While many
of the prophecies of the Book of Mormon were fulfilled pre-1830, there are a
number that were fulfilled (and are being fulfilled) post-1830. We will examine
one such prophecy that was fulfilled after
the publication of the Book of Mormon.
Jacob, the
brother of Nephi and a prophet-priest, delivers the following prophecy as
recorded in 2 Nephi 10:11. The current text of the Book of Mormon reads:
And this land shall be a land of liberty unto
the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall raise up
unto the Gentiles.
Due to the
punctuation, especially the placement of the second comma, one may misread this
prophecy as stating that there would be no kings upon "the land."
However, that is not what the text means. Indeed, it means, not that there
would be no kings raised up on the land, but if/when such happened, they would
not be raised up against the Gentiles. This is made clear in v. 13-14:
And he that fighteth against Zion shall
perish, saith God. For he that raiseth up a king against me shall perish, for
I, the Lord, the king of heaven, will be their king, and I will be a light unto
them forever, that hear my words.
Royal
Skousen punctuates the text of v. 11 thusly:
And this land shall be a land of liberty unto
the Gentiles,
and there shall be no kings upon the land
which shall raise up unto the Gentiles. (The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text,
ed. Royal Skousen [New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009], 105)
So, we have
a prophecy that no king who would appear in “the land” when the Book of Mormon
would come forth would be raised in opposition to the Gentiles.
As Jeff
Lindsay notes:
This has proven to be true. The Gentile
nations (Canada and the United States) have been free of kings in their lands
and have enjoyed liberty and democracy. In fact, all of the Americas have been
free of kings upon the land, in spite of brief and abortive attempt to
establish a king in Mexico ("Emperor" Maximilian from Austria came to
rule Mexico in 1864 and was removed from his office and shot in 1867.) (source)
Another failed attempt to raise up a king in the Americas could include and
Dom Pedro of Brazil.
Nephi Lowell Morris, commenting on this Book of Mormon prophecy, wrote:
"The
Empire of Mexico."
While the United
States was in the midst of the great struggle of the Civil War, Napoleon III.
thought the opportune time had arrived or him to test the integrity of the
Monroe Doctrine. France had lone appreciated the strength that colonial
possessions in America would bring to her. She wished to extend her trade in that
direction. A handsome kingdom on the other side of the Atlantic appealed to
"Napoleon the Little" as an alluring enterprise. Especially, if it
proved to be a kingdom of stability, where a comfortable throne would be made
secure. So, he decided to try it out on somebody else until it should get
beyond the experimental stage. Maximilian of Austria, brother of the late
Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria, was the victim. Archduke Maximilian was
escorted by fifty thousand Frenchmen who were expected to see that he did not
fall from his "throne of Mexico." With this French army, the emperor
was soon in control of strife-torn Mexico. He was coronated on April 10, 1864.
The United States, having on its hands quite a little domestic problem, could
not attend the coronation ceremonies, as she would have liked. She thought the
affair should have been delayed until such time as she could attend. It really
was discourteous to treat a close neighbor so. The United States refused to
recognize the empire. And when our own domestic problem was finally settled, we
notified Napoleon that his make-shift "Emperor of Mexico" was
altogether out of style in America and that he had better take him back to
Europe. Secretary Seward had also notified him that we could not allow the Monroe
Doctrine to be so infringed. Napoleon had observed that had occurred at
Vicksburg and Gettysburg and began to lose faith in the success of his would-be
ally, the Southern Confederacy. In 1866 he withdrew his fifth thousand troops
from Mexico. he was about to take Maximilian back, when, contrary to all the
rules of etiquette, the Mexican revolutionists took him and some of his
generals out to Queretaro, where they were court-martialed and shot to death.
That's the short-lived "Empire of Mexico" proved an evanescent dream,
coming to a quick and tragic end. (Nephi Lowell Morris, Prophecies of Joseph Smith and their Fulfillment [Salt Lake City:
Deseret Book Company, 1920], 138-40)
Commenting
on Dom Pedro of Brazil, Morris wrote:
It is true that an Imperial throne was
established in Brazil in the early part of the last century. It passed through
many vicissitudes and revolutions. Emperors were deposed; regencies reigned for
juvenile kings; and, finally, the emperor was ordered to "leave the
country with his family within twenty-four hours." In the dark of the
night the imperial family was taken on board a cruiser. When the ship left the
harbor it carried with it, not only the royal family, but as if to rid America
of every vestige of imperialism it took with it the catafalque, i. e. the
imperial stage with all its pompous drapings, throne and all. And that is the
last word of royal occupancy in modern times of any fragment of both North and
South America. (Ibid., 140)
Another witness to this interpretation is Gilbert Charles Orme in his 1948 The Four Estates of Men where we read:
Some wonder why God took a special interest in this land o America. It was because He favored it from the very beginning of man’s earthly existence. Having first placed Adam and Eve here to be father and mother of the human family, He next led Jared and his brother from the tower of Babel with the promise of establishing the world’s mightiest nation. By leading Lehi and the colony of Mulek from Jerusalem to plant the seed of Joseph on their inheritance and later establishing “the constitution of this land by wise men whom He raised up unto this very purpose,” He showed how He favored the Americas. To give free speech, free worship, and a free press to all men who sought the safety and freedom under the stars and stripes was a foundation structure laid down by God.
The Lord has a special destiny for this good land as told by the last prophet of the Jaredites:
And it was the place of the New Jerusalem, which should come down out of heaven, and the holy sanctuary of the Lord.
Behold, Ether saw the days of Christ, and he spake concerning a New Jerusalem upon this land. (Ether 13:3-4.)
The English, French, Spanish and Russian flags as well as those of other nations flew over this land of promise, but not for long. Either by treaty, purchase or the shedding of blood, the various self-governing nations as of today have been established, each fulfilling its destiny in this dispensation. (Gilbert Charles Orme, The Four Estates of Man [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1948], 120, emphasis in bold added)
We clearly
have a prophecy that has been fulfilled after
the publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830, showing that its “prophetic
horizon,” as some have charged, does not end with 1830, but extends after 1830.
