Chapter VIII. Digest of the Book of Mormon

History of Ancient America Origin of the American Indians. Extinction of a Great People. How their Records were kept, etc.

For the information of the general reader it will be proper to here introduce a rapid sketch or digest of the Book of Mormon, which may be called the Bible of Ancient America. It is representatively the sacred book of the Nephites ; and at the outset it may be told that the Nephites were the people who built many of those wonderful cities of Ancient America and gave birth to its civilization, — the relics of which, since the publication of the Book of Mormon, have been constantly coming to light. The Nephites, however, were not the most ancient people of this Continent, of whom the Book reveals a history, but they are the people more nearly related to the present dispensation and future destiny of this "land of promise."

The Patriarch of the Nephites was an ancient, from Jerusalem, Nephi by name, — the son of Lehi. It is he who opens the Book of Mormon.

" It came to pass," writes Nephi, introducing his history, " in the commencement of the first year of

the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah," that there " came many prophets, prophesying unto the people that they must repent, or the great city of Jerusalem must be destroyed."

Among these prophets was Lehi, the father of Nephi ; and Lehi prayed unto the Lord in behalf of his people. And as he prayed " there came a pillar of fire and dwelt upon a rock before him ; and he saw and heard much ; and because of the things which he saw and heard, he did quake and tremble exceedingly."

After Lehi returned to his house at Jerusalem *' he cast himself upon his bed, being overcome with the spirit," when he was shown the destruction of Jerusalem, and " many marvelous things," and a book was revealed in his vision which " manifested plainly of the coming of Messiah, and also the redemption of the world."

Then Lehi " went forth among the people, and began to prophesy and to declare unto them concerning the things which he had both seen and heard." But the Jews sought his life; and then "the Lord commanded him in a dream to take his family and depart into the wilderness."

This he did, accompanied by his family, consisting of Sariah his wife, and their sons Laman, Lemuel, Sam and Nephi.

After traveling three days into the wilderness Lehi pitched his tent in a valley beside a river of water which " emptied into the Red Sea, and the valley was in the borders near the mouth thereof." Here Lehi "built an altar and made an offering unto the Lord."

But Laman and Lemuel, the elder sons, began to murmur against their father. At this point Nephi brings himself into the narrative thus :

"And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceeding young (nevertheless being large in stature), and having great desire to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore I did cry unto the Lord ; and behold he did visit me and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father." And the Lord spake unto him, saying, " Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart."

Thus Nephi became the Lord's anointed, and thenceforth, though young, he had a divine ministry to his family.

Nephi, having converted his brother Sam and by his divine enthusiasm having overcome the rebellion of his elder brothers against their father, he and his brothers, previous to the continuation of their migration, returned to Jerusalem to obtain their family records, "which were engraved on plates of brass."

These records rightfully belonged to Lehi, but were now in possession of his kinsman Laban, who was a warrior and an influential man in Jerusalem.

When Nephi and his brothers drew near to the city they cast lots to determine who should go to Laban to demand of him the family records. The lot fell upon Laman, who in the sequel was driven from the presence of Laban, and he fled out of the city to his brethren.

But young Nephi was invincible in his courage and faith.

The patriarch Lehi, in his flight from Jerusalem had left all his wealth. So Nephi now persuaded his brethren, and, he says, "We went down to the land of our inheritance, and we did gather together our gold, and our silver, and our precious things. And after that we had gathered these things together we went up again unto the house of Laban."

For the family records they offered all this wealth, but, says Nephi, "When Laban saw our property, and that it was exceeding great, he did lust after it, insomuch that he thrust us out, and sent his servants to slay us, that he might obtain our property." But in the issue Nephi overcame Laban, and obtained the records through Zoram, Laban's servant, who, being promised his freedom, made an oath to Nephi and accompanied the family in their migration.

The obtaining of these plates was of the utmost importance to the Israelitish colonists now leaving their native Jerusalem in quest of another "land of promise," for on them were engraved the five books of Moses and the history of the Jews from the beginning down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah, King of Judah; and also the prophecies of the Jewish prophets to that date.

Thus was Lehi furnished with the basis of a civilization to be founded in the land whither the Lord was leading- them.

But there was another want more important to be supplied than the obtaining of the records, — indeed an imperative necessity in the colonization of a new world. Lehi's sons were without wives. So, being commanded by the Lord, he sent Nephi

and his brothers again to Jerusalem to "bringdown Ishmael and his family into the wilderness."

Now Ishmael, Lehi's friend, had several sons and five daughters. So the two families became united in the grand purpose of colonizing the new world which the prophet Lehi saw in faith.

Then the voice of the Lord again spake unto Lehi by night and commanded him that on the morrow he should continue his journey; so these Israelitish colonists plunged deeper into the wilderness towards the great sea which they were to cross to reach the promised land.

For eight years they sojourned in the wilderness, but at length came to a land which they called Bountiful because of its fruit and wild honey and the general abundance of the country. "And all these," says Nephi, " were prepared of the Lord, that we might not perish. And we beheld the sea, which we called Irreantum, which being interpreted is many waters."

By the sea shore they pitched their tents. Nephi, by divine right and force of character, is leader of his brethren. Upon his head, during the sojourn in the wilderness the murmurincrs fell. His brothers and their wives, and the sons of Ishmael and their wives, often reproached him as an ambitious visionary who had led them into the wilderness, far away from civilization, that he might make himself a " king and ruler" over them. It is evident that they were all conscious of his force and genius. The narrative thus continues:

" And it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had been in the land of Bountiful for the space of many

days, the voice of the Lord came unto me, saying, 'Arise and ofet thee into the mountain.' And I arose and went up into the mountain, and cried unto the Lord.

"And the Lord spake unto me, saying, ' Thou shalt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall shew thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters.

" And I said, Lord, whither shall I go, that I may find ore to molten, that I may make tools to construct the ship, after the manner which thou hast shewn me ? And it came to pass that the Lord told me whither I should go to find ore to make tools."

During the construction of the ship there were repeated rebellions against Nephi ; but his superior will and cunning workmanship charmed some of them to his assistance, while at times also the Spirit of the Lord so kindled his lion-like nature that his rebellious brethren trembled before him. But Nephi preferred to display to them the character of the lamb, and to be to them the younger brother.

At length the ship was constructed. Then the voice of the Lord came unto the patriarch Lehi, saying, " Arise and go down into the ship."

Many years had now elapsed since these colonists left Jerusalem ; but there had been wisdom in the protracted sojourn, for the colony had greatly increased. Lehi had become the father of two more sons, — Jacob and Joseph, — so that from him ultimately sprang six tribes. Then there were the sons of Ishmael, and of Zoram, the servant of Laban (through whom Nephi, as has been shown, obtained

the sacred plates), who had married the eldest daughter of Ishmael. And very probably there were manservants and maidservants, Lehi and Ishmael both having been wealthy elders in Jerusalem. And many children had been born to the families in the wilderness and in the land of Bountiful, some of whom were now stripling sons and nearly marriageable daughters. Thus the colony had ripened.

"And it came to pass," says Nephi, "that on the morrow, after that we had prepared all things, much fruit and meat from the wilderness, and honey in abundance, and provisions, according to that which the Lord had commanded us, we did go down into the ship with all our loading and our seeds, and whatsoever things we had brought with us, every one according to his age ; wherefore we did all go down into the ship with our wives and our children." Thus in a strict patriarchal order.

By miraculous guidance these emigrants of Israel were led across the great waters, under Nephi, who wrote as follows of the close of the voyage and their landing:

" After we had sailed for the space of many days, we did arrive at the promised land; and we went forth upon the land, and did pitch our tents; and we did call it the Promised Land.

" And it came to pass that we did begin to till the earth, and we began to plant seeds; yea we did put all our seeds into the earth which we had brought from the land of Jerusalem."

Their first crops were abundant ; and, continues Nephi, "we did find upon the Land of Promise, as

we journeyed in the wilderness, that there were beasts in the forest of every kind, both the cow, and the ox, and the ass, and the horse, and the goat, and the wild goat, and all manner of wild animals, which were for the use of men. And we did find all manner of ore, both of gold and of silver and copper."

Already had they met signs of a former civilization, besides nature in her primitive wildness ; and, as their records of a later period relate, they found the relics of a very ancient people, with a national history commencing before Abraham was born — an empire of the West as old as that of Egypt, whose mighty cities flourished ere the foundations of Jerusalem were laid.

After these Hebrew colonists had become fairly settled in America (for, in plain words, they had been led to America), Nephi attempted to establish in the land a regular Israelitish commonwealth, with the law of Moses as the basis. He also sought to keep alive among his brethren the remembrance of the writings of the Jewish prophets, and to inspire them with the words of glorious Isaiah, whose genius most charmed him. And thus it will be seen that Nephi possessed at once the true empire-founding character and the soul of prophecy.

The patriarch Lehi was now about to gather up his feet and sleep with his fathers. But he was quite as anxious as his empire-founding son that his tribes should grow into a mighty nation upon the plan of the Hebrew Commonwealth. True, the Lord had made a covenant with Lehi that he would give unto him this vast Land of Promise, compared

with which Palestine was as a mere garden plot for extent, yet he sought to establish the covenant, made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as the anchor of his new world.

So Lehi, before his death, gathered together his sons and daughters, and the sons and daughters of Ishmael, and Zoram and his household, and the generation of the families which had been born since they left Jerusalem ; and he expounded to them the Scriptures, and rehearsed all the history of their Hebrew sires. Then he blessed them in the order of their families. And " after Lehi had spoken unto all his household, according to the feelings of his heart, and the spirit of the Lord which was in him, he waxed old. And it came to pass that he died and was buried."

Scarcely were the days of mourning ended ere the strife against Nephi was renewed ; and being convinced that the hatred was becoming hereditary, he resolved to separate from the fast increasing tribes of Laman, Lemuel, and the sons of Ishmael. Accordingly he says, " I, Nephi, did take my family, and Sam, mine elder brother, and his family, and Jacob and Joseph, my younger brethren, and also my sisters, and all they which would go with me. * And after that we had journeyed for the space of many days, we did pitch our tents. And my people would that we should call the name of the place Nephi; wherefore we did call it Nephi. And all they which were with me did take it upon them to call themselves the people of Nephi. And we did observe to keep the judgments, and the statutes, and the commandments of the Lord, in all

things, according to the law of Moses. And the Lord was with us, and we did prosper exceedingly."

From the commencement of the Nephite era this" great prophet and empire-founder of Ancient America was successful in establishing civilization. No longer did his people lead the life of nomads. Says he, " I did teach my people that they should build buildings, and that they should work in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which were in great abundance. And I, Nephi, did build a temple, and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon, save it was not built of so many precious things ; * * * but the manner of the construction was like unto the temple of Solomon ; and the workmanship thereof was exceeding fine. * * *

" And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did consecrate Jacob and Joseph, that they should be priests and teachers over the land of my people. And we lived after the manner of happiness. And thirty years had passed away from the time we left Jerusalem."

Thus commenced the history of the Nephites, as a nation.

At the expiration of forty years Nephi wrote that already had war begun between the Nephites and the Lamanites. At fifty-five years from the time Lehi left Jerusalem the records were committed to Jacob, who wrote :

" Now Nephi began to be old, and he saw that he must soon die ; therefore he anointed a man to be a king and ruler over his people. * * And it came to pass that Nephi died."

And Enos succeeded his father, Jacob, in the priestly and prophetic office ; and Jarom succeeded his father, Enos, while the kingly office was confirmed in the sons of Nephi. Jarom, continuing the record, wrote :

" And now, behold, two hundred years had passed away, and the people of Nephi had waxed strong in the land. They observed to keep the law of Moses and the Sabbath day holy unto the Lord, and they profaned not ; neither did they blaspheme. And the laws of the land were exceeding strict."

Of the Lamanites, he says, they were more numerous than the Nephites ; "and they loved murder and would drink the blood of beasts. And they came many times against the Nephites to battle. But our kings and our leaders were mighty men in the faith of the Lord ; wherefore we withstood the Lamanites, and swept them away out of our lands, and began to fortify our cities. * * * And the prophets, and the priests, and the teachers did labor diligently, exhorting, with all long-suffering, the people to diligence ; teaching the law of Moses, and the intent for which it was given ; persuading them to look forward unto the Messiah, and believe in him to come as though he already was."

From father to son the priesthood was handed down, and with it the sacred records engraven on plates, to which each possessor from time to time added something of the history of his people.

The prophet Amaleki, who lived about four hundred years after the flight of Lehi from Jerusalem, relates that the land of Nephi having fallen, under the invasions of the warlike Lamanites, Kine

Mosiah led those of his people who would follow him out of the land of their fathers, being thus commanded of the Lord. It was nothing; less than the exodus of the Nephites to preserve themselves from bondage. Amaleki wrote:

"And they were led by many preachings and prophesyings. And they were admonished continually by the word of God ; and they were led by the power of his arm, through the wilderness, until they came down into the land which is called Zarahemla. And they discovered a people called the people of Zarahemla."

These also had descended from an Israelitish colony who left Jerusalem soon after the patriarch Lehi, and who seem to have followed nearly in his tracks. They had been led by the same power, and had thus escaped the Babylonian captivity. They had become very numerous in America, but their language was corrupted, for the fathers brought no records with them from Jerusalem. King Zarahemla, however, knew the origin of his people by tradition, and he rejoiced exceedingly at having the language of his race restored, and his kingdom taught the religion of their Hebrew sires, by the elders of the Nephites. This done the two kingdoms became united under King Mosiah.

After Mosiah, King Benjamin reigned in his stead. And "behold," says the record, " King Benjamin was a holy man, and he did reign over his people in righteousness."

Now Benjamin was more of a prophet and a preacher than a king. And he sent a proclamation to all his people that they might gather themselves

together and come up to the temple to hear the word of the Lord from his lips; for the spirit of revelation was in him, even as it had been in his great progenitor Nephi.

And multitudes came up, in families. "And they pitched their tents round about the temple, that thereby they might remain in their tents, and hear the words which King Benjamin should speak unto them ; for the multitude being so great King Benjamin could not teach them all within the walls of the temple, therefore he caused a tower to be erected, that thereby his people might hear the words which he should speak unto them."

Then King Benjamin rehearsed the religion of their Hebrew fathers, according to Moses and the Prophets ; but the coming of Christ and salvation in him formed the great subject of his sermons. For from Nephi down to Benjamin the revelation of the coming Saviour was chief in the teachings of the Nephite Prophets.

And "when King Benjamin had made an end of speaking the words which had been delivered unto him by the Angel of the Lord, he cast his eyes round about on the multitude, and behold, they had fallen to the earth, for the fear of the Lord had come upon them."

Having converted the whole people of Zarahemla to faith in the coming Christ, King Benjamin established a church in his name. Says the record:

" And now King Benjamin thought it was expedient, after having finished speaking to the people, that he should take the names of all those who had entered into a covenant with God, to keep his commandments

. And it came to pass that there was not one soul, except it were little children, but what had entered into the covenant, and had taken upon them the name of Christ."

To more fully accomplish his ministry King Benjamin appointed his son Mosiah to reign in his stead ; and this was in the four hundred and seventy-sixth year from the time Lehi left Jerusalem.

And in the days of Mosiah rose the great High Priest Alma, who became the head of the church. He baptized the people, ordained a regular priesthood, and established churches throughout the land in thcname of the coming Christ.

At the death of the great High Priest Alma, his son Alma succeeded him.

" And Mosiah died also, in the thirty and third year of his reign, being sixty and three years old, making in the whole five hundred and nine years from the time Lehi left Jerusalem. And thus ended the reign of the kings over the people of Nephi ; and thus ended the days of Alma who was the founder of their church."

From this time to the destruction of the Nephites a theocracy prevailed, commencing with " Alma the First, chief judge over the people of Nephi, and High Priest over the church."

But for several generations prior to the coming of Christ, the church which the great High Priest Alma founded fell into darkness and transgression. Then rose prophets to warn the people and to point to the near approach of the Son of Man with his mission as the Saviour of the whole world, and the

sign of his coming was given in such solemn splendor of a manifest God that all the people knew its import. During the ministry of his life in Jerusalem, however, the Nephites, like the virgins of the parable, slumbered and slept and their lamps went out. Then came the crucifixion and the resurrection, after which Jesus appeared to the people of this continent, chose apostles, set up his church, and tarried personally with them for quite a season in his immortalized state, appearing at times to the multitude.

But the circumstantial account of the personal administration of Jesus Christ to the Nephites, after his resurrection, must be reserved for a more conspicuous view, further on. We will also, for the present, pass over the three or four centuries of the history of the Nephites succeeding the first coming of Messiah, and will close this digest with a sketch of the history of Mormon and Moroni, the latter having revealed the record to Joseph, and opened a dispensation to the Continent of which he is an Archangel.

Moroni was the last of that sacred line through which the records had been handed down for a thousand years. They had all been kings and descendants of kings or prophets and high priests, who had been entrusted with the sacred books and the Urim and 'Phummim. Moroni was the son of Mormon.

This Mormon was a great prophet and general, who succeeded for a generation in warding off the destruction of his nation. He tells us in his book, which he called the book of Mormon, that he was

a descendant of Nephi. When he was eleven years old he was carried by his father Mormon to the land of Zarahemla. In that same year the wars began again between the Nephites and the Lamanites.

In these sacred books of the prophets of ancient America may be read how, by the ministry of Jesus Christ after his resurrection, and the subsequent ministry of his apostles whom he chose among the Nephites, the whole land had been converted to righteousness, and for two centuries thereafter both the Nephites and the Lamanites formed something like one christian brotherhood. But at the close of the second century the church began to apostatize, and the civilization of the Nephites rapidly declined until they were, as a nation, ripe for destruction.

In the three hundred and twenty-fifth year of the Christian era the ministry of Mormon commenced, and of this period he writes :

"Wickedness did prevail upon the face of the whole land, insomuch that the Lord did take away his beloved disciples, and the working of miracles and of healing did cease, because of the iniquity of the people. And there were no gifts from the Lord, and the Holy Ghost did not come upon any because of wickedness and unbelief."

When very young, the prophet Mormon having shown already the genius of a commander, and being of the sacred race of their kings, was chosen leader of all the armies of the Nephites. For a time he was victorious, and his people manifested something of a return to the spirit of faith and righteousness; but they soon relapsed into deeper unbelief and wickedness.

Then the wars between the Lamanites and Nephites waxed fiercer than before; and thus, for fifty years, until General Mormon grew old and was as one broken-hearted, because of the transgressions and fast destruction of his people. Of this period he writes:

"And it came to pass that I, Mormon, did utterly refuse from this time forth, to be a commander and leader of this people, because of their wickedness and abomination. Behold I had led them notwithstanding their wickedness. I had led them many times to battle, and had loved them according to the love of God that was in me, with all my heart ; and my soul had been poured out to God, all the day long, for them ; nevertheless, it was without faith, because of the hardness of their hearts. And thrice have I delivered them out of the hands of their enemies, and they have repented not of their sins.

From this time the history of the Nephites is that of a nation rushing to extinction. Being a people whose mission from the beginning had been one of peace and civilization — to make this vast continent indeed a land of promise — they were no match for the warlike Lamanites. Only in their own mission had they been potent, for it was their prophets, their righteous judges, and the spiritual power and excellence of their Christian brotherhood that had so often and so long awed and softened the hearts of their enemies. When this peculiar nation put off its armor of righteousness it wrote its own doom, and gave its cities to the spoiler.

But before the final destruction of his people,

General Mormon repented of his oath, and resolved to make one last effort to save them. The final struggle is best related by himself:

And it came to pass that when we had gathered in all our people in one to the land of Cumorah, behold I, Mormon, began to be old ; and knowing it to be the last struggle of my people, and having been commanded of the Lord that I should not suffer that the records which had been handed down by our fathers, which were sacred, to fall into the hands of the Lamanites (for the Lamanites would destroy them), therefore I made this record out of the plates of Nephi.and hid up in the hill Cumorah, all the records which had been entrusted to me by the hand of the Lord, save it were these few plates which I gave unto my son Moroni. And it came to pass that my people, with their wives and their children, did now behold the armies of the Lamanites marching towards them ; and with that awful fear of death which fills the breasts of all the wicked, did they await to receive them. And it came to pass that they came to battle against us, and every soul was filled with terror, because of the greatness of their numbers. And it came to pass that they did fall upon my people with the sword, and with the bow, and with the arrow, and with the axe, and with all manner of weapons of war. And it came to pass that my men were hewn down, yea, even my ten thousand who were with me, and I fell wounded in the midst; and they passed by me that they did not put an end to my life. And when they had gone through and hewn down all my people save it were twenty and four of us (among whom was my son Moroni), and we having survived the dead of our people, did behold on the morrow, when the Lamanites had returned unto their camps, from the top of the hill Cumorah, the ten thousand of

my people who were hewn down, being led in the front by me ; and we also beheld the ten thousand of my people who were led by my son Moroni. And behold, the ten thousand of Gidgiddonah had fallen, - and he also in the midst; and Lamah had fallen '3>-dL-, with his ten thousand ; and Gilcral had fallen with his ten thousand; and LimharThad fallen with his ten thousand; and Joneam had fallen with his ten thousand ; and Camenihah, and Moronihah, and

Antionum. and Shiblom, and Shem, and Josh, had fallen with their teiTthousand each.

And it came to pass that there were ten more who did fall by the sword, with their ten thousand each ; yea, even all my people, save it were those twenty and four who were with me, and also a few who had escaped into the south countries, and a few who had dissented over unto the Lamanites, had fallen, and their flesh, and bones, and blood lay upon the face of the earth, being left by the hands of those who slew them, to moulder upon the land, and to crumble and to return to their mother earth. And my soul was rent with anguish, because of the slain of my people.

It is Moroni who closes the book after the death of his father, and it was he who hid up the records in the hill Cumorah. He thus finishes:

" Now I, Moroni, write somewhat as seemeth me good; and I write unto my brethren, the Lamanites; and I would that they should know that more than four hundred and twenty years have passed away since the sign was given of the coming of Christ. And I seal up these records, after I have spoken a few words by way of exhortation unto you."

Moroni gave his exhortation, and then closed the Bible of his Continent thus :

" And now I bid, unto you all, farewell. I soon go to rest in the Paradise of God, until my spirit and body shall again reunite, and I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead. Amen."