Conforming to the request made by his father, Mormon, which he made of his son in the epistle just recorded (v. 24, Chapter 9), Moroni wrote to the Lamanites concerning Christ, first noting that "more than four hundred and twenty years have passed away since the sign was given of the coming of Christ." Moroni was grieved because in what to him was a very few years, the Lamanites, whom he called "my brethren" had retrogressed from a pinnacle of peace and happiness in the Lord, to a condition of evil servitude. They, he remembered, were once a white and a delightsome people when, in humility, they served God, now they had given their hearts over to all manner of wickedness. The words he wrote were in witness that Christ is; that all good comes of Him, and that through Him Eternal Life may be obtained by all who have "faith, hope, and charity."