s and nights, in
which to send a missionary to Nineveh. This craft was constructed
after the manner of the boat spoken of in the Book of Mormon. If
the prophet was correct in the description of his craft, he too
scooted through the water in the same way that the Nephites did
in their boat. The Book of Mormon is nothing more or less than a
book containing the history of a portion of the House of Israel,
who left Jerusalem about the time of the reign of Zedekiah, King
of Judah, and crossed the ocean to America; containing also the
gospel which was preached to them on this continent, which is the
same gospel as that preached by' Christ and His Apostles at
Jerusalem. The Bible and the Book of Mormon both contain a
history of the different branches of the House of Israel, and
each contains the gospel of Christ as it was preached unto them,
the different branches of the house of Israel, and to all
nations. Both testify of each other, and point with exactness to
the dispensation of the fullness of time. The Book of Mormon does
not contain a new gospel; it is the same gospel as that preached
by Christ. It is a mysterious book, just what the prophet said it
should be, "a marvelous work, a wonder." But my friend says that
it is too mysterious, too wonderful, for human credence, and
challenges me to point out anything told in the Bible that seems
inconsistent with reason or experience. Now, which is the more
reasonable, that Nephi built a boat after the pattern mentioned
in the Mormon Bible, being directed by God how to build it, and
then crossed the ocean to this continent, or that Jonah was in
the whale's belly for three days and three nights, and then made
a safe landing? Or would it sound any better if Nephi had said
that when he and his company came to the great waters, the Lord
had prepared whales, two or more, to receive them and their
outfit, and set them over on this side?

Nothing is impossible with God. If He saw fit to send Jonah on
his mission in a whale's belly, I have no fault to find with Him
for so doing. He has the right to do His own will and pleasure;
and if He instructed Nephi how to fashion his boat, or Noah to
build an ark against the deluge, or caused Balaam's ass to speak
and rebuke the madness of his master, or Moses to lead the
children of Israel through the Red Sea, without any boat at all,
or the walls of Jericho to fall to the ground, and the people to
become paralyzed through the tooting of rams'