NEPHI TRANSLATED--HIS SON NEPHI--TIME OF THE SAVIOR'S COMING--THE CONSPIRACY TO SLAY THE BELIEVERS--THE REVELATION TO NEPHI--THE PROMISED SIGNS APPEAR--INCREASE OF THE GADIANTON ROBBERS--WAR--LACHONEOUS GATHERS ALL THE PEOPLE TO ONE LAND--THE END OF THE STRUGGLE.
Shortly before the birth of Christ, Nephi transferred the plates of brass and other records to his son Nephi, gave him charge concerning them, and departed from the land of Zarahemla. Whither he went, or what became of him, is hidden from the knowledge of mankind. That he did not return to the dwelling-places of humanity is testified to by his son some ten years afterwards.
Six hundred years had now passed since Lehi and his companions left Jerusalem. The time had arrived, of which Samuel the Lamanite and other prophets had borne testimony when the phenomena should appear to bear witness of the birth of the Son of God. As the day drew near, signs and miracles increased among the people. But the hardened in heart, who were ever on the watch to entrap those who believed in the words of the prophets, began to circulate the idea that the time had passed and the prophecies had failed. Not content with mocking and reviling those who were anxiously looking for the promised two days and a night when there should be no darkness, they went as far as to appoint a day when all who believed in the coming of the Savior should be slain, except the sign be first given.
This gross wickedness caused Nephi great sorrow; his only recourse was to heaven. Before God, in mighty prayer, he bowed in behalf of his imperiled people. All the day long he continued his earnest supplications. At last the word of the Anointed One came unto him, saying, 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 show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets. As was thus declared, so was it fulfilled, for at the going down of the sun it was light as day, and so continued until the morning, when the sun again rose in its usual course. A new star had also appeared in the heavens. Then the faithful rejoiced, their hearts were full to overflowing, they knew that their Redeemer was born, and that the great plan of salvation had entered its most glorious phase; God, the great Jehovah, was tabernacled in the flesh. But the wicked quaked with awful dread, they realized the extent of their iniquity, they sensed that they were murderers at heart, for they had plotted to take the lives of the righteous, and in the terror that this overwhelming sense of their piteous condition wrought, they sank to the earth as though they were dead.