“ Imagine the conflict that perplexed many a heart between the appeals of love and faith, between duty and affection, when the old homes had to be deserted, when families had to be parted, and the one stern, uncompromising feeling of duty to the right and devotion to God had to be the all-controlling sentiment. Nor can we tell how many, preferring home, kindred and friends, and the endearments and associations of their native land, faltered and tarried behind, whilst the faithful started on their journey northward into the untrodden wilderness. ”

“ They trembled, then tottered, then fell on the struggling mass of humanity below, burying in one vast, unconsecrated grave, rulers and judges, lawyers and officers, priests and teachers. Not one was left alive of all the impious mob who a few moments before defied heaven and challenged Jehovah's might. But Alma and Amulek stood in the midst of the ruins unhurt. Straightway they left this scene of desolation and went into the city. When the citizens saw the two servants of God, great fear fell upon them, and they fled, as a goat fleeth with her young from two lions. ”

“ From every city, every vale, the converging hosts poured forth with sword and spear, with bow and arrow, with slings and stones; while from the top of every tower and citadel throughout the Nephites' land, the sacred standard fluttered in the breeze. Men of strong arms and stout hearts were they, of faith unfaltering, and courage undiminished. ”

“ Seven years later the corruption of the people had become pitiable. The Gadianton robbers were filling the judgment seats, having usurped the power and authority of the land: Laying aside the commandments of God, and not in the least aright before him; doing no justice unto the children of men; condemning the righteous because of their righteousness; letting the guilty and the wicked go unpunished, because of their money; and moreover to be held in office at the head of government to rule and do according to their wills, that they might get gain and glory of the world ”

“ By this gift he translated from the twenty-four plates of gold, found by the people of king Limhi, the records of the Jaredites. No wonder that a man possessed of such gifts, so just and merciful in the administration of the law, so perfect in his private life, should be esteemed more than any man by his subjects, and that they waxed strong in their love towards him. As a king, he was a father to them, but as a prophet, seer and revelator he was the source whence divine wisdom flowed unto them. ”

“ The teachings of king Benjamin at these meetings were some of the most divine and glorious ever uttered by man. He preached to them the pure principles of the gospel—the duties which men owe to their God and to their fellows. He also told them how he had been visited by an angel, and what wondrous things that angel had shown him concerning the coming of the God of Israel to dwell with men in the flesh. So great were the things that this angel revealed and king Benjamin repeated to the people that we think it best to give his own words. ”

“ Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have light, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters. And never have I showed myself unto man whom I have created, for never has man believed in me as thou hast. Seest thou that ye are created after mine own image? Yea, even all men were created in the beginning, after mine own image. Behold, this body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit; and man have I created after the body of my spirit ”

“ Three days had passed in darkness, in terror and in woe, when the thick mist rolled off the face of the land, revealing to the astonished eyes of the survivors how great had been the convulsions that had shaken the earth. When the darkness passed away the earth ceased to tremble, the rocks were no longer rent, the dreadful groanings ceased, and the tumultuous noises ended. Then nature was again at peace, and peace filled the hearts of the living ”

“ Manti, Gideon, Cumeni, Moroni, and even Zarahemla fell. Nor did the war end when the blood-thirsty Lamanites held high carnival in the midst of its towers and palaces. Onward swept the invading host; backward fled the defenders of the commonwealth, and backward they continued until every town and city, every tower and fort, from Melek to Moroni, from Manti to Bountiful, were filled with the savage, half-disciplined, dark-skinned warriors of Laman. Not a place could be found in the whole southern continent where the soldiers of the Nephites successfully held their ground. ”

“ True, Rome was founded more than a century before Lehi left Jerusalem, [9] but at the time of his exodus its growing power had scarcely begun to be felt outside of Italy. At the time that Moroni's record closed, the Nephites, as a nation, had become extinct, and the glory of the mistress of the world was rapidly fading away. Rome had been sacked by barbarians, the empire had been divided into two governments, the legs of Nebuchadnezzar's great image were forming; peoples and nations were rebelling and throwing off the iron yoke, and the idea of universal empire had become a thing of the past. ”

“ The various contending tribes, in their thirst for blood so long gratified, sunk deeper and deeper into savage degradation; the arts of civilization were almost entirely lost to the great mass of the people. Decades and centuries rolled by, and after a time, in some parts, a better state of things slowly uprose. In Central America, Mexico, Peru, and other places, the foundations of new kingdoms were laid, in which were gradually built up civilizations peculiarly their own, but in many ways bearing record to the idiosyncrasies of their ancient predecessors. ”

“ Opposed to him stood Moroni, the dauntless leader of the armies of the Nephites. Inspired by an unquenchable love for truth and liberty, he sensed with every heart's pulsation that no man could fight for a holier, more glorious cause than virtue and liberty. ”

“ WHEN Jesus left the Nephites to the care of his disciples he had so thoroughly filled the people with the influences and powers of the eternal worlds that evil utterly ceased in their midst; they were united in all things temporal and spiritual. Universal peace prevailed. Love, joy, harmony, [Pg 224] everything desirable to make the life of man a perfect condition of unalloyed, holy happiness reigned supreme. Indeed, it may be said that a type, a foreshadowing of the millennium for once found place and foothold among the erring sons of humanity. ”

“ For the dark-skinned warriors of Laman were so charmed with the beauty of the women that they spared all their lives. Yet they took them captives, carried them back to Lehi-Nephi, and gave them permission to retain that land, but under some very hard conditions. These conditions were that they should surrender king Noah into the hands of the Lamanites, and deliver up one-half of everything they possessed, and continue this tribute of one-half of their property year by year. ”

“ We can well conceive of the nature of the laws during the fierce struggle that preceded this dire calamity, from the light of this nation's previous history; they were no doubt framed, enacted and administered for the benefit of the rich and the strong, and to the injury of those in whose bosoms burned one lingering spark of righteousness. The history of the Nephites, from beginning to end, fully justifies the saying of the wise man, Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. ”

“ We often read in history of the irruption of an inferior or more barbarous race into the domains of one more highly civilized, but it is seldom, as in this case, that the superior race moves in a body, occupies the country, and unites with the less enlightened people. It is probable that the first feelings of the old settlers were akin to awe and dismay as they learned of the hosts of the invaders that were marching upon them; but these feelings were soon soothed and an understanding arrived at by which the two people became one nation. ”

“ The idea of one man withstanding so many was supremely ridiculous to the robbers. But as one after another fell before his unerring aim, they were astonished, and dreaded him as something more than human. Enraged at the loss of six of their number they rushed upon him in a body, determined to crush him with their clubs. Ammon, undaunted, drew his sword and awaited the onslaught. Their leader fell dead at his feet, and as one after another raised their clubs, Ammon struck off their arms until none dared to approach him, but instead retreated afar off. ”

“ Passive non-resistance should for the future be their policy, but the blood of a fellow-being they would never again shed, no matter how great the peril, how intense the aggravation. As a witness of the completeness of this resolve, they took their weapons of war and buried them deep in the earth with an oath and covenant that they would never dig them up again. When the maddened hosts of their embittered brethren rushed upon them, they came forth unarmed, bowed down before their assailants, and submitted to their fate. With them to live was Christ, to die was salvation. ”

“ There, in the presence of his future subjects, under the shadow of the holy house, he was set apart to rule a people whose sins were all forgiven through their abiding faith in the unborn Savior. Could a king come to a throne under more auspicious circumstances? Profound peace with all outside his dominions, and within its borders reigned union, contentment, prosperity, happiness, and what is more, righteousness. ”

“ Nephi, the first king, and Mosiah I., Benjamin and Mosiah II., the three last, were eminently virtuous, just and merciful men, who reigned as all monarchs should, but few do—with an eye single to the good of their subjects. Of their kings in general the prophet Jarom, about 400 years before Christ, remarks: Our kings and our leaders were mighty men in the faith of the Lord: and they taught the people the ways of the Lord. Indeed, we recollect no intimation, in any place in the sacred record, of tyranny on the part of those who reigned over the main body of the nation. ”

“ The blood-thirsty, revengeful character of the Lamanites was too well known to the king for him to think of his sons going into their midst without causing him feelings of dread and apprehension, but he had no desire to quench their holy zeal towards God and their love towards their unfortunate fellows, lest he should sin by so doing, and rob thousands of the opportunity of hearing the everlasting truths through obedience to which mankind is saved. ”

“ Most races that have made a mark in history have had to grope their way for centuries from darkness to light, from ignorance to knowledge. Little by little such races have advanced in the path of civilization, falling into manifold errors, and committing grievous blunders. With Lehi and his posterity it was not so. They were taken from the midst of a people who were surrounded by the most powerful and refined nations of antiquity, with whose wisdom and learning Lehi was undoubtedly well acquainted. ”

“ Why persecutest thou the Church of God? he was asked, for the Lord hath said, This is my Church, and I will establish it; and nothing shall overthrow it, save it is the transgression of my people. If thou wilt of thyself be destroyed, seek no more to destroy the Church of God. Besides this, the angel spoke to him of his father's prayers in his behalf, and told him that because of those prayers, he had been sent to convince him of the power of God. The messenger also recounted to Alma the captivity of his fathers in the lands of Helam and Nephi, and of their miraculous deliverance therefrom. ”

“ Amos himself 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 willful rebellion against God, and apostasy from his laws. The wholesome checks to vice and misery found in the plan of salvation were knowingly and intentionally removed or done away; the voice of reason was disregarded; the promptings of the Holy Spirit were defiantly repelled; men's unbridled passions again bore sway ”

“ The destruction of the wicked, the visits of the crucified Redeemer, the ministry of his disciples, the universal acceptance of the fullness of the gospel by the people throughout the length and breadth of the land, brings us to a time when there was no need of civil law; for all men lived above the law, being controlled and guided at all times by the higher law of heaven. ”

“ The rebels were led by a descendant of Zoram, the servant of Laban, named Amalickiah, one of the most ambitious, cunning and unscrupulous characters that ever disgraced the history of ancient America. It was a perilous day for the Nephite nation when this subtle creature bent all his brilliant energies to the fulfillment of his [Pg 150] ambitious dreams. True, he had been a member of Christ's holy church, but now the love of God had given place to the hatred of his servants; he was the citizen of a republic, but he aspired to overthrow its liberties, and reign as king over his fellow-citizens. ”

“ Thus God executeth vengeance upon those that destroy his people. O God, receive my soul.
But all the people did not in their hearts consent to this great crime. One among them especially, whose name was Alma, confessed to the truth of Abinadi's words. He knew that the grave charges the prophet made were true. He was a young man, one of Noah's priests, and when the clamor was highest for Abinadi's death, he went to the king and plead in Abinadi's behalf. This so angered Noah that he had Alma cast out of his presence, and then sent his servants after the young priest to slay him. ”