and the earth shall shake and tremble; and the rocks which are upon the face of this earth, which are both above the earth [surface] and beneath, which ye know at this time are solid, or the more part of it is one solid mass, shall be broken up; yea, they shall be rent in twain, and shall ever after be found in seams and in cracks, and in broken fragments upon the face of the whole earth, yea, both above the earth and beneath. And behold, there shall be great tempests, and there shall be many mountains laid low, like unto a valley, and there shall be many places which are now called valleys which shall become mountains, whose height is great. And many highways shall be broken up, and many cities shall become desolate. * * * And behold, thus hath the angel spoken unto me; for he said unto me that there should be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours. And he said unto me that while the thunder and the lightning lasted, and the tempests, that these things should be, and that darkness should cover the face of the whole earth for the space of three days.^[[3]]

Mormon's abridged description of the great cataclysms, after they had occurred, taken from the book of III Nephi, is as follows:

And it came to pass in the thirty and fourth year, in the first month, on the fourth day of the month, there arose a great storm, such an one as never had been known in all the land. And there was also a great and terrible tempest; and there was terrible thunder, insomuch that it did shake the whole earth as if it was about to divide asunder. * * * And the city of Zarahemla did take fire. And the city of Moroni did sink into the depths of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof were drowned. And the earth was carried up upon the city of Moronihah that in the place of the city there became a great mountain. And there was a great and terrible destruction in the land southward. But behold, there was a more great and terrible destruction in the land northward; for behold, the whole face of the land was changed, because of the tempest and the whirlwinds, and the thunderings and the lightnings, and the exceeding great quaking of the whole earth; and the highways were broken up, and the level roads were spoiled, and many smooth places became rough. And many great and notable cities were sunk, and many were burned, and many were shaken till the buildings thereof had fallen to the earth, and the inhabitants thereof were slain, and the places were left desolate. And there were some cities which remained; but the damage thereof was exceeding great, and there were many in them who were slain. * * * And thus the face of the whole earth became deformed, because of the tempests, and the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the quaking of the earth. And behold, the rocks were rent in twain; they were broken up upon the face of the whole earth, insomuch that they were found in broken fragments, and in seams and in cracks, upon all the face of the land.^[[4]]

The second description of these truly awful occurrences in III Nephi is one that is attributed to the voice of God heard throughout the land by the survivors of that dreadful time:

And it came to pass that there was a voice heard among all the inhabitants of the earth, upon all the face of this land, crying: Wo, wo, wo unto this people; wo unto the inhabitants of the whole earth except they shall repent; for the devil laugheth, and his angels rejoice, because of the slain of the fair sons and daughters of my people; and it is because of their iniquity and abominations that they are fallen! Behold, that great city of Zarahemla have I burned with fire, and the inhabitants thereof. And behold, that great city of Moroni have I caused to be sunk in the depths of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof to be drowned. And behold, that great city Moronihah have I covered with earth, and the inhabitants thereof, to hide their iniquities and their abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come any more unto me against them. And behold, the city of Gilgal have I caused to be sunk, and the inhabitants thereof to be buried up in the depths of the earth; yea, and the city of Onihah and the inhabitants thereof, and the city of Mocum and the inhabitants thereof, and the city of Jerusalem and the inhabitants thereof, and waters have I caused to come up in the stead thereof, to hide their wickedness and abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come up any more unto me against them. And behold, the city of Gadiandi, and the city of Gadiomnah, and the city of Jacob, and the city of Gimgimno, all these have I caused to be sunk, and made hills and valleys in the places thereof; and the inhabitants thereof have I buried up in the depths of the earth, to hide their wickedness and abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints should not come up any more unto me against them. * * * And many great destructions have I caused to come upon this land, and upon this people, because of their wickedness and their abominations.^[[5]]

But notwithstanding all that is said in these passages about the mighty changes which took place in the land, nothing is set down that helps us to determine definitely the nature of the physical changes as affecting Nephite lands. I believe, however, those changes were considerable; enough at least to render worthless, except in a very general way, the conjectures sometimes made respecting Nephite lands and cities.