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< Book of Mormon | Geography | Statements | Nineteenth century
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====1 February 1841: Hostile author reports missionary tactics==== | ====1 February 1841: Hostile author reports missionary tactics==== | ||
− | : To prove the divinity of the book he [John E. Page] assured us that a prophecy, and the description of certain cities in South America were accurately laid down, and that recent discoveries made by Stevens and Catherwood in 1840 confirmed the sayings of the book and together with other discoveries made in Guatemala and elsewhere, were internal evidences of the book to prove beyond doubt its authenticity, and he defied a successful confutation at the hands of any man.{{ | + | : To prove the divinity of the book he [John E. Page] assured us that a prophecy, and the description of certain cities in South America were accurately laid down, and that recent discoveries made by Stevens and Catherwood in 1840 confirmed the sayings of the book and together with other discoveries made in Guatemala and elsewhere, were internal evidences of the book to prove beyond doubt its authenticity, and he defied a successful confutation at the hands of any man.<ref>{{CriticalWork:Nicklin:To Walter Scott|pages=xxx}}</ref> |
====February 1841: Parley P. Pratt ''Millennial Star'' ==== | ====February 1841: Parley P. Pratt ''Millennial Star'' ==== | ||
− | :What heart can be so indifferent as not to wish to peruse '''the record of half a world'''? Bringing to light Gods dealings with them, together with their history of the past, and their prophesies of the future.—I repeat the declaration, strange as it may seem, that a knowledge of the things contained in this record is of more value to every one of them than the gold and silver of Europe. {{ea}}{{ | + | :What heart can be so indifferent as not to wish to peruse '''the record of half a world'''? Bringing to light Gods dealings with them, together with their history of the past, and their prophesies of the future.—I repeat the declaration, strange as it may seem, that a knowledge of the things contained in this record is of more value to every one of them than the gold and silver of Europe. {{ea}}<ref>{{MS1|author=Parley P. Pratt|article=Book of Mormon|vol=1|num=10|date=February 1841|pages=263–264}} {{link|url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/BOMP&CISOPTR=2689&REC=3}}</ref> |
====1 March 1841: Benjamin Winchester: missionary article==== | ====1 March 1841: Benjamin Winchester: missionary article==== | ||
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:How immense this city! It is supposed to have been sixty miles in circumference, and that it contained a population of nearly three millions. Great were its commercial privileges—even now the broad and beautiful Otolum rolls along its desolated borders.” | :How immense this city! It is supposed to have been sixty miles in circumference, and that it contained a population of nearly three millions. Great were its commercial privileges—even now the broad and beautiful Otolum rolls along its desolated borders.” | ||
− | :“One of the principal structures revealed to the eye of the antiquarian is the teaculi or temple. Its style of architecture resembles the Gothic. It is rude, massive and durable. Though resembling the Egyptian edifices, yet this and the other buildings are peculiar, and are different from all others hitherto known. The entrance of the temple is on the east side by a portico more than one hundred feet in length, and nine feet broad. The rectangular pillars of the portico have their architraves adorned with stucco work of shields and other devices.” “The antiquity of this city is manifest not only from its nameless hieroglyphics and other objects; but from the age of some of the trees growing over buildings where once the hum of industry and the voice of merriment were heard. The concentric circles of some of these trees were counted, which showed that they were more than nine hundred years of age.” “The antiquities of America spread from the great lakes of the North and the West to Central America, and the Southern parts of Peru on the South; from the Alleghany Mountains on the East, to the Rocky Mountains on the West, and even from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.”{{ | + | :“One of the principal structures revealed to the eye of the antiquarian is the teaculi or temple. Its style of architecture resembles the Gothic. It is rude, massive and durable. Though resembling the Egyptian edifices, yet this and the other buildings are peculiar, and are different from all others hitherto known. The entrance of the temple is on the east side by a portico more than one hundred feet in length, and nine feet broad. The rectangular pillars of the portico have their architraves adorned with stucco work of shields and other devices.” “The antiquity of this city is manifest not only from its nameless hieroglyphics and other objects; but from the age of some of the trees growing over buildings where once the hum of industry and the voice of merriment were heard. The concentric circles of some of these trees were counted, which showed that they were more than nine hundred years of age.” “The antiquities of America spread from the great lakes of the North and the West to Central America, and the Southern parts of Peru on the South; from the Alleghany Mountains on the East, to the Rocky Mountains on the West, and even from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.”<ref>{{Periodical:Winchester:Object of a Continuation of Revelation|pages=97–120}}</ref> |
====1 May 1841: Walter Scott, hostile author reporting LDS views==== | ====1 May 1841: Walter Scott, hostile author reporting LDS views==== | ||
− | :Having already shown that the Book of Mormon describes the christian religion as being on the Western Continent, and received there on the testimony of prophecy alone, hundreds of years before the facts occurred of which it consists and consequently that the Book is its own confutation, we come to our second proposition namely: that In affecting to describe a religion in operation at the Isthmus of Darien 600 years before Christ, which it styles the law of Moses....{{ | + | :Having already shown that the Book of Mormon describes the christian religion as being on the Western Continent, and received there on the testimony of prophecy alone, hundreds of years before the facts occurred of which it consists and consequently that the Book is its own confutation, we come to our second proposition namely: that In affecting to describe a religion in operation at the Isthmus of Darien 600 years before Christ, which it styles the law of Moses....<ref>{{CriticalWork:Scott:Mormon Bible IV|pages=111–115}}</ref> |
====15 June 1841: ''Times and Seasons'': quotes from Catherwood and Stephens' book==== | ====15 June 1841: ''Times and Seasons'': quotes from Catherwood and Stephens' book==== | ||
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:We feel great pleasure in laying before our readers the following interesting account of the Antiquities of central America, which have been discovered by two eminent travellers who have spent considerable labor, to bring to light the remains of ancient buildings, architecture &c., which prove beyond controversy that, on this vast continent, once flourished a mighty people, skilled in the arts and sciences, and whose splendor would not be eclipsed by any of the nations of Antiquity a people once high and exalted in the scale of intelligence, but now like their ancient buildings, fallen into ruins. | :We feel great pleasure in laying before our readers the following interesting account of the Antiquities of central America, which have been discovered by two eminent travellers who have spent considerable labor, to bring to light the remains of ancient buildings, architecture &c., which prove beyond controversy that, on this vast continent, once flourished a mighty people, skilled in the arts and sciences, and whose splendor would not be eclipsed by any of the nations of Antiquity a people once high and exalted in the scale of intelligence, but now like their ancient buildings, fallen into ruins. | ||
− | :From the (New York) weekly Herald....{{ | + | :From the (New York) weekly Herald....<ref>{{TS1|article=American Antiquities—More Proofs of the Book of Mormon|vol=2|num=16|date=15 June 1841|pages=440–442}} {{link|url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/BOMP&CISOPTR=3020&REC=2}}</ref> |
====July 1841: Anonymous hostile author reporting LDS views==== | ====July 1841: Anonymous hostile author reporting LDS views==== | ||
− | : The history of the settlements of the emigrants in North and South America contains some romantic and some very puerile incidents; but, passing these by....{{ | + | : The history of the settlements of the emigrants in North and South America contains some romantic and some very puerile incidents; but, passing these by....<ref>{{CriticalWork:Atheneum:July 1841:Book of Mormon and the Mormonites|pages=370–374}}</ref> |
====2 July 1841: ''Millennial Star'' on Amerindians==== | ====2 July 1841: ''Millennial Star'' on Amerindians==== | ||
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:The power and spirit of God will then rest upon them, and they will constitute a standard, or rallyng point, for all the other tribes which are scattered in the vast regions of Canada on the north, Origon on the West, Mexico on the south, together with all the tribes in central and South America. These all must come into the covenant, and be gathered and consolidated in one great national compact, under the nursing care of the Gentiles,—that highly favoured government, the United States, or that portion of it which by cleaving to the righteous and holy principles of liberty, justice, mercy, and truth, will be preserved from that overthrow which awaits the wicked. | :The power and spirit of God will then rest upon them, and they will constitute a standard, or rallyng point, for all the other tribes which are scattered in the vast regions of Canada on the north, Origon on the West, Mexico on the south, together with all the tribes in central and South America. These all must come into the covenant, and be gathered and consolidated in one great national compact, under the nursing care of the Gentiles,—that highly favoured government, the United States, or that portion of it which by cleaving to the righteous and holy principles of liberty, justice, mercy, and truth, will be preserved from that overthrow which awaits the wicked. | ||
:These tribes now consist of more than ten millions of souls, and are scattered over a country of more than seven thousand miles long, and two thousand broad, extending from the frozen and scarcely explored regions of Hudson’s Bay on the north, to the extremity of Cape Horn, or the southern end of South America, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, east and west. | :These tribes now consist of more than ten millions of souls, and are scattered over a country of more than seven thousand miles long, and two thousand broad, extending from the frozen and scarcely explored regions of Hudson’s Bay on the north, to the extremity of Cape Horn, or the southern end of South America, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, east and west. | ||
− | :While these movements are proceeding with such rapidity in regard to the tribes of the Lamanites, the great valley of the Mississippi is beginning to be an asylum for the oppressed, and is rapidly filling up by emigrants from all nations.{{ | + | :While these movements are proceeding with such rapidity in regard to the tribes of the Lamanites, the great valley of the Mississippi is beginning to be an asylum for the oppressed, and is rapidly filling up by emigrants from all nations.<ref>{{MS1|article= Present Condition and Prospects of the American Indians, or Lamanites|vol=2|num=3|date=2 July 1841|pages=40–42}} {{link|url= http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/BOMP&CISOPTR=2701&REC=10}}</ref> |
====15 July 1841: ''Times and Seasons'' sample dialogue==== | ====15 July 1841: ''Times and Seasons'' sample dialogue==== | ||
:Mr. M. I have always thought that there had been a more enlightened people on this continent, than the present Indians. The remains of ancient buildings, monuments &c., are evident proofs on this point. | :Mr. M. I have always thought that there had been a more enlightened people on this continent, than the present Indians. The remains of ancient buildings, monuments &c., are evident proofs on this point. | ||
− | :Mr. R. There can be no doubt on this subject. In the recent researches in Central America, the ruins of very large and splendid buildings have been found, but it does not necessarily follow that the Book of Mormon is true.{{ | + | :Mr. R. There can be no doubt on this subject. In the recent researches in Central America, the ruins of very large and splendid buildings have been found, but it does not necessarily follow that the Book of Mormon is true.<ref>{{TS1|article=Dialogue on Mormonism No II|vol=2|num=18|date=15 July 1841|pages=472–474}} {{link|url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/BOMP&CISOPTR=3015&REC=11}}</ref> |
====27 July 1841: LDS writer sees Central American glyphs as evidence==== | ====27 July 1841: LDS writer sees Central American glyphs as evidence==== | ||
− | :I suppose that Proff. Anthon considered that this would be an incontrovertible argument against the Book of Mormon; but let us see: The celebrated antiquarian Proff. Rafinesque says, in speaking of the writing found on the ruins of the ''stone city'' found in Mexico, “The glyphs of Otolum are written from top to bottom like the ''Chinese'', or from side to side, indifferntly like the Egyptian and the Demonic Libian. | + | :I suppose that Proff. Anthon considered that this would be an incontrovertible argument against the Book of Mormon; but let us see: The celebrated antiquarian Proff. Rafinesque says, in speaking of the writing found on the ruins of the ''stone city'' found in Mexico, “The glyphs of Otolum are written from top to bottom like the ''Chinese'', or from side to side, indifferntly like the Egyptian and the Demonic Libian. <ref>{{TS1|author=Chas. W. Wandell|article=To the Editors of the Times & Seasons, New Rochelle, Westchester County, New York, 27 July 1841|vol=2|num=22|date=15 September 1841|pages=544–45}} {{link|url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/BOMP&CISOPTR=3054&REC=20}}</ref> |
====29 July 1841: Anonymous hostile author reporting LDS views==== | ====29 July 1841: Anonymous hostile author reporting LDS views==== | ||
Note that this author gets the Book of Mormon story wrong; his version is obviously distorted by poor attention or second-hand information: | Note that this author gets the Book of Mormon story wrong; his version is obviously distorted by poor attention or second-hand information: | ||
− | :It gives account of a company of Jewish Christians of the tribe of Joseph, who left Judea by Divine direction, a little before the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, under the guidance of Lehi, their priest and prophet. This little band, after wandering long and far, came at last to America, and planted themselves in the western part of the present State of New York.{{ | + | :It gives account of a company of Jewish Christians of the tribe of Joseph, who left Judea by Divine direction, a little before the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, under the guidance of Lehi, their priest and prophet. This little band, after wandering long and far, came at last to America, and planted themselves in the western part of the present State of New York.<ref>{{CriticalWork:Christian Advocate and Journal:29 July 1841:Letter on Mormonism|pages=xxx}}</ref> |
====13 Sept 1841: Wilford Woodruff cites the city of Copan as "proof of the Book of Mormon"==== | ====13 Sept 1841: Wilford Woodruff cites the city of Copan as "proof of the Book of Mormon"==== | ||
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Wilford Woodruff on John L. Stephens, ''Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan'': | Wilford Woodruff on John L. Stephens, ''Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan'': | ||
− | :I felt truly interested in this work for it brought to light a flood of testimony in proof of the book of mormon in the discovery & survey of the city <u>Copan</u> in Central America…{{ | + | :I felt truly interested in this work for it brought to light a flood of testimony in proof of the book of mormon in the discovery & survey of the city <u>Copan</u> in Central America…<ref>{{WWJ1|vol=2|start=126|date=13 Sept 1841}}. Underlining in original.</ref> |
====15 November 1841: Parley P. Pratt appeals to temples and monuments==== | ====15 November 1841: Parley P. Pratt appeals to temples and monuments==== | ||
− | : A nation whose “bones are dried” and whose ruined temples and monuments have reposed for ages in silent, solmn, and awful grandeur, has now spoken from the dust ''and revealed to the world their history, and with it their prophecies and their testimony of Jesus as the risen Messiah and the Saviour of the world, not of Asia only, but of America also.''{{ | + | : A nation whose “bones are dried” and whose ruined temples and monuments have reposed for ages in silent, solmn, and awful grandeur, has now spoken from the dust ''and revealed to the world their history, and with it their prophecies and their testimony of Jesus as the risen Messiah and the Saviour of the world, not of Asia only, but of America also.''<ref>{{TS1|author=Parley P. Pratt|article=“A Letter to the Queen of England|vol=3|num=2|date=15 November 1841|pages=591–596}} {{link|url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/BOMP&CISOPTR=3045&REC=5}}</ref> |
Note Pratt's use of Asia (the Eastern hemisphere) as contrasted with American (the Western hemisphere). | Note Pratt's use of Asia (the Eastern hemisphere) as contrasted with American (the Western hemisphere). | ||
====15 November 1841: ''Times and Seasons''–missionary message==== | ====15 November 1841: ''Times and Seasons''–missionary message==== | ||
− | :The bible was written by a people upon the Eastern continent, but the Book of Mormon by a people upon this continent.{{ | + | :The bible was written by a people upon the Eastern continent, but the Book of Mormon by a people upon this continent.<ref>{{Periodical:Snow Winchester:Address to the Citizens of Salem 2|pages=578–584}}</ref> |
These missionaries see "this continent" as the entire Western hemisphere. | These missionaries see "this continent" as the entire Western hemisphere. | ||
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It would appear that Joseph appreciated receiving the book, as he wrote a letter to Bernhisel acknowledging the gift. Dated November 16, 1841, the first paragraph of the letter is as follows: | It would appear that Joseph appreciated receiving the book, as he wrote a letter to Bernhisel acknowledging the gift. Dated November 16, 1841, the first paragraph of the letter is as follows: | ||
− | :I received your kind present by the hand of Er Woodruff & feel myself under many obligations for this mark of your esteem & friendship which to me is the more interesting as it unfolds & developes many things that are of great importance to this generation & corresponds with & supports the testimony of the Book of Mormon; I have read the volumes with the greatest interest & pleasure & must say that of all histories that have been written pertaining to the antiquities of this country it is the most correct luminous & comprihensive.{{ref | + | :I received your kind present by the hand of Er Woodruff & feel myself under many obligations for this mark of your esteem & friendship which to me is the more interesting as it unfolds & developes many things that are of great importance to this generation & corresponds with & supports the testimony of the Book of Mormon; I have read the volumes with the greatest interest & pleasure & must say that of all histories that have been written pertaining to the antiquities of this country it is the most correct luminous & comprihensive.<ref>{{PWJS1|start=533}}</ref> |
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Note that this author gets the Book of Mormon story wrong; his version is obviously distorted by poor attention or second-hand information:
Wilford Woodruff on John L. Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan:
Note Pratt's use of Asia (the Eastern hemisphere) as contrasted with American (the Western hemisphere).
These missionaries see "this continent" as the entire Western hemisphere.
John Bernhisel joined the LDS Church in 1837 while practicing medicine in New York City. In 1841 he was ordained bishop of the congregation in New York City. Bernhisel was a well-educated man, and in 1841 read Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan by John L. Stephens.
Impressed by the book, Bernhisel gave the two-volume work to Wilford Woodruff in September 1841 with instructions to make sure it was given to Joseph Smith. Woodruff, who was on his way back from England to Nauvoo, delivered the book, as requested.
It would appear that Joseph appreciated receiving the book, as he wrote a letter to Bernhisel acknowledging the gift. Dated November 16, 1841, the first paragraph of the letter is as follows:
Notes
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