"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, Hebrews 11:1.

"Faith... the evidence of things not seen." The point to be emphasized here is that faith rests on evidence; and it must follow that there is a proportion between evidence and faith. When the evidence is large and strong, the faith will be correspondingly strong. As you increase or intensify the evidence, so also you increase the Faith.

At the beginning of the New Dispensation—over a hundred years ago—the world's great need was undoubtedly Faith, and hence the logical step to be taken in the development of that New Dispensation after God had raised up His first Witness, Joseph Smith, was to increase the evidence for the supreme religious truths: and hence the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, the record of God's hand dealings with the ancient inhabitants of America, chiefly a branch of the house of Israel, descendants of Joseph, son of Jacob.

The express purpose for which this record was written, preserved, revealed, and published in the New Dispensation was that it might convince "the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God," see Preface of the Book of Mormon on the page current edition. This book is virtually a new volume of scripture, the voice of the inhabitants of the western continent testifying that they were not neglected but God, in the matter of making known to them the supreme truths, and His revelation to them of the existence of God, that Jesus Christ was his Son, and the Savior of the world. Brought forth this book may be said to constitute the divine evidence for these truths; and it must follow that those who accept it and enlarge their Faith by reason of thus increasing the volume of evidence for Faith.

B. H. ROBERTS