Читать книгу History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Vol. 1-7) - Joseph F. Smith - Страница 31

1. Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 33.

2. Orson Pratt was born September 19, 1811, in Hartford, Washington county, New York. His ancestors are enumerated in the biographical note of his brother, Parley P. Pratt, pp. 118, 119. The humble circumstances of his parents compelled him to seek employment where he could obtain it in various places, mainly at farming, during which time, however, he managed to get some schooling, paying especial attention to arithmetic, and gaining an acquaintance also with bookkeeping, grammar, geography and surveying. The early lessons of morality and religion taught at his father's home made deep impressions on his youthful mind, and led him in the autumn of 1829, particularly to seek the Lord. For this purpose he retired frequently to the lonely fields or the woods for prayer. This continued till September, 1830, when his brother Parley P. Pratt, an Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, came into the neighborhood where he resided, and as related in the text was converted at the first preaching of his brother Parley P. Pratt.

3. Doctrine and Covenants, section 34.

4. Edward Partridge was born in Pittsfield, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, on the 27th of August, 1793, of William and Jemima Partridge. His father's ancestor emigrated from Berwick, Scotland, during the seventeenth century, and settled at Hadley, Massachusetts, on Connecticut river. Nothing worthy of note transpired in his youth, with the exception, that he remembered, (though the precise time he could not recollect) that the Spirit of the Lord strove with him a number of times, insomuch that his heart was made tender, and he went and wept; and sometimes he went silently and poured the effusions of his soul to God in prayer.

At the age of sixteen he went to learn the hatter's trade, and continued as an apprentice for about four years. At the age of twenty he had become disgusted with the religious world. He saw no beauty, comeliness, or loveliness in the character of God as represented by the teaching of the various religious sects. He however heard a Universal Restorationer preach upon the love of God: this sermon gave him exalted opinions of God, and he concluded that Universal Restoration was right according to the Bible. He continued in this belief till 1828, when he and his wife were baptized into the "Campbellite" church by Sidney Rigdon, in Mentor, though they resided in Painesville, Ohio. He continued a member of this church, though doubting at times its being the true one, until Elders Parley P. Pratt, Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer, Jun., and Ziba Peterson came with the Book of Mormon, when he began to investigate the subject of religion anew. As stated in the text he accompanied Sidney Rigdon to Fayette, New York, where, on the 11th of December, he was baptized by the Prophet Joseph Smith in the Seneca river.

5. Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 35.

6. Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 36.

7. The most prominent of the "lost books" of the Old Testament are mentioned in the following passages: I Chronicles, 29:29; 2 Chronicles 9:29;2 Chronicles 12:15; I Samuel, 10:25; I Kings, 4:32, 33. The following is the list of "lost books" mentioned in the New Testament:

Scripture of Abraham's Time: "And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham." (Galatians 3:8.) The Christian world says, "Moses was God's first pen," but it appears from the above quotation that some one wrote scriptures even before Abraham's day, and he read them, learned the Gospel from them and also learned that God would justify the heathen through faith.

Prophecy of Enoch: Speaking of characters who are like "raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame," Jude says: "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment upon all," etc. (Jude, 14, 15.) From this it appears that Enoch had a revelation concerning the glorious coming of the Son of God to judgment. May not the prophecy of Enoch have been among the scriptures with which Abraham was acquainted?

Another Epistle of Jude: "When I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints." (Jude 3.) We have but one epistle of Jude. Would not the epistle on the "common salvation" be as important as the one the only one we now have from Jude's pen?

Another Epistle to the Ephesians: In Ephesians, 3 and 3rd, Paul alludes to another epistle which he had written to that people, but of which the world has no knowledge except from this reference which is made by its author. This epistle contained a revelation from God.

An Epistle to the Laodiceans: "When the epistle [Colossians] is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea." (Colossians, 4:16.) The epistles to the Laodiceans is among the lost scripture.

Another Epistle to the Corinthians: In the "first letter to the Corinthians" is this statement: "I wrote you in an epistle not to company with fornicators" (1 Corinthians, 5:9). From this it would appear that our so-called first epistle to the Corinthians is really not the first, since Paul in it speaks of a former letter he had written to the Corinthians, and which was doubtless as good scripture as the two which have been preserved.

8. This prophecy of Enoch is contained in the "Writings of Moses," which about this time were revealed to the Prophet, and are now published in the "Pearl of Great Price." It will be understood, then, by the reader, that the "Prophecy of Enoch" itself is found in the "Writings of Moses," and that in the text above we have but a few extracts of the most prominent parts of "Enoch's Prophecy." For the complete prophecy the reader is referred to the "Pearl of Great Price." (Chapter 7.)

9. Doctrine and Covenants, section 37.