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Show THE DESERET NEWS. 40 Around the hill at that time a t;reat and fierce battle was fought. It was after the conclusion of the battle that the plates were concealed, for the purpose of bringing to light at a future time the history of the nation and people who at this remote period occupied this great and choice Ruined cities, towers, land of America. temples, etc., had been and are being discovered without any knowledge of who built them, until the discovery of those records and the translation of them by Joseph Smith, to which records is given the name of the Book of Mormon. The ancient prophet referred to is Moroni. Page 621 Book of Mormon N. E. Changing the scene once more, another prophet. Mormon, stood on the summit of this hill after the conclusion of the battle. These are his words as found on page And 560 of the Book of Mormon: when they had gone through and hewn down all my people save it were of us (among whom was twenty-fou- r my son Moroni) and we having survived the dead of our people, did behold on from the top the morrow of the hill Cumorah, the ten thousand of my people who were hewn down, being led in the front by me, and we also beheld the ten thousand of my people who And folwere led by my son Moroni. lowing, others are named who led each their ten thousand, until we reach the enormous number of two hundred and thirty thousand men who were strewn around this most marvelous hill; and their flesh and bones and blood lay upon to moulder the face of the earth upon the land, and to crumble and to return to their mother earth. And my soul was rent with anguish because of the slain of my people, and I cried, O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord! It was written on a book of golden plates, weighing about forty pounds. The plates were of sheets of pure gold of the thickness of thin tinplate. They were fastened together with three rings, and were delivered to the young man, Joseph Smith, with a promise that he should receive the the ; record and also the breast-plat- e angel also gave him what is termed the Urim and Thummim, or interpreters These are said to have been in the form of an old fashioned pair of spectacles. Martin Harris, whom I had the pleasure of bringing from Kirtland, Ohio, to Utah, in the year 1871, stated to me that he had the privilege of handling this Urim and Thummim, and had tried them on; but he found them too large. The stones, he said, set in the rims of silver, were clear like unto diamonds. In 1834 I was favored with seeing and hearing this young man, Joseph Smith, testify, not only of the visit of the angel and his conversations, but also of a visit of God the Father and the Son; which occurred in 1820, when the lad was only fourteen years of age. In the year 1829 three reliable persons, namely: Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris, all testified, and continued to do so until their death, that they, in open daylight did see and hear an angel who instructed them. I was acquainted with witnesses of the authenticity of the toration of the Gospel. E. res- Stevenson. Nlolrt. moods are wrought with ever changing phase, And oft she comes in pomp of princely state, With retinue of stars and moon's white blaze; And sometimes garbed m gloom, and sad as fate. Night's But late she moved mysteriously upon The steps of twilight, shadowing her face With sable wing, and the last thread of wan Light purpled through the dark and left no trace And now she comes m glory, and the sky Is white with the unsteady radiance of stars, And race of meteors and far spaces he In tremulous mist an unseen host that jars The seined distance with dim twinklings. Low In western skies that the deep sunken sun Still stains with gold a planet floats its glow Shading the dimmer space to hues of dun. One perfect moment on the carven lines Of yon high summit hangs the golden moon, Unclasping the laced fingers of the pines That reach above its crest and without boon Oflingenng touch at parting, swings aloof, With hingeless motion rolltng height on height them and numerous times have heard Spreading the arches of a silver roof them bear their testimonies. Just prior O'er august presence of the purple night. to the death of David Whitmer I was On this broad swell of upland and the vale not with him, and found that although That drifts below, how white and saintly fair fully identified with our church, his testi- Her light falls, chastening the pale mony was just as firm as it was fifty years Still faces of the fields upturned in prayer before. This was the case with Oliver And holding the rapt valley in a trance Cowdery; and also with Martin Harris That yields a vision of transparent wings, is their written until his death. Here Whose silver rustling silent airs enhance, And moves still leaves to holy whisperings. testimony as found in the preface of the Book of Mormon: But in that hollow where the canyon breaks From loosening shadows of the tired hills, Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people unto whom this work shall And the wild mountain stream is stumbling wakes come, that we, through the grace of God the The moonlight from her pious trance, and Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record, which is a thrills record of the people of Nephi, and also of the The chanced place with thousand witcheries, their brethren, and also of the Lamamtes, Kisses the pouting ripples on the stream people of Jared, who came from the tower, Beguiles the sullen tension of knit trees, and we also know that they have been And wraps the grasses in a languorous dream translated by the gift and power of God, for With her caresses and where willows keep his voice hath declared it unto us, wherefore Their vigil o'er the ambushed stream, she we know of a surety that the work is true. of the great Jehovah, the eternal Judge of And we also testify that we have seen the enslips both quick and dead. Amen. Page 623, the restful shadows and their sleep gravings which are upon the plates, and they Among Book of Mormon. with sudden prickling and now of Tortures the us God, have been shown unto by power Cumorahs hill is situated in the north- and not of man And we declare with words dips western part of New York state, three of soberness, that an angel of God came down A ghostly finger in the shivenng dark and a half miles south of Palmyra, and from heaven, and he brought and laid before Where the meshed waters he or crackling near the New York Central railroad. It our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates and through it know we is that and The huddled willows, with a silver spark is about forty miles south of Rochester, the engravings thereon, our and Lord the of God Father, Kindles the foliage hid from outer view. on a turnpike road, and is the most b the grace Jesus Christ, that e beheld and bear record Thus through the hours that wing the placid prominent hill in a most lovely country; that these things are true. it is in proximity to Lake Erie. night In cadenced drifting with her wildenng play On the same page are the names of The same person who concluded and concealed the history of the Book of Mor- eight other witnesses who testify to hav- She dazes the lone hollow till the light Of steady morning quiets her wild ray. Here as This seen and handled those Before concluding this reference, I will use a few of the last words of Moroni, just before he sealed up the record, leaving it in the hill Cumorah: And now I I soon go to bid unto you all, farewell. rest in the paradise of God, until my spirit and body shall again reunite, and I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you before the pleasing bar mon revealed it again. history, ing stated, was concealed in the hill Cumorah. are, altogether, twelve plates. unimpeached f Josephine Spencer. 1 i 1 |