Scrap Book of Mormon Literature, Volume 2 (of 2). Religious Tracts

by Unknown

But, to the other portion of the prediction. The book or history has been carried to the remnant, by the Gentiles. From shortly subsequent to the organization of the Church a good deal of missionary labor was performed by the elders among the Lamanites, in the hope of bringing them to a knowledge of the Gospel. But all efforts to penetrate their darkened minds appeared futile. The message appeared to fall upon ears of stone. Evidently the time, in the providence of the Almighty, for that race, who had fallen so low in the scale of being, to accept of the knowledge that was had among their fathers, had not arrived.

Suddenly however, as the sun breaks over the eastern horizon, dispelling the gloom of night, a light broke forth among them. Without effort or influence from any human source they came forward in large numbers, declaring they had received heavenly visitations, indicating plainly to them that they must go to the elders of the Church, be baptized by them, by immersion, in water, for the remission of sins, forsake their evil and idle habits, and seek for the counsel of the servants of God. The applications for baptism and instruction were first made to Elder George H. Hill, of Ogden, and Elder W. H. Lee, of Grantsville, as many as three hundred waiting upon the former at one time. The movement appeared to be simultaneous in many places, east, west, north and south. It commenced in the summer of 1874, and has been steadily developing ever since.

For the benefit of these people, who are descendants of a branch of the house of Israel, three large farms have been secured by the Church of Christ, one in Malad Valley, Northern Utah, another in Tooele County, to the westward, and another in Thistle Valley, in the South. They are beginning to cultivate the soil, and take on the habits of civilization, thus commencing to fulfil the predictions of the Book of Mormon concerning them.

The report of a conference held in the town of Ephraim, San Pete County, Utah, U. S. A., by President John Taylor and other authorities, last winter (1879-80), is before us. It tells of a Relief Society in Thistle Valley, composed of white and Indian women in about equal numbers, and of their industry and philanthropy in donating means for the building of a Temple to the Most High. It was also represented, by Elder Spencer, who has the oversight of the Indians in Thistle Valley, that the Lamanitish brethren and sisters were as willing as the white members of the Church to aid in every good work.

These may be viewed as small matters, but they are cited from the midst of a multitude of evidences showing the educational, softening and modifying tendency of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as preached by the servants of God, and which the ancient prophets declared would be received by these hitherto degraded people, the aborigines of America, and lift them to a more enlightened plane of life. It will be seen that the leaven has already commenced to actively work among them, verifying the genuine character of the prophecies concerning them. Whatever manifests the authenticity of the Book of Mormon, supports the claim of Joseph Smith to being a prophet of the Living God.

Before leaving this part of the subject, we will refer to a fact that must strike the reader as a strong evidence of the prophetic correctness of the Book of Mormon, and, consequently, of the genuineness of the claim that Joseph Smith was sent of God. The book states that the Savior gave it as a sign that when the Lamanites (American Indians) should begin to believe its contents, the work of the Father, to prepare the way for the gathering of the whole house of Israel should commence.

We will quote the 7th verse of the 21st chapter of 3rd Nephi, page 527 latest edition B. M.: "And when these things come to pass, that thy seed shall begin to know these things, it shall be a sign unto them, that they may know that the work of the Father hath already commenced unto the fulfilling of the covenant which he has made unto the people who are of the house of Israel."

Also the 28th verse: "Yea, and then shall the work commence, with the Father, among all nations, in preparing the way whereby his people may be gathered home to the land of their inheritance, and they shall go out from all nations."

As shown in the foregoing, the aborigines have already begun to believe, and to manifest the accuracy of the sign we have but to point to the political events in connection with the East that have occurred during the last five years. In that time there has transpired the Russo-Turkish war, the Berlin Treaty, incorporating political freedom for the Jews in Roumania; the Anglo-Turkish Convention, including the cession of the Island of Cyprus to Great Britain, and the establishment of a British protectorate over that portion of the Ottoman dominion which includes Palestine. These are all occurrences confined within the limited period which has expired since the Lamanites began to believe and receive the Gospel. It requires no straining of points to reconcile these events with the commencement of the preparatory work of the Father for the gathering of the remnants of His ancient people to their own land. The Jews themselves are beginning to recognize this fact. So also are many professing Christians, who, although destitute of authority from Jesus Christ and devoid of the Gospel of faith, repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost in its fullness, have some faith in the fulfillment of the prophecies relating to the gathering of Israel.

We think it proper to state, incidentally, that since the original translation into English, the Book of Mormon has been translated into and published in Welsh, Danish, French, German, Italian, the language of the Sandwich Islanders, and Swedish. It has also been translated into and a portion of it published in the Spanish language.