Thus is predicted the bringing forth of yet other Scriptures, not extant among known nations today, viz., the records of the Lost Tribes of Israel, to whom the Book of Mormon indicates the Resurrected Christ went to minister after His visitation to the Nephites. In the present or last dispensation numerous revelations have been given by Jesus Christ to His modern prophets. Many of these are before the world in the volume of latter-day Scripture known as the D&C.
It is noticeable that we make no reservation respecting the Book of Mormon on the ground of incorrect translation. To do so would be to ignore attested facts as to the bringing forth of that book. Joseph Smith the prophet, seer, and revelator, through whom the ancient record has been translated into our modern tongue, expressly avers that the translation was effected through the gift and power of God, and is in no sense the product of linguistic scholarship.
The Bible in its original form, and in modern versions so far as correctly translated, contains the Word of God. Without it, the world would be plunged into spiritual gloom. Nevertheless there are other Scriptures already published, and yet others are to come.
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A MESSENGER
From the Presence of God
THE discovery of the ancient record known to mankind as the Book of Mormon was no affair of chance. To the contrary, both the finding of the plates of gold and the translation of the inscriptions were specifically the result of Divine direction. So the following facts attest.
On the 21st of September, 1823, Joseph Smith of Manchester, N. Y., was visited by an angelic personage who announced himself as Moroni, "A messenger sent from the presence of God."
"What!" the skeptical may exclaim, "A heavenly being visiting the earth and talking to a man in these modern days?" To which interrogatory a fair rejoinder is Why not? Has the God of Heaven changed in nature and attributes, or found need of altering and revising His former and most simple methods of communicating with men?