Page:A dictionary of the Book of Mormon.pdf/81

Rh No people since the deluge, of whom we have any record, lived nearer to the Lord than did the Nephites of this generation; no people have had the average of their earthly life so marvelously prolonged.  AMOS, THE YOUNGER. Amos was the son of the elder Amos, and his successor in the custody of the “holy things.” So great was his vitality, and so strong was the constitution implanted in him by the virtuous lives of his progenitors, together with his own life of harmony with God's laws, that he retained this sacred trust for the unexampled period of one hundred and twelve years, or from A. C. 194 to A. C, 306, when he placed them in the hands of his brother Ammaron.

Amos was a righteous man, but he lived to witness an ever-increasing flood of iniquity break over the land, a phase of evil-doing that arose not from ignorance and false tradition, but from direct and wilful rebellion against God, and apostasy from His laws. In the year A. C. 201, all the second generation, after the appearance of the Redeemer, had passed away, save a few; the people had greatly multiplied and spread over the face of the lands, north and south, and they had become exceedingly rich; they wore costly apparel, which they adorned with ornaments of gold and silver, pearls and precious stones. From this date they no more had their property in common, but, like the rest of the world, every man sought gain, wealth, power and influence for himself and his own. All the old evils arising from selfishness were revived. Soon they began to build churches after their own fashion, and hire preachers who pandered to their lusts, some even began to deny the Savior.

From A. C. 210 to A. C. 230, the people waxed greatly in iniquity and impurity of life. Different dissenting sects multiplied, infidels 