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Show The box and beheld the plates, the Urim and Thummim and the breastplate. But when he attempted to take them out the mess' senger again appeared and told Joseph that the time for delivering the plates would not arrive until four years from that date. However, Joseph continues, the messenger told me that I should come to that place precisely in one year from that time, and that he would meet therewith me, and that I should continue to-so until the time should come for obtaining the plates. Joseph did 'as commanded and he wrote that on the 22nd day of September, 1827, having gone' as .usual at the end of another year, to the place where they were deposited, the same heavenly "messenger deliverer them up to rpe with this charge: that 1 should Jae responsible lor Ahem; that if I should let them go carelessly, or through any neglect of mine, I should be cut off; but that U I would use all and Mormonism Truth-Seek- er A Marvelous Book F. MERRILL By ELDER JOSEPH Of The Council Of The Twelve fRadio December Address-Deliver- 1, Sunday, 1945, Over KSL) ed LAST Sunday evening I briefly re-to- ld stories related by Joseph Smith of -- how in answer to prayers-h- e received two wonderful visions one from God the Father,-an- d his Son Jesus Christ, and the other from the Angel - MoronL Ffom my point " of 'view these -- stories were both most marvelous and greatly disturbing. According to the story the Father and the Son are two separate, disililLt personal beingsin the physical- age of which man . was made.- - This was and is startling news, for as you all know the Christian world in general had and has anidea that God is without form, and, in any- case,:' Gqd the Father, some mysterious and God the Son are-i.8nd...une.xplainable-,wayJ ony pne, entity. not two entities. (Parenthetically may I say at this point, Mormonism also Chosf the third . teaches-lh- at member of the Holy Trinity, Is also a separate personal entity, a spirit being In form or image like the Father and ,theSon). However, a careful examma-- tion of the matter 'will probably con- -vince the truth-seekthat both the Oid Testament and the New Testament justify the belief that the God of the 'Bible "is a personal being who made man in his own image. But 1 am .aware of the fact that many intelligent people regard this anthropomorphic conception of the form of God as absurd and smacki- state 'of ng- of a crude human beings. However, all of us will agree that no matter' what our personal beliefs may be not one of these, nor all combined, can change the truth in the 'least lotar More about this point n -- -t- he-Holy er ed later. JOSEPHS STORIES DISTURBING -I said Joseph Smiths stories' were disturbing. According to the first one God is a real personal being a revo lutionary idea to most modem peoples. According to the second one, angels are also personaTbelngs, tKe'Aiigel Moroni on being a -- resurrected man who-live- d . the American Continent about 400 A.D. He brought the startling message that' a book inscribed in ancient characters on plates of gold existed and -- would later be delivered into the hands of Joseph fortranslation. It is very easy To under stand how disturbing these two stories were coming in an age and among a people who were settled in their conviction that the days of miracles and divine revelation were long since past. Did Josephs stories relate facts or cies? Please follow my' talks to their end. to date, --we have in been considering some matters relating to -- the .field of religion, which 1 have tried to present in a way to challenge your reason. I have done this in the belief that your acceptance of my points of view depends upon their successful appeal to you as being reasonable, !! my conclusions seem to you right and sound, -- then -- you may have -- been benefited by the discussions. - In any case I solicit your continued attention even though I talk about some things that are characteristic of Mormonism. - I hope you . expect me to do this very thing, evening 1 propose talking about very significant thing in Mormonism' The BOOK OF MORMON. For this book, as you khow, marvelous things are claimed. And to be perfectly frank with you, I admit that, as I see it, the -- Church will stand or fall as a divine Institution, depending --upon the 'validity of these claims. This does not mean, of courser that Latter-da- y Saints do not teach and practice as do many other religionists many beautiful ideas and doctrines that are good and true, independent of the genuineness of the Book of Mormon, For. example, the. doctrinej of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, of the two great Commandments, including the Golden Rule, are beautiful and good whether the Book of Mormon is true or false. And iso the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints is worthy of friendly ance, If not acceptance and support, even though this book be rejected. But if the Book of Mormon be a fraud, then the claims that the Church was established and the Priesthood of God was restored to earth about 115 years ago through the ministry of angels.jnust. be falsa. -- -- -- these-talks,-- up GOLD PLATES MADE KNOWN Fogg 1 0 Dec. 8, 1945 his Radio Theme Told TESTIFY,. is to be discussed by E. .Merrill,- - of -- the "CYE-WITNESS- , Elder-Jose- ph Council of the Twelve, Sunday, De- In the first place how came this book cember 9, 1945, at 9 p.m., over Radio ' purporting to be the religious history Station KSL , -of the of certain This will be the twenty-fourt- h American Continent?- -. Last Sunday I address in trie current series of leegave an abbreviated statement of Joseph tures in the current radio talks to Smiths story of the first appearance The Truth -- Seeker And entitled, himHof the" Angel MoronL As many.ot Mormonism. you - know, Joseph Smith wrote - that this messenger- - appeared twice more September 22, 1827, and his surrender of during the night, delivering the same them, probably in the summer of 1829, his first he visit.; message gave during at those unsealed had been translated. also,-thin the field' the 'following Time limits will not permit me, however, morning the angel again appeared with to --give more than the .briefest outline his message.' Joseph then continues: "I m; o let .jfThetcyjMheanslatiOThoseqf; where the messenger had toldmethp he, the messenger, ,shouldcall for theiyi, you who may wish to read op review the story'are 'referredio"theriate'Elder'B. plates were deposited; and owing to the they would be protected.".'.'! By the H. Roberts book New Witnesses For God, distinctness of the vision which I had wisdom of God they remained safe in VoL II. This boojj: s enthely devoted .strenuous hands I knew the place the my notwithstanding concerning it, instant I arrived there. Convenient to efforts were "repeatedly" made' to "get to a consideration ofThatters pertaining from Josepht'UntitT'had toThe Book of Mormon. Suffice it thevfflageor Manchester,' New' York,' theffi-aw- ajr the moment it became noised about a stands hill of considerable' size, and accomplished by them what was required the most elevated' of any'in the neigh- at"tnyhand: TVhenaecordtng tCf 'r- borhood. On the west side of the hill, rangementsT the messenger calledfor employed every device that cunning could conceive. to get the plates from not far from the top,- - under-- a stone of them,I delivered them up to him. But in the meantime, that is between him"-- So the work' of transiation was' considerable sizer lay the plates deposited in a stone box. Joseph opened the ! the time 'Joseph received . the plates. accomplished only by overcoming many difficulties and delays-S- o intolerable became the annoyances and persecutions r -that he left his home In Manchester even and went to friends in Harmony, Pennsylvania, to escape his enemies. At ' length, the work of translation was be- gun in earnest, April 7, 1829, and, with- Uhver Cowdery as scribe was diligently and rapidly- - continued" until ;Tt was about three months later. completed BY LEVI EDGAR YOtJNG As to the manner of translating the Of The First Council pf Seventy plates the Prophet Joseph has written but little for the press. Through the mankind has been of human God, the seeking history, beginning FROM medium of the Urim and Thummim I are sanctions ideas moral of life holiness of the of with and the beauty translated the Tecord by the gift and common tQCveryliving soul, Within the past year. I have conversed .with a. - of God is- the" most extended -powerdevout member of the Greek Catholic Church: an Arabian front the city of statement published madeby him upon-th- is Mecca in Arabia, and a follower of Mohammedanism; an American Indian of New Witnesses subject. (Roberts a finds who the Sioux tribe; a Japanese Buddhist, and Chinese scholar spiritual Vol. IIr page 106.) For God, life in the teachings of Confucius. I have listened to each one attentively, and in Relative to this matter Oliver Cow- -' turn all of them have listened to me. As a result f the interviews, I have read e dery"wrote: "These were days never some very fine bits of religious thought to which I have been referred. The to sit under the of sound forgotten more people we meet, the mole we come to know that religion is not a philosa voice . dictated by the inspiration of ophy to be built up and argued about, but it begins in the depths of human heaven.'awakened the utmost gratitude nature, cleansing man from sin and reconciling man to God. My friend, the of this - bosom. Day after day I eon itniix Indian,, had me read the following from a bqok that was written by. a tinued uninterrupted to write from his man of his own tribe, and a graduate of Carlyle Indian school in Pennsylvania: mouth, as he translated with the Urim . "The original attitude of the American Indian toward the Eternal, the and Thummim. , . the history or record3 Great Mystery that surrounds and embraces us, was as simple as it was called the Book of Mormon. (Roberts exalted. To him it was the supreme conception, bringing with it the fullest Witnesses For God, Vol. II, p. 98.) measure of joy and satisfaction possible in this life. The worship of the -New It was silent,' Concerning, the manner of translating "Great Mystery was silent, solitary, free from Roberta also wrote:11! repeat, then,' that - because all speech is f necesslty feeble and imperfect; therefore, the soul. - of my ancestors ascended to God in wordless adoration." It was Solitary,,, the translation of the Book of Mormon Urim because they believed that he is nearer to us in solitude. Among us, all men by means of the Interpreters and Thummim" and"Seer Stone, was were created sons of God, and stood erect, as conscious of their divinity . . . There were no temples or shrines among us save those of nature. In tho dot merely a mechanical -- process, the utmost concentration of , woods and in the deserts we worshipped God. "The first religious ceremony of a youth marked an epoch in his life, mental andL spiritual force possessed . --Which may be compared to confirmation or conversion in Christian experiby- the Prophet."" in order to exercise ence. Having first prepared himself by means of the purifying vapor-batthe gift of ' translation through tha the youth sought out the noblest height, the most commanding summit in all d means, of . the sacred -- instruments"- the surrounding region.' There he remained silent and erect for a night or for that work. --(New Witnesses-Fo- r two, singing hymns and offering the ceremonial filled pipe. God, Vol. II, page'lll.) do former-inhabita- nts -- tho-plac- e " y' to-sa- thatJoseph-hadtheplates-his-enemi- es - Col 3L S "Fxcept The Lord Build The House" -- -- -- " ' " to-b- -- self-seekin- -- -- -- but-requi- -- h, pro-vide- ply.impressed-by.-what.l-knawls.th- -- j;-T- Dr. Merrill's Next Hig-Ved- Right-Aspiratio- Right-Condu- h, Right-Memor- Right-Meditatip- y, date The-exac- t e. character of the Indians of our couhtry. . . , My visitor, the Japanese Buddhist, a, a part of the holy scriptures of the had me read a passage from the n, BuddhistsrThe holiness of lifers found by Right-Belie- f, Right-MeaRight-Speecof Livelihood, , n. . .. friend said: - In the year-AJ570, was bom Mohammed one of the greatest men of all time. He taught the oneness and universality of God. - We do not believe in the Trinity. Jesus was just another prophet. There is but one God and Mohammed is-- messenger of God. The prophecies of Gods prophet are found in the Koran, our holy book. We go to no other book for our religion. It Is read by every follower of Mohammed.' Heaven Is a place' where everyone will enjoy fruits of every kind, and have forgiveness of the Lord. Each so blessed will live in--a beautiful garden where there are streams of water. Hell will be brought within sight of every beholder on judgment day, as a burning fire. . . . The little volume on Confucianism given me by my Chinese friend contains such sayings as this: I do not open up the truth to one who Is not ester to get knowledge, nor help out anyone who is not anxious to explain himself. When I have presented one corner of a subject to anyone, and he cannot from it learn the other three, I do not repeat the lesson. . Then came my turn."l gave each one"of my friends a copy of our ARTICLES OF FAITH and explained them one by one, ,.They are clear nd simple statements of The fundamental principles that enter into our concept of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, The Chinaman read aloud the first article with a solemnity and beauty of voice that I shall never forget In answer to the Arabian Scholar, as to what is meant when we sayr We believe ail that God has revealed, all that he does now reveal - . . I told him that the supreme test of "theChristian Church'Is ' revelation;- For a religiontobepersuasive and convincing must embody the authentic and adequate principle of revelation. If a religion is not revelatory, it becomes purely a human product, and yaluable as it might be' to human life and progress, it does not have the Inner vigor to maintain a place of commanding power. Religion to live requires revelation today and always. God will yet reveal to his holy men of the priesthood great and important things. The unfolding results of Christs impact upon developing humanity are limitless. There is finally in the Gospel of Jesus Christ theprinciple and' potency of redemption. . The Son of Man came to seek and to- save that which was lost. The gospel is the religion of redeemed personality. This means individual salvation, which begins in the depths of human nature, dealing with the heart, cleansing from sin, reconciling man to God,' and then setting him to live the reconciled life. It fulfills the law and the prophets, and causes man to stand upand. walk,.iThe gospel become a permanent possession of ths soul. ns Right-Endeavo- an ' - offlfiishHig-the-tran- s lation appears to be unknown, though it was probably the latter' part of June or early July, 1829 about three months ' after it was begun jwith Oli ver Cowdery as scribe. A contract for printing five thousand copies was then madejwith MtEgbert; B. Grandin of Palmyra, N. Y., and typesetting began in August, 1829. The first copies appeared from the press In'tfieT" following spring in March Or early April. : GENUINENESS OF THE "" BOOK OF MORMON 7 Sxf much as to how the Book of Mormon came to be. -- May we- now consider a phase of the very important question as to the genuineness of the book its divinity, if you please. To Latter-da- y Saints this question has the utmost limits --will not permit us to give consideration to several aspects of the question. But we again -es refer all Inquirers to Roberts New For God, Vol.-I- I, where these are examined In' the authors characteristic ' -- -- thorough-way- Wit-ness- ; Let us here consider The Testimony of Three Witnesses. For this purpose we shall get our facts and data from Roberts book already cited. On page 240 we find: A soon a the translation of the book was completed the Prophet Joseph dispatched a messenger' from the home of the Whitmers, at Fayette . . in Seneca County where he was staying and where the translation was completed to bis parents . . . and asked them to coma to him. This information! they conveyed to Martin Harris, wh? de- - . terminedto accompany the Prophets . (Continued on Page Twelve) . |
