significance passed away in time, in the latter phase of the history of the people of the western hemisphere; for the Nephites went into transgression as well as the Lamanite party, and no longer stood as the champions of religion and the Church: and hence the names then stood for the respective parties, strangely bent on each other's destruction. It must also be understood that the term "idolatrous people" does not apply to all the Lamanites previous to the coming of Messiah, through the whole period of their history; for at times there were very widespread conversions among them to faith in the true God, as at the time of the mission of King Mosiah's sons among them, three-quarters of a century B. C.; and again as the result of the labors of Nephi, the son of Helaman, and his brother Lehi (31 B. C. to 2 B. C.). In this last named successful ministry, the Lamanites reversed for a time the historic relations of the two parties, the Lamanites more universally accepting the faith taught by the prophets of God than the Nephites, exceeding them in righteousness of life and in zeal as champions of the cause of God and truth. But, speaking broadly, after noting the foregoing limitations and exceptions, from the first separation of the Nephites from the Lamanites, down to the coming of Messiah, the Lamanites were an idolatrous people. And again from the time of the destruction of the Nephite party, about 400 A. D., to the coming of the Europeans, near the close of the fifteenth century, superstition and the darkness of idolatry (enlightened here and there, perhaps, with a fragment of truth cherished in the traditions of the people) held the inhabitants of the western world under its dominion. By way of recapitulation, allow me here to say, in closing this second division of my treatise, that I have now considered the value of the Book of Mormon as a witness for God; the purposes for which it was written; the manner of its coming forth through the agency of Joseph Smith; the manner of its translation, and the account of its publication; the migrations of its people to the western world; the lands they occupied; the intercontinental movements of its peoples; their government, literature and religion. All this, it is hoped, sets forth what the Book of Mormon is, and its value as a volume of history and scripture; and naturally leads up to the great questions to be considered in this treatise, viz.: Is the Book of Mormon what it purports to be? Is it an abridged history of the ancient people who inhabited the western hemisphere? Does it really give an account of God's hand-dealing with them? Is it the voice of sleeping nations testifying to the truth of God's existence, to the verity of Messiah's mission, to the power of salvation in the gospel of Jesus Christ? Is it verily a volume of scripture? Is it true?