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Book of Mormon Commentary
Mormon Chapter 4
Moroni then introduces him-self formally, "I am the son of Mormon, ...a descendant of Nephi;
...who. hideth up this record unto the Lord; the plates thereof are of no worth, because of the
commandment of the Lord (17). For he truly saith, that no one shall have them to get gain" (18).
And further, "No one can have power to bring it to light, save it be given him of God" (19). "And
blessed be him that shall bring this thing to light" (20).
Mormon 4:21 Yea, it shall be brought out of the earth, and it shall shine forth out of darkness, and come
unto the knowledge of the people: and it shall be done by the power of God; and if there be faults, they
be faults of a man.
This prophecy brings out some specific details of the coming forth of the record which the Lord
directed should be written. It was to come "out of the earth"; or as Isaiah said, "Shall speak out of
the ground, and her speech shall be low out of the dust" (Isa. 29:4, 14). This was no incidental find
of an epitaph, but a book. "The Lord God shall bring forth unto you the words of a book; and they
shall be the words of them which have slumbered" (Isa. 29:11).
Here are specific correlations with the coming into use of the Book 0£ Mormon which fit into no
other set of circumstances known to man. God directed its writing, he directed in its preservation,
he revealed its hiding place, and it was translated "by the power of God" (21).
Many book manuscripts are rejected by publishing houses because of limited appeal. More books
fail to return a profit than succeed.
Of each 1000 books published today 700 do not pay the costs of publication while only 200 bring
a modest profit to the publisher and a small royalty to the authors. ...Of each 1000 books printed,
650 are practically forgotten at the end of the first year, seldom being asked for at the book stores
and libraries, while 150 are in slight demand for only three years.
Because of its nature and from the later testimony 0£ the publisher, it is quite likely that this book
manuscript was published only because three thousand dollars in cash was waiting for the
completion of the five thousand copies ordered.
Evidence that the Book of Mormon is what it claims to be are numerous and weighty. For our
present purpose only two items will be introduced. The first one has to do with authorship. There
is evidence that it is the work 0£ Some fifteen writers. If this is true, it cannot be the product of
Joseph Smith, Jr. Note that the evidence here given is not based on personal opinion, but on
scholarly research of still existing data.
Dr. James Geikie, an outstanding scholar on languages and Bible literature, declared that the Book
of Mormon impressed the reader (himself} that it was a compilation of ancient records, the
product of many writers and certainly not the work of one man, nor of several men living
contemporaneously and working, in collusion. He said that the application of recognized canons of
literary criticism disproves any assumption that the Book of Mormon is ,a product of anyone
man's work.
Another line of evidence that the Book of Mormon was written by several men instead of coming
from the mind of one individual writer is found in the following: Dr. McGavin quotes the work of
T .W. Brookbank to the effect that the following authors used words which were peculiar to the
books they wrote. While they are found frequently in the books named below, these same words
are not found in any other book: