May I say in all sincerity that I'm both pleased and honored to meet and counsel

with the cream of the teaching crop of the church. Here at the Brigham Young
University, we we have assembled gospel teachers of scholastic renown and spiritual
insight. It is their privilege to be the model teachers of the church, to be
influence upon all others who teach the words of eternal life, to be lights and
guides and patterns for all of the teachers in the earthly kingdom. May I remind
you of the high status of those who teach the gospel by the power of the power of
the Spirit. As Paul expressed it, God hath set some in the First, apostles the
order of priority.

In the true Church, apostles are first. They hold the keys of the kingdom, receive
revelation for the Church, and regulate all of its affairs in all the world as they
are guided by the power of the Holy Ghost. President Spencer w Kimball presides
over the Church today because he is the senior apostle of God on earth. Next to the
apostles stand the prophets, every prophet ministering in his own place and sphere.
The gift of prophecy is the gift of testimony.

As the angel said to John, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And it
is this gift of prophecy, this gift of personal revelation that is the rock
foundation upon which the Church is built. Upon this rock, the rock of personal
revelation, the Lord builds his Church. Without it, there would be no Church, no
kingdom of God on earth, no gospel light in the souls of men. Manifestly in the
true Church, it is next in importance to the very apostolic keys and powers.

After apostles and prophets come teachers. Every teacher is expected to be a

prophet and to know for himself of the truth and divinity of the word. Indeed, in
the true sense, a teacher is greater than a prophet, for a teacher not only has the
testimony of Jesus himself, but he bears that testimony by teaching the gospel.
What is the teacher's divine commission? It is to preach the to preach the word of
truth by even though his words are true, they are not of God.

Such is the express language of the revelation. Hence, in the law of the church,
speaking as though from the burning fires of Sinai, the Lord commands, the teachers
of this church shall, note that it is mandatory, teach the principles of my gospel
which are in the Bible and in the Book of Mormon, in the which is the fulness of
the gospel. And these shall be their teachings as they shall be directed by the
Spirit. Then with the fires of testimony burning in the hearts of the teachers, and
the thunders of Sinai prepared to carry their message to the ends of the earth, the
Lord issues this decree. Call Spirit, ye shall not teach.

Thus saith the Lord, receive my spirit and be enlightened thereby, and unless this
is the case, thou shalt not teach my gospel. And all this you shall observe to do
as I have commanded concerning your teachings until the fullness of the scriptures
is given. At that time, had only the imperfect King James Version of the Bible and
the near perfect Book of Mormon. These were their only scriptural sources for the
principles of the gospel. When the Joseph Smith translation of the Bible included
in this revelation under the designation, fullness of my scriptures came forth,
then teachers were to use it and the various additional direct revelations.

This then is a command to teach the changes and additions now found in the so
called inspired version. And ye shall lift up your voices by the Comforter. The
Lord says to his teachers, ye shall speak and prophesy as seemeth me good. This
then is what is expected of us as teachers. We are to teach the restored gospel,
the restored truths, the restored doctrines of salvation, and it is of this
doctrinal restoration, the revealing anew of the great reservoir of eternal truth,
that I shall speak.

Peter, the senior apostle of God on earth in the meridian of time, is the source of
one of the greatest pronouncements ever made about the restoration of all things,
the restoration which was destined to occur in the last days. He and John, on their
own motion, and by virtue of their own faith, healed a man lame from his mother's
womb. It was a dramatic occasion of great renown. The crippled alm seeker was
commanded in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth to rise up and walk. Immediately
his feet and ankle bones received strength.

He arose, he walked, he leaped, he praised God and showed himself to the assembled
hosts in the temple. They were amazed, they marveled, and, greatly wondering, they
surged together in Solomon's porch, where Jesus had often taught, to see and learn
what great things had happened in Israel. Peter had his congregation. It was as
when his master had opened the eyes of the man born blind, in order to gain a
congregation to whom he could declare himself as the Good Shepherd, the Lord
Jehovah, the promised Messiah who would give his life for the sheep. Peter's
message was that though they had killed the Prince of Life, God had raised him from
the dead, and that his was the only name under heaven given among men whereby they
could be saved.

But because their hands dripped with the innocent blood of the sinless Son of God,
Peter held out to them not a hope of immediate salvation, but of some merited
reward in a future day of judgment. Repent ye therefore and be converted, he said.
That is, believe my witness even though you are not ready for baptism. And, God
willing, perhaps your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall
come from the presence of the Lord, that is, after you have paid the penalty for
your sins. There may be some hope for you in the millennial day when the earth will
be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.

There may be some hope for you in that great day of refreshing and regeneration
when there will be a new heaven and a new earth whereon dwelleth righteousness.
That is, there may be some hope for you when the Lord shall say unto Jesus Christ,
which before was preached unto you, when the Son of Man shall come in his glory to
rule among the sons of men. And of this very Jesus, who came once and was by you
rejected, know this: Him the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of
all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the
world began. In other words, Christ must abide in heaven. He cannot dwell on earth
again until the age of restoration, the age that ushers in the millennial era.

And in that age of restoration, known as the times of restitution, the Lord will
restore all that has been spoken by every prophet in every age from Adam to that
paradisiacal day. This holy word does not say that the Lord will restore all things
before the Second Coming. It says all things will be restored in the age of
restoration. Which age or period or era or time will begin shortly before the
return of the Lord Jesus in all the glory and majesty of his father's kingdom. That
this age of restoration will continue during the millennium is seen from these
revealed words.

When the Lord shall come, he shall reveal all things things which have been which
have passed and hidden things which no man knew, things of the earth by which it
was made and the purpose and the end thereof, things most precious, things that are
above and things that are beneath, things that are in the earth and upon the earth
and in heaven. This age of restoration is the one spoken of by Paul in these words:
In the dispensation of the fullness of times, God shall gather together in one all
things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him.
What are all the things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets
since the world began? And how and in what way will the Lord restore these things?
Clearly, in the times of restitution, which had their beginning in the 1820, when
Elohim the Father and Jehovah the Son stood personally restoration, the promised
giving anew of what was known and had anciently will have two aspects.
For one thing, the Lord will restore all things, both temporally and spiritually,
as they once were. All of the holy prophets in one degree or another knew of the
promised restoration. All of the prophets knew that Christ would come in the
meridian of time to work out the infinite and eternal atonement, and that he would
come again to deliver his saints and reign personally among them on a renewed
earth. We know these things, and they knew them. How could any people have the
truths of salvation without a knowledge of the atonement and without a knowledge of
the eventual triumph of truth?

Thus the restoration of all things includes such things as the following. This
earth will return to its edenic state. As we sing in one of the w w Phelps hymns,
this earth was once a garden place with all her thy Amen. And as our tenth Article
of Faith testifies, we believe that the earth will be renewed and receive, and this
is noted again, its paradisiacal glory. Truly, there will be a new heaven and a new
earth, a millennial earth like unto the edenic earth, whereon dwelleth
righteousness.

In that day, it is part of the restoration North countries. And the island shall
become one land, and the land of Jerusalem and the land of Zion shall be returned
back into their own place, and the earth shall be like as it was in the day before
it was divided. In that day, Enoch City will return, the city of Zion, the perfect
pattern for the millennial Zion. It will return. We read that Enoch walked with God
above the power of mammon while Zion spread herself abroad, and saints and angels
sang aloud, In Adam on thy ammon.

Angels sang aloud, In Adam on thy Ammon. Her land was good and greatly blessed
beyond all Israel's Canaan. Her fame was known from east to west. Her peace was
great and pure the rest of Adam on thy ammon. And thanks be to God, all this shall
come again in this age of renewal, of refreshment, of restoration.

Hosanna, two such days to come, the Savior's second coming, when all the earth in
glorious bloom affords the saints a holy home, like Adam on Diomed. In the day of
restoration, the bodies of men will be renewed, freed from disease, and be akin to
what they were in the primeval day. Once men live for nearly a thousand years, soon
they will begin to live to the age of a tree. In the day of restoration, the two
kingdoms of Israel shall become one. As a united people, they shall dwell upon the
mountains of Israel in the land of Palestine.

They shall build up the ancient cities and reclaim the wasted land, which shall
then blossom as the rose, as springs of water burst forth from the dry and arid
deserts. In the day of restoration, the earthly church and kingdom of God is to be
set up among men. Apostles and prophets holding priesthood and keys and powers are
again to roam the earth, teaching and testifying of the risen Lord. Gifts and
miracles as of old are to be manifest. The blind will see, the deaf hear, and the
spirits of men, having departed this life, will be called back to reanimate corpses
that would otherwise rot away in graves dug by men.

All these things, and 10,000 others, are destined to be restored in this glorious
age of of restoration. All this is or should be well known among us. But there is
something that underlies it all, something that is the bedrock upon which it is
built, something without which none of these glorious things would occur, something
that we either overlook or take for granted. That something is the doctrinal
restoration. It is the restoration of the principles of the gospel.

It is the restoration of the truths of salvation. It is the restoration of that

knowledge without which men could not have faith like the ancients, and thus
prepare themselves to receive and be participants in the other restored events of
which we speak. Unless and until men believe the doctrines of the restoration, they
can never, never, never, worlds without end, prepare themselves to abide the day of
our Lord's return, to dwell with Enoch and his fellows in the returning Zion, to
stand with the elect of Israel in building up their ancient homeland, to perform
miracles to glory in the gifts of the spirit, and to find full fellowship with the
saints of that God who has bought them with his blood. It is a knowledge of the
truth, restored to us so we can gain faith like the ancients, that will enable us
to receive the promised blessings. Until the doctrine of the Abrahamic Covenant was
restored, the world would who would have even imagined that celestial marriage is
the gate to eternal life.

If the doctrine setting forth the nature and kind of being God is had not been
restored, we would be worshiping cows, or crocodiles, or cedar posts or unknown
spirit essences, all to no avail. As members of the kingdom, possessing the gifts
of the the gift of the Holy Ghost, having the canonized word, receiving guidance
from those called and endowed from on high, it is surely our privilege to receive
and understand the doctrines of salvation as they are being restored to us in this
great day of restoration. And as teachers, it is surely our privilege to persuade
others to gain like knowledge so they will be inheritors of like blessing blessings
with us and with our forebears. Having all these things in mind, believing that God
is no respecter of persons, and knowing that a soul is just as precious in our day
as it was in the days of Enoch and Elijah, let us turn our attention to the
doctrinal restoration. How and in what way is the Lord in process of restoring the
ancient word, the word that perfected Enoch and his people, the word that will
prepare us for fellowship with them when they return?

Let us try, if we we may, to put ourselves in the position of devout Christians in

the day appointed for the beginning of the doctrinal restoration. To begin with,
none of us would have any idea whatever that there is to be a doctrinal
restoration. Having the Bible, we would think it contains all things necessary for
salvation, and it would never enter our minds that any ancient people knew anywhere
near as much as we think we know. A doctrinal restoration. Why the very thought is
almost blasphemous to us in that condition.

Can we improve upon what Jesus and Paul taught? Surely, there would not be more
than a score in each legion of our self styled and self appointed Christian Why is
it to why, if such an unthinkable thing should happen, it might well destroy the
whole body of our Christianity based at it as it is on the mystical traditions of
the fathers. And yet thoughtful persons among us remember, we are placing ourselves
in the position of Christians generally who know nothing of the promised age of
restoration thoughtful persons among us most of our priests and ministers have told
us it is a book of scripture, a perfect book, one containing verbal revelation
which men must believe to be saved. As we know, it is a collection of various
books, poems, and letters supposedly written by inspired men. But can we be sure at
this late date that any of the books were even written by those to whom they are
attributed?

How is it, we wonder, that the post apostolic fathers each had their own differing
lists of canonical books? What persons or councils, we wonder, had the inspiration
to approve favored writings, classify some as apocryphal or pseudeprographic, and
others to be discarded entirely. Where we wonder are the various lost books, such
as the book of Gad, the seer, all mentioned with approval in the Bible itself. Some
of us might even think, isn't it a little strange that there is no book of Adam, or
Enoch, or Noah, no book of Andrew, Philip, or Nathaniel? Can it be that the books
in our present Bible are there more by historical accident than by divine destiny?

And then, as we know, there is the matter purity of the text. There is no such
thing as an original manuscript. It simply does not exist. The best we have are
documents that are copies of copies of copies through long generations of time,
each preserved and adding to the error errors of its predecessor. One study by
biblical scholars counted more than 30,000 textual differences in extant
manuscripts covering a small portion of the Bible.

They postulated that it would, if such a case study were enlarged, to include the
whole Bible, the textual variations would number in the hundreds of thousands.
Added to all of this, there is the matter of translation. Who is able to carry from
one culture and language to another all of the idioms and shades of meaning found
in the parent setting. What biblical version shall we accept? The Douay or the King
James or one of the ever changing Lutheran versions.

In all of this, we would have not even mentioned the greatest of all the biblical
shortcomings. This we shall do shortly, but for the moment we simply ask, how would
we know the Bible is true? If it is true, is it as complete and perfect as it
should be? And if it is not, how and by whom and in what manner will it be
perfected and made whole? Now, if we were in the position I have here postulated
and had been wise enough to know there was to be a restoration of all things, I
think we would have looked for that restoration to come to pass through the
perfecting and enlargement of the Bible.

And as a matter of fact, the Lord had this very thing in mind. But it was not to
take place until after a foundation had been laid. It was his design and purpose to
bring forth the Book of Mormon as a new and added witness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then he would endow his prophets with keys and powers and give them direct
revelation as to how and in what manner his earthly kingdom should be established
anew among men. After this, as a crowning achievement, he would begin the
perfection of the Bible, a work destined to be greater and have more significance
than any of us have as yet realized.

The Book of Mormon teaches and testifies of Christ and recites in plainness and
purity the true doctrine of the gospel. Nowhere else do we receive such profound
insights into the atonement, into faith and repentance, baptism and the gifts of
the Holy Ghost, miracles and the gifts of the Spirit, the place of Israel in the
eternal scheme of things, and a host of other doctrines. The Book of Mormon
restores many truths lost from the Bible, or found in it only in a partial and
perverted way. It contains within its covers the proof of its own divinity. All
promised that they shall know by the power of the Holy Ghost that the Book of
Mormon is the mind and will and power and voice of God to all men everywhere from
this day onward as long as the earth shall stand.

But the Book of Mormon does something more. It announces that the Bible is true. It
came forth not alone to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the
Christ, the eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations, as Mormon wrote on
the title page. It also came forth proving to the world that the holy scriptures,
meaning the Bible, are true, and that God does inspire men and call them to his
holy work in this age and generation as well as in generations of old. What future
would there be in restoring and perfecting the Bible unless it is is a true book?

And with all due respect to the scholars of the world, to the ministers of
Christendom, to professing believers everywhere, how can any of them really know
the Bible is true? The intellectual approaches reach as many conclusions as there
are people involved. And how could God do better in proving the Bible to be true
than to bring forth a new and parallel and conforming volume of scripture,
establish that the new scripture is true by personal revelation, and then use it as
the standard that proves and testifies to the truth of the biblical word. But the
Book of Mormon does more than prove the Bible is true. It also is the irrefutable
witness that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, that the Lord calls and inspires
men today as he did anciently, that living prophets receive revelation in our day
and time.

Thus, knowing the Bible is true, and knowing there are prophets on earth who
receive revelation, the stage is set for the restoration by revelation of the
Bible. It is now possible to bring the book of books back to its original state of
purity and plainness. Thus, the doctrinal restoration is destined to come to pass,
first, through the Book of Mormon, Second, by direct revelation, a re revelation of
the doctrines known anciently. And thirdly, by the restoration, by revelation, of
the Bible, which, in spite of its faults, has been the most stabilizing force on
earth since the day it came into being. As we consider these three ways and means
of doctrinal restoration, the Book of Mormon, so far translated only in part, the
direct revelations given to Joseph Smith and others, particularly those in the
Doctrine and Covenants, and the just begun and eventually to be completed
restoration of the Bible, as we consider them we should be aware of the insidious
and evil directed attacks upon them.

Let me speak plainly. Satan hates and spurns the scriptures. The less scripture
there is, and the more of it that is twisted and perverted, the greater is the
rejoicing in the courts of hell. There has never been a book, not even the Book of
Mormon, that has been so maligned and cursed and abused as the Bible. There is not
much the world can do about the Book of Mormon.

It is here, and it is what it is. It cannot be modified or changed. Men have no

choice but to believe or disbelieve it. If they disbelieve, they can talk about
Solomon Spalding or any other figment of their imaginations that suits their
fancies of the moment. But the Book of Mormon remains secure, unchanged and
unchangeable, a unchangeable, a firm and steady witness of Christ and his doctrine.

The Book of Mormon has been, is now, and will forever remain secure in the hands of
the servants of the Lord, for which we are in immeasurably grateful. But with the
Bible, it was not and is not so. It is now in the hands of intellectuals, whore,
whose great aim and purpose was to destroy the souls of men in the name of
religion. In these hands, it ceased to be as the book the book it once was.
Originally, it contained the fullness of the gospel of the Lord.

It was sent forth from the Jews in purity unto the Gentiles, according to the truth
which is in God. Then it came into the hands of that great and abominable Church
which is most abominable above all other churches. They took away from the gospel
of the lord many parts which are plain and most precious, and also many of the
covenants of the lord. And all this they have done that they might pervert the
right way of the Lord, that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the
children of men. Then the Bible, with many plain and precious things taken away,
went forth to the nations of the earth.

And as Nephi said, because of the many plain and precious things which have been
taken out of the book, which were plain under the understanding of the children of
men, according to the plainness which is in the Lamb of God, because of these
things which are taken away out of the gospel of the Lamb, and exceedingly great
many do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan hath great power over them. Special
mention is made of the book of Revelation as written by John. When he wrote the
truths that are in it and when they went forth to the world, they were plain and
pure and most precious, and easy to the understanding of all men. Today, as these
writings now are, all men, save those filled with the spirit of prophecy, stumble
over John's making as bad a mistake as Reagan made the other day when he said
Mondale wanted to cut taxes. During the dark ages, during the black millennium, if
you will, even the Bible that now is was kept from the people.

Many is the martyr who suffered death by fire for reading or possessing biblical
manuscripts. The translation and publication of the scriptural word was opposed
with satanic fury authenticity of the scriptures and using them to prove such false
doctrines as that God is a spirit, or that we are saved by grace alone without
works. This, then, is where we, as Latter day Saints, stand. We all believe the
Book of Mormon and rejoice in its teachings. Our stand is in sharp contrast to that
of the reorganized church.

I am told they have an official position paper which says the Book of Mormon is
simply a recapitulation by Joseph Smith in story form of the dominant doctrines of
the sectarian world in his day. But in any event, we believe the Book of Mormon to
be the Word of God. As to latter day revelation, as found in in the Doctrine and
Covenants and in the Pearl of Great Price, we have no problem. Since the Book of
Mormon is true, it follows that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and hence it is easy to
believe his revelation. Where the Bible is concerned, things are get a little
sticky.

Of course we believe it, always specifying the King James Version. But there is the
reservation about parts not being translated correctly. And in some minds, there
seems to be a nagging uncertainty about the so called inspired version. After all,
some say the prophet did not finish his work, and how can we be sure what he did
finish is correct? May may I be pardoned if I say that negative attitudes and
feelings about the Joseph Smith translation are simply part of the devil's
translation are simply part of the devil's program to keep the word of truth from
the children of men.

Of course, the revealed changes made by Joseph Smith are true, as much as anything
in the Book of Mormon are the Doctrine and Covenants. Of course we have adequate
and authentic original sources showing the changes, as much so as are the sources
for the Book of Mormon or the revelations. Of course, we should use the inspired
translation, the Joseph Smith translation, in our study and teaching. Since when do
any of us have the right to place bounds on the Almighty and say we will believe
these revelations and not those? I think much of the prejudice of the past was
based on a lack of understanding translation we made a brief overview of what the
Joseph Smith translation now is and what it will one day be?

As to its present state, it contains various additions, deletions, and emendations

to the King James Version. But most importantly, it contains the book of Moses and
the twenty fourth chapter of Matthew, as published in the Prize. These portions
have been formally canonized by us, which should establish that any changes made by
the Prophet are true and should be accepted. Does anyone think that the pure
revelation found in Genesis 14 about Melchizedek, or in Genesis 50 about the
Nephites and Joseph Smith and the latter days, is any less a revelation than Moses
one? Does anyone think the first chapter of John's gospel is of any less worth than
the twenty fourth chapter of Matthew?

True, the Joseph Smith translation, though completed to the point that the early
brethren were going to publish it at one time, has not been completed in the full
and true sense. But for that matter, neither has the Book of Mormon. I am as
anxious to read and study what is in the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon as I
am to give the same attention to those parts of the Bible yet to be revealed. I am
clear in my mind that the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon will not come forth
until the millennium. The same thing is undoubtedly true of the fullness of the
Bible, though some additions could well be made before that time.

Of what will the Bible consist when it is perfected? Surely it will contain the
writings of Adam and Enoch and Noah, of Melchizedek and Isaac and Jacob. And
certainly, Abraham wrote more, much more than the prophet found on the Egyptian
papyrus. The Book of Abraham in our Pearl of Great Price is obviously a restored
biblical record. Does any way apostles without number whose names we do not even
know who have recorded their teachings and perfected Bible of the future will will
surely include all that was on the brass plates of Laban.

Indeed, Lehi prophesied that these plates of brass should go forth unto all
nations, kindreds, tongues, and people who are of his seed. Wherefore, he said,
that these plates of brass should never perish, neither should they be dimmed
anymore by time. More than five hundred years later, Alma testified that these
should be kept and preserved by the hand of the Lord until they should be brought
forth unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, that they shall know of the
mysteries contained therein, and that they would retain their brightness. Someday
the Lord will raise up a prophet who will also be a seer and a a translator, to
whom he will give the brass plates, that they may be translated for the benefit and
blessing of those in all nations. Would God that the work might commence at least
in our day, though we, in fact, have no such hope.

Why should the Lord give us what is on the brass plates or in the sealed portion of
the Book of Mormon when we do not have even treasure up and live by what he has
already given us? The Bible went forth to the Gentile nations in the early days of
the Christian era. According to the angelic word to Nephi, contains the covenants
of the Lord which he hath made unto the house of Israel. And it also containeth
many of the prophecies of the holy prophets, and it is a record like unto the
engravings which are upon the plates of brass, save there are not so many.
Thereafter, the many plain and precious parts were taken away by the servants in
the house of that great church, which is not the Lord's Church.

Thus, our present Bible contains only a fraction of the Holy Word that once brass
plates. They contain the record of the Jews down to the days contain in their
perfect form the law of Moses and the five books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They contain the writings of Joseph, who was
sold into Egypt, than which few have been greater. And on them is found the
mysteries of God and the commandments he has given the children of men. They
contain books of holy scripture of which the world does not dream, including the
writings of Zenoq, Neum, and Zenos.

But what interests us more than the books included in the brass plates is the tone
and tenor and general approach of the gospel and to salvation that they set forth.
They are gospel oriented and speak of Christ and the various Christian concepts
which the world falsely assumes Zenock taught that the god of our fathers, who were
led out of Egypt out of bondage and also were preserved in the wilderness by him,
yea, Yea, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, yieldeth himself
according to the words of the angel, as a man, unto the hands of wicked men, to be
lifted up according to the words of the given unto those who are of the house of
Israel. Indeed, it was Zenos who wrote of the visit of the Lord, God of Israel,
after his resurrection, of the joy and salvation that would come to the righteous
among them, of the desolations and destructions that awake the wicked among them,
of the fires and tempests and earthquakes that would occur in The Americas, of the
scourging crucifying of the God of Israel by those in Jerusalem, of the scattering
of the Jews among all nations, and of their gathering together again in the last
days from the four quarters of the earth.

I do not think I overstate the matter when I say that next to Isaiah himself, who
is the prototype, pattern, and model for all the prophets, there was not a greater
prophet in all Israel than Zenos, and our knowledge of his inspired writings is
limited to the quotations and paraphrasing summaries found in the Book of Mormon.
Our understanding of the prophetic word will be greatly expanded if we know how one
prophet quotes another, usually without acknowledging his source. Either Isaiah or
Micah copied the prophetic words of the other relative to the mountain of the
Lord's house being Their ministries overlapped, but we assume that the lesser Micah
copied from the greater Isaiah and then appended some words of his own about the
millennial era. Some unnamed Old Testament prophet, who obviously was Zenos, as the
Book of Mormon testifies, spoke of the day when the wicked would be destroyed as
stubble, when the righteous would be led up as calves of the stall, when Christ
should rise from the dead with healing in his wings, and when the Holy One of
Israel would then reign on earth. Malachi, who lived more than two hundred years
after Nephi, uses these very expressions in his prophetic writings.

Can we we do other than conclude that both Nephi and Malachi had before them the
writings of Zenas? Both Paul and Mormon expounded with great inspiration about
faith, hope, and charity, in many verses using the same words and phrases. If there
is any difference between them, it is that Mormon expounds the doctrines more
perfectly and persuasively than does Paul. It does not take much insight to know
that Mormon and Paul both had before them the writings of some Old Testament
prophet on the same subjects. It is perfectly clear that John the beloved is
copying in the first chapter of the gospel of John words written by John the
Baptist, a practice with which we have no fault to find.

Once the Lord has revealed his doctrine in precise language to a chosen prophet,
there is no reason why he should inspire another prophet to to choose the same
words in presenting the same doctrine on a subsequent occasion. It is much easier
and simpler to quote that which has already been given imperfection. We are all
commanded, including the prophets among us, to search the scriptures and thereby
learn what other prophets have presented. The Lord did not reveal anew to Nephi
what Isaiah had written. Rather, Nephi was commanded to quote them as they were
found on the brass plates.

Then he was free to expound them as the Spirit directed. Everyone is entitled to
receive the same revelations and view the same visions. Of us saw the vision of the
degrees of glory, there would be no reason for us to write it anew, in the words of
Joseph Smith. It has already been recorded in the way the Lord designed, and if we
were won't to quote it in a book of scripture we were writing, we would do it in
the language of the original originating prophet. As a sidelight to our present
discussion, it is clearly evident that the Jews in Jesus' day had more Old
Testament scriptures than we have.

Jesus reminded the Jews that Abraham saw the day of the coming of the Son of Man,
which fact is not in our Old Testament, but has been restored in Genesis 15. Jude
quoted from the book of Enoch, which book has not yet been restored to us. Paul has
much to say about Melchizedek and the holy priesthood, which remained hidden until
put again in Genesis 14. But let us return to our subject, the doctrinal
restoration, and draw some proper conclusions. One.

What is being restored in this the dispensation of the fullness of times? Answer.
We are in process of receiving all that God has spoken by the mouths of all his
holy prophets since the world began. Only a small portion has come to us so far. We
do not as yet begin to know what the ancients knew.

That which has come to us anew breaks the shackles of the past and opens up
entirely new vistas to us. It is all Christ centered, gospel centered, priesthood
centered, church centered. It lets us know that all of the ancient saints had the
same gospel, the same hope in Christ, the same holy priesthood, and the same
celestial marriage, the same church and the same apostolic power, the same gifts of
the spirit, the same system of religion that we have. Except for a few things
relative to salvation for the dead, we have not yet received one syllable of
scripture, one trace of truth, one gospel verity, one saving power that was not had
anciently. The time is yet future.

It will be millennial. When the Lord reveals to us those things which have been
hidden from the foundations of the earth and which have never as yet been given to
man. Two. Question. How and in what way is the new knowledge being restored?

By revelation. Our doctrine is not handed down in the sectarian sense. Scriptures,
as in the case of the Joseph Smith Translation. This generation, our generation,
the generation that shall be until the coming Son of Man is to have the Lord's word
through Joseph Smith, and to some degree through his successors. Question three.

What are the vehicles of the revelation? Answer. First, the Book of Mormon, which
was translated by the gift and power of God. Second, the Doctrine and Covenants,
which contains the revealed word, coupled with some inspired utterances, as the
King Follett sermon and thirdly, the so called translations, which include the book
of Abraham, the book of Moses, itself part of the inspired version, and the whole
Joseph Smith translation of the Bible. None of these vehicles have given us their
full load.

We have only about a third of the Book of Mormon. The field of revelation is
without bounds or limits, and the Bible restoration has scarcely been commenced.
When will we receive more of the mind and will of the Lord? And when will the great
doctrinal restoration be completed? We have a revealed answer as to when we shall
receive repent of all our iniquity and become clean before the Lord, and when we
exercise faith in him like unto the faith of the brother of Jared, then the sealed
portion of the ancient word will be translated and read from the house tops.

The same is certainly true of the brass plates and the lost portions of the Bible.
What we have received so far is to test our faith. Why should the Lord give us more
of the biblical word if we are indifferent to what he has already revealed? Does
anyone think the Lord should give us the words of Zenas when we are ignoring the
words of Isaiah? There are revelations without end that are available to the
faithful at any time they are prepared to receive them.

As a matter of practical reality, however, the great doctrinal restoration is to be

millennial. Of that day Nephi said, Then the earth shall be full of the knowledge
of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Wherefore, the things of all nations shall
be made known. Yea, Yea, all things shall be made known unto the children of men.
There is nothing which is secret, save it shall be revealed.

There is no work of darkness, save it shall be manifest in the light. And there is
nothing which is sealed upon the earth, save it shall be loosed. Wherefore, all
things which have been revealed unto the children of men shall at that day be
revealed, and Satan Five. Perhaps these are some of the final great questions we
should ask. Is the restored word true?

Is it the mind and will and voice of the Lord? Does the Joseph Smith translation,
as it now stands and without more, have divine approval, and should we use it? By
way of answer, let us ask: Is the Book of Mormon true, and should we use it? We all
know it is true, even though there is more of it to come forth. Is the divine word
in the Doctrine and Covenants true?

Of course, even though new revelations lie ahead. Is the book of Abraham true? Yes,
but it is not complete. It stops almost in midair. Would that the Prophet had gone
on in his translation or revelation, as the case may be.

Yes, the inspired version is inspired. Yes, the Joseph crowning part of the
doctrinal restoration. At least it sets the pattern and marks the way as to how the
doctrinal rivers of the past shall yet flow into the ocean of the present, as shall
surely be in the fullness of times. Having so testified, testified, may I leave you
with these words to ponder: Thus saith the Lord, Thou fool that shall say, a Bible.
We have got a Bible and we need no more Bible.

Have ye obtained the Bible save it were by the Jews? Is it a perfect Bible, or have
any of its plain and precious parts been lost? Does it set forth the covenants and
doctrines of the Lord as they were revealed to his ancient people? Wherefore murmur
ye because that ye shall receive more of my word, saith the Lord. Now my attempt in
these somewhat rambling remarks has been to place the Joseph Smith translation
doctrines and witness that one of the great contributions, perhaps the greatest
contribution, of the inspired word is to open the doors of our understanding to the
marvelous reality that Christ and his gospel, with all its gifts, powers, and
graces, has been had among men in diverse dispensations from the days of Adam to
this present hour.

I have not dwelt upon specifics, but have chosen rather to chosen rather to unveil
the whole broad panorama. Many of you have greater expertise than I do where these
specifics are concerned. My good friend Robert Matthews is, of course, the world
authority on the Joseph Smith translation. But I am pleased to say in closing that
this inspired work by the great prophet of the Restoration is one of the great
evidences of his divine calling. One of the reasons we know he was the mighty
prophet of the restoration is the inspired translation and revision of the Holy
Bible.

Wisdom to walk in the light of that great beacon of understanding that he has
lighted for us for our benefit and blessing in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.