AN ANALYSIS OF THE BOOK OF MORMON.  
With reference to its construction the Book of Mormon separates into three divisions:
 
1. The small plates of Nephi, a record kept upon gold plates made by the first Nephi upon which he purposed to record and have recorded more especially the work of the holy ministry among the Nephites, the prophecies of the coming of the Messiah in the flesh, and the exhortations to righteousness by the prophets who should arise among his people. As compared with his plates on which he designed to have recorded the secular history of his people, they were small, and doubtless comparatively few in number, hence their name—"The Smaller Plates of Nephi." The historical data contained in these small plates of Nephi extends over a period of about four hundred years, or from the departure of Lehi from Jerusalem to the reign of King Benjamin, the second king of the Nephite-Zarahemla nation. But chiefly these plates were filled with prophecies and exhortations to righteousness, and many transcriptions from the writings of Isaiah, and other prophets, while historical data—though sufficient to give a general idea of the movement of Lehi's colony, and the subsequent march of events among the peoples that sprang from that colony—are meager.
 
The translation of these small plates, in current editions, occupies the first one hundred and fifty-seven[1] pages of the Book of Mormon, fractional pages aside; and with two pages of explanatory matter by Mormon, under the title "Words of Mormon," make 133 pages of the book. The books of this first division of the Book of Mormon are six in number, viz: I. Nephi, II. Nephi, Book of Jacob, Book of Enos, Book of Jarom, Book of Omni. Though there are but six books in this division, there are nine writers, as follows:
 
The first Nephi, who writes one hundred and twenty-seven and a half pages[2] of the one hundred and fifty seven in this division.
 
Jacob, brother of Nephi, twenty-one and a half pages.
 
Zenos, son of the above Jacob, two and one-half pages.
 
Jarom, son of the above Zenos, two pages.
 
In the Book of Omni there are but three and one half pages, but there are five writers, each of whom records merely a few lines:
 
Omni, son of the above Jarom;
 
Amaron, son of the above Omni;
 
Chemish, brother of the above Amaron;
 
Abinadom, son of Chemish;
 
Amaleki, son of the above Abinadom.
 
Amaleki writes about two pages out of the three pages and a half comprising the Book of Omni, and gives the important information concerning the second hegira of the righteous Nephites, their union with the people of Zarahemla and the formation of the Nephite-Zarahemla nation.
 
Although there are nine writers in this division of the Book of Mormon, the writing is chiefly done by the first two, Nephi and Jacob, of which the first writes 127 1/2 pages; and the second 21 1/2 pages, leaving but eight pages to be written by the other seven writers.
 
2. Mormon's abridgment of the Large Plates of Nephi comprises the second division of the Book of Mormon. This is a condensed record made from the various books written or engraved upon the Large Plates of Nephi, which plates, it will be remembered, were made by the first Nephi, as well as the Smaller Plates of Nephi, that upon them might be recorded the secular history of the people, their wars and contentions, their affairs of government and the migrations of their people. This part of the Book of Mormon—the abridgment—is the work of one man, Mormon, from whom this whole record of the Nephites takes its name, and yet the abridgment of Mormon occupies but 390 1/2 out of the 632 pages; his own book, bearing his own name, makes 15 1/2 pages making in all 406 out of the 623 pages which comprise the whole book.
 
The style of Mormon's abridgment is very complicated. It consists mainly of his condensation of the various books which he found engraven upon the Larger Plates of Nephi—the Book of Mosiah, Book of Alma, Helaman, III. Nephi, IV. Nephi, etc. Bec............