=25.= The bringing forth of the Book of Mormon is held by the Latter-day Saints to be a direct fulfilment of prophecy.[29] In predicting the humiliation of Israel, to whom had been committed the power of the priesthood in early days, Isaiah gave voice to the word of the Lord in this wise:--"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."[30] The Book of Mormon is verily the voice of a people brought low, speaking from the dust, for from the dust the book was literally taken. The volume professes to be the history of but a small division of the house of Israel,--a part of the family of Joseph indeed, who were led by a miraculous power to the western continent six centuries prior to the Christian era. Of the record of Joseph, and its coming forth as a parallel testimony to that of Judah, or the Bible in part, the Lord thus spake through the prophet Ezekiel:--"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. And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these? Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand."[31] The succeeding verses declare that the gathering and restoration of Israel would immediately follow the united testimony of the records of Judah and Joseph. The two records are before the world, a unit in their testimony of the everlasting Gospel; and the work of gathering is in effective progress. [29] See Lectures on "Book of Mormon," Article 8, pp. 261-307. [30] Isa. xxix, 4; see also II Nephi iii, 19. [31] Ezek. xxxvii, 16-19.