The Restoration of the GospelWidtsoe, Osborne J. P.
Religion
The Restoration of the Gospel
Widtsoe, Osborne J. P.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
And what is the "Book of Mormon?" First, it is an abridgment of certain
extensive records made by the ancient civilized peoples of America.
The abridgment was made by a prophet called Mormon, hence the name
"Book of Mormon." The people to whom Mormon belonged are known in the
book as Nephites. The record is, then, mainly the story of the ancient
possession of South and North America by the Nephites. Besides, the
book tells of the Lamanites--the brother-descendants of the Nephites
who remain to the present as the American Indians; the Mulekites,
a colony from Jerusalem that became afterwards merged with the
Nephites; and the Jaredites, a company of people led by divine power
to the promised land of America from the Tower of Babel. The Nephites
themselves, whose history forms by far the greater part of the book,
were descended from an Israelitish family led from Jerusalem by the
prophet Lehi, 600 years before Christ.
But the "Book of Mormon" is more than history. The angel that John the
Revelator saw fly in the midst of heaven, had the everlasting gospel
to preach to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. That is why
the "Book of Mormon" is more than history. It contains the fulness of
the everlasting Gospel as delivered to the Nephites. It is so simple
that the child will read its pages with interest, yet it contains a
profound treatment of the philosophy of the Gospel. In the restoration
of this sacred record, the prediction of the Apostle John was indeed
beautifully fulfilled. Besides the Holy Bible, there was now given to
man another volume of Scriptures equally sacred--a monumental volume,
free from the doctrines of men, in which the Gospel is treated fully
and simply.
This sacred book could not be a product of religious frenzy. Ten long
years passed by after the vision of the Father and the Son, before
the Book of Mormon was given to the world. Those ten years were years
of simplicity of life. There was no "psychological crowd," or other
emotional excitement to disturb the quiet of the Prophet's life.
Whatever "deep and often poignant" feelings he may have experienced
during the spring of 1820, had certainly passed away during the ten
years that followed. The "Book of Mormon," then, came not as a result
of the religious frenzy of 1820.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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