ness. "And it came to pass that there was no contention in the
land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the
people. And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor
whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness;
and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who
had been created by the hand of God."[1503] Nine of the twelve special
witnesses chosen by the Lord passed at appointed times to their rest,
and others were ordained in their stead. The state of blessed prosperity
and of common ownership continued for a period of a hundred and
sixty-seven years; but soon thereafter came a most distressing change.
Pride displaced humility, display of costly apparel superseded the
simplicity of happier days; rivalry led to contention, and thence the
people "did have their goods and their substance no more common among
them, and they began to be divided into classes, and they began to build
up churches unto themselves, to get gain, and began to deny the true
church of Christ."[1504] Man-made churches multiplied, and persecution,
true sister to intolerance, became rampant. The red-skinned Lamanites
reverted to their degraded ways, and developed a murderous hostility
against their white brothers; and all manner of corrupt practises became
common among both nations. For many decades the Nephites retreated
before their aggressive foes, making their way north-eastward through
what is now the United States. About 400 A.D. the last great battle was
fought near the hill Cumorah;[1505] and the Nephite nation became
extinct.[1506] The degenerate remnant of Lehi's posterity, the Lamanites
or American Indians, have continued until this day. Moroni, the last of
the Nephite prophets, hid away the record of his people in the hill
Cumorah, whence it has been brought forth by divine direction in the
current dispensation. That record is now before the world translated
through the gift and power of God, and published to the edification of
all nations, as the BOOK OF MORMON.

NOTES TO CHAPTER 39.

1. The Land Bountiful.--This comprized the northerly part of South
America, extending to the Isthmus of Panama. On the north it was bounded
by the Land of Desolation, which embraced Central America, and, in later
Nephite history, an indefinite extent north of the Isthmus. The South
American continent in general is called, in the Book of Mormon, the Land
of Nephi.

2. The Jewis