not my words, hath one that judgeth him; the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day."—John 12: 48.
But, tell me, gentle reader, what would you think of a teacher that would appeal to you, and, in view of your eternal interest, present a system of doctrine, induce you to believe that your salvation here and hereafter depended upon your receiving and abiding in that doctrine; and further, to believe that the anathemas of heaven would rest upon you if you received any other doctrine, then, after having you confirmed in such belief, make sport of and ridicule you because of your credulity? Just such a teacher Jesus of Nazareth is, if the Book of Mormon be true!! The Book of Mormon represents the Lord as pleading in behalf of that book in the following language: "And my words shall hiss forth unto the ends of the earth, for a standard unto my people, which are of the house of Israel. And because my words shall hiss forth, many of the Gentiles shall say, A bible, a bible, we have got a bible, and there can not be any more bible. But thus saith the Lord God: O fools they shall have a bible; and it shall proceed forth from the Jews, mine ancient covenant people. And what thank they the Jews for the bible which they receive from them? Yea, what do the Gentiles mean? Do they remember the travels and the labors and the pains of the Jews, and their diligence unto me in bringing forth salvation unto the Gentiles? O ye Gentiles have ye remembered the Jews, mine ancient covenant people? Nay; but ye have cursed them, and have hated them, and have not sought to recover them. But behold, I will return all these things upon your own heads; for I, the Lord hath not forgotten my people. Thou fool, that shall say, A bible, we have got a bible, and we need no more bible."—B. of M. 93: 31–40. In order to get the, real gist of this pitiful, special pleading, one would need to substitute the term gospel for the term bible in the above. It did not take much inspiration to foresee that people would argue the sufficiency of the gospel of Jesus Christ, in opposition to the claims of the Book of Mormon. As we have
