were found by the people of Limhi, which is called the Book of Ether;"
_Ether_ 1. 2. Some account of the finding of these plates may be found
in _Mos_. 8. 8-11. _Chap_. 21. 25, 27.
The fact that these plates were called the Book of Ether, after the
last prophet and historian of the Jaredites, indicates that they were
an abridgment from the general records of the Jaredites. The Book of
Ether bears the same relation to the general Jaredite records, that the
Book of Mormon does to those of the Nephites.
Moroni states that he gives only a part of the account of the Jaredites
from the tower down to their destruction; _Ether_ 1. 5. At the
completion of this record he says, "And the hundredth part I have not
written;" 15. 33. From these statements it is evident that the Book of
Ether, written by Moroni, is a very limited abridgment of the record of
Ether contained on the twenty-four plates.
From the genealogy of Ether, given in the first chapter of the book, we
learn that he was the last of the royal line of the Jaredites, as well
as their last historian.
In the days of the first Nephite king, called Mosiah, who reigned
in the land of Zarahemla, there was a stone brought to the city of
Zarahemla, on which was engraved a short account of the Jaredites;
_Omni_ 1. 20-22.
The twenty-four plates, and this stone, are the only original records
of the Jaredites of which we have any information. Moroni does not
appear to have made any use of this stone record in writing his
abridgment.
We are informed, in the Book of Ether, that the twenty-four plates
contained the visions of the brother of Jared; 4. 4-7. Therefore we may
conclude, that they are in the sealed portion of the plates from which
the Book of Mormon was translated, by Joseph Smith, the Seer.
There was, evidently, an original record from which Ether wrote his
account of the creation, and the history of the world down to the
tower. Probably this record is the one referred to by the daughter of
king Jared, when she asked her father if he had not read the record
which their fathers had brought across the great deep 8. 9.
To the student who desires to dig deep, to learn the inspired history
of the earth and its inhabitants, this short account of a great people,
who occupied North America from about one hundred and twenty-five years
after the flood, until some 600 B. C., greatly increases the desire for
further information concerning them.
RECORDS
MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE, BUT NOT IN IT.
_Gen_. 5. 1 the book of the generations of Adam.
_Exo_. 24. 7 the book of the covenant.
32. 15-19 tables of testimony written on both sides.
32 and 33 the book which the Lord had written.
_Num_. 21. 14 book of the wars of the Lord.
_Josh_. 10. 13 written in the book of Jasher. 2 _Sam_. 1, 18.
1 _Sam_. 10. 25 the book in which the manner of the kingdom was written.
1 _Kings_ 4. 32, 33 books containing three thousand proverbs, a
thousand and five songs, a treatise on natural history and botany,
written by Solomon.
11. 41 book of the Acts of Solomon.
14. 19 book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.
1 _Chron_. 29. 29 the book of Samuel the Seer, of Nathan the prophet,
and of Gad the Seer.
2 _Chron_. 9. 29 book of Nathan the prophet, the prophecy of Ahijah,
the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the Seer.
12. 15 book of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the Seer concerning
genealogies.
13. 22 the story of the prophet Iddo.
20. 34 the book of Jehu the son of Hanani.
24. 27 the story of the book of the kings.
26. 22 the Acts of Uzziah, written by Isaiah, son of Amoz.
28. 26 book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 35. 27. _Chap_. 36. 8.
33. 18, 19 life of Manasseh, the words of the Seers that spake to him,
in the book of the kings of Israel.
_Jer_. 36. 2 the words which Jeremiah wrote against Israel and Judah,
and all the nations, in the roll of a book.
13 the roll in which Baruch, the scribe, wrote.
_Dan_. 22. 4 the book that was sealed to the time of the end.
_Hab_. 2. 2 the vision that was made plain on tables.
_Mal_. 3. 16 the book of remembrance that was written for those that
feared the Lord.
_Luke._ 1. 1 many wrote concerning the faith of the early Saints.
1 _Cor_. 5. 9 a third epistle to the Corinthians; we have only two.
_Philip_ 4. 3 the book of life. _Rev_. 13. 8. _Chap_. 20. 12.
_Col_. 4. 16 read the epistle from Laodicea.
2 _Tim_. 4. 13 books and parchments left at Troas.
_Jude_ 3 a second epistle of Jude; we have but one.
14 the prophecy of Enoch.
_Rev_. 1. 11 the book sent to the seven churches of Asia.
5. 1 a book sealed with seven seals.
10. 2 little book which a mighty angel had in his hand.
20. 12 the books out of which the dead will be judged.
RECORDS OF THE NEPHITES.
The record of first importance to the Nephites was that of the plates
of brass, which was taken from the treasury of Laban by Nephi. It
contained the five books of Moses, the history of the Jews down to the
reign of Zedekiah, and a genealogy of the family of Lehi.
This record was invaluable to the Jewish-American colony as a means of
perpetuating the religion, customs and civilization of their fathers.
Lehi prophesied, in his first camp in the wilderness, "That these
plates of brass should go forth unto all nations, kindreds, tongues,
and people who were of his seed;" 1 _Nephi_ 5. 18. He further said
"That these plates of brass should never perish; neither should they be
dimmed any more by time;" _verse_ 19.
Nearly two thousand five hundred years have passed away since this
prophecy of Lehi's was recorded, and we are assured that these plates
of brass are well preserved, and are yet to come forth to all the
tribes and peoples of the aboriginal American race, and to all the race
of Lehi who may be scattered on the islands of the sea. This record,
on brass plates, was written in the Egyptian language; _Mos_. 1. 4. It
appears to have borne the same relationship to the Nephites, that the
Bible has to Christian nations, and to have been not only their guide
in religion, but also the foundation of their ethics and jurisprudence.
From the first, Nephi was strongly impressed with the importance of
keeping a faithful record of his people. He says in the beginning
of his first book, "I make a record in the language of my father,
which consists of the learning of the Jews, and the language of the
Egyptians;" 1. 2. The Egyptian language must have had about the same
relation to the Jews, that the Latin has to modern Christian nations.
The purpose of the Lord, in inspiring Nephi to make ample preparations
for keeping a record of his people, was gradually developed to him, for
he says in 9. 5, of his first book, "The Lord hath commanded me to make
these plates for a wise purpose in him; which purpose I know not."
The importance of the future record of his people was afterwards shown
him in vision: "For behold, saith the Lamb, I will manifest myself unto
thy seed, that they shall write many things which I shall minister unto
them, which shall be plain and precious; and after thy seed shall be
destroyed, and dwindle in unbelief, and also the seed of thy brethren;
behold, these things shall be hid up, to come forth unto the Gentiles,
by the gift and power of the Lamb;" 13. 35. The remainder of this
chapter further explains this subject.
By reading the third chapter of 2 _Nephi_, we learn that this subject
had become well developed in the mind of Lehi before his death.
Joseph, who was sold into Egypt, had left on record a remarkable
prophecy--which was probably engraven on the plates of brass--that
the writing of the fruit of his loins (the Book of Mormon), and the
writing of the fruit of the loins of Judah (the Bible), should not only
be joined together in the latter days, but that a great Seer should
be raised up who should write the writing of the fruit of his loins
for the benefit of his brethren. Such a plain description is given
of things connected with this Seer, that we are perfectly safe in
concluding that he and Joseph Smith, Jun., are identical.
From this time, during the existence of the Nephites, the coming forth
of their record to the Lamanites, and to their own posterity in the
latter times, was ever associated in the minds of the faithful, with
the Seer whom the Lord should raise up to bring them forth. Both were
the subject of their earnest prayers, and called forth the exercise of
a living faith; _Mormon_, 8. 25.
The history of the Nephite-American colony commences with their leaving
Jerusalem, 600 B. C.; 1 _Nephi_ 10. 4, and closed when Moroni finished
the record, from which the Book of Mormon was translated, and hid it up
in the hill Cumorah, A. C. 421; a period of one thousand and twenty-one
years.
When Lehi and his colony left Jerusalem, the renowned city of Babylon
was in the height of its glory, and the city of Rome had been founded
only one hundred and fifty years.
The importance of the Book of Mormon, as a history, will be recognized
by the fact that it is the only history of the western hemisphere,
known to the world, for the long period of thirty-eight hundred years
between Noah's flood, and the discovery of America by Christopher
Columbus, in 1492.
Book of Mormon.
1 _Nephi_ 3. 3 the record of Laban. 4, 13, 19, 26. _Chap_. 4. 10-27.
5. 11-13 the record contained the five books of Moses, and a history of
Jews. 16.
21, 22 the records on the plates of brass very desirable. _Chap_. 6.
1-6.
9. 2-4 one set of plates for sacred things, the other historical
_Chap_. 19. 1-6.
13. 23 the record that proceedeth out of the mouth of a Jew. 25, 38,
40, 41.
14. 18-30 concerning the writings of the apostle John, and of Nephi.
2 _Nephi_ 3. 12 the writings of Judah and Joseph to grow together.
5. 12 Nephi took with him, into the wilderness, the record on the
plates of brass. 30-33.
25. 18 the Lord will bring forth his word to the Jews. 18-23.
26. 17 the things done among them shall be written and sealed up.
27. 7 in the book shall be a revelation from God, from the beginning.
10-29.
29. 2 my words shall hiss forth to the ends of the earth. 8, 10-14.
30. 3 the book written to be carried forth to the seed of Nephi.
_Chap_. 31. 1, 2. _Jacob_ 4. 1-3.
_Enos_ 1. 13 Enos prayed that a record might be preserved to come forth
to the Lamanites. 14, 16-18.
_Jarom_ 1. 2 the small plates written for the benefit of the Lamanites.
_Omni_ 1. 17 the people of Zarahemla had no records. 18.
_Words of Mormon_ 1. 1, 2 many years after the coming of Christ, Mormon
delivered the records to Moroni, and wrote these "Words."
_Mos_. 2. 34 the people of Mosiah taught concerning the records on the
plates of brass.
8. 5 Limhi caused the records of his people to be brought to Ammon.
9 the people of Limhi discovered the records of the Jaredites. 10-19.
_Chap_. 21. 27.
12. 8 leave a record which I will preserve for other nations. _Chap_.
22. 14.
25. 5, 6 the record of Zeniff and of Alma. 28. 10-20.
_Alma_ 22. 12, 13 Alma expounded the scriptures from the creation. 23.
5. _Chap_. 33. 12-15.
37. 1-6 Alma prophesied that the records, containing holy writ, should
retain their brightness. 7-27. _Chap_. 45. 2.
_Hel_. 3. 13-16 many particular and large records kept by the Nephites.
3 _Nephi_ 5. 8-18 Mormon explains concerning the abridgment of the
records of his people.
26. 7 the plates of Nephi contain the more part of what Christ taught.
11.
27. 23-27 things not forbidden to be written. All things written by the
Father.
4 _Nephi_ 1. 19, 20 Amos kept the records eighty-four years. 21.
48. 49 Ammaron hid up the sacred records in the earth.
_Mormon_ 1. 1 Mormon makes a record and calls it the Book of Mormon.
2-5. _Chap_. 2. 17, 18.
7. 8 the Jewish records to go from the Gentiles to the remnants.
_Chap_. 8. 5, 12, 14, 15.
8. 25 their prayers were in behalf of him who should bring these things
forth.
9. 32, 33 record written in the reformed Egyptian. 34.
_Ether_ 1. 3 the record of Ether speaks of the creation.
4-6 Moroni gives only a partial account of the Jaredites.
3. 21-24 the brother of Jared commanded to write what he had seen and
heard.
4. 1 the things written by the brother of Jared not to be revealed
until Christ should come. 3-7, 16.
5. 1 touch not the things sealed up.
3, 4 these things shall be established by the mouth of three witnesses.
15. 33 Ether hid the record so that the people of Limhi found it.
_Moroni_ 1. 1-4 Moroni only wrote an abridgment of Jaredite history. 9.
24. _Chap_. 10. 2.
Doctrine and Covenants.
_Sec_. 1. 29 after having received the records of the Nephites. 3. 19.
_Sec_. 5. 1, 3, 4, 11, 26, 30.
6. 26 records kept back because of the wickedness of the people.
8. 1 shall receive a knowledge concerning ancient records. 9. 1.
10. 1 because you have given up those records you had power to
translate. 38-42.
44-49 the prayers of the ancient Saints answered, in the bringing forth
of the Book of Mormon. _Sec_. 11. 22. _Sec_. 17. 1-3.
20. 35 these things are true and according to the revelations of John.
21. 1 Joseph Smith, Jun., to be called a Seer, a translator.
24. 1 Joseph Smith, Jun., called and chosen to write the Book of
Mormon. _Sec_. 28. 7.
42. 12 Bible and Book of Mormon contain the fulness of the Gospel. 15.
93. 6 the fulness of John's record hereafter to be revealed.
107. 57 written in the book of Enoch.
_Sec_. 128. the dead to be judged from the books. Things that have
never been revealed shall be revealed in the dispensation of the
fulness of times.
20 Moroni declaring the fulfilment of the prophets--the book to be
revealed.
135. 3 the books brought forth by Joseph Smith, Jun.
_See Sermon by O. Pratt, J. of D., Vol. 16, page 47_.
" " _Prest. B. Young, Farmington, June 17, 1877, J. of D., Vol. 19.
page 36_.
VISIONS AND DREAMS.
"Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto
his servants the prophets;" _Amos_ 3. 7. "Where there is no vision the
people perish;" _Prov_. 29. 18.
By visions and dreams the Lord has made known his will to his people,
in every dispensation of the Priesthood. This method of communicating
information, in its operations, is beyond the comprehension of our
natural powers, and, for this reason, ranks among the supernatural.
In the past, the Lord has made known to his prophets many of the
important events that were to become history, down through the
centuries of coming time.
In the writings of Moses, as revealed to Joseph, the Seer, we have an
account of wonderful things, made known in this way, to the prophet
Enoch, who lived several hundred years before Noah's flood. He says:
"As I was journeying, and stood in the place Mahujah, and cried unto
the Lord, there came a voice out of heaven, saying, Turn ye, and get ye
upon the mount Simeon.
"And it came to pass that I turned and went up on the mount; and as I
stood upon the mount, I beheld the heavens open, and I was clothed upon
with glory, and I saw the Lord; and he stood before my face, and he
talked with me, even as a man talketh one with another, face to face;
and he said unto me, Look, and I will show unto thee the world for the
space of many generations." When we reflect that this great prophet
lived nearly five thousand years ago, and that the Lord revealed to him
the great events that were to take place on the earth until the coming
of Christ in the latter-days, it will give us some little comprehension
of the wonderful and great things revealed to him. The account of this
is in _P. of G. P., pages_ 17-22.
The Book of Mormon gives us a short account of another prophet, the
brother of Jared, who lived about one hundred years after the flood.
The Lord "Shewed unto the brother of Jared all the inhabitants of the
earth which had been, and also all that would be; and he withheld them
not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth; For he had said
unto him in times before, That if he would believe in him, that he
could shew unto him all things--it should be shewn unto him; therefore
the Lord could not withhold anything from him, for he knew that the
Lord could shew him all things."
We have no account of any greater vision than this which the brother
of Jared had. "And the Lord said unto him, Write these things and seal
them up, and I will shew them in mine own due time unto the children
of men;" _Ether_ 3. 2-27. Thus we learn from the twenty-seventh verse,
that all the great things which pertain to the history of man, from the
beginning unto the end of the earth, are yet to be revealed, through
the record of the brother of Jared, to all who are prepared to receive
them.
Lehi, the head of the first Jewish colony to America, was commanded by
the Lord, in a dream, to leave Jerusalem, take his family and go into
the wilderness, preparatory to going to a strange land; 1 _Nephi_ 2.
2; _verse_ 4 proves his supreme faith in this dream: "And it came to
pass that he departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and
the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his
precious things, and took nothing with him, save it were his family,
and provisions, and tents, and departed into the wilderness."
This great patriarch, on other occasions, showed his faith in dreams
and visions. In these ways the Lord revealed many great things to him
and his son Nephi.
The Mosaic dispensation opened by an angel of the Lord appearing unto
Moses in a flame of fire "Out of the midst of a bush;" _Exo_. 3. 2.
The Old Testament gives an account of many visions and dreams,
but perhaps the most important of the latter is the dream of
Nebuchadnezzar, which was interpreted by the prophet Daniel; _Dan_.
2. It is now over twenty-four hundred years since the king of Babylon
had that dream, and its fulfilment can be traced in the history of the
world down through all these centuries.
The last great event, shown in this dream, was, that in the latter
times the God of heaven would set up a kingdom which would break down
other kingdoms and stand forever. This is the kingdom that it was the
mission of Joseph Smith, Jun., to establish, and which the Latter-day
Saints are laboring to build up.
Dreams characterized the opening up of the New Testament dispensation.
After the birth of our Savior the wise men, who came from the east to
see him, were warned to disobey the command of the wicked king Herod,
who sought the life of the young child. The reputed father of the
child, Joseph, was warned in a dream to take the child and its mother
and flee into Egypt for the same reason. When Herod was dead, Joseph
was warned in a dream to take the child and its mother and return into
the land of Israel.
This great latter-day dispensation was opened up by a vision. When
Joseph Smith, Jun., was a lad, in his fifteenth year, he retired to a
secret place to ask the Lord to direct him and give him wisdom. When he
kneeled down to offer up the desires of his heart to God, he was nearly
overcome by the powers of darkness.
He says, in the narrative of his life written by himself, "Just at this
moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head,
above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it
fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from
the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me, I saw two
personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing
above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and
said (pointing to the other), THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, HEAR HIM." _P. of
G. P., page_ 47.
An account of one of the most remarkable visions of this dispensation,
is recorded in _Doc. & Cov., sec_. 76. The narrative commences as
follows: "We, Joseph Smith, Jun., and Sidney Rigdon, being in the
Spirit on the sixteenth of February, in the year of our Lord, one
thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, by the power of the Spirit our
eyes were opened and our understandings were enlightened, so as to see
and understand the things of God--even those things which were from
the beginning before the world was, which were ordained of the Father,
through his Only Begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, even
from the beginning, of whom we bear record, and the record which we
bear is the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the Son, whom
we saw and with whom we conversed in the heavenly vision;" _verses_
11-14. In Joseph Smith's first vision, God the Father bore testimony of
Jesus Christ his Son. In this last vision, the Son appeared to Joseph
Smith and Sidney Rigdon, and revealed to them many great and glorious
truths concerning the resurrection, and the final reward of all men
according to their works. The account of the vision will repay much
careful study.
The Lord said, through his prophet Joel, speaking of the times when
Israel should be gathered in the latter days, "I will pour out my
Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions;" 2.
28. Thousands of Latter-day Saints can testify that this prophecy is
being fulfilled, and that dreams and visions characterize this as they
have all former dispensations of the Priesthood.
Bible.
_Gen_. 15. 12 a horror of great darkness fell on Abraham.
20. 3 God came to Abimelech in a dream by night. 6.
28. 12-15 Jacob's dream in Bethel.
31. 10-12 Jacob's dream of the speckled cattle.
24 God appeared to Laban.
37. 5-8 Joseph's dream of the sheaves.
9. 10 Joseph's dream of the sun, moon and stars.
40. 5-19 the dreams of Pharaoh's chief butler and chief baker.
41. 1-32 Pharaoh's dreams and Joseph's interpretation.
46. 2 God spake to Jacob in the visions of the night.
2 _Sam_. 7. 17 according to all this vision did Nathan speak to David.
1 _Kings_ 3. 5-14 Solomon's dream in which he asks the Lord for wisdom.
9. 2 the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, as he had appeared unto
him at Gibeon.
22. 19-22 Micah's vision of the lying spirit.
_Job_ 4. 12, 13 was secretly brought to me from the visions of the
night.
_Jer_. 1. 11-16 visions of a rod, and of a seething pot.
_Ezek_. 1. vision of four living creatures.
2. 9, 10 the visions of the roll of a book.
3. 22, 23 a vision of the glory of the Lord.
_Chap_. 8. vision of the glory of the Lord and of the rebelliousness of
Judah.
_Chap_. 9. vision of the destruction of the wicked and of the
preservation of the righteous in Jerusalem.
_Chap_. 10. vision of the coals of fire scattered over Jerusalem and of
living creatures which Ezekiel had before seen by the river Chebar.
11. 22 vision of the Cherubim.
23 vision of the glory of the Lord departing from Jerusalem.
24, 25 Ezekiel in vision was carried by the Spirit into Chaldea.
37. 1-10 vision of dry bones, their coming together and being covered
with flesh and filled with life.
_Chap_. 40. and remainder of Ezekiel is probably a vision of Jerusalem
during the Millennium.
_Dan_. 4. Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a great tree.
_Chap_. 5. the handwriting on the wall of the palace of Belshazzar.
_Chap_. 7. Daniel's vision of the four beasts, and of the sitting of
the Ancient of days.
_Chap_. 8. Daniel's vision of the ram and the goat.
_Hab_. 2. 2, 3 write the vision and make it plain upon tables.
_Zech_. 1. 8-11 the vision of the horses among the myrtle trees.
18-21 visions of the horns and carpenters.
2. 1, 2 vision of the measuring line.
_Chap_. 4. vision of the golden candlestick.
_Chap_. 5. vision of the flying roll. 6. 1-8 of the four chariots.
_Matt_. 1. 20 an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream.
_Luke_ 1. 5-19 Gabriel promised Zacharias that his wife Elizabeth
should have a son named John.
_Acts_ 9. 12 Saul's vision of Ananias.
10. 10-16 Peter's vision of all manner of beasts. 11. 5-10.
30-32 Cornelius' vision of a man in bright clothing.
16. 9 Paul's vision of a man from Macedonia wanting help.
18. 9, 10 the Lord appeared to Paul in a vision.
22. 17-21 Paul had a trance in the temple.
_Rev_. 1. 12-18 vision of the seven golden candlesticks.
_Chap_. 4. vision of the throne of God, of twenty-four elders and of
four beasts.
_Chap_. 5. the book sealed with seven seals.
_Chap_. 6. the opening of the seven seals.
_Chap_. 7. 144,000 of the tribes of Israel sealed in their foreheads,
an innumerable multitude stood before the throne.
_Chap_. 8. the opening of the seventh seal and the plagues that follow.
_Chap_. 9. opening of the bottomless pit, the plague of locusts; other
woes follow.
_Chap_. 10. the book which John is commanded to eat.
_Chap_. 11. vision of two witnesses who shall be slain and rise after
three days. The seventh trumpet sounds.
_Chap_. 12. vision of the woman with child, and of the great red dragon.