Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-04-28
THE MORMON BOOK
INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF THE
PEoPLING OF THE AMERICAN
CONTINENTS.
Book Is Written in Archaic Language
OF the Bible and Contains Many Ex.
tracts From the Scriptures - Ex-
tracts From the Book,

The investigation of the Smoot case
In the United States senate is attract
Ing universal attention and in view of
all that has been said regarding the
domination Of the Mormon church in
the politics of Utah a brief resume of
the Book of Mormon will be of inter
est 10 many readers Of the Courier.
The book of Mormon giving an ac-
count of the peopling of the Ameri.
can continents is written in the ar.
chaic language Of the Bible and con-
tains copious extracts from the scrip
lures.
1t is divided into numerous books
of Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Mormon, Ether
and the like and these are subdivid-
ed into chapters and verses. Briefly,
the story is this: After the confusion
of tongues at Babel, America was set
tied by one of the peoples whose de-
scendants finally destroyed each other.
Then, about 600 B. c., Lehi, his wife,
four sons and ten friends from Jeru-
salem, landed on the coast of Chile.
All went well until the death of Lehi
and the appointment OF his youngest
son, Nephi, to the leadership. This
aroused the resentment of the elder
brothers, who were In consequence
condemned to have dark skins and to
be an idle, mischievous race-the pro-
genitors of the Indians.
Wars for Centuries.
| Beweent the Nephites and the bad
Hebrews wars continued for centuries
until finally the Nephites fell away
from the true faith and in 3S4 A. D..
were nearly annihiliated by their dark
skinned foes in battle at the hill of
Cumorah in Ontario county, N. Y
Among the few escaped were Mormon
and his son Moroni Mormon collected
the sixteen books of records kept by
successive kings and priests, into one
volume, which. after his death. was
supplemented by his son and by hin
buried in the hill of Cumorah with the
divine assurance that the book would
one day be discovered by Gods chosen
prophet. explained in a footnote to be
Joseph Smith, Jr.
The extracts which follow will give
an idea of the style and tenor of the
Book of Mormon. 1t is to be noted thai
localities in America are never men
toned by their modern names, bu
that this information is supplied II
. footnotes contributed by Orson Pratt
] one Of Joseph Smiths associates.
Flight Of LehI.
The account of the fight Of Lehi
family and friends from Jerusalem tt
South America is given in the follow
ing passages from the first book o
Nephi:
"And It came to pass that the LORI
spake unto me saying, Thou shalt cor
struct ship after the manner which
shall shew thee, that | may carry tn
! people across these waters.
! "And I said, Lord. whittier shall
T 20 that may find ore to molten, that
t may make tools to construct the shi
! after the manner thou hast shewn unit
: me?'
l. "And 1t came to pass that I, Neph
IS did make bellows wherewith to bio
= the fire, of the skins of beasts; and a
ter had made bellows, that migf
g have wherewith to blow the fire, l di
4 smite two stones together, that migl
# make fire:
S. For the Lord had not hitherto su
a. fered that we should make much fl
1t as we journeyed in the wilderness; Il
10 he said, II will make thy food becon
IL sweet that we cook it not
n. And it came to pass that did NAL
al tools of the ore which l did molten o
of the rock.
"And when my brethren saw that
le was about to build ship they beg'
le to murmur against me, saying, o
re brother is fool, for he thinketh tn
I'd he can build ship: Yea, and he al
n thinketh that he can cross these gre
al waters
lie "And thus my brethren did compla
Nv against me, and were DESTROYS tn
he they might not labor, for they did r
es believe that I could build a ship; n
m. Their would they believe that was
structed of the Lord.
"And it came to pass that |, Me-
did guide the ship that we sailed ag
toward the promised land