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.