The first mention of this James is in the book of Matthew, in which those in the synagogue, who were dismissive of Jesus’ divine origins and mission, asked:

“Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not with us?”

Here we discover that Jesus had at least four brothers: James, which would be better translated Jacob;1 Joses (or Joseph), named after his father;2 Judas, also known as Jude or Judah;3 and Simon. He had sisters also, but sadly it does not mention their names.

From this simple passage has since arisen a great deal of speculation. Later Catholic scholars, who considered even married intimacy sinful and believed that Mary had always remained a virgin4, have argued that these brothers of Jesus must have been step-brothers from a previous marriage, cousins, or only brothers in the Gospel.  This verse does not lend itself to such an interpretation though. They are spoken of as both the sons of Joseph the carpenter, and of Mary.5 The Greek word used for brothers here literally means “out of the same womb”,6 and is never applied to cousins.

That James was the literal son of Mary is borne out by ancient Jewish and Christian historians. The venerable Josephus calls him “a brother of Jesus”, not a half brother, step-brother or cousin.7 A second century Apostolic Constitution proclaimed, “James was the brother of Christ according to the flesh”,8 and in the Liturgy of St. James he is literally called “the brother of God.”

James was a remarkable child, according to one ancient authority, he “was holy from his birth. Everyone from the Lord’s time till our own has called him the righteous”9 As a young man he seems to have entered into a Nazarite Oath like John the Baptist and Sampson had,10 for “he drank no wine nor strong drink, nor did he eat flesh. No razor came upon his head;”11

Being from a royal lineage “he alone was permitted to enter into the holy place; for he wore not woolen but linen garments. And he was in the habit of entering alone into the temple, and was frequently found upon his knees begging forgiveness for the people.”12 Yet despite his devotion, he and his siblings were reticent at first to believe in the mission of his elder brother Jesus, as John records, “neither did his brethren believe in him.”13 Perhaps this what led Jesus to remark that a prophet was without honor “among his own kin, and in his own house.”14

However, it would seem that towards the end of the Savior’s ministry, James had begun to accept Jesus for who He was. As Jerome recites a tradition that following the death of Jesus, James had made a vow to not eat or drink until he had seen Jesus raised from the dead. Paul confirms that Jesus appeared to James following his resurrection.15 At that time Jesus is meant to have said, “My brother, eat thy bread, for the Son of man is risen from the dead.”  Christ’s confidence in James can be seen in the fact that prior to his ascension He “imparted knowledge to James the Just and to John and Peter, and they imparted it to the rest of the apostles, and the rest of the apostles to the seventy.”16

Later, when Peter was released from prison, he came to the house of Mary where the Lord had instructed him to tell James and the brethren of his prison escape.17 Around this time James was appointed by revelation to Peter and John to preside over Jerusalem. According to Clement this was “preferred by our Lord”,18 and as another source confirmed he was “appointed … by the Lord Himself”19 He held this position until his death.

When a controversy arose in which some Jewish converts who didn’t fully understand the Gospel were demanding the circumcision of Gentile Christians, Paul met in Jerusalem with the Apostles, and James played a significant role in that meeting.20 He reminded them of Peter’s encounter with Cornelius and how the Gentiles were to be brought into the kingdom, as the prophets had predicted. The Apostles and the whole church agreed that circumcision should not be performed amongst children and converts, and it was done.21

Following his third mission, Paul returned to Jerusalem, where he reported to James.22 He later recorded that he considered James, along with Peter and John as the pillars in the Church.23 From Paul we learn that “James, the Lord’s brother” was classed as an “Apostle” by this time.24 Jerome later related that “so Holy was James that the people zealously tried to touch the fringes of his garment.”

James is primarily known in the Christian world through the Epistle he left behind, that now forms part of the New Testament.25 It’s content has proved a thorn in the side of Christendom, with Martin Luther ready to remove it from the Bible. It speaks of the necessity of good works, as well as faith; of the ability to “ask of God” to receive answers through personal revelation; it gives warnings against seeking wealth; and speaks of the procedure for anointing the sick.26

It is recorded that he “ruled the church of Jerusalem thirty years, that is until the seventh year of Nero”27 around 61 AD. According to Josephus, the high priest, Ananus convened the judges of the Sanhedrin and brought James before them, who was the brother of Jesus. He was accused then of having transgressed the law and delivered them up to be stoned.28 According to another account, he was first “thrown down from the pinnacle of the temple, stoned, and finally killed by a fuller’s club.”

Josephus, who was a contemporary of James, even attributed the outrage at his death to the reason of the fall of Jerusalem. He believed that the destruction by the Romans “happened to the Jews in requital for James the Righteous, who was a brother of Jesus known as Christ, for though he was the most Righteous of men, the Jews put him to death.”29 One Christian commentator added, “So remarkable a person must James have been, so universally esteemed for Righteousness, that even the most intelligent of Jews felt this was why his martyrdom was immediately followed by the siege of Jerusalem.”

With only a handful of references to him in scripture, many have overlooked James the Just, but from what little information does remain about him we find he was a remarkable and significant individual, who is worthy of our consideration and emulation. Whether we are the literal blood relations of Jesus Christ or not, He did promise us that we can all become classed amongst His brothers and sisters. This is the truth Jesus was teaching as he hung on the cross and said “my mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.”30 May we all be faithful to be classed amongst his siblings and children.

“And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.”31

Mary – Perpetual Virginity?

Amongst Roman pagans lifelong virginity was equated with purity, and was considered to confer special spiritual status upon women, known as “vestal virgins.” It was probably due to this tradition that later Roman Catholic scholars, such as St. Jerome, attributed “perpetual virginity” to the mother of Jesus, which became an official doctrine of the church at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D. Because of this most of the Christian world now believes that any mention in the scriptures to the children of Mary must really be referring to step-siblings or even cousins. However, as we will see, this belief has no support from the Bible itself.

Matthew tells us that “the birth of Jesus Christ” took place “before they (Mary and Joseph) came together”.32 The phrase “came together” (from the Greek “sunerchomai”) refers to sexual intimacy,33 therefore if they ultimately “came together” then they must have been sexually intimate some time after the birth of Jesus. We are also told a few verses later that Joseph “knew her (Mary) not til she had brought forth her firstborn son.” The phrase “knew” here is a scriptural euphemism for sexual intercourse,34 and whenever the New Testament uses the term “not til” (from the Greek “heos hou”) it always refers to something that eventually happened. If this sentence were not already plain enough it refers to Jesus as her “firstborn” son,35 which would make little sense unless she subsequently had other sons.

For Mary to have been married and not to have kept the commandment to “multiply and replenish” would not only have been against God’s first commandment in the Old Testament,36 but against her Son Jesus’ own teachings.37 Given the weight of the scriptural evidence we can be certain Mary did keep the commandment to continue to have children following Jesus, and will be reward for this as well as her unique role as the mother of the Son of God.

Footnotes

1 In the Hebrew it’s “Ya’aqov”. “It means Jacob.” (Joseph Smith, Teachings, p. 349)
2 It seems to have been the tradition in Zechariah’s family for sons to be named after their father – Luke 1:59-63.
3 JST Mark 6:4.
4 See essay on “Mary – Perpetual Virginity?” at the end of this article.
5 “The man Joseph, the husband of Mary, did not, that we know of, have more than one wife, but Mary the wife of Joseph had another husband.” (Heber C. Kimball, Deseret News, October 10, 1866)
6 “adelphos”
7 Antiquities 20:200. Note: he would have referred to him as “homomhtros or homopatros adelphos” if he were anything less than full brothers.
8 Syriac Apostolic Constitutions 8.35.
9 Hegesippus (100-180 AD).
10 Luke 1:15 & Judges 13:15.
11 Hegesippus, Commentaries on the Acts of the Church.
12 Eusebius, Church History II.23.5-6.
13 John 7:5.
14 Mark 6:4.
15 1 Corinthians 15:7.
16 Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD), Books of the Hypotyposes 7,Church History II.1.3-5.
17 Acts 12:12-17.
18 “For they say that Peter and James and John after the ascension of our Saviour, as if also preferred by our Lord, strove not after honor, but chose James the Just bishop of Jerusalem.” Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD), Books of the Hypotyposes 6, Church History II.1.3-5
19 Syriac Apostolic Constitutions 8.35, 2nd century.
20 Acts 15:13-21.
21 D&C 74:2-7; see Moroni 8:8.
22 Acts 21:18-25.
23 Galatians 2:9-10.
24 Galatians 1:19.
25 One of the Savior’s other brothers Jude also left a short letter (25 verses). It is the last epistle, and the penultimate book of the New Testament.
26 Ask of God – 1:5-6; Faith and works – 2:14-26; Anointing sick – 5:14-15; Rich warned – 1:9-11, 2:1-8, 5:1-6.
27 Lives of Illustrious Men, chapter 2.
28 Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, page 598.
29 Origin quoting Josephus.
30 Luke 8:19-21.
31 Mosiah 5:7, see Mosiah 15:10-11, Moroni 7:19.
32 Matthew 1:18.
33 See 1 Corinthians 7:5.
34 Genesis 4:1.
35 See Luke 2:7 too.
36 Genesis 2:24.
37 Matthew 19:5-6.

We feel it through the burning of our heart
through the promptings for us to do right
It enters into our bodies – into every part
and it brightens our own internal light

Sometimes it tells us to cast our mind back
to the answer we already had before
It is there to help keep us on the right track
to open our minds, to reveal to us more

Sometimes it works within us silently
even when we are busy or in slumber rest
Its calm influence working on us slowly
bringing about in us all that is for our best

However it comes, in whatever form
whether by peace or joy, dreams or visions
Whether we seek it for emotional comfort
or to help us make difficult decisions …

It is a divine gift from a loving God
It is our companion and our close friend
It is there to help us hold to the rod
and it will be there beside us to the very end

I faint, the road winds upward all the way
Each night but ends another weary day.
Give me Thy strength, and may I be so blest
As on “the heights” to find the longed for rest?
Out of my weary self, O lift me up!

Though other hearts with love are running o’er;
Though dear ones fill my lonely home no more;
Though every day I miss the fine caress;
Help me to join in other’s happiness.
Out of my lonely self, O lift me up!

Help me to feel that Thou are always near;
E’en though ‘tis night and all around seems drear,
Help me to know that, though I cannot see,
It is my Father’s hand that leadeth me!
Out of my doubting self, O lift me up!

Joseph F. Smith

“Sister,” he said with a look of love,
“The hour at last has come,
That I may take the glorious step,
And have a mortal home.

Our love and association here,
Will bind our hearts below,
And, Darling, when I meet you there,
I’m sure our hearts will know.”

“I, too, am sure,” she gently said,
“The love that has bound us here
Will span the space ‘twixt heaven and earth
I’m sure I shall know you dear.

I’m sure that the mighty love we have
Will quicken our hearts below;
I’m sure I will meet and love you there
When my time shall come to go.”

“God grant it,” he said with a look of love
“If the Father has willed it so,
I shall meet and know and love you, dear,
In the life God has planned down below.

And further than this, by God’s great power,
Our union shall endless be;
Not only for mortal life, dear one,
But for all Eternity.”

His spirit passed to the home below
And she stood in the home above;
“Father,” she said, “may I meet there?
May our souls be bound with love?”

A Mortal Fulfillment

A man worked at his daily tasks
In a thoughtful, studied way;
Some long forgotten memory
Seemed to stir his heart that day.

A young woman had entered his life
Had come in from a moment then was gone
But the sight of her face and the sound of her voice
Stirred his heart like the strains of a song.

“I suppose I have never met her,
But it seems so strange to me,
It seems like I’ve known her always,
It’s that voice from eternity.

He learned to watch for her coming
And always when she had gone,
The same emotion arose within
“It seems like I’ve known her so long.”

The pure emotions were stirred,
The glance of her eyes,
Or the sound of her voice
Thrilled his heart like some music he’d heard.

Their associations were constant,
Their courtship a path of joy;
The sky of their life seemed cloudless
Pure love without alloy.

Slowly their lives grew together
Firmly their hearts bound with love;
Love which from God is eternal
Pure from the realms above.

At last came the day of union,
They stood in a thoughtful way;
For one with authority given of God
Was to bind their lives that day.

The sacred moment at last had come,
They knelt by the altar of heaven;
Their hands were clasped in a sacred grasp
From the throne of heaven given.

“She is yours for time and eternity”
Their union the Priesthood did commend.
“Yours for the countless ages,
Your union will never ever end.”

(Adapted from an anonymous poem)

When it came time for him to leave, Moses gathered his courage and climbed the stairs to her room to take one last opportunity to speak with her. Upon seeing him she burst into tears.

“Is it my hump?” he asked.

“Yes.” she hesitantly replied.

She was a vision of Heavenly beauty, but he felt deep sadness by her refusal to look at him. After several attempts at conversation, Moses shyly asked, “Do you believe marriages are made in Heaven?”

“Yes,” she answered, still looking at the floor. “And do you?”

“Yes I do,” he replied. “You see, in Heaven at the birth of each boy, the Lord announces which girl he will marry. When I was born, my future bride was pointed out to me. Then the Lord added,” “But your wife will be humpbacked.”

“Right then and there I called out, ‘Oh Lord, a humpbacked woman would be a tragedy. Please, Lord, give me the hump and let her be fair and beautiful.’”

Then Fromet looked up into his eyes and was stirred by some deep memory. She reached out and gave Mendelssohn her hand and later became his devoted wife. They had six remarkable children together.

“When love has blended and molded two beings
in an angelic and sacred union,
they have found the secret of life;
henceforth they are only the two terms of the same destiny,
the two wings of one mind.”
(Victor Hugo)

Ye toiling millions who, in the sweat of your faces earn your daily bread, look up and greet the power from above which shall lift you form bondage! The day of your redemption draweth nigh. Cease to waste your wages in that which helps to keep you in want. Regard not wealth as your enemy and employers as your oppressors. Seek for the union of capital and labor. Be provident when in prosperity. Do not become a prey to designing men who seek to stir up strife for their own selfish ends. Strive for your rights by lawful means, and desist from violence and destruction. Anarchism and lawlessness are your deadly foes. Dissipation and vice are chains that bind you to slavery. Freedom is coming for you, its light approaches as the century dawns.

Men and women of wealth, use your riches to give employment to the laborer! Take the idle from the crowded centers of population and place them on the untilled areas that await the hand of industry. Unlock your vaults, unloose your purses, and embark in enterprises that will give work to the unemployed, and relieve the wretchedness that leads to the vice and crime which curse your great cities, and that poison the moral atmosphere around you. Make others happy, and you will be happy yourselves.

As a servant of God I bear witness to the revelation of His will in the nineteenth century. It came by His own voice from the heavens, by the personal manifestation of His Son and by the ministration of holy angels. He commands all people everywhere to repent, to turn from their evil ways and unrighteous desires, to be baptized for the remission of their sins, that they may receive the Holy Ghost and come into communion with Him. He has commenced the work of redemption spoken of by all the holy prophets, sages, and seers of all the ages and all the races of mankind. He will assuredly accomplish His work, and the twentieth century will mark its advancement towards the great consummation. Every unfoldment of the nineteenth century in science, in art, in mechanism, in music, in literature, in poetic fancy, in philosophical thought, was promised by His Spirit which before long will be poured out upon all flesh that will receive it. He is the Father of us all and He desires to save and exalt us all.

In the eighty-seventh year of my age on earth, I feel full of earnest desire for the benefit of humanity. I wish all a happy new year. I hope and look for grand events to occur in the twentieth century. At its auspicious dawn I lift my hands and invoke the blessing of heaven upon the inhabitants of the earth. May the sunshine from above smile upon you. May the treasures of the ground and the fruits of the soil be brought forth freely for you good. May the light of truth chase darkness from your souls. May righteousness increase and iniquity diminish as the years of the century roll on. May justice triumph and corruption be stamped out. And may virtue and chastity and honor prevail, until evil shall be overcome and the earth shall be cleansed from wickedness! Let these sentiments, as the voice of the “Mormons” in the mountains of Utah, go forth to the whole world, and let all people know that our wish and our mission are for the blessing and salvation of the entire human race. May the twentieth century prove the happiest as it will be the grandest of all the ages of time, and may God be glorified in the victory that is coming over sin and sorrow and misery and death. Peace be unto you all!

Speech originally delivered by Lorenzo Snow, at the Centennial Services in the Salt Lake Tabernacle on January 1, 1901.

It seemed to me that my launching point was as high as his roof, and when I had reached the top and put on my wings I launched myself without hesitation into the air, only to find myself falling rather than sailing. The ground, which I wasn’t expecting to see, hurt both my pride and my backside. I wondered after the event what went wrong: should I have jumped from a greater height? Should my wings have been longer? Did I need to flap them vigorously?

On that maiden flight I didn’t lack any confidence in the outcome before I jumped. There were no doubts in my mind, and I had the expectation of me soaring through the skies. I lacked no faith in God either: If the birds could fly why couldn’t I? Yet gravity and God had other plans that involved me crashing rather than sailing with the wind.

When I grew to be a young man I came upon scriptures which stated that “with God all things are possible”¹, and the saying of Jesus that “if you have faith as much as a mustard seed we could move mountains.”² I thought back to my attempts at being a human airplane and wondered why God hadn’t granted my vertical desires at that time.

I have since considered that many might read the same passages and apply them to their business endeavors. Entrepreneurs selling worthy products with the intent of helping their fellow men, and with the hope of supporting their families might indeed find encouragement in such passages. They may hope to lay hold upon their seeming promises. But they too might find themselves disappointed after their maiden voyages, or even after longer journeys of self-sacrifice and dedication.

Was it that they didn’t have enough faith, or because they doubted, that their business failed? Was there some great secret they didn’t understand and implement?

Just as the scriptures give us encouragement they can also give us understanding. All things are indeed possible with God. He put life upon our planet, He split the continents, He parted the Red Sea, and He sent His Son to atone for our sins and overcome death. His miracles are evident every time a child is born, every time two of His children join their lives in love through marriage, and every time a life is changed by being touched by His Spirit. He heals heartaches, opens minds, and introduces love when moving a mountain would seem an easier task.

Why then doesn’t He seem to always bless the endeavors of the faithful – especially when their intent is right and their aims seem noble? The answer is contained in two words that often accompany passages dealing with faith, prayer and possibilities. Those words are “amiss” and “expedient.”

Did We Ask Amiss?

James, the brother of Jesus, warned us that we often do not receive what we expect to because we have asked “amiss” – that is mistakenly or improperly. The scriptures put it this way:

“Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”³

The scriptures speak of lusting after beauty, war, money and even too much food.⁴ Lusts in this context can mean anything we long for but do not need, and which may ultimately be detrimental to us.

We do not receive because we ask for the wrong things. But how are we to determine what the right things are? Jesus gives us a clue in His sermon on the mount:

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”⁵

It is God’s kingdom that we should seek first. But what are “all these things” that will then be given to us? They are “food and clothing” as the Savior explained only a few verses earlier.⁶ The secret to happiness is not in how much we obtain, but in how little we want.⁷ So “having food and raiment let us be therewith content.”⁸

Some forget that the Bible always discourages the seeking of wealth, because, as the very next verse explains, “they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts.”⁹

Is It Expedient?

Paul’s epistle to the Corinthians reminds us that “all things are not expedient.”¹⁰ God told Moroni that “If ye have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.”¹¹

In other words, if we exercise our faith we will have power to do whatever is necessary or relevant to God’s plans. However, His plans and our plans may not be the same thing, no matter how noble our intentions are.

We need make “thy kingdom come. Thy will be done”¹² our sincere prayer, so that God’s purposes will be carried out “on earth as it is in heaven,” instead of asking the heavens to do our will on earth. We need to emulate the attitude of Jesus who declared, “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me”¹³

What are we to make about those passages where we are told to “ask and you will receive”? The key word here is “ask.”¹⁴ When we ask we make a request, not a demand. We may have the hope of our wish being fulfilled, but whoever we ask – including God – is not obliged to give us what we want.

With God all things are indeed possible, but it is God who is the one who makes it possible, when He wishes it to be. If we had faith as a mustard seed we could indeed move mountains, but only if it was not contrary to God’s will for such mountains to be moved. What if moving the mountain would cause an earthquake that would kill many, or affect a river that runs down it every spring, and therefore drown a city if it’s course was altered? Is our faith to move the mountain greater than the needs (and faith) of those who need it to stay where it is?

He Sometimes Says No

What is it then that we will receive? God promises if we ask in Jesus’ name, and ask not amiss He will hear us, and we will receive an answer, but that answer may still be no. That God hears all our prayers is a great miracle in itself, and should be a comfort to all those who pray to Him.

“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:”¹⁵

Some recommend that we should weary the Lord until He blesses us.¹⁶ But even God’s patience seems to have its limits, as Moses recounted:

“the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the Lord said unto me, Let it suffice thee, speak no more unto me of this matter.”¹⁷

We may be blessed for sincerely asking, but sometimes it will be the blessing of not receiving something that could ultimately become a curse to us. We need to realize too, that persistent children sometimes get what they want, but they often find themselves disappointed, and wishing they hadn’t asked in the first place.

As George Bernard Shaw wisely said, “There are two great tragedies in life. One is not having your prayers answered; the other very often is the reverse.” So let us thank God for seemingly unanswered prayers that could have turned to our detriment, if it weren’t for the wisdom of God in refusing our request.

We need to understand that “the Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich.”¹⁸ and whatever financial condition we are in we need to realize the blessings of the Lord relevant to our circumstances. Here we can learn from Job, who neither lacked faith or gratitude, and when he had lost everything was still able to honestly say:

“The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”¹⁹

“There is a time for every purpose under heaven.” God works on a different time-table to us, and views us from the unique vantage point of eternity. But all too often we find ourselves looking through the wrong end of the lens – we try and see God’s plans in a microscope, when we’d have a better view of them using a telescope.

Many people blame themselves for lack of faith or focus when their unrealistic expectations lead to disappointment, and they do not receive something they want (or even think they need), even though not receiving it may be part of God’s greater plans. This is part of Satan’s designs – it is a technique he tried to use on Jesus whilst tempting him in the wilderness. Surely the Savior’s mortal body cried out for food during his long fast, but he refused to “tempt the Lord.” What manner of man ought we to be? Even as He is.²⁰

Let us remember that Satan is the only person in the scriptures who tries to demand of deity what he wants.²¹ We may not want to try and emulate his example.

Footnotes

Still, ’tis no phantom that we trace
Man’s ultimatum in life’s race;
This royal path has long been trod
By righteous men, each now a God:

As Abra’m, Isaac, Jacob too,
First babes, then men to gods they grew.
As man now is, our God once was;
As now God is, so man may be,
Which doth unfold man’s destiny.

The boy, like to his father grown,
Has but attained unto his own;
To grow to sire from state of son,
Is not ‘gainst Nature’s course to run.

A son of God, like God to be,
Would not be robbing Deity;
And he who has this hope within,
Will purify himself from sin.

You’re right, St. John, supremely right:
Whoe’er essays to climb this height,
Will cleanse himself of sin entire
Or else ’twere needless to aspire.

Lorenzo Snow

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” (Philippians 2:5-6)

I would like to talk to you this morning about the Book of Mormon, because I believe all our missionary work stems from it. Very few people have ever come into this Church except they have read this book, and it seems that this book is the thing that converts them. We have many learned men and almost all of them have written a book to explain our gospel, and they have written about the Book of Mormon, and, yet, with all these books together, they do not convert the people, they may interest them, but they do not get into the waters of baptism until they have gone into this book.

What is the Book of Mormon? The greatest student of the Book of Mormon that this Church has ever had, and the man who studied it the most, and became the most profound in it, was Orson Pratt. I would like to read what he said about this book in 1851 while in England – nearly a hundred years ago:

“The Book of Mormon claims to be the sacred history of ancient America, written by a succession of ancient prophets, who inhabited this vast continent. The plates of gold, containing this history were discovered by a young man named Joseph Smith, through the ministery of a holy angel, on the evening and morning of the 21st and 22nd of September 1823. Four years after their discovery, on the morning of the 22nd of September 1827. The angel of the Lord permitted Mr. Smith to take these sacred records from the place of their deposit. The hill in which they were found buried is situated near the town of Manchester, Ontario county, New York with the plates were also found a Urim and Thummim. Each plate was not far from seven by eight inches in width and length, being not quite as thick as common tin. Each was filled on both sides with engraven Egyptian characters; and the whole were bound together in a volume, as the leaves of a book. And fastened on one edge with three rings running through each. This volume was something near six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed. The characters or letters upon the unsealed part were small and beautifully engraved. Mr. Smith, through the Urim and Thummim, and by the power and gift of God, translated this re cord into the English language. This translation contains about the same amount of reading. As the Old Testament. A large edition of this wonderful book was first published early in 1830.”

This is the most comprehensive statement about the Book of Mormon I have ever read. Nothing essential is left out in this first paragraph in a series of tracts which he wrote on his first mission.

This book I have is one of that first edition, it came from Kirtland, Ohio, and was given to me by a congregationalist minister who had acquired it there. It is the only book in the world, out of all the millions of books in the libraries of the world which was brought to the earth by an angel from the throne of God. That makes it different from all other books. The angel made fifteen trips to this planet from the throne of God to see that this book was properly translated and printed, so that it might be given to the world. And it became the basis of the restoration of the Church of God, and it was given to a boy. The translation was made when he was 23 years of age – and he was unlearned.

The plates from which he translated it were witnessed by three men, his companions, one of them, who was his scribe – the other two were his benefactor and his friend and these three men, solemnly testify that an angel showed them the plates. This young unlearned boy, Joseph Smith, showed these plates and the book to eight other people. Twelve people in all have seen the gold plates from which the record was translated and have so testified.

Since that date this book has been translated into sixteen different languages and into thirty-one dialects. And it has become the greatest missionary in our Church. It is a book that testified of itself, for in the final book – the final chapter of the book – a promise is made to the reader that if he will ask God, the Lord, by his Holy Spirit, He will manifest the truth of the book to him. That is so different from any other book in the world that it be comes outstanding

This book is 588 pages long, and is a collection of books, similar to the Bible of sacred writings – and it contains 14 other books besides the words of the compiler, once while in Los Angeles a lawyer came to the mission home. He said to me: “I have just flown back from Salt Lake. While there I visited your Temple Square and I heard a young man lecture about your Church and he mentioned a book called your Mormon Bible and I remembered, as I listened to him that several years before two young men had called at my door and had offered me a book which I purchased from them. I put it away in my library and forgot about it so after returning from Salt Lake City, I hunted through my library until I found the book.” And that man spent the rest of the night reading it. He said, “my job is to brief law cases to present them to the Supreme Court. A synopsis of each side must be very carefully done. Otherwise, an error, a mistake, in time, place or date or argument, would disqualify it before the Supreme Court, so my job is to make a very careful check of both the prosecution and the defense so that when it is presented to the court there can be no possibility of its being thrown out on account of a technicality.

“I have briefed the Book of Mormon. I am very much disturbed about it. I have never found or briefed anything but what I have found some errors due to human frailties, the human inclination to error: I have briefed the Book of Mormon and I am disturbed because I have found no mistakes, no disagreements as to time, place, event or person. I can’t accept this story about gold plates and angels, but I can’t understand a book so complex, so filled with so many dates and places and names and times, and yet find it without error.” Did Joseph Smith write a book that amazes and confuses a man trained in the legal profession? You answer that!

Joseph Smith made the very simple statement that he, by the power of God translated this book from these plates: he was unlearned, yet he gave this book to the world. Six hundred pages!

Once in an interview in San Francisco with a very noted woman novelist she made this statement: “I withheld the publication of one of my books for a period of six months while I tried to coin a new name for the heroine. Finally, at the end of six months, I called her Mary, and let the book go.” She was a novelist with a lot of ability and training, the graduate of a college. An average novelist is an extremely productive one if they can produce one book a year. To find one of our famous novelists with ten books to their name over a period of twenty or thirty years is very unusual. Yet, here is a book produced by a boy unlearned, six hundred pages not like the average novel which concerns itself with just a few characters that walk across the stage with a backdrop of maybe a few others to give color, but the whole thing concerned primarily with three or four characters, and takes a year to produce yet here is a book not concerned with just a few persons, but literally thousands, literally hundreds of thousands in this book. Concerned not with just a few of one family, but with three nations. So complex in plot and detail that it is beyond the power of any novelist to produce. In the book are 297 new words not found in any other book in the world, not found in any encyclopedia or dictionary. Look at our woman novelist who tried to find one new word. Have you ever tried to do that? And when you have labored long, figured you have got a new word — something original – you may be surprised that Webster thought of it a long time ago if you look in the dictionary you’ll probably find it. Yet in the Book of Mormon are 297 words not found in any dictionary – not found in any encyclopedia. Did Joseph Smith coin 297 words in 71 days — the actual days of translation – when the experienced novelist who is far above the average in accomplishments, the woman who lived by her wits, who was college trained, couldn’t coin one in six months?

When you hear the word Nephi, and Zarahemla, and Corianthmur, what comes to your mind? They come from the Book of Mormon – and only from the Book of Mormon. We have come to know many languages and we can tell the antecedent of almost any person by his name. We know whether he is Dutch, or German, or French, or Japanese. Yet, the words of the Book of Mormon are none of these. We know that they are not Chinese, Italian, French or English. They are entirely Book of Mormon names.

It is a very marvelous thing when we look at the book itself, given to us by this boy. That these names are all on an even keel. They are not up and down. Yet in our own families when our parents give each one of us a name, it is surprising that some of our names come out of the Bible, some are English, some are Scots, and some are Dutch. Even in one little family the names are all up and down. Yet the Book of Mormon names have an even keel in all their antecedents. Did Joseph Smith do this? You answer that!

We look to the words of Shakespeare: forty plays — tragedies, comedies, and dramas. And we know him as the top of all the writers of the world, for in those forty plays — every human emotion, every human character known, stalks across the stage. Anything that can possibly happen to your life you will find its counterpart in one of Shakespeare’s plays. Yet, in all of Shakespeare’s plays, with his romantic king Richard and his good king John, he has none so good as king Benjamin; in all the villains that cross the stage in all of Shakespeare’s plays are none so wicked, so low, so vile, and so mean as king Noah in the Book of Mormon. Here is this 23 year old boy, with a good king clear out beyond anything that Shakespeare made. And with a villain lower than any Shakespeare had dreaded up did Joseph Smith out-do Shakespeare? You answer that!

The lofty tone of the Book of Mormon is beyond the power or ability of any single man to have compiled or written. The literary aspects of the book are beyond the power of any man to do. The very first sentence in the book establishes the book as something entirely outside of the performance of a person who is attempting to hoist on the public a fraud. “I Nephi, being born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father.” Does that sound like somebody who was trying to put over a fraud? The oldest civilization (Chinese) we have in the world today the very basis of it, is the worship of ancestors. Did Joseph Smith steal from the heathen Chinese? The very essence of their religion is in the first few sentences: “I Nephi, having been born of goodly parents.” the proudest thing in his life was the fact that he had good parents it is a queer way, indeed to begin a story or a book.

In the 29th chapter of Alma: “O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God. And with a voice to shake the Earth, and cry repentance unto every people.” That is the way up here when you come to it. That is high water and is beyond the power of fraud!

Alma’s 49th chapter — his letter to his son, his wayward son, convincing him of the resurrection. Not even second to Paul in the new testament is Alma’s learned dissertation as he gives his legal arguments to his son about the sureness of the resurrection. What did Joseph Smith know about legal arguments? He went to the third grade in a country school, to the fifth grade in his school but comparable to the third grade now. What did Joseph Smith know about legal arguments and the resurrection that he could produce something that even surpassed the learned Paul of Tarsus? You answer that!

And if you want to read a debate — a debate with an unbeliever – read the one between Zeezrom and Amulek and Alma. Read the one between Gideon and Korihor and Alma, and read the one about Ammon and king Lamoni. These arguments, these things within the book, are so beyond the power of one young man to produce that it is utterly preposterous to even think for a moment that Joseph Smith produced the book.

Therefore. There is only one thing to consider about the book. Beyond the ordinary things in life as it is, we have to accept that simple, straight forward story that Joseph Smith told – that an angel came and gave him the plates and by the power of God he translated them and then he gave them to the world.

The migrations in the Book or Mormon of the people, backwards and forwards, three times and the people crossed the ocean — three different groups of people came to America. Did Joseph Smith dream up all these great migrations and ocean trips, so that there is no contradiction in time, place or event or name? You answer that!

The book itself is its greatest witness and our only trouble as Latter-day Saints is that we haven’t read it ourselves. We know so little about it. We have taken it for granted, and yet the Lord, in the beginning of the establishment of the dispensation of the fullness of times, began it with this great missionary book.

In the summer of 1930 at Yale university, a professor read king Benjamin’s last speech to his people, and when he had finished, the professor said: “that is the greatest talk ever given on political economy. If the men of the world today would follow the works of king Benjamin, it would solve the ills of mankind.” Did Joseph Smith know anything about political economy? There is only one answer to that. Joseph Smith did not write it. It came as he said.

In every novel that is written. In every play that is produced, your author sets up his characters, describes them, and with the 8 or 10 characters in any book or any novel, you will probably find a use of four or five. The others are backdrops for the play. And I would like to call your attention to the characters of the Book of Mormon. The first one Nephi, the great prophet-king, what a magnificent character he is, he stands like a great giant in a social time that was controlled entirely by the patriarchal order, in which the eldest son, by right, ruled after his father. And yet, Nephi, the third son, becomes the successor to his Father Lehi – then their king, a wonderful character finally the king of his people — the third son in a patriarchal order, who received the right to rule and to reign and what else happened to him? A young man who lived so close to the Lord that angels visited him and he is the only character in all religious lore — in all the writings that we have of all the prophets who lived — who ever saw the bodily form or the Holy Ghost! Nephi was covering a lot of ground when he attempted to describe the Holy Ghost when none of the other prophets had ever dared.

And then, standing like a giant tower in the middle of this Nephite history is Alma the Younger, the greatest missionary that one ever read about, the “apostle Paul of the Book of Mormon” — a young man who began as Paul — persecuting the Church – until he was struck down by the Lord, made a right about face and became a sword of righteousness for the Church. And when his father, Alma the elder, grew old, he ordained this young son of his to be the head of the Church, and then when the people followed the advice of the good king Mosiah, the son of that good king Benjamin, when they followed his advice and changed the manner of their government from a kingdom to judges, Alma was elected the first judge and the only man who was head of the Church and head of the government at the same time. But after eight years, the young Alma, so concerned with the missionary work, resigned his chief judgeship and spent the rest of his life as a great missionary, and his life is an amazing series of missionary experiences — the most thrilling you will find anywhere. They even surpass all the experiences that Paul ever had which are given so well in the New Testament. Follow Alma and read it and see the things that happen to him. None of these recorded in the New Testament come anywhere near those things – in their delivery from the jail from their enemies – it is an amazing story. Did Joseph Smith dream these up? You answer that and when he became old he walked out of the city of Zarahemla and the Lord took him unto himself – even as Moses, so great was this young Alma. What a characterization in a book. The very thought that Joseph Smith could have made up this great character in 71 days is beyond any possibility.

And then the final one in the book, the compiler of the record – Mormon. What a great man he was he was so great that Ammaron, the keeper of the records took this young boy when he was ten years of age and laid his hands on him and made him a prophet and then made him the keeper of the records and gave him this charge: “Watch what this people does. Make a record of it and when you are 24 go to a certain hill in another land and there you will find all the old records, and then you take them up and make a record of what happened in the last 14 years.” What a charge that was! And when this boy was 16 he was such a mighty man in body and in mind that he was made general of all of the Nephite armies and it was this man who, was the prophet over the people in their final struggle. He was the final great “general Eisenhower” – and in the final battle of annihilation at Cumorah he led all the army of the Nephites and he and 23 other generals with their 10,000 men each stood the onslaughts of the vast swords of the Lamanites in the struggle of annihilation, where more than a million men – not using atomic bombs for destruction, but simply axes and swords and spears – attacked one another until there was not a man left. Did Joseph Smith dream up such a situation? No, my brothers and sisters, the Book of Mormon is the word of God and you will find it in those little cards which you carry when the Prophet himself said, “we believe the Book of Mormon is the word of God.” It was translated by the gift and power of God and the book it self is its own greatest witness; if we will only open its lids and study its literary content. We are easily convinced that Joseph Smith was not the author of the book, but was simply the instrument in the hands of God. It is the keystone which the Lord gave the world in the restoring of his Church to the earth in the dispensation of the fullness of times.

May we appreciate this great “missionary help” that we have with us – may we learn about it. We need not go down into Mexico and south America hunting self-evidences that may prove the Book of Mormon. We have all the evidence necessary in the book itself. A book, like the Bible, that is a compilation of other books, and it is an amazing thing that out of the 14 or 15 different writers in the books yet you can read Nephi and know the passages from Nephi, and almost any Book of Mormon student can easily tell where the passages come from — whether it was from Nephi or Alma or Heleman or 4th Nephi! Why? For the very same reason that every writer leaves his own flavor on the things he writes. Any newspaper man can pick up his paper and tell you which reporter wrote each story in the paper, because each one of us leaves our imprint on what we write. Just the same – every school teacher is able to return your paper to you when you forget to write your name in the upper left hand corner. Each writer leaves his own impression on the words he writes. If Joseph Smith – had written the Book of Mormon it would have all been the same. There would not have seen any difference in the writings of each one of the books. Yet, the writings are so different. The last writer in the book is so different from most of the other writers in the book. If Joseph Smith had written them all, they would have been alike – all the same yet as I said to you before, any of you can read Alma and know from whence it came. When you read Moroni it is an entirely different structure – a different manner of writing.

I bear testimony to you, my brothers and sisters, that this is the work of the Lord, and that the Book of Mormon is a holy book. This is especially your book as missionaries and if you want to convert men and women you must teach them this book because the Lord will convert them when you present them this book, which he thought enough of to send an angel down 15 times to this earth to see that is was properly given. It is our job to warn all these people and to carry this book to them, and by the promises and power and the Spirit that will accompany this book, will the Lord touch their hearts and bring them to acknowledge the truth. May the Lord bless you in the great responsibility that is yours in this wonderful mission where is gathered out of all the world some of his choice spirits, for all the world looks to America and all America looks to California, and so people have come from everywhere and they are gathered here, these choice spirits – these adventuresome souls who have dared to come to the golden state, and the Lord is giving you the great opportunity, to touch their lives and bring to their attention the restored Church – so yours is a great heritage – yours is a great opportunity– yours is a tremendous responsibility. The Lord bless you and help you to carry it on, I pray in the name of Jesus, Amen.

The experience of mankind has shown that the people of communities and nations among whom wealth is the most equally distributed, enjoy the largest degree of liberty, are the least exposed to tyranny and oppression and suffer the least from luxurious habits which beget vice.

Among the chosen people of the Lord, to prevent the too rapid growth of wealth and its accumulation in a few hands, he ordained that in every seventh year the debtors were to be released from their debts, and, where a man had sold himself to his brother, he was in that year to be released from slavery and to go free; even the land itself which might pass out of the possession of its owner by his sale of it, whether through his improvidence, mismanagement, or misfortune, could only be alienated until the year of jubilee. At the expiration of every forty-nine years the land reverted, without cost, to the man or family whose inheritance originally it was, except in the case of a dwelling house in a walled city, for the redemption of which, one year only was allowed, after which, if not redeemed, it became the property, without change at the year of jubilee, of the purchaser. Under such a system, carefully maintained, there could be no great aggregations of either real or personal property in the hands of a few; especially so while the laws, forbidding the taking of usury or interest for money or property loaned, continued in force.

One of the great evils with which our own nation is menaced at the present time is the wonderful growth of wealth in the hands of a comparatively few individuals. The very liberties for which our fathers contended so steadfastly and courageously, and which they bequeathed to us as a priceless legacy, are endangered by the monstrous power which this accumulation of wealth gives to a few individuals and a few powerful corporations. By its seductive influence results are accomplished which, were it more equally distributed, would be impossible under our form of government. It threatens to give shape to the legislation, both State and National, of the entire country. If this evil should not be checked, and measures not be taken to prevent the continued enormous growth of riches among the class already rich, and the painful increase of destitution and want among the poor, the nation is liable to be overtaken by disaster; for, according to history, such a tendency among nations once powerful was the sure precursor of ruin.

The evidence of the restiveness of the people under this condition of affairs in our times is witnessed in the formation of societies of grangers, of patrons of husbandry, trades’ unions, etc., etc., combinations of the productive and working classes against capital. Years ago it was perceived that we Latter-day Saints were open to the same dangers as those which beset the rest of the world. A condition of affairs existed among us which was favorable to the growth of riches in the hands of a few at the expense of the many. A wealthy class was being rapidly formed in our midst whose interests, in the course of time, were likely to be diverse from those of the rest of the community. The growth of such a class was dangerous to our union; and, of all people, we stand most in need of union and to have our interests identical. Then it was that the Saints were counseled to enter into cooperation. In the absence of the necessary faith to enter upon a more perfect order revealed by the Lord unto the church, this was felt to be the best means of drawing us together and making us one. …

To-day, therefore, cooperation among us is no untried experiment. It has been tested, and whenever fairly tested, and under proper management, its results have been most gratifying and fully equal to all that was expected of it, though many attempts have been made to disparage and decry it, to destroy the confidence of the people in it and to have it prove a failure. … A union of interests was sought to be attained. At the time co-operation was entered upon the Latter-day Saints were acting in utter disregard of the principles of self-preservation. They were encouraging the growth of evils in their own midst which they condemned as the worst features of the systems from which they had been gathered. Large profits were being concentrated in comparatively few hands, instead of being generally distributed among the people. As a consequence, the community was being rapidly divided into classes, and the hateful and unhappy distinctions which the possession and lack of wealth give rise to, were becoming painfully apparent. …

Co-operation has submitted in silence to a great many attacks. Its friends have been content to let it endure the ordeal. But it is now time to speak. The Latter-day Saints should understand that it is our duty to sustain cooperation and to do all in our power to make it a success. …

Does not all our history impress upon us the great truth that in union is strength? Without it, what power would the Latter-day Saints have? But it is not in doctrines alone that we should be united, but in practice and especially in our business affairs. Your Brethren,

Brigham Young