Cowley's Talks on Doctrine

by Matthias F. Cowley

From the Book of Mormon we also have light thrown upon sayings of the Savior, recorded in the New Testament. He said to the Twelve, "Other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." (St. John x:16.) Who can tell us where those other sheep were and when the Savior visited them? He said they should hear His voice. The Book of Mormon gives the history of this visit to the descendants of Jacob upon this land. He organized His church among them, with apostles, prophets, etc., "one fold and one shepherd." This occurred subsequent to His resurrection. While teaching His disciples on this land, He told them of this statement to the Jewish apostles, that He had other sheep to visit; and to the apostles chosen upon this land He said, "I have other sheep which are not of this land; neither of the land of Jerusalem; neither in any parts of that land round about, whither I have been to minister. For they of whom I speak are they who have not as yet heard my voice; neither have I at any time manifested myself unto them. But I have received a commandment of the Father that I shall go unto them, and that they shall hear my voice and shall be numbered among my sheep, that there may be one fold and one shepherd; Therefore I go to show myself unto them." (III. Nephi, chapter xvi:1-3.)

These sayings of our Savior afford the only present scriptural and reasonable interpretation of the parable in Matthew, thirteenth chapter: "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." The leaven must be a symbol of the Gospel, as its effects upon the meal to lighten and prepare it for use are like the effects of the Gospel of Christ upon the hearts of those who obey the same, viz., to refine and purify that men may be prepared for the kingdom of the Father. The three measures of meal doubtless are representative of three divisions of the house of Israel. These were, according to the Book of Mormon, the Jews in Palestine, the seed of Joseph on the Western hemisphere, and the ten tribes in the North country. These all were visited by the Savior. They heard His voice and were taught of Him "one Lord, one faith, one baptism," that there might be "one fold and one shepherd." The Gospel going to the Gentiles could have no part in the fulfillment of the parable of the three measures of meal, because the Messiah never did visit the Gentiles, and He says of the other sheep, "they shall hear my voice." The only account of such an event given to mankind thus far is that recorded in the Book of Mormon. If that is not the true one, then we must look for one no less remarkable and no less in conflict with the spiritual bigotry and ignorance of the nineteenth century. That there should be a record kept by another branch of Israel than the Jewish tribe, is plainly set forth by Ezekiel in his thirty-seventh chapter, where the Lord commands the prophet to take "one stick" and write upon it for Judah and his brethren, and another stick and write upon it for Ephraim and his brethren, and then predicts that they shall become one in the hand of the Lord. The Book of Mormon claims to be the stick of Joseph, and it and the Bible have become one in the hand of the Lord in these last days. Each corroborates the other. They are one in doctrine, one in prophecy, one in history so far as they treat upon the same events. Each throws light upon the other, and yet bear the marks of having been written far apart by a different people, of different surroundings and education.

Isaiah speaks of a book (see Isa. xxix.) that should come forth. And "the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, read this, I pray thee: and he sayeth, I can not; for it is sealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he sayeth, I am not learned." This prophecy was verified as set out in a previous chapter. The book itself was delivered by an angel to the young man Joseph Smith, with the injunction that they should never be used to get gain, but for the salvation of mankind. Joseph, feeling his own weakness and knowing that he could not of himself translate them, acknowledged that he was not learned. He was told that he should translate them by the gift and power of God, which he did by the use of the Urim and Thummim, the instrument used by seers of old. Thus were the words of the prophet Isaiah verified.

No amount of credulity could make a reasonable mind believe that Joseph Smith, an unlettered, unsophisticated boy of twenty-two years, could prepare such a scheme, conniving with men of maturer years to aid him in the fraud, that the words of an ancient prophet, spoken 2,500 years before, should be literally fulfilled. The probability is that neither Joseph Smith, Martin Harris nor Prof. Anthon knew anything of the words of Isaiah relating to such a record. Prof. Anthon was not in sympathy with Joseph Smith and became an avowed opponent of the Book of Mormon. What he said in fulfillment of prophecy in this instance regarding the Book of Mormon may be said of all others, for many have been verified since it came forth—prophecies regarding it and predictions in the book itself.

The Psalmist David said that "Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven." The Book of Mormon was written upon metallic plates, and hidden in the earth 400 years after Christ. They literally came out of the earth, and righteousness in the personage of a holy angel came down from heaven and placed them in the hands of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Isaiah speaks of the ancient seers being covered, and that in the latter days their speech should be "low out of the dust." The Book of Mormon was written by seers upon the American continent. Through martyrdom they had been covered and their words lost to the apostate Lamanites for many generations. In the last days, however, their words came forth. They speak "out of the dust" and light shines upon the hidden mysteries of a whole continent, revealing a period of ten centuries.

Among the many prophecies in the Book of Mormon verified since its publication in 1829, is one found in II. Nephi, chapter 29, verse 3: "And because my words shall hiss forth, many of the Gentiles shall say, A Bible! A Bible! we have got a Bible and there cannot be any more Bible.

"But thus saith the Lord God: O fools, they shall have a Bible; and it shall proceed forth from the Jews, mine ancient covenant people. And what thank they the Jews for the Bible which they receive from them? Yea, what do the Gentiles mean? Do they remember the travels, and the labors, and the pains of the Jews, and their diligence unto me, in bringing forth salvation unto the Gentiles? O ye Gentiles, have ye remembered the Jews, mine ancient covenant people? Nay; but ye have cursed them, and have hated them, and have not sought to recover them. But behold, I will return all these things upon your own heads; for I the Lord have not forgotten my people. Thou fool, that shall say, A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. Have ye obtained a Bible, save it were by the Jews?

"Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth? Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together, the testimony of the two nations shall run together also. And I do this that I may prove unto many, that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word, ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be, until the end of man; neither from that time henceforth and forever.

"Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible, ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written: For I command all men, both in the East and in the West, and in the North, and in the South, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them; for out of the books which shall be written, I will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that which is written.

"For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth, and they shall write it. And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews. And it shall come to pass that my people which are of the house of Israel, shall be gathered home unto the lands of their possessions; and my word also shall be gathered in one. And I will shew unto them that fight against my word and against my people, who are of the house of Israel, that I am God, and that I covenanted with Abraham, that I would remember his seed forever."