The Book of Mormon contains some
wonderful things about the colonization of this country soon after the flood,
the history of a certain nation that lived here some sixteen or seventeen
centuries; then of another nation that succeeded it, and that lived here some
600 years before Christ, and down to the time that the records were hid up.
Great things, historically, are revealed in this book; great things are
revealed in it concerning prophecies that are yet to take place, and that have
already taken place—when this record was translated. Not only this, but it
contains the Gospel of the Son of God. I mean the first principles of the
Gospel—the principles of faith in God and in his Son Jesus Christ;
repentance—turning away from sin, from all unrighteousness; baptism by
immersion in water for the remission of sins; the gift and power of the Holy
Ghost to be shed forth upon those who should receive this record—that is,
receive its truths and obey them. (Orson Pratt, “The Book of Mormon—Promises to
the Lamanites—Objects of the Record—the Book of Abraham—Gifts to the
Church—Benefit of Immediate Revelation—The Greater Things Shown to Those Who
Receive the Record—The Vision of Moses—The Creation Etc.,” August 15, 1878, JOD
20: 68)
