THE WOMEN OF THE BOOK OF MORMON--THEIR CONDITION AND
POSITION--ABISH--ISABEL--MARRIAGE--AMULEK--MORONI'S TITLE OF
LIBERTY--THE MOTHERS OF THE AMMONITES--TWO EXTREMES.
It is somewhat noticeable how little prominence is given to womankind
in the historical narrative of the Book of Mormon, and unfortunately
when mention is made of them it too frequently grows out of man's sins
and their misfortunes. Of all the descendants of Lehi and Sariah, but
two women are mentioned by name; one, Abish, a converted waiting woman
to a queen of the Lamanites; the other, Isabel, a harlot of the land of
Sidon, whose meretricious charms seduced Corianton, the son of Alma,
from the work of the ministry among the Zoramites.
Although we have but few individual characters standing out in relief
from the historical background, yet from many incidental references
as to the story of the Nephites is told we are led to the conclusion
that women among that people enjoyed a much greater degree of liberty,
and wielded a more powerful influence than they did among contemporary
Gentile nations on the eastern hemisphere--say in Babylon, Persia or
Greece. We deem this mainly attributable to two causes, first, the
Israelitish origin of the race; and again, the power and grace with
which the principles of the gospel were preached by a long succession
of prophets, who almost uninterruptedly ministered to the seed of
Nephi. That this latter cause had much to do with woman's pleasing
condition among that people is evident, for we find from the historical
narrative that whenever they turned from the Lord it was then that
tribulation and oppression came upon their wives and daughters, and
they suffered from the iniquities of their husbands and the fury of
their enemies. With regard to the first named cause it is generally
admitted that the Hebrew women of antiquity enjoyed greater liberty and
possessed more privileges than did those of the surrounding nations of
the same period. Let the Bible and the history of contemporary nations
be compared and the difference is apparent.
The Nephites lived in a dispensation varying considerably from that of
the latter days. They observed the law of Moses, to which was added the
higher code of the gospel. Our readers know how well both these protect
the rights of women, and how sacredly they guard the marriage covenant;
infidelity to that sacred bond of union being regarded, whether in
the man or in the woman, as a most heinous offense, and worthy of the
severest penalties.
At the commencement of the Nephite national life, when they were few
in numbers, they seem for a time to have been tainted with some of the
social vices of the degenerate people from whom the Lord had separated
them. They committed great immoralities and took wives for utterly
unworthy purposes, and without the fear of the Lord before their eyes;
and after they had taken them, they frequently abused or neglected
them, until their suffering cries came up before the Eternal One, and
heaven forbade any man among them taking more than one wife, but adding
this proviso: For if I will, saith the Lord of hosts, raise up seed
unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken to
these things. This injunction, we are of the opinion, was afterwards
removed, and the foreshadowed command given, as it is evident from the
later history of the Nephites that in a better era of their national
life polygamy was sanctioned by the law and practiced among them, and
that, indeed, by the men most favored of God. As an example, we will
cite the prophet Amulek, the devoted friend and zealous fellow-laborer
of the younger Alma; the only man in all the vast city of Ammonihah
to whom an angel was sent, and in whose behalf mighty miracles were
wrought. He expressly mentions his women, and as he places them next to
himself and before his children, his father and all his other kinsfolk
and kindred, and nowhere uses the word wife or wives, it is evident
that his wives were meant and not serving-women. No one, surely, would
argue that he would give to the latter the place of honor in his
address to his fellow-citizens, before his parents and his children.
As another instance, the great number of Chief Judge Pahoran's sons is
incidentally mentioned.
It was during the brighter days of the rule of the Judges that women,
more than at any time before the appearance of the Messiah on this
continent, seem to have been most highly regarded and esteemed. The
Nephites were then living under that excellent code of laws drawn up
by the inspired King Mosiah, which bear evidence of having been most
admirably adapted to a people worthy of a large amount of liberty. This
age was adorned with the presence of such men as Alma, Moroni (the
prophet-general of the Nephite armies), Ammon and the other sons of
King Mosiah, Helaman, Amulek and others conspicuous for their devotion
to the laws of God and the rights and liberties of the people. General
Moroni, than whom a more devoted man to the cause of truth and humanity
never lived, is especially conspicuous in his untiring efforts for the
safety and happiness of the wives and little ones of his people. On
the standard to which he rallied the patriot warriors of the republic,
which he named the Title of Liberty, he inscribed, In memory of our
God, our religion and freedom, and our peace, our wives and our
children. This seems to have been his watchword throughout the long and
sanguinary succeeding campaigns, in which he defended the Nephites from
the savage onslaughts of their Lamanitish foes. Again and again we find
him rallying the hosts of Nephi with this soul-stirring cry, and under
the ardor it wrought in their hearts carrying triumph to their banners
and freedom to their land. One series of events that occurred during
this long war sheds a most pleasing light upon the inner life of the
faithful among the Nephites; it is found in the story of Helaman and
his two thousand striplings, who, though very young, were so full of
the spirit of faith implanted in their hearts by the wise counsels of
their loving and God-fearing mothers, that in the might of Jehovah they
went forth against the enemies of their adopted country (for they were
Lamanites by birth), and no power could withstand them. Their mothers'
teachings and their mothers' prayers were weapons of destruction to
their foes and shields of defense to themselves. They went forth
conquering and to conquer, and the All-seeing One only knows how much
the teachings of those saintly women effected towards the preservation
of the Nephite commonwealth from imminent destruction.
And what shall we say of the condition of woman in that blessed
Sabbatic era succeeding the glorious appearing of the Redeemer on this
western land, when for nearly two hundred years this continent enjoyed
undisturbed and heavenly peace; when all men devoutly worshiped the
Lord and dealt justly with their fellows--men or women? It was an age in
which no woman was wronged, no deserted children pined in the streets,
no abused wives mourned in secret, or lifted their sorrowing hearts in
anguish to the Great Father of mankind; no brazen courtesans flaunted
on the broad highways, or ruined maidens hid their sorrow and shame
wherever seclusion was the most profound. The inspired historian tells
us that if ever there were a happy people on this earth, there they
were found; and most happy must have been the gentler ones, who bear
in the stubborn battle of life so large a share of its sorrows and
misfortunes.
But this golden age was soon followed by its opposite, when every
virtue seems to have been supplanted by a vice, and all good was turned
to evil. At almost lightning speed, the people having once taken
the downward track, the nation rushed to ruin, until this continent
became one vast field of carnage, rapine, and misery, over which devils
gloated and hell enlarged itself. Indeed, the whole land seemed peopled
with a race of demons who perpetuated cruelties that could alone be
conceived in the hearts of the damned. During these lengthened years
of untold horror the fair daughters of the land suffered unspeakable
barbarities. Life, virtue, everything was the plaything of the victor,
be he Nephite or Lamanite, until in the hate of revenge and the fury
of despair they joined their national leaders on the battlefield, and
with their husbands, sons and brothers, dyed their hands in the blood
of the foe. Nor did they arm themselves alone, but with feelings turned
to those of monsters, they put weapons into the hands of their children
and inflamed their young minds with the savage love of slaughter. The
war was not one for supremacy alone; it was for national and individual
existence; and, midst a sea of carnage, unparalleled on any land save
ours, the Nephite nation was swept out of existence, leaving scarce
a trace behind, a most terrible instance of divine mercy scorned and
divine laws abused.