PEACE ONCE MORE--THE RESULTS OF THE WAR--THE LABORS
OF HELAMAN--SHIBLON RECEIVES THE RECORDS--HAGOTH, THE
SHIP-BUILDER--ANOTHER WAR--MORONIHAH--PAHORAN'S DEATH--CONTENTION
REGARDING THE CHIEF JUDGESHIP--PAANCHI's REBELLION--THE GADIANTON
BANDS--ASSASSINATION OF PAHORAN II.--ANOTHER LAMANITE INVASION.
(ALMA CHAP. 62 TO HELAMAN CHAP. 1.)
In the next year after the capture of the city of Moroni peace was
established in all the land; not a Lamanite warrior remained on
Nephite soil. Then Pahoran returned to his judgment seat, and Helaman
recommenced his labors in the ministry.
The long-continued and savage war just closed had brought various
evils to the church. In many parts of the land it may be said to have
been disorganized. The occupancy of so many of the Nephite cities by
the unbelieving Lamanites had produced numerous demoralizing effects.
Murders, contentions, dissensions and all manner of iniquity had
become rife, and the hearts of the people had grown hardened. Yet not
altogether so, for there were some who acknowledged the hand of the
Lord in all their afflictions. These humbled themselves in the depths
of humility; and because of the prayers of the righteous the people
were spared.
Such was the state of affairs when Helaman went forth to call the
people to repentance and set the church in order. In this blessed
work he had much success, and with the help of his brethren he again
established the Church of God throughout all the land. These labors
he continued until the time of his death, and his joy therein was
greatly increased by the continued faithfulness of the people. They,
notwithstanding their abundant prosperity, which, as ever, followed
their repentance, remained humble, fervent in prayer and diligent in
well-doing. Such was the happy condition of the people of Nephi when
Helaman died (B. C. 57), he having survived his illustrious father
sixteen years. Shiblon, at the death of his brother, took possession
of the sacred things that had been delivered unto Helaman by Alma, and
held them for four years.
The next year (B. C. 56) the valiant Moroni, one of the greatest and
most virtuous of God's sons, passed away from this state of mortality
to the glories of eternity, at the early age of forty-three years. Some
time before his death he had given the chief command of the armies of
the Nephites to his son, Moronihah, who, from the history of later
years, we judge to have been a worthy son of so illustrious a sire.
The four years that Shiblon held the plates are principally noteworthy
for the commencement of Nephite emigration to the northern continent.
It was during this period that Hagoth established his ship-building
yards on the Pacific, near the land Bountiful. It is probable that
ships were built by the Nephites before Hagoth's time, but he being
an exceedingly expert mechanic, constructed much larger ones than had
hitherto been built, and thus inaugurated a new feature in Nephite
colonization.[7]
When Shiblon died he committed the records to the care of Helaman, the
son of his brother Helaman. The history of the Nephites and Lamanites
still continued a history of wars. In the same year that Shiblon died,
the Lamanites again raised a numerous army and went down against their
traditional foes. The campaign was a short one. Moronihah, the son of
Moroni, inflicted a signal blow upon their advancing legions, and drove
them back to their own lands. Their loss in this deservedly ill-fated
expedition was great.
Still this blood-thirsty race never seemed to gain experience by the
things it suffered. This, no doubt, arose to a great extent from the
continued irritation kept up by the wily apostates, who had much
private spleen to gratify in the sufferings of the Nephites, and who
held no particular love or respect for their credulous dupes and
cat's-paws, the Lamanites.
It was in the year B. C. 53 that Helaman took charge of the sacred
plates, etc. In the next year Pahoran, the chief judge, died, which
event gave rise to serious contention amongst the Nephite people. Three
of his sons, named Pahoran, Pacumeni and Paanchi, were ambitious to
fill the exalted position left vacant by their father's death. Each had
his adherents and following, but, according to the national law, the
matter was decided by the voice of the people, and Pahoran was chosen.
Pacumeni assented to the decision of the citizens, but Paanchi
attempted to raise a rebellion, for which crime he was arrested, tried
by the law, and condemned to death. Still the more wicked part of the
community supported his unlawful claims. These determined to slay
Pahoran, which resolve they carried into effect, and the chief judge
was slain by an assassin named Kishkumen.[8] This foul murder was
committed while the chief magistrate was sitting in the judgment seat
administering the law, but through the connivance of the murderer's
associates in iniquity he escaped.
These lawless men bound themselves together by a secret oath and
covenant, that they would never divulge who was the murderer of
Pahoran, and they swore, by the most horrible oaths, one to another,
to conceal each other's crimes, to aid and sustain each other in
their villainies, and to carry out the designs and directions of
their leaders. Over this band of conspirators, assassins and robbers,
Gadianton stood as the head.
The next year after Pahoran's assassination, the Lamanites invaded
the lands of the Nephites. The Lamanite armies were commanded by a
Nephite dissenter named Coriantumr. He was a descendant of Zarahemla,
therefore, presumedly, of the tribe of Judah. He determined on new and
venturesome tactics, and caused his forces to make an unexpected dash
through the Nephite territory. The Nephites everywhere gave way before
them. They marched through the center of the country, ravaging its
most populous and richest districts. Before the astonished Nephites
could collect their armies the enemy had assaulted and captured their
beautiful and strongly fortified capital, and for the first time the
savage soldiery of Laman held possession of the towers, temples and
palaces of Zarahemla. On this occasion the chief judge, Pacumeni, was
slain. Intoxicated with his uninterrupted successes, the Lamanite
general crowded yet further north, neglecting to keep up his line of
communication in the rear.
Coriantumr's hope was to obtain possession of the narrow isthmus
which was the key to both continents. In this he failed. The Nephite
commander first checked his progress northward, and then cut off his
retreat. In a fierce battle that followed he was killed, his armies
surrendered, and the remnants hastened ingloriously home, Moronihah,
the Nephite commander, magnanimously permitting them to return
unmolested. (B. C. 51.)
FOOTNOTES:
[7] These ships of Hagoth carried many colonies to the land northward;
as it was their custom to take one load of emigrants and when they
had disembarked, to return for another. Some of these vessels were
eventually lost; that is, the ships and their passengers never reached
their destination. It is supposed by many that a part of them were
carried out to mid-ocean by storms and probably wrecked; and that
the survivors found safety and shelter on some of the islands of the
Pacific Ocean. In this way, it is suggested, the Hawaiian, Samoan and
other islands were first peopled.
[8] Pacumeni was chosen to succeed Pahoran as Chief Judge.