’ THE LATTER- DAY SAINTS M I L L E N N I A L S T A R . 'E STAB LISH ED H ark ' the herald angels sing , in Glory to the new born K g , ld Peace on earth , and mercy mi , ” God and sinners reco nciled. d m 1 Pri n nn No. 51 ol. L'' . Thurs a Dece b r 4 08. ce O e Pe . , ' y, e 2 , 9 y T H E BOOK OF MOR MON . (Continu ed from page JOSEPH S MI T H , S R . Joseph Smith , Sr . , was the next Witness , in the order in which ‘ the names appear . I need not say anything about him except that ’ he was the prophet s father , and was faithful and true in every re — ’ . 1 4 th spect one of God s noblemen He died on the of September, n h ff 1 840 , as a result of the persecutio s he ad su ered in the State of Missouri . HYR' M SM IT H . Hyrum Smith , a brother of the Prophet Joseph and the father of ’ our present esteemed president of the Church , was martyred in 2 h 1 44 n Carthage j ail , June 7t , 8 , for the testimo y he bore in regard - to the Book of Mormon and the truth of the great latter day work . He was another of the eight witnesses . We need only say here n that he sealed his testimony with his blood , a d that no one can possibly give greater proof of sincerity than this : that he is will ing to die for his testimony . M H R O SA ' EL AR IS N SMITH . m The same may be said of Samuel Harrison S ith , another brother of the prophet and one of the eight witnesses . He , also , was perse ou ted to death ; and I may say that while his blood was not shed ou tright like that of his brothers, Joseph and Hyrum , yet within ’ - 834 LATTER D A Y SAINTS M ILLENN IAL STAR . n six weeks of the time that these two martyrs fell i Carthage j ail , 30 th he himself fell a victim to persecution . He died on the of July, 1 844 , in consequence of exposure while being chased by a mob . I have given you these data and these facts , my brethren and sisters and friends , that you may know that of all the men who bore testimony to the divinity of the Book of Mormon , and who saw the plates , heard the voice of God declare that the Book was a true , and who s w the holy angels , not one of them ever went back on that testimony . PR O BY ' EN IND IAN TR AD ITIONS . n dis Soon after the Spa iards had discovered America , a most graceful warfare was waged against the Indians in Mexico and elsewhere . We have , perhaps , all read the lamentable story of Montezuma , and how Cortez destroyed all he possibly could in the way of relics and records that he found among Montezuma’ s peo ple . The conquerors of Mexico did not look upon records in the light that we do now . It was apparently their obj ect to destroy n anything and everything that could t estify of the past, everythi g that could perpetuate knowledge of the Toltecs and Aztecs , whom n the Spa iards called heathens . It seems a great calamity that these conquerors should thus wan ' touly destroy that which to li s historians is valuable beyond all n price ; yet , notwithstandi g this destruction , some knowledge , based mostly upon the traditions of American natives , has come to us ; and both Spanish and E nglish writers have gathered and pre served for us information of very great importance . From this source we learn that the Aztecs of Mexico and the aborigines of South and Central America were acquainted with the early history of the world . There were found among them many different traits , customs and characteristics which seemed identical with Jewish civilization . Thus these early Americans practised the ceremonial w law of Moses most faithfully . They used a great many Hebre words in their speech , and there was everything to induce the Spaniards (who came among them to investigate their traditions and customs' to conclude that they perchance were a branch of the house of Israel . In fact , several books have been w ritten by different authors who believe the American Indians are the ten lost tribes of Israel . Of course we cannot accept this as a whole , w as n but there certainly and is such a resembla ce between these. pe0 p1e and the Jews that the early Spanish explorers could not close their eyes to the fact that they were Jewish in their traditions , Jewish in their Jehovah or Great Spirit worship, Jewish in their n i h ceremonial laws , and Jewish , i part, in their language . N o t w t standing the destruction wrought by Cortez and others , there are such remains of an o ld civilization and such other evidences as to - prove to us , as Latter day Saints , that the historical part of the k Boo of Mormo n is true , so far as it speaks of a highly civili' ed ’ A R - D A Y L TTE S A I N T s M ILLENNIAL STAR . 5 people once occupying this land . And all who accept this book as being true can easily understand why these people were so thoroughly trained in Hebrew ceremonies and customs . Certainly they belonged to the house of Israel ; they could hardly be called Je ws ; the term Hebrew or Israel would perhaps be better ; we n n o ly use the term to desig ate them . I no w desire to draw your att ention to a work published in n in 1 833 . h Lo don , written by C Colton , on the origin of t e American T Indians . his book was published in London before any of our t h e elders trod soil of Great Britain . In this book it is stated that the Indians in Mexico asserted that a book was once in the posses sion of their ancestors which told them that the Great S pirit used to foretell fu ture events to their ancestors , that angels had talked with them , that all the Indian tribes had descended from o ne man who had twelve sons . T hese Indian tribes also believed t n e u hat the spirit of pro phecy and miraculous i terposition , once n j oyed by their a cestors , would yet be restored to them , and they r o al n . would recove the b ok , l of which had so lo g been lost PP R P CHRIST A EA S T O T H E NE HITES . Some time ago I visited Logan and called upon some of our n s Spanish speaking missionaries . Amo g others that I visited w a ' our old friend James . S tewart , who filled a mission in old Mexico n h in ma y years ago . He as a book his possession , written in the in in 6 Spanish language and published Madrid , Spain , the year 1 74 , ' entitled : Idea De ' na N e u va Historia General De La America n ” Septentrio al . I am sure I did not pronounce all those words right . However, in this book we read of the traditions of the h a arant n Indians , from whic it is pp that the India s were acqu aint ed with the history o f the creation of the world , the tower of n Babel , the separation of the people , their wanderi gs after the u division thro gh Asia , and their arrival in the promised land ; n the preachi g of Christianity in America by Christ , etc . All this was written as Indian tradition , but the author of the work , who, n if I remember right, was a Spa ish friar of the Roman Catholic Christ visitin A m r Church , argues against the Indian theory of g e ica, n and substitutes St . Thomas as the probable perso age who crossed the great ocean and preached Christianity to the Indians . On - page , one hundred and thirty nine of said work commences the legend which tells of the wanderings in A siatill the arrival in the ne w M world , which corroborates the Book of ormon story given in the Book of Jared . When the Spaniards brought the Bible to America, the Indians said that the contents of that book reminded them very much of their o w n ancient Bible or records . n a as T his , my brethre and sisters , is pl in daylight to the Latter n day Sai ts . T he Indians were right ; the author of the work re n ferred to was wrong . It was not Sai t Thomas , it was Christ Him self who visited the ancient inhabitants o f this land. The Book of ’ ' - 836 LATTER DAY S A I N T s MILLENNIAL STAR . Mormon tells us of the great de st ru c ticin that occurred at the time of the crucifixion . It tells us th at Christ appeared to the N ephites in the land Bountiful , that Christ Himself spake to them and re f vealed principles o eternal truth , and that He also taught them the gospel the same as He had done on the eastern hemisphere . It was Christ Himself—not Saint Thomas—who descended from hi heaven in the midst of the N e p t e s in the land Bountiful .