THE BOOK OF MANTI

1Behold, I am Manti and my father was Oug, the same who was the prophet at the time of Christ’s coming to the Nem of Mentina. And I am the youngest of the sons of Oug. Nevertheless, I was present and did witness the Savior when He came in His glory to the Temple at Mentina. And I did also hear Him speak and I did see all His doings with the people, save that which He spoke unto the thirteen chosen to be His apostles.

2And when my father became old, he delivered to me the keeping of this place and of the records kept here. Yea, and he did admonish me to make the libraries safe. So have I done in all my days.

3Behold, the records are many, for we have also found many books containing the works and words of the Jaredites, and even some few which we believe originate in other places and are of a more ancient nature. And I did cause that the places wherein we do keep the records be made strong. For, the cavities which the people of Hagoth and Hagmeni dug for to keep the books were cramped and not well constructed, and there was the threat of collapse. Wherefore, in accordance with the command of my father, and also with the desires of my own heart, I caused that a system of caverns be dug to hold the records safely.

4And behold, these caverns were dug in a cunning manner, and they were constructed with such skill that one feels as if one is standing in the room of a building or a temple. And behold, I did also cause that there should be a means whereby the records could be read without removing them from their place of safety. Wherefore, the most cunning artisans were sought and a system of shafts were cut into the living rock, just as the rooms and corridors were also cut out, and mirrors were so placed as to provide light to them that came to read the books.

5Now, many people did come from many places to read the books. Yea, and there was a constant traffic upon the roads from the South, and from the East, and from the North. For, we know that Jesus did visit other people and places. Yea, we know that He did go unto the Nem of Corianton, and we believe that He did visit all the people left in the land. Wherefore, many come to Mentina from many places to read the books and to study with the learned of our city, and also to learn the ways and the ordinances of the temple.

6And behold, there is a constant traffic of trade from all the peoples of the land, both in the North and in the South. And many do travel in the caravans and upon the roads. Wherefore, when they come to Mentina, many travelers do also desire to rest and to read the books. Yea, because of the traffic to and from the libraries, and also to and from the temple, the city of Mentina has become an important city.

7And behold, the councils of the city, and also of the region round about, over which the city had influence, did request that I bring together artisans again and that we build up the temple and certain other parts of the city. And I did as the councils requested, and I caused that a work of construction be commenced to build up the temple so that it could accommodate the many people who came to the city to participate in the ordinances thereof.

8Now behold, this is the manner of the temple that I caused to be built under the direction of the council. The temple consists of seven buildings whose foundations are made of stone from the surrounding mountains. But behold, we did only stretch forth our tools upon the stones to be used as the foundations of the temples, and never did we construct any altar of cut stone.

9And the floor of each building was completely flat and level, and stairs led up to the buildings. Notwithstanding, though stairs led up to the buildings, for they were all built upon a hill and to move from one temple to the next in succession, one needed to ascend the hill. Wherefore, there was need for stairs to lead from one temple up to another. But behold, within the temple buildings there are no stairs, and the altars sit upon the level floor. Now, in this we believe we do follow the admonition of God. Yea, our altars are made of uncut stone and we have no stairs leading up to the altar.

10And the temples begin at the base of the hill with the Place of Adam, and they progress up the hill until one reaches the Place of Eve. And it is in the Place of Eve where the sacred anointing of husbands and wives takes place. Wherefore, the seven buildings of the temple do form a stair ascending the temple hill. And this temple overlooks the lake and the surrounding country.

11Now, we had much timber with which to build. Wherefore, we used timber in all our construction. And the workmanship of the timber was exceeding fine, surpassing any workmanship of wood that had ever been seen in the Land Northward. But behold, this was not by design, for we did not set out to build anything but that which was needed by the people. Notwithstanding, the artisans went to their work with such love and care that the finished temple was beautiful beyond description. And behold, many visit the temple today merely to look upon the intricate designs with which the artisans adorned the temple. Surely, it is a work of beauty unsurpassed in all the land, and I deem this right. For, ought we not to do our best work for the Lord? And it is a marvelous thing that the people do in making covenants in His Holy House. Wherefore, I can think of no better gift that the artisans could have made to their God, but that they give the finest work they could.

12But this is not all. To honor the Lord, these same artisans did also make more commodious and comfortable the public houses wherein the visitors to the temple do stay. This they did to remind the visitors, who came either for trade, to read the books or to go up to the temple, of the sacred nature of the city of Mentina and the sacred purpose the inhabitants thereof had taken upon themselves. Wherefore, the city of Mentina grew in renown throughout all the land.

13Now, as I have written in another place, the brethren of my father did return again unto the Nem, just as Jesus foretold that they would, and they rejoiced in all that my father had done to prepare a place for their return. But behold, one Timothy, yea, even that Timothy who did ask with his brothers to remain until Christ should come again, journeyed with them. And he brought unto my father a book recounting all that had taken place in the Land Southward. And behold, because of this it became the custom of the people in the Land Northward and in the Land Southward to exchange records each year one with another. But this was a work that was taken up by the Three alone.

14Wherefore, every year at the Festival of Lights, one or more of the Three do bring up unto us here in the North, word of all the doings of our relations in the South. And we do write all the things that they speak to us concerning them, and we do keep a record of their doing.

15But this is not all. They do also teach us and we do sit at their feet to learn more perfectly the things of the Lord. For, the Three do not taste of death and do have constant concourse with Angels and with God. And behold, they do teach us how to place our feet upon the Way, that we may also have this great blessing. And many do avail themselves each year of their teachings. Behold, because of this, there are many prophets in the city of Mentina and in the region round about, and we do enjoy a continual state of communion with the heavens. For we do walk and talk with our ancestors and with the spirits of just men and women made perfect. And our joy and our contentment at these happy and holy circumstances cannot be expressed.

1And now it is twenty and five years after the coming of Jesus unto the Nem of Mentina, and we have enjoyed continuous peace and thanksgiving in Mentina. And we do welcome people from all parts of the world, even from the far Isles of the Sea both to the westward and to the eastward. And even there have come unto us visitors from far places in the north, where one may walk across the oceans in the cold season of the year. Yea, we do welcome and learn from all people who come to us to read the books and to participate with us in the ordinances of the temple.

2And I would speak somewhat about these ordinances, for they are precious to me and of great import to my people. Behold, the ordinances of the temple do seal our work with that of the Lord. For, it is in the temple that we betoken the covenants that we have made with God. Yea, we go up unto the temple in order that our covenants may culminate in the tokens, which are given in holy ordinances. And these ordinances we do perform in the temple.

3And behold, every one of the Nem are taught the meanings of the covenants from their youth. Yea, from the time that a little child is able to understand a mother's words, the covenants and ordinances of the temple are taught. In this way, no person may say that they do not know whereof they speak or act when they bow their heads and receive the laws of God.

4These are the buildings of the Temple of Mentina and their purposes. As I said before, the temple is divided into seven buildings, each of which has a certain purpose. The first is the Place of Adam. In this building we are instructed in all ways concerning the Law of Obedience. It is here that we are instructed in the Everlasting Covenant and in the New and Everlasting Covenant. Yea, we learn of our descent, of the Father, the Son and of the Holy Ghost. We learn of the Mother and the Father and who they of a surety are, so that we may also know of a surety who we are. Because of this instruction, we more fully understand the words of the scriptures and the commandments of God. Yea, because of this instruction, we may covenant to keep the Law of Obedience, having received the knowledge of our pre-existent state.

5Now, the purification after the manner of the Ammonites, as also the ordinance of baptism and of prayer and of fasting, are all ordinances preparatory to going up to the Place of Adam and it is well that we all take care to be pure and clean and that our intentions are good before we go up to the temple.

6From the Place of Adam, one moves into the Place of the World. This building has no stairs leading to it, but is on the same level as the Place of Adam. In this building we are instructed of the creation of heaven and earth, and of the beautiful place wherein our first parents were placed. We learn of the decisions they had to make in order to provide for our existence. We also learn of the temptations of Satan and the consequences of following his counsel. We also learn of repentance. This is part of the Law of Obedience.

7From the Place of the World, we ascend to the Place of Sacrifice. In this place we learn of the choices and actions that our first parents made in order to become worthy to receive light and knowledge from heaven. We ascend into this building because it marks the first of the reparative footsteps of Adam and Eve, steps which we must also follow in order to return into the presence of God. In this place we are instructed in the meaning of the Law of Sacrifice and how we may also offer up a living sacrifice unto God for the sake of all living, and for the sake of the dead. It is in this place that the robes of the priesthood are placed upon the man and the woman. The woman wears the robes on both shoulders and the man on that shoulder fitting his development and his progress.

8From the Place of Sacrifice, we ascend to the Place of Virtue. In this place we learn of all the ways in which Satan does try to pervert the right ways of the Lord. We learn of the Law of Chastity, which is representative of all the virtues of heaven. We learn how, by committing to bind ourselves to Christ, we do also bind ourselves unto our wife or our husband. Yea, it is through the Holy Spirit of Promise, even the Holy Ghost and His power, that we are sealed unto Christ. Wherefore, all covenants that we make, when we are sealed up His, remain operative both in the time of our earthly existence as well as into eternity. It is in this building that we make a covenant to our spouse and to God, and this covenant becomes a token of our commitment to aspire to all virtues and all the gifts of the Spirit.

9From the Place of Virtue, we ascend to the Place of the Way. In this place, we learn of the Way which the Creator provided whereby we may be introduced into that world wherein we may have constant concourse with Angels and with our relations. It is in this place that we learn and grow in all good things by and through the power of the Holy Ghost unto revelation. Yea, we learn to walk upon the Way and receive abundantly of the grandfathers, and our hearts are turned unto them. And behold, when our hearts are turned unto the grandfathers, their hearts are also turned unto us. Yea, and we may receive such instruction there as cannot even be imagined here. Yea, insomuch that we may even be brought into the presence of the Christ, and be instructed directly by Him.

10From the Place of the Way we ascend to the Place of the Endowment. In this place we are instructed in all the ways and practices of the priesthood and how we may exercise it to the good of all people. But this is not all. It is also in this place that we receive the tokens of the covenants we have made. Wherefore, if our intentions remain pure, we may call upon the powers of heaven in times of need. And is this not an Endowment of Power? Yea, to walk upon the Way and to have the power of heaven is an endowment indeed.

11From the Place of the Endowment we ascend to the Place of Eve. In this place the man is found to be worthy to stand with the woman and the robes of authority and of sovereignty and of priesthood are placed upon the shoulders of the man and the woman together. In this place the woman and the man perform the Second Anointing and they wait upon the Lord. It is in this place that the Lord does visit them and they receive a sure and certain witness of their acceptance before Him. Yea, He does take them by the hand and introduce them into that world wherein the Father dwells.

12These are the seven buildings of the temple, and they are most sacred.

1Now, I have written many records concerning the works of the Nem during my lifetime and they are all placed in the libraries of Mentina. Yea, I have written much, but I do perceive by the Spirit that not all of my writings will be brought out of the dust in the last days. For, the bulk of my writings have more to do with the earthly works of the people and of their building a nation.

2But behold, I do wish to be remembered for the spiritual building of our nation as well. And this may be pride in me, but it is nevertheless my desire that my descendents remember that their grandfather did strive all his life to build up Zion among all the people. And I believe we did this in my lifetime. Wherefore, the Lord will forgive me, I hope, that I do express some pride that we did what He commanded us. Yea, and I do admit that we do celebrate with song and with dancing and with great rejoicing that we have sought His face and listened to His voice. And if we be judged for this, behold, I believe that the judgment will be just, and that we will again stand with Him in righteousness in the eternities, howbeit we did puff ourselves a little bit in the pride of our hearts.

3For behold, we did as a people build many cities in my lifetime. Yea, many cities did grow up in the land. And following the everlasting hills, one can hardly travel one day without finding refuge in one of the cities of the Nem in the Land Northward. And from the great mountains even to the coasts of the Western Sea, the same does apply. The traveler can disembark on the coast of the sea, having traveled from the Isles of the Sea, and then proceed east and not spend one day in travel but that he has not come upon a city of the Nem for refuge in the night.

4And behold, from the great mountains traveling into the east, one is already in the lands of the Nem of Corianton and their cities are spread out upon the whole face of the land, even unto the eastern sea, and also far into the north. Wherefore, the whole face of the Land Northward is spread with cities and many roads have been built to connect them.

5Yea, and all the people do engage in trade together, one city taking of its increase and trading with another. In this way, one city is no different than any other, save only perhaps in size. For, they are all refuges to the traveler and the trader, and none are turned back from the gate. For, whereas in the time of my fathers the cities were built to be refuges against the Gadiantons, in my day, the cities are become more refuges from the elements than from evil doers. For, we have all things in common and there are no more Gadiantons among us.

6And it is because of this happy state of union wherein we did find ourselves because of the knowledge we had of our Christ and of the covenants we had made unto Him, that many people began to come into our lands from other parts of the world and we did welcome them. Yea, there were people from Jerusalem of old who did travel unto our shores. And also, there were curious looking people from afar to the West, even across the Western Sea, who did come to live upon the land and they also became Nem. And this because of the great peace which we did enjoy after the coming of the Son of God.

7And behold, they do also bring many of their own beliefs and writings. Wherefore, we gained a witness that God does love all people. For, in many of their writings and beliefs and practices, we do see elements of those things which Christ and the prophets taught us. Yea, we do see truths in the things they also taught us from their lands and their cultures. And it was because we do walk upon the Way and we do constantly seek the guidance that only a confirmation of the Holy Ghost may bring that we do not grow confused.

8For, our faith is certain and our knowledge is sure. Wherefore, how may we be confused by the teachings of other races and other nations if our own intentions are pure and our eye single to the glory of God? For does He not raise up prophets unto all nations? Or, where the things of the Spirit are concerned, are we alone in all the world? Behold, that would be pride indeed, to believe that God may only talk through the Nem.

9We are not alone. For, the Holy Ghost does work upon the hearts of men everywhere. And, even if it so be that the hearts of men in general do wax gross, yea, and even the whole of a nation does succumb and the eyes of their spirits be filled with darkness, still, there shall be some few who strive to become enlightened. Unto such will the Spirit ever hasten? Yea, even though the entire nation become filled with corruption and darkness, if there be but one soul seeking the light and truth of the gospel, the Holy Ghost shall nurture and comfort that one soul.

10Wherefore, we did accept the teaching of other peoples insofar as the Spirit does guide. And if the Spirit speaks not on a certain matter, we do not embrace the doctrine, but we do honor the belief. But behold, if the Spirit testifies against a practice or a doctrine which did flow unto us from another people, we do preach the gospel unto them and admonish them to re-think the matter. In this way we do always conduct ourselves in a manner which we believe will bring upon us the approbation of a just and loving God. And in this we think to avoid the judgments of God. For, we seek all truth in all circumstances, and in this we think to honor God and all His followers, regardless of their origin.

11But I do warn and forewarn all those who might find and read these writings of mine. Seek not truth from foreigners, but from God. And seek not to confirm the truth through the writings of other people, for this is vanity. The wisest of their wise men cannot confirm the truth of one thing. Let the Holy Ghost confirm all things unto you, be they written by your own hand, or by the hand of a foreigner. For, how can one man confirm the truth to another? Does he have all things before him? Then how can one nation confirm the truth to another? Does that nation possess all truth? Wherefore can that nation be a confirmation of truth unto another? Whereas, if you seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost in all things, you cannot be deceived, for, only the Spirit may bring all things to your remembrance.

12Behold, I say unto you, Unless you are guided in all things by the Spirit, you will be tripped up. Yea, no matter your intention, you will be deceived from time to time. The same has happened even to the Nem and so let our experience be an ensample unto you. Yea, let me recount unto you a disturbance that did trouble the people of Mentina for a time because they failed to subject all things unto the confirmation of the Holy Ghost.

13Some fifteen years after the coming of Jesus unto the Nem of Mentina, there came into the city a traveler. Now, this traveler had come from a far away country. Yea, he had traveled to the lands of the Nem by first crossing the great western ocean and, following the rumor of a great city in the mountains, he did find his way slowly unto Mentina. And the rumor of him also went even as far as Mentina as he made his slow progress toward the city.

14And the story went abroad that this was a great teacher from across the sea. And he came teaching strange doctrines, many of which seemed alike to that which the Savior had taught. For, he taught of peace and of love and of justice to all men. And these things seemed pleasing unto them that heard them. Wherefore, we awaited in anticipation the arrival in Mentina of this sage from across the sea. And when he did finally arrive, we did welcome him into our city and we did spend much time listening to his teachings.

15Now, the name of this man was Fua-Zen. And behold, of all his teachings we did receive the confirmation of the Spirit – of all but one. Yea, in all things he did teach of love and of charity. He taught of justice and constancy. He taught that man should seek the face of his Creator. Yea, in fine, he taught many things that we knew to be truths and we rejoiced that one from so far away could have such teaching in common with our own.

16But behold, he did teach one thing against which our prophets had been warned, and about which our scriptures spoke. Yea, he did teach that a man might take to himself more than one wife and be justified in it. He taught that the man is the head of the woman, and if the head of one woman, why not the head of many? Yea, principle to his teaching was the doctrine that the salvation of the woman depended upon the worthiness of the man to whom she was wed. It was his belief that an honorable man could feel free to take as many wives as his resources would allow and that it was the duty of all men to so conduct their lives and their business to afford the man this luxury.

17Now, this teaching brought about some little controversy among the men of Mentina. For, there were some who believed this doctrine. For, they opened the scriptures and found instances where they did justify the allowance of whom they called righteous men to take to themselves more than one wife. And they did begin to contend with the councils of the city, insisting that the temple should allow men to be sealed unto as many women as his means would allow.

18Thus we see how a doctrine concerning marriage can bring down Zion. For, if marriage, whether it be to one spouse or to one hundred, is to be predicated on the means of the individual, then the institution has become corrupted by property and the getting of gain becomes more important than any other principle in the society. Wherefore, the councils of the city were

19But behold, I did exhort the people to take the matter privately to the Lord and rely upon that trust which they had in Him. For, we know that He will always make good the promise He made unto us. Yea, we know that by the power of the Holy Ghost we may ascertain the truth of all things. Wherefore, we did all take the matter severally to the Lord in this manner.

20And behold, the Holy Ghost did come upon us and did answer our question. Yea, and I was taken up upon the Way and the Lord did converse with me personally. And He did teach me certain truths about the doctrine that I had not considered. And because of the things He did teach me, I could see how the Lord might justify the practice in circumstances which He deemed appropriate to the occasion, but how He would, in all other circumstances, condemn it.

21And these are the words He spoke unto me while upon the Way:

22Behold, it is good that you have brought this matter unto me. Yea, I am pleased that this whole people should cry unto me for an answer concerning this thing. And they have asked me how it is that Abraham was justified and had more than one wife, and also Jacob. For behold, I did not give unto them more than one wife, but Abram did hearken unto his wife Sarai and did not inquire of me and did take Hagar to wife. As for Jacob it was through trickery and deceit that he entered into taking upon him more than one wife. In this my servants did transgress, but they did repent and did make a new covenant with me, and I did give them a new name even Abraham and Israel. And after they entered into this covenant with me they were obedient until the end, because of this covenant their posterity became my covenant people yea even the house of Israel. Now behold, because of the diligence of this people which are also of the house of Israel, I shall answer this question. Wherefore, my servant, Manti, record these words in a book.

23At sundry times and in diverse places, it becomes necessary to build up a nation quickly. Yea, a nation that will follow the commandments of God. For, I use the nations to do my work. At those times and in those places I have given unto men more than one wife. And this is in accordance with another law which I gave unto my people Israel. It is in accordance with that law which provides for the wife of a man who dies without begetting children. Yea, according to that law, the brother of the man shall take to himself his brother’s wife, for it was deemed a reproach for a woman to be without children. And that man should bring up children unto his brother in an act of love and charity. And in the day of resurrection, when men and women are neither married nor given in marriage, that man shall take the hand of the wife of his brother and place it into the hand of his brother. In that day, he shall thank his brother for the service he has rendered unto him from out of the love of his heart. does justify the taking of another to wife. And it is in this vein that I do sometimes command men to take more than one wife for to bring up a righteous generation. But behold, the man may not covenant with her for eternity, for she is another's. And the woman cannot covenant with a married man, for he is already married.

25Behold, it is the purpose of man and of woman to follow in the footsteps of their first parents, even Adam and Eve, even to the very veil of heaven. And, making covenants one with another, to become sealed unto me. And when they are sealed unto me, their covenants which they have made together become binding and operable in the eternities, because the covenants are sealed unto me with the man and the woman. In this way, they avail themselves of the atonement which I made through the power of the Holy Ghost. Wherefore, they become like unto Adam and Eve, and like unto me, and like unto my Father and my Mother in Heaven. Behold, he becomes First Man and she becomes First Woman, and they are one.

26And I say unto you, even though I justify the taking of more than one wife for to fulfill my purposes, still shall a man be sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise to but one woman, and a woman shall be sealed by that same Spirit to but one man. And this is the manner of marriage in the eternities, regardless of the custom of men in mortality.

24Behold, this act of charity and love

27And I declare unto you, if you base the marriage upon property or the getting of gain, yea, if the number of husbands or wives devolves upon the means of the man or the woman, the same is wickedness and abomination. Yea, I shall not justify it and surely this practice shall bring down a people and the nation. Behold, I am Jesus Christ and I have spoken it.

28Now, when I had spoken these words from the little book that I had made to record them, many people did testify that the same had come to them. Yea, the Spirit did confirm it upon our souls and we knew that the doctrine as the sage had recounted it to us was false.

29And behold, when we told him of the promptings of the Spirit, and of the revelations and the visions of God which we had received concerning the matter, he too was troubled in his heart. And I did exhort him also to ask of God whether the things we had said were true. For, I could not hold him to a different standard than I did hold myself. For, having heard of this doctrine from him, and taking it not for granted that it was right or wrong, I did seek the confirmation of the Holy Ghost. Wherefore, I did exhort him to do the same.

30And he did retire from us for the space of many hours. And when he did return to the council, he bowed himself low before us and begged for the forgiveness of all the people. And these are his words unto the council:

31Today I have learned a great lesson. I have learned that the wisdom of the wise cannot compare to the gifts of the Spirit. For, though the practice of my people of taking as many wives as one can support is a corrupt practice, if only because of the tendency it might cause for a man to concentrate on the things of this world over the things of heaven. And also, I have discovered the meaning of your own practices and the doctrines you teach concerning the High Place, and I do see that your beliefs center upon attaining to a higher sphere than do the beliefs of my people. For, my people do all that they do for their own comfort and convenience. Conversely, you do all that you do for the comfort and convenience of all people at once. And I see that this is a greater good, for, what better thing can a man do than to work for the salvation of all living? How foolish is a doctrine that centers one's thoughts on the accumulation of the things of the world?

32Yea, all my life I have sought wisdom from the sages of my people. So great was my searching that my own people began even to call me sage. Yet, my wisdom was just a repeating of the traditions of my people. You have taught me a great test of wisdom. From this time forth, I will submit all things to the confirmation of this Holy Ghost of whom you teach. For, I have sat with my ancestors and sought wisdom from them in this place you call the Way. And all the things they taught me were good in my sight. But, when I prayed that the truth of them be known unto me by the power of the Holy Ghost, I found that certain of the things I had been taught were truths and still others were mere traditions. And how is a man to sort truth from tradition? Or truth from culture? It cannot be done by genius. For a man does not have all the information needed to make a qualified decision. Wherefore, because our ancestors have the weight of generations behind them, we accept their beliefs as truth. But still, because a thing has the weight of generations in practice, this cannot signify that the thing is true. For, I know of nations whose practices are most abominable. Yet, their ways have been practiced by them for many generations.

33I thank you, Nem. For, you have taught me patiently, and I have learned from you a great and marvelous truth. I have learned that there is a way to ascertain the rightness of a thing, and that is to submit one's own will to the greater universal good. When I submit my will and humble myself, I am able to ask for heavenly guidance. When I ask for help from God with real intent, having faith that I shall indeed receive an answer, then the Holy Ghost testifies of truth. Then do I have not just the weight of some few generations of common practice, but I have the testimony of nations, kindreds, tongues, and peoples, through all generations of time. And behold, that knowledge is ingrained into my very being in such a way that I could not deny nor controvert it in any manner. do that I may stay here with you and learn all that I may from you? Yea, I would commit the rest of my days to learn the things that this whole people do now practice.

35Whereupon, the council did clap their hands together joyfully and sang out in joy. For, this great man from a far away land was touched by the Spirit of Truth. Yea, and he desired to learn more. Wherefore, all the people were filled with joy at his willingness to set aside the things of the world and the traditions of his fathers, desiring a better way and a better truth.

37All we ask of you is that you become our brother and that you partake with us in the blessings of the Nem. And when you are filled with all that you can learn from us, do sit with us and teach us from your stores of wisdom. We will submit all things to the confirmation of the Spirit, for this is our way. But do not shut your mouth, but let us benefit from all that you have learned from your own people. 38 And behold, he did remain with us many years. And when he did return to his own land, we sent with him copies of many of the books in the libraries. For, he was determined to teach his people the ways of the Lord and of the High Place. Yea, he desired to establish Zion among his own people and teach them also to have all things in common.

34Wherefore, what shall you have me

1Now behold, as I have already written, the works of this people are not to be contained in so small a book as this that I pass down to my descendents. It is enough for me to know that my children will have something of my teachings and my doings to remember me by, and also by which they may also remember the ways and customs of the Nem, and ponder them in their hearts.

2Not long after Fua Zen left to return to his own people, behold Timothy again visited the people of Mentina. Now, I have written of his first visit in another place, how that when my uncles returned to Mentina as the Lord promised that they would, Timothy also came with them and brought with him a book containing all the works of our brethren in the Land Southward since the great day of the Lord. And Timothy was a man filled with a solemn spirit and a sadness that is difficult to describe. Nevertheless, he is one of the Three who will not taste of death until the Lord comes again to finish His work. Wherefore, he is also filled with the spirit of the Lord and with the Holy Ghost.

3And when he had heard us tell the story of the conversion of Fua Zen, he was pleased, and he said:

4Great is the Lord and merciful. For, because of your ensample, Fua Zen will return unto his own people and he will teach many great things that will be the means of many wonders and miracles among his people. For, I know from whence he came and have even walked among his people myself. And behold, they are a people of great faith, but their faith is largely upon what they can do in the body. Yet, there are some among them who will embrace the teaching of this great sage and they will begin to experiment upon the precepts he learned here. So much will their worship and their faith be affected that a new belief and a new religion shall arise out of the teachings he shall take from here and bestow upon his people. Yea, and in the latter day, many people will look upon what they read in the records of your people and see great similarities in the writings and beliefs from the people across the sea, writings which they have kept and handed down from generation to generation.

5And Timothy did proceed to review with us all the ordinances and practices of the High Place, and he found that we were adhering to the letter and the spirit of all that we had been commanded to do. Yea, we had remained faithful to the things that the Lord had taught us through the unspeakable gift He had given us. Yea, and he did teach us further concerning the temple, saying:

6Behold, blessed are the Nem for the faithfulness with which they do strive to keep the commandments and the ordinances of God. And they do it as a great exercise of faith, a thing which pleases God very much.

7Now, faith is more than belief. It is that power which moves upon the deep and causes it to come together and perform the will of the Father. It was through the exercise of faith that the very matter of the universe was created. This matter we all have in common. Wherefore, when that same faith is exercised, it is recognized by that matter. This is why one may be moved upon by the Spirit to do a certain thing, and if one is obedient to that commandment, a miracle takes place. Is it done by the faithfulness of the individual? I say unto you, Nay. Or is it done by the power that resides in the individual? Not at all. The miracle takes place because the substance is moved upon by that same power by which it was brought into being in the first instance.

8Here is a mystery that I shall reveal unto you. There is no particle of matter, or anything with which we have to do, that is wasted. It may be used in this generation by you and I, and it may make up our bodies, and the things around us. And yet, when we lay this mortal down, do you suppose that the matter which was loaned to us for a time, is no longer utilized in the creation? Do you suppose that because the likes of you and I touched a thing that it must remain as we touched it forever?

9Behold, I say unto you, This is vanity. For, there is nothing that is made that is wasted simply because it is utilized once by man or any other created thing. When we lay this material by, it returns unto the earth and is used again in the ongoing creation. Wherefore, all matter that exists today has made a journey through many mortal bodies. Yea, a

10Yea, this physical body which I possess today is made up of matter that has passed through countless generations of creations just like me. And when I exercise faith, every particle remembers the day when the Creator first so exercised His will upon the deep. And behold, recognizing that same exercise, in His name, and in connection with His will, the very elements respond in accordance with the decrees received in that day by His own voice.

11Wherefore, never think that by your faith you bring about miracles in Jesus’ name. This is too much to ask. Never so puff yourselves. You may say that by your faith the matter in you, responding to imperatives it received in the first day of creation, is quickened by the Spirit and, working together for your good, a miracle takes place. Yea, you would not be caught up in the pride of your heart if you so speak. For the same is very true. Miracles follow them that believe and are an effect of the believing, and the acting in faith.

12Yea, this is the key by which miracles are wrought. And behold, this is also the power by which we can all be made one people. For, are we not made of the same stuff? Wherefore, esteem not yourselves higher than anything created. For, you cannot be esteemed so, being made of the same stuff. Yea, the earth and rocks are living, and your body contains nothing not found in them. And the plants are living, and your body contains nothing not found in them. And the animals are living, and your body contains nothing not found in them. Yea, look at the sky and take in the good air. Do not think that there is ought in your body different than what is in that good air. And look into the night sky and find something in your body that is not found in the stars, the moon and the sun. Nay, you cannot. For, we are all made of the same stuff. Yea, we are all relations. Wherefore, marvel not that miracles follow them that believe, unless you believe that the creation was not a miracle.

13And I know that you think no such thing. For your faith is an ensample to all people, and the miracles that other peoples marvel at, for they happen but once in a while, are common place among the Nem. Wherefore, I know that you are accustomed to miracles in your lives. But it is still good that you should understand the workings of faith as they apply to the matter which makes up the creation.

14And behold, this is the very power by which the miracle has come upon me and upon my brethren which allows us to tarry and to be of some usefulness to the Lord, even unto the day of His coming in power and glory to finish His work. Yea, it is by this working of the matter unto miracles that we are translated. For, it is true that we will not taste of death until He comes. And even then, we shall be changed in a twinkling of an eye, so that we will not taste of death in the way of other men. But, I say unto you, It is because of the workings of faith upon the matter of our creation that we live from day to day. And it is because of this substance that we are renewed each day.

15And there are but few in the history of mankind that have received of this blessing. The first was Enoch, that prophet of old. And he was translated with his whole people. And what great faith did they exercise that caused the matter of their bodies to renew itself each day? And how was this great miracle accomplished? Behold, they did live all things in common, even as you do. But that is not all. They did also seek the face of their Creator continually, and they did rely every day upon the revelation of God to guide them. Yea, they did live in the Spirit at all times and in all seasons. And behold, the Lord took the whole city into His presence.

16As also John, the beloved apostle of Christ, even that apostle who leaned upon His breast, and was beloved of Him, so changed that he shall not die by the shaft of death, but is renewed each day. And in the end, when he has accomplished all that the Lord shall command him to do, he too shall be changed. Yea, his corruptible that has been put aside for a season, shall he take back up again, but he shall not suffer death as do other men. Rather, that which he takes back up shall be quickly changed, his corruptible into incorruptible.

17Now, is not this a miracle? That a man or woman may live and be renewed each day? For it is true that all men will die by the shaft of death. Yea, even for me and for my brethren, we shall taste of death when the Lord sees in His wisdom that our work is done. Yea, in that moment we too shall die, but we will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. But unto some it is given to live long in the grace of God, and be not cut down by the destroying Angel to the same degree as others. Yea, unto some, because of their faith, is given the renewing of their bodies.

18And this blessing and gift is available to all the saints who wish it. But, I say unto you, There are many miracles and gifts of the Spirit to which it would be better for you to aspire. For behold, in many ways, the miracle of the translation of the body is a very great burden. Yea, it is a great burden to them who receive it. It comforts me to know that only they whom the Lord chooses for this calling will receive the miracle.

19But behold, all other gifts, though they also be burdensome, are not so burdensome as the power given unto me and my brethren. But pray for the gifts befitting your callings and your stewardships. Yea, be humble before the Lord, and beseech Him to bless you with all things that you can bear. For, He knows your capacity and will bless you abundantly.

20But it is a needful thing for the saints to understand that in the moment they act in faith, and a miracle takes place, it is not by any power or ability in them that the miracle is performed. Yea, it is the movement of faith upon the matter which makes up all creation. All things work together for the good of them who exercise great faith.

21For again, all matter remembers the first day of its creation, and the day in which it was brought into being and quickened. And when that faith is exercised, the matter does bend itself to the fulfillment of all that the Lord does command of it. And that knowledge that is instilled into all matter in the moment great faith is exercised is sealed upon the matter by the Holy Ghost. Wherefore, the matter cannot deny it, for the knowledge becomes part of its own creation. It is because of this truth that all things work for the good of them that exercise great faith.

22For, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. If it is substance, then it is commanded in its actions just as all matter in creation is commanded. Now, all things that are created exercise faith sufficient to fulfill the measure of their creation, except man. Yea, consider the birds, the trees, indeed all living things and discern which of them makes a law unto itself. Nay, they do all that they are commanded to do. Wherefore, even the grain of mustard, though it be the smallest of seeds, becomes a tree sufficient for the birds to nest in. Is this not great faith? I say unto you, It is faith that could move mountains.

23But unto man is given freedom to choose. Because of this liberty, we are free to choose not to fulfill the full measure of our creation, for there is much evil in the world. And because of this freedom, there is suffering. For, with choice comes action, and all action causes consequences. Wherefore, when we act upon matter, it is moved to and fro. But matter is not static. When it is moved out of its place, it in turn moves other matter out of its place. And that matter is made to move and cause other matter to move. But the universe is one eternal round and all movement returns unto its own. Wherefore, there is a law in the universe that restores all things into a state of stability and equilibrium.

24Now, when movement takes place, or in other words, when there is an action in one direction, either for good or evil, all matter is made to move in that direction until it returns again to a state of equilibrium. This is according to the commandment given unto matter.

25Wherefore, if a man chooses to do evil, the matter does not end with the choice and the action. Do you see how any action creates in its own sphere a disturbance in the universe? This disturbance continues beyond the actions of that one decision. Yea, it continues outward and affects all things created. And behold, when it returns again, it may have been magnified into a much greater evil.

26Who among you has not seen this magnification? Look unto the Nephites of the Land Southward and the great evil that became of just a few men and their evil acts. Yea, the whole face of the land was laid waste, most especially in the northern most reaches of the Land Southward. Yea, there is not one place in that part of the land that has not been altered. Let this remind you of the consequences of your actions at all times.

27And behold, the same applies when a man chooses to do good, for the same law operates in the case of good as it does in the case of evil. What you apply in this universe, be it good or evil, returns unto you. And if evil is multiplied in the application of the universal law, so then is good. Let your actions for good go out into the cosmos and return unto you so magnified that not one particle of your matter is left unaltered.

28Now, this law has greatest effect when the motion caused is greatest. Wherefore, the Lord has commanded all of His children to seek an understanding of the Law of Sacrifice. For, it is by and through this law that the most significant change is made upon the matter of mortal man.

29Yea, for with all sacrifice comes a crying out of the soul. And this crying out, or distress of the soul, causes the greatest movement of the spiritual matter of the universe. But this matter exercises faith according to that universal law of which we have spoken. Now, when this matter returns, it seeks faith with which to cause equilibrium. And behold, all matter is imbued with this intelligence. If it returns to the point of sorrow and finds there sorrow still, it will use that faith to return unto its own and the consequence will be more sorrow and greater. For this cause does suffering bring about greater suffering if left unmodified.

30But behold, if the matter returns and finds in the place of suffering great acts and utterances of faith, this is that which it utilizes to bring about equilibrium. This faith is magnified and edified such that great miracles take place. Wherefore are we commanded to sacrifice, that through our suffering, a better creation comes into being.

31For this cause is the purification of the Ammonites recommended unto you. Yea, and for this cause was it so highly favored and justified of the Lord. Which of you, having placed yourself in the suffering of this purification, can say that you returned from it without a miraculous intervention?

32It is for this cause also that fasting, study, meditation and prayer are so highly recommended unto you. In fasting a soul suffering is caused. That soul cry moves upon the matter of your body, indeed of your whole soul, as also the matter surrounding you. This matter moves ever outward and affects all matter. But behold, do not think that the matter will move away from you continually, for the universe cannot be described as an ever expanding line, but as a sphere. Nay, that movement will return to you. But when it returns, it will do so seeking faith with which to create an equilibrium. The matter is satisfied in this search when it encounters your study, meditation and prayer. Upon these acts and utterances of faith is all its magnified movement bent, and out of it comes wonders, signs and miracles.

33For this cause has it been said that signs follow them that believe. Yea, wonders, signs and miracles are the natural consequence of doing good continually. For behold, there is much temptation to move always within the nature of man and this natural man moves always to satisfy his own lusts. But when the natural man is put away, and when it becomes natural to do good continually, then does the cycle change and then do wonders occur.

34Do you marvel that the Lord requires certain sacrifices at your hands? Yea, He requires a broken heart and a contrite spirit. This is the acceptable sacrifice unto Him. Wherefore, the broken heart is the soul suffering cry which moves upon the universe in a most powerful way. This is the cry which issued out of even the great Christ in the moment He undertook to make a suffering for all living. Yea, in that moment of greatest suffering, even He cried out that the cup might be taken from Him.

35But behold, His spirit was contrite. For, did He not also say: Nevertheless, not my will be done. Yea, His soul suffering caused the greatest movement of matter since the world was created. And the elements obeyed His will then, even as they do now, even as they always will obey His voice. But, in accordance with that great law wherewith He did command it in the beginning, all matter does move outward upon the world, and does return again to the origin of its movement. And when it did return, the moving, expanding, magnifying matter found the greatest act and utterance of faith since its own creation.

36Behold, I say unto you, The sign that followed, and the wonder, is the atonement of all the lives. How great a miracle occurred that day not many of us may discern. But a great change came over the world in that instant. For, at that moment, He took upon Himself all things. Yea, in that moment, we became sealed unto Him with all matter, if we but choose to follow Him.

37Now, it stands outside of all question that our soul cry is ever less potent than His was at that moment. But, this understanding does not signify that our suffering does not affect the universe in the same way, albeit to lesser degree. For this cause, He does command us to obey the Law of Sacrifice. For, by living that law, we do avail ourselves of the great power of faith to create the substance of miracles.

38Wherefore, obedience to the commandments of the Lord does sometimes bring about hardship. For, He would have a tested and a tried people. Yea, the Lord has sometimes sorely tested whole nations in this manner. For such hardship brings about a certain measure of this soul suffering, albeit by compulsion. And they, who respond to this hardship with renewed faith, bring upon the nation, so tested and so tried, the blessings of heaven.

39Yea, Hagoth, your father, when he came away from the land of his inheritance into the Land Northward, did he not sacrifice all he had and all that he knew to come into a wilderness of uncertainty and suffering? But, being moved upon by the Spirit to take up such suffering, he did as he was commanded. Now, who of you can look upon this city and this temple, and declare that the consequences to him and his people were not miraculous? And who can compare the great turmoil in the Land Southward, indeed, the entire destruction of everything there, to the blessed state of the Nem when the Lord visited you here in the fastness of the mountains? Nay, you need not look far to witness the application of these laws.

40For the Law of Obedience gives cause to men that they might be drawn outside their own carnal needs and desires; howbeit, this is often accomplished through sacrifice and hardship. But, being thus caused to move, they may either wallow in self-pity, or they may move outward as all matter does move. They may step out and act in faith, setting in motion the Law of Restoration that is connected with faith. Do you see why the Law of Obedience and the Law of Sacrifice were the first of the great spiritual laws taught unto our first parents?

41But there are laws that go far beyond the usual capacity of man to obey. For, in some instances, the Lord does require of us that we go against general laws He has given unto the matter of our natural bodies.

42We are given, for ensample, strong desires and emotions that draw men and women together. And this is a needful thing. Yea, Adam and Eve were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth, and in order to accomplish this great work, the Lord did command our matter that it might create in us the need, the drive and the desire to fulfill this mission. And so great is the command that our matter fulfill this mission and obey this commandment, that for us only age and infirmity are sufficient to quench the fire of it.

43Nevertheless, the Lord does command that we turn this matter in the direction He has commanded. And in this it seems that we are commanded to act against our very flesh. Yea, we are commanded to obey the Law of Chastity. But behold, when we live this law, we are blessed with greater happiness, and also greater power to overcome the flesh.

1Now, Timothy did teach us many things, and the hundredth part of the things he taught cannot be written, for they would fill many books. And behold, many of the things he taught us he did command that I should not write, for they are not appropriate for this record. Nevertheless, I did faithfully make an account of all the things he taught us and I did write those things in this small record, which he commanded me to write. For, I did receive a witness that they would prove to be a great blessing unto my descendents in latter days.

2And it seems to me, because the Spirit did manifest the needfulness of these things, that I should record them in a book and that they should pass down to my descendents. It may be that in some later generation my descendents may have lost somewhat the doctrines and the covenants and the counsels of the temple. For, the things that Timothy commanded me to write all seem to pertain to the ordinances and covenants of the High Place. Wherefore, oh my children, give heed unto these things. For, I believe that they will be unto you as a restoration of things lost. Yea, read these things and receive them unto your salvation.

3And this Timothy was the brother of Nephi and of Lehi, who was also known as Mathonihah. And these three were among those whom the Lord called His apostles in the Land Southward. But this is not all. Behold, when He asked those whom He had called to this holy calling, He asked each of them the desires of their hearts. And most of the apostles declared that when they finished their work and left this existence, their desire was to come quickly unto the Lord in His kingdom. And behold, this was a righteous desire and the Lord was pleased.

4But there were three who stood aside and did not declare their desire openly as the others did. They were Nephi, the prophet, and his brothers, Lehi who was also called Mathonihah, and Timothy. And when the Lord saw them, He did perceive the desires of their hearts and called them more blessed. And behold, He did grant that they should tarry until He came again in His glory, and until the purposes of the Father were accomplished in Him. These same three have been called “the Three” by this people ever since. And they shall neither taste of death, nor of suffering, save it be for the sins of the world.

5And now I return to my account of the teachings of Timothy, one of the Three.

6And when Timothy had finished speaking concerning the workings of faith and sacrifice, he went with us to the temple and up to the High Place. And, as we undertook to participate in the ordinances of that place, he did teach more completely the meaning of each of the points of doctrine and the principles of the temple. Wherefore, we spent a day in this instruction and yet we did not complete all the work. And behold, he stayed with us for another day in the temple, but we did not complete the work that day either because of the great instruction that he gave concerning the covenants and the principles and ordinances thereof. And we did spend yet another day and did complete the work.

7And behold, the Spirit wrought upon us a mighty sensation. And we did inquire as to why such a thing should be. For, we had received the ordinances of the High Place even from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ . And His words had been passed down even from my father, Oug, who received them directly from the Savior. And we had not strayed from the original doctrine, wherefore, why should we feel the Spirit so compellingly in this instant? Why should this teaching be any different, or rather, why should we feel any differently from this teaching than we had from the teachings of the prophet?

8And Timothy did answer our entreaty with these words:

9Behold, the Holy Ghost has but two purposes. One of them is to more fully instruct your minds that you may have a more complete understanding of the word of God. In this way, He does magnify your spirit, imprinting upon you the very gospel of peace. Verily, He does testify to you of the truthfulness of all things, and He does bring all things to your remembrance.

10The other purpose is to cause all truth to become part of you. In other words, all things become part of you and your creation. The Holy Ghost is the Holy Spirit of Promise, and it is by this Spirit that you may be sealed up unto Christ and become His. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Lest you be sealed unto Christ, when heaven and earth pass away, so shall you also pass away and be not found in this New and Everlasting Covenant.

11But when this Holy Spirit of Promise exercises His function upon you, when heaven and earth pass away, yet shall you remain, for, you have become Christ’s. This is the sealing power. It is for this reason that you come up unto the High Place to make covenants with your God. Verily, there is no other reason for you to walk these halls, if it is not to come into the presence of your Lord.

12Now, consider what these sayings mean. If the Holy Spirit of Promise does perform His duty unto you who have proven faithful unto the Lord, then a mighty change must come over you. For, now you must be prepared even in the body to stand in the presence of other instructors. Yea, should it be needful in the Lord's sight that you should stand in the presence of exalted beings, your body must be changed. For behold, without such change, and you come into the presence of an exalted being, your very element would melt away and you would not stand in the body, but your spirit would rush swiftly into that portion of the paradise of God mete for it, and your mortal probation would come to a sudden end.

13But, if the purpose of your standing in the presence of such beings is to be instructed, then the Holy Spirit of Promise shall have sealed you up unto Christ. Wherefore, fear not. For, your body, though such a change may be imperceptible to you, yet a change shall surely have taken place such that you may do the things the Lord shall require of you. In that moment, you shall have been introduced into the Terrestrial World, even as Adam and Eve were so introduced. Even though you remain in this corruptible form, yet shall your corruptible have been made somewhat less corruptible. Yea, you shall stand even in the presence of such beings and be instructed of them, for this is the purpose of the High Place.

14Now, you inquire of me how it is that you have felt a greater, or more sure word of prophecy from my words and my teachings. Behold, so shall it be for all who do not shun prophecy and revelation. Yea, thus shall it be for all who approach the Lord with that sacrifice that He calls mete, even a heart broken, and a spirit humbled by sacrifice. Yea, and thus shall it be for all who obey the words and commandments they receive of Jesus Christ. For, it is in the nature of covenants and covenant making that, when you are true and faithful, Jesus shall bless you with the intent and purpose of your heart. And what can your intention be in coming into this Holy Place, but to come also into His presence?

15Wherefore, the Spirit has moved more fully upon your hearts only because you have taken the time to stay longer upon the words of Christ than you have been accustomed to. Yea, I have instructed you more fully in the understanding of the covenants of the High Place. And you have rejoiced with me in them now for three days. Wherefore, the Spirit does comfort your bodies and your souls with greater power because of your greater understanding. This you should remember and always remember to do. Stay upon the words of Christ and ponder fully the covenants you make in this Holy Place. For, if you do, you shall surely receive a more sure word of prophecy, and Christ shall make His abode with you.

16And behold, when Jesus makes His abode with you, He will bring you upon the Way and you shall verily have converse with your fathers, perhaps even daily. And is this not the thing which you most desire? I say unto you, It ought to be. Wherefore, if any come among you and criticize you for the much time you spend in performing the ordinances of the High Place, take no note of him.

17Now, I would speak to you more concerning the work that you shall do in the High Place. For, it is a place for men and women to prepare to see the face of their Savior. Yea, it is a place of living sacrifice; for, the living do make a sacrifice mete in His eyes.

18But this is not all. You shall also come up to the High Place after that you have made your living sacrifice. Yea, you shall come again and make the same covenants many times throughout your lives. For, even though you have made them before for yourselves, every time you come again and offer up the same sacrifice, you do it for and in behalf of all those with whom you have to do. In other words, you may assist they who came before you, who in their own day were unable to make the covenants you make, to come also into the presence of Jesus and to be more fully instructed of Him. For behold, they are in you. Wherefore, you may make an oblation for them by proxy.

19For behold, in the day of their probation they may not have known of the Christ. Consider how many are the generations of man wherein no gospel was preached. Do you suppose that a loving God would leave His children succorless? Or do you suppose that He would make an atonement for all, but leave them no way in which they might avail themselves of that atonement. Nay, believe it not.

20Come up to the High Place and participate in the ordinances thereof, for and in behalf of your kindred who had no such opportunity. Give no thought to how you might know who they may be, simply act in the spirit of humble sacrifice and allow the effects of the faithful oblation to have effect for them who made it possible for you to come into the world at this time. Or do you suppose that you have been withheld unto this time when the ordinances of the High Place are had among the children of men for no other purpose than to save you alone? Nay, I say unto you that you may not be saved in the Kingdom of God, in any time that the ordinances of the High Place are had among the children of men, without that you exert yourselves in also providing for them an opportunity to repent of any wickedness in them, and to make sacred covenants that are bound by the sacrifice of the broken heart and contrite spirit that you do freely offer up for them and in their behalf. Verily, this sacrifice shall be sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of Promise because of your faithful service for them.

21Is this a hard thing to understand? That you should be allowed to act in the name of another and offer a sacrifice that is justified by the Lord? Is it hard for you to understand that you may become Saviors in Mount Zion? I do not suggest that you may do the thing which the Great Christ did when He offered up a sacrifice for all. But I do suggest and admonish you that you may yet do like unto Him, for and in behalf of your kindred dead.

22Do this work in this Holy Place. But, I also admonish you, do not allow this place to become a place of dead worship and sacrifice. If it so be that the more part of your work here is for the dead, then you must begin again in the spirit of true instruction. Do not allow the work for the dead to overshadow the preparation of the living. For, if they who are living fail to seek the face of Christ, preferring to serve wholly for the purpose of saving the dead, then a living spirit of sacrifice is not conveyed in the ordinance. Do not suppose that any of your kindred dead will be interested in such vanity. Nay, the spirit of living sacrifice must be in your heart for it to be conveyed to them who might benefit from it, both living and dead.

23Ponder these things in your hearts. For, verily I say unto you, The day shall come when your descendents shall go up to the High Place and offer up oblation unto the Lord for and in behalf of the dead, just as I hope you shall do hereafter, but they shall stay not upon the words of peace. Nay, they shall take no time at all in instruction and in pondering. Behold, they shall be like cattle in the stall, performing only that which is necessary and in the shortest time. Behold, they might just as well have stayed at home in their beds. For, their kindred dead shall take no interest in such self-service. and take pride in their service. They shall stand up and praise themselves for the great and glorious work they are doing in the name of the Lord.

25Behold, in those days, a great curse shall be upon the people. Yea, they shall think themselves blessed above all the people of the earth. They shall advertise their worthiness to each other in words and in tokens, and they shall broadcast their righteousness to all the world and stand them up a light on a hill for all to look upon.

26Yet, I say unto you, and I would that you should remember my words for they shall all come to pass, that they shall be cursed above all people. For, where they could have enjoyed the instruction of Angels, and even the very presence of God, in the day that they take pride in their service, their oblations shall become empty, and their ordinances shall become vanity. They shall shun the instruction of Angels and they shall persecute those few who have such visitations.

27And is this not a curse unto them who could have been blessed above all blessing? Consider my words and ponder them in your hearts. For, I would not that you should make a mockery of the ordinances and covenants of the High Place.

28And after this wise did Timothy instruct us.

24Yea, I say they shall serve themselves

1Now, we do esteem the words of Timothy to be of great worth, for he was one of the Three unto whom the Lord gave power over death. And He told us that these same Three would have much to do with the restoration of His gospel unto our posterity in latter days. Wherefore, I have recorded their names for the remembrance of the people, and also so that they may be added to those names which we celebrate in the cold months of the year. Yea, we do celebrate their names and their doings with the stories of the heroes of our people.

2Yea, the Lord has foretold of a time when the truth shall have been restored by the mouth of His prophet, but the restoration of that truth shall have been disturbed and shall begin to falter. As also He has spoken to us of a time far in the future when our own descendents shall have become ignorant of many of their own grandfathers, as also of their ways and customs. Yea, and also He has prophesied of a time to come when even His own church and the shepherds of it shall have become a great stumbling block to the righteous. Wherefore, it is wisdom, I think, to record the names of they who will do a great work in restoring all things unto our own descendents.

3And, again, the names of the Three unto whom He gave power over death, to tarry until He comes again, are Nephi, Mathonihah and Timothy, the sons of Nephi. And Nephi called his son Nephi to honor that great prophet and father of our people. And he named another son Mathonihah by the word and will of God, the which he had received by the mouth of an Angel. And he named yet another son by that same name, even Timothy. And this he also did because of the word and will of the Lord. For Nephi was a prophet of God and he did walk and talk with God, and with His Angels, upon the Way.

4Now, this seems important to me. For, Mathonihah means “honored of God,” and Timothy means “gift of God.” Howbeit, I believe that Nephi received of the Lord insight into the callings of his sons and he named them according to that vision of their future work that was given him of Heaven. For, his son Nephi was that great prophet unto whom the Lord appeared at the Temple in the Land Bountiful when all the face of the land had changed. Lehi Mathonihah was truly honored by the Lord when He made him one of the Three. And can we not say, and who can deny, that the gift given Timothy of God was not a great gift indeed?

5And this has become a custom among the Nem – to give names pertaining to their future callings to sons and daughters, even when those names may sound and mean the same. For this reason do many of us now carry more than one name, a thing most uncommon in the past.

6Now behold, all my generations, these are the names of the Three as we knew them, and they shall tarry in this world until Christ comes again. And they shall be known by all the peoples of the world by many names, but know that these are the names by which they were known unto us in our sojourn upon this blessed land. Behold, thus speaks the Spirit to me, that in a latter time these names shall become important to those of my posterity that shall wish to return again out of Babylon. Wherefore, I do record them.

7And now I return to my account of the words of Timothy unto the Nem of Mentina. For, he did teach us much more concerning the covenants and ordinances of the temple of God, or the High Place, which must be recorded here. And he did teach us, saying:

8Now hearken unto my words, ye Nem, and observe to do the things I tell you. For, if you do, I say unto you that you will find the ordinances of the temple shall wax great in your minds and shall take up much of your thought. Yea, and your motive and intent shall be filled with service to your fellow man and you shall become great in wisdom and in the working of miracles.

9But give thought also to these things and ponder them. Many shall ask:

10Why, if the Lord made a greater sacrifice than I can make, when He atoned for all living, am I required to make what little sacrifice I can in this life? I say unto you that it is because of the great effect that sacrifice has upon the development of your soul. It is certain that neither you nor I may ever be able to make as great a sacrifice as He did. Nay, nor can we ever hope to be able to atone for sin as He did, nor bring together all the lives of men and women into one life. But we may bring our own life together with His, and this must be considered a great thing for us, even a great atonement.

11Now I would speak unto you concerning the Law of Chastity. When we consider all the covenants of the temple, it must be remembered that this one is presented in two places: First, when Mother and Father covenanted to share their work, and second, when our first parents covenanted to do the same. For the man is not without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord. He would have us all covenant with each other in the same manner in which both our heavenly and our earthly parents did from the beginning.

12For we have been given a gift that is only possessed by those endowed with the power of creation. Yea, and all living things have also this gift, for it is the gift of our Mother in Heaven, even the power of procreation. By and through this great gift, we are born and have our being. Yea, it is by this gift that all living things are brought into this creation and have the opportunity to receive all the good things of mortality.

13Now, to ensure the preservation of race and kind, the Lord has made strong feelings and urges the companions of this great gift. These urges and feelings cause men and women to come together to form meaningful and eternal relationships.

14I say unto you, These things must be kept under strict control. Yea, they must be kept within the bounds that the Lord has set. Observe that, in the temple we are instructed that Pa-Elowe covenanted with Shi-Elowe, and He covenanted with Her, and they became Elohim. So must we all do if we would make our relationships eternal. I would have you also observe that Shi-Elowe did not covenant with Pa Enits Elowe, or many First Women, but He did covenant with Pa-Elowe, and she did give Him a new name, even Elohim, which being interpreted means, “They are One.”

15We are not so sundered from the Jerusalem of our past, nor from that spoken tongue that our fathers, Lehi and Nephi, spoke that the structure and form of the name, Elohim, escapes our understanding. For, it is the same in our tongue today as it was anciently – the name of a woman and one denoting more than one person. Now, from the relation of the temple, we learn that this did not denote more than one wife, for, when this was done by men without the direct command of God, great evil came upon the people.

16Consider with me the consequences of taking that which God has given and applying it outside the bounds which He has set. When men take unto themselves many wives, simply because they are able, they cause an isolation to develop between them and other men. They strengthen themselves, or so they suppose, by the weakness created in others. They raise up a generation devoted to them by blood, but not by love.

17And what of they who are deprived of that wholeness that comes of the relationship of wife and husband? They are driven into excesses and then into unnatural love.

18Let me tell you of a small group of Nem, far in the north, who have taken to living upon the ice and snow. They have made the wolves of the forests into their servants and have calmed and tamed them to do work for them. Yea, and these beasts live with them in their villages and carry their burdens and pull cargo from one place to another on sledges. And this is a great blessing unto the people, because these animals eat much the same food as the people and there is no necessity of growing provender for them, as with our cattle.

19Now, it is the nature of these beasts that only the greatest of the males that unite with the greatest of the females. Yea, and as strange as this may sound, all the rest of the pack, as they are called among the Nem of the North Country, refrain from bearing young. This is according to the commandment given unto them of the Creator.

20But the Nem of the North Country have discovered a strange thing among these beasts. When their population grows too great, the males take up unnatural ways, each acting upon other males, attempting to procreate upon them. This drives the pack apart and causes the pack to separate into two or many. And this is according to a natural law provided by the Creator.

21Now, this may sound unseemly to be spoken of in these surroundings, but I deem it of great use to you and to your posterity. For there will come times when the love of man shall become thin and his heart shall fail him. And many shall ponder why it is that men shall turn unto men and women unto unnatural love. Let the wisdom of the natural world be a guide to you in this thing. For, it is for this cause that the Lord has made certain that a like tale is set in the telling of the High Place.

22Recall that, when the strong men had taken up all the women to be wives unto them, and this because they were strong, the weaker and younger men separated themselves and were unhappy. Then did Satan enter into their hearts and instructed them according to the laws of nature, only corrupting the laws for his own purposes. And the men did exercise the natural law of strength over weakness and did engage in unnatural desires upon the weaker of their fellows. The result was that their bodies became weakened and disease did run rampant among them. Then they did rise up against the strong men, who were few, and destroyed them, taking their wives unto themselves and

23I declare unto you that evil shall be the result each time that men corrupt the right ways of the Lord.

24Recall also that Satan attempted to justify these acts by using the natural world as an ensample. Verily, he was rebuked and abashed, and so shall you be if you attempt such justification of evil acts.

25Now, as a matter of clarification and so that you will not have any cause to be confused in this; for I perceive that some few of you do ponder upon these things and wonder why it is that we find in the scriptures that the Lord did sometimes command certain men to take more than one wife.

26Hearken to my words, for thus saith the Lord in this thing. When the Lord God sees fit in His wisdom, He having all things before Him and knowing the end from the beginning, to call upon men to act in this manner, it is for a certain purpose in Him. Behold, it is a special dispensation, or setting aside of the law for that purpose only and not for a general commandment unto the children of men.

27And know also, even you unto whom this commandment or special dispensation may fall, that you shall make your covenant with her with whom you hope to work eternally. For, now you are called Pa-Elowe and Shi-Elowe. But you must become Elohim, even as our Heavenly Parents did become one in the creation. Else, there is no purpose in your existence in this world, and your creation becomes a thing of naught. I say unto you, This should not be! For you are the sons and daughters of God!

28Wherefore, it is commanded of all men and of all women to become like unto their parents. Therefore, you men of the Nem, you chose out and love but one woman to make her a help meet for you. And you women of the Nem, you chose out and love but one man to make him a help mete for you. And you two combined in your hearts and in your intentions become joined together forever, if you seek the sealing power of the Holy Spirit of Promise, which is the Holy Ghost. Then your covenant becomes Christ’s, and anything that He owns becomes eternal. Wherefore, your covenant is bound in the eternities with a cord that cannot be broken.

29So also were Adam and Eve commanded to do, and so shall you do. For, do we not walk in the very footsteps of our earthly parents? Are we not each one of us stepping on the very stones upon which Adam and Eve tread? Do we not consider ourselves respectively, Adam and Eve, when we are in the temple?

30Wherefore, I ask you, was Adam instructed to enter into a covenant with Eve or with many women. Was Eve not the Mother of All Living, or was she but one in many? Yea, I ask you to ponder seriously these things.

31Now, this all pertains to that first covenant by which our Heavenly Parents became Elohim. For, when Pa-Elowe undertook to take of the matter of the deep and make a living thing out of it, behold, she was successful. She gave unto the matter self-knowledge and it did perceive. But did it live in truth? It did not, for it could do nothing but turn and perceive itself.

32And Shi-Elowe, in His might and with His powerful will did cause the matter to organize and become bodies. Yea, He made stars and planets and moons. But what did they do thereafter? They had no life in them to do anything. The matter obeyed but could not become quickened, for the quickening is a gift of the Mother only.

33It was when the two joined their works together and covenanted one to another to join their works, that the worlds become beings filled with life and with power. And so did all living things become living.

34Now, I would have you recall the relation of the temple. Having discovered the impediment that existed when they attempted to create on their own, did the Father go back from whence He came and gather unto Himself many women? He did not. And did the Mother go back from whence She came and gather unto Her many men? I say unto you, Nay. Pay good heed unto the teaching of the temple, for it is the High Place.

35For, to a certain point, they had been privileged to create by that power given unto them by their parents. Yea, it is true that, within the limits of the Everlasting Covenant, by which they became powerful to create, they did make worlds and creations. But this was all done unto the building of the glorious creation of their parents. When they undertook to make a creation of their own, they discovered the impediment to singular, or selfish, action. They could not accomplish heavenly works for themselves by themselves, and neither can we.

36Behold, there is a law in Heaven that is irrevocable. When we undertake to satisfy our own self, our universe is diminished. When we work to the benefit of others above the satisfaction of our own designs, our own designs become sanctified in us, and our universe expands. This is the great message and meaning of the first covenant of the temple, even the covenant of marriage.

37But, when men and women take of the things they are taught by heavenly beings and modify them to serve their own purposes, they cannot expect good to come of it. Behold, evil shall result. It is so for all living things. It was so for our Heavenly Parents, and it shall always be so for us.

38Wherefore, when the Lord does command a thing that seems to be against all that which is taught in the scriptures and by the prophets, each of us has a duty to seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost in the matter. For, how know we but what He may be commanding us according to knowledge which He has but which we do not share at the time in which He may command a thing? Does this sound hard?

39Consider again the commandment given unto our father Nephi, when he was commanded to kill the wicked Laban. Yea, we must all agree that Laban was a wicked man and that he would have taken Nephi’s life should he have found him drunken in the street. But does individual wickedness justify murder? It does not.

40And we must all agree that Laban was guilty of more than simple individual wickedness. For, he would have been the instrument of the dwindling and unbelief of an entire nation. Wherefore, his wickedness is expanded greatly. But, I ask you, did his murder prevent the dwindling and unbelief of the nation? Consider the state of wickedness that now prevails among the children of Nephi in the Land Southward. I ask you who now may consider the outcome of the act to give pause and judge the truth of the matter. Did even his general wickedness justify the murder of Laban, who was among the Elders of Israel? It did not.

41What then must we consider, then, when we contemplate the action of Nephi? We must consider only that the Lord's ways are many times not man's ways and that He may, in His greater knowledge, see fit to make a special dispensation of those laws which may seem cut into the stone where we are concerned. Nephi's action was commanded by the Lord and cannot be considered murder only because of that commandment. It is upon the merit of that special dispensation that Nephi was justified and stands guiltless before the Lord.

42This did not apply to Abraham and Jacob for they were not commanded by the Lord to take more than one wife. Once they knew of the ordinances of the High Place, they repented, made a new covenant with the Lord, and received a new name from the Lord.

43You may find, from time to time, that the Lord, for His great purposes, seems to command one thing to one generation and other things to another. This is in seeming only. He does give certain special dispensations unto some individuals which He does not give unto others. Be very careful in the manner in which you do judge the workings of the Lord.

44Thus saith the Lord unto this generation: The man and the woman who conjoin themselves together in marriage, making an holy covenant one with another, and to no other, and seek the sealing of their contract by that Holy Spirit of Promise, shall be bound together by the acceptance of that covenant which is conveyed unto Him by the Holy Ghost, and that by virtue of that atonement which the Lord made for all living, for time and for all eternity, and shall become Elohim in the eyes of all living. The man shall become sealed to the woman, the woman to the man, only because of this law and this atonement.

45Anything more or less than this comes of sin, for the Lord may command otherwise for His eternal purposes. But He has promised that He shall reveal all His secrets unto His servants the prophets, and that all men and women may receive a confirmation of them by and through the power of the Holy Ghost. Let none among the Nem seek to change this law and this commandment, for great shall be the illness and the wickedness of that generation that seeks to circumvent or change the commandments of God.

46Wherefore is it rightly the first of the covenants presented unto us in the relation of the High Place concerning our Heavenly Parents. Therefore is it rightly the first of the great covenants which we must consider if we would become like unto them. And related unto this first covenant is the Law of Chastity. And it is because of this great relationship that the one law has with the other that we are requested to receive the Law of Chastity by covenant also.

47And this covenant is, if you are a man, that you swear with an oath binding on earth and in heaven that you will have no sexual relations with anyone other than the woman with whom you have made a sacred covenant of marriage; and, if you are a woman, that you swear with an oath binding on earth and in heaven,that you will have no sexual relations with anyone other than the man with whom you have made a sacred covenant of marriage.

48Now come, reason with me in this matter. In the relation of the High Place, does Adam make this covenant of marriage with any other woman than the Mother of All Living? And does Eve make this covenant with any other man than Adam?

49Behold, there shall be some who claim that they did, for they lived a very long time. But I say unto you, This comes of a lack of understanding and a misguided assumption taken from scripture. And it may even be that, in times far sundered, some may make this mistake even from that which they receive through revelation itself.

50For, it is as I said: The Lord may make, from time to time, a special dispensation of this law for His own purposes. Some may make of this special dispensation a general law, feeling justified in it because of the Lord's words and commandments unto others. But I say unto you, This mistaken understanding shall come in those days only because of the custom which shall also have waxed among the children of men to deny revelation. For, if it were not so, the Holy Ghost would most assuredly assist them in understanding the merits of the general commandments of God and that we must take care in how we apply those things whereby He does move individuals to fulfill His great purposes.

51And behold, even the prophets may make this mistake if they are not careful in submitting all things to the confirmation of the Holy Ghost. For many there are, and many there shall be, who shall receive part of the word and will of the Lord and believe that what they have received constitutes the entirety. Even I, who have received of the Lord power over death, must submit all things to the confirmation of the Holy Ghost.

52Let us reason, therefore, together. Even though Father Abraham was not justified in the taking of more than one wife, the Lord in his infinite wisdom did raise up powerful nations and leaders among those nations? In this the Lord did fulfill his promises unto Abraham.

53Behold, I would exhort you, take now this knowledge and this consideration and subject it to the confirmation of the Holy Ghostt. I would ask you to request of the Holy Ghost even a vision of Father Abraham as he is today, and tell me what you see. Do you see him alone or in the arms of his eternal companion? Or do you see him in one day with one wife and in another in the arms of other women? And in the eternities, how does he divide his days and his affections?

54I say unto you, If you have the Spirit of Revelation in you, yea, if you can claim that gift of the Spirit, then you will declare unto me the same as that which that same Spirit has shown unto me. Yea, you shall not deny that Father Abraham now resides in the bosom of eternity and is become Elohim with the wife of his bosom, even that same woman with whom he made a covenant bound by the Holy Spirit of Promise. And you shall declare unto me that the covenant that they made one to another is owned by the Lord and has become His own covenant where they are concerned. Wherefore, heaven and earth may pass away, but that covenant shall remain, because it is His own covenant pertaining unto them.

55Now, this Law of Chastity bears upon all people, young and old, married and not married. Yea, it applies unto all as a general commandment. Wherefore, teach your little ones from the time they are able to understand your voice that they must obey this law and make it part of the practice of their lives.

56For, if they do, when the time comes for them to make an holy and binding covenant of marriage, it shall not be strange to them. Yea, and if they do, the blessings of heaven shall rain down upon them, and they shall not be burdened with those diseases that follow them that obey not this commandment. Yea, and their posterity shall remain strong in the body and also in the faith. And their descendents shall be found whole in the last days and free of the deformities that are consequent in the generations of those who corrupt this law.

57Now, if the generations of they who keep and obey this law shall be free of such infirmity that follows them that disobey it, shall this not be considered a great blessing unto them who keep it? By contrast, shall they unto whom these infirmities fall, in consequence of the corruption of this covenant, not be called cursed? And how the heart breaks in the breast of they who are given the vision and revelation of all that shall befall the generations of them who fail to keep this commandment and who corrupt this law!

58For behold, even as is observed in the beasts whose generations become too close in relationship and whose strength and vigor are lost because of such mismanagement, the generations of those who corrupt this law shall be cursed with weakness in the organs of the body and in the regulation of their movement, as also in the disruption of the functioning of their limbs. And these weaknesses shall carry down in the generations until the body shall be rejected by the spirit of he who shall have been made ready to come into this life and enjoy the blessings of it. And, though that spirit shall go into another body, as shall be prepared by the way of all living, how great shall be the breaking of the hearts of those women unto whom such spirits ought to have come in the first place because of the sins of their ancestors.

59Wherefore, the Lord has decreed it unto all creation: Unto they who circumvent or corrupt this law shall come hardship, pestilence and a diminishing of the seeds. And their generations shall suffer because of them. And also unto that nation which dwindles in unbelief, such that this law shall be done away among them and forgotten, they shall also dwindle in power and might because of disease.

60For, the Lord has set natural laws to govern the functioning of the bodies He has given us. And behold, any time we seek to circumvent those laws, we bring upon ourselves and our nation the natural results of disobedience to those laws. And the natural result shall be a desolating scourge among the generations of them that do corrupt the right ways of the Lord.

61Of a truth I say unto all you who are blessed with the gift of sight, and who may look at your generations upon the Way, you shall see a day when one in two shall fall by the shaft of death well before their appointed time. And this shall be because the nation shall have forgotten these eternal truths, and they shall have trampled beneath their feet the commandments of God. Behold, let no one think that they may break the laws of God and not feel the weight of their actions, not only in the judgments of a just God unto themselves, but also by the natural results of their actions unto their generations.

62Wherefore, even in a very real and carnal sense, we do become Saviors unto our generations. For, do they not rely upon us in this matter? Wherefore, set your hearts upon them who must come after us, ye Nem. Yea, turn your hearts unto your generations. For behold, in the last days, the Lord will ask our children to turn their hearts unto us. Let us consider their day and turn our hearts even unto them also.

1Behold, I have taught you to turn your heart unto the children, and if you do this, you shall be greatly blessed. But you must also turn your hearts one to another. And, in this, I perceive that the Nem shall be an ensample unto all the world. For, you do follow the admonition the Lord gave you when He visited you after His resurrection.

2And this is a doctrine that is very clear to you and not confusing. But behold, it shall be a matter of great confusion unto your descendents, and they shall spend much time and energy experimenting upon the precepts and principles that they learn from you.

3Indeed, most of them shall be sundered from their own people by blood and by culture. Yea, they shall be part one people and part another, and the blood of Israel, as also the blood of the Gentiles shall flow through them. They shall be a remnant of all people who shall dwell upon the face of the earth. Wherefore, their confusion in many things shall be great and they will call upon your wisdom, or rather that wisdom which you have seen fit to record and set down for them.

4And your experiences shall be an ensample unto them insomuch that they will have much which they might use in experimenting upon the words of Christ that they cannot find in their own time and in their own customs. Therefore, see to it that much is written unto them about the Law of Consecration as you do live it, for the manner in which the Nem do live this great law is approved of the Lord.

5But behold, looking forward into your generations, communities will be formed without regard to the welfare of its members. Each person shall think to own their property and any who do not must become the tenant of one who does. And also each person who has substance and uses it to produce or manufacture more substance, shall employ those who have not to do their bidding, and shall pay them what they think such labor is worth. But they shall not impart unto they who have less than they need from out of their great store, but will enslave them because of their lack of substance, and through their need to make a living.

6Yea, as difficult as it may seem for any who now lives among the Nem, a time will come in this fair place when the poor shall be in bondage to the rich for their very subsistence, and the rich will feel perfectly justified in such a state of affairs, yea, and even extol the virtues of such a system.

7Do not be confused. Their wise men shall stand up and teach them and instruct them in the importance of rising above such bondage, and they will suggest many means by which they may do it. But none of their suggestions will have any resemblance to the manner in which the Nem do live the Law of Consecration.

8For, they shall teach the poor that they must wear out their lives in serving they who have more than themselves and, setting aside their surplus each year, they will eventually rise out of their poverty and bondage and be free to enter in among the ranks of the rich and have what they have. This they will present as a means by which they may arise out of their state of want and have what they need for more than mere subsistence.

9Hearken to my words, ye Nem. For the day comes when even the Shepherds of Israel shall teach this for doctrine from raised platforms before the face of the people. Yea, even they who lay claim to the keys of the priesthood of God shall stand up and teach this false doctrine in the hearing of all people as a means, and really the only means, whereby a poor man may rise out of his poverty. Yea, in this way the very leaders of the people shall teach and support the doctrine that brought upon the Nephites their great destruction.

10And what, I ask you, marks the great difference between the people of the Land Southward today and their grandfathers before the coming of the Lord? It is the manner in which they observe to keep His commandments. And do they own each man his property and withhold it from those who are in need? I say unto you, They do not. But they do give freely one to another and there is no want or poverty found in their midst.

11Look you to the manner in which the Nem do conduct their business today. When the fishers go out on the great lake to catch fish, do they retain all the catch and sell it for money? They do not, but take unto themselves what they need or desire for the use of their own family and bring the surplus into the marketplace and the people take of the catch freely.

12And when the potter makes his wares, does he retain all in order that he might sell it and take the spoil thereof? He does not. He takes for his own needs and the needs of his family. The remainder he brings into the marketplace and the people take of it according to their needs. And, if it so be that one potter cannot produce enough for all to have pots, then he does train up another to work with him. And in this way are the needs of all the community provided for.

13Now, when one region contains a product that cannot be had in another, the communities in that area do produce the product for they who cannot, and they exchange that product for something they cannot produce. In this way do the communities of the Nem sustain and support each other in the same manner in which individuals sustain and support their neighbors.

14And behold, I look forward in your generations and I see men and women joining their substance together in order to purchase property and gain the ownership of the land, and all it produces, unto themselves. For, such is the state and degree of Babylon in their days. But I see great hardship in this system. For, they do begin to dispute the worthiness of their neighbors to live in such a system and to enjoy the community ownership.

15The earth is the Lord's. Yea, it is His footstool. Can you or I own any of it? Can the people of Mentina, this great city, own the land and all the blessings the Lord does proffer because of it? I say unto you, Nay. In all this we may become stewards only of that which is rightfully the Lord's property. As stewards, we have a responsibility to provide for the needs of as many of our neighbors as our stewardship will support, in addition to our own needs. This is our surplus, and our great blessing of the Lord. We labor according to our strength and our ability to provide for ourselves. And we also labor for more that we might have wherewith to share with our neighbors who might need. This surplus is also the gift of God and part of our stewardship. In this, we take good advantage of all wherewith the Lord does prosper us, not wishing to dishonor the Lord in His great desire to provide for all that we need.

16And this great desire to prosper us in all things is reflected even in the ordinances of the High Place. For, the Lord does ask us all to receive the Law of Consecration by covenant. And what is this law? It is that each of you covenant to dedicate all with which the Lord has blessed you, all with which He does now bless you, and even all with which He has promised that He will yet bless you, to the building up of Zion.

17Does this mean that we must wear out our lives in laboring to build our homes, our workshops and our orchards and our fields and our flocks, only to give them into the hands of another? It does not. The Lord asks us to dedicate our substance, even all that wherewith He has prospered us. Yea, and He asks us to take up the task of being the steward of all these things. And, if we have the Spirit of God in us, then we will be instructed of the Holy Ghost in the proper way in which to dispense the blessings we have received of the Lord.

18I say we, assuming myself to be Nem, for I do also so labor, and I do dedicate the product of my labor in the same manner in which the Nem do. Wherefore, I feel part of a great community of Saints who do shoulder each other's burden and lift up the hands that hang down. And I have been blessed that I shall not have need of much of that which you need to sustain your lives. Even so, I do labor with my might to produce a surplus, in order that someone less fortunate than I may receive a blessing from the Lord at my hands. Wherefore, if I, who have little need of provender, for I have been blessed and relieved of such need, do work to provide for the support of my fellow man, and I do esteem such labor worthy and expect to receive a blessing by it, how much the more ought you to do the same who have greater need of such blessings than I?

19And behold, it is easy for you to look about you and see the blessings that come of such a system, for you live it in its fullness. But behold, I say unto you, There shall come a time when your own descendents shall not know how to live this law. Yea, they shall be convinced that they must covenant to keep it, but they shall neither have any understanding of it, nor shall they have much opportunity to live it. They shall pay but a meager portion of their surplus to the church for its upkeep and shall be taught to neglect the greater law. In that generation there shall be a dearth of the light of truth and knowledge that ought to prevail and the people shall languish in a form of darkness not of their making and of a character and kind they shall find themselves almost powerless to either recognize or overcome.

20Yea, and I declare unto you that there shall be some few who feel moved upon to attempt to live the higher law. They shall be persecuted and cast out from among the people. Yea, you may believe it!

21Wherefore, write in a book all the ways in which you do observe to keep the Law of Consecration in your towns and in your villages. For there will be many unto whom the light of restoration does begin to shine in the last days who shall look unto you for an ensign in this matter.

22Yea, and there shall be some particularly from among the descendents of Hagoth who, reading these records, shall make an attempt to live this law in its fullness after the very manner which you do observe to live it. And their efforts shall bring about Zion in every place wherein they do congregate.

23Yea, I prophesy unto you that your descendents shall awaken to the truth of the covenants they make in Holy Places and they shall gather in many places and form communities that shall set aside the teachings of the world. They shall come out of Babylon and shall turn the desecrated land of their forefathers into a beautiful garden with every delightsome herb.

24Their husbandmen shall work for the good of their potters. And their potters shall work for the good of their fishers. And the fishers shall work for the good of their weavers. And their weavers shall work for the good of them among them who work in timber and in stone. And they all shall work for the good of the widow and the fatherless. All this shall they do in a time when such things shall bring upon them the wrath of the shepherds of the church and the onus of their neighbors. Wherefore, their consecration shall be consecration indeed, and they shall do it at their peril.

25Nevertheless, though they lose much of what the world esteems as valuable, they shall be added upon in virtue, in righteousness, in blessing and prosperity, and in the gifts of the Spirit. They shall be blessed and prospered when their neighbors shall fall by the wayside for want of bread. And even they shall take up their burdens and bring in among them they who ridiculed them and persecuted them for their strange belief.

26Nay! Do not wonder! For in the day that the Lord shall move upon the hearts of your descendents to begin again that restoration which He shall have commenced among the Gentiles, which restoration shall have faltered because of the unbelief of the Gentiles, the understanding of the consecration shall have been so corrupted as to fit itself neatly into the doctrines and the teachings of men. Wherefore, when your descendents do make an attempt to restore the things which you now enjoy, they shall be esteemed as evildoers and shall be driven from the halls of the church.

27And even they shall be prevented from going up into the Lord's Holy House because they think to receive a revelation from God concerning the covenants of that sacred place, but it shall be contrary to the teaching of the shepherds of their day. How strange this must sound to you, but I say unto you, Such shall be the trials of the righteous in the last days.

28How wondrous and strange it is that they who would truly labor to live completely the Law of Consecration shall be they upon whom fall the condemnation of they who claim the oracles of God. Woe unto the shepherds of Zion in that day. For, the persecution of the Saints shall not be covered nor erased because that they do it in the capacity of apostles and prophets.

29Believe me when I tell you that they shall have the Law of the Tithe in that day, but the more part of the people shall shun the Law of Consecration. How absurd this must sound, and how far from sound reason, I must admit. Nevertheless, thus shall be the state of affairs in the church in the day that the Lord moves upon the hearts of the remnant of your descendents left in the land.

30And behold! Because of this Law of the Tithe, which shall be the concentration of the people, the Lord shall fully tithe His people Zion. Yea, one in ten shall abide the day, but they that are left shall be those who shall have exercised to live the Law of Consecration. Behold, all others shall consider themselves the servants of the Lord, but He shall turn His face from them for a season and shall give the kingdom up unto the administration of them who shall have been driven and persecuted for their integrity in following His counsel above the counsels of the world.

31Now, the things I say unto you concerning the Law of Consecration should in no wise dissuade you from offering a tithe of your surplus to the church for its support. For, the Law of the Tithe is an ancient law and is also ordained of God. But it is not the Law of Consecration, whereby the Lord has ordained that His people should bare each other's burdens, but it is a law by which they who have the church but no communities do sustain and uphold the body of Christ and His work. But where Zion is established among the children of men, the Law of Consecration shall also be established such that there shall be no need for the Law of the Tithe to support the church.

32Know this, oh House of Israel! When the Law of the Tithe shall be esteemed greater and more praiseworthy than the removal of Zion from the bondage of Babylon, it shall be a sign unto you that all is not well. But, in that day, men shall cry, “Peace and Safety! Peace and Safety!” Then speedily shall come the destruction of all they esteem, and all that shall remain to them shall be the books out of which the Remnant of the Lord's House shall teach. Let them repent then of the sin they shall have committed against the gospel and be grafted into Zion and numbered among the remnant left in the land.

1Now behold, no teaching concerning the ordinances of the High Place would be complete without that I instruct you as to the meaning of the Endowment of Power and of the Second Anointing.

2The Endowment of Power is called such because of that which it provides to the receiver. It constitutes all of the covenants and ordinances of the temple when taken altogether. Many have said that it consists of all the things that are provided to assist the recipient in passing through the veil into the presence of the Father. But I say unto you that its greater importance comes from that which is taken into the heart and soul of the recipient prior to approaching the veil of heaven.

3Again I would ask you to reason with me and consider the meaning of the relation of the High Place all taken together. Are we not instructed in many things pertaining to our past life? And does that not give us that whereby we may take counsel which is above that which is taught by the world? Is this not an Endowment of Power in one sense?

4And again, are we not also instructed in the manner in which we may pass through this life without taking upon ourselves the blood and sin of this generation? And does that not give us that whereby we may take counsel which is above that which is taught by the world?

5And again, are we not also instructed in the manner in which we may remove the veil from before our eyes and off of our hearts, that we may freely walk into the presence of the Father and receive instruction from Him directly? And does that not give us that whereby we may take counsel which is above that which is taught by the world?

6Wherefore, is it not true then that the covenants and ordinances of the High Place have for their motive to provide the means whereby we may take counsel which is not of this world? Indeed, I say unto you, that is the purpose of these holy things. Is that not the journey that our first parents made when they came upon this mortal road? And do we not also place our feet upon that same path?

7Now, this is somewhat hard for you to understand; for, are we not mortal, and are we not taught that we do live out our lives here in this Telestial World? But behold, this is our Endowment of Power – to yet live in the Telestial, but have access to that which is Terrestrial. Yea, even as Adam and Eve were introduced into the Terrestrial World while yet in their mortal flesh, so shall we also be introduced into the Terrestrial World.

8And behold, is there any part of the relation of the High Place that indicates how that Adam and Eve died before such an introduction could be made? I say unto you that you will find no such utterance. Wherefore, do not believe, nor let the belief take root and grow in you, that mortal beings may not come into the presence of the immortal.

9I am one for whom mortality has been suspended. Wherefore, I know more than perhaps you can about translated beings. But I say unto you, I am still mortal in exactly the same sense that you are. I shall taste of death when my Savior does come again, but it shall be but a glimmer of it. Nevertheless, I shall taste of it well enough. And though my body shall tarry until He comes, yet it is Telestial in nature. Even so, I do walk and talk with Angels while yet in this Telestial shell. Behold, I ask you, how do I do it?

10This is the Endowment of Power. To walk in the presence of Heavenly Beings is a blessing and an endowment indeed. And it is for this purpose – that men and women might progress in grace and in wisdom, in faith and in virtue to that point of perfection whereby they do overcome the veil in them that does prevent them from entering upon the Way and taking instruction from Angels, from their kindred dead, and also from Jesus Christ – that the works of the High Place are given. Behold, the covenants and ordinances of the High Place are given for no other purpose than to bring the souls of the children of men out of darkness and into the light of truth. And when this is accomplished, they do see visions and dream dreams. They walk with their ancestors and receive instruction of them, and, when they have progressed to that point where they may withstand His presence, even with the Lord of Heaven, even Jesus Christ.

11Now, this may not seem difficult for you who have seen the face of your Savior even in your flesh. But, you may believe me that many generations shall not pass away but that the children of men shall find it a hard saying, that they might stand in the very presence of the Savior and be instructed of Him.

12But now I would call your attention to the veil of the temple. Why, when we are brought to the veil, is it rolled up and done away? It is because of that which we have received upon the Way that causes the veil within us to be rent from the bottom to the top. For, it is said often and shall be written in another place that it is fitting for some who are below to go up, as also it is fitting for some who are above to come down.

13But this may not be accomplished so long as man lives in the Telestial world. It is for this cause that the Lord gave unto Adam and Eve, our first parents, all of these things. He wanted them to be able to return into His presence while yet in the flesh. But behold, the Telestial cannot stand the very presence of God. Wherefore, it was important for the children of men to receive, by their obedience and faith, an endowment that would change their mortality enough to allow them to stand the presence of

14Now behold, you must believe that such a thing is possible, and I see that you do believe it. But, I say unto you, There will be many, nay, even the more part of the people in the last days shall be taught that such a thing must wait until after the resurrection. Yea, it shall be taught even unto the elect of God that they may not stand in His presence except that they must die first. And they will shun revelation and despise prophesying because of this thing they shall have been taught by the shepherds of Zion. And, because of this teaching, many shall reject the restoration of the gospel and shall persecute they who do receive such things.

15But I say unto you, This is the Endowment of Power – to gain the ability to stand upon the Way and converse with your kindred dead, with Angels, with guides and guardians, and with Jesus Christ Himself.

16And this shall be a sign unto all they who might read my words and wonder whether they live in the times of which I speak: They shall stand at the veil of the temple with an assistant standing near unto them that they might be reminded of the things they suppose they must say in order to pass by the sentinels, or so they suppose, that have been set there to guard the way into heaven. And they shall not know who it is that that assistant represents, who stands near to them and whispers into their ears the words which they must speak.

17They may think that He is Peter or James or John. They may think that He represents Father Adam. But, I say unto you, They are mistaken in all that they think, unless they realize that the assistant represents Jesus Christ. Now, if the assistant represents Jesus whispering in the ear of Adam, whom you represent at the veil, I ask you to instruct me in this thing. What does such a representation teach us about the veil? What must have occurred in us that might cause that we may stand in the very presence of the resurrected Christ, that He might whisper in our ears words of wisdom? Who is it that presents us at the veil and pleads our case before the Father? Who is it that, after we have said and done all that is required of us, parts the veil and speaks on our behalf? Who also, when the veil is rolled up and the obstacle no longer exists that would separate us from the Father, is it that takes our hand and places it in the hand of Him whose dwelling is the bosom of eternity?

18Now, you who might read my words, and I tell you it can only be by the grace and wisdom of God that you shall receive these things, can it be that the temple is a sham? Are the covenants and ordinances performed there mere farce? I say unto you, Nay!

19Behold, it is the purpose of the temple to take Telestial beings and teach them in such a manner that they may be introduced into the Terrestrial World while yet in their mortal form. And I declare unto you that a change is verily made in their mortality that allows this to come upon them. And in the Terrestrial World, of which the Way may be said to be a part, they are to be instructed by Angels and Heavenly Messengers, even as Adam and Eve were visited and instructed by messengers of God. And, when they progress in knowledge and truth as Adam and Eve did progress, it is the purpose of the temple to effect such a change in they who go there to take up sacred covenants and perform sacred ordinances that they shall see Jesus Christ, and He shall present them at the veil in order that they might come into the presence of the Father.

20That they may do this for themselves, as also for and in behalf of the kindred dead, is a surety. But I declare unto you, as for the purpose and the function of the temple, anything more or less than this comes of the world and not of God.

21It is for this cause that Jesus bade us come unto Him. He did not bid us to go unto the wise men of the world and thereby learn enough of Him that we might find ourselves justified in the day of judgment. Nay, He bade us come unto Him. And is this commandment vanity? Shall the Lord Jesus Christ give a commandment and yet shall the thing which He does command remain impossible? I say unto you, Nay. A wickedness must come upon any people who uphold such a doctrine.

22And now, the Second Anointing is that ordinance which does prove unto the hearts and the souls of the children of men that the things that I have taught concerning the Endowment of Power are true. For it is that holy and sacred ordinance which is performed only by the Man and the Woman who have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise. And behold, they shall know that this sealing has taken place, not because some man has placed hands on them and declared it unto them, as shall be the custom in the latter days, but because that same Spirit shall have manifested the very truth of it unto them. And when this more sure word of prophecy shall have been delivered unto them, nothing may controvert it. They are sealed up unto Christ forever, and though heaven and earth pass away, their covenant one to another shall never pass away, but is eternal.

23Now, when all this is done unto them and they have received all the laws by covenant and performed all the ordinances of the High Place, and the Holy Spirit of Promise, which is the Holy Ghost, has made their election sure, they do enter into the most Holy Place in the temple, even the Temple of Eve, and they shall wash and anoint each other in a most sacred manner. And behold, they shall lay their hands upon each other and the Lord shall lay His hands on them and anoint them.

24And they shall see Him and speak to Him face to face. And behold, this is because they have received the Endowment of Power through taking upon themselves by covenant the Law of Consecration, the Law of Chastity, the Law of Obedience and Sacrifice and the Law of the Gospel. These things are taken up within the temple by and through the ordinances of the High Place. And they are lived without the temple in their walk and talk and in every part of their lives.

25Now, I speak to you about this last ordinance in the temple because it shall have been lost by that time when the Lord shall see fit to cause the record of my words unto you to come forth out of the dust, by way of the gifts of the Spirit and of the Seer that shall be given unto that one from among your descendents whom He shall raise to fulfill this calling in the last days. Yea, there shall be none in the time of his calling that may avail themselves of the ordinances of the temple which shall be had in his day who may lay claim to this Second Anointing. You may believe it, Nem! Such shall be the state of affairs in his day!

26But I see that this revelation does cause your countenance to fall and your souls to be filled with sorrow. You may well lament the times in which your descendents must live. But take comfort in the knowledge that it shall be through them that the Lord shall complete and culminate that restoration which is to be commenced and which has been spoken of by the mouths of the prophets since the foundation of the world. Yea, it is because of your righteousness that your generations shall produce a race of people in whom the Lord shall entrust even the establishment of Zion again on earth.

27Wherefore, rejoice with great joy today with all your hearts, and let that rejoicing reach forward upon the courses of the stars, that they unto whom this great calling shall come might feel of your love for them. Yea, turn your hearts forward unto the seed of your bodies. For, out of you shall spring a nation such as the world has not seen since the City of Enoch was taken up into the bosom of heaven. Yea, none the like has any man seen since Father Enoch took up his city unto the Lord. Even so shall the fruit of your loins be exalted above all the people of the earth. For, they shall surely establish Zion in their hearts. And, though heaven and earth pass away, they shall stand in the presence of the Savior when He comes again to take up His footstool once again.

28And, if your hearts are turned unto them, I declare unto you, they shall surely feel it. And, of a surety you too shall feel their hearts turn unto you, even as you record these things and preserve them. For, think not that you shall not see them in their day. Nay, nor think that they shall not see you as you are. For, they shall walk upon the Way and all things shall be unto them one eternal round. Thus speaks the Spirit unto my soul, and so shall it be. Amen.

1The words of Timothy did stir up the hearts of the people of Mentina to a new dedication to the principles and teachings of the temple and to a more fervent dedication to the teachings of the Lord. For, because that Jesus did visit us after His resurrection, the people sometimes became complacent because of His condescension unto them. But behold, the words of Timothy did renew in us the spirit of grace that had come upon us when Christ did sit with us and talk with us.

2Now, I do take seriously the words of Timothy. Wherefore I felt to add unto this record a more clear vision of the manner in which the Nem do live the Law of Consecration. Behold, this is the manner of it:

3Each family maintains a plot of ground within the city of Mentina itself. And when a young man and woman engage themselves to each other to be married, the Community Council meets to appoint a place for them. In this we strictly follow the ways and customs of the Ammonites as laid down in the writings of the prophet Shi-Tugo.

4On this ground the family of the bride and groom, but more usually the brothers of the groom, labor together to build a house sufficient to meet the needs of the family. Now, this is not always so. For, sometimes the groom has few or no brothers, and in this case the family of the bride, and even the whole community, steps in to build the house. But there has never been an instance where a new bride and groom have had to begin their lives together in a homeless state.

5Around about this house, the family sows those plants that are useful for food and which may be grown in sufficient quantity in this manner. Each family is careful to grow more food than is needed by them alone so that there is a surplus of food from their garden. Now, because each family does this, there is always an overabundance of such fresh food in the season thereof, as also of that amount of foodstuffs as may be safely preserved against the day of cold.

6Each family also labors in some industry which can be done at home. Some put up garden foods to be used by the community in the day of cold. Others prepare dyes and colors from the same produce. Still others labor to provide seeds for subsequent seasons. Yet others prepare many items of common use from the fibers of the plants. Many concentrate their efforts in producing those plants that are especially needed because they provide medicine for the removal of the causes of disease.

7But this is not all. Many families maintain workshops where goods of common use of all kinds are manufactured. These goods range in kind from the smallest and most inconsequential to the largest tools used by the smiths and mechanics. All these goods are consumables used commonly either directly by the families or by those engaged in larger industries. All of our tools are produced by families in the communities.

8All of these things are produced by the members of the family, both young and old, depending upon their age and their capacity. And behold, they are not produced for the purpose of getting gain, but are exchanged for goods produced by other families. As there is always a surplus, it is brought to the storehouse and distributed liberally and without constraint unto all those who may need such things.

9Now, there are many kinds of foods, the growing of which is not suited for the small family holding. These things are produced on large tracts of land which do surround the city. Such things as grains of all kinds, cattle, and those plants we use for fibers for the making of cloth, especially linens, are grown outside the city. And behold, all the people go out in turns to work that crop which must be worked, or to labor in caring for livestock. All these things are brought into the city in the time of its harvest and are distributed liberally unto all that might have need of them. The surplus is held in storage and is used in trade with other cities and is exchanged for such things as may not be produced here. The surplus goods are traded equally for goods brought in the caravans from other cities of the Nem, as well as other peoples with whom the city of Mentina does hold commerce. In this way, we maintain a constant state of association with all the Nem in all parts of the land, as well as with our brethren in the Land Southward, and with other places in the world.

10The Nem of Mentina understand that many people in many places do consider themselves the owners of the land upon which they sojourn, and behold, that is their right, for we would not constrain any person to believe as we do. But, the Nem do not consider themselves the owners of the land, but rather, we are stewards of the Lord's footstool. This has been our way since the inception of our city, yea, even since the first of our people left the settlements of Hagoth and resorted into our place of fastness. And it pleases me to say that, for the most part, all of the Nem both of the mountains and of the plains, as well as the Nem of Corianton, do so consider themselves.

11For, how may a man think to own the earth? How may he possess that which is the Lord’s? Will a man rob God? It is not to be considered. Nevertheless, we know that many peoples of the earth have different ideas than ours and we seek to constrain no one in their thought.

12But behold, all men and women of the Nem are made equal stewards of the land and no person may dictate to another the stewardship of another. When a family is appointed to steward a holding, their neighbors leave them to it and do not seek to manage what is not their stewardship. If a family neglects their stewardship, the matter is taken up by the Community Council, but no individual ever takes such things upon themselves. But, whereas every family labors diligently for their own support and for the surplus that is to be given unto others, there have been no such cases of neglect, except where there has been incapacity.

13Now, the Nem take some pride in the beauty of their city, and this might be considered sin in the eyes of some. But it is true. The city of Mentina is a beautiful place because of the great care with which every family does manage their stewardship, and I can think of no great harm in taking pride in such things.

14Now, there are numerous herbs grown by the Nem for food. Many have been brought through trade with our brethren in the Land Southward, such as _corn_ and _black rice_ , _beans_ and other _ground nuts_ for the pot, _papas_ , _squash_ and _gourds_ of all kinds, and all manner of leafy herbs for the pot and to be eaten raw. There are also many kinds of roots and tubers grown for food, such as the _onion_ , _garlic_ , _camas_ , _kous_ , _bitter and biscuit_ , all of which have been taken out of the hills and valleys of our mountain home.

15Of grains there are many, including _wheat_ of the plains, _ryegrass_ , _millet_ and _quinoa_ ; some of which are brought in from far away places in the south.

16Among the most curious of the herbs used as food are the tubers we have acquired in trade with those countries across the Western Sea. There are bitter and pungent roots known as _dzigon_ which burn in the mouth but sooth the belly when eaten raw. Yea, many are the strange herbs and plants which have been brought to us in trade with diverse countries.

17The more important of the herbs grown in the small family holdings are those useful as medicine. Wherefore, I shall attempt to make an accounting of the common household medicine, but I shall not approach the larger task of making an account of the many plants used by the Healers, for their medicine is written in another book.

18For the defenses of the body and for the cleansing of the blood, the family grows a liberal supply of the _spined cone_ , of _yellow man root_ where much water and some shade is available, and the tree known as _arched limb_ is also grown as a shade tree near the house. There is also a cancerous growth on the dead trees of the mountains that is highly sought and used for defense against such ailments.

19To relieve the troubled senses, many small, leafy herbs are grown which have bright and pleasing odors and flavors. These include the _spear_ and the _hyssop_ , as well as the _sting_ and the _water fodder_ . These are used in mild draughts to enliven the soul and to bring about a sense of well-being and of internal pleasure. These can also be useful to treat the headache and to clear the skin of pustules brought on by an excess of rich food.

20There is also the root of a small forest plant that is brought in from the Nem of Corianton that is very sweet and is useful for calming the nerves and also in flavoring other foods. It is called _groundsweet_ and is highly sought after.

21In the hotter climate of the Land Southward a strange, sword-like plant grows abundantly in the deserts which is very good also to calm the troubled soul. But this is not all; it is also very good for the belly and relieves the troubled stomach. Its name is _Aalowe_ , and this name is believed to have been adopted from the name given to a similar plant that our forefathers knew of in the land of Father Lehi's origin.

22These are but a few of the common medicines used by the household in treating common complaints of the nerves and of the spirit. They were never rendered or ground too much, the mothers believing that too much alteration of the natural form harms the effectiveness of the medicine.

23Now, there were also medicines to cleanse the inner sea and the blood, and they include the very bitter herbs which grow readily upon the hills of the valley. They are the Big Bush, and this is distinguished from a similar looking plant known to many as the _white and green rabbit fodde_ r by its potent smell and pungent taste. It is bitter when made into a draught and serves to sweeten the waters. Many of the leafy vegetable plants grown in the family garden are also used for this purpose. But behold, one of the medicines most commonly used to sweeten the water is the very earth. The land around Mentina in many places contains a salty sort of clay that is very useful in sweetening the water and carrying away that which causes putrification in the body. This soil is collected and is added to the soil of the garden where those plants are grown that have similar medicinal action.

24For complaints of mothers, a comely flowering plant known as _mothers bloom_ is used. It is most favored among women because it is gentle and yet very effective for relieving disquiet of the birth bed and its functions. It is also useful in bringing on childbirth safely. There is also a tuberous plant know as _chumrah_ or _eeyah_ that is brought in from far in the Land Southward and is very sweet. It is a pulpy plant often used as food, but is very good in controlling disquiet of the birth bed.

25For complaints of fathers, a noisome smelling berry is used that can only be grown close to the sea in the Land Southward. It is called _palma_ , and it is believed that this name also comes from times before our fathers came to this land. A beautiful flowering shrub, the root of which is also useful in father's complaints and in restriction of flow, has been grown with great success in the gardens of Mentina, in spite of the fact that it comes from far across the sea.

26To aid the wind, especially in the day of cold, the families of the Nem grow the _fury leaf_ , _fury staff_ and they also gather the seeds of the _big bush_ . All of these are used in sacred smoke and do relieve restriction of wind because of the thickening of the wetness of the lungs. The small _feather leaf_ is also used to relieve pain and irritation of the throat and also to bring down fever when of long and undesirable duration. Some families also use the spiny local plant called _clears the wind_ , which is gathered and used in draughts.

27For the belly and elimination, the bark of a tree known to the Nem in the north has proven very effective and it is one of the medicines for which we trade our fine flaxen cloth with the communities in that part of the country. This dried bark is made into draughts and taken before retiring. This usually brings elimination upon waking. The _Aalowe_ is also used for this purpose. These medicines are rarely needed, however, because of the custom of most of our people of eating foods that they grow themselves and of not relying upon much grinding and rendering in the preparation of food.

28For ailments of the skin, the Nem use plants and soils that serve to take away wetness and bring tone to the structure of the skin. They also bathe in the hot water springs that are so numerous in the valley.

29The Nem of Mentina do not suffer much from ailments of the liver or of the kidneys. We believe that this is because of the quality and variety of the plants we use as food. Many of these plants are bitter and serve to cleanse and bring tone back to these organs without the need of additional medicine.

30And behold, there are numerous other plants, minerals and even animal medicines that are used by the Nem of Mentina, and they are grown in abundance in the gardens of the family holdings. But also the Healers dedicate other space for the cultivation of herbs more specifically used in medicine. It is because of this diversity of medicinal plants, minerals and animal products that we believe that we are less stricken with the ailments that are

31But I would not that you should think that we rely overmuch upon our knowledge in the healing of our bodies. For, many are the gifts of the Spirit and we do esteem that the gift of healing is both the gift to heal through knowledge and the gift to be healed. And our healers are people with such gifts.

32Behold, there are those whose gifts allow them to place their hands upon the stricken part of a sufferer's body and the part is healed by the power that is in them. And there are those whose gifts include a combination of the knowledge of plants and other healing substances with this same power to heal by the laying on of hands.

33And still others have a gift for laboring with the workings of the body, returning it to the point before the person was stricken with sickness. This gift is especially useful in the case of accident and where healing from them is slowed because of pain and debility.

34Some there are among the women of our communities whose gifts have only to do with assisting in the bearing of young, both among our women as also among the females of our beasts. These women provide a great service to our people and they are highly reverenced for this gift that they receive of the Lord and that they are willing to pass on to others.

35And there are some who have a kind of sight that allows them to see into the body and the illness of a person and direct the hands of others. This combination of gifts has proven invaluable to the Nem. Indeed, many have come from diverse places in the world simply to learn of our Healers of all gifts, most especially of those who have this sight.

36It is curious to me that the gifts of the Spirit find their home in certain people. Some are healers and some are scholars. Some are artisans and find inspiration beyond that of others to the beautifying of our lives. Yea, I have often times pondered upon these gifts. But I say unto you, The gift that comes to women, to assist in childbirth, is one that I find curious indeed. For, I perceive that very few men ever receive of this healing gift in the same measure as women. Perhaps it is because no man can ever know what it is that women feel in giving birth or perhaps it is a special gift given of Mother in Heaven. I cannot say.

37And there is another gift that is had by certain few among our communities. Yea, it is a gift that is to be desired by all. It is the gift to discern that portion of the knowledge of other peoples that is most useful to the Nem. For behold, there are many peoples in the world and all have learned somewhat of the things that promote the health of the body. We do send out messengers unto all people and they do return with knowledge derived from foreign lands. It can be difficult at times to decide which of this knowledge is useful and applicable to our way of life. The Holy Ghost speaks to us of truth but does often leave the application unto us. In this sense, they who have the gift of discernment render

38It is enough to say that we do not judge the gifts of the Spirit. One is no greater than the other and all are given so that we may aid and succor one another. But the gifts of healing are among those to which we all most aspire. For, that which wells up in the heart when one sees that another who was sick will not die, but will live on to serve the Lord and his neighbor, is a sensation that fills and completes the soul.

39Now, for the Nem of Mentina, medicines constitute a great portion of that which we trade with other cities. For, many of the plants we use are not available here and still others are only available here. Wherefore, we do trade much for medicines and foods that are unique to other areas. These things are not purchased, but are traded liberally and freely. And it is our custom to study the medicine and food of other peoples with whom we come into contact, for thus we have been commanded to do by our God and King.

40Wherefore, we do consider our medicine as part of the observance of our religion. And in this we feel that we do please our God. For, as often as we send emissaries into other lands to learn their medicines, they do also teach the people of those lands somewhat of our religion also. Wherefore, we do constantly receive visitors from those lands and peoples with whom we engage in trade and commerce, who do come even unto Mentina to learn more about the covenants and ordinances of

41Now, fish we have in abundance in the lake upon the shores of which our city is built. But behold, they are not large fish. Nevertheless, these small fishes are dried and beaten into a meal for use in many kinds of food. So much of this meal is produced, and so popular is it, that we do engage in much trade of it also. And it is traded for the skins of the great cattle that dwell upon the plains. These are very popular and beautiful and they are used in many kinds of useful things.

42Yea, the very floors of my own home are covered with these skins and they do greatly increase the warmth and comfort of the whole house. Yea, so desirable were they to me that I did labor vigorously in bringing in the fish and the drying of them and the grinding of them that I might provide an excess of the meal. And with this excess, the Council did trade for many, many skins with which the people did cover the floors of our houses. And this was a great pleasure for me. For, as the keeper of the records of my people, I do not often have opportunity to produce the kind of surplus that is useful for trade. Wherefore, in this did I also gain the pleasure of offering all my surplus for the good and comfort of my community.

43Now, I include these things in my accounting of the manner in which we do live the Law of Consecration in order that my posterity might gain a more clear view of the manner in which we live. For, it does occur to me that some might think that we live an austere life with little comfort. But one may see that the Lord does greatly prosper us as a city and as a people because of our strict adherence to the laws and commandments which He has given us. Yea, we are drawn continually to give thanks unto the Lord for the way in which we have been blessed and prospered. And we do attribute this great happiness to our observance of the commandments of God.

1Now behold, many of the Nem heard the admonition that Timothy gave us when he admonished us to write about our own use of the Law of Consecration and they winked at it. For, it seemed curious to them that we should dedicate room on the plates, which are made of metal and there is not much of it, to matters that seem rather unconnected with the religion of Mentina.

2But, as for me, I deem it of great importance. For, the religion of the people ought to have to do with all those things that we do that bring us unto Christ. And I deem it wisdom in Timothy that he should admonish us to write these things. For, the Lord gives no commandments unto the children of men but that He does not also wish them to obey and thereby gain the benefit of the things He does command. Wherefore, since He has commanded us to receive unto ourselves this Law of Consecration by covenant, and that most holy, I will follow the admonition of Timothy and write unto my descendents these things that they too may derive some benefit from them also.

3Now, from time to time, a traveler comes into our city, or into one of the cities round about, requesting that they be allowed to enter into the law with us and become part of our community. And this is the way that we do admit them into fellowship with us:

4Behold, we do examine them as to their understanding of our ways and our customs and if they do know much about us and are willing to be one with us, we do welcome them in and assign space for them. If they know little about us, we do ask them to stay in one of the hostels that are provided for those who come to visit the temple and we do take much time and care with them to be very sure that they know us and our ways before they make any commitment as to how they will live. When we are satisfied that they know us and our ways sufficiently to know whether they can live as we live or not, we do welcome them in and assign a place for them.

5Now, the place that is assigned for them depends largely upon that function they wish to fill as members of our communities. For behold, if the man or woman wishes to be artisans in baskets, it is not good that they build a home close up unto the mountain because of that they will have need of much travel to and from their home in order to gather and prepare the reeds. Therefore, it would be better for them to build their home close unto the lake where the reeds are plentiful. And this is an ensample of the thought that is taken for each family holding within our cities.

6And when the family has been assigned their place within our community, they are taken to the temple and an ordinance of adoption is performed for them in the sight of the community. And this is the manner of the ordinance:

7The individual is taken by the right hand in the right hand of the Peli who performs the ceremony. And they raise their hands together in the sight of the people. And the Peli proclaims the person's name in a loud voice and also that the person is now kin of our kin and flesh of our flesh, for we are all relations. After they have done this, the two of them go down into the font and the person is baptized as a token of the covenant of the making of family. When the person comes up out of the font, all the people embrace.

8And when the person is thus introduced into the family of the Nem, the people whose homes are nearby to the place which has been assigned come together to assist the new member of the family to build a home. And this is done in the same manner as when a young man and woman are first married. Yea, we all join together in building a new home and a new holding for the new member of the Nem. And, when the home is completed, all the people come to celebrate it and they bring gifts from their own homes to help the new one settle in.

9Now, sometimes a new person comes into our communities who has much substance and this was once the subject of some debate in the councils. It was believed by some that such a one ought to give all that they have into the storehouse and then receive back again sufficient for their needs. But I disagreed with this practice, for, on the one part, it judges the person harshly and, on the other, it necessitates the placing of one person as steward over property that once belonged to another.

10On the one hand, who may stand in judgment of the worthiness of another? Who can say that the substance brought in by another is filthy lucre? Is it not part of the stewardship that the Lord has given? How then can we judge such a thing? And if the gain of another was won by hard labor, is it right to take that substance from them?

11On the other hand, to assign a steward over the storehouse is the usual custom among our people to care for the increase that is offered freely out of the labor of our hands. But to place in the storehouse all of another's substance and then give back again that which is deemed sufficient for their needs, is the backwards of the custom of the people. For behold, each person is the steward of their own substance and they offer the surplus of it freely to those who are in need or to the storehouse to be kept back for them that may find a need later. But none are compelled to offer their surplus. It is part of the covenant we have made one to another and also unto the Lord. Wherefore, how can we compel one person for his much substance but not another for his little? And how can we compel one person because he is unknown to us and not all those who are our friends and neighbors?

12Yea, we did debate these things for a long time and the Council did finally come to a decision with the help of the Spirit of God in us. Verily, it was decided that each person ought to be the steward of all that the Lord does see fit to bestow. Yea, and each person should labor to have a surplus, but also to be the steward of that surplus, remaining ever watchful that when the needy come for assistance that he give what assistance he may. And when there is a surplus for which special needs exist, then that surplus ought to be given to the storehouse.

13But behold, no one is to judge another for their substance or their offerings. And in this thing, the Council deemed that there would be much greater peace in the communities and in all the land.

14And again, from time to time, there arose disputations because that one person or another failed to live the Law of Consecration as another thought it ought to be lived. These were kept to a minimum because of the constant teaching of the principles and ordinances of the High Place. And indeed, it was difficult to imagine much contention about such things. For, the people were in such accord that there was seldom much disagreement.

15But now and then there arises someone in the community that refuses to labor for their own support, but becomes dependent upon the labors of their neighbors and take advantage of them. Now, these are not they who are sick or halt or blind or in any way are unable to labor. But they are they who see how easy it might become to live upon the labors of others. These are always brought before the Community Council and chastened. And if they do repent and take up again some useful purpose, all is forgotten. But if they refuse, or they repent the moment and return to their sloth, they are brought once again before the Council and they are chastened.

16And if the person repents not and does refuse to return to some useful purpose, then assistance to them is curtailed. They must rely upon the charity of their neighbors. And, if it so be that they have taken such advantage of their neighbors that there exists bad will between them, they do usually move away from them. Then they are treated as neighbors and all the people trade with them, for, in trade we do assume that they have become once again fruitful, wherefore we do trade with them. But they no longer receive of the surplus.

17Now, this may seem harsh, but, how may one live solely off the labor of another if he be of good body and right mind? And if he be of sound body and his mind is right, how should he feel to live off the labors of another? Wherefore, let all they who live the Law of Consecration do so with all their heart, for it does establish a Zion on earth. But let him not take the advantage of his neighbor.

18Wherefore, our communities grew very rapidly, for there were many people who came into the land to live in peace and harmony with us and learning our ways, desired to be Nem. And as many as did strive for the things that we did strive for were admitted into our communities, and they become one with us.

19And from time to time there arise those who do commit grave sin against a neighbor, such that they do take away a person's ability to labor. These are immediately brought before the Community Council to be examined of them. And if the thing be proved with witnesses, that the matter be accidental and without malice or intention, then that person is given the opportunity to make the matter good, if it is possible, pledging for the upkeep of the injured person. And if the burden be not deemed too great, the matter stands corrected, insofar as such things can be corrected. And if it be deemed that the burden be too great, then the sinner is reproved and is assigned to do all that is not too great a burden for the upkeep of the injured one. intentional and with malice and the malefactor be not repentant and will refuse to pledge for the upkeep of the injured, that person is hastily cast out into the lonely world and a decree advertising the abuse is published in all the land. And that decree shall stand until the person desires to repent and make good his offense.

21And behold, if it be found that a person does willfully do an act of murder, rapine or mayhem and it is proven with witnesses and evidence that the act was of no accident and was verily done with intention, then that person is speedily and privily put to death. Behold, this is our law, that any act of murder, rapine or mayhem shall be dealt with in this harsh manner. For, we have seen the destruction of a people because of the secret combinations of the Gadiantons and we wish no such thing to take hold among our people.

22But behold, according to the records and remembrances of the people, there has only been two such cases and they involved persons who had come among our people from afar off and had no knowledge of our ways. Yea, they were foreigners from foreign lands where such things are common, but they were not of us.

23For behold, we do esteem each one of us equally responsible for the upholding of the laws which have been established by the councils. Likewise, we do esteem each other equally entitled to the benefit that good laws do bring to a people.

20If it is found that the matter be

24Wherefore, if a man steals from his neighbor, he is chastened and must return the thing stolen. And if the stolen article is destroyed or consumed, then he is chastened and must return the value of the thing. When this is done, the matter stands resolved. But if the man steals again or makes a habit of theft, even though it deprive no one of the ability to labor for his upkeep, such that he steals three times, he is cast out from among the people and is no longer entitled to the surplus. But, if he repent and prove himself through diligent service for the space of one year, then is he re-admitted in full fellowship.

25But behold, if he return again to his crimes, he is forthwith cast out from among the people and a decree is sent out to all the people of his crimes.

26And if a man bear false witness against his neighbor such that he be injured in his good name or his reputation and it be proved with witnesses and evidences, then is the offender brought before the Community Council and the matter is heard. And if the matter be proven, then the man is chastened and, in order to remain in the community, he must make amends for his error and labor to repair the damage he has caused by his false witness. But behold, he is not made to pledge himself for the upkeep of the offended person, for he has not caused the offended to lose the ability to provide for his own family and for the community. But the offender must repent and make amends, else he is cast out from among the people.

27Behold, in Mentina, it is sin to do injury or harm unto your neighbor, for, we hold that our way of life depends upon one neighbor serving another. Yea, we labor diligently not only for our own living, but also for the upkeep and happiness of our neighbors. And, if there be any who feel not to participate with us in our ways and our customs, behold, there is none that stands to compel them, but they are welcome to depart and live as they want to.

28Yea, and it is true that we are prospered by the Lord in measure greater than that which is enjoyed by the people in the Land Southward. For, were it not so, I can hardly think that so many would come unto us and beg us to admit them into our society. And we do live happily with all people because of our laws, for, we know what is expected of us and we do serve each other.

1Behold, I say again unto those of my descendents who might read these my words, it is wisdom that you should receive them. For, the Spirit has told me, and also I have seen your day in a vision, that even the elect of God shall be confused as to the right and proper way to live up to the laws and covenants they receive in the temple. Wherefore, read these things and learn the ways in which the Nem did them. Howbeit, although I know that there are many ways in which a person who is of good intent may live the commandments of God, yea, the ways of righteousness are as diverse as those of wickedness; nevertheless, I do believe that the blessings that we have received of the Lord do arise out of the manner in which we do live.

2Wherefore, I do fulfill the admonition given to me of Timothy and write our ways and customs that you may know of our doing and of our intention. Howbeit, you might find insight into how you might apply the things we have done, that have brought us such happiness, unto the things that you do. And behold, if you do the things of righteousness, you shall receive of the Lord even as we have received of Him.

3Now, as I said, I have seen your day and your doing in a vision given me of the Lord and through the Holy Ghost. Wherefore, I know that the intent of the hearts of the men who govern and rule this fair land in your day is not the same as in mine. Yea, in the last days, men shall have forgotten the blessing and the curse that is laid upon this land. They shall forget the covenants of God and they shall begin to follow the dictates of their own hearts. Behold, they shall wrest and twist the commandments of God and they shall forget to acknowledge Him in all things.

4And also those who shall think to govern the church, they too shall begin to do so with an eye single to the appeasement of men and not to the pleasing of their Maker. They think that by satisfying men and rulers they will not be troubled by them. Behold, I say unto you, and hearken unto my voice all you who are of my household and do receive these things which I have written unto you, All they who seek the pleasure of men, hoping to appease them, shall be troubled by them all the more. Yea, they shall trouble you in your laws and put you in bondage. They shall trouble you with your children and your hearts shall be broken because of them. They shall trouble you in the streets of your cities on the byways. Yea, they shall come even into your homes, your churches and in your Holy Places to vex and trouble you. All this shall be only because you do esteem them more than you do your God.

5And in the day that my writings shall come up unto you out of the dust, there shall be such vexation in this land that some few may be found who look to the past for a pattern and a way whereby they may live more completely the ways of the Lord. Yea, they shall for generations have looked unto their principle men, whom they bethought ought to have led them into righteousness and the ways of the Lord, for that ensign into the right way to keep the commandments and their own covenants in the days in which they live, only to find that they have not been led out of Babylon, but have built up Babylon in their hearts because of their teachings.

6Yea, I say some few, and they shall be precious few, shall begin to ponder upon all that they have been taught and to seek a different path than that which their principle men, even the shepherds of Zion, shall have set out for them. For, they shall have been taught from their youth that the only way to heaven is the way the wise men have taught. Behold, this is evil and comes of evil in the hearts of conspiring men.

7But there shall be a gathering from out of the church of those who do ponder and pray about these things and seek to do a better thing. Behold, in that day shall the words of my mouth, as also the words of all the Nem who have been moved upon to write unto their descendents, shall ring out in their ears and they will be guided by the Spirit into new ways of experimenting upon the words of Christ and of His gospel.

8For, my children, I say unto you with all earnestness, The way onto salvation is by and through that Holy One who made the atonement for us. Yea, belief on His name and faith in Him is the only means whereby we, of this creation and household, may obtain eternal life. Or, I should say, it is the only way we may obtain the New and Everlasting Covenant and become as our Lord and return unto Him and our Heavenly Parents. Without belief and faith in Him who is mighty to save, we must all return unto our own and suffer endlessly the deaths prepared for us.

9Wherefore, if it be that you should be among those unto whom the Spirit has spoken and you live in the days that I have seen in the vision, read these things and take them as your model. For, we have been truly blessed of the Lord. Yea, if you be of that gathering of which I did speak, rejoice and look back. Yea! Turn your hearts unto us, your grandfathers, and learn from us how we did keep the statutes of God that you might take of the things you learn from our doing, following that counsel and guidance you receive of the Spirit and build a home and a community, a place of worship and a temple, even in the midst of adversity. Yea, and you shall be a blessed and a happy people.

10For, I would say unto you somewhat more about they who do govern the land, as also about they who do think to guide the church, they have forgotten the commandments of God and also their covenants. It shall be unto them just as it has always been unto the children of men when they turn away the face from that holy Way into which the Lord their God does continually try to lead them. They shall become so puffed in their pride that they shall esteem their own ways as the best and fairest ways in all the world. Yea, even they shall say that their ways are the Lord's ways and unless a man follow their words and dismiss all others, he cannot be saved.

11This is sin. For, the Lord's ways are those which He does speak into the hearts of men and women when they turn their faces unto Him. And behold, it is true that when He does establish His church among the children of men, He does raise up prophets and seers to guide it. And when they follow Him and seekHis face, they are inspired as to what they ought to do. But behold, in the day that such prophets and seers do esteem their words greater than the words of Christ and do teach the people to listen to their words and to seek not the face of Christ, then have they fallen

12Behold, they shall have no means whereby they may lead the people into eternal life, for they shall have turned unto Babylon. Wherefore, if the hearts of the people are pure and they are faithful, they shall be saved. But their shepherds shall return unto their own for the great sin they have committed against their God. Fear not for them, for they shall one day see the face of their God again. But it shall only be after they have returned unto their own and not through that atonement made by the Son of God. Yea, it shall be by an eternity, eternities and an eternity that they shall be made ready to once again come into the presence of Him who condescended and sacrificed all so that they might come into the New and Everlasting Covenant of God and become like Him, through the atonement made for them, and through the transforming power of the Holy Ghost.

13And again, in the day that you do read these things and you are that little gathering of the Lord's people who would once again seek His face while yet in the flesh, look around you and behold! A man shall build him a house and it shall be a possession unto him, not a stewardship. In this is he cursed. And the wise shall teach him that because his wife shall have a claim upon him, that he shall be responsible for the support of his family, and this is right. But behold, the world shall teach him that he is to be the sole support for the family. And this shall the world use for a pitfall unto the man. For, the rulers of the land shall make the price of bread so high that he, with all his might, will be unable to provide for his family and his wife shall be forced to labor as well. But they shall labor away from the family and the rulers of the land shall take the children and they shall raise them up into bondage even greater than that under the weight of which their parents do labor.

14Then shall every person labor away their lives for a tiny piece of land or a house or a conveyance and all shall be impoverished because of their need for property. This is Babylon the Great which shall fall and the fall thereof shall be great. And behold, none shall escape her fall except they shall have gathered out of the world and except they shall have given up the pursuit of her unclean things.

15And behold, my children, be awake to these things and let not your eyes be dimmed so that you do not see them when they are ripe before you. For, in the day that the children of men have embraced the way of the world, even Babylon, they cannot approach the Way of God. And their prophets and seers shall be of no use to them in that day for they too shall have taught the ways of the world. In that day there shall not be a single community in the whole face of this fair and blessed land wherein the inhabitants thereof do succor each other as the Nem do succor their neighbor, except for those very few who have come out of Babylon.

16But behold, their wise men and their prophets shall have taught this way, even the way of the Gentile, for generations and they shall have been brought up in it themselves. And they shall teach the man that he must labor all his life for the things of the world and for the support of his family. And the day shall come that the family that labors together for their support, and not simply for their greater convenience and entertainment, shall be ridiculed and shunned. That man will be persecuted by the wise and by the shepherds of the flock as one who is not worthy of the things of God because he does teach his children to labor with him in providing the things that they need and in order that they might have somewhat more to give to them that need.

17Yea, you shall see them driven from among the people. Yea, even as has been written in another place, because they shall be poor in the eyes of men, albeit they are rich in their own hearts and in the eyes of God, they shall be driven from the churches and the synagogues and they shall not be allowed to worship with the saints. Woe unto such a day! For the saints are become dross and shall find no comfort in their substance.

18Yea, in that day the man shall not labor beside the woman, nay, nor beside the child, for his support, but he shall be separated from them all the day. And the mother who must labor because of the price of bread, she too shall not labor beside the child for their support but shall be separated from them all the day. And the child shall be taken into houses set up for their training that they too might be raised up into the ways of Babylon and labor out their lives alone and separate from the ones they love.

19And behold, when the man and the woman do come out of Babylon and mend their ways such that the family is once again together in all their labors, the rulers and the prophets shall alike see this as a sign of evil and shall punish them. Yea, they shall be cast out from among the people. And they shall be called negligent and abusers of children. And there shall even be some who shall be cast into prison for that they shall desire above all else to come out of Babylon. And they shall be forced to touch the unclean things again in order to come again into the community. How great shall be the evil of that day!

20And yet, there shall be some few who are able to abide the day and begin again to build Zion in their hearts. These shall be most blessed. For the Lord shall raise them up an ensign unto all the nations. And their works shall be works of righteousness. And they shall labor together, the father and the mother, the parents and the children, and they shall begin to build again Zion in their communities. And men and women shall labor again a labor of love and they shall begin to build again Zion in all the land.

21And behold, they shall take into their own homes they who have been beaten with stripes and cast out. And, while their neighbors shall shun them, they shall succor them. And they shall take the children of them that have been cast into prison and shall shelter them and teach them to love their parents because they have been abused for their sake.

22And fathers shall labor beside mothers, and parents beside their children. And behold, families will be together all the day long laboring for their own good, as also for the good of others. And children shall learn righteousness from their parents. The children shall not idle away their days in worthless learning, yea, they shall not learn to be the thralls of dishonest men and masters, but shall lift up their heads.

23In the day of their sore probation, they who do experiment upon the principles of Zion shall not cast out from among their midst any who have not the things the world says they must have. They shall not judge them because of their lack of substance, but shall embrace them and labor with them also, side by side.

24But still, they shall be persecuted by some. And after they have been persecuted from among the people because they followed not the dictates and ways of the world, they shall gather together to labor and to live, to worship and to serve and to observe to keep the commandments and covenants of God, following the dictates of their own consciences, as also the guidance of the Holy Ghost.

25For the gifts of the Spirit shall be taken from them that should have possessed them in abundance. Yea, the shepherds shall have no more of the visitations of Angels and they shall persecute them that do. And the shepherds of Zion shall have no more of speaking in tongues and translation and shall persecute them that do. And behold, the prophets shall speak no more prophecy and shall cast out them that do. And they shall no longer heal or be healed by the power of God or the gifts of the Spirit and they shall cast in prison them that do. And the blind shall not see and the lame shall not walk. Yea, the widow shall go friendless and lonely and the fatherless shall be idle. And behold, the saints shall be covered in the blood and sin of Babylon. Yea, how the Adversary shall rejoice in the face of him who holds the keys of God in that day!

26And the pride of men shall wax gross. Yea, and they shall be cursed above all the people of the earth. For, a vexatious pestilence shall pursue all the families of the earth, but especially in this land. And there shall not be one family in this land, in the day of which I speak, that shall not be vexed with the pestilence. And there shall be a wasting disease and a canker. And the flesh shall fall and the bones shall wither. Surely, the strength of men shall diminish. And this shall come to pass because of the pride of men in the day of which I speak. Yea, because they shall think themselves high, they shall be brought low. But, even with the evidence of the displeasure of God on the right and on the left, even before their faces and following them in their path, the pride of men shall have waxed so great that they shall still declare themselves to be the strongest and most blessed people in all the world. Yea, they shall judge themselves blessed even in the midst of the evidences that God shall heap upon them. And, if the people of that day do not repent, these things must surely come to pass.

27And I say unto you, It shall be the thing in which men shall take the most pride wherein they shall see their downfall. Yea, it shall be that thing they think is their greatest strength which shall bring them down into the dust. Yea, that by which they do judge all other men shall be the thing whereby, being judged by it, they shall be cursed and shall sink in the esteem of all the world.

28Open up your eyes and look, my children! For, unless you forswear yourselves of the teachings and the principles and the ways of Babylon, then shall you be carried away in this tide that shall overthrow the cities of the mighty and the wisdom of the wise. Yea, unless you follow the commandments of God, you shall fail and perish. But, if you will remember that Christ did teach to come out of Babylon and if you hearken unto His voice, then shall you avoid the calamities of that day.

1And I now say unto you, Because that you have brought your hearts unto the Father, the hearts of the Fathers are brought unto you. Wherefore, you have received these writings and do ponder them in your hearts. I would beseech and admonish you to submit all these things unto the confirmation of the Holy Ghost. And if you do this, your mind will be enlightened and you will receive of Him the truth of the things you do read within them. And behold, if you do read them with good intent, having faith in that One who is mighty to save, then the Holy Ghost will manifest the truth of these records unto you.

2Now, I cannot say how this manifestation will come, for, the manifestations and gifts of the Spirit are many and diverse. But you shall know that the things that the Spirit does manifest are true because that to deny them will cause a great confusion in your mind and in your heart. And when the Spirit does manifest the truth of a thing, behold, you will have peace with regard to the matter. Remember, to deny such a thing is to deny the Holy Ghost. Deny not the Holy Ghost, for it is by the power of the Holy Ghost whereby the atonement is made whole and operative within you. And without this power there could be no New and Everlasting Covenant, no, nor atonement, nor righteousness in this creation. For, the covenant our Heavenly Parents made with Christ and with the Holy Ghost makes all things possible in this creation. Wherefore, without the Holy Ghost, our Father which is in Heaven would still be God, as also the Mother. And Jesus would still be the Christ. But what would such things matter to you and me? I say unto you, They would not mean a thing, nay, not one whit. In this covenant we may deny the Father and still be forgiven. Yea, and we may deny the Son and there is forgiveness. But, I say unto you, If you deny the Holy Ghost nothing in this creation matters and you must return unto your own.

3Wherefore, it is by the power of the Holy Ghost that you may know the truth of these things, as also the truth of all things. Rely not upon the words of any man, be he living or long dead, as I know that I shall be when you receive these records. And you should not rely upon the words of any person living at the time in which you shall receive them, but upon the Holy Ghost.

4For, how shall a man who has not received these things tell you of their worth? He may read them, but if he does not subject all things unto the confirmation of the Holy Ghost, he cannot know the worth of my words. Wherefore, you may not subject these things unto the wisdom of the wise, but unto that still small voice within you. The Holy Ghost is the only test of truth that you may rely upon in the day that you will receive these things. Yet, He is given unto you, wherefore, use this test in all things. For, if you relyupon the wisdom of the wise, you have fallen into a trap. If you cannot receive truth through the Holy Ghost, then you cannot think to be capable of serving God, for you are overcome by the Babylon in your heart. Repent and know God!

5Now, I am adamant in these things because I have seen your day and all that you do in it. Yea, it is by this same Holy Ghost that I have walked upon the Way and I have looked and seen you. And behold, the things that I have seen are not so different than those things which we see now and then begin to grow in the hearts of men. But behold, they have not taken hold in our communities, for we labor diligently to prevent it from doing so. But I say unto you, Should the day come, and I perceive that such a day will come unto my people, when we cease to diligently labor to keep such things out of our communities, then the same will befall our happy state and we will also succumb.

6I am thankful for the time in which I live, that I may be able to describe unto my descendents the great and blessed state in which we do live because of our strict adherence to the precepts which the Christ did teach us. I am also happy and consider myself blessed that I should be privileged to live in a time when the prophets of God do seek His face and also teach us to do so continuously.

7And I do consider the Nem blessed, for, not only do the Nem of Mentina enjoy blessings of prosperity and happiness, but we have also spread across the face of the land and all of our communities do also enjoy all those blessings which makes our lives so happy.

8Yea, and we do welcome the many people who continue to leave the Land Southward to join our communities. And behold, from the Land Southward even into the far reaches of the north, there are communities of the Nem. And when one travels over the great mountains into the east, there are communities of the Nem connected to that great city Corianton, and they are our brothers also. They,too, take unto them refugees from the Land Southward and their communities cover the face of the land. And all this in the space of but a few generations from the time Hagoth left the Land Southward.

9And we do enjoy commerce with the Land Southward and our brethren there, for they, too, grow and prosper at this time. But behold, their way of living the covenants of the Lord are different than ours and some strife does still arise from time to time which they labor diligently to subdue. And I believe that, if they would but adopt the Nem way of life, such things might be done away.

10But behold, lest I fall into the same pride that shall befall the people of this land in times to come, I must repent me of such thoughts. For, who am I to say that the manner in which the Nephites do live the laws of God are lesser or greater than our ways? For, they are also blessed of the Lord.

11Notwithstanding, they have all things in common and their property is administrate unto them as the governor sees fit. And if the governor remains strong in the faith, I see no impediment in this. But, if the day comes when the Gadiantons do again possess the land, as they did in times past, this system will not continue to bless the people as ours does.

12For behold, our system is governed not by one man, but by all the people and it is administered not as one wise man sees fit, but as the whole community deems necessary. And it is this system that has attracted men and women who have traveled from afar off to learn of us and our ways.

13Yea, we have entertained emissaries from over the sea both west and east and they have lived with us and learned of our ways. And behold, they have also taught us of their ways and have established trade routes with us and there is much traffic between our land and theirs.

1And behold, this is the state of affairs in the land of the Nem of Mentina in the days of my stewardship. And the days of my stewardship have been long among my people and I am become old.

2And I have delivered up the seat of the High Priest unto the Great Council of Mentina and they have chosen my own son, Shimlei, to sit in the seat in my stead. And he is a righteous man and has assisted me in my work for forty years. Indeed, since he became a man and took to wife the granddaughter of Alma and Sabel of Corianton, he has always been at my side and has been a support and help to me in all the things the Lord has called upon us to do. Yea, he has been a counselor unto me and a great help in my labors.

3And now I give my last blessing and warning unto you who are my descendents. Remain faithful unto the statutes of the Lord and remember Him in all that you do. Yea, sing praises unto Him in all things and render up all your pride. Call upon Him in all things and trust only to the administration of the Holy Ghost for a guide to truth.

4For, I say again unto you, in the days that these writings shall come unto you out of the dust, there shall be great pride in all the land. And if it be the desire of your hearts to fulfill the commandments of the Lord and come out of Babylon, it shall be difficult for you to discern how you may begin to truly establish Zion in your hearts. But when you read these things and ponder them in your hearts, let the Holy Ghost teach you how that they may become a chart unto you. I know that, if you follow the ways of the Nem, or at least if you use our ways and apply them to your times, you shall be successful.

5Now, I bid you farewell. Remember me and all your grandfathers. Our hearts are turned unto you and, behold, if you will seek us, we will manifest ourselves unto you. Howbeit, if it be the Lord's will, we might be guides unto you in seeking the right ways of the Lord.

6For, the Spirit has testified to me that you shall build again a Zion in this land and it shall come to pass even as has been foretold. And this same Spirit has shown me in a vision that you shall build a place of peace, a place of safety, a place of understanding and of learning, a place of holiness to the Lord, even a High Place in the tops of the mountains. Wherefore, hearken unto the words of my mouth.

7For, the Lord has shown me the tabernacle in the wilderness that you shall build and that it shall be by and through those ordinances that you have received of my father Oug that this little tabernacle shall begin to grow and become a temple unto the Most High God. And the Sons of Levi, even the Peli, shall begin again to purify their hearts after the manner of the Ammonites of old and also in the manner taught by Jesus. And they shall once again begin to offer up a righteous sacrifice unto the Lord ere the end come.

8And this shall be a sign unto you that you do live in the time which I have seen and of which I have written unto you.

9The Sons of Levi shall build a tabernacle and shall place it in the wilderness, for there shall be no room for living sacrifice in the synagogues and temples in their day. Wherefore they shall build a temple and an altar in the wilderness. And it shall not be in the form of the temple in days of old, but it shall be made of stone that shall not have been cut by hand and of earth and of the covering as if of a tent. This shall be the first of many such tabernacles wherein the people of God shall resort to purify themselves and to prepare themselves to come out of Babylon.

10Yea, the altar shall not be of cut stones but of natural stones. And it shall be a depression in the center of the room which shall be a hearth wherein the stones of the first day of creation are laid. And the wall of the room shall not be the height of a man but shall require that a grown man must bow down unto the Lord to enter in the door thereof. And the roof shall be of timbers and twigs, as also of any suitable material that might be found at hand. And there shall be a path leading from the hearth toward a place of fire and this shall be toward the rising of the sun and shall be mounded up with stones. And at the end of the path there shall be a mound of earth upon which natural stones have been set up. But these stones shall not be cut by the hand of man, nor shall any man raise his tool to them, lest they be defiled. For, this is the altar of the temple.

11Yea, look and see! For, in the days about which I have spoken, they who are of the house of Levi and of Aaron shall once again build an altar of stones. And behold, it shall be for the purifying of the hearts of men and women unto sacrifice. And it shall appear unlike the great structures and mighty and beautiful buildings of the day. For, in it are the hearts of men and women purified and made ready to meet their God.

12And behold, within the room, when you look up upon the roof thereof, you shall see thirteen limbs or beams which shall extend from the wall thereof to a high place in the center. And it shall be bound with seven circlets of joined twigs. And upon these twigs shall smaller twigs be placed as a thatch. And upon this thatch shall earth be thrown up.

13And between the floor and the roof, there shall be suspended from twelve points a veil which shall have painted upon it the scenes of the creation as taught by my father Oug. This shall hang as a ceiling above the heads of they who will be seated in the room.

14And round about the walls of the tabernacle shall be a continuous seat which shall be of thrown mud and hardened. This shall be a place to sit and hear the Book of the High Place. And there shall also be a place upon the floor for to sit which shall encircle the hearth.

15And behold, this tabernacle shall be used by that little gathering of people as a place of resort and refuge against the teachings of the world and of Babylon. And they shall teach there the ordinances of the High Place and also they shall purify themselves in that place according to the purification of the Ammonites.

16Look for such a place among the people of your day, my children. For, in that day the Lord will complete and culminate His great work, even His strange work, even the restoration of all things that have been spoken by the mouths of the prophets since the world began.

17For, in that little tabernacle, the Lord shall accept the sacraments and the offerings of His people. Yea, a light shall begin to shine forth from the door of the lodge and a light shall fill the whole earth. And when it has filled the whole earth, none shall say: Behold, I am a Nephite or Lamanite or Ishmaelite or Mulekite or Ammonite. But all shall say: Behold, I serve my Lord. Yea, all shall be disciples of Christ.

18And the little flock that gathers unto such places as I have described, for you will build them in diverse places, shall begin to have all things in common and shall begin again to build anew a Zion unto the Lord their God.

19Rejoice in that day, my children! For, if you are among they who gather to such curious and unusual places, behold, it is because you have received the things that shall have been delivered unto you out of the dust of the earth from your grandfathers. Yea, rejoice exceedingly, for the coming of your Lord is nigh and you shall see His face!