Helaman himself was a righteous man: He did observe to keep the judgments, and the statutes, and the commandments of God; and he did do that which was right in the sight of God continually, and he did walk after ways of his father, insomuch that he did prosper in the land. So writes the historian of Helaman; what more can be said of any man? Helaman had two sons to whom he gave the names of Nephi and Lehi, to remind them, when they heard their own names called, of the faith and goodness of their great ancestors, who, by God's direction, led their fathers to the promised land. When Helaman died he was succeeded by his son Nephi. CHAPTER XXXVII. THE SONS OF HELAMAN--NEPHI's RIGHTEOUS RULE--THE LAMANITES AGAIN INVADE ZARAHEMLA--THEY DRIVE THE NEPHITES INTO THE NORTHERN CONTINENT--THE MINISTRATIONS OF NEPHI AND LEHI--THE MANIFESTATIONS OF GOD'S POWER IN THE CITY OF NEPHI--AMINADAB--THE CONVERSION OF THE LAMANITES--UNIVERSAL PEACE. (HELAMAN CHAP. 4 AND 5.) In Nephi we have one of the greatest prophets that ever trod the earth, or to whom the God of our salvation revealed his glorious will. He lived during the greater portion of the first century before Christ, and disappeared from the knowledge of mankind but a short time before the advent of the Messiah as a babe in Bethlehem. He is first referred to in the Book of Mormon (B. C. 44) as the elder of Helaman's two sons, Lehi being the younger. These two brothers appear to have been inseparable during their lives. They are nearly always mentioned as associated in the great and oft-times perilous labors of the ministry undertaken for the salvation of either Nephites or Lamanites. We have no information with regard to the time of Nephi's birth, but when his father died, in the year B. C. 39, he succeeded him as chief judge, the duties of which office he filled with wisdom and justice for about nine years, when owing to the wickedness of the people, he resigned that office, and Cezoram was chosen by the people in his stead (B. C. 30).