Religion among the Nephites consisted in the worship of the true and living God, the Jehovah of the Jews, whose revelations to the children of Israel through Moses and all the prophets to Jeremiah were brought with them into the new world. They therefore accepted into their faith all the Bible truths, and in its historical parts they had before them the valuable lessons which Bible history teaches. It furnished also a foundation for literature among them. For not only by the Bible were their prophets instructed in the law of God, but copies of some parts of it were multiplied and read by the people. [22] What is more they were possessed of some other books not now in our so-called canon of the Old Testament, such as the books of the Prophets Zenock, Neum and Zenos; all referred to by the first Nephi, who quotes some of their prophecies concerning the coming of Messiah in the flesh, and of three days of darkness to be given unto some of the inhabitants of the isles of the sea as a sign of the Christ's death. [23] The Nephites also had the writings of Ezias referred to by one of the Nephite prophets in the Book of Helaman. [24] Elder Orson Pratt, in a foot note on the passage, suggests that Ezias "may have been identical with Esaias, who lived contemporary with Abraham." [25] These books contained very precious truths concerning the coming and mission of the Messiah; and when information on this subject was lacking in the books which the Nephites brought with them from Jerusalem, it was abundantly made up to them by the things which the Lord revealed directly to their own prophets; for in the clearest manner possible the Lord made known to this branch of the house of Israel in the western world, the future coming and mission of the Messiah, together with the effectiveness of the atonement which he was appointed to make for mankind. While the Nephites kept the law of Moses previous to the advent of Messiah, as to its sacrifices and ordinances, yet they understood that these things but shadowed forth the real sacrifice to be made for them by the Savior of the world; and that these ordinances in which they administered were only of virtue by reason of the things which were to be done by Messiah afterwards.