out of their lands, yea, even unto his own country, and began to preach and to prophesy among his own people.

8. And behold, he was never heard of more among the Nephites; and thus were the affairs of the people.

9. And thus ended the eighty and sixth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi.

10. And thus ended, also, the eighty and seventh year of the reign of the judges, the more part of the people remaining in their pride and wickedness, and the lesser part walking more circumspectly before God.

11. And these were the conditions also, in the eighty and eighth year of the reign of the judges.

12. And there was but little alteration in the affairs of the people, save it were the people began to be more hardened in iniquity, and do more and more of that which was contrary to the commandments of God, in the eighty and ninth year of the reign of the judges.

13. But it came to pass in the ninetieth year of the reign of the judges, there were great signs given unto the people, and wonders; and the words of the prophets began to be fulfilled;

14. And angels did appear unto men, wise men, and did declare unto them glad tidings of great joy; thus in this year the scriptures began to be fulfilled.

15. Nevertheless, the people began to harden their hearts, all save it were the most believing part of them, both of the Nephites, and also of the Lamanites, and began to depend upon their own strength, and upon their own wisdom, saying,

16. Some things they may have guessed right, among so many; but behold, we know that all these great and marvellous works cannot come to pass, of which has been spoken. 17. And they began to reason and to contend among themselves, saying,

18. That it is not reasonable that such a being as a Christ shall come; if so, and he be the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth, as it has been spoken, why will he not shew himself unto us as well as unto them who shall be at Jerusalem?

19. Yea, why will he not shew himself in this land, as well as in the land of Jerusalem?

20. But behold, we know that this is a wicked tradition, which has been handed down unto us by our fathers, to cause us that we should believe in some great and marvellous thing which should come to pass, but not among us, but in a land which is far distant, a land which we know not; therefore they can keep us in ignorance, for we cannot witness with our own eyes that they are true.

21. And they will, by the cunning and the mysterious arts of the evil one, work some great mystery, which we cannot understand, which will keep us down to be servants

e, Alma 13: 26. f, see a, Mos. III.

to their words, and also servants unto them, for we depend upon them to teach us the word; and thus will they keep us in ignorance, if we will yield ourselves unto them all the days of our lives.

22. And many more things did the people imagine up in their hearts, which were foolish and vain; and they were much disturbed, for satan did stir them up to do iniquity continually; yea, he did go about spreading rumours and contentions upon all the face of the land, that he might harden the hearts of the people against that which was good, and against that which should come;

23. And notwithstanding the signs and the wonders which were wrought among the people of the Lord, and the many miracles which they did, satan did get great hold upon the hearts of the people, upon all the face of the land.

24. And thus ended the ninetieth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi.

25. And thus ended the book of Helaman, according to the record of Helaman and his sons.

III. NEPHI.

THE BOOK OF NEPHI,

THE SON OF NEPHI, WHO WAS THE SON OF HELAMAN.

And Helaman was the son of Helaman, who was the son of Alma, who was the son of Alma, being a descendant of Nephi who was the son of Lehi, who came out of Jerusa lem in the first year of the reign of Zedekiah, the king of Judah.

CHAPTER 1.

1. Now it came to pass that the ninety and first year had passed away and it was "six hundred years from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem; and it was in the year that Lachoneus was the Chief Judge and the Governor over the land.

2. And Nephi the son of Helaman, had departed out of the land of "Zarahemla, giving charge unto his son Nephi, who was his eldest son, concerning the plates of brass, and all the records which had been kept, and all those

g, ver. 13.

a, I. Nep. 10: 4. b, see h, Omni 1.

c, see a, I. Nep. 3. d, Alma 37.

things which had been kept sacred, from the departure of Lehi out of Jerusalem.

3. Then he departed out of the land, and whither he went, no man knoweth; and his son Nephi did keep the records in his stead, yea, the record of this people.

4. And it came to pass that in the commencement of the ninety and second year, behold, the prophecies of the prophets began to be fulfilled more fully; for there began to be greater signs and greater miracles wrought among the people.

5. But there were some who began to say that the time was past for the words to be fulfilled, which were spoken by Samuel, the Lamanite.

6. And they began to rejoice over their brethren, saying, Behold the time is past, and the words of Samuel are not fulfilled; therefore, your joy and your faith concerning this thing, hath been vain.

7. And it came to pass that they did make a great uproar throughout the land; and the people who believed, began to be very sorrowful, lest by any means those things which had been spoken might not come to pass.

8. But behold, they did watch steadfastly "for that day, and that night, and that day, which shall be as one day, as if there were no night, that they might know that their faith had not been vain.

9. Now it came to pass that there was a day set apart by the unbelievers, that all those who believed in those traditions 'should be put to death, except the sign should come to pass which had been given by Samuel the prophet.

10. Now it came to pass that when Nephi, the son of Nephi, saw this wickedness of his people, his heart was exceeding sorrowful.

11. And it came to pass that he went out and bowed himself down upon the earth, and cried mightily to his God, in behalf of his people; yea, those who were about to be destroyed because of their faith in the tradition of their fathers.

12. And it came to pass that he cried mightily unto the Lord, all the day; and behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying,

13. Lift up your head and be of good cheer, for behold, the time is at hand, and on 'this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to shew unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.

14. Behold, I come unto my own, to fulfil all things which I have made known unto the children of men, "from the foundation of the world, and do the will, both of the Father, and of the Son; "of the Father, because of me,

f, Hela. 16:13, 23.

e, I. Nep. 2: 9. g, Hela. 14: 2-7. 14:3, 4. 2, vers. 11, 16. j, Hela. 14: 2--7. k, vers. 9, 16. Hela. 14: 3, 4. m, see d, Mos. 4. n, see c, Mos. 15.

h, Hela.

l, ver. 8.

and of the Son, because of my flesh. And behold, the time is at hand, and "this night shall the sign be given.

15. And it came to pass that the words which came unto Nephi were fulfilled, according as they had been spoken; for behold at the going down of the sun, there was no darkness; and the people began to be astonished, because there was no darkness when the night came.

16. And there were many, who had not believed the words of the prophets, "fell to the earth and became as if they were dead, for they knew that the great plan of destruction which they had laid for those who believed in the word of the prophets, had been frustrated; for the signal which had been given was already at hand;

17. And they began to know that the Son of God must shortly appear; yea, in fine, all the people upon the face of the whole earth from the west to the east, both in the land north and in the land "south, were so exceedingly astonished, that they "fell to the earth;

18. For they knew that the prophets had testified of these things for many years, and that the sign which had been given was already at hand; and they began to fear because of their iniquity and their unbelief.

19. And it came to pass that there was "no darkness in all that night, but it was as light as though it was mid-day. And it came to pass that the sun did rise in the morning again, according to its proper order; and they knew that it was the day that the Lord should be born, because of the sign which had been given.

20. And it had come to pass, yea, all things, every whit, according to the words of the prophets.

21. And it came to pass also, that a "new star did appear, according to the word.

22. And it came to pass that from this time forth, there began to be lyings sent forth among the people, by satan, to harden their hearts to the intent that they might not believe in those signs and wonders which they had seen; but notwithstanding these lyings and deceivings, the more part of the people did believe, and were converted unto the Lord.

23. And it came to pass that Nephi went forth among the people, and also many others, baptizing unto repentance, in the which, there were a great remission of sins. And thus the people began again to have peace in the land;

24. And there were no contentions, save it were a few that began to preach, endeavouring to prove by the scriptures, that it was no more expedient to observe the law of Moses. Now in this thing they did err, having not understood the scriptures.

o, see b, Mos. 3. p, Hela. 14: 3, 4. Hela. 14: 7. 8, vers. 9, 11. t, North Hela. 14:7. w, Hela. 14:3, 4.

v, ver. 16. II. Nep. 9.

9, Hela. 14:3, 4. r, ver. 17. America. u, South America. x, Hela. 14: 5. y, see u,

25. But it came to pass that they soon became converted, and were convinced of the error which they were in, for it was made known unto them that the law was not yet fulfilled, and that it must be fulfilled in every whit; yea the word came unto them that it must be fulfilled; yea, that one jot nor tittle should not pass away till it should all be fulfilled therefore in this same year, were they brought to a knowledge of their error, and did confess their faults.

26. And thus the ninety and second year did pass away, bringing glad tidings unto the people because of the signs which did come to pass, according to the words of the prophecy of all the holy prophets.

27. And it came to pass that the ninety and third year did also pass away in peace, save it were for the 2 aGadianton robbers, who dwelt upon the mountains, who did infest the land; for so strong were their holds, and their secret places, that the people could not overpower them; therefore they did commit many murders, and did do much slaughter among the people.

28. And it came to pass that in the ninety and fourth year, they began to increase in a great degree, because there were many dissenters of the Nephites who did flee unto them, which did cause much sorrow unto those Nephites who did remain in the land;

29. And there was also a cause of much sorrow among the Lamanites; for behold, they had many children who did grow up and began to wax strong in years, that they became for themselves, and were led away by some who were Zoramites, by their lyings and their flattering words, to join those Gadianton robbers;

30. And thus were the Lamanites afflicted also, and began to decrease as to their faith and righteousness, because of the wickedness of the rising generation.

CHAPTER 2.

1. AND it came to pass that thus passed away the ninety and fifth year also, and the people began to forget "those signs and wonders which they had heard, and began to be less and less astonished at a sign or a wonder from heaven, insomuch that they began to be hard in their hearts, and blind in their minds, and began to disbelieve all which they had heard and seen,

2. Imagining up some vain thing in their hearts, that it was wrought by men, and by the power of the devil, to lead away and deceive the hearts of the people; and thus did

z, see o, II. Nep. 25. 2 a, Hela. 2: 11 -13.

a, Hela. 14: 3-7. ш. Nep. 1: 8, 13—21.