the birth of Christ, prophecies of other
signs--of darkness, terror, and destruction--by which the Savior's death
on the cross would be signalized.[1455] Every prophetic word concerning
the phenomena that were to attend the Lord's birth had been fulfilled;
and many people had been brought thereby to believe in Christ as the
promised Redeemer; but, as is usual with those whose belief rests on
miracles, many among the Nephites "began to forget those signs and
wonders which they had heard, and began to be less and less astonished
at a sign or a wonder from heaven, insomuch that they began to be hard
in their hearts, and blind in their minds, and began to disbelieve all
which they had heard and seen."[1456]

Thirty and three years had sped their course since the illumined night
and the other signs of Messiah's advent; then, on the fourth day of the
first month, or, according to our calendar, during the first week of
April, in the thirty-fourth year, there arose a great and terrible
tempest, with thunderings, lightnings, and both elevations and
depressions of the earth's surface, so that the highways were broken up,
mountains were sundered, and many cities were utterly destroyed by
earthquake, fire, and the inrush of the sea. For three hours the
unprecedented holocaust continued; and then thick darkness fell, in the
which it was found impossible to kindle a fire; the awful gloom was like
unto the darkness of Egypt[1457] in that its clammy vapors could be
felt. This condition lasted until the third day, so that a night a day
and a night were as one unbroken night, and the impenetrable blackness
was rendered the more terrible by the wailing of the people, whose
heart-rending refrain was everywhere the same, "O that we had repented
before this great and terrible day."[1458]

Then, piercing the darkness, came a Voice,[1459] before which the
frightful chorus of human lamentation was silenced; "Wo, wo, wo unto
this people" resounded throughout the land. The Voice proclaimed
increasing woes except the people should repent. Destruction had
befallen because of wickedness, and the devil was then laughing over the
number of the dead and the retributive cause of their destruction. The
extent of the dread calamity was detailed; cities that had been burned
with their inhabitants, others that had sunk into the sea, yet others
buried in the earth, were enumerated; and the divine reason for this
widespread destruction was plainly set forth-