Book of the Law of the Lord Ch. 1

James Strang

 James Jesse Strang was born on March 21, 1813, in New York. He was baptized into the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on February 25, 1844. Later that year, Joseph Smith was murdered. There was a succession crisis discussing who was going to be the next prophet of the church. During that crisis, Strang claimed to have a letter from Joseph Smith saying he was to become the next prophet. He also found some small plates in Voree, Wisconsin and claimed to have translated them. He was also said to have translated a portion of the brass plates, publishing this translation as the book of the law of the Lord in 1851. Thousands of Saints followed Strang. They were first located in Voree, Wisconsin, but later moved to Beaver Island, Michigan. On Beaver Island, he was coronated as king of the church. He was also elected to the government of Michigan in 1852 and 1854. 

In 1856, some disaffected members of Strang's church shot him, killing him. Soon after, all the Strangites were killed off beaver island by the non-Strangites living there. Strang hadn't chose a successor and only believed one could be ordained as a prophet by angels, so his church was without a leader. Most joined the RLDS Church, but some stayed. Nowadays, there are only a few hundred Strangites with most living in Wisconsin. 

Strangite religious beliefs are very different from the other churches in the restoration. They believe that the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the doctrine and covenants published before Joseph Smith's death, (which included the Lectures of Faith), the Book of the Law of the Lord, and a collection of revelations in a collection known as the revelations of James Strang are revealed scripture. Women can be ordained as Priests and Teachers. They don't believe in the virgin birth. They worship on the Sabbath. They do believe in plural marriage and animal sacrifice, though neither are practiced today.

This post will go over the Book of the Law of the Lord, the translation of the Brass Plates. I am specifically using a condensed version used by the church of Christ in Christian Fellowship, another Mormon denomination I will talk about in the future.

Testimony 

Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, to whom this Book of the Law of the Lord shall come, that James J. Strang has the plates of the ancient Book of the Law of the Lord given to Moses, from which he translated this law, and has shown them to us. We examined them with our eyes, and handled them with our hands. The engravings are beautiful antique workmanship, bearing a striking resemblance to the ancient oriental languages; and those from which the laws in this book were translated are eighteen in number, about seven inches and three-eights wide, by nine inches long, occasionally embellished with beautiful pictures. And we testify unto you all that the everlasting kingdom of God is established, in which this law shall be kept, till it brings in rest and everlasting righteousness to all the faithful. 

SAMUEL GRAHAM, SAMUEL P. BACON, WARREN POST, PHINEAS WRIGHT, ALBERT N. HOSMER, EBENEZER PAGE, JEHIEL SAVAGE. 

Chapter 1: The Decalogue 

1a ¶ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy might, and with all thy strength:  

1b Thou shalt adore Him, and serve Him, and obey him:  

1c Thou shalt have no other gods before thee:  

1d Thou shalt not make unto thee any image or likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters of the earth, to bow thyself unto it, or to worship it:  

1e Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto, nor adore anything that thine eye beholdeth, or thy imagination conceiveth of; but the Lord thy God only;  

1f For the Lord thy God is a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, from generation to generation, even upon all that hate Him, and showing a multitude of mercies unto them that keep His commandments.  

2a ¶ Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: 

2b Thou shalt not usurp dominion as a ruler; for the name of the Lord thy God is great and glorious above all other names:  

2c He is above all, and is the only true God; the only just and upright King over all:  

2d He alone hath the right to rule; and in His name, only he to whom He granteth it:  

2e Whosoever is not chosen of Him, the same is a usurper, and unholy:  

2f The Lord will not hold him guiltless, for he taketh His name in vain.  

3a ¶ Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  

3b Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God:  

3c In it thou shalt not do any work; thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy woman servant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates:  

3d For in six ages the Lord thy God made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh age:  

3e Therefore the Lord thy God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it:  

3f Thou shalt keep it holy unto Him, that thou forget not the Law, nor be found keeping the company of the vile, nor be despised by the righteous.  

4a ¶ Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself:  

4b Thou shalt not revile him, nor speak evil of him, nor curse him:  

4c Thou shalt do no injustice unto him; and thou shalt maintain his right, against his enemy:  

4d Thou shalt not exact rigorously of him, nor turn aside from relieving him:  

4e Thou shalt deliver him from the snare and the pit, and shalt return his ox when he strayeth:  

4f Thou shalt comfort him when he mourns, and nurture him when he sickens:  

4g Thou shalt not abate the price of what thou buyest of him, for his necessity; nor shalt thou exact of him, because he leaneth upon thee:  

4h For in so doing thousands shall rise up and call thee blessed, and the Lord thy God shall strengthen thee in all the work of thy hand.  

5a ¶ Honour thy father and thy mother:  

5b Give heed to their commandments, obey their laws, and depart not from their precepts:  

5c Reverence their age, and seek unto their house all the days of thy life:  

5d Exalt not thyself against them, nor with-hold to build up their house above thine own:  

5e Honour and obey the king and the judges, and the rulers, and all that are set in authority; for they are as fathers among the people:  

5f That they may be a fear unto evil doers; and the Priest also, who stands before the Lord, that he may instruct thee: 

5g And thy days shall be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.  

6a ¶ Thou shalt not kill:  

6b Thou shalt slay no man in malice; neither thy child, nor thy wife, nor thy bondman, nor thy bondwoman, nor thy servant, nor the child of thy servant:  

6c Neither shalt thou slay thine enemy, except thou admonish him, and entreat him, and he  hear thee not, and God give him into thy hand:  

6d Thou shalt only slay him in lawful war:  

6e And if any man trespass against thee, and break through, and do violence, thou shalt not slay him in revenge.  

6f If thou overtake him in the trespass, thou mayest resist unto blood;  

6g But except thou slay him in the trespass, thou shalt deliver him to the Judge; he shall judge him, and the hand of the officer shall be on him.  

7a ¶ Thou shalt not commit adultery:  

7b Thou shalt not in any wise lie with the wife of thy neighbor;  

7c And if she seduce thee, thou shalt resist her; that thou pollute not thyself, and make not the place of thy house unclean, and destroy not the house of thy neighbor, and that thou cause no violence in the land:  

7d Thou shalt not lie with the wife of the stranger;  

7e Neither shalt thou lie with the wife of thine enemy; lest thy children be scattered abroad, and know not thee, nor the fear of thee be upon them, and they be strangers to the covenant of God, and the whole land be corrupt, and thine offspring be destroyed with the wicked.  

8a ¶ Thou shalt not steal:  

8b Thou shalt not trespass upon anything that is thy neighbor's, to take it from him, nor to destroy it:  

8c Neither shalt thou trespass upon the stranger that dwelleth within thy gates, to destroy his substance, nor to take it from him;  

8d For to thee he looketh for justice, and a shield round about all that he hath;  

8e And the fear of the Lord thy God is upon him also, and to his righteousness he also seeketh:  

8f Neither shalt thou overreach him by cunning, nor by stratagem, to take his substance from thy neighbor, nor the stranger within thy gates.  

8g Remember that ye were strangers, and were oppressed, and oppress not the stranger, lest his cry ascend to God against you.  

9a ¶ Thou shalt not bear false witness:  

9b Thou shalt not speak falsely before the king, nor before the judge, nor in the assembly of the princes, nor in the presence of the ruler, nor unto the minister of the Law, nor among the multitude;  

9c Nor in the ear of thy friend, nor to thy wife, nor thy child, nor thy servant:  

9d Neither shalt thou withhold the truth from the king, nor the judge, nor him that is set in authority: 

9e For thus shall righteousness be established in all thy borders.  

10a ¶ Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's inheritance:  

10b Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, nor his bondman, nor his bondwoman, nor his manservant, nor his woman servant,  

10c Nor his horse, nor his carriage, nor the instruments of his labour, nor the  roduce of his land,  

10d Nor the things that he has made, nor the treasures that he has in store, nor anything that is thy neighbor's:  

10e Thy desire shall not be upon them, to take them by stealth, nor by fraud, nor by cunning, nor by violence:  

10f Neither shalt thou covet that which belongeth to the stranger that dwelleth within thy gates;  

10g But thou shalt improve thine own, and thy desire shall be unto it; 

10h Lest thou be corrupt, and the hand of thy neighbors be against thee, and the cry of the poor ascend to God against thee.