This year’s course of study for the Sunday School classes in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. One of my favorite hymns is a setting of a text by Parley P. Pratt, and it provides an excellent view of the purposes and content of the Book of Mormon.
It begins by speaking of an angel:
An angel from on high
The long, long silence broke;
Descending from the sky,
These gracious words he spoke:
Lo! in Cumorah’s lonely hill
A sacred record lies concealed.
Lo! in Cumorah’s lonely hill
A sacred record lies concealed.
Moroni, The song continues:
Sealed by Moroni’s hand,
It has for ages lain
To wait the Lord’s command,
From dust to speak again.
It shall again to light come forth
To usher in Christ’s reign on earth.
It shall again to light come forth
To usher in Christ’s reign on earth.
The same Moroni who appeared as an angel to Joseph Smith was a prophet around 400 a.d. He was the prophet who finished and buried the book for safety. Many of the prophets in the Book of Mormon were promised by the Lord that their records would come forth to testify of Jesus Christ.
It speaks of Joseph’s seed
And makes the remnant known
Of nations long since dead,
Who once had dwelt alone.
The fulness of the gospel, too,
Its pages will reveal to view.
The fulness of the gospel, too,
Its pages will reveal to view.
The Book of Mormon contains the record of people on the American continent in Biblical times. These were descendents of Joseph, son of Jacob. They had the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and their dealings with God are recorded in the Book of Mormon.
The time is now fulfilled,
The long-expected day;
Let earth obedience yield
And darkness flee away.
Remove the seals; be wide unfurled
Its light and glory to the world.
Remove the seals; be wide unfurled
Its light and glory to the world.
To fulfill prophecy and to testify of Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon has come forth at the hand of Joseph Smith, a prophet of God. From the Prophet’s original English translation, the Book of Mormon has been translated into over 100 other languages.
Lo! Israel filled with joy
Shall now be gathered home,
Their wealth and means employ
To build Jerusalem,
While Zion shall arise and shine
And fill the earth with truth divine.
While Zion shall arise and shine
And fill the earth with truth divine.
(Hymns, 1985)
In the words of the prophet Mormon, for whom the book was named, the purpose of the Book of Mormon is:
…to show unto the remnant of the House of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever—And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL God, manifesting himself unto all nations…
(Book of Mormon, Title Page)
I am thankful for the Book of Mormon and its powerful witness of the Savior, Jesus Christ. All who read it may know that it is true through prayer and earnest study by the power of the Holy Ghost.
MP3 recording of An Angel from on High
MP3 recording of An Angel from on High, Men’s arrangement
