Were a parchment discovered in an Egyptian mound, six inches square, containing fifty words which were certainly spoken by Jesus, this utterance would count more than all the books which have been published since the first century. If a veritable picture of the Lord could be unearthed from a catacomb, and the world could see with its own eyes what like he was, it would not matter that its colors were faded, and that it was roughly drawn, that picture would have at once a solitary place amid the treasures of art. [18] If this be true, and I think no one will question it, then how valuable indeed must be this whole volume of scripture, the Book of Mormon! Containing not fifty, but many hundred words spoken by Jesus! Containing also an account of the hand dealings of God with the people inhabiting the western hemisphere, from earliest times to the fourth century after Christ. Wherein also are found his revelations to those peoples; his messages by angels sent directly from his presence to declare his word to them; his instructions, admonitions, reproofs, and warnings to them through men inspired by his Holy Spirit; and last of all, the account of Messiah's appearance and ministry among the people, his very words repeated, and rightly divided for us (as we shall see later), that we may the better understand what of his teaching is general, and what special; what universal and permanent, and what local and transcient. How insignificant all the discoveries in Egypt, in ancient Babylon, Palestine, and the Sinaitic Peninsula are in comparison with this New Witness of the western world? How paltry, valuable though they are in themselves, seem the Rosetta stone, the Moabite stone, and the library of brick tablets from old Nineveh, in comparison with this Nephite record--this volume of scripture! How feeble the voice of the testimony of those monuments of the east to the authenticity and credibility of the Bible and the truth of the gospel, in comparison with the testimony found in the Book of Mormon--the voice of departed nations and empires of people speaking through their records for the truth of God--for the verity of the gospel of Jesus Christ--a voice sufficient to overwhelm unbelief and forever make sure the foundations of faith! It was mainly for this purpose that the Nephite records were written, preserved, and finally brought forth to the world, as we shall see in the following chapter. Footnotes 1. Acts 17:26-28. 2. I Nephi 19:22-24. 3. II Nephi, chapters 6, 7, 8. Mosiah 14. III Nephi 22. 4. II Nephi, chapters 12-24 inclusive. 5. I Nephi, chapter 4:2. 6. I Nephi 17:23-42. 7. II Nephi 3. 8. Helaman 8. 9. I Nephi 22:20, 21. 10. Mosiah 12, 13. 11. See reflections on the course of the Lord with reference to giving revelations to all nations and races of men, chapter 41, this work.