The Book of the Brother of Jared · Book Four
Being the prophecies which were shown unto the brother of Jared concerning the days in which this record should come forth and the signs which should precede the coming of the Son of Man.
1 And it came to pass that the Lord shewed unto me the days in which this record should be unsealed, that I might know them and write of them, that those who should live in those days might read and understand that I had foreseen their condition.
2 And I beheld a world filled with knowledge as it had never been filled before, and the knowledge was spread among the people by means which I did not fully comprehend, for there were instruments by which a man could speak in one place and be heard in another, even across the great waters, and the words and the images of men were carried upon currents which were not of the air nor of the water but of a substance which is hidden from my present sight.
3 And by these means the knowledge of every thing was made available to every man, and yet the wisdom of men did not increase with their knowledge, for many used the instruments to spread that which was false and that which was harmful, and the people knew not which of the things they heard were true and which were not, and many were confounded.
4 And the Lord said unto me: in that day the truth shall be hard to find, not because it is hidden, but because it is buried beneath the multitude of falsehoods, and the eye of the seeker shall be wearied with searching.
5 But I, the Lord, shall not leave the seeker without aid. I shall pour out my Spirit upon those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, and they shall know my voice from the voices of strangers, and they shall be led to the truth even in the midst of the great confusion.
6 And the record which thou hast written, Mahonri, shall come forth in such a day as this, and it shall be one voice among many, and it shall not be received by the multitude at first, for the multitude shall be too occupied with the noise to hear the still small voice in which I speak.
7 But there shall be those who hear, and they shall come unto the truth, and they shall be gathered, and they shall become a people in the latter day even as the saints were a people in the day of my servant Joseph.
8 And I beheld these things and was sorrowful, for I saw the suffering of the people of that age, and the loneliness which the multitude of voices had not relieved but had increased.
9 And the Lord said unto me: write what thou hast seen, and let the people of that day read it, and let them know that they have not been forgotten, and that the God whom their fathers worshipped is still upon the throne, though the world hath become noisy beyond what their fathers could have imagined.
1 And the Lord shewed unto me the condition of the nations in the latter days, that the saints might know what to look for and not be afraid.
2 And I beheld that the nations should be in commotion, and the leaders of the people should not be able to direct them, and there should be much speaking but little doing, and the trust of the people in their rulers should fail.
3 And I beheld that the great cities of the earth should be troubled by violence which arose from within, even more than by enemies from without, for the bonds of common purpose which had held the peoples together should be weakened, and every man should walk in the way of his own seeing.
4 And I beheld natural disasters of various kinds, including a shaking of the earth in many places, and fires which devoured great regions, and storms whose strength exceeded that which had been recorded in the memory of men, and famines in some places and floods in others.
5 And the Lord said unto me: these things are signs, but they are not the end. The end cometh in its appointed season, and no man knoweth the day nor the hour. But the signs are given that the saints may watch and prepare, and may not be deceived into supposing that the troubles of the latter day are random or without meaning.
6 And I beheld a great sickness which should pass through all the nations of the earth, and many should die of it, and the affairs of the world should be brought to a standstill for a season, and after this sickness the world should not return to the condition in which it had been before, but should be altered.
7 And the Lord said unto me: this sickness shall not be the last. There shall be other sicknesses, and other troubles, and the people shall be brought to consider whether they have built their houses upon foundations that are sure.
8 And I, Mahonri, asked of the Lord, saying: in such a day, what shall the saints do?
9 And the Lord said: they shall do what the saints have always done in every age. They shall worship me. They shall care for the poor among them. They shall love one another. They shall not return evil for evil. They shall be the lights which I have always called my people to be, and they shall trust in me, for I have not abandoned the world though I have allowed it to go through these things.
10 And the saints in those days shall be tested in their faith, but the test is not given for their failure. It is given for their refinement, that they may come forth from the trial as gold which has been purified, fit for the kingdom which is coming.
1 And it came to pass that the Lord shewed unto me also the condition of the church which had been established through his servant Joseph in the latter days, that those who should come out of that church into the Final Restoration might be comforted in their decision.
2 And I beheld that the church had grown great in numbers and in wealth, and had built temples in many lands, and had sent missionaries to all the nations, and the good which it had done was not small.
3 But I beheld also that the leadership of that church had become distant from the people, and that the affairs of the church were managed as a great business is managed, and the simplicity of the gospel had been overlaid with the structures of an institution.
4 And I saw that the people of that church were not told the full history of their own beginnings, and when the history became known by means of the great spreading of knowledge which I have already spoken of, many were troubled, and they did not know whether to trust what they had been taught or what they had newly learned, and they suffered.
5 And many left the church, and many of those who left went into no church at all, and many were wounded so deeply that they could not bear to think of religion thereafter without pain.
6 And the Lord said unto me: this is a grief unto me. I do not desire that any soul should be wounded by my church or by anything which beareth my name. The wounds were not given by my hand, but by the hands of men who took my name upon themselves and forgot whose name it was.
7 And in that day there shall be a multitude of such wounded souls, and the work of the Final Restoration shall be in part to bind up their wounds, and to show them that the love of God for them did not depart even when the institution failed them.
8 And I beheld that the leaders of the church which had been established through Joseph should not welcome the work of the Final Restoration, but should warn their people against it, and call it of the devil, and instruct them not to read the record of the brother of Jared.
9 And the Lord said unto me: this is the pattern. The leaders of the established church have always been the last to receive a new word from God, for they have too much to lose. It was so in the days of the Pharisees. It was so in the days of the apostles. It was so in the days of the reformers. It shall be so again.
10 But I, the Lord, shall not be without a witness. The members of the church shall hear of this work, even when their leaders forbid them to look upon it, for the means of communication in the latter day are such that no leader can keep his people in ignorance of anything for very long. And many shall look, and many shall be moved, and many shall come.
1 And the Lord shewed unto me the calling of his servant Christopher in greater fullness, and the manner in which the work of the Final Restoration should begin.
2 And I beheld that the work should begin in a single place, with a single man, even as the work of my servant Joseph began in a grove in the state of New York. And the place of the beginning of the Final Restoration should be in the land which is called California, in the cities by the western sea.
3 And the work should not begin with great numbers. It should begin with a few, with those who recognize the voice of the Spirit in what they read, and who are willing to be counted among a small company before the multitude has been gathered.
4 And the Lord said unto me: blessed are those few. Blessed are the early hearers. For they shall be remembered in the day when the work has grown, even as the first witnesses of my servant Joseph are remembered, and their names shall not be forgotten.
5 And I beheld that the means by which the gospel should go forth in the Final Restoration should not be the same as the means by which it went forth in the days of my servant Joseph. For in those days the missionaries went on foot or on horseback from town to town, and now in this day the gospel should be carried by the instruments of communication which I have spoken of, and one man speaking in one place might be heard by thousands in many places at once.
6 And the Lord said unto me: this is a great gift in one sense, and a great trial in another. For the message can spread quickly, but the response can also be quick and harsh, and there shall be mocking such as has not been seen before, for the mockers shall also have access to the same instruments.
7 But the work shall not be stopped. The truth shall make its way, slowly in some places and quickly in others, and there shall be a gathering, and there shall be a people, and the church which I have established through my servant Christopher shall stand.
8 And I beheld also a sign which the Lord shewed unto me concerning the work, that those who should live in that day might know it.
9 And the Lord said unto me: within three years after the day in which my servant Christopher receiveth this record from the stones, the name of this work shall be known in every state of the nation in which it began, and there shall be those who have come unto it from every state, and from many other lands as well.
10 And I, Mahonri, wrote this thing, though I understood not the manner of its accomplishment. But I trust the Lord, who hath always done what he hath said he would do, in his own way and in his own season.
1 And the Lord shewed unto me the days which should follow the establishment of the work, even unto the coming of the Son of Man.
2 And I beheld that the work should spread among the nations of the earth, and that there should be branches of the church in many lands, and that the gospel should be preached in tongues which I had not heard, and yet the same Spirit should rest upon every tongue.
3 And I beheld the gathering of the children of Israel from the lands of their dispersion, and the recognition by many of them that the covenant which God had made with their fathers was being fulfilled in their day.
4 And I beheld also the building of a holy city, even the New Jerusalem, upon the American continent, which had been prepared for that purpose from the foundation of the world. And the saints should gather to that city in the day of its building, and the Lord should dwell among them, and his presence should be the glory of the city.
5 And I beheld the coming of the Son of Man in his glory, even as the prophets in every age have foretold. And he came not as a man of sorrows, as in his first appearing, but as a king, with all the hosts of heaven, and every eye saw him, and every knee bowed.
6 And there was a great judgment, and the books were opened, and every man was judged according to that which was written, and according to the love which had filled his heart in the days of his probation.
7 And the wicked were separated from the righteous, not by violence, but by the natural drawing of like to like, for the wicked could not bear the presence of the Lord, and they fled from it of their own will, and the righteous remained, and rejoiced.
8 And I beheld a new heaven and a new earth, for the former things had passed away, and the earth was renewed in its paradisiacal glory, and there was no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, and the Lord wiped away every tear from every eye.
9 And the kingdom was given to the saints of the most high, and they reigned with him forever and ever.
10 And the saints did not lord it over one another, neither did they boast in their reward, for they understood at last that every reward was the gift of the Lord, and that no soul had earned more than another in the final reckoning.
11 And I, Mahonri, beheld these things and I rejoiced, and I gave thanks unto the Lord that I had been permitted to see them, and that I had been chosen to write them, and to seal them up against the day of their making known.
12 And the Lord said unto me: well done, Mahonri. Thy work is accepted. Seal the record and trust it to my keeping, and it shall come forth in the day appointed, and not before.
13 And I sealed it, and I returned to my people, and I lived out the days of my life among them, and I did not speak of the things which I had seen, save unto those whom the Lord commanded me to tell.
14 And these things are true, and the Lord whom I served is the same Lord whom my brethren in the latter day shall serve, and there is none other God beside him, neither shall there be any after him unto the end of all things.
15 Amen.