A Young Folks History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | Page 8

them until they became rich; then
they would become proud and at last wicked. Then the Lord would
allow the Lamanites to come upon them, and there would be bloody
wars. So the story goes for hundreds of years.
Both nations became very large and occupied the greater part of North

and South America.
At times the Lord would raise up prophets who would preach to the
wicked. Usually these teachers were Nephites, but sometimes they were
Lamanites. Sometimes great numbers of Lamanites were converted to
the Lord, and when they once accepted the truth, they did not fall away
so easily as their Nephite brethren. At one time two thousand young
men whose parents were converted Lamanites did valiant service for
their country and their religion. There isn't room to tell you about the
story here; but you may read about it in the Book of Mormon,
beginning with the 53rd chapter of Alma.
When Nephi separated from his brethren, he went north and settled in a
place they called the Land of Nephi; but after a time the Lamanites
again annoyed them so much that the Lord told Mosiah, who was their
leader then to take the more faithful part of the people and again go
northward. This they did, and found a city called Zarahemla which had
been built by a people who had also come from Jerusalem at the time
that city was destroyed. The Nephites joined with the people of
Zarahemla, and for a long time this city was the capital of the Nephite
people.
In time the Lamanites occupied all of South America except a small
part in the north, on which the Nephites lived. The Nephites' land also
extended far up into North America.
A little over six hundred years after Lehi landed on this continent, Jesus
appeared unto some of the righteous. Before this, however, there had
been a great storm all over the land, and many of the wicked had been
destroyed. Jesus had been crucified at Jerusalem, had risen from the
dead, and now he came to the Nephites with his resurrected body. He
taught them the same gospel that he had taught in Palestine and chose
twelve disciples to preach and build up his church. For nearly two
hundred years the people all belonged to the Church of Christ, and
peace was over all the land. Then they became wicked again. The
Lamanites kept driving the Nephites further north, until they reached
what is now the United States. Around a hill in the western part of the
State of New York, then called Cumorah, what was left of the Nephites

gathered for the last struggle. The Lamanites met them, and there was a
great battle in which all but a very few of the Nephites were killed.
Thus ended the Nephite nation, not quite four hundred years after
Christ, and the Lamanites or Indians have lived here ever since.
During all this time the Lord had some good men keep a record of what
happened among the people. In those days they did not write on paper,
so these histories were recorded on plates of metal. These plates were
handed from one man to another, until about the time of the last great
battle, a prophet by the name of Mormon had all the records. He wrote
a short account from them called an abridgment. What he took from
each man's record he called after the writer's name, as the Book of
Alma, Book of Helaman, etc., which we might call names of chapters
in Mormon's book. Mormon gave all his writings to his son Moroni,
who wrote a little more on the plates. Moroni also made a short account
of another people who had lived in America before the Nephites. They
were called the Jaredites. Their history is told in the Book of Ether.
After Moroni had seen his people destroyed he hid all the records in the
hill Cumorah.
Topics.--1. What history and geography prove regarding the Book of
Mormon. 2. The Lamanites. 3. The Nephites. 4. Mormon. 5. Moroni.
Questions and Review.--1. Who was Lehi? 2. Name his sons. (Jacob
and Joseph were born after he left Jerusalem.) 3. Tell about Laman and
Lemuel. 4. What kind of boy was Nephi? 5. Why did they leave
Jerusalem? 6. Why did Lehi want the records of his forefathers? 7.
Who were the Lamanites? 8. Describe them. 9. Tell about the Nephites.
10. In what land did these people live? 11. Why were the Nephites
destroyed? 12. What is the Book of Mormon? 13. Who wrote it? 14.
Who had charge of the plates? 15. Where were they hidden? 16. Who
translated them into the English language?
CHAPTER VI.
THE THREE WITNESSES.

All who read this book ought to turn to