Author Language English Publication date 1826 | Country United States Publisher Josiah Priest | |
Media type Print (Hardcover & Paperback) | ||
The Wonders of Nature is a book by Josiah Priest that was published in 1826. The book starts off giving God the honor of creating everything with the main focus being on the incredible nature, which seen by the author, is controlled by God. The "wonders of nature," which include a number of examples of what are now termed cryptozoology and anomalistics, are concluded in the book to be proof that God lives and interferes. The author condemns people who deny the existence of God.
Contents
Contents
The book is divided under different subjects, here they can be seen categorized under the following categories:
Proposed plagiarism by Joseph Smith, Jr.
Some critics of Mormonism, such as Jerald and Sandra Tanner and Richard Arbanes, consider The Wonders of Nature to be a relevant work for its historical connection to Mormonism. David Persuitte concluded that there were a number of parallels between the Book of Mormon and The Wonders of Nature. The Wonders of Nature was published five years before the Book of Mormon was published and Josiah Priest knew Oliver Cowdery, who later assisted Joseph Smith, Jr. with the production of the Book of Mormon. The chapter of Priest's book that is of interest in regards to this subject is "Northern and Western Indians, Proofs that the Indians of North America were lineally descended from the ancient Hebrews." Page 377 indicates that the origins of the North American Indians were speculated to be of Hebrew descent for at least 50 years before the writing of this book. Other theories about the Ten Lost Tribes in the Americas date back to the 17th century.