By Jack H. West, 1954.
On page 41 of our reference text, Farnsworth quotes from P. DeRoo regarding the possibility that Jesus Christ did come to this land in early times:
It is not our intention to exaggerate the importance of these coincidences of ancient American traditions with the history of the Savior; but their Christian origin and Christian meaning could hardly be called in question, if we should happen to find, alongside with them, among the same aborigines, such emblems, doctrines, and practices as evidently are Christian exclusively. Who will deny that, if the cross, the peculiar symbol of Christianity, should be found in Yucatan, it would stamp as Christian the tradition of its inhabitants, according to which they believed that their son-god [not s-u-n god] born of a virgin, died crucified?
Jesus Christ had been with them and taught them these beautiful things, and they heard from his own lips these wonderful stories.
Now turn over the page to a quote from Brinton on page 42.
We thus arrived, still in primitive conditions, to such personal ideas as Quetzalcoatl among the Aztecs of whom it was said in their legends that he was of majestic presence, chaste in life, averse to war, wise and generous in actions, and delighting in the cultivation of the arts of peace; or, as we see among the Peruvians, in their culture hero Tonapa, of whose teachings a Catholic writer of the sixteenth century says, “So closely did they resemble the precepts of Jesus, that nothing was lacking in them but His name and that of His Father.”
We cannot translate proper names, can we? Otherwise they would have the name of Jesus Christ and God the Father in these ancient ruins.
Yes, Christ was with these people, and he did give them these beautiful teachings.
Now, here is another so-called fantastic claim of the Book of Mormon. The book tells us that the plates were not only gold but that the people wrote in a form of Egyptian hieroglyphics. “Whoever heard of people writing on gold?” everyone cried in 1830. “How fantastic can you get?” they said when “Joe” Smith was supposed to have a golden record of these ancient people. And yet the record continues to maintain they did write on gold:
And for a testimony that the things that they said are true they have brought twenty-four plates which are filled with engravings, and they are off pure gold. (Mosiah8:9.)
Now we turn to Mormon who, you will remember, was one of the great prophets of the book, and also the man who abridged a great portion of the history of the people. Speaking of the language they used in writing the book, he wrote:
And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.
And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also;… (Mormon 9:32-33.)
For years these statements puzzled scientists. They are still puzzling some of them. Picture, if you will, poor old Marett, an archaeologist, pacing back and forth in front of a tomb that he excavated in Monte Alban, way up in the tops of the mountains in the lower Mexican country. He is wringing his hands and says “It cannot be! How can a people be Egyptian at the same time that they are Hebrew, and be of all places, on this continent?” Well, he had not read the story in the Old Testament recently, of the Hebrew-born boy Joseph—the boy of the coat of many colors—a son of Israel. He had not read how Joseph became a leader of one of the tribes of Israel, a branch of which came to this continent, according to the Book of Mormon story. Marett had not read recently in the Bible how this Hebrew boy went down into Egypt, was sold by his brothers into slavery and became, with the help of God, the literal and veritable head of the Egyptian government. For the time came that Pharaoh said to Joseph; “According unto thy word shall all my people be ruled—I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.” (See Genesis 41:40.) And then during the years of famine, you remember, his family came down to Egypt to get food. That is a story in itself. When the Pharaoh heard of Joseph’s family, he said unto Joseph:
… Say unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan;
And take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land.
Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones.
Also regard not your stuff ; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. (Genesis 45:17-20.)
Living there in Egypt, the Hebrew people, particularly those of the tribe of Joseph, naturally would learn the arts and sciences of the Egyptians; they would also learn the language of the Egyptians, but of course they would also cling, as do all Hebrews, to their own ancient language and customs.
This story is the only answer in the world to the problem the archaeologist Marett had as to how a people could be both Egyptian at the same time they were Hebrew, and on this continent.
Let us see if these people did write on gold. On page 65 of our reference book, we turn to a quotation from The Goldsmith’s Art in Ancient Mexico: “Padre Gay mentions… that the Mexican Indians “sold to some European antiquarians very thin plates of gold, evidently worked with the hammer, which their ancestors had been able to preserve, and on which were engraved ancient hieroglyphs.
Yes, of course they wrote on gold and wrote in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, but the language was not like the most ancient Egyptian nor was it like modern Egyptian. It was Hebrew, but Egyptian elements had drifted into the language, as Mormon said. That is what is found today on this continent—the reformed hieroglyphics of the Egyptians, but the language of the Hebrew people.
T.A. Willard, quoted on page 140 of the book, tells us that from the sacred well of Chichen Itza, “Many disks of gold were brought up, which are covered with finely-worked figures in repose, while around the outer edges are characters and symbols and sometimes hieroglyphics.”
Some critics said to our people in the year 1830, “If it is true that the people of the Book of Mormon time had an Egyptian background, why don’t we find any pyramids on this continent?” In the year 1830, we could not answer that. Today we have found pyramids all over the face of the land, and what pyramids! One is such a giant that you could place the largest pyramid of Egypt down in one corner of its base, set two other pyramids of like-size alongside, and still, within the base of this one giant American pyramid, you would have enough room left for a ball field. This is the giant pyramid of Cholula. Five miles of tunnels have been built inside of it by the Mexican government so that anyone who pays the price of admission may go in there. Of course, pyramids have been found on this continent.
From his Ancient America, as quoted by Farnsworth on page 22, Jones offers this testimony:
And as if in direct copy of the Egyptian, we have shown that the size of the Pyramidal base at Copan is identical with that of the great Pyramid of the Nile—while at Cholula, in Mexican America, is exactly twice the base measurement. It is scarcely possible that these dimensions should have been accidental in construction.
On page 18, this same researcher, Jones, represents many scientists who have found both the Egyptian and Hebrew background.
Many other religious customs and ceremonies exist… strictly in analogy with the race of Abraham; but enough has been brought forward in this volume to propose these (as we believe) unanswerable questions: “If they are not the Lost Tribes of Israel, who are they?
What nation of ancient history can claim and identify those customs and observances as their own, if not the Hebrew?”
Writings in Hebrew have now been found. Down in one tomb at Monte Alban, researchers have found artifacts, sculpture work, absolutely Egyptian; they also found articles, on apparently the same material, which were as positively Hebraic, and to all appearances, probably done by the same artisans.
And so we find the archaeologist, Marett, in trouble. Let us read a statement of Marett for a closing thought on this particular point. This is also in the book on page 22.
Far from throwing any light on the origin of the early Mexican and the source of his amazing knowledge of sculpture, astronomy, architecture, and durable colors, and his cultural development, this marvelous collection of antiquities only adds to the mystery. The idols and images exhibited here show features of Indian types; some are unmistakably Hebrews; others are certainly Egyptian.
Yes, they did write on gold; they did write in Egyptian; and they could have written, and did write in many cases, in Hebrew.
http://youtu.be/ByJY-N85i7s
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