Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 16 - Book of Mormon - Joseph Smith Jr
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: The book of Enos. Behold, it came to pass that
- 0:04Speaker 1: I enus, knowing my father that he was a just man,
- 0:08Speaker 1: for he taught me in his language, and also in
- 0:11Speaker 1: the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And blessed be
- 0:15Speaker 1: the name of my God for it. And I will
- 0:17Speaker 1: tell you of the wrestle which I had before God
- 0:20Speaker 1: before I received a remission of my sins. Behold, I
- 0:24Speaker 1: went to hunt beasts in the forests, and the words
- 0:28Speaker 1: which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal
- 0:31Speaker 1: life and the joy of the saints sunk deep into
- 0:34Speaker 1: my heart, and my soul hungered. And I kneeled down
- 0:38Speaker 1: before my maker, and I cried unto him in mighty
- 0:42Speaker 1: prayer and supplication for mine own soul. And all the
- 0:46Speaker 1: day long did I cry unto him, yea. And when
- 0:49Speaker 1: the night came, I did still raise my voice high
- 0:52Speaker 1: that it reached the heavens. And there came a voice
- 0:55Speaker 1: unto me, saying, Enos, thy sins are forgiven Thee, and
- 1:00Speaker 1: thou shalt be blessed. And I Enos knew that God
- 1:04Speaker 1: could not lie. Wherefore my guilt was swept away. And
- 1:08Speaker 1: I said, Lord, how is it done? And he said
- 1:11Speaker 1: unto me because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou
- 1:15Speaker 1: hast never before heard nor seen, and many years pass
- 1:19Speaker 1: away before He shall manifest himself in the flesh. Wherefore,
- 1:23Speaker 1: go to thy faith hath made thee whole. Now it
- 1:28Speaker 1: came to pass that when I had heard these words,
- 1:30Speaker 1: I began to feel a desire for the welfare of
- 1:33Speaker 1: my brethren, the Nephites. Wherefore I did pour out my
- 1:37Speaker 1: whole soul unto God for them. And while I was
- 1:40Speaker 1: thus struggling in the spirit, behold the voice of the
- 1:44Speaker 1: Lord came into my mind again, saying, I will visit
- 1:48Speaker 1: thy brethren according to their diligence in keeping my commandments.
- 1:52Speaker 1: I have given unto them this land, and it is
- 1:54Speaker 1: a holy land, and I curse it not save it
- 1:58Speaker 1: be for the cause of iniquity. Wherefore I will visit
- 2:02Speaker 1: thy brethren according as I have said, and their transgressions
- 2:05Speaker 1: will I bring down with sorrow upon their own heads.
- 2:09Speaker 1: And after I enos had heard these words, my faith
- 2:13Speaker 1: began to be unshaken in the Lord, and I prayed
- 2:16Speaker 1: unto Him with many long strugglings for my brethren, the Lamanites.
- 2:21Speaker 1: And it came to pass that after I had prayed
- 2:23Speaker 1: and labored with all diligence. The Lord said unto me,
- 2:28Speaker 1: I will grant unto thee according to thy desires, because
- 2:31Speaker 1: of thy faith. And now behold, this was the desire
- 2:36Speaker 1: which I desired of him, that if it should so
- 2:39Speaker 1: be that my people, the Nephites, should fall into transgression
- 2:43Speaker 1: and by any means be destroyed, and the Lamanites should
- 2:47Speaker 1: not be destroyed, that the Lord God would preserve a
- 2:50Speaker 1: record of my people, the Nephites, even if it so be,
- 2:54Speaker 1: by the power of His Holy Arm, that it might
- 2:57Speaker 1: be brought forth at some future day unto the layman knights,
- 3:00Speaker 1: that perhaps they might be brought unto salvation. For at
- 3:05Speaker 1: the present our strugglings were vain in restoring them to
- 3:08Speaker 1: the true faith, and they swore in their wrath that
- 3:12Speaker 1: if it were possible, they would destroy our records and us,
- 3:16Speaker 1: and also all the traditions of our fathers. Wherefore, I,
- 3:20Speaker 1: knowing that the Lord God was able to preserve our records,
- 3:24Speaker 1: I cried unto him continually. For he had said unto me,
- 3:28Speaker 1: whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye
- 3:32Speaker 1: shall receive in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it.
- 3:36Speaker 1: And I had faith, and I did cry unto God
- 3:40Speaker 1: that he would preserve the records, and he covenanted with
- 3:43Speaker 1: me that he would bring them forth unto the Lamanites
- 3:46Speaker 1: in his own due time. And I Enos knew it
- 3:51Speaker 1: would be according to the covenant which he had made.
- 3:54Speaker 1: Wherefore my soul did rest. And the Lord said, unto me,
- 3:58Speaker 1: thy fathers have also required of me this thing, and
- 4:02Speaker 1: it shall be done unto them, according to their faith.
- 4:05Speaker 1: For their faith was like unto thine. And now it
- 4:08Speaker 1: came to pass that I Enus went about among the
- 4:12Speaker 1: people of Nephi, prophesying of things to come, and testifying
- 4:16Speaker 1: of the things which I had heard and seen. And
- 4:20Speaker 1: I bear record that the people of Nephi did seek
- 4:23Speaker 1: diligently to restore the Lamanites unto the true faith in God.
- 4:28Speaker 1: But our labors were vain, their hatred was fixed, and
- 4:31Speaker 1: they were led by their evil nature, that they became
- 4:34Speaker 1: wild and ferocious, and a bloodthirsty people, full of idolatry
- 4:39Speaker 1: and filthiness, feeding upon beasts of prey, dwelling in tents
- 4:44Speaker 1: and wandering about in the wilderness, with a short skin
- 4:47Speaker 1: girdle about their loins, and their heads shaven and their
- 4:50Speaker 1: skill was in the bow and in the cimeter and
- 4:53Speaker 1: the axe, and many of them did eat nothing save
- 4:56Speaker 1: it was raw meat. And they were continually seeking to
- 4:59Speaker 1: de destroy us. And it came to pass that the
- 5:03Speaker 1: people of Nephi did till the land and raise all
- 5:06Speaker 1: manner of grain and of fruit, and flocks of herds,
- 5:09Speaker 1: and flocks of all manner of cattle of every kind,
- 5:13Speaker 1: and goats and wild goats, and also many horses. And
- 5:17Speaker 1: there were exceedingly many prophets among us, and the people
- 5:20Speaker 1: wore a stiff necked people hard to understand, and there
- 5:24Speaker 1: was nothing save it was exceeding harshness, preaching and prophesying
- 5:28Speaker 1: of wars and contentions and destructions, and continually reminding them
- 5:33Speaker 1: of death and the duration of eternity, and the judgments
- 5:37Speaker 1: and the power of God, and all these things, stirring
- 5:41Speaker 1: them up continually to keep them in the fear of
- 5:43Speaker 1: the Lord. I say, there was nothing short of these things,
- 5:48Speaker 1: and exceedingly great plainness of speech would keep them from
- 5:51Speaker 1: going down speedily to destruction. And after this manner do
- 5:55Speaker 1: I write concerning them. And I saw wars between the
- 5:59Speaker 1: Nephi and Layman nights in the course of my days,
- 6:03Speaker 1: and he came to pass that I began to be old.
- 6:06Speaker 1: And an hundred and seventy and nine years had passed
- 6:09Speaker 1: away from the time that our father Lehi left Jerusalem.
- 6:13Speaker 1: And I saw that I must soon go down to
- 6:16Speaker 1: my grave, having been wrought upon by the power of God,
- 6:20Speaker 1: that I must preach and prophesy unto this people and
- 6:23Speaker 1: declare the word according to the truth which is in Christ.
- 6:27Speaker 1: And I have declared it in all my days, and
- 6:30Speaker 1: have rejoiced in it above that of the world. And
- 6:33Speaker 1: I soon go to the place of my rest, which
- 6:36Speaker 1: is with my Redeemer, For I know that in him
- 6:40Speaker 1: I shall rest, and I rejoice in the day when
- 6:43Speaker 1: my mortal shall put on immortality and shall stand before him,
- 6:49Speaker 1: Then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he
- 6:52Speaker 1: will say, unto me, Come unto me, Ye blest, There
- 6:56Speaker 1: is a place prepared for you in the mansions of
- 6:59Speaker 1: my father, Amen, the Book of Jeram. Now behold, I jeream,
- 7:06Speaker 1: write a few words according to the commandment of my
- 7:08Speaker 1: father Enos, that our genealogy may be kept. And as
- 7:13Speaker 1: these plates are small, and as these things are written
- 7:16Speaker 1: for the intent of the benefit of our brethren, the Lamanites.
- 7:20Speaker 1: Wherefore it must needs be that I write a little.
- 7:23Speaker 1: But I shall not write the things of my prophesying,
- 7:26Speaker 1: nor of my revelations. For what could I write more
- 7:30Speaker 1: than my fathers have written? For have not they revealed
- 7:33Speaker 1: the plan of salvation? I say unto you, yea, and
- 7:37Speaker 1: this sufficeth me. Behold, it is expedient that much should
- 7:42Speaker 1: be done among this people, because of the hardness of
- 7:45Speaker 1: their hearts, and the deafness of their ears, and the
- 7:48Speaker 1: blindness of their minds, and the stiffness of their necks. Nevertheless,
- 7:53Speaker 1: God is exceedingly merciful unto them, and has not as
- 7:56Speaker 1: yet swept them off from the face of the land.
- 7:59Speaker 1: And there are many among us who have many revelations,
- 8:03Speaker 1: for they are not all stiff necked, And as many
- 8:07Speaker 1: as are not stiff necked, and have faith half communion
- 8:10Speaker 1: with the Holy Spirit, which maketh manifest unto the children
- 8:14Speaker 1: of men according to their faith. And now behold, two
- 8:19Speaker 1: hundred years had passed away, and the people of Nephi
- 8:22Speaker 1: had waxed strong in the land. They observed to keep
- 8:25Speaker 1: the Law of Moses and the Sabbath day wholly unto
- 8:29Speaker 1: the Lord. And they profaned, not neither did they blaspheme.
- 8:33Speaker 1: And the laws of the land were exceedingly strict, and
- 8:37Speaker 1: they were scattered upon much of the face of the land.
- 8:40Speaker 1: And the Lamanites also, and they were exceedingly more numerous
- 8:44Speaker 1: than were they of the Nephites. And they loved murder,
- 8:47Speaker 1: and would drink the blood of beasts. And he came
- 8:50Speaker 1: to pass that they came many times against us, the Nephites,
- 8:54Speaker 1: to battle. But our kings and our leaders were mighty
- 8:58Speaker 1: men in the faith of the Lord, and they taught
- 9:01Speaker 1: the people the ways of the Lord. Wherefore we withstood
- 9:04Speaker 1: the Lamanites and swept them away out of our lands,
- 9:08Speaker 1: and began to fortify our cities, or whatsoever place of
- 9:12Speaker 1: our inheritance. And we multiplied exceedingly and spread upon the
- 9:17Speaker 1: face of the land, and became exceedingly rich in gold
- 9:20Speaker 1: and in silver, and in precious things, and in fine
- 9:24Speaker 1: workmanship of wood, in buildings, and in machinery, and also
- 9:28Speaker 1: in iron and copper and brass and steel, making all
- 9:32Speaker 1: manner of tools of every kind to till the ground.
- 9:36Speaker 1: And weapons of war, yea, the sharp pointed arrow, and
- 9:40Speaker 1: the quiver, and the dart, and the javelin, and all
- 9:43Speaker 1: preparations for war, and thus being prepared to meet the Lamanites.
- 9:48Speaker 1: They did not prosper against us. But the word of
- 9:51Speaker 1: the Lord was verified, which he spake unto our fathers,
- 9:55Speaker 1: saying that inasmuch as ye will keep my commandments, ye
- 9:59Speaker 1: shall prosper in the land. And it came to pass
- 10:02Speaker 1: that the prophets of the Lord did threaten the people
- 10:05Speaker 1: of Nephi, according to the word of God, that if
- 10:08Speaker 1: they did not keep the commandments, but should fall into transgression,
- 10:12Speaker 1: they should be destroyed from off the face of the land.
- 10:16Speaker 1: Wherefore the prophets and the priests and the teachers did
- 10:20Speaker 1: labor diligently, exhorting with all long suffering the people to diligence,
- 10:26Speaker 1: teaching the law of Moses and the intent for which
- 10:29Speaker 1: it was given, persuading them to look forward unto the
- 10:32Speaker 1: Messiah and believe in him to come, as though he
- 10:35Speaker 1: already was. And after this manner did they teach them.
- 10:39Speaker 1: And it came to pass that by so doing they
- 10:42Speaker 1: kept them from being destroyed upon the face of the land.
- 10:45Speaker 1: For they did prick their hearts with the word, continually
- 10:49Speaker 1: stirring them up on two repentants. And it came to
- 10:52Speaker 1: pass that two hundred and thirty and eight years had
- 10:55Speaker 1: passed away, after the manner of wars and contentions and dissensions,
- 11:01Speaker 1: for the space of much of the time. And I, Jaram,
- 11:05Speaker 1: do not write more, for the plates are small. But behold,
- 11:09Speaker 1: my brethren, ye can go to the other plates of Nephi,
- 11:12Speaker 1: for behold upon them the records of our wars are engraven,
- 11:17Speaker 1: according to the writings of the kings, or those which
- 11:20Speaker 1: they cause to be written. And I deliver these plates
- 11:23Speaker 1: into the hands of my son Omni, that they may
- 11:26Speaker 1: be kept according to the commandments of my fathers, the
- 11:30Speaker 1: book of Omni. Behold, it came to pass that I Amni,
- 11:36Speaker 1: being commanded by my father Jaram, that I should write
- 11:39Speaker 1: somewhat upon these plates to preserve our genealogy. Wherefore in
- 11:44Speaker 1: my days I would that ye should know that I
- 11:47Speaker 1: fought much with the sword to preserve my people, the Nephites,
- 11:51Speaker 1: from falling into the hands of their enemies, the Lamanites.
- 11:55Speaker 1: But behold, I of myself am a wicked man, and
- 11:59Speaker 1: I have not kept the statutes and the commandments of
- 12:02Speaker 1: the Lord as I ought to have done. And it
- 12:04Speaker 1: came to pass that two hundred and seventy and six
- 12:07Speaker 1: years had passed away, and we had many seasons of peace,
- 12:11Speaker 1: and we had many seasons of serious war and bloodshed. Yea,
- 12:15Speaker 1: And in fine, two hundred and eighty and two years
- 12:19Speaker 1: had passed away. And I had kept these plates according
- 12:22Speaker 1: to the commandments of my fathers, and I conferred them
- 12:25Speaker 1: upon my son Amaran, and I make an end. And
- 12:30Speaker 1: now I amoron write the things whatsoever I write, which
- 12:34Speaker 1: are few in the book of my father. Behold, it
- 12:38Speaker 1: came to pass that three hundred and twenty years had
- 12:41Speaker 1: passed away, and the more wicked part of the Nephites
- 12:44Speaker 1: were destroyed. For the Lord would not suffer after he
- 12:48Speaker 1: had led them out of the land of Jerusalem and
- 12:51Speaker 1: kept and preserved them from falling into the hands of
- 12:54Speaker 1: their enemies. Yea, he would not suffer that the words
- 12:57Speaker 1: should not be verified which he spake unto our fathers,
- 13:01Speaker 1: saying that inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments,
- 13:05Speaker 1: ye shall not prosper in the land. Wherefore the Lord
- 13:09Speaker 1: did visit them in great judgment. Nevertheless, he did spare
- 13:13Speaker 1: the righteous that they should not perish, but did deliver
- 13:16Speaker 1: them out of the hands of their enemies. And he
- 13:19Speaker 1: came to pass that I did deliver the plates unto
- 13:22Speaker 1: my brother Kemish. Now I, Kemish, write what few things
- 13:28Speaker 1: I write in the same book with my brother. For behold,
- 13:32Speaker 1: I saw the last which he wrote, that he wrote
- 13:35Speaker 1: it with his own hand, and he wrote it in
- 13:37Speaker 1: the day that he delivered them unto me. And after
- 13:40Speaker 1: this manner we keep the records, for it is according
- 13:43Speaker 1: to the commandments of our fathers. And I make an end. Behold,
- 13:49Speaker 1: I a benedum Am the son of Kemish. Behold, he
- 13:53Speaker 1: came to pass that I saw much war and contention
- 13:57Speaker 1: between my people, the Nephites and the Lamanites. And I,
- 14:01Speaker 1: with my own sword, have taken the lives of many
- 14:04Speaker 1: of the Lamanites in the defense of my brethren. And behold,
- 14:08Speaker 1: the record of this people is engraven upon plates which
- 14:12Speaker 1: is had by the kings according to the generations. And
- 14:15Speaker 1: I know of no revelation save that which has been written,
- 14:19Speaker 1: neither prophecy. Wherefore that which is sufficient is written. And
- 14:24Speaker 1: I make an end. Behold, I am a Malachi, the
- 14:29Speaker 1: son of a Benadum. Behold, I will speak unto you
- 14:33Speaker 1: somewhat concerning Mosiah, who was made king over the land
- 14:37Speaker 1: of Sarahemla. For behold, he being warned of the Lord
- 14:41Speaker 1: that he should flee out of the land of Nephi,
- 14:43Speaker 1: and as many as would hearken unto the voice of
- 14:46Speaker 1: the Lord, should also depart out of the land with
- 14:49Speaker 1: him into the wilderness. And it came to pass that
- 14:53Speaker 1: he did according as the Lord had commanded him. And
- 14:56Speaker 1: they departed out of the land into the wilderness as
- 14:59Speaker 1: many as would hearken unto the voice of the Lord.
- 15:02Speaker 1: And they were led by many preachings and prophesyings, and
- 15:06Speaker 1: they were admonished continually by the word of God. And
- 15:09Speaker 1: they were led by the power of His arm through
- 15:12Speaker 1: the wilderness until they came down into the land which
- 15:15Speaker 1: is called the land of Zarahemla. And they discovered a
- 15:19Speaker 1: people who were called the people of Zarahemla. Now there
- 15:23Speaker 1: was great rejoicing among the people of Zarahemla, and also
- 15:26Speaker 1: Zarahemla did rejoice exceedingly because the Lord had sent the
- 15:31Speaker 1: people of Mossiah with the plates of brass, which contained
- 15:34Speaker 1: the record of the Jews. Behold, it came to pass
- 15:39Speaker 1: that Mossiah discovered that the people of Zarahemla came out
- 15:42Speaker 1: from Jerusalem at the time that Zedekiah, king of Judah,
- 15:46Speaker 1: was carried away captive into Babylon, and they journeyed in
- 15:50Speaker 1: the wilderness and were brought by the hand of the
- 15:53Speaker 1: Lord across the great waters into the land where Mossiah
- 15:57Speaker 1: discovered them. And they had dwelt there from that and
- 16:01Speaker 1: at the time that Mossiah discovered them, they had become
- 16:04Speaker 1: exceedingly numerous. Nevertheless, they had had many wars and serious contentions,
- 16:11Speaker 1: and had fallen by the sword from time to time,
- 16:13Speaker 1: and their language had become corrupted, and they had brought
- 16:16Speaker 1: no records with them, and they denied the being of
- 16:19Speaker 1: their creator, and Mossiah nor the people of Mossiah could
- 16:24Speaker 1: understand them. But it came to pass that Mosiah caused
- 16:28Speaker 1: that they should be taught in his language. And it
- 16:30Speaker 1: came to pass that after they were taught in the
- 16:33Speaker 1: language of Mosiah, Zarahemla gave a genealogy of his father's
- 16:38Speaker 1: according to his memory, and they are written, but not
- 16:41Speaker 1: in these plates. And he came to pass that the
- 16:44Speaker 1: people of Zarahemla and of Mossiah did unite together, and
- 16:49Speaker 1: Mossiah was appointed to be their king. And he came
- 16:52Speaker 1: to pass in the days of Mossiah. There was a
- 16:55Speaker 1: large stone brought unto him with engravings on it, and
- 16:58Speaker 1: he did interpret the engraving by the gift and power
- 17:01Speaker 1: of God. And they gave an account of one Choriantomer
- 17:05Speaker 1: and the slain of his people. And Koreantomer was discovered
- 17:09Speaker 1: by the people of Zarahemla, and he dwelt with them
- 17:12Speaker 1: for the space of nine moons. It also spake a
- 17:15Speaker 1: few words concerning his father's and his first parents came
- 17:19Speaker 1: out from the tower at the time the Lord confounded
- 17:22Speaker 1: the language of the people, and the severity of the
- 17:25Speaker 1: Lord fell upon them according to his judgments, which are just,
- 17:29Speaker 1: and their bones lay scattered in the land northward. Behold,
- 17:34Speaker 1: I a Malachi was born in the days of Mosiah,
- 17:38Speaker 1: and I have lived to see his death, and Benjamin,
- 17:41Speaker 1: his son, reigneth in his stead. And behold, I have
- 17:46Speaker 1: seen in the days of King Benjamin a serious war
- 17:49Speaker 1: and much bloodshed between the Nephites and the Lamanites. But behold,
- 17:54Speaker 1: the Nephites did obtain much advantage over them. Yea insomuch
- 17:58Speaker 1: that King Benjamin did dry them out of the land
- 18:01Speaker 1: of Zarahemla. And it came to pass that I began
- 18:04Speaker 1: to be old and having no seed, and knowing King
- 18:07Speaker 1: Benjamin to be a just man before the Lord. Wherefore
- 18:11Speaker 1: I shall deliver up these plates unto Him, exhorting all
- 18:15Speaker 1: men to come unto God, the Holy One of Israel,
- 18:18Speaker 1: and believe in prophesying, and in revelations, and in the
- 18:22Speaker 1: ministering of angels, and in the gift of speaking with tongues,
- 18:26Speaker 1: and in the gift of interpreting languages, and in all
- 18:30Speaker 1: things which are good. For there is nothing which is
- 18:33Speaker 1: good save it comes from the Lord. And that which
- 18:36Speaker 1: is evil cometh from the Devil. And now, my beloved brethren,
- 18:41Speaker 1: I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is
- 18:44Speaker 1: the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation
- 18:47Speaker 1: and the power of his redemption. Yea come unto Him
- 18:51Speaker 1: and offer your whole souls as an offering unto Him,
- 18:54Speaker 1: and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end.
- 18:59Speaker 1: And as the Lord liveth ye will be saved. And
- 19:03Speaker 1: now I would speak somewhat concerning a certain number who
- 19:06Speaker 1: went up into the wilderness to return to the land
- 19:09Speaker 1: of Nephi, for there was a large number who were
- 19:12Speaker 1: desirous to possess the land of their inheritance. Wherefore they
- 19:17Speaker 1: went up into the wilderness, and their leader being a
- 19:19Speaker 1: strong and mighty man and a stiff necked man, wherefore
- 19:23Speaker 1: he caused a contention among them, and they were all
- 19:26Speaker 1: slain save fifty in the wilderness. And they returned again
- 19:30Speaker 1: to the land of Zarahemla. And it came to pass
- 19:34Speaker 1: that they also took others to a considerable number, and
- 19:37Speaker 1: took their journey again into the wilderness. And I a Malachi,
- 19:41Speaker 1: had a brother who also went with them, And I
- 19:44Speaker 1: have not since known concerning them. And I am about
- 19:47Speaker 1: to lie down in my grave. And these plates are full,
- 19:51Speaker 1: and I make an end of my speaking, and of
- 19:54Speaker 1: the Book of Enos, the Book of Jeram, and the
- 19:58Speaker 1: Book of Omni.