*Gen. 48:5, 9, 20-22-"And now, of thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt, before I came unto thee into Egypt; behold, they are mine, and the God of my fathers shall bless them; even as Reuben and Simeon they shall be blessed, for they are mine; wherefore they shall be called after my name. (Therefore they were called Israel.) . . . Wherefore the God of thy fathers shall bless thee, and the fruit of thy loins, that they shall be blessed above thy brethren and thy father's house. . . . And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the first-born. And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long until this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the middst of the earth" (5, 14-16).

THE SPECIAL BLESSING OF JOSEPH

HIS DESCENDANTS TO "RUN OVER THE WALL" OR THE SEA

Gen. 49:1, 22, 26-"And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. . . . Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall;. . . . the blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren."

Isa. 16:8-"They wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea."

Isa. 18:1, 2-"Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia; that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!"

A BLESSING UPON "JOSEPHS LAND"

Deut 33:13-17-"And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth and fullness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush; let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren, His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns; with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth; and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh."

JOSEPH PRESERVED FOR A SPECIAL PURPOSE

Ps. 80:1, 2, 8-11, 14, 15, 17-"Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth: Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us. . . Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river. . . . Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts; look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; and the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself. . . . . Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself."

THE SCATTERING OF THE PEOPLE

ISRAEL THE NORTHERN KINGDOM

I Kings 22:17-"I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd."-The Prophet Micaiah.

JERUSALEM (CAPITAL OF JUDAH, THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM) TO BE

DESTROYED

Jer. 19:37-"Hear ye the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold I will bring evil upon this place . . . and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies."

A WARNING TO ESCAPE FROM JERUSALEM

Jer. 6:1-"O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem."

"REMNANT" PRESERVED

2 Kings 19:30, 31; Isa. 37:31, 32-"And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall take root downward, and bear fruit upward: For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion."

PEOPLE OF JERUSALEM INTO CAPTIVITY

2 Kings 24:10-14-"The servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. . . . And he carried out thence all the treasure of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the kings house. . . . And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained save the poorest sort of the people of the land."

A VOICE FROM THE DUST

RECORDS OUT OF THE GROUND

*Isa. 29:4-"And she shalt be brought down, and shall speak out of the ground, and her speech shall be low out of the dust, and her voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and her speech shall whisper out of the dust."

A PART SELECTED AND TRANSPLANTED TO GROW AND FLOURISH IN A DISTANT PLACE

Ezek. 17:22, 23-"Thus saith the Lord God; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon a high mountain and eminent; in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it; and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar; and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell."

THE TWO RECORDS: THE STICK OF JOSEPH, AND THE STICK OF JUDAH (THE BIBLE), EVENTUALLY TO BE PUT TOGETHER

Ezek. 37:19, 20-"Thus said the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribe of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick and they shall be one in mine hand. And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes."

A PERIOD OF SILENCE FOR THE PROPHETS

*Isa. 29:10-"For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep. For, behold, ye have closed your eyes and ye have rejected the prophets, and your rulers; and the seers hath he covered because of your iniquities."

EVENTS OF THE RESTORATION

AN EXTRAORDINARY EVENT TO TAKE PLACE

Isa. 29:26-"I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people; yea, a marvelous work and a wonder" (14).

TRUTH TO COME OUT OF THE EARTH: THE SEALED BOOK

Ps. 85:10, 11-"Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven."

*Isa. 29:4, 11, 12, 14, 32-"And she shall be brought down, and shall speak out of the ground, and her speech shall be low out of the dust; and her voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and her speech shall whisper out of the dust. . . . And it shall come to pass, that the Lord God shall bring forth unto you the words of a book; and they shall be the words of them which have slumbered. And behold, the book shall be sealed; and in the book shall be a revelation from God, from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof. . . . But the book shall be delivered unto a man, and he shall deliver the words of the book, which are the words of those who have slumbered in the dust. . . . They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine" (4, 11, 12, 24).

THE BOOK TO COME TO THE PEOPLE

Isa. 29:30-"And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness" ( 18).

THE PROBLEM OF TRANSLATION OF THE BOOK

*Isa. 29:11, 12, A. V.-"And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed. And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned."

*Isa. 29:13, 14, A. V.-"Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid." See-I. V. Isa. 29:20-26 for these passages.

THE WORLD-WIDE MISSION OF CHRIST

TO ISRAEL

*Matt. 15:23-"He answered, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (24).

"OTHER SHEEP" TO BE VISITED

John 10:16-"And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd."

JERUSALEM TO BE RESTORED

MODERN JERUSALEM HAS EXPANDED FAR BEYOND ITS WALLS

Zech. 2:4-"Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein."

I Nephi 3:192, 193-"These last records . . . shall establish the truth of the first, which are of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them; and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues and people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Saviour of the world."

2 Nephi 12:58-60, 62, 67-70-"Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. . . . And I do this that I may prove unto many, that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever. . . . For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews, and they shall write it: and I shall also speak unto the Nephites, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth, and they shall write it."

2 Nephi 2:12-22; 11:125-160.

D. and C. 2:6-"For this very purpose are these plates preserved which contain these records, that the promises of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made to his people; and that the Lamanites might come to the knowledge of their fathers

D. and C. 17:2.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

BOOK OF MORMON OPPOSES POLYGAMY

In the International Review, the Book of Mormon is declared to oppose polygamy:

"Fabulous as we know it to be, it does not contain a single immoral sentiment. It would add to the value of our canonical Scriptures if an abridgement of it could be made to take the place of Solomon's Song. So far from inculcating polygamy, it directly opposes it. 'Hearken to the word of the Lord for there shall not any man among you have, save it be one wife' (Jacob 2:27).* Nor, until several years after its adoption as conjointly with the Bible a rule of faith, was polygamy even tolerated."-Volume 11, page 223, published in 1881.

*Jacob 2:36 in Reorganized edition.

COMPASS (MAGNETIC) AND DIRECTORS

Objection that the Book of Mormon story of the compass or directors in use before the Christian Era is impossible or improbable (see I Nephi 5:12, 190; Alma 17:56, 71), arouses interest in the following historical data.

The work of A. F. Tytler, Professor of History, University of Edinburgh, says:

"The polarity of the magnet had been known in Europe as early as the thirteenth century; but the compass was not used in sailing till the middle of the fourteenth; and another century had elapsed from that period, while yet the European mariners scarcely ventured out of the sight of their coasts."-General History, page 165, published 1824.

The Student's Cyclopaedia of 1901 shows that Europeans were far behind time:

"The compass was not known in Europe until the 12th century, but was used in China in very early times, and is said to have been invented by the Emperor Hoang-ti in 2634 B.C."-Volume 1, page 243.

Henry Pemberton, of the Academy of Natural Sciences, remarks:

"The phenomena of Magnetism-undoubtedly one of the forms of Electricity and of the ethereal medium-are yet very imperfectly understood. The natural Magnet, the Lodestone, early attracted attention. Plato thus speaks of it: 'A divine power, which moves you, like that in the stone which Euripides calls-the Magnesian, but the common people Heraclean.' . . . The Chinese noticed the phenomenon, and used the Magnet in navigation many centuries before the Europeans invented the Mariner's Compass."-' The Path of Evolution, pages 184, 185.

URIM AND THUMMIM

Urim is from the Hebrew UWRIYM (plural of UWR-derived from OWR translated "light," "shine," "bright," "clear," "break of day," and "morning") and is rendered "lights" by Young, Strong, Zenos, and others.

Thummim is from TUMMIYM (plural of TOM-derived from TAMAN-translated "completeness,"-"full," "integrity," "perfect," "simplicity," and "upright") and is translated "perfections." Strong says it was in the high priest's breastplate as an emblem of complete truth.

The historian, Prideaux, names the Urim and Thummim as one of the five things that were the glory of the first temple. He says:

"What was the main glory of the first temple, those extraordinary marks of the divine favor with which it was honored, were wholly wanting in the second. The Jews reckon them up in these five particulars: 1. The ark of the covenant, and the mercy seat which was upon it; 2. The Shechinah, or divine presence; 3. The Urim and Thummim; 4. The holy fire upon the altar; and, 5. The spirit of prophecy."-History of the Jews, Volume 1, page 151.

Prideaux says the reason for rendering Urim and Thummim "manifestation and truth" in the Septuagint was:

"Because all these oracular answers given by Urim and Thummim were always clear and manifest, and their truth ever certain and infallible."-Ibid., page 156.

Dr. Smith notes various speculations as to how answers came through Urim and Thummim, then observes:

"But it seems to be far simplest and most in agreement with the different accounts of inquiries made by Urim and Thummim (I Sam.

14:3, 18, 19; 23:2, 4, 9, 11, 12; 28:6; Judg. 20:28; 2 Sam. 5:23, &c.) to suppose that the answer was given simply by the Word of the Lord to the high priest (comp-John 11:51 ), when he had inquired of the Lord clothed with the ephod and breastplate."-Dictionary of the Bible, page 726.

Calmet explains that:

"When the Urim and THUMMIM was to be consulted, the high Priest put on his robes, and, going into the holy place the curtain that separated the holy place from the most holy place, and then turning his face directly toward the ark and the mercy seat, upon which the divine presence rested, he proposed what he wanted to be resolved about."-Dictionary of the Holy Bible, Page 909.

Of the Urim and Thummim and its purpose, Joseph Smith said an angel told him:

"Also that there were two stones in silver bows, and these stones fastened to a breastplate constituted what is called the Urim and Thummim, deposited with the plates [of the Book of Mormon], and the possession and use of these stones was what constituted seers in ancient or former times, and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book."-History of the Church, Volume 1, page 13.

Concerning their use and later disposition, Joseph Smith stated:

"By the wisdom of God they remained safe in my hands until I had accomplished by them what was required at my hand, when according to arrangements the messenger called for them, I delivered them up to him, and he has them in his charge until this day, being the second day of May, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight."-Ibid., page 18 (see Times and Seasons, Volume 3).

Oliver Cowdery states of the work done with Urim and Thummim:

"Day after day I continued, uninterrupted, to write from his mouth, as he translated, with the Urim and Thummim, or, as the Nephites would have said, 'Interpreters,' the history, or record, called 'The Book of Mormon."'-Ibid, -page 33, (Messenger and Advocate, Volume 1, page 14).

Joseph Smith also stated that the two revelations, Doctrine and Covenants 7 and 15, were given by him through the Urim and Thummim (Church History, Volume 1, Pages 33, 45).

Concerning the translating by Urim and Thummim, David Whitmer said:

"The letters appeared on them in light, and would not go off until they were written correctly by Oliver. When Joseph could not pronounce the words he spelled them out letter by letter."-Church History, Volume 4, page 448.

Lucy Smith, Joseph Smith's mother, quotes from him and describes the Urim and Thummim as follows:

" 'Do not be uneasy, Mother, all is right-see here, I have got a key.' I knew not what he meant, but took the article of which he spoke into my hands, and, upon examination, found that it consisted of two smooth three-cornered diamonds set in glass, and the glasses were set in silver bows, which were connected with each other in much the same way as old-fashioned spectacles."-Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and his Progenitors, Edition of 1880, chapter 23, page 107.

SOLOMON SPAULDING'S "MANUSCRIPT FOUND"

The claim that Spaulding's Manuscript Found was the origin of the Book of Mormon was rejected by no less an authority than James H. Fairchild, then the president of Oberlin College, Ohio. Of this manuscript, now in the archives of Oberlin College, he stated:

The theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon in the traditional manuscript of Solomon Spaulding, will probably have to be relinquished. . . . There seems no reason to doubt that this [manuscript] is the long-lost story Mr. Rice, myself, and others, compared with the Book of Mormon, and could detect no resemblance between the two, in general or in detail. There seems to be no name or incident common to the two. . . . Some other explanation of the origin of the Book of Mormon must be found, if any explanation is required."-Quoted from Bibliotheca Sacra in the preface to the published copy of the Manuscript Found, pages 5, 6.

Mr. L. L. Rice found this manuscript among many books and manuscripts bought from E. D. Howe, the Painesville Telegraph, in 1839-40, of which he states in a letter to Joseph Smith in 1885:

"There is no identity of names, of persons, or places; and there is no similarity of style between them. As I told Mr. Deming, I should as soon think the Book of Revelation was written by the author of Don Quixote, as that the writer of this Manuscript was the author of the Book of Mormon."-Ibid., page 7.

Mr. Rice copied the following endorsement found on the Manuscript:

"The writings of Solomon Spaulding proved by Aaron Wright, Oliver Smith, John N. Miller, and others. The testimonies of the above gentlemen are now in my possession." (Signed) D. P. Hurlbut. -Ibid., page 9.