Show UNWITTING WITNESSES in according to the historical record of the book of mormon the american continent was settled in ancient times fames by two distinct races of people j the first colony came from the valley of nimrod and left the dark land about the time of the building of the tower of babel when the language of the presumptuous ancients was confounded the date according to bible chronology was 2234 years B CL A fragmentary or condensed history is given of the early settlement the reigning kings wars and migrations of this colony downto down to about six centuries before 41 1 the christian era when they were totally destroyed by internecine feuds and exterminating civil wars one of their two last rival chieft iaus was the only one who did not die in the final bloody conflict and he weak and suffering from numerous wounds survived I 1 the tragic extinction of the race only a few months this colony consisted of ah an illustrious patriarch named jared and his numerous family and some others who are called his friends frI endal among whom was his brother whose name is not given but who became the chief leader of the company directing all their movements 17 and adventures both during 1 their migration and after their land ing they numbered probably from one hundred and fifty to two hundred bundred souls these people were called Jared ites after the name of their founder the Jared ites were eight years after they lett left the vicinity of the tower of babel before they embarked upon their vessels called barges to cross the ocean this time was employed in gathering seeds and grain flocks and herds and stock of all kinds of which a male and female were sele selected eW these supplies were gathered from the plains and valleys of nimrod 21 in the book of mormon we read of their labors and skill in making the necessary y preparations a for crossing cr 0 wr the mighty waters and settling the new country they set up a forge making bellows of the skins old n a of animals they smelted smelter and wrought suitable metals into too tools weapons and implements of various vario usi kinds and make utensils for their numerous needs and comfort lastly they built eight ships and fitted them out with all aill the necessary spaces and appointments to stow sto their provisions substance and livicia liv iia freight and skillfully fully prepared their vessels to meet the perils and exigencies of a long sea voyage they made the voyage successfully and when they landed like the later refugees upon plymouth rock kock they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land and did humble themselves before the lord because of his tender mercies over them book of mormon p the colony no sooner landed than they commenced a vigorous subjugation of the country not by hostile strife and carnage for no enemy appeared to oppose their landing upon the lonely and desolate shore but by the industrious wielding of implements of construction and husbandry they began to till the soil to sow their imported grain and seeds nourish their live stock establish homes and develop the mighty resources of the new and rigorous world around them who can an limit the possibilities of such a start as this what is there in all the strange relies relics and stupendous ruins discovered in the wake of their career and belonging to their times that might not be attributed tri buted to the descendants of such an ancestry the landing place of the jared ites was probably what is ROW MOW known as mexico in the opinion of professor 0 pratt it was on the western coasts coast and probably south of the gulf of california and north of the land of desolation which was north of the isthmus see book of mormon p note h the settlers thence spread north south and east over a vast extent of country they are mentioned by the writers who succeeded them as having occupied vast tracts J of country in both north and south america and it is said that they were as numerous as the hosts of israel book of mormon p verses 2022 20 22 p verses 8 12 but the earliest settlements of this ancient race were along the sea coast and desert regions of peru ecuador and columbia on the south of the isthmus the narrow panama steppes and central america and the southern part of mexico in north america the most important settlement in the south was called by the Ne Zarah emla professor pratt says the land of Zarah Zar ahemia emla is supposed to be north of the head waters of the river magdalena its northern boundary being a few days journey south of the isthmus V rook book of mormon p note h when the Nep hites visited this section they found the land covered with bones of men and of beasts etc and with ruins of buildings of every kind hind having discovered a country which had been peopled with a people who were as numerous as the hosts of israel page another very important settlement in the south in early times was in ecuador afterwards called the land of nephi nepal 11 but the final battles of the Jared ites were fought in and around the locality now known as the state of new york where the last leaders of ef the two leading factions shiz and corlan corian humr gathered the tee remnants of their armies together with all the remaining women and children for their final annihilation after 30 10 or 16 15 millions had already perished shiz pitched his tents on the southern sho shore re of lake ontario but by the forces of the enemy gaining advantage over them they were driven southward to a place called agath in the heart of the present state of new york and it came to paw pass that the army of did pitch their tents by the hill ramah bamah and it was that th same hill where my father mormon did hide up the records ramah bamah was the hill cumorah book ot of mormon pp ap and notes the marquis id d nadaillac says to erect the monuments of peru of mexico and the yet more ancient ones of central america the singular resemblance of chih to the temples and palaces palaces of egypt strikes the arch sool gist must have required skilled labor a numerous population and an established priesthood such as could have developed only through the lapse of ages prehistoric pre historic america p 14 the presence of the requisite conditions of Is a numerous population and the lapse of ages has haa already been shown from the book of mormon to have characterized the jaredine Jar edite race WP we will consider briefly the requirements of skilled labor and an esta established bUshed priesthood skilled labor is a term commonly applied to dexterity of practice in the general works of art and mechanism under conditions of established and permanent civilization but a broader significance attaches to the term when it is considered in connection with civil institutions in their formative period an and the founding of new commonwealths it is requisite that the brawny pioneer should not only be dextrous in the wielding of tools but that he should be ever ready with natural ingenuity to invent expedients to subdue difficulties to remove or sur mount obstacles and to appropriate available materials to his needs and uses all successful colonizing has been due to the presence of these qualities and these qualities were possessed in an eminent degree by jared and his band of sturdy pioneers they were scions of that most clever and mysterious people who first gave art and science form and voice who reared the gigantic and indestructible monuments of the remotest antiquity architect ure before whose very ruins grem great men stand in deep humility and awful reverence to corroborate the book of mormon record as to the ancestry of the earliest settlers of america numerous evidences exist of an ancient asiatic people having lived and left indel lible marks of their presence upon the face of the land their stoned stone brick and earth structures their works of art their language sculptures customs sepulture of their dead and in ftak au all their surroundings beer bear the impress of their ancient times and the footprints of that peculiar race after making due allowance for the weakness and incipient struggles of a small colony together with climatic novelties and the difficulty difficultly of assimilating strange materials maten Wo their works bear a striking analogy to those of the country and people from whence they were derived there is also another c consideration in estimating the sacred footprints which the Jared ites have left upon american soil regard should be had to the weighty consideration that we are separated from the period of their disappearance from the land by a lapse of about twenty three hundred years the Nep hites succeeded them arriving on the american contini continent ant shortly before the time of their last struggles and utter extinction and introduced a new and dif different phase of civilization further during the last three centuries those portions odthe of the country they occupied have been peopled by active races mew of europeans introducing the energies and transformations of modern civilization the axe and the plow and the ruthless tread of the paleface invader as well as the plunder seeking spoliation of the greedy adventurer have done much towards obliterating and ad demolishing the monuments and mementoes of the hoary past we quote again from pre historic america in speaking of the land jand ing in A D 1600 1500 of cortez and his troops the writer says to the amazement of his hie soldiers who fancied themselves to be the first to tread the soll soil they found themselves in the midst of vast ruins the incontestable proofs of mighty generations who had disappeared As they penetrated the deep forests they found vast areas covered with pueblos villages estu fas fasy temples pal palaces dees monoliths statues and piato graphs out oat rivaling in marvelous marve loua magnitude and complexity the antiquities ti ties of egypt or assyria judea or china here is an association of objects discovered in the abiding places of the Jared Jaired ites which like a picture brings before the mind of the book of mormon student the works and history of that ancient race these were not the handi works of romans or greeks moslems or jews the Nep hites were israelites and numerous traces of their descent and mosaic training exist in temple altar and hebraic type and symbol attesting their settlement upon the land the israelites who lived subsequent to the sixth century before the christian era em did not copy the architecture nor observe the burial customs of the egyptians the babylonians or assyrians As syrians they did not build asiatic pyramids monuments and temples and raise balse monoliths and earth mounds in the peculiar style of the early post pod these strange and incomprehensible remains of the ancient world are am fossilized images of the thoughts of a strange and peculiar BM they regarded the earth as their present and future dwelling place whether upon or in it they loved the earth and delighted in handling and ana appropriating pria ting its materials their ideas huge and ponderous images and these were reflected upon and wrought out in enduring enduring substances the everlasting rocks their air thoughts were stran strangely ely material they found a wo word in every object oh efe and wrote it upon sto stone ne with an hon point joint they made architecture a language jan guage and conveyed wondrous knowledge know fedge by configurations figu rations and graded lines in masonry the they made even empty spaces speak fh they ey did these things in ninevah egypt and babylon and they did the me same things in north central and south america scores of examples exist of the truth of this averment and they might be given ven an and described but it ft is deemed eeme unnecessary here as their existence is becoming well known to the general reader J H to be continued |