ANALYSIS OF THE BOOK OF MORMON.
According to the intimation given in the last chapter, we proceed to
furnish our readers with a brief outline of the contents of that mysterious
volume whose origin and history we have already given, and which, as we
have seen, has exerted no small influence in imparting a degree of
plausibility to the claims set up by this sect, and in gaining for them
among the superstitious and the credulous, hosts of converts. I have before
me a copy of the BOOK OF MORMON, which I have read through in order to
furnish the following analysis. Since reading this volume of nearly six
hundred pages, I am more than ever convinced that there were several hands
employed in its preparation. There are certainly striking marks of genius
and literary skill displayed in the management of the main story--while in
some of the details and hortatory parts there are no less unequivocal marks
of bungling and botch work.
As I have already stated, this volume consists of fifteen separate books,
which profess to have been written at different periods, and by different
authors, whose names they respectively bear: all these authors, however,
belonged to the same people, and were successively raised up by Jehovah,
and by him inspired to carry on the progress of the narrative, and deposit
the record when made upon metallic plates in the same ark of testimony
which contained the plates handed down by their predecessors. The first
book in the volume is called the Book of Nephi: it contains seven distinct
chapters, and opens with an account of Lehi, the father of Nephi. Nephi,
the writer of this first book, appears to be the grand hero of this epic.
His father, Lehi, resided in Jerusalem--was a devout man, and one that
feared God. His mother's name was Sariah--and the names of his three
brothers were Laman, Lemuel, and Sam. The narrative commences with the
first year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah. During this year the
prophets of the most high God came and uttered such fearful predictions in
relation to the destruction of Jerusalem, that Lehi became greatly alarmed
for the city and for his people. He was so impressed with the messages
which the Hebrew seers proclaimed, that he was led to go and pray with
great fervency before the Lord. While in this solemn act of prayer, there
came down a pillar of fire and rested upon a rock before him, blazing forth
in awful majesty, and speaking to him out of the flames. Awed and terrified
by this divine manifestation, he went home and cast himself upon his bed
overwhelmed with anxious thoughts and fearful forebodings. While he lay
there thus meditating upon what he had seen, he was suddenly carried away
in a vision, and saw the heavens opened, and God sitting upon his throne,
"surrounded by numberless concourses of angels." "And it came to pass," I
here use the language of Nephi, (page 6,) "that he saw one descending out
of the midst of heaven. And he beheld that his lustre was above that of
the sun at noon day; and he saw twelve others following him, and their
brightness did exceed that of the stars in the firmament; and they came
down and went forth upon the face of the earth; and the first came and
stood before my father, and gave unto him a book, and bade him that he
should read. And it came to pass as he read, he was filled with the Spirit
of the Lord, and he read, saying, Wo, wo unto Jerusalem! for I have seen
thine abominations; yea and many things did my father read concerning
Jerusalem--that it should be destroyed, and the inhabitants thereof, many
should perish by the sword, and many should be carried away captive into
Babylon." Lehi, after this vision, became himself a prophet, and predicted
the overthrow of the Holy City; on account of which he was persecuted by
the Jews. While they were plotting to destroy him, he had another vision,
by which he was instructed to take his family and depart into the
wilderness. He immediately obeyed, leaving his house and land and gold and
silver and precious things behind. In his journeyings he came near the
shore of the Red Sea, and at length pitched his tent in a valley beside a
river of water. His two eldest sons were quite unbelieving, and thought it
absurd that their father should leave all his comforts behind, and come to
dwell in a tent in the wilderness. But Nephi who was the third son, was
piously disposed, and being led to seek the face of the Lord in prayer, had
a revelation from God--that he should be led to a _land of promise_, and
become a teacher and ruler over his brethren.
After this, Lehi also had another vision, in which he was commanded to send
Nephi and his brethren back to Jerusalem to obtain "_the record of the
Jews, and also a genealogy of his forefathers, engraven upon plates of
brass._" This was a mission attended with great danger, and replete with
sundry adventures of a marvellous character. After the three brethren had
reached Jerusalem, they cast lots to decide which should go to Laban, who
seems to have been the keeper of these sacred deposites, and ask for the
records. The lot fell upon Laman. He was received very roughly by Laban,
and had to flee from his presence for his life, without attaining the
object of his wishes. The two elder brothers now determined to abandon the
object of their mission and go back to their father; but Nephi, full of
faith, wished still to persevere, and therefore proposed that they should
go to their former residence and collect together the gold and silver and
precious things belonging to their father, and endeavour to make an
impression upon Laban's mind by the offer of all these, if he would give
them "the plates of brass." Laban was pleased with the exhibition of their
treasures, and determined to slay them, in order to possess their wealth.
They fled, however, into the wilderness, and hid themselves in the cavity
of a rock. The two elder brothers now became utterly indignant with Nephi,
and smote him with a rod, because he had led them into such an adventure.
An angel of God, however, appeared, and rebuked them--enjoining it upon
them to go up to Jerusalem again, and not to give over the enterprise upon
which they had embarked--assuring them that the Lord would deliver Laban
into their hands. Notwithstanding this divine reproof, the two elder
brothers felt rather sorely towards Nephi, and went up again towards
Jerusalem quite reluctantly. When they reached the walls of the city, they
positively refused to go any farther. Nephi, however, offered to go again
to the house of Laban. He proposed that they should hide without the walls,
and wait till his return. It was night; and Nephi stole carefully into the
city, directing his steps towards the house of Laban. As he drew near his
residence, however, he found a man stretched out on the ground, drunk with
wine. Upon examination, he found it was Laban himself. He was armed with a
sword, the hilt of which was "of pure gold, and the workmanship exceeding
fine." Nephi drew the sword from its scabbard, and as he held it up, he
felt constrained by the Spirit to kill Laban. He had to struggle some time
with the natural tenderness of his feelings, but his desire to obey God
prevailed, and he therefore "took Laban by the hair of the head, and smote
off his head with his own sword." He then stript off the garments of Laban,
and put them on himself, and girded himself with his armour, and "went
forth towards the treasury of Laban," and as he went, "he saw the servant
of Laban that had the keys of the treasury." This servant mistook Nephi,
who tried to imitate the voice of Laban, for his own master, and readily
took out "the engravings which were upon the plates of brass" and carried
them without the walls. When the servant discovered the mistake, he was
very much frightened--but at length was prevailed upon to accompany these
adventurers into the wilderness: therefore having obtained the object of
their wishes, they returned to the tent of their father.
Lehi now examined, at his leisure, the records engraven upon the plates of
brass, and found that they contained the five books of Moses, "and also a
record of the Jews from the beginning even down to the commencement of the
reign of Zedekiah, and also many prophecies spoken by the mouth of
Jeremiah." He also found a genealogy of his fathers, from which he learned
that he was a descendant of Joseph.
Here I cannot but remark that it is astonishing that he had not found out
before this to what tribe he belonged; and it is not a little remarkable
that as the sons of Joseph, Ephraim, and Manassah, were appointed to
represent two tribes, in the place of Joseph and Levi, he had not told us
from which of these descendants he sprang. We were all along at a loss to
know what sort of officer Laban was, but here we are told at this stage of
the narrative: "Thus my father Lehi did discover the genealogy of his
fathers. And Laban also was a descendant of Joseph, wherefore he and his
fathers kept the records." This seems to us quite a _non sequitur_.
But to proceed. Upon obtaining these plates of brass, Lehi began to be
"filled with the spirit, and to prophecy concerning his seed; that these
plates of brass should go forth unto all nations, _kindreds_, tongues, and
people, which were of his _seed_. Wherefore, he said that these plates of
brass should never perish; neither should they be dimmed any more by time."
Soon after this Nephi had a very wonderful vision, which he told to his two
sons, by way of warning the two elder, Laman and Lemuel, of whom he had
great fears--as they were disposed to be unbelieving and rebellious. This
vision presented an allegorical representation. Lehi declared that he saw a
man dressed in a white robe, who came and stood before him, and then bade
him follow him. He did so. The white robed guide led him through a long,
dark, and dreary waste. After travelling on for many hours in darkness he
began to pray unto the Lord; and the Lord then led him into a large,
spacious field, in the midst of which he saw "a tree whose fruit was
desirable to make one happy." He partook of this fruit, which was intensely
white, "exceeding all the whiteness he had ever seen." As soon as he had
partaken of the fruit, "his soul was filled with exceeding great joy." This
led him to wish that his family should come and partake of the same. While
looking around to see if he could discover his family, he beheld a river of
water, which ran along near the tree of whose fruit he had been partaking.
At a short distance he beheld the head of this stream, and near it his wife
and two younger sons, and they stood as if they knew not whither they
should go: and he called out unto them with a loud voice to approach the
tree and partake the fruit thereof, and they came. And then his anxieties
were awake for his two elder sons, whom at length he discovered in the
distance, near the head of the stream, but he could not induce them to come
to him or approach the tree. And then he beheld a rod of iron extending
along the bank of the river, leading to the tree by which he stood: and
also "a straight and narrow path, which came along by the rod of iron to
the tree. And it also led by the head of the fountain, unto a large and
spacious field, as if it had been a world, and he saw numberless concourses
of people: many of whom were pressing forwards, that they might obtain the
path which led unto the tree by which he stood." As soon as those who were
advancing entered this narrow path they encountered "an exceeding great
mist of darkness," so that many lost their way, while others caught hold of
the end of the rod of iron, and pressed forward through the mist, clinging
to the rod, and following it until they came into the light amid which the
tree stood, and partook of its fruit. The persons who thus approached the
tree, after they had partaken of the fruit, looked around and some of them
seemed ashamed. "Lehi also cast his eyes round about, and beheld on the
other side of the river of water, a great and spacious building: and it
stood as it were in the air: and it was filled with people both old and
young, both male and female; and their manner of dress was exceeding fine;
and they were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers towards
those which had come at, and were partaking of the fruit." This was what
caused some who had come to the tree to be filled with shame, and to fall
away. He saw continual multitudes pressing forward towards the tree, and
others towards the great, and spacious building. With all his persuasion
Lehi could not induce his two eldest sons to come and partake of the fruit
of the tree, therefore he had great fears in relation to them.
After relating this vision, Lehi began to prophecy in relation to the
Saviour, and told very distinctly what is related in the New Testament
about him. Nephi, however, became very anxious to see the tree of which his
father had told, and at length he was gratified. The same vision was
repeated to him, and he obtained also from the spirit of the Lord the
interpretation thereof. The spirit commanded him to look. He did so, and
first he beheld Jerusalem--then Nazareth--and "in the city of Nazareth, a
virgin exceeding fair and white." And then he saw the heavens open, and an
angel came down, and stood before him, and said, "the virgin which thou
seest, is the mother of God, after the manner of the flesh." She was
carried away in the spirit, and after awhile she returned bearing a child
in her arms, and the angel said to him, "Behold the Lamb of God, yea even
the eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father
saw? And I answered him, saying: Yea, _it is the love of God_." Afterwards
he looked and saw the son of God going forth among the children of men. He
then saw in succession all the miracles of Christ--all the events of his
life--the scenes that followed his crucifixion--and the whole history of
the Christian Church up to the _present_ time--_beyond which_ the deponent
Nephi sayeth not.
The tree was the love of God in Christ--the rod of iron leading to it was
the word of God--the mist and darkness, that blinded the eyes of those
going to the tree, were the temptations of the devil--the large and
spacious building was the pride and vain imaginations of the children of
men.
After this protracted vision, Nephi returned to the tent of his father, and
found his brethren disputing about the allegorical sense of the vision of
their father Lehi. He of course was now prepared to enlighten them. They
asked him "what meaneth the river of water which our father saw?" and he
replied, "The water was filthiness. So much was my father's mind swallowed
up in other things, that he beheld not the filthiness of the water, and I
said unto them, that it was an awful gulf which separateth the wicked from
the tree of life, and also from the saints of God--a representation of
hell."
I have neglected to mention that previous to Lehi's vision, Nephi and his
brethren were commissioned to go up to Jerusalem the second time, to
persuade Ishmael and his five daughters to join his father in the
wilderness. The fifth chapter opens with a tender scene, in which Nephi
and his brethren are married to the daughters of Ishmael. Immediately
after, Lehi received a command to strike his tent and journey on into the
wilderness. And when he arose the next morning and went forth to the tent
door, "to his great astonishment he beheld upon the ground a round ball of
curious workmanship, and it was of fine brass. And within the ball were two
spindles; and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the
wilderness." They travelled on "for the space of four days nearly a south
east direction." Various trials occurred in their journey. The elder
brothers uniformly murmured, and Nephi was uniformly submissive. When in
extremity the brass ball was their guide, pointing out the way, and
exhibiting, inscribed on its sides, the various intelligence they needed
visible at proper times. Ishmael died in the wilderness, where they
sojourned for the space of eight years. At length they pitched their tents
by the sea shore. Here Nephi was called to ascend a high mountain. There
the Lord met him, and commanded him to construct a ship to carry his people
across the waters to the promised land. He commenced the construction of
this ship in the face of much opposition, and of many difficulties, being
quite ignorant of the art of ship-building, and his brethren at the same
time ridiculing and opposing him. But the Lord helped him, so that
ultimately his brethren not only desisted from their opposition, but united
in assisting him to complete it; and then they embarked with all their
stock of seeds, animals, and provisions. During the voyage Nephi's elder
brothers began again to be rebellious. They bound him with cords, and
treated him with great cruelty. They, however, soon encountered a terrible
gale, and were driven back from their course. The brazen ball which had
miraculously guided them through the wilderness, and which was now a
compass to steer by, ceased to work, and they were in the most awful peril.
For a long time their fate seemed suspended, and their destiny doubtful;
but the power of God at length softened the hearts of Laman and Lemuel, who
released Nephi from his confinement, and then again every thing went on
smoothly, and they soon reached the land of promise, which of course was
America, where "they found beasts of every kind in the forest, both the
cow, and the ox, and the ass, and the horse, and the goat, and the wild
goat, and all manner of wild animals for the use of men." And "all manner
of ore, both of gold and silver, and copper." Nephi by the command of the
Lord made metallic plates soon after his arrival in America of this ore, on
which he recorded their peregrinations, adventures, and all the prophecies
which God gave him concerning the future destinies of his people and the
human race. These plates were to be kept for the instruction of the people
of the land, and for other purposes known to the Lord.
The second book of Nephi consists of fifteen chapters. It opens with an
account of Lehi's death, who, previous to his decease, calls all his
children around him and their descendants, and reminds them of God's
goodness in having brought them to the promised land, and gives each a
patriarchal blessing, uttering sundry predictions in reference to their
future destinies. After the death of Lehi, Laman and Lemuel undertook to
destroy Nephi, who thereupon fled into the wilderness, taking along with
him his own family, his brother Sam, and his younger brothers, Jacob and
Joseph, who were born after his father went out from Jerusalem, and their
families. He also took along with him the plates of brass, and the ball
that guided them in their former wanderings in the wilderness by the Red
Sea, and was their compass to steer by across the ocean. Being thus
separated they became the heads of separate tribes. The Nephites soon grew
into a numerous people, and built a temple "like unto Solomon's." They,
like their father Nephite, for many generations were good christians,
hundreds of years before Christ was born, practising baptism and other
christian usages. Nephi here accounts for the color of the aborigines. It
was the curse of God upon the descendants of his elder brothers on account
of their disobedience. "Wherefore as they were white, and exceeding fair
and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people, therefore
the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them." A curse was
also pronounced upon intermarriages with them. Nephi also declares that on
account of the curse of God upon them "they did become an idle people, full
of mischief and subtlety, and did seek in the wilderness for beasts of
prey."
In this book is also introduced "the words of Jacob, the brother of Nephi,
which he spake unto the people of Nephi." He predicts the coming of Christ,
and the return of the Jews from dispersion upon embracing the gospel. Nephi
then takes up the subject, and transcribes several chapters from Isaiah by
way of corroboration. This is followed by a long harangue, setting forth
all the peculiar theology of the New Testament. He then predicts the
appearance of a great prophet, and a marvellous book which he shall bring
to light. The book of course is the golden Bible, and the prophet Jo Smith.
"Wherefore," continues he, "at that day when the book shall be delivered
unto the man of whom I have spoken, the book shall be hid from the eyes of
the world, _that the eyes of none shall behold it, save it be that three
witnesses shall behold it by the power of God, besides him to whom the book
shall be delivered_: and they shall testify to the truth of the book, and
the things therein." This would seem to be directly in the teeth of what
actually happened, for as we have seen in a former number there were eight
other witnesses besides the three, who declared that they saw these
mysterious plates. To elude this difficulty a saving clause is thrown into
this chapter to this effect. "And there is none other which shall view it,
save it be a few, according to the will of God, to bear testimony of his
word unto the children of men." The reason is also here assigned why the
plates are not spread before the learned--it is to teach them humility! An
unlearned man is chosen to transcribe the hieroglyphics, or words of the
book, that the learned may read them. The learned refuse to read the
hieroglyphics, unless they can see the plates whence they are taken. This
God will not permit. He has no need of learned men. He is able to do his
own work. He will therefore make use of the unlearned to bring these hidden
things to light. The prophet, though an unlearned man, will be competent
through the power of God, not only to transcribe but to translate the book.
Nephi discards altogether the idea that our present revelation is complete,
or that our sacred books contain the whole canon of Scripture. He predicts
that the Book of Mormon will meet with opposition,--that many of the
Gentiles would say upon its appearance,--"A Bible, a Bible, we have got a
Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible. 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 _they_ which 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 to-day and
forever, and that I speak forth my words according to my 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 ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words;
neither need ye to 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 those words
I speak unto them. Behold I shall speak unto the Jews and they shall write
it,--unto the Nephites, and they shall write it,--unto the other tribes of
the house of Israel which I have led away, and they shall write it; and
unto all the nations of the earth and they shall write it. And the Jews
shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites the words of the
Jews. And the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes
of Israel, &c." This we consider one of the most pernicious features of
this HISTORICAL ROMANCE,--that it claims for itself an entire equality in
point of divine authority with the sacred canon. It is not only calculated
to deceive and delude the credulous, and marvel loving, but to strengthen
the cause of infidelity.
The only remaining thing worthy of note in this second Book of Nephi, is
the prediction of the ultimate conversion of the Indians, who are a part of
the lost tribes of Israel, or descendants of Nephi, to Christianity,
through the influence of Mormonism, and that soon after this event they
would change their colour, and become "a white and delightsome people." The
period occupied by the events related in this Book of Nephi, is fifty five
years.
The next book in course is the Book of Jacob, one of the younger brothers
of Nephi; which contains five chapters. This book gives an account of the
ordaining of Jacob by Nephi, to be priest over the people, and the
particulars of Nephi's death. It also relates the circumstance of Jacob's
confounding a man who rose up among them and sought to overthrow the
doctrine of Christ; and contains a specimen of Jacob's preaching. One of
the arguments by which he endeavoured to reclaim the Nephites from certain
prevailing sins, was that if they did not repent, the curse of God would
light upon them and they would become as dark coloured as the Lamanites.
Sundry efforts were made by the benevolent Nephites "to reclaim and restore
the Lamanites to the knowledge of the truth." But it was all to no purpose.
They continued to delight in wars and bloodshed, and cherished an eternal
hatred against their brethren. To ward off their incursions, the people of
Nephi had to fortify and protect their land with a strong military force.
Jacob, who had brought up his son Enos "in the nurture and admonition of
the Lord," when he saw his own decease approaching, gave him the plates and
left him successor in office over the people of Nephi.
The Book of Enos is short, as is also the two following books of Jarom and
Omni, containing little except an account of the transmission of the plates
from one generation to another till the time of king Benjamin, about 320
years after the flight of Lehi from Jerusalem. During the latter part of
this period, many wars took place between the people of Nephi and the
Lamanites; so that Mosiah, then king, was warned to emigrate into a new
region, or district of the wilderness--into a land called Zarahemla. After
reaching there they discovered that the people of Zarahemla were also Jews
who came from Jerusalem at the time that Zedekiah, king of Judah, was
carried away captive into Babylon, and that they were also brought by the
hand of the Lord across the great waters. The Lamanites at this period are
described as "a wild, ferocious, and blood-thirsty people, wandering about
in the wilderness with a short skin girded about their loins, and their
heads shaven, and their skill was in the bow and the scimitar and the axe.
And many of them did eat nothing save it was raw meat."
But I must stop. I fear the reader is already wearied with these foolish
vagaries of the imagination, which the Mormon prophet palms off upon his
followers as the revelation of the Most High. To redeem our pledge in
giving an analysis of the Book of Mormon, we shall be obliged to occupy
another chapter with these details. If the reader cannot make up his mind
to follow us, he can skip over the next chapter.