=6. Ancient Prophecy= has been literally fulfilled in the coming forth
of the Book of Mormon. One of the earliest prophetic utterances
directly bearing upon this subject is that of Enoch, the ante-diluvian
prophet, unto whom the Lord revealed His purposes for all time.
Witnessing in vision the corruption of mankind, after the ascension of
the Son of Man, Enoch cried unto his God, "Wilt thou not come again on
the earth?" "And the Lord said unto Enoch, As I live, even so will I
come in the last days.... And the day shall come that the earth shall
rest, but before that day the heavens shall be darkened, and a veil of
darkness shall cover the earth, and the heavens shall shake and also
the earth, and great tribulations shall be among the children of men;
but my people will I preserve, and righteousness will I send down out
of heaven, and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear
testimony of Mine Only Begotten.... and righteousness and truth will I
cause to sweep the earth as with a flood to gather out mine own elect
from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall
prepare."[793] The Latter-day Saints regard the coming forth of the
Book of Mormon, together with the restoration of the Priesthood by the
direct ministration of heavenly messengers, as a fulfillment of this
prophecy, and of similar predictions contained in the Bible.
[793] Pearl of Great Price: Moses vii, 59-62.
=7. Biblical Prophecies and their Fulfillment.=--David, who sang his
psalms over a thousand years before the "Meridian of Time," declared,
"Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look
down from heaven."[794] And so also declared Isaiah.[795] Ezekiel saw
in vision[796] the coming together of the stick of Judah, and the
stick of Joseph, signifying, as the Latter-day Saints affirm, the
Bible and the Book of Mormon. The passage last referred to reads, in
the words of Ezekiel:--"The word of the Lord came again unto me,
saying, Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon
it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then
take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of
Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions; And join them
one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine
hand."
[794] Psalms lxxxv, 11.
[795] Isa. xiv, 8.
[796] Ezek. xxxvii, particularly verses 15-20.
=8.= When we call to mind the ancient custom in the making of
books,--that of writing on long strips of parchment and rolling the
same on rods or sticks, the use of the word "stick" as equivalent to
"book" in the passage becomes at once apparent,[797] At the time of
this utterance, the Israelites had divided into two nations known as
the people of Judah, and that of Israel, or Ephraim. There would seem
to be little room for doubt that the records of Judah and of Joseph
are here referred to.[798] Now, as we have seen, the Nephite nation
comprised the descendants of Lehi of the tribe of Manasseh, of Ishmael
an Ephraimite, and of Zoram whose tribal relation is not definitely
stated. The Nephites were then of the tribes of Joseph; and their
record or "stick" is as truly represented by the Book of Mormon as is
the "stick" of Judah by the Bible.
[797] See a corresponding use of the word "roll" in Jeremiah
xxxvi, 1, 2; and its synonym "book" in verses 8, 10, 11, and 13.
[798] Compare with Lehi's prediction made to his son Joseph, II
Nephi iii, 12.
=9.= That the coming forth of the record of Joseph or Ephraim is to be
accomplished through the direct power of God is evident from the
Lord's interpretation of the vision of Ezekiel, wherein He
says:--"Behold, _I will take_ the stick of Joseph ... and will put
them with him, even with the stick of Judah."[799] And that this union
of the two records is to be a characteristic of the latter days is
evident from the prediction of an event which is to follow
immediately, viz., the gathering of the tribes from the nations among
which they had been dispersed.[800] Comparison with other prophecies
relating to the gathering will conclusively prove that the great event
is to take place in the latter times, preparatory to the second coming
of Christ.[801]
[799] Ezek. xxxvii, 19.
[800] Verse 21.
[801] See lecture on "Gathering" in connection with Article 10,
page 341.
=10.= Reverting to the writings of Isaiah, we find that prophet
voicing the Lord's threatenings against Ariel, or Jerusalem, "the city
where David dwelt." Ariel was to be distressed, burdened with
heaviness and sorrow; then the prophet refers to some people, other
than Judah, who occupied Jerusalem, for he makes comparison with the
latter, saying "And it shall be unto me _as_ Ariel." As to the fate
decreed against this other people we read:--"And thou shalt be brought
down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low
out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a
familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out
of the dust."[802]
[802] Isaiah xxix, 4--read verses 1-6.
=11.= Of the fulfillment of these and associated prophecies, a modern
apostle has written:--"These predictions of Isaiah could not refer to
Ariel, or Jerusalem, because their speech has not been 'out of the
ground,' or 'low out of the dust'; but it refers to the remnant of
Joseph who were destroyed in America upwards of fourteen hundred years
ago. The Book of Mormon describes their downfall, and truly it was
great and terrible. At the crucifixion of Christ, 'the multitude of
their terrible ones,' as Isaiah predicted, 'became as chaff that
passeth away,' and it took place as he further predicts, 'at an
instant suddenly.'... This remnant of Joseph in their distress and
destruction became _as_ Ariel. As the Roman army lay siege to Ariel,
and brought upon her great distress and sorrow, so did the contending
nations of ancient America bring upon each other the most direful
scenes of blood and carnage. Therefore the Lord could, with the
greatest propriety, when speaking in reference to this event, declare
that, 'It shall be unto me _as_ Ariel.'"[803]
[803] Orson Pratt, _Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon_,
pp. 293-294 (Utah ed., 1891). For details of fulfillment of part
of the prophecy, see III Nephi viii-ix.
=12.= Isaiah's striking prediction that the nation thus brought down
should "speak out of the ground," with speech "low out of the dust"
was literally fulfilled in the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon,
the original of which was taken out of the ground, and the voice of
the record is as that of one speaking from the dust. In continuation
of the same prophecy we read:--"And the vision of all is become unto
you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver unto one
that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I
cannot; for it is sealed: And the book is delivered unto him that is
not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not
learned."[804] The fulfillment of this prediction is claimed in the
presentation of the transcript from the plates,--"the words of a
book," not the book itself, to the learned Prof. Anthon, whose reply
almost in the words of the text has been cited;[805] and in the
delivery of the book itself to the unfettered lad, Joseph Smith.
[804] Isaiah xxix, 11-12.
[805] See pp. 273-274.