Show DISCOURSE I 1 ori on the prophecies by elder orson pratt ta bernacle bei nacle january ath im REPORTED BY G D WATT loa I I 1 have jyleen been requested by br kimball to speak a 1 udus uyuki P nu I 1 a It r prophecies I 1 hilll A I 1 11 commence without any plo pio limi narles for we have not time thre in one short disco couise nse to take up the prophecies systematically and truce trace them down in ill their fulfillment to the present period neither have we time lime to refer to one hundredth part of the prophecies relating to tile the present period or those that relate to the future but we have time lime to say a few words and glean up some few ideas that have a bearing upon tile present generation and I 1 shall endeavor to make my remarks as aj pl pi jil and as simple as poss possible ble the file latter day saints that are now sitting before me and those aho vho v ho inhabit I 1 n habit this ill is territory are here in fulfilment fulfillment of prophecy we me inhabit these dinou mountains n bains because the ancient t prop prophets liets have predicted that such an all event should take place and we are fulfilling their predictions in this respect we believe in that sacred record called the ahe book of mormon why because the ancient prophets have predicted that such a book should be revealed in the latter times and it has come accompanied with sufficient evidence to produce conviction iu in cur car minds but if any person could persuade us that the book of mormon is not lot tile the book predicted by the ancient prophets we have sufficient cent light and information in the prophecies to convince us thit that such a book must come and we sh should on id with one accord look for fora a book of a similar description this latter day work that we have received is considered a very strange work in tile the estimation of tile the world but in the estimation of the saints it does not appear strange why because it is the very alups that the lord by the mou mouth th of his prophets arands iAu sands of years ago predicted should tike t ke place it and nd we are the very people that are enjoying tile the fulfillment of those predictions we will therefore there fere in the first place bring up some prophetical evidences which prove t lie divine civille authenticity of the book of mormon not but that we have other proofs that are clear and lucid and demonstrative in their nat establish its divine authenticity in ili regard to the prophetic evidences of the old teat testament ut in relation to this book we will first turn to the at th cli apter of isaial isaiah and see what lie he has said upon this subject in tile the filvia verse the prophet addresses himself to the city of jerusalem t railed ariel woe to arietto Ari elto Ari elthe city where david dwelt add boyear to year let cherni them kill sacrifices yet 1 wi I 1 distress ariel and there shall be heaviness and sorrow we will observe in relation to this prophecy that the jews of tile the city where divid david dwelt were distressed and notwithstanding they prolonged their saarif sacrifices ies after they ought to lia have vp been done away they were distressed and brought down and afflicted with heaviness and sorrow after having foretold the distress of the inhabitants of that city the prophet commences concerning another people and says and IT shall beun be on to me as arl arli ariel I 1 now here is something to be distressed to he brought down in heaviness and sorrow and aj afflicted similar to the city of arlel ariel it is some nation the prophet speaks or annar mar marv v mcw to meet with similar affliction to that which should come upon the people of jerusalem the city where david dwelt and I 1 will camp against thee round about and will lay against thee with a mount and I 1 will raise forts against thee against whom against that people who should be afflicted similarly to what the inhabitants of jerusalem were to be afflicted and thou shill be brought down and shall speak out of the ground and thy speech shall be low out of the dust and thy voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit out of the ground and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust this people then that he prophet here alludes to were to meet with a similar destruction and affliction to that which should come upon ariel and they were to have forts raised against them and fortifications now is not every year bri bringing to light ancient forts and fortifications upon this continent it is is well known that within a very few years past large and extensive volumes have been published dl di scribing the forts fortifications and ancient ruins rains that have boen been found iu in the midst of the united states I 1 in ll 11 the large volumes published by the smithsonian tiou in washington one of the most learned institutions of our country are found descriptions of a great number of these ancient ruins they are situated iu in the states of new york and ohio these discoveries have been published within a feye few years tirs past the he ancient inhabitants of this country were eventually brought down and their ruined cities temples and synagogues proclaim in silent gran dure that a great and mighty nation have fallen they have been brought down and distressed distress id like the jews at old jerusalem like ariel but meny many antiquarians have supposed that they have been brought down and nothing left of their history but their 0 d ruins to proclaim their former greatness it is not so for the very people that were thus to be brought down were to speak out of the dust what were they to be resurrected to converse with us was this what the prophet had ha j reference to no this is not what he has I 1 reference to in this passage as aa you will find by reading the following in file same chapter their I 1 whispering out of the dust and speaking out of I 1 the ground was a work to take place before the destruction of the nations of the wicked now wherein lias fasth th s prop prophecy hezy been fulfilled if not I 1 in a the coming forth of the book of mormon 7 that book has come out of tile the ground it was found in the state slate of new york 1 in n the midst of those forts and fortifications that are so plentiful there that sacred record yas was found written upon von plates I 1 hut hat had the appearance of gold out 0 the ground it was taken and it contains the words of the ancient prophets that lived ahmoi among this remnant of thel th ehouse louse of israel that were brought down and whose speech should whisper low out of the dust it whispers iu the ears of f mortal nian mail it proclaims repentance to the present area ent generation like the voice of one crying from the doad moreover the multitude of th thy v strail strangers gers shall be like small dust and the multitude of the terrible cues shall be as chaff that basseth away avay yo yoi yoa A it shall bo be at an lost dinst nit int suddenly any person perso u that wi will III take the trouble to r rend jud over that book that las bale come orth out of tie the groundland ground and that whispers to us out of the dus twill find that the multitude of the terrible ones one among the ancient Ne Nep philes hites have passed away a as chaff they were destroyed upon this land by hundreds and ny dy thousands by judgments and calamities and war thou shall be visited of the lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise noine with storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire this verse has reference to what follows in the next and the multitude of all the alie nations that fight against ariel even all that fight against her and I 1 er and that distress hershall her shall be as a dream of a night vision it shall even be as when an hungry man dream eth and behold lie he leateth but lie he and his soul is empty or as when a thirsty man drea meth and behold lie he but lie awa keth and behold lie he is twit faint and his soul hath I 1 appetite so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against mount zion here you perceive is another thing filing taken up tip by the prophet iu in c connection with the whispering 0 of f the words of that nation out of the dust immediately following that remarkable event there was to be a dreadful destruct io i not upon arieli not no upon 0 ii israel but butuson upon the multitude of all the nations of the earth that should fight against Mount Zion three things then are declared in succession one is the destruction of a ill nation another the speaking of their words out of tile the just dust in the ears of the living alid tile third that which immediately follows namely tho the destruction of all the nations of tile earth that should fight against mount zion this latter event has not yet been fulfilled but is just as sure to ile be fulfilled as tile other portions of the prophecy that have taken place just assure as sure as the book of mormon has whispered out of tire dust and spoken in tile ears of this generation in fulfillment of the words of the llie prophet isaiah so sure will the lord of hosts visit the multitude of all the nations of the earth that fight against mount zion with thunder and earthquake aud and with the flame of devouring fire and they shall be as the im 0 of f id night aion they alia shall 11 pass aw away ay from we the race face of the llie earth sid and lie 14 as chuff blown to tile the four winds of heaven and no place shall be ba found for them but we pass on the prophet now cornes comes bac kafter having foretold the destruction of the nations follow following lill the coming forth of this to tile the thing lie he was sop ap akim of previously previous oud d ra f alzi ats at s ye lef ana and informs us more particularly in what way the lord shall accomplish this whispering od out the dust lie says to the multitude of those nations about to be destroyed stay yourselves and wonder cry ye out and cry they are drunken but not with wine they stagger but not with strong drink he could not have used language to describe the present generation better than lie he has done they are drun kenas john the revelator Rev flator saw them with tho the filthiness of the abominations of old babylon they stagger not with strong drink but with tile the traditions of men which they have inculcated from generation to generation and which have become instilled into the minds of the people for tho the lord hath poured out upon you tile the spirit of deep bleep bleed and hath closed your eyes the hip prophets aud and your rulers the seers hath lie covered he calls upon this people on oi whom the spirit of sleep was poured out to stay themselves and wonder wonder what about why says lie he and tile the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed which men deliver to one that is I 1 arned saying read this I 1 pray thee and he saith I 1 cannot for it is ia sealed and the book is tei vered to him that is not learned saying read pray thee aliee and lie saith I 1 am not learned wherefore the lord said forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth and with their lips do honor me but have removed their heart far from me and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men therefore behold I 1 will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people even a marvelous work and a wonder for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid 1 see how clearly the prophet has illustrated the coming forth of this work he describes a book and the words of a book and even goes on oil to particularize and informs us that the he words of that book should he sent to the learned all who are acquainted with the history of the coming forth of the book of mormon know that it is a fact that several of the words of that book were copied by bv joseph smith and sent by the hands of martin harris from ontario county to new york city and lie e exhibited I 1 them to the most learned mill men that could could be found to see if they could translate them among others he went to professor anthon a professor of great celebrity mr althon authon examined the characters as lie himself lion publia published hed sinco since that period lie ile baalen that there was an all ignorant farmer fanner came to dimand he had some ancient characters or writing that he could not understand he supposes them to be characters selected from many alphabets mixed together he has published enough to prove that such a circumstance did transpire that an unlearned man did come to him with words professing to be copied from a book mr smith did not know any anything thing about this prophecy at that time for he was unacquainted with the contents of tile the bible he was brought up to work this part of the prophecy was fulfilled to the very letter the words of the book not the book itself were sent to the learned if mr smith had sent the plates va now V yu al lc aba terms of this pro pl would not have been fulfilled fulfill pd the next verse says and the book is ie delivered to him that is not le arnad saying read this I 1 pray thee and he saith I 1 am not learned now mr smith was not a learned man as acknowledged by all our op posers it is true he had some of the common rudiments of an english education lie could read and write a very bungling hand and this was about the extent of his education when the book was given to the unlearned man he did not reply to the lord as the learned mr anthon did to martin harris that it was a sealed language and he could not understand it but sai said he 11 1 I am not learned what was the lords answer to this unlearned young man he answered him in the words of isaiah which I 1 have already quoted wherefore the lord said forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth etc what should we naturally conclude the lord intended to do from this expression he said that he would do a marvelous work and a wonder after that he be had presen presented presentad tod the book to tho the unlearn I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 ed ana after that he when he was wag told to read it had made an excuse that he was unlearned we should naturally suppose suppo ill a that the lord intended to make this unlearned in man an read the book that I 1 was indeed the fad he was commanded of the 1 lord to read it and he translated it by the means of a arim and which is well known to be an instrument used in ancient tims times through which people inquired of the lord aaron had one in tile the centre of his breast plate and when anything came before him he could not understand by his wn judgment he inquired of the lord by the arim and Thum mim and that was the end of I 1 controversy in this way the lord made this unlearned on man read the book did this not cause tile the wisdom of the learned mr anthon to perish and tile hie understanding of the wise of this world to come to nought it required inspiration and power from froin on ligh a marvelous work and a wonder to be wrought in order to translate this book of upwards of six hundred pages and reveal the history lii story of one half of our globe to the astonished nations of the earth now to prove positively that the lord did cause this book to be translated by the unlearned and that it was read by somebody we will quote the lath verse of this chapter and aana in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book all and the eye of tile the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness tile the meek also shall ise their joy in the lord ard and the poor among men shall rejoice in the holy one of israel W we e see the fulfillment of this before us at the present time here are an hundreds and thousands of poor that were bound down with the curse of op and tyranny in foreign the medium of this book that has been translated by an unlearned man and through the medium of the proclamation of the glorious gospel contained in the same have been made to rejoice in the holy one of israel the blind has seen out of |