hardened your hearts; yea, ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd; yea, ye have provoked him to anger against you. And behold instead of gathering you, except ye will repent, behold he shall scatter you forth that ye shall become meat for dogs and wild beasts. Oh! how could you have forgotten your God in the very day that he has delivered you? But behold, it is to get gain, to be praised of men; yea, and that ye might get gold and silver. And ye have set your hearts upon the riches and the vain things of this world, for the which ye do murder, and plunder, and steal, and bear false witness against your neighbour, and do all manner of iniquity; and for this cause wo shall come unto you except ye shall repent. For if ye will not repent, behold this great city, and also all those great cities which are round about, which are in the land of our possession, shall be taken away, that ye shall have no place in them; for behold, the Lord will not grant unto you strength, as he has hitherto done, to withstand against your enemies; for behold, thus saith the Lord, I will not shew unto the wicked of my strength, to one more than the other, save it be unto those who repent of their sins, and hearken unto my words; now therefore I would that ye should behold, my brethren, that it shall be better for the Lamanites than for you, except ye shall repent; for behold they are more righteous than you, for they have not sinned against that great knowledge which ye have received; therefore the Lord will be merciful unto them; yea he will lengthen out their days and increase their seed, even when thou shalt be utterly destroyed, except thou shalt repent; yea, wo be unto you because of that great abomination which has come among you; and ye have united yourselves unto it; yea, to that secret band which was established by Gadianton; yea, wo shall come unto you because of that pride which ye have suffered to enter your hearts, which has lifted you up beyond that which is good because of your exceeding great riches; yea, wo be unto you because of your wickedness and abominations. And except ye repent ye shall perish; yea, even your lands shall be taken from you, and ye shall be destroyed from off the face of the earth. Behold now I do not say that these things shall be, of myself, because it is not of myself that I know these things, but behold I know that these things are true, because the Lord God has made them known unto me, therefore I testify that they shall be.

3. And now it came to pass that when Nephi had said these words, behold there were men who were judges, who also

belonged to the secret band of Gadianton, and they were angry, and they cried out against him, saying unto the people, why do ye not seize upon this man and bring him forth that he may be condemned according to the crime which he has done? Why seest this man, and hearest him revile against this people and against our law? for behold, Nephi had spoken unto them concerning the corruptness of their law; yea, many things did Nephi speak which cannot be written; and nothing did he speak which was contrary to the commandments of God. And those judges were angry with him because he spake plain unto them concerning their secret works of darkness; nevertheless they durst not lay their own hands upon him, for they feared the people lest they should cry out against them; therefore they did cry unto the people, saying, why do you suffer this man to revile against us? For behold he doth condemn all this people, even unto destruction; yea, and also that these our great cities shall be taken from us, that we shall have no place in them. And now we know that this is impossible, for behold we are powerful, and our cities great, therefore our enemies can have no power over us.

4. And it came to pass that thus they did stir up the people to anger against Nephi, and raised contentions among them; for there were some who did cry out, let this man alone, for he is a good man, and those things which he saith will surely come to pass except we repent; yea, behold all the judgments will come upon us which he has testified unto us; for we know that he has testified aright unto us concerning our iniquities. And behold they are many, and he knoweth as well all things which shall befall us as he knoweth of our iniquities; yea, and behold if he had not been a prophet, he could not have testified concerning those things. And it came to pass that those people who sought to destroy Nephi, were compelled because of their fear, that they did not lay their hands on him; therefore he began again to speak unto them, seeing that he had gained favour in the eyes of some, insomuch that the remainder of them did fear; therefore he was constrained to speak more unto them saying, behold my brethren, have ye not read that God gave power unto one man, even Moses, to smite upon the waters of the Red Sea, and they parted hither and thither, insomuch that the Israelites, who were our fathers, came through upon dry ground, and the waters closed upon the armies of the Egyptians and swallowed them up?

5. And now behold, if God gave unto this man such power

then why should ye dispute among yourselves, and say that he hath given unto me no power whereby I may know concerning the judgments that shall come upon you except ye repent? But, behold, ye not only deny my words, but ye also deny all the words which hath been spoken by our fathers, and also the words which were spoken by this man, Moses, who had such great power given unto him; yea, the words which he hath spoken concerning the coming of the Messiah. Yea, did he not bear record, that the Son of God should come? And as he lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, even so shall he be lifted up who should come. And as many as should look upon that serpent should live, even so, as many as should look upon the Son of God with faith, having a contrite spirit, might live, even unto that life which is eternal.

6. And now behold, Moses did not only testify of these things, but also all the holy prophets, from his days, even to the days of Abraham. Yea, and behold, Abraham saw of his coming, and was filled with gladness and did rejoice. Yea, and behold I say unto you, that Abraham not only knew of these things, but there were many before the days of Abraham who were called by the order of God; yea, even after the order of his Son; and this that it should be shewn unto the people a great many thousand years before his coming, that even redemption should come unto them. And now I would that ye should know, that even since the days of Abraham, there have been many prophets that have testified these things; yea, behold, the prophet Zenos did testify boldly; for the which he was slain. And behold, also Zenoch, and also Ezias, and also Isaiah, and Jeremiah, (Jeremiah being that same prophet who testified of the destruction of Jerusalem.) And now we know that Jerusalem was destroyed according to the words of Jeremiah. O then why not the Son of God come, according to his prophecy? And now will you dispute that Jerusalem was destroyed? Will ye say that the sons of Zedekiah were not slain, all except it were Mulek? Yea, and do ye not behold that the seed of Zedekiah are with us, and they were driven out of the land of Jerusalem? But behold, this is not all. Our father Lehi was driven out of Jerusalem because he testified of these things. Nephi also testified of these things, and also almost all of our fathers, even down to this time; yea, they have testified of the coming of Christ, and have looked forward, and have rejoiced in his day which is to come. And behold, he is God, and he is with them, and he did manifest himself unto them, that they were redeemed

mildness of the voice, behold the earth shook exceedingly, and the walls of the prison trembled again, as if it were about to tumble to the earth; and behold the cloud of darkness, which had overshadowed them, did not disperse. And behold, the voice came again, saying, repent ye, repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand; and seek no more to destroy my servants. And it came to pass that the earth shook again, and the walls trembled; and also again the third time the voice came, and did speak unto them marvellous words which cannot be uttered by man; and the walls did tremble again, and the earth shook as if it were about to divide asunder.

21. And it came to pass that the Lamanites could not flee because of the cloud of darkness which did overshadow them; yea, and also they were immoveable because of the fear which did come upon them. Now there was one among them who was a Nephite by birth, who had once belonged to the church of God, but had dissented from them. And it came to pass that he turned him about, and behold he saw through the cloud of darkness the faces of Nephi and Lehi; and behold they did shine exceedingly, even as the faces of angels. And he beheld that they did lift their eyes to heaven; and they were in the attitude as if talking or lifting their voices to some being whom they beheld.

22. And it came to pass that this man did cry unto the multitude, that they might turn and look. And behold, there was power given unto them, that they did turn and look; and they did behold the faces of Nephi and Lehi. And they said unto the man, behold, what doth all these things mean? and who is it with whom these men do converse? Now the man's name was Aminadab. And Aminadab said unto them, they do converse with the angels of God. And it came to

pass that the Lamanites said unto him, what shall we do, that this cloud of darkness may be removed from overshadow ing us? And Aminadab said unto them, you must repent, and cry unto the voice, even until ye shall have faith in Christ, who was taught unto you by Alma, and Amulek, and Zeezrom; and then it shall be removed from overshadowing you.

23. And it came to pass that they all did begin to cry unto the voice of him who had shook the earth; yea, they did cry even until the cloud of darkness was dispersed. And it came to pass that when they cast their eyes about, and saw that the cloud of darkness was dispersed from overshadowing them, and behold, they saw that they were encircled about, yea every soul, by a pillar of fire. And Nephi and Lehi were in the midst of them; yea, they were encircled about; yea,

they were as if in the midst of a flaming fire, yet it did harm them not, neither did it take hold upon the walls of the prison; and they were filled with that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory. And behold the Holy Spirit of God did come down from heaven, and did enter into their hearts, and they were filled as if with fire, and they could speak forth marvellous words.

24. And it came to pass that there came a voice unto them, yea, a pleasant voice, as if it were a whisper, saying, peace, peace be unto you, because of your faith in my well beloved, who was from the foundation of the world. And now when they heard this, they cast up their eyes as if to behold from whence the voice came; and behold, they saw the heavens open; and angels came down out of heaven, and ministered unto them. And there were about three hundred souls who saw and heard these things; and they were bid to go forth and marvel not, neither should they doubt. And it came to pass that they did go forth, and did minister unto the people, declaring throughout all the regions round about, all the things which they had heard and seen, insomuch that the more part of the Lamanites were convinced of them, because of the greatness of the evidences which they had received; and as many as were convinced did lay down their weapons of war, and also their hatred, and the tradition of their fathers. And it came to pass that they did yield up unto the Nephites, the lands of their possession.

25. And it came to pass that when the sixty and second year of the reign of the Judges had ended, all these things had happened, and the Lamanites had become, the more part of them, a righteous people, insomuch that their righteousness did exceed that of the Nephites, because of their firmness and their steadiness in the faith. For behold, there were many of the Nephites who had become hardened, and impenitent, and grossly wicked, insomuch that they did reject the word of God, and all the preaching and prophesying which did come among them. Nevertheless the people of the church did have great joy, because of the conversion of the Lamanites; yea, because of the church of God which had been established among them. And they did fellowship one with another, and did rejoice one with another, and did have great joy. And it came to pass that many of the Lamanites did come down into the land of Zarahemla, and did declare unto the people of the Nephites the manner of their conversion, and did exhort them to faith and repentance; yea, and many did preach with exceeding great power and authority,