Chapter 37
The plates of brass and other scriptures are preserved to
bring souls to salvation—The Jaredites were destroyed because of their
wickedness—Their secret oaths and covenants must be kept from the
people—Counsel with the Lord in all your doings—As the Liahona guided the
Nephites, so the word of Christ leads men to eternal life. About 74 B.C.
1 And now, my son Helaman, I command you that ye take the
records which have been entrusted with me;
2 And I also command you that ye keep a record of this
people, according as I have done, upon the plates of Nephi, and keep all these
things sacred which I have kept, even as I have kept them; for it is for a wise
purpose that they are kept.
3 And these plates of brass, which contain these
engravings, which have the records of the holy scriptures upon them, which have
the genealogy of our forefathers, even from the beginning—
4 Behold, it has been prophesied by our fathers, that
they should be kept and handed down from one generation to another, and be kept
and preserved by the hand of the Lord until they should go forth unto every
nation, kindred, tongue, and people, that they shall know of the mysteries
contained thereon.
5 And now behold, if they are kept they must retain their
brightness; yea, and they will retain their brightness; yea, and also shall all
the plates which do contain that which is holy writ.
6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but
behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought
to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.
7 And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his
great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the
wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.
8 And now, it has hitherto been wisdom in God that these
things should be preserved; for behold, they have enlarged the memory of this
people, yea, and convinced many of the error of their ways, and brought them to
the knowledge of their God unto the salvation of their souls.
9 Yea, I say unto you, were it not for these things that
these records do contain, which are on these plates, Ammon and his brethren
could not have convinced so many thousands of the Lamanites of the incorrect
tradition of their fathers; yea, these records and their words brought them
unto repentance; that is, they brought them to the knowledge of the Lord their
God, and to rejoice in Jesus Christ their Redeemer.
10 And who knoweth but what they will be the means of
bringing many thousands of them, yea, and also many thousands of our
stiffnecked brethren, the Nephites, who are now hardening their hearts in sin
and iniquities, to the knowledge of their Redeemer?
11 Now these mysteries are not yet fully made known unto
me; therefore I shall forbear.
12 And it may suffice if I only say they are preserved
for a wise purpose, which purpose is known unto God; for he doth counsel in
wisdom over all his works, and his paths are straight, and his course is one
eternal round.
13 O remember, remember, my son Helaman, how strict are
the commandments of God. And he said: If ye will keep my commandments ye shall
prosper in the land—but if ye keep not his commandments ye shall be cut off
from his presence.
14 And now remember, my son, that God has entrusted you
with these things, which are sacred, which he has kept sacred, and also which
he will keep and preserve for a wise purpose in him, that he may show forth his
power unto future generations.
15 And now behold, I tell you by the spirit of prophecy,
that if ye transgress the commandments of God, behold, these things which are
sacred shall be taken away from you by the power of God, and ye shall be
delivered up unto Satan, that he may sift you as chaff before the wind.
16 But if ye keep the commandments of God, and do with
these things which are sacred according to that which the Lord doth command
you, (for you must appeal unto the Lord for all things whatsoever ye must do
with them) behold, no power of earth or hell can take them from you, for God is
powerful to the fulfilling of all his words.
17 For he will fulfil all his promises which he shall
make unto you, for he has fulfilled his promises which he has made unto our
fathers.
18 For he promised unto them that he would preserve these
things for a wise purpose in him, that he might show forth his power unto
future generations.
19 And now behold, one purpose hath he fulfilled, even to
the restoration of many thousands of the Lamanites to the knowledge of the
truth; and he hath shown forth his power in them, and he will also still show
forth his power in them unto future generations; therefore they shall be
preserved.
20 Therefore I command you, my son Helaman, that ye be
diligent in fulfilling all my words, and that ye be diligent in keeping the
commandments of God as they are written.
21 And now, I will speak unto you concerning those
twenty-four plates, that ye keep them, that the mysteries and the works of
darkness, and their secret works, or the secret works of those people who have
been destroyed, may be made manifest un
(Alma 37:1-21)
Alma continues speaking to Helaman.
He gives him the plates King Mosiah had given him. ““And
now, as I said unto you, that after king Mosiah had done these things, he took
the plates of brass, and all the things which he had kept, and conferred them
upon Alma, who was the son of Alma; yea, all the records, and also the
interpreters, and conferred them upon him, and commanded him that he should
keep and preserve them, and also keep a record of the people, handing them down
from one generation to another, even as they had been handed down from the time
that Lehi left Jerusalem” (Mosiah 28:20).
For some reason, he first offered them to Nephihah, the
second chief judge.
“And it came to pass that in the same year that the people
of Nephi had peace restored unto them, that Nephihah, the second chief judge,
died, having filled the judgment-seat with perfect uprightness before God.
“Nevertheless, he had refused Alma to take possession of
those records and those things which were esteemed by Alma and his fathers to
be most sacred; therefore Alma had conferred them upon his son, Helaman” (Alma
50:37-38).
This raises the question, why was Helaman not his first
choice for the records? For whatever reason, Mormon decided the reason should not
be included in his abridgement.
He commanded Helaman
to keep a record of the Nephites, as he has done. They are being preserved for
a wise purpose.
“And now behold, this was the desire which I [Enos]
desired of him—that if it should so be, that my people, the Nephites, should
fall into transgression, and by any means be destroyed, and the Lamanites
should not be destroyed, that the Lord God would preserve a record of my
people, the Nephites; even if it so be by the power of his holy arm, that it
might be brought forth at some future day unto the Lamanites, that, perhaps,
they might be brought unto salvation…
And I had faith, and
I did cry unto God that he would preserve the records; and he covenanted with
me that he would bring them forth unto the Lamanites in his own due time…
“And the Lord said
unto me: Thy fathers have also required of me this thing; and it shall be done
unto them according to their faith; for their faith was like unto thine” (Enos
1:13, 16, 18).
“But behold, I shall
take these plates, which contain these prophesyings and revelations, and put
them with the remainder of my record, for they are choice unto me; and I know
they will be choice unto my brethren.
“And I do this for a
wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the
Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the
Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do
according to his will” (Words of Mormon 1:6-7).
Alma also gave
Helaman the plates of brass, which include “the genealogy of our forefathers”
(Alma 37:3).
“And it came to pass
that my father, Lehi, also found upon the plates of brass a genealogy of his fathers;
wherefore he knew that he was a descendant of Joseph; yea, even that Joseph who
was the son of Jacob, who was sold into Egypt, and who was preserved by the
hand of the Lord, that he might preserve his father, Jacob, and all his
household from perishing with famine” (1 Nephi 5:14).
Alma told Helman
their fathers had prophesied these records should be handed down to each
generation. They will be preserved by the hand of the Lord. They day will come
all will no the mysteries contained in the scriptures.
“The secret of the
Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant” (Psalm
25:14).
“Wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
“Having made known
unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath
purposed in himself” (Ephesians 1:8-9).
“For he that
diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto
them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of
old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of
the Lord is one eternal round” (1 Nephi 10:19).
“[T]he Lord made a
promise to Moroni, also to Mormon, and to many other Prophets who dwelt on this
land in previous generations, that these plates should never be destroyed, but
that they should be preserved by his hand, and that they should be brought
forth out of the earth in the latter days, for the purpose of bringing about
the gathering of his people from the ends of the earth, and the bringing in of
the fullness of the Gentiles and fulfilling their times, after which the translation
of these records should go to all the remnants of the house of Israel,
scattered abroad on the face of the whole earth; and that these records should
be instrumental in the hands of God in gathering Israel from the four quarters
of the earth.”[1]
The records “must retain their brightness; yea, and they
will retain their brightness; yea, and also shall all the plates which do
contain that which is holy writ” (Alma 37:5).
[1] Review
of God's Dealings With the Prophet Joseph—Coming Forth of the Book of
Mormon—Gathering, Etc, Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the New
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Sept. 22, 1872.
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