people shall lay down their weapons, and shall be at war no more. 19. Behold, ye have breathed out many threatenings against me and my people; but behold we fear not your threatenings; 20. Nevertheless, I will grant to exchange prisoners according to your request, gladly, that I may preserve my food for my men of war; and we will wage a war which shall be eternal, either to the subjecting the Nephites to our authority, or to their eternal extinction. 21. And as concerning that God whom ye say we have rejected, behold, we know not such a being; neither do ye; but if it so be that there is such a being, we know not but that he hath made us as well as you ; 22. And if it so be that there is a devil and a hell, behold will he not send you there to dwell with my brother whom ye have murdered, whom ye have hinted that he hath gone to such a place? But behold these things mattereth not. 23. I am Ammoron, and a descendant of Zoram, whom your fathers pressed and brought out of Jerusalem. 24. And behold, now, I am a bold Lamanite; behold this war hath been waged to avenge their wrongs, and to maintain, and to obtain their 'rights to the government; and I close my epistle to Moroni. CHAPTER 55. 1. Now it came to pass that when Moroni had received this epistle, he was more angry, because he knew that Ammoron had a perfect knowledge of his fraud; yea, he knew that Ammoron knew that it was not a just cause that had caused him to wage a war against the people of Nephi. 2. And he said, Behold, I will not exchange prisoners with Ammoron, save he will "withdraw his purpose, as I have stated in my epistle; for I will not grant unto him that he shall have any more power than what he hath got. 3. Behold, I know the place where the Lamanites doth guard my people, whom they have taken prisoners; and as Ammoron would not grant unto me mine epistle, behold, I will give unto him according to my words; yea, I will seek death among them, until they shall sue for peace. 4. And now it came to pass that when Moroni had said these words, he caused that a search should be made among his men, that perhaps he might find a man who was a descendant of Laman among them. i, ver. 9. j, Alma 52: 3. k, I. Nep. 4: 35. l, see h. a, Alma 54: 6, 13. 5. And it came to pass that they found one, whose name was Laman: and he was one of the servants of the king who was murdered by Amalickiah. 6. Now Moroni caused that Laman and a small number of his men, should go forth unto the guards who were over the Nephites. 7. Now the Nephites were guarded in the city of Gid; therefore Moroni appointed Laman and caused that a small number of men should go with him. 8. And when it was evening, Laman went to the guards who were over the Nephites, and behold, they saw him coming, and they hailed him; but he saith unto them, fear not; behold, I am a Lamanite. Behold, we have escaped from the Nephites, and they sleepeth; and behold we have took of their wine, and brought with us. 9. Now when the Lamanites heard these words, they received him with joy; and they said unto him, give us of your wine, that we may drink; we are glad that ye have thus taken wine with you, for we are weary. 10. But Laman said unto them, let us keep of our wine till we go against the Nephites to battle; but this saying only made them more desirous to drink of the wine; 11. For, said they, we are weary, therefore let us take of the wine, and by and by we shall receive wine for our rations, which will strengthen us to go against the Nephites. 12. And Laman said unto them, you may do according to your desires. 13. And it came to pass that they did take of the wine freely, and it was pleasant to their taste; therefore they took of it more freely; and it was strong, having been prepared in its strength. 14. And it came to pass they did drink and were merry, and by and by they were all drunken. 15. And now when Laman and his men saw that they were all drunken, and were in a deep sleep, they returned to Moroni, and told him all the things that had happened. 16. And now this was according to the design of Moroni. And Moroni had prepared his men with weapons of war; and he sent to the city Gid, while the Lamanites were in a deep sleep, and drunken, and cast in the weapons of war in unto the prisoners, insomuch that they were all armed; 17. Yea, even to their women, and all those of their children, as many as were able to use a weapon of war, when Moroni had armed all those prisoners; and all those things were done in a profound silence. 18. But had they awoke the Lamanites, behold they were drunken, and the Nephites could have slain them. 19. But behold this was not the desire of Moroni: he did not delight in murder or bloodshed, but he delighted in the saving of his people from destruction; and for this cause he b, Alma 47: 29. c, see 2 c, Alma 51. d, see 2c, Alma 51. might not bring upon him injustice, he would not fall upon the Lamanites and destroy them in their drunkenness. 20. But he had obtained his desires; for he had armed those prisoners of the Nephites who were within the wall of the city, and had gave them power to gain possession of those parts which were within the walls; 21. And then he caused the men who were with him, to withdraw a pace from them, and surround the armies of the Lamanites. 22. Now behold this was done in the night time, so that when the Lamanites awoke in the morning, they beheld that they were surrounded by the Nephites without, and that their prisoners were armed within. 23. And thus they saw that the Nephites had power over them; and in these circumstances they found that it was not expedient that they should fight with the Nephites; therefore their chief captains demanded their weapons of war, and they brought them forth and cast them at the feet of the Nephites, pleading for mercy. 21. Now behold, this was the desire of Moroni. He took them prisoners of war, and took possession of the city, and caused that all the prisoners should be liberated, who were Nephites; and they did join the army of Moroni, and were a great strength to his army. 25. And it came to pass that he did cause the Lamanites, whom he had taken prisoners, that they should commence a labour in strengthening the fortifications round about the city Gid. 26. And it came to pass that when he had fortified the city Gid, according to his desires, he caused that his prisoners should be taken to the city Bountiful; and he also guarded that city with an exceeding strong force. 27. And it came to pass that they did, notwithstanding all the intrigues of the Lamanites, keep and protect all the prisoners whom they had taken, and also maintain all the ground and the advantage which they had retaken. 28. And it came to pass that the Nephites began again to be victorious, and to reclaim their rights and their privileges. 29. Many times did the Lamanites attempt to encircle them about by night, but in these attempts they did lose many prisoners. 30. And many times did they attempt to administer of their wine to the Nephites, that they might destroy them with poison or with drunkenness. 31. But behold, the Nephites were not slow to remember the Lord their God, in this their time of affliction. They could not be taken in their snares; yea, they would not partake of their wine, save they had firstly given to some of the Lamanite prisoners. e, see c, Alma 48. f, see 2c, Alma 51. g, see 2 k, Alma 22. 32. And they were thus cautious that no poison should be administered among them; for if their wine would poison a Lamanite, it would also poison a Nephite; and thus they did try all their liquors. 33. And now it came to pass that it was expedient for Moroni to make preparations to attack the "city Morianton; for behold, the Lamanites had, by their labours, 'fortified the city Morianton until it had become an exceeding strong hold; 34. And they were continually bringing new forces into that city, and also new supplies of provisions. 35. And thus ended the twenty and ninth year of the reign of the Judges over the people of Nephi. CHAPTER 56. 1. AND now it came to pass in the commencement of the thirtieth year of the reign of the Judges, in the second day, on the first month, Moroni received an epistle from Helaman, stating the affairs of the people in "that quarter of the land. 2. And these are the words which he wrote, saying, My dearly beloved brother, Moroni, as well in the Lord as in the tribulations of our warfare; behold, my beloved brother, I have somewhat to tell you concerning our warfare in this part of the land. 3. Behold, two thousand of the sons of those men whom Ammon brought down out of the land of Nephi. Now ye have known that these were descendants of Laman, who Iwas the eldest son of our father Lehi. 4. Now I need not rehearse unto you concerning their "traditions or their unbelief, for thou knowest concerning all these things; 5. Therefore it sufficeth me that I tell you that two thousand of these young men have taken their weapons of war, and would that I should be their leader; and we have come forth to defend our country. 6. And now ye also know concerning the covenant which their fathers made, that they would not take up their weapons of war against their brethren to shed blood. 7. But in the twenty and sixth year, when they saw our afflictions and our tribulations for them, they were about to break the covenant which they had made, and take up their weapons of war in our defence. 8. But I would not suffer them that they should break h, see p, Alma 50. a, Alma 53: 8, 22. d, see n, Jacob 7. i, see c, Alma 48. b, vers. 5, 10. Alma 53: 22. c, see b, II. Nep. 5. f, Alma 24: 17-19. 53:13--15. e, see b. this covenant which they had made, supposing that God would strengthen us, insomuch that we should not suffer more because of the fulfilling the oath which they had taken. 9. But behold, here is one thing in which we may have great joy. For behold, in the twenty and sixth year, I, Helaman, did march at the head of these two thousand young men to the "city of Judea, to assist Antipus, whom ye had appointed a leader over the people of that part of the land. 10. And I did join my two thousand sons, (for they are worthy to be called sons,) to the army of Antipus, in which strength Antipus did rejoice exceedingly; for behold, his army had been reduced by the Lamanites, because their forces had slain a vast number of our men, for which cause we have to mourn. 11. Nevertheless we may console ourselves in this point, that they have died in the cause of their country and of their God, yea, and they are happy. 12. And the Lamanites had also retained many prisoners, all of whom are chief captains, for none other have they spared alive. And we suppose that they are now at this time in the land of Nephi; it is so if they are not slain. 13. And now these are the cities which the Lamanites have obtained possession by the shedding of the blood of so many of our valiant men : 14. The land of Manti, or the city of Manti, and the city of Zeezrom, and the city of Cumeni, and the "city of Antiparah. 15. And these are the cities which they possessed when I arrived at the "city of Judea; and I found Antipus and his men toiling with their mights to fortify the city; 16. Yea, and they were depressed in body as well as in spirit, for they had fought valiantly by day and toiled by night to maintain their cities; and thus they had suffered great afflictions of every kind. 17. And now they were determined to conquer in this place or die; therefore you may well suppose that this little force which I brought with me, yea, those "sons of mine, gave them great hopes and much joy. 18. And now it came to pass that when the Lamanites saw that Antipus had received a greater strength to his army, they were compelled by the orders of Ammoron, to not come against the city of Judea, or against us, to battle. 19. And thus were we favored of the Lord; for had they come upon us in this our weakness, they might have perhaps destroyed our little army; but thus were we preserved. |