The Strength of the "Mormon" PositionWhitney, Orson F. (Orson Ferguson)
Religion
The Strength of the "Mormon" Position
Whitney, Orson F. (Orson Ferguson)
Latter Day Saint churches
The Angel showed to Joseph where a record of the Nephites had been
deposited, and subsequently delivered it into his hands, with
interpreters, Urim and Thummim, by means of which the youth translated
the record into English and gave to the world the Book of Mormon. It
was so named for its compiler, the Nephite prophet Mormon, whose son
and survivor, Moroni, had buried the metallic plates containing it in
a hill, where they were found September 22nd, 1823. The Hill Cumorah,
called "Mormon Hill" by the present day inhabitants of that region,
is between Palmyra and Manchester, in the State of New York. For
their belief in the Book of Mormon, the Latter-day Saints are termed
"Mormons", and their religion, "Mormonism".
This book tells how the Savior, after his resurrection, made himself
known to the Nephites--the "other sheep" referred to in John 10:16--and
organized his Church among them, after the pattern of his Church at
Jerusalem. Choosing twelve special witnesses, he gave to three of them
the same promise that he had given to the Apostle John--that they
should remain upon earth, superior to death, and bring souls to Him. He
prophesied concerning America, the Land of Zion, the place for the New
Jerusalem, a holy city to be built by a gathering of scattered Israel
prior to His second coming. The Nephite record, containing the fulness
of the Gospel as delivered to that ancient people, is a history of this
chosen land and a prophecy of its future. It predicts the great work
introduced by the Latter-day Prophet, a work so marvelous in some of
its phases that most men reject it, deeming it a fable.
But the Christian world, with the Bible in its hands, should have
been prepared for something of this kind. The Hebrew seers prophesied
concerning it. Isaiah foretold "a marvelous work and a wonder",
declaring at the same time that the wisdom of the wise should perish,
and the understanding of the prudent be hid; meaning, evidently, that
human sagacity and worldly knowledge would stand confounded before it.
That prophet, speaking in the name of the Lord, gave as the reason for
such in innovation: "This people draw near me with their mouth, and
with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from
me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men" (Isaiah
29:13, 14). A brief yet comprehensive description of the state of the
religious world at the time of the advent of "Mormonism".
Divine Authority.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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