I know my guilt; I transgressed thy law, and my transgressions are mine; and the devil had obtained me, that I am a prey to his awful misery. But behold, my brethren, is it expedient that I should awake you to an awful reality of these things? Would I harrow up your souls, if your minds were pure? Would I be plain unto you according to the plainness of the truth, if ye were freed from sin? Behold, if ye were holy, I would speak unto you of holiness; but as ye are not holy, and ye look upon me as a teacher, it must needs be expedient that I teach you the consequences of sin. Behold, my soul abhorreth sin, and my heart delighteth in righteousness; and I will praise the holy name of my God. Come, my brethren, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labour for that which cannot satisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness. Behold, my beloved brethren, remember the words of your God; pray unto him continually by day, and give thanks unto his holy name by night. Let your hearts rejoice, and behold how great the covenants of the Lord, and how great his condescensions unto the children of men; and because of his greatness, and his grace and mercy, he has promised unto us that our seed shall not utterly be destroyed, according to the flesh, but that he would preserve them; and in future generations, they shall become a righteous branch unto the house of Israel.

17. And now, my brethren, I would speak unto you more; but on the morrow I will declare unto you the remainder of my words. Amen.

CHAPTER VII.

1. And now I, Jacob, speak unto you again, my beloved brethren, concerning this righteous branch of which I have spoken. For behold, the promises which we have obtained, are promises unto us according to the flesh; wherefore, as it has been shown unto me that many of our children shall perish in the flesh, because of unbelief, nevertheless, God will be merciful unto many; and our children shall be restored, that they may come to that which will give them the

true knowledge of their Redeemer. Wherefore, as I said unto you, it must needs be expedient that Christ, (for in the last night the angel spake unto me that this should be his name,) should come among the Jews, among those who are the more wicked part of the world; and they shall crucify him: For thus it behoveth our God; and there is none other nation on earth that would crucify their God. For should the mighty miracles be wrought among other nations, they would repent, and know that he be their God; but because of priestcrafts and iniquities, they at Jerusalem will stiffen their necks against him, that he be crucified. Wherefore, because of their iniquities, destructions, famines, pestilences, and bloodshed, shall come upon them; and they who shall not be destroyed, shall be scattered among all nations.

2. But behold, thus saith the Lord God: When the day cometh that they shall believe in me, that I am Christ, then have I covenanted with their fathers that they shall be restored in the flesh, upon the earth, unto the lands of their inheritance. And it shall come to pass that they shall be gathered in from their long dispersion, from the isles of the sea, and from the four parts of the earth; and the nations of the Gentiles shall be great in the eyes of me, saith God, in carrying them forth to the lands of their inheritance. Yea, the kings of the Gentiles shall be nursing fathers unto them, and their queens shall become nursing mothers; wherefore, the promises of the Lord are great unto the Gentiles, for he hath spoken it, and who can dispute? But behold, this land, saith God, shall be a land of thine inheritance, and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land. And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles; and I will fortify this land against all other nations, and he that fighteth against Zion shall perish, saith God; for he that raiseth up a king against me shall perish, for I, the Lord, the king of heaven, will be their king, and I will be a light unto them for ever that hear my words. Wherefore, for this cause, that my covenants may be fulfilled which I have made unto the children of men, that I will do unto them while they are in the flesh, I must needs destroy the secret works of darkness, and of murders, and of abominations; wherefore, he that fighteth against Zion, both Jew and Gentile, both bond and free, both male and female, shall perish: for they are they who are the whore of all the earth; for they who are not for me are against me saith our God. For I will fulfil my promises which I have made unto the children of men, that I will do unto them

while they are in the flesh wherefore, my beloved brethren, thus saith our God, I will afflict thy seed by the hand of the Gentiles; nevertheless I will soften the hearts of the Gentiles, that they shall be like unto a father to them; wherefore the Gentiles shall be blessed and numbered among the house of Israel. Wherefore, I will consecrate this land unto thy seed and they who shall be numbered among thy seed, for ever, for the land of their inheritance: for it is a choice land, saith God unto me, above all other lands, wherefore I will have all men that dwell thereon, that they shall worship me, saith God. 3. And now my beloved brethren, seeing that our merciful God has given us so great knowledge concerning these things, let us remember him, and lay aside our sins, and not hang down our heads, for we are not cast off; nevertheless, we have been driven out of the land of our inheritance; but we have been led to a better land, for the Lord has made the sea our path, and we are upon an isle of the sea. But great are the promises of the Lord unto they who are upon the isles of the sea; wherefore as it says isles, there must needs be more than this, and they are inhabited also by our brethren. For behold, the Lord God has led away from time to time from the house of Israel, according to his will and pleasure. And now behold, the Lord remembereth all they who have been broken off, wherefore he remembereth us also; therefore cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves-to chose the way of everlasting death, or the way of eternal life. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh and remember after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved. Wherefore, may God raise you from death by the power of the resurrection, and also from everlasting death by the power of the atonement, that ye may be received into the eternal kingdom of God, that ye may praise him through grace divine. Amen.

CHAPTER VIII.

1. AND now Jacob spake many more things to my people at that time: nevertheless only these things have I caused to be written, for the things which I have written sufficeth me.

2. And now I, Nephi, write more of the words of Isaiah, for my soul delighteth in his words. For I will liken his words

unto my people, and I will send them forth unto all my children, for he verily saw my Reedeemer, even as I have seen him. And my brother Jacob also has seen him as I have seen him: wherefore I will send their words forth unto my children, to prove unto them that my words are true. Wherefore, by the words of three, God hath said I will establish my word. Nevertheless, God sendeth more witnesses, and he proveth all his words. Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ: for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world unto man, are the typifying of him. And also my soul delighteth in the covenants of the Lord which he hath made to our fathers; yea, my soul delighteth in his grace, and in his justice, and power, and mercy in the great and eternal plan of deliverance from death. And my soul delighteth in proving unto my people, that save Christ should come, all men must perish. For if there be no Christ, there be no God; and if there be no God, we are not, for there could have been no creation. But there is a God, and he is Christ, and he cometh in the fulness of his own time.

3. And now I write some of the words of Isaiah, that whoso of my people shall see these words, may lift up their hearts and rejoice for all men. Now these are the words, and ye may liken them unto you and unto all men.

4. The word that Isaiah, the son of Amos, saw, concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, when the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it, and many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord; yea, come, for ye have all gone astray, every one to his wicked ways.

5. Therefore, O Lord, thou hast forsaken thy people, the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and hearken unto soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers. Their land

also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots: their land is also full of idolsthey worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: and the mean man boweth not down, and the great man humbleth himself not, therefore, forgive him not.

6. O ye wicked ones, enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for the fear of the Lord, and the glory of his majesty shall smite thee. And it shall come to pass that the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of Hosts soon cometh upon all nations; yea, upon every one; yea, upon the proud and lofty, and upon every one who is lifted up, and he shall be brought low; yea, and the day of the Lord shall come upon all the cedars of Lebanon, for they are high and lifted up; and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills, and upon all the nations which are lifted up, and upon every people, and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of the sea, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for the fear of the Lord shall come upon them; and the glory of his majesty shall smite them, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which he hath made for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for the fear of the Lord shall come upon them, and the majesty of his glory shall smite them when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?

7. For behold, the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem, and from Judah, the stay and the staff, the whole staff of bread, and the whole stay of water, the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. And I will give children unto them to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.