“The Book of Mormon contains a powerful testimony of the importance of scriptural records for the spiritual and intellectual preservation of a nation. The brass plates enabled the Nephites not only to know of and remember the spiritual legacy of ancient Israel but also to have and perpetuate the ‘language of [their] fathers.’ Later in the Nephite record we learn of the sad tale of the Mulekites, who squandered their possibilities for a time because of their spiritual and intellectual illiteracy, a condition due largely to the lack of a written record. (See Omni 1:17; Mosiah 1:3.)” (McConkie and Millet, Doctrinal Commentary, 1:40).