Joseph Smith adapted the Indian-Israelite theory for his American scripture. He made the Indians descendants of only one Israelite tribethat of Joseph, whose descendant, Lehi, and his sons Laman and Nephi, brought forth two nations upon the western hemisphere. The Nephites and Lamanites engage in a power struggle that is a morality play. The pious Nephites, the civilized tribe, lose faith in God and are crushed by the Lamanites. The Lamanites are the tribes found by the Europeans.

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THE INTENT TO PROVE

First and foremost, the Book of Mormon is meant as proof. About God, it attests his eternal existence and unchanging manner of relating to mankind. It certifies that he created man, gave him commandments, and, when man transgressed, gave his Son (DC 20:18-21). It proves that God is merciful (1 Ne. 1:20) and that he calls and inspires men in all generations to do his will and work (DC 20: 11).

About Jesus, the Book of Mormon proves all that the New Testament claims for him (DC 20:22-26). It shows that Christ has come ( 2 Ne. 2-6).

The Book of Mormon was also intended to be a witness and proof that the Bible is true (DC 20:11). It authenticates the Bible's divine origin and also that of future revelations-whether by the Holy Ghost, the voice of God, or the ministrations of angels (DC 20:35).

If one accepts environmental factors to account for the Book of Mormon, then it should hold answers to the questions raised by the above expressed intentions. Why did Joseph think the proof necessary? How does the Book ·of Mormon persuade men that Jesus is the Christ, the eternal God?

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Joseph Smith intended the Book of Mormon to speak to the same situation against which Ethan Smith had aimed his View of the Hebrews.

Joseph varies the theory of the Indian-Israelite identification slightly, but it is used in the same way: it showed that God was faithful to his promises and signaled the beginning of the events preceding the millenium. This parallel of purpose should not be underrated.

Joseph Smith was trying to defend belief in God against the sectarianism and popular skepticism of the day. He staked out the principle of revelation as the ground for battle and wrote the Book of Mormon as an apologetic for Jesus Christ.

The historian of nineteenth century Mormonism, Brigham Henry Roberts, set down those features of View of the Hebrews that parallel the Book of Mormon and its origin. Some of his points were:

1. Indians buried a book they could no longer read.

2. A Mr. Merrick found some dark yellow parchment leaves in "Indian Hill."

3. Indians had inspired prophets and charismatic gifts and their own kind of Urim, Thurnmim and breastplate.

4. View of the Hebrews produced evidence to show that. the Mexican Indians of antiquity were not strangers to Egyptian hieroglyphics.

5. An overthrown civilization in America is to be seen from its ruined monuments. The tribes that greeted the Europeans were barbarous because they had lost the civilized arts of the former ·civilization.

6. Ethan Smith cited Humboldt's New Spain to show the characteristics of Central American civilization. The same features are found in the Book of Mormon.

7. The legends of Quetzalcoatl, the Mexican Messiah, are paralleled by Christ's appearing on the western continent in the Book of Mormon.

8. There are many references to Israel's being scattered and then in the last days being gathered. The citations of Isaiah are almost all found—more fully quoted—in the Book of Mormon to drive home the point of the restoration of the lost tribes.

9. The United States is asked to teach the American Indians the Gospel, and Isaiah 18 is addressed specifically to America. Roberts listed most of the important parallels and also noted that View of the Hebrews appeared in 1823, again in 1825, and covered the Burned-over District. To that it must •be added that Louis Boudinot's A Star in the West and also Adair's book were available.

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But Mormon scholars have yet .to come to terms with the contention that Joseph Smith borrowed the Indian-Israelite theory, possibly from Ethan Smith's book. First, it has been shown that the theory was widespread and Ethan Smith's two editions, plus those of Boudinot and Adair, were available. The theory was discussed in the weekly newspaper to which the Smiths subscribed. And there was a six hundred volume library in nearby Manchester and three hundred in Canandaigua, eight miles to the south.

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Ethan Smith valued the theory that the Indians had an Israelite origin, because he could use it as an apologetic weapon in the on-going debate with skeptics and rationalists. He believed that the truth of ancient revelation was being proved in the Indians' traditions.

View of the Hebrews is a book that provides the main features of the Book of Mormon. It supplies those who hold environmental factors as the explanation for the latter's origin with a book propounding a well-known theory—a book and a theory that were available and of interest in Joseph Smith's region and community during his middle teens and through his twenties.

Joseph Smith's probable dependence upon View of the Hebrews has all the strengths that others looked for in the Spaulding manuscript theories but none of their weaknesses. In addition, it lets Smith be seen in his time as someone sincerely trying to produce additional proof for the biblical witness of revelation. Whatever element of fraud men might still find in the origin of his book, Smith simply utilized a different method in a time of "new measures" to bring men to Christ. If he used questionable means to bring about a worthy end, his action differed from that of many more orthodox churchmen only in degree and not in kind.