Show UNWITTING WITNESSES vill the mi ae native races of america are lost entirely without written records and au all we know of their and traditions has come ugh those who have learned their beir language ian guage and have recorded what M they have seen and heard tong them the monk de lands landa received y interesting legends and tra from them and has written of m in reports of his missionary reola there are traditions to IW tha creation OTea tion of the world our parents and also of the deluge ila ul 4 attee races published by broft we read of the peruvians in our day the earth dis appeared V the loft loftiest lost iest mountains ere V vi 1 8 covered for a whole spring IP pap page 69 41 kother 0 peruvian p account count 06 is given of a flora handed down ul the remotest antiquity of a time when the waters covered all the earth as a punishment for the wickedness of man foan A few were spared they lived in a wooden house the sun interfered Inter feed and caused the house to float boat upon the waters f in another the shadowy memento is thus reflected A few men took refuge in the mountains and were saved when the waters began to recede they let some dogs loose which came back wet after a few days they sent them out again and they came back covered with mud this showed them that the waters had retired these records were evidently derived from the mosaic records possessed by both the jaredine Jar edite and lehine colonists they could not have been as some suppose imported by christian ministers even of the earliest times for the missionaries sion aries declare that they themselves received them from the natives moreover if these traditional relics had been imported by modern modem teachers they would not have differed so widely from the biblical account the marquis de nadaillac in speaking upon this subject observes no dissemination of christian ideas since the conquest is sufficient to account for the myths among the native races of america which seem to have their root in the natural tendencies of the human mind in its evolution from a savage state thus the cloven foot of godless infidelity shows out from beneath the parti colored vesture of scientific verbiage the plain historical chronicles of sacred writ and which even savages are wont to believe and perpetuate perpetua are loftily referred to as 14 myths evolved from brorn the crudities of a savage state joseph merrick esq a highly respected gentleman of pittsfield mass gives the following corroborating testimony that the jewish scriptures were known to the early settlers of america mr merrick says that in 1815 he was leveling some ground under an old woodshed situated on indian hill he planed and cleared away the earth to some depth after the work was done walking over the place he discovered near where the earth had been dug the deepest a black stra strap an fn as it t appeared about six inches in len length n chand and one and a half in breadth a and ut about the thickness of a leather trace to a harness he percel perceived ved it had at each enda loop of some hard substance U asta probably for the e purpose ur ose ev of ca carrying it he conveyed ey E ft t to his house h and threw it into an old tool box he afterwards found it thrown out at the door and again conveyed it to the box after some time he thought he would examine it in cutting it open it was found to consist og 0 two areces pieces of thick rawhide sewed wi with the sinews of some animal and gummed up in the fold were contained four pieces of parchment these were of a dark hue and contained some kind of writing the neighbors coming to see the strange discovery tore one of the pieces to atoms in the true hun and vandal style the other three pieces were saved and sent to cambridge where they were examined and discovered to have been written with a pen in hebrew they contained quotations from the old testament dent vi A 49 4 9 xi 13 21 exodus kiil 1116 11 16 11 voice of warning it is evident that the relic found was a kind of amulet or charm called a phylactery and in use among the jews from the earliest times certain strips of parchment inscribed with the passages quoted above and some others were enclosed in small cases and fastened to the forehead and the left arm also in another form to door posts in accordance with exodus XIII 9 16 this accounts for the loop at each end which was for fastening it to the place where it was worn it is further evident that the kitab field phylactery was of ancient make as those in use among the pharisees Pharis ees in christs christie time were condemned by him not the wearing but the exaggerated form and size they make broad their phylacteries 11 matt 5 the book of mormon says page notwithstanding we belleve believe in christ we keep the law of moses again page arid an a they the Nep hites also took of the firstlings first lings of their flo flocks that they might offer sacrifices and burnt offerings according to the law of moses now here is proof tha the religious bellef beliefs and observances of the israelites in jerusalem and the israelites in america were identical and in this view the dis discovery dovery of the jewish phylactery is a very avery interesting and confirmatory witness of the authentic character of the book of mormon it tends also to illuminate another spot in the dark regions of prehistoric pre historic times by showing the motive which the new settlers in america had for abandoning their native country and their forefathers the Jared ites were voluntary exiles for conscience sake while lehl leh like his illustrious ancestor abraham left his country at the command of the lord their respect for and preservation of the biblical record show that the emi grante were not in sympathy with the existing impiety of their ungodly neighbors and the inference is that it was a religious animus that most powerful of all moral forces that actuated their remarkable exodus at the time of the crucifixion when it to ie said maid that even pagan sages exclaimed surely the god of nature suffers the stupendous convulsions of the earth and the tumultuous agitation of the elements experienced in the immediate vicinity of the matchless tragedy were extended with augmented energy of destruction to the land of america we made reference to these fearful visitations in our last article by tills terrible burst of elemental strife the face of the country abe ie came deformed 11 the rocks were rent in twain and broken up upon the face of the land insomuch that they were found in broken ft fragments ag and in seams and in cracks upon the lace face of the land III HI nephi viii 18 nothing is more certain cartain than that such terrible convulsions donis and calamitous events should leave an ineffaceable im upon the face of the land such as the procession of the ages could not obliterate the ghastly areek should remain and the gaping wounds and frightful ware scars made in the bosom of df the earth inflicted by such a scourge would never heal I 1 over or close up and we might reasonably listen for some faint echoes of that mighty alarm eveni after the lapse of eighteen centuries no country in the world bears such deep and extended rents and frao fractures tures such signs of physical commotion as america does no country in the world bears upon its ace am such vestiges of active and vigorous life hundreds of miles of connected forte and ramparts trenches and breastworks attest AS ais president harrison remarked a condition of permanent military contests 1 while earth mausoleums nui numerous nerous and large with their ghastly cavities arching over the remnants rera nante of stupendous carnage bear witness to ti the importance port anoe and fierceness of the rob jopete of which they are the evidence these mighty events like substantial structures kues have east cast their shadows behind them in the legendary folklore 11 of their degenerate survivors the unanimous opinion of explorers and antiquarians is that the american continent is a stage upon which has been enacted a long series of varied strange and events there are the unmistakable marks of df advanced civilization with the evidence of races sunken into the slough of poverty ignorance and an d degradation the visible traces and trails of nomadic hordes and the permanent memorials of tranquil life according to the book of mormon record the higher and nobler state of life of these primitive races preceded the debased condition in which they were found by europeans but it has become fashionable to speak familiarly of the primeval savage f in regard to the priority of the human races in general and to say that civilization is a plant of slow growth there might be found perhaps cases where people have passed from a low and barbarous state to that of powerful intellectual and splendid civilization this is true in a moderate degree of the greeks as described by homer and the same race as placed upon record by the historian zenophon we see am the romans also rise from the barbarous robber life which characterized them in the eighth century B C to the zenith of splendor in the augustan age then again we observe the fierce and semi savage races which overran and crushed the roman empire settling down into respectable an ani i powerful nations and even surpassing the civilization which their forefathers destroyed the partial improvements which have come to portions of the arab hordes of india and the present ameliorating and softening processes on in turkey yand and russia all throw their weight in favor of the assumed principle of gradual development or evolution of civil iza tion but it should be borne in mind that all these improvements have been brought about through the contact and agency of superior circumstances and further how do we know that the barbarous state of any peo pie is the primeval state of that people one of the first branches of an A and science which sial suffers neglect and the first to be lost in a declining nation is that of literature savages keep no records and one of the earliest developed frenzies of a lapsing raw race is that vandal mania of hostility to the existence of chronologies histories and records of every kind the reason for this vandalism is obvious the annals of a prosperous and happy people are a treasury of delightful themes of glory and honor to them but bui lito IWO all signs of lost greatness the records become mementoes of dilt dill grace and reproach to a 73 people I 1 A this was exactly the case with the ancient american races Is the days of their glory and they prized their treas treasure uV of literary wealth but in their te a cline they endeavored to stamp out w and obliterate every register of their former happy estate hence me last vestiges of their history had bad to be put into an endurable shape and buried in the earth in order to secure their preservation but while examples favorable to the primeval savage strike the er ey of the superficial and biased reader reach of history yet there are numer ls and striking proofs of a reverse revels process cc herodotus tells us of the celoa gelon a greek people who having besa expelled from the cities on w northern coast of the retired into the interior and there lived in wooden huts and spoke A language half greek and haff bid fythian Sy thian by the timo time of MAD mc this people had become completely barbarous and used the skins akins of those slain by them in battled battle as coverings for themselves and theft theof horses george rawlinson Baw linson M aa A in the origin of rations nations there has been a gradual dwindling of the spanish on the coaston coast of north and south america ale their brilliant ancestors ancestor invaded tho tb country and conquered the natives the modern population of includes about coats copts descendants of the ancient egy egyptians who are represented as being very do de graded they are very short and diminutive in stature their character is in general gloomy deceitful and avaricious their analea language has been lost A most striking example of A 0 decline of a great and highly iced nation to is exhibited in the b ate tory of the israelites theological 00 I 1 ly y considered they reached a hoire of grandeur in the purity of their th morals and the perfection of th government which no nation ever equaled aud and yet they ar b came broken up and scatter while the jews the remnants of 0 41 that once mighty people bac 7 debased to a condition condit i 0 a of as v to ferocity lower than the brut bruten and probably their mixing wi the civilized nations is the only q 7 g teason reason why they have not bebon 10 as low and barbarous as their blow relations the american indle prof bailinson Baw linson observes ob sorves aa civilization is liable to decay W 1 wan to deteriorate to proceed gom bad to worse and in course of ne e to sink to so low a level that the w question occurs Is it civilize tiou on any longer the origin of 25 26 nations humboldt library no 1881 page 2 tradition is history in rap rags and awen theoa tt eoa and nearly every nation pos scraps of a past aldry tory of perfection and prosperity J hwe ere la ia undoubtedly some ground for the opinion expressed by raw union lifton savagery hagery Va gerY and civilization the wo 0 opposite poles in our social conlon are states between which aaen osculate oscillate freely passing from olle ww to the other with almost equal eba according to the external cir stances wherewith they are un ded 13 page 3 lt it is a question well worth the OO Ideation of bible believers whether the confusion of tongues 4 the ih tower of babel did not inaugurate gu rate a general degeneration of w the human race the sacred arob the only history we have of 1410 ause early times informs us of a ibrao y of high culture and civilize N previous to that strange and nen toos event our first pa were not savages by any Zd they and their immediate end ants were acquainted with obbe of the noblest principles of loia life they are am introduced to qa 8 48 8 tar malting making clothing giving names the he animals and engaged in the and innocent pursuits of bial and agricultural life they vad did not dwell in the wild woods nol laor burrow in the earth nor live in tae w clift and eaves caves in the rocks n even after the ter tion of a family quarrel build ad 4 CIVAs 11 early as the days of adam the ae softening and highly canal art of instrumental t was known among the bents used were the harp and organ gen iv 21 and thus tt F the pastoral ufa was enlivened enU wu the refining ning agency of melody tae alte fearful penalty which visited was in for their dimling from an exalted 1310 ww of civilization to that of a Most Wicked and debased state abor the flood which cleansed the ah and purified society there a period of comparatively pure a brief golden age abw in the traun tranquil pastoral and cw pursuits pur suite were followed foU owed dished ad society again hour flour aff buder the benign rule of ahat arld nd shepherd kings but wa Bae another fatal lapse eata ab abused U bad their high eriv vs W V time not the bolt of sweeping annihilation fell but their great endowments and blessings were withdrawn then ensued a blank a historical silence lasting for centuries and when the twilight lifts the eastern world is overrun with savage hordes of unknown races ramesy while the half civilized nations of eastern castern asia loom out of the misty horizon like huge mountains indistinctly discerned through the foggy atmosphere huge dark bodies indefinable in outline and altogether undistinguishable as to details in view of the foregoing facts and the reasoning deducible from them is it not plain that the reverse of the primeval savage theory is the truth and that the american races beginning with a high state of culture have oscillated between civilization and barbarism as the book of mormon represents J H KELSON to be |