In the above, three reasons are given why the Book of Mormon was written and preserved to come forth among men in the last days: First, to show unto the remnant of the House of Israel what great things the Lord has done for their fathers. Second, to teach them the covenants of the Lord made with their fathers, that the remnants may know that they are not cast off forever. Third, that this record may convince both Jew and gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, and that he manifests himself to all nations. In a revelation given to Joseph Smith in July, 1828, on the occasion of the Urim and Thummim being restored to him after it had been taken from him in consequence of allowing Martin Harris to have a portion of the manuscript of the Book of Mormon, contrary to the will of God, the Lord said to him: My work shall go forth, for inasmuch as the knowledge of a Savior has come unto the world, through the testimony of the Jews, even so shall the knowledge of a Savior come unto my people--and to the Nephites, and the Jacobites, and the Josephites, and the Zoramites, through the testimony of their fathers--And this testimony shall come to the knowledge of the Lamanites, and the Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites who dwindled in unbelief because of the iniquity of their fathers, whom the Lord has suffered to destroy their brethren the Nephites, because of their iniquities and their abominations. And for this very purpose are these plates preserved, which contain these records--that the promise of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made to his people; and that the Lamanites might come to the knowledge of their fathers, and that they might know the promises of the Lord, and that they may believe the gospel and rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ, and be glorified through faith in his name, and that through their repentance they might be saved. [1] In this passage we have substantially the same reasons given why the Book of Mormon was written, though not stated in the same order, but as follows: First, that a knowledge of a Savior might come unto the remnants of the house of Israel in the western hemisphere, who are called Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, Lamanites, etc. Second, that the Lamanites might come to a knowledge of their fathers. Third, that the Lamanites might know the promises of the Lord, both to their fathers and to themselves. Mormon also left upon record his testimony as to why the book which bears his name was written, and why it would be preserved and come forth in the last days. In his own book, by which I mean that book in which he wrote the things which he saw in his own day, Mormon says: