Tag: Egyptian

White

An article titled ‘The Negro Race’ by George Reynolds published and edited by George Q. Cannon in the Juvenile Instructor, October 15 1968: ¹

The Negro Race
Amongst the many causes that have contributed to change the appearance of the human family and make mankind appear to be of different races, we must consider the blessing or curse of God the greatest of all. Then add to this, difference of climate, variety of food, entirely opposite modes of life, either civilized or savage, stationary or wandering, combined with the results of the varied religions existing among men, and we shall be able to understand why there is so great a diversity in the human family.
We will first inquire into the results of the approbation or displeasure of God upon a people, starting with the belief that a black skin is a mark of the curse of heaven placed upon some portions of mankind. Some, however, will argue that a black skin is not a curse, nor a white skin a blessing. In fact, some have been so foolish as to believe and say that a black skin is a blessing, and that the negro is the finest type of a perfect man that exists on the earth; but to us such teachings are foolishness. We understand that when God made man in his own image and pronounced him very good, that he made him white. We have no record of any of God’s favored servants being of a black race. All His prophets and apostles belonged to the most handsome race on the face of the earth – Israel, who still, as represented in the scattered tribe of Judah, bear the impress of their former beauty. In this race was born His Son Jesus, who, we are told was very lovely, and ‘in the express image of his Father’s person, and every angel who ever brought a message of God’s mercy to man was beautiful to look upon, clad in the purest white and with a countenance bright as the noonday sun
When God cursed Cain for murdering his brother Abel, He set a mark upon him that all meeting him might know him. No mark could be so plain to his fellow-men as a black skin. This was the mark God placed upon him, and which his children bore. After the flood this curse fell upon the seed of Ham, through the sin of their father, and his descendants bear it to this day. The Bible tells us but little of the races that sprung from Ham, but from that little, and from the traditions of various tribes, we are led to believe that from him came the Canaanites, the Philistines, the Egyptians and most of the earliest inhabitants of Africa.
We are told in the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price, that Egypt was discovered by a woman, who was a daughter of Ham, the son of Noah. This was probably the first portion of Africa inhabited by men after the flood, it being the nearest to the land (Asia Minor) where the ark rested and the children of Noah first settled. From Egypt the families of men gradually spread out to the southward, up the river Nile and along the borders of the Red Sea, and westward by the shores of the Mediterranean.
The pure Negro, as represented by the people of Guinea and its neighboring countries, is generally regarded as the unmixed descendant of Ham. Our engraving of a Negro is of this type. Their skin is quite black, their hair woolly and black, their intelligence stunted, and they appear never to have arisen from the most savage state of barbarism. But it must not be supposed that all the inhabitants of Africa are of this unmixed black class, for it is not so; some of the mountain tribes of that continent approach to nearly white. Hence, we sometimes hear travelers speak of white Kafirs, white Arabs, &c. There are also quite a number of African tribes who vary in color from olive to dark brown and reddish black. They are also as varied in their size, height and build as they are in color. We will tell you some little of two of these African races known as the Abyssinians and Kafirs
Abyssinia lies on the east coast of Africa, immediately south of Nubia, and near the mouth of the Red Sea, opposite the southern portion of Arabia. The people who inhabit this country are of various races, from tribes nearly resembling Negroes, to others who are very much like Bedouin Arabs. Some of these latter people claim to be descended from the Hebrews. We do not put much trust in this story, though King Solomon doubtless traded with them, as he established a port to carry on commerce with Africa at the northern extremity of the lied Sea. It is certainly possible that some of the Jewish traders settled in Abyssinia, and forgetful of the law of Moses, married some of the dark-skinned daughters of the land, who have the reputation of being very beautiful and finely made. In later days, after the captivity in Babylon, some of the returned Israelites may have wandered into Africa, as it is almost certain they did soon after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman and the scattering of the Jews. It is however, much more probable that the greater portion of those people arc the offspring of a mixed race of Arabs and of a darker people, kindred to the Negro. Traces of Arab customs, traditions, and words are prevalent all over Africa except in its extreme South-western borders. The Arabs were great wanderers and traders; Abyssinia and Nubia lie opposite their native land or the other side of the Red sea, which was by no means difficult to cross. Many of them doubtless settled on the African shore, and not being restrained by the Mosaic law of marriage, freely mixed with the people and permanently established themselves in the country. When Mohammed came, and his followers compelled adherence to their faith at the edge of the sword, Africa became the field of many of their semi-warlike, semi-religious missions. This overrunning of the country by these foreigners no doubt produced a great change in the appearance of the people, and a number of races rose up from Arab fathers and Negro mothers whose children now form a great portion of the inhabitants of the Barbary States, Nubia, Abyssinia, the North-Western coast as far south as Senegambia, and of the people inhabiting the borders of the Atlas mountains.
This is all the more probable as far as the Abyssinians are concerned, as the nearer the coast these people dwell, the nearer they approach the Arabs in type of features and general appearance, while the more inland tribes approach nearer to the Negro race.
The next people we will allude to are the Kafirs. They appear to have originally dwelt in some of the central regions of Africa near the equator, from whence they have been gradually spreading southward; as, since the discovery and settlement of southern Africa by European nations, these people have advanced considerably further southward than they were origin ally found by the early navigators. In this march southward they appear to have swept before them or engulfed the earlier inhabitants of the country, who are best seen, at the present time, in the abject Bushmen and Hottentots of the British Colony in the Cape of Good Hope. In the Kafir races are sometimes included the people who inhabit Zanzibar and Mozambique on the east coast of Africa, as also many inland tribes, in addition to the tribes of South Africa more especially known as Kafirs. If would include all these people in the Kafir race, we have a great diversity of appearance and color, from almost a negro blackness to a light shade of brown. The difference of climate in the vast extent of territory in which they dwell may in a great degree account for this. In strength, activity and mental capacity they are certainly ahead of the Negro, and their knowledge of certain Mohammedan and Jewish rites, as circumcision and cities of refuge, is held to be a proof that they had come in contact with these people, if they did not to any extent mis with them. At any rate it helps to prove their more northern origin than modern Kafir land, as we have no idea that the soldiers of the Arabian prophet pushed their conquests anything like as far south. The religion and superstitions of the Kafirs give evidence that their acquaintance with Mohammed’s doctrines was either very slight or that they have long since departed from his teachings and returned to the former heathenism, while among many of the kindred tribes of this race, dwelling further north, Mohammedanism is the prevailing faith.

References[+]

References
1	‘The Negro Race’ by George Reynolds published and edited by George Q. Cannon in the Juvenile Instructor, October 15 1968 – https://archive.org/details/juvenileinstruct320geor/page/156/mode/2up

June 7, 2020

Salesman

The Wentworth Letter, by Joseph Smith Jr. ¹

March 1, 1842.—At the request of Mr. John Wentworth, editor and proprietor of the Chicago Democrat, I have written the following sketch of the rise, progress, persecution, and faith of the Latter-day Saints, of which I have the honor, under God, of being the founder. Mr. Wentworth says that he wishes to furnish Mr. Bastow [Barstow], a friend of his, who is writing the history of New Hampshire, with this document. As Mr. Bastow has taken the proper steps to obtain correct information, all that I shall ask at his hands is that he publish the account entire, ungarnished, and without misrepresentation.
I was born in the town of Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont, on the 23rd of December, A.D. 1805. When [I was] ten years old, my parents removed to Palmyra, New York, where we resided about four years, and from thence we removed to the town of Manchester. My father was a farmer and taught me the art of husbandry. When about fourteen years of age, I began to reflect upon the importance of being prepared for a future state, and upon inquiring [about] the plan of salvation, I [found] that there was a great clash in religious sentiment. If I went to one society they referred me to one plan, and another to another, each one pointing to his own particular creed as the summum bonum of perfection. Considering that all could not be right, and that God could not be the author of so much confusion, I determined to investigate the subject more fully, believing that if God had a church it would not be split up into factions, and that if He taught one society to worship one way, and administer in one set of ordinances, He would not teach another, principles which were diametrically opposed.
Believing the word of God, I had confidence in the declaration of James—“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” [James 1:5]. I retired to a secret place in a grove and began to call upon the Lord. While fervently engaged in supplication, my mind was taken away from the objects with which I was surrounded, and I was enwrapped in a heavenly vision and saw two glorious personages, who exactly resembled each other in features and likeness, surrounded with a brilliant light which eclipsed the sun at noonday. They told me that all religious denominations were believing in incorrect doctrines and that none of them was acknowledged of God as His Church and kingdom; and I was expressly commanded “to go not after them,” at the same time receiving a promise that the fullness of the gospel should at some future time be made known unto me.
On the evening [of] the 21st of September, A.D. 1823, while I was praying unto God and endeavoring to exercise faith in the precious promises of scripture, on a sudden a light like that of day, only of a far purer and more glorious appearance and brightness, burst into the room. Indeed the first sight was as though the house was filled with consuming fire. The appearance produced a shock that affected the whole body. In a moment a personage stood before me, surrounded with a glory yet greater than that with which I was already surrounded. This messenger proclaimed himself to be an angel of God, sent to bring the joyful tidings that the covenant which God made with ancient Israel was at hand to be fulfilled; that the preparatory work for the second coming of the Messiah was speedily to commence; that the time was at hand for the gospel in all its fulness to be preached in power unto all nations, that a people might be prepared for the millennial reign. I was informed that I was chosen to be an instrument in the hands of God to bring about some of His purposes in this glorious dispensation.
I was also informed concerning the aboriginal inhabitants of this country [America] and shown who they were, and from whence they came; a brief sketch of their origin, progress, civilization, laws, governments, of their righteousness and iniquity, and the blessings of God being finally withdrawn from them as a people, was [also] made known unto me; I was also told where were deposited some plates on which were engraven an abridgment of the records of the ancient prophets that had existed on this continent. The angel appeared to me three times the same night and unfolded the same things. After having received many visits from the angels of God, unfolding the majesty and glory of the events that should transpire in the last days, on the morning of the 22nd of September, A.D. 1827, the angel of the Lord delivered the records into my hands.
These records were engraven on plates which had the appearance of gold. Each plate was six inches wide and eight inches long, and not quite so thick as common tin. They were filled with engravings, in Egyptian characters, and bound together in a volume as the leaves of a book, with three rings running through the whole. The volume was something near six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed. The characters on the unsealed part were small, and beautifully engraved. The whole book exhibited many marks of antiquity in its construction and much skill in the art of engraving. With the records was found a curious instrument, which the ancients called “Urim and Thummim,” which consisted of two transparent stones set in the rims of a bow fastened to a breastplate. Through the medium of the Urim and Thummim I translated the record by the gift and power of God.
In this important and interesting book the history of ancient America is unfolded, from its first settlement by a colony that came from the Tower of Babel at the confusion of languages to the beginning of the fifth century of the Christian era. We are informed by these records that America in ancient times has been inhabited by two distinct races of people. The first were called Jaredites and came directly from the Tower of Babel. The second race came directly from the city of Jerusalem about six hundred years before Christ. They were principally Israelites of the descendants of Joseph. The Jaredites were destroyed about the time that the Israelites came from Jerusalem, who succeeded them in the inheritance of the country. The principal nation of the second race fell in battle towards the close of the fourth century. The remnant are the Indians that now inhabit this country. This book also tells us that our Savior made His appearance upon this continent after His Resurrection; that He planted the gospel here in all its fulness, and richness, and power, and blessing; that they had apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists—the same order, the same priesthood, the same ordinances, gifts, powers, and blessings, as were enjoyed on the eastern continent; that the people were cut off in consequence of their transgressions; that the last of their prophets who existed among them was commanded to write an abridgment of their prophecies, history, etc., and to hide it up in the earth; and that it should come forth and be united with the Bible for the accomplishment of the purposes of God in the last days. For a more particular account I would refer to the Book of Mormon, which can be purchased at Nauvoo, or from any of our traveling elders.
As soon as the news of this discovery was made known, false reports, misrepresentation, and slander flew, as on the wings of the wind, in every direction; the house was frequently beset by mobs and evil designing people. Several times I was shot at, and very narrowly escaped, and every device was made use of to get the plates away from me; but the power and blessing of God attended me, and several began to believe my testimony.
On the 6th of April 1830, the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” was first organized in the town of Fayette, Seneca County, state of New York. Some few were called and ordained by the spirit of revelation and prophecy and began to preach as the Spirit gave them utterance. And though weak, yet were they strengthened by the power of God; and many were brought to repentance, were immersed in the water, and were filled with the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. They saw visions and prophesied, devils were cast out, and the sick healed by the laying on of hands. From that time the work rolled forth with astonishing rapidity, and churches were formed in the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. In the last-named state a considerable settlement was formed in Jackson County. Numbers joined the Church, and we were increasing rapidly. We made large purchases of land; our farms teemed with plenty; and peace and happiness were enjoyed in our domestic circle and throughout our neighborhood. But as we could not associate with our neighbors (who were, many of them, of the basest of men, and had fled from the face of civilized society to the frontier country to escape the hand of justice) in their midnight revels, their Sabbath breaking, horse racing, and gambling, they commenced at first to ridicule, then to persecute, and finally an organized mob assembled and burned our houses, tarred and feathered and whipped many of our brethren, and finally, contrary to law, justice, and humanity, drove them from their habitations, who, houseless and homeless, had to wander on the bleak prairies till the children left the tracks of their blood on the prairie. This took place in the month of November, and they had no other covering but the canopy of heaven. In this inclement season of the year this proceeding was winked at by the government, and although we had warranty deeds for our land, and had violated no law, we could obtain no redress.
There were many sick who were thus inhumanly driven from their houses, and had to endure all this abuse and to seek homes where they could be found. The result was that a great many of them, being deprived of the comforts of life and the necessary attendances, died; many children were left orphans, wives [were left] widows, and husbands, widowers; our farms were taken possession of by the mob; many thousands of cattle, sheep, horses, and hogs were taken; and our household goods, store goods, and printing press and type were broken, taken, or otherwise destroyed.
Many of our brethren removed to Clay County, where they continued until 1836, three years; there was no violence offered but there were threatenings of violence. But in the summer of 1836 these threatenings began to assume a more serious form. From threats, public meetings were called, resolutions were passed, vengeance and destruction were threatened, and affairs again assumed a fearful attitude. Jackson County was a sufficient precedent, and as the authorities in that county did not interfere, they [the Clay County authorities] boasted that they would not [interfere] in this, which on application to the authorities, we found to be too true; and after much privation and loss of property, we were again driven from our homes.
We next settled in Caldwell and Daviess Counties, where we made large and extensive settlements, thinking to free ourselves from the power of oppression by settling in new counties with very few inhabitants in them. But here we were [also] not allowed to live in peace, but in 1838 we were again attacked by mobs, an exterminating order was issued by Governor Boggs, and under the sanction of law an organized banditti ranged through the country, robbed us of our cattle, sheep, hogs, etc., many of our people were murdered in cold blood, the chastity of our women was violated, and we were forced to sign away our property at the point of the sword. And after enduring every indignity that could be heaped upon us by an inhuman, ungodly band of marauders, from twelve to fifteen thousand souls, men, women, and children were driven from their own firesides, and from lands to which they had warrantee deeds—houseless, friendless, and homeless (in the depths of winter) to wander as exiles on the earth, or to seek an asylum in a more genial clime, and among a less barbarous people. Many sickened and died in consequence of the cold and hardships they had to endure. Many wives were left widows, and children [were left] orphans and destitute. It would take more time than is allotted me here to describe the injustice, the wrongs, the murders, the bloodshed, the theft, misery, and woe that have been caused by the barbarous, inhuman, and lawless proceedings of the state of Missouri.
In the situation before alluded to, we arrived in the state of Illinois in 1839, where we found a hospitable people and a friendly home, a people who were willing to be governed by the principles of law and humanity. We have commenced to build a city called “Nauvoo” in Hancock County. We number from six to eight thousand here, besides vast numbers in the county around and in almost every county of the state. We have a city charter granted us and [a] charter for a [military] legion, the troops of which now number 1,500. We have also a charter for a university, for an agricultural and manufacturing society; [we] have our own laws and administrators and possess all the privileges that other free and enlightened citizens enjoy.
Persecution has not stopped the progress of truth, but has only added fuel to the flame. It has spread with increasing rapidity. Proud of the cause which they have espoused and conscious of our innocence and of the truth of their system, amidst calumny and reproach, have the elders of this Church gone forth and planted the gospel in almost every state in the Union. It has penetrated our cities; it has spread over our villages and has caused thousands of our intelligent, noble, and patriotic citizens to obey its divine mandates and be governed by its sacred truths. It has also spread into England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, where, in the year 1840, a few of our missionaries were sent, and over five thousand joined the Standard of Truth; there are numbers now joining in every land.
Our missionaries are going forth to different nations, and in Germany, Palestine, New Holland, Australia, the East Indies, and other places, the Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear; till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.
[The Articles of Faith]
We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.
We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on [of] hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.
We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.
We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.
We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.
We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.
Respectfully, etc.,
Joseph Smith

References[+]

References

1 The Wentworth Letter, by Joseph Smith Jr. – https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2002/07/the-wentworth-letter?lang=eng

February 4, 2020
Caractors

Excerpt from “Cumorah revisited”, Charles A. Shook, 1910: ¹

“Instead of ”Re-formed Egyptian” many of the “Caractors” are deformed English, as any one will observe who will compare them with English letters, figures and signs.”

Further study:

Book of Mormon Characters Examined, Dan Vogel – https://youtu.be/aMPFKZ2E4MM

References[+]

References

1 “Cumorah revisited”, Charles A. Shook, 1910 – https://archive.org/details/cumorahrevisited00shoo

March 30, 2019
Reverence to Her Husband

Address by LDS Apostle Erastus Snow, delivered October 4, 1857 – ‘Preparation of Heart for Divine Blessings—Responsibility—Family Government.’: ¹

‘I feel like offering a few of my reflections in connection with those remarks we have heard this morning from Elder Hyde. I feel that they are timely and good for the congregation of the Saints to reflect upon and treasure up. I would not say anything to draw the minds and reflections of the people from those sentiments which have been presented by Elder Hyde this morning, but rather to enforce and impress them upon the minds of the congregation, that every person capable of understanding may be able to treasure them up, that these principles may abide in our hearts; for, says the Savior, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, they shall be in you as living water, and ye shall bear much fruit.”

Now, this people are not perishing for lack of knowledge: they have not a lack of the words of the Lord. But if this people perish for lack of knowledge at all, it is because they do not retain the word of the Lord which is delivered to them: it is not because it is not planted in our hearts, but because our ground is not properly broken up. The ground of our hearts is not prepared, that the word that is sown may bring forth fruit. This is the trouble and the reason why we do not advance and bring forth more fruit, and grow more thrifty in the work of the Lord our God, and increase in faith, in power with God, in unison with him and with those whom he has set over us, and with one another.

The trouble is not in our God, neither is it in our fellowservants—those whom he has set to be our leaders, our teachers; for God is with them, and he would be with them much more abundantly, if we as a people were more ready to listen to them, and there was place found in us for their words, and their words take effect in our hearts. Then his Spirit and power would increase upon us, and there would be no lack. The lack is in us—in the people, and always has been, and is not in our God. He is waiting and anxious to pour out blessings, and glory, and honor, and exaltation upon his people, far more than we have ever received, and far more than we are capable of receiving; and the only reason we have not received it long ago is because there was no place found for it.

The great labor of the Lord and of all his servants is to prepare the hearts of the people, to concentrate the feeling of the people, to concentrate their faith, and to make them one, and to prepare their hearts to bring forth the fruits of the kingdom of God. This is the labor of preaching and praying, of exhorting, inviting, and beseeching all the time—to move upon the hearts of the people and convince them of the necessity of union—to impress it upon them, that they may remember all those principles which alone can exalt them. And, as was said by Elder Hyde, the responsibility of our conduct rests upon ourselves, and not upon our leaders. The responsibility that is resting upon our leaders is alone the responsibility of doing what the Lord wants them to.

The responsibility of what befalls this people is no more upon brother Brigham than it is upon me, and no more upon me than it is upon you; and every individual soul in all Israel has his own responsibility to bear, and he cannot throw it off. Whether it be good or evil—whether it be joy or sorrow—whether it be affliction or blessings, the responsibility thereof rests upon us individually.

Brothers Brigham, Heber, and Daniel, who are they but our fellowservants—those that the Lord has given us to be our leaders and the mouthpieces of the Lord unto this people—the legitimate channel through which to lead, govern, and control this people? But are they responsible any more than you or I? No, not one whit. When they have discharged their duties, they are as free from responsibility as you or I. When they have done what lies in their power to do, they are exonerated before their God, although they feel as no other men on earth can feel, because there are no others placed in their condition; and it is impossible for any others to feel as they feel and have the same interest they have for the welfare of this people.

It is God who rules and leads; it is God who controls the destinies of all men. Every man is in his hands, to be used as he will. Whithersoever this people are led, they will be led through that channel he has intended; and whether they go to the east, west, north, or south—whether they burn their dwellings and flee to the mountains, or remain here—whether they fight the Gentiles, or turn their backs upon them—whatsoever they have to do, it will be the Lord Almighty that does it; but he will do it through the channel he has appointed.

But will the responsibility of thousands be upon those men that are set over us to lead us? No, it will not. I am well aware that there are a great many people who in their childish simplicity feel that any act that they do is nothing to them.

So far as taking thought or having trouble in our spirits about what is to come or what will be the result of things, it is well that we should set our hearts at rest and be at ease and feel quiet, and our spirits calm as a summer’s morning and resigned, and our feelings prayerful and peaceful. But as far as feeling indifferent and like throwing off the responsibility from our shoulders upon our leaders, this should not be; neither should we claim exemption from the responsibility of anything in Israel. Everyone should have a share of that responsibility, and they cannot throw that responsibility off; for upon my head devolves the responsibility of directing my hands and my feet and other members of my body in their exercises. It is equally the duty of every other member of the body to administer to the head. The hands have to feel the head, and the head has to be properly guarded and shielded, that it may be active and the brain vigorous, that every movement may be wisely directed and every energy of the body directed in proper channels.

Our God deals with us as a people. He does not deal with brother Brigham, brother Heber, or brother Daniel separately and distinctly from this people, or the people distinct from them. We cannot be separated; we are one. We are the Twelve Apostles, the High Priests, the Seventies, the Elders, the Priests, the Teachers, the Deacons, the Bishops. Every quorum of the Priesthood, every man in Israel, and every woman in Israel are members of the same body—branches of the same vine, and partake of the same spirit, unless they are branches that are withered and dried up. God will deal with us as a whole all the time.

How was it with Israel of old, as has been referred to by Elder Hyde? They were led by the hand of God all through the wilderness. God led Moses. Sometimes they were led in one direction, and sometimes in another. They were brought up against the Red Sea; and did not they, in their blindness, chide with Moses because he had led them thus? Looking at things naturally, they could say, “You might have gone round and avoided this snare: we might have taken another road, instead of running right into this canyon, between these two mountains, and against the Red Sea, where there is no chance to dodge; and so we are to perish by the armies of Egypt close in our rear and the sea before us.” These were the feelings of a great many weak in faith and ignorant people among them; and they were ready to pick up stones to stone Moses because he had done it.

There are a great many instances of the same kind during their forty years’ sojourning in the wilderness. Sometimes they were led into the wilderness when they might have followed some streams of water, had the Lord have led them in that channel. And when they were led into different circumstances there were always some who complained and threw the responsibility upon Moses, exonerating themselves.

Some wished to turn back unto Egypt, and a great many plans were in view to extricate themselves from difficulties; except fleeing to the Almighty, who had led them into those difficulties; and time and again the Lord rebuked them and manifested his power to deliver them. But who led them? Did Moses lead them?

No. The Almighty led them. Moses was his servant, and led them as the Almighty directed him.

Why did not the Almighty direct him to lead them round the Red Sea instead of through it? And why did he not lead them to follow the streams, instead of taking them across the desert? Why did he not lead them a straight course from Egypt to Canaan, instead of keeping them forty years in the wilderness? Who was most to blame for it? Was the responsibility upon him, or was it upon the people? Why was it upon the people? Because they were a stiffnecked people, a hardhearted people, and an ignorant people.

We read in the Scriptures that they were so stiffnecked as to provoke the Lord, and he came out upon them in his wrath and consumed them from his presence—sometimes by fire that came forth from his presence, at other times by causing the earth to open and swallow them up by thousands, at other times by pestilence, and at other times by fiery flying serpents which came among them and bit them that they died.

Why was the anger of the Lord kindled against them? Because of the hardness of their hearts and the stiffness of their necks. It was not because of Moses. Only in one instance did Moses offend. That was not in any of his movements in leading and controlling Israel, but because he did not sanctify the Lord God of Israel before their eyes when he smote the rock of Horeb. This was the only instance in which the Lord condemned Moses; but he directed Moses how to lead Israel, and Moses led them in the way he was directed; and they were tried forty years in the wilderness, until most of them were worn out and perished.

Were they a wicked people above all other people, that their carcasses should thus fall in the wilderness?

What think you, brethren and sisters—ye that are called Latter-day Saints, were they, as a people, more wicked than the rest of mankind, that God should have dealt with them thus? I answer, No. But of a truth they were the best people upon the face of the earth, and the only people that had the Priesthood of God among them.

They were the people whom God had delivered from Egyptian bondage with an outstretched arm; and by his power, they were the only people God could make use of. They had faith sufficient that he could govern and control them; and so far from being the worst, they were the best people upon the earth; but upon them rested the responsibility, and they did not improve upon their privileges and appreciate their blessings as they ought to have done; and for this reason were they set forth as examples to all who should live after; and the responsibility of their carcasses falling in the wilderness, the responsibility of their being led into the desert, the responsibility of all their trials and troubles was not upon Moses and their leaders, nor upon their God, but upon themselves; for, had they been pliable, submissive, willing, and obedient, and had their spirits been pliable before the Lord, willing to be molded and fashioned, they could have been led forth conquering and to conquer, and been planted in Canaan just as well in two years as in forty. And if this people were capable of receiving it, the Lord could as well give them the kingdom today as forty years hence. And if the people of the United States would have hearkened to the voice of the Lord, given through the Prophet Joseph, they might have been a more prosperous and powerful nation today.

The history of all religious generations and dispensations is similar, and shows this fact to us, that human nature is the same in every age of the country, and among every country, and among every people—that all men are subject to like weaknesses and have to be taught gradually.

Children grow from infancy to manhood; and whether God leads our footsteps in correct paths or not, he is only leading us to school: he is only directing our course in a round of experience by which he trains us, and makes us one, cements our hearts together, and rids our spirits of iniquity and abomination. He wants to teach men and women how to walk together in union and be great—to teach this people how to be bound to him and to those that he sets over them, and to teach his Saints how to reign in the house of Israel as his servants.

I do feel conscious that if the men of Israel do their duty and live their religion, reformation will go forth from them through their families, and it cannot be stayed; and every branch of every family in Israel will feel the effects of that reformation: every woman and all her children will feel it.

If a man of God lives his religion and is controlled only by the Spirit of Zion in his family, and if he has a turbulent, disobedient spirit in his family, that spirit will be subject or that individual will be separated from his family, upon the same principle that turbulent persons that repent not are severed from this Church by the vote of this people; and when that turbulent person is severed, he will dry up and wither, and will be gathered and burned with the ungodly.

It may be that heretofore the fanning-mill has blown out more of the men than it has of the women; but if it has done this, it is because the sieve is not quite fine enough. But as the work of reformation goes forward, it will sift to the very bottom; and every member of every family in Israel will feel the effects of the driving element that will sanctify them for the Lord Almighty or separate them from this people.

Every man in Israel is responsible in a certain degree for the conduct of his wives and children. He has covenanted that he will assume that responsibility; that is, he will assume the responsibility of the sins of his wives, if he fails to discharge his duties towards them in teaching and leading them in the ways of life and salvation.

I assume the responsibility of the acts of my wives and children so far as they are obedient to me; and when I discharge my duties to them, reprove them in their transgression, set a godly example before them, live my religion, and show forth the spirit thereof in my course with my family, and they will not drink into the same spirit and receive good at my hands, those consequences shall roll from me upon them; and it becomes my duty to separate myself from those sins and from the rebellious members of my family, that we may not all be cursed because of the transgression of one or two individuals.

But if I do not discharge my duties towards them, admonish them when they are out of the way, instruct them in their duties, and walk as a man of God before them, the consequences and responsibility of every individual’s transgressions, even those of every wife and every child I have, and of every evil that is done in my house, shall rest upon me. God has laid it upon me.

Sometimes we may err by being remiss in duty—too lenient in our families, and some of us may be under condemnation by being too careless about transgressors in our families; for if we hold fellowship with transgressors and spirits that are in rebellion against God and that will not repent and humble themselves—if we close our ears to it and go to sleep while wickedness is stalking unrebuked through our habitations, we become partakers in that transgression, and the consequences thereof will stick to us.

But if the head of a family reproves iniquity and seeks to purge it from his presence—from his family, then his hands are free from stain of guilt; he is not a partaker in the transgression, and by his doings he says he will no longer hug to his bosom that individual—he will no longer eat and drink with him or her as a member of the body of Christ—he will no longer be held responsible for their sins.

So should every man and every family rid themselves of evil and transgressors in their midst; for God deals with every family as a whole, as he deals with this people as a whole; and every man in Israel is responsible, and that responsibility he assumes when he assumes the responsibility of a family.

If there is no sieve fine enough yet to separate the dross from the wheat of the female portion of this community, I tell you, in the name of Israel’s God, there is a fine one preparing, and it will separate the chaff from the wheat from every family in Israel, as sure as there is a God in Israel, until the families of Israel shall be sanctified before the Lord—until they shall be one, even all the families in Israel, that the Lord God shall accept and not be ashamed of them.

There are many ways by which this may be accomplished; but the Lord in his own due time will bring it to pass. We naturally cling to our families, loving and cherishing them; so does every man that feels the weight of his responsibility—that is set over this people to administer in any department thereof: he feels his heart full of compassion, and he desires the salvation of every member thereof. So does our Father desire the salvation of every member of his family.

Many among us, in their ignorance, manifest a weakness of soul in training up their offspring. Their weakness is such that they cannot administer chastisement unto their children; but they love them with a foolish, blind, ignorant love, that gratifies every desire and allows them to have their own way and pursue the channel of their own inclinations unrebuked, unchastened, until they grow up wild, as it were, without any proper impulse being given to their minds. If I feel satisfied in thus allowing my offspring to follow the bent of their own inclinations, God will hold me responsible for their evil acts.

If any man have members in his family whom he cannot control by the principles of the Gospel, far better were it for him, if they want to go to the States or to any other country, to give them a good outfit and send them off, get them out of the way, and let them go their own way: far better this than to harbor them where they were like a viper in his bosom, corrupting and corroding in the midst of his family.

The female portion of this community have to bear their share of this responsibility; and we know they are the best set of women that exist upon the earth; and that all the world will bear witness to, when they talk about plurality.

Men of some discretion in the Gentile world ask questions about the operations of the plurality of wives among us. “How many wives live in each house? How do they get along in their associations? Are they all the time quarrelling and fighting?” A man said to me once, “My wife would not stand it five minutes, if I should bring a woman into my house to have a share of my company and my affections: I should have a hell upon earth, and no house that I could build would be big enough to hold my wife. It is marvelous to me how you can live, and how it is you are not killed.”

They cannot understand it, because they are governed by their passions, and not by principles; and it is the hardest thing in the world for them to be convinced that this people are governed by principle. This is the doctrine we have been preaching abroad, and it is the very thing the Gentiles will not receive; and they marvel and wonder that we do not tear each other’s eyes out. They say this would be the case with them: in a little while they would be bald and blind and full of wounds, bruises, and putrifying sores; or, like the Kilkenny cats, use each other up all but the tails, and then the tails would jump at each other. So it would be among them indeed; for there is no law of the Lord that would keep the people together a minute in the peace and order that exist here.

Existence among this people is of itself one of the greatest privileges. The world of mankind may soon know that God is with us, and that he is at the helm, that he is the founder of this work, and that the women as well as the men are the best upon the earth, and that we are determined to live and be governed by principle and not passion.

Have we all learned to be altogether thus governed? No, we have not. But we are learning it: the men and women of Israel are learning it; but some of them are very dull scholars, and would a great deal rather go off and play than take a lesson; and they whine and cry over it, and sit on the dunce block rather than study and learn their lessons; and they will be dunces, because nothing but foolishness is bound up in their hearts. But many of us are learning to be governed by principle, not passion, and learning that we must become one—that there is somebody else that has feelings besides them—that there is somebody else worthy of respect and love besides them—that there are some good qualifications in some other being—and some other woman’s children have some claims as well as mine; they are learning to let principle rule them.

Well, go on: let the good work continue. This is my prayer all the time. Are all the families of Israel and every woman striving herself to play well her part and reverence her husband as her lord; for he is her lord. Will she ever have another? No, never; and if she ever expects to have another, she has not learned “Mormonism” aright. She may tear herself loose from him and attach another, but she may have a worse one: she ought to have a worse one. If she cannot learn to honor him, the next one she gets, if she is permitted to have another, ought to be a worse one. How shall women honor their husbands? Just as we honor brother Brigham in his place, and the authorities of the Wards in their places; because upon him is laid the responsibility of that family, and he cannot get rid of it. He is in duty bound to purge them of their follies, and they are in duty bound to listen to his reproofs and honor him and pray for him, that he may be led aright.

Do the women, when they pray, remember their husbands? Do you pray for brother Brigham? Yes, you should always pray for him. But when you pray for him, do you pray also for your own husband, that he may have the inspiration of the Almighty to lead and govern his family as the lord? Do you uphold your husband before God as your lord? “What! My husband to be my lord?” I ask, Can you get into the celestial kingdom without him? Have any of you been there? You will remember that you never got into the celestial kingdom without the aid of your husband. If you did, it was because your husband was away, and someone had to act proxy for him. No woman will get into the celestial kingdom, except her husband receives her, if she is worthy to have a husband; and if not, somebody will receive her as a servant.

We have one God, the Father of us all, who is graciously kind to us; and those who call upon his name receive his Spirit; but the spirit we have got to be in is for every woman to be one with her husband, and every man to be one with those that are set over him in the Lord. Thus we become as branches of one vine, partaking of the same spirit.

Does every woman pray for her children and with her children? Does she teach them to reverence their father and honor him ? If she does not teach them thus to honor him in her own words and examples, her children learn disobedience from her. Show me disobedient children, and I will show you disobedient parents, the world over.

Where there are disobedient and rebellious children in the midst of Israel, tell me who their father and mother are, and I will point out to you disobedient, rebellious, disaffected parents; and if there is a woman in any family whose children dishonor their father, I will show you a woman that dishonors her husband and shows him disrespect, from which the children take their example.

We do not want such women in Israel: we do not want their offspring, nor anything that pertains to them, except they repent. If they will have their children learn righteousness, let them seek it themselves, and pray to God in their apartments for their little ones. It is the mothers in Israel that have the charge of children; the men of Israel are abroad among the nations of the earth to preach the Gospel and fight the battles of Zion, to go abroad and return once in a few years, perhaps, to visit their family and become acquainted with their children. God wishes the mothers in Israel to assume that responsibility, and assume it by the Holy Ghost, that there may be a generation raised up that shall be fit for the Lord to use.

Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, ye mothers in Israel, and fast, and hunger and thirst after righteousness. Pray for and with your little children in your apartments. Is it enough for a father to gather together his wives and children when he is at home, and pray with them? That is his duty; and every mother should take pattern by his example, and with their own offspring follow his example and call down the blessings of heaven upon them, and they will learn from her. While they listen to her prayers, they will learn to lisp from her mouth the words of prayer and thanksgiving to God; and faith will rest upon them, and the Holy Ghost will rest upon them, and they will be inspired with faith and power, and draw down blessings upon her and upon their father; and the blessings of God will rest upon them from their mother’s womb, if they pursue this course.

May the God of heaven help us to pursue this course, one and all, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

References[+]

References

1 Journal of Discourses Vol. 5, Pg. 285-292 – http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/JournalOfDiscourses3/id/2091

April 6, 2018

References
1	The Wentworth Letter, by Joseph Smith Jr. – https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2002/07/the-wentworth-letter?lang=eng

References
1	“Cumorah revisited”, Charles A. Shook, 1910 – https://archive.org/details/cumorahrevisited00shoo

References
1	Journal of Discourses Vol. 5, Pg. 285-292 – http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/JournalOfDiscourses3/id/2091

Discernment

From the Salt lake Tribune via AP:¹

In this photo taken April 22, 1980, Mark W. Hofmann, left, and LDS Church leaders N. Eldon Tanner, Spencer W. Kimball, Marion G. Romney, Boyd K. Packer and Gordon B. Hinckley examine the Anthon transcript in Salt Lake City. Back in October 1985, when Hofmann killed two people with homemade pipe bombs in an attempt to divert attention from his double-dealing and dishonesty, the Utah-based church restricted access to its historic archives and promoted only a canonized — some would say narrow — view of the faith’s founding. No more. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has opened its archives, posted thousands of documents online, produced groundbreaking research on its past and published a dozen recent essays on controversial historical developments.

From the October 1980 Ensign, ‘Fraudulent Documents from Forger Mark Hofmann Noted’: ²

As a result of the confession of convicted murderer and forger Mark William Hofmann, numerous historical documents are now known to be forgeries.

The announcements and texts of some of these documents were published in Church periodicals, and the documents have been used in good faith since 1980 in manuals and discussions by leaders, teachers, and members of the Church. The following documents and their fraudulent contents should not be used, even though they may have appeared in previous Church publications:

The Charles Anthon transcript, purportedly reformed Egyptian characters copied by Joseph Smith from the Book of Mormon gold plates in 1828. (See Ensign, Jun. 1980, July 1980, Dec. 1983.)

The Joseph Smith III blessing, falsely represented as a father’s blessing given by the Prophet Joseph Smith on 17 January 1844 to his son, Joseph Smith III, to the effect that this son was his appointed successor. (See Ensign, May 1981.)

The Lucy Mack Smith letter of 23 January 1829, falsely said to have been written by Joseph Smith’s mother. It presents details that purportedly came from the 116 lost manuscript pages of the Book of Mormon, including the idea that Ishmael, whose daughters married the sons of Lehi and Sariah, was the brother of Sariah. (See Ensign, Oct. 1982, Dec. 1983.)

The Martin Harris letter of 13 January 1873 to Walter Conrad, purportedly in the handwriting of Martin Harris’s son, Martin Harris, Jr., and signed by Martin Harris, who would have been eighty-nine years old at the time. This fraudulent text reaffirms the testimony of Martin Harris as one of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon. (See Ensign, Nov. 1982, Dec. 1983.)

The David Whitmer letter of 2 April 1873 to Walter Conrad, ostensibly written by another of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, fraudulently reaffirming David Whitmer’s testimony. (See Ensign, Dec. 1983.)

Two pages of the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon, covering Helaman 14:20 to 15:12, as well as parts of Mosiah 2:6–7 and 2:17–18, ostensibly written by Oliver Cowdery as Joseph Smith dictated the translation. (See Ensign, Oct. 1983, Dec. 1983.)

The E. B. Grandin contract of 17 August 1829, falsely purported to be a financial agreement between printer Egbert B. Grandin and Joseph Smith for the first printing of the Book of Mormon. (See Ensign, Dec. 1983.)

A “Joseph Smith, Jr.” signature in a first-edition copy of the Book of Mormon. While the signature is a Mark Hofmann forgery, a Joseph Smith letter on virtue mentioned in the same news article was from another source and is considered authentic. (See Ensign, Sept. 1985.)

The Martin Harris letter (popularly known as the white salamander letter), purportedly written in 1830 by Martin Harris to William W. Phelps. This letter contains a spurious account of problems encountered by Joseph Smith in obtaining the gold plates.

The Josiah Stowell letter, purportedly written by Joseph Smith in 1825. It contains information indicating Joseph Smith was involved in folk magic. Before being labeled a forgery, this letter was believed to contain the earliest surviving handwriting of the Prophet.

Mark Hofmann also claimed to be in the process of purchasing a collection of writings by William E. McLellin, one of the original members of the Council of the Twelve, who later apostatized and lost his membership in the Church, but who never recanted his testimony of the Book of Mormon. (See Ensign, Feb. 1986.) Although documents written by William E. McLellin may exist, Hofmann has confessed that his own professed “collection” does not.

Hofmann was also the source of a widely circulated rumor concerning an early history by Oliver Cowdery purportedly owned by the Church. This nonexistent history falsely credits Joseph Smith’s brother Alvin with a role in obtaining the gold plates. (See the Church’s disclaimer in the Ensign, Dec. 1986; see also Ensign, Aug. 1987.)

References
1	‘Revolution’ in LDS Church approach to history – http://www.standard.net/Faith/2015/10/23/Revolution-in-LDS-Church-approach-to-history
2	October 1980 Ensign – https://www.lds.org/ensign/1987/10/news-of-the-church/fraudulent-documents-from-forger-mark-hofmann-noted?lang=eng

References
1	the Juvenile Instructor, 1895, Pg. 317 – https://books.google.com/books?id=IHKwPb2DjuUC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

References
1	Times and Seasons, 4:194 – http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/NCMP1820-1846/id/8618
2	Mormon Should Mean “More Good” – https://www.lds.org/ensign/1990/11/mormon-should-mean-more-good?lang=eng&_r=1

References
1	A Facsimile from the Book of Abraham No. 2 – https://www.lds.org/scriptures/pgp/abr/fac-2?lang=eng
2	A Translation and Commentary of the Joseph Smith Hypocephalus, BYU Studies – https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/translation-and-commentary-joseph-smith-hypocephalus

References
1	Studies of the Book of Mormon, B. H. Roberts – https://www.amazon.com/Studies-Book-Mormon-B-Roberts/dp/1560850272
2	Studies of the Book of Mormon, Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studies_of_the_Book_of_Mormon

I Have Set by His Side

Footnote 31, ‘Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham’, LDS Gospel Topic Essay: ¹

“31. John Whitmer, History, 1831–ca. 1837, 76, in Karen Lynn Davidson, Richard L. Jensen, and David J. Whittaker, eds., Histories, Volume 2: Assigned Historical Writings, 1831–1847, vol. 2 of the Histories series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2012), 86. “I have set by his side and penned down the translation of the Egyptian Hieroglyphicks as he claimed to receive it by direct inspiration of Heaven,” wrote Warren Parrish, Joseph Smith’s scribe. (Warren Parrish, Feb. 5, 1838, Letter to the editor, Painesville Republican, Feb. 15, 1838, [3].)”

Full ‘Letter to the editor, Painesville Republican, Feb. 15, 1838’, Warren Parrish: ²

“KIRTLAND, Feb. 5, 1838.

To the EDITOR of the PAINESVILLE REPUBLICAN:

SIR: — I have taken the liberty to send you a synopsis of some of the leading features of the characters of Joseph Smith, Jr., and Sydney Rigdon, who are styled leaders of the Mormon Church, and if you are disposed, and think it would be of service to the public, you are at liberty to publish it. I have for several years past been a member of the Church of Latter day Saints, commonly called Mormon, belonging to the quorum of seventy High Priests, and an intimate acquaintance of Joseph Smith, Jr., and Sydney Rigdon, the modern Prophets, and have had an opportunity of ascertaining to as great an extent, perhaps the real characters of these men, as any other individual.

I have been Smith’s private Secretary, called to fill this high and responsible station by revelation which I wrote myself as it dropped from the lips of the Prophet, and although contrary to my natural inclinations, I submitted to it, fearing to disobey or treat lightly the commands of the Almighty. I have kept his Journal, and, like Baram [sic, Baruch?], the ancient scribe, have had the honor of writing the History of one of the Prophets. — I have attended him in the private Councils, in the secret chambers and in public exhibition. — I have performed a pilgrimage with him, (not to Mecca,) but to Missouri, a distance of 1000 miles, for the redemption of Zion, in company with about two hundred others, called the camp of Israel. When we arrived in Clay County adjoining Jackson County, Mo., in which Zion was located by revelation, and from which our brethren had been driven, we were informed through the Prophet that God had revealed to us that we need not cross over and fight as we had expected, but that God had accepted our sacrifice as he did that of Abraham, ours being equal to his when he offered up his Son. Therefore, we were sealed up unto eternal life in the name of Jesus Christ, as a reward for our suffering and obedience.

I have set by his side and penned down the translation of the Egyptian Hieroglyphicks as he claimed to receive it by direct inspiration of Heaven. I have listened to him with feelings of no ordinary kind, when he declared that the audible voice of God, instructed him to establish a Banking-Anti Banking institution, which like Aaron’s rod should swallow up all other Banks (the Bank of Monroe excepted,) and grow and flourish and spread from the rivers to the ends of the earth, and survive when all others should be laid in ruins.

I have been astonished to hear him declare that we had 60,000 Dollars in specie in our vaults, and $600,000 at our command, when we had not to exceed $6,000 and could not command any more; also that we had but about ten thousand Dollars of our bills in circulation, when he, as Cashier of the institution, knew that there was at least $150,000. Knowing their extreme poverty when they commenced this speculation, I have been not a little surprised to hear them assert that they were worth from three to four hundred thousand Dollars Cash, and in less than ninety days after, became insolvent without any change in their business affairs. But such has been the audacity of these boasting blasphemers, that they have assumed the authority to curse, or to bless, to damn, or to save, not only this Church but this entire generation, and that they hold their destinies in this world and that which is to come. And such has been their influence over this Church in this place, that they have filched the monies from their pockets and obtained their earthly substance for the purpose of establishing a Bank and various wild speculations, in order that they might aggrandize themselves and families, until they have reduced their followers to wretchedness and want.

For the year past their lives have been one continued scene of lying, deception, and fraud, and that too, in the name of God. But this I can account for in my own mind, having a knowledge of their private characters and sentiments, I believe them to be confirmed Infidels, who have not the fear of God before their eyes, notwithstanding their high pretensions to holiness, and frequent correspondence with the Angels of Heaven, and the revelations of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost.

What avails the claims of such men to holiness of heart, when their examples do violence to the system of morality, to say nothing about religion? What more favorable idea, can one entertain who has heard them say that man has no more agency than a wheelbarrow, and consequently is not accountable, and in the final end of all things no such principle will exist as sin.

This language, independent of many abominations that might be named, such as the Prophet’s fighting four pitched battles at fisticuff, within four years, one with his own natural brother, one with his brother-in-law, one with Ezra Thair, and one with a Baptist priest, speaks volumes.

Their management in this place has reduced society to a complete wreck. The recent outrage committed here, viz. the burning of the Printing establishment, I have no doubt was nothing more, nor less than carrying into effect Smith and Rigdon’s last revelation that they had before they took their leave of this place between two days — in fact the lying, fighting, stealing, running away, &c., that has carried on among us are only reducing their theory to practice, and in some instances they have not only taught the theory, but have set the example themselves.

And I am fully convinced that their precepts and examples, both in public and in private, are calculated to corrupt the morals of their votaries and cast a shade over their characters, which like the twilight of evening will soon settle into the gloom of midnight darkness; and had it not been arrested in its mad career, would have transmitted to succeeding generations, a system of hereditary tyranny, and spiritual despotism, unparalleled in the annals of the christian Church, the Church of Rome not excepted. But they have fled in the night; “they love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil; the wicked flee when no man pursuth.” — the printing establishment, book bindery, &c., was formerly the property of Smith and Rigdon; it had been sold the day previous to its being set on fire, by virtue of two executions obtained against them of one thousand dollars each, for issuing banking paper contrary to law.

The establishment had fallen into the hands of those who have of late remonstrated against the wickedness of the above-named individuals; and had it not been sacrificed upon the altar of reckless fanaticism, it would no doubt at this time have been speaking the truth, as an atonement for an ill-spent life; a well grounded conviction of this fact was evidently one reason why Smith and Rigdon obtained a revelation to abscond; and that the press must not at all hazards be suffered to be put in requisition against them; also that God would destroy this place by fire, for its wickedness against his Prophets, and that his servants are swift messengers of destruction, by whose hands he avenges himself upon his enemies; this accounts for the outrage.

This is but a preface to the catalogue of their iniquities that might be enumerated. But the most astonishing thing after all is, that men of common sense and common abilities, should be so completely blinded as to dispense entirely with the evidence of their senses, and tamely submit to be led by such men, and to contenance such glaring inconsistencies; and at the same time to be made to believe, that they had God for their author, and the happiness and well being of mankind for their end and aim. But the magic charm is broken at last; superstition and bigotry have begun to lose their influence and unclench their iron grasp from this devoted people who have “been led like lambs to the slaughter, and as a sheep is dumb before her shearers,” so have we not dared to open our mouths.

However justice seems to be in pursuit of the workers of iniquity; and sooner or later will overtake them: they will reap a just and sure retribution for their folly. This then is the conclusion of the whole matter; they lie by revelation, swindle by revelation, cheat and defraud by revelation, run away by revelation, and if they do not mend their ways, I fear that they will at last be damned by revelation.

M. [sic, W.] PARRISH. “

References[+]

References
1	‘Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham’, LDS Gospel Topic Essay – https://www.lds.org/topics/translation-and-historicity-of-the-book-of-abraham?lang=eng
2	Letter to the editor, Painesville Republican, Feb. 15, 1838 – https://archive.org/details/PainesvilleRepublican02151838

February 11, 2018

No Evidence

Image: National Geographic image. A Canadian archaeological dig finding evidence of a viking outpost dating to around 1000 AD. Evidence of Viking Outpost Found in Canada

The Smithsonian Institution’s letter “Statement Regarding the Book of Mormon“

Pg. 1
Your recent inquiry concerning the Smithsonian Institution’s alleged use of the Book of Mormon as a scientific guide has been received in the Smithsonian’s Department of Anthropology.
The Book of Mormon is a religious document and not a scientific guide. The Smithsonian Institution has never used it in archeological research and any information that you have received to the contrary is incorrect. Accurate information about the Smithsonian’s position is contained in the enclosed “Statement Regarding the Book of Mormon,” which was prepared to respond to the numerous inquiries that the Smithsonian receives on this topic.
Because the Smithsonian regards the unauthorized use of its name to disseminate inaccurate information as unlawful, we would appreciate your assistance in providing us with the names of any individuals who are misusing the Smithsonian’s name. Please address any correspondence to:
Anthropology Outreach Office
Department of Anthropology
National Museum of Natural History MRC 112
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC 20560
Pg. 2
1. The Smithsonian Institution has never used the Book of Mormon in any way as a scientific guide. Smithsonian archeologists see no direct connection between the archeology of the New World and the subject matter of the book.
2. The physical type of the American Indian is basically Mongoloid, being most closely related to that of the peoples of eastern. central, and northeastern Asia. Archeological evidence indicates that the ancestors of the present Indians cane into the New World – probably over a land bridge known to have existed in the Being Strait region during the last Ice Age – in a continuing series of small migrations beginning from about 25,000 to 30,000 years ago.
3. Present evidence indicates that the first people to reach this continent from the East were the Norsemen who briefly visited the northeastern part of North America around A.D. 1000 and then settled in Greenland. There is nothing to show that they reached Mexico or Central America.
4. One of the main lines of evidence supporting the scientific finding that contacts with Old World civilizations if indeed they occurred at all, were of very little significance for the development of American Indian civilizations, is the fact that none of the principal Old World domesticated food plants or animals (except the dog) occurred in the New World in pre-Columbian times. American Indians had no wheat, barley, oats, millet, rice, cattle, pigs, chickens, horses, donkeys, camels before 1492. (Camels and horses were in the Americas, along with the bison, mammoth, and mastodon, but all these animals became extinct around 10,000 B.C. at the time when the early big game hunters spread across the Americas.)
5. Iron, steel, glass, and silk were not used in the New World before 1492 (except for occasional use of unsmelted meteoric iron). Native copper was worked in various locations in pre-Columbian times, but true metallurgy was limited to southern Mexico and the Andean region, where its occurrence in late prehistoric times involved gold, silver, copper, and their alloys, but not iron.
6. There is a possibility that the spread of cultural traits across the Pacific to Mesoamerica and the northwestern coast of South America began several hundred years before the Christian era. However, any such inter-hemispheric contacts appear to have been the results of accidental voyages originating in eastern and southern Asia. It is by no means certain that even such contacts occurred; certainly there were no contacts with the ancient Egyptians, Hebrews, or other peoples of Western Asian and the Near East.
7. No reputable Egyptologist or other specialist on Old World archeology, and no expert on New World prehistory, has discovered or confirmed any relationship between archeological remains in Mexico and archeological remains in Egypt.
8. Reports of findings of ancient Egyptian, Hebrew, and other Old World writings in the New World in pre-Columbian contexts have frequently appeared in newspapers, magazines, and sensational books. None of these claims has stood up to examination by reputable scholars. No inscriptions using Old World forms of writing have been shown to have occurred in any part of the Americas before 1492 except for a few Norse rune stones which have been found in Greenland.
Pg. 3 & 4
Coe, Michael D. Mexico. 4th revised edition. Thames & Hudson, 1994. (A well-written, authoritative summary of Mexican archeology.)
Coe, Michael D. The Maya. 5th revised edition. Thames & Hudson, 1993. (A general summary of the archeology of the Maya.)
Coe, Michael D. and Richard A Diehl. In the Land of the Olmecs. 2 vols. University of Texas Press, 1980.
Fagan, Brian. Ancient North America: The Archaeology of a Continent. 2nd ed. New York: Thames &Hudson, 1995.
Kingdoms of Gold, Kingdoms of Jade: The Americas Before Columbus. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1991.
Ferguson, Thomas S. OneFold and One Shepherd. San Francisco: Books of California, 1958. (A book presenting the Mormon point of view.)
Freidel, David, Linda Schele, and Joy Parker. Maya Cosmos. NY: New York: William Morrow & Co., 1993.
Hammond, Norman. Ancient Maya Civilization. New Brunswick New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1982.
Hunter, Milton R. and Thomas S. Ferguson. Ancient America and the Book of Mormon. Oakland, California: Kolob Book Co., 1950. (The Mormon point of view is presented.)
Jennings, Jesse D. Prehistory of North America. 2nd edition. McGraw Hill, 1989.
Jennings Jesse, editor. Vol. 1. Ancient North Americans. Vol. 2. Ancient South Americans. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, 1983.
Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. and Jeremy A. Sabloff. Ancient Civilizations; The Near East and Mesoamerica. 2nd ed. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 1995. (Chapter 4 discusses the first Mesoamerican civilization and its origin. Very readable.)
Marcus, Joyce. Mesoamerican Writing Systems: Propaganda, Myth, and History in Four Ancient Civilizations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992.
Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1952-. (Published results of archeological investigations in Mesoamerica by the Foundation supported by the Mormon Church.)
Riley, Carroll L. et al., editors. Man Across the Sea: Problems of Pre-Columbian Contancts. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1971. (A collection of articles, mostly by well-qualified specialists, concerning transoceanic contacts.)
Sabloff, Jeremy A. Cities of Ancient Mexico: Reconstructing a Lost World. New York, NY: Thames &Hudson, 1990.
Schele, Linda, and David Freidel. A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya. New York, NY: William Merrow & Co., 1992.
Wauchope, Robert. Lost Tribes and Sunken Continents. University of Chicago Press, 1974. (Chapter 4 covers Mormon theories, setting them in the context of other nonscientific schemes. Author is a well-qualified specialist on Mexican archeology.)
Williams, Stephen. Fantastic Archaeology: the Wild Side of North American Prehistory. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991. (See the chapter “Archaeology and Religion: Where Angels Fear to Tread.”)

The National Geographic Society’s letter ‘Statement on the Book of Mormon.’ National Geographic Society Statement on the Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon is clearly a work of great spiritual power; millions have read and revered its words, first published by Joseph Smith in 1830. Yet Smith’s narration is not generally taken as a scientific source for the history of the Americas. Archaeologists and other scholars have long probed the hemisphere’s past, and the Society does not know of anything found so far that has substantiated the Book of Mormon.
In fact, students of prehistoric America by and large conclude that the New World’s earliest inhabitants arrived from Asia and the Bering “land bridge.” (Lower sea levels during the ice ages exposed the continental shelf beneath Bering Strait, allowing generations of ancient Siberians to migrate east.) National Geographic carried “The First Americans” in its September 1979 issue, perhaps on your library’s shelf.

Crash Course:

Statement Regarding the Book of Mormon – The Smithsonian Institution
National Geographic Society Statement on the Book of Mormon
Archaeology and the Book of Mormon – Wikipedia
Dr. Michael Coe – An Outsider’s View of Book of Mormon Archaeology (Podcast) – Mormon Stories

June 12, 2017

Honestly?

Image: Facsimile #3 from the modern printing of the Pearl of Great price with corrective translations by Egyptologists handwritten in.

From Gospel Principles, Chapter 31, Honesty:[footnote] Gospel Principles, 2011, 179–83 [/footnote]

“There are many other forms of lying. When we speak untruths, we are guilty of lying. We can also intentionally deceive others by a gesture or a look, by silence, or by telling only part of the truth. Whenever we lead people in any way to believe something that is not true, we are not being honest.”

Published in the Times and Seasons in 1842, the Book of Abraham, were said to be “written by his [Abrahams] own hand, upon papyrus.” [footnote] The Book of Abraham, LDS.org [/footnote] In 1880 the church canonized the Book of Abraham along with three hypocephalus known as Facimilies 1, 2 and 3. Thought to be lost in the great Chicago Fire (1871) the papyri were later discovered in New York and returned with great excitement to the church in 1967. Soon however both LDS and non-LDS scholars determined the papyri bore no semblance to the translation provided by Joseph Smith, verifying instead that they were common Egyptian funerary documents post-dating Abraham by centuries. For over 45 years this information was concealed from the general membership until 2014 with the publication of the ‘Translation and the Historicity of the Book of Abraham’ Gospel Topic Essay, in which the church admitted “None of the characters on the papyrus fragments mentioned Abraham’s name or any of the events recorded in the book of Abraham” [footnote]Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham, Gospel Topic Essay [/footnote]

Compare below the translation provided by Joseph Smith and that of Egyptologists:

Joseph’s Translation	Modern Egyptological Translation
Abraham sitting upon Pharaoh’s throne, by the politeness of the king, with a crown upon his head, representing the Priesthood, as emblematical of the grand Presidency in Heaven; with the scepter of justice and judgment in his hand.	“Label for Osiris (text to the right of figure 1 of facsimile 3): Recitation by Osiris, Foremost of the Westerners, Lord of Abydos(?), the great god forever and ever(?).”
King Pharaoh, whose name is given in the characters above his head.	“Label for Isis (text to the right of figure 2 of facsimile 3): Isis the great, the god’s mother.”
Signifies Abraham in Egypt as given also in Figure 10 of Facsimile No. 1.	“Altar, with the offering of the deceased, surrounded with lotus flowers, signifying the offering of the defunct.” –Theodule Deveria
Prince of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, as written above the hand.	“Label for Maat (text to the left of figure 4 of facsimile 3): Maat, mistress of the gods.”
Shulem, one of the king’s principal waiters, as represented by the characters above his hand.	“Label for Hor the deceased (text in front of figure 5 of facsimile 3): The Osiris Hor, justified forever.”
Olimlah, a slave belonging to the prince.	“Label for Anubis (text in front of figure 6 of facsimile 3): Recitation by Anubis, who makes protection(?), foremost of the embalming booth,…”

Crash Course:

Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham – LDS Gospel Topic Essay

Response to the Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham – Robert K. Ritner

The Joseph Smith Papyri (Video) – An explanation and overview of the Joseph Smith Papyri and their connection with Mormon scripture.

February 12, 2017

Tag: Egyptian

White

Salesman

Caractors

Further study:

Reverence to Her Husband

Discernment

Feminine Element

More Good

Ithyphallic God

Not a Few Things

Additional Study

I Have Set by His Side

No Evidence

Honestly?