FOOTNOTE:
[34] See Chapter xlvi.
CHAPTER LXXV.
THE DISCOVERY OF THE JAREDITE RECORDS—CORIANTUMR—ETHER—THE DISPERSION AT BABEL—THE JOURNEY OF THE JAREDITES—ATLANTIS.
LET us return to the year 123 B. C. At that time the Nephites in the land of Nephi were suffering sore afflictions at the hands of the Lamanites. In this extremity Limhi, their king, sent a company of forty-three men, with instructions to discover, if possible, their brethren in the land of Zarahemla, that peradventure they would bring them succor and deliverance. The expedition was unsuccessful, so far as its immediate object was concerned. The company missed the land of Zarahemla, pushed northward into Central America, and how far beyond we cannot tell. At last they discovered the remains of an ancient people who had apparently been destroyed in battle. Among other things they found twenty-four plates of gold, covered with engravings. This treasure, with some other relics of the vanished race, they took back to king Limhi.
When, shortly after, this section of the Nephite people escaped from their Lamanite task-masters and returned to Zarahemla, the twenty-four golden plates were presented to king Mosiah, the younger, and he being a seer, translated them by the aid of the Urim and Thummim.
These plates were found to contain the history of the world from the creation to the time of the building of the Tower of Babel, and of the race whose remains had been found by the people of Limhi scattered on the land northward.
This was, however, not the first intimation that the Nephites had of the existence of this extinct people; for in the days of the elder Mosiah a large engraved stone was brought to him that had been discovered by the people of Zarahemla. It gave a very brief account of this same race, known to us as the Jaredites, but more particularly referred to its last ruler, named Coriantumr; who had himself been known to the Zarahemlaites; for he had, previous to his death, resided in their midst for nine months.
The history that we have of this remarkable people, as given in the Book of Mormon, is Moroni's abridgment of the record contained on the twenty-four plates of gold. It commences with the dispersion of the human family at Babel. Interspersed with the narrative are many interpolations of Moroni's, in the shape of reflections, prophecies and explanatory remarks. As these additions or notes are inserted in the body of the work, and not as foot notes, the reader of this abridgment has to use care in its perusal, or his ideas may become confused; and he is troubled to account for statements which grow perfectly plain when it is understood they were written nearly four hundred years after the advent of the Savior.
The history of the Jaredites is called the Book of Ether, because the twenty-four plates from which it is taken were hidden by a Jaredite prophet of that name, in the place where they were afterwards discovered by the people of Limhi.
The ancestors of the Jaredites were engaged in the attempt to build the Tower of Babel. It is probable they were of the family of Shem, as they were worshipers of the true God, and he conferred upon them his priesthood. How far they had wandered from the tower, if at all, when the Lord commenced the revelation of his will to them, is not apparent from the sacred text. They were commanded by him to go "down into the valley which is northward," and as the expressions up and down, when they occur in the Book of Mormon in connection with geographical locality, are always used with great exactitude, we may venture two surmises: that Jared and his friends had already wandered into some not far distant hilly region, or that the valley into which they were commanded to descend sloped towards the north, the flow of its waters, if any, being in that direction.
The valley into which the Lord led the Jaredites was called Nimrod, after that mighty hunter of the early postdiluvian age. Here they tarried for a time, while they prepared for the long journey which was before them. Their flocks and herds they had with them; they now went to work and snared fowls; they carried with them hives of honey bees (known to them by the name of Deseret); and prepared a vessel in which they transported the fish of the waters. Everything that could possibly be of use to them they appear to have collected. They were going to a land that had been swept clean by the waters of the Deluge; it had been bereft of all its animal life; the seeds of grains and fruits no longer germinated in its soil; and the colony had to replenish the continent with the animal and vegetable life, necessary for their comfort and sustenance, as though it was a new earth.
When in the valley of Nimrod the Lord came down and talked with the brother of Jared. But the brother of Jared saw him not, for the Lord remained concealed in a cloud. He directed that the company should go forth into the wilderness, into that quarter where man had never yet been. As they journeyed the Heavenly presence went before them in the cloud and instructed them and gave directions which way they should travel. In the course of their journey they had many waters—seas, rivers, and lakes—to cross, on which occasions they built barges, as directed by the Lord. It must have been an arduous labor, requiring much time and great patience to transport their flocks and herds, with all the rest of their cumbrous freight across these many waters.
We shall not attempt to trace the wanderings of the company on their way to the promised land. The account given in the Book of Ether is entirely too meagre for that purpose.
Some suppose that they went as far north as the Caspian Sea, which they crossed; then turning eastward slowly journeyed along the central Asia plateau; thence to the Pacific sea-board, most probably on the coast of China. These suppositions may be correct; the writer does not know enough to either affirm or deny them; but one thing is certain, the journey must have been a very long and tedious one. The region through which they passed was one in which no man dwelt, they could purchase no supplies, and if they did not live entirely on wild fruit, fish and small game, it is probable that they tarried now and again, at favorable points, long enough to plant and reap a crop. As they advanced to a great distance from the center of population in western Asia it is possible that they traveled beyond the limits to which the larger animals had, by that time scattered; and if so, they were entirely without the aid of the food obtained by the chase; on the other hand, it is probable that the fish in the lakes and rivers formed a valuable source of food supply; yet it must also be remembered they carried fish in a vessel with them.
Through their prayers and faith the founders of the Jaredite nation obtained many precious promises of the Lord. Among these was the assurance that their language should not be confounded, and that the Lord himself would go before them and lead them into a land choice above every other land. And again, that the nation that they should found there should be none greater upon all the face of the earth. The history of their descendants proves how fully this last promise was realized. The contemporary nations on the eastern continent—Egypt, Chaldea and Babylonia—were insignificant when compared with the vast extent of territory held and filled by the Jaredites; they were the sole rulers of the whole western hemisphere, and possibly the originals, whence arose the stories of the greatness and grandeur of the fabled Atlantis; for we have no account in the sacred records that God shut them out from the knowledge of the rest of mankind when he planted them in America, as he afterwards did the Nephites; and late research has shown that the geographical knowledge of the ancients was much greater in the earlier ages than at the time of the Savior and a few hundred years previous to his advent.
CHAPTER LXXVI.
MORIANCUMER—BUILDING THE BARGES—THE FINGER OF THE LORD—THE APPEARING OF THE SAVIOR—THE VOYAGE.
LED by the Lord personally, instructed by his own mouth, protected by his presence, the colony, of which Jared's brother appears to have been the prophet and leader, at last reached the borders of the great sea which divides the continents. To the place where they tarried they gave the name of Moriancumer. Here they remained for a period of four years, at the end of which time the Lord again visited the brother of Jared in a cloud and chastened him and his brethren because of their neglect to call upon his name. Repentance followed this reproof, and on their repentance their sins were forgiven them.
The brother of Jared was then commanded by the Lord to build eight barges, after the same pattern as those he had previously constructed. This command he obeyed with the assistance of the company. The vessels were small, light in construction and water tight. As they were dark in the interior, by reason of being without windows, the Lord, at the entreaty of the brother of Jared, touched sixteen small white stones, which the latter had moulten out of a high mountain called Shelem; and after the Lord touched them they shone forth and gave light to the vessels in which they were placed. When the Lord put forth this finger to touch these stones, the veil was taken from the eyes of the brother of Jared and he saw the finger of the Lord; and it was as the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood. Then the brother of Jared fell down before the Lord, for he was struck with fear, and because of the faith which the brother of Jared possessed the Lord not only permitted him to see his finger but showed himself to him.
APPEARANCE OF CHRIST TO THE BROTHER OF JARED.
Furthermore, he said, Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. 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; and even as I appear unto thee to be in spirit, will I appear unto my people in the flesh.
All things being prepared, Jared and his people, with their animals, fishes, bees, seeds and multitudinous other things, went on board; a favorable wind wafted them from shore, and they gradually drifted to the American coast. At the end of the voyage of three hundred and forty-four days the colony landed on this continent. It is generally understood that the place where they landed was south of the Gulf of California and north of the isthmus of Panama.
CHAPTER LXXVII.
THE LAND OF PROMISE—A MONARCHY ESTABLISHED—THE KINGS OF THE JAREDITES FROM ORIHAH TO OMER—AKISH—THE DAUGHTER OF JARED.
WHEN the members of the little colony set their feet upon the shores of America, they humbled themselves before the Lord, and shed tears of joy because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them. Then they went forth and began to till the earth, and soon grew strong in the land, being a righteous people, taught directly from on high.
Before long the question of government arose, and the people desired a king. This thing was grievous to their divinely inspired leaders, for they saw that it would lead to captivity; but perceiving the determination of the people, they consented. It was difficult to find any suitable man who would consent to occupy the royal position; at last the youngest son of Jared, named Orihah, consented, and he was anointed king.
It appears altogether probable that this choice was taken as a precedent, for among this people there seems to have prevailed a custom entirely opposite to that of most other nations—that of having one of the younger, generally the very youngest son, instead of the eldest, succeed his father on the throne. As the Jaredites were a very long-lived race, full of vitality, often having sons born to them to the end of their days, the number of generations mentioned during the period embraced in their history is much fewer than the general average for the same number of centuries, notably so where the eldest son succeeds to the rank and title of his sire.
The kings of the Jaredites, in the order of their succession were Orihah, Kib, Corihor, Kib restored, Shule. In the days of Shule, the kingdom was divided, Noah, the son of Corihor, establishing a separate monarchy over a portion of the land. After his death he was succeeded by his son Cohor, who was slain in battle by Shule, when the whole kingdom again returned to its allegiance to the last named.
Shule was succeeded by his son Omer, who was deposed and imprisoned by his son Jared, but two other sons afterwards defeated Jared and restored the kingdom to their father. In this civil war between Omer and his son Jared, when the latter had been defeated by his brothers, they only spared his life on condition that he recognize the right of his father to the throne.
Jared became very sorrowful at his defeat, as he had set his heart upon being king. While in this state of mind, his daughter, who was exceedingly fair, came to him, and, learning the cause of his discontent, made a most extraordinary and villainous proposition to him, which showed she was as conscienceless as her father. It was that he should invite a friend, named Akish, to visit him; when he came she would dance before him and use her charms to captivate his heart. If her plan succeeded and Akish desired her to wife, Jared was to grant his request on condition that Akish brought him the head of his father Omer. To enable him to accomplish this, the daughter of Jared reminded her father of the signs and covenants of the ancients, whereby they entered into compact, one with another, for mutual aid and protection in carrying out any great wickedness they might desire to commit.
Her plan was accepted and proved in every way a success. After the manner she suggested, Akish gathered his kinsfolks, and persuaded them to swear, with terrible oaths, that they would be faithful to him in all that he might require of them. By these wicked combinations the kingdom of Omer was overthrown. But he, being warned of the Lord, escaped to a distant land called Ablom. Then Jared was anointed king, and he gave his daughter to Akish for a wife.
But Akish was not satisfied; he plotted with his associates, and they slew Jared, as he sat on the throne, and Akish reigned in his stead. But after committing these crimes, he became suspicious of his partners in sin, and grew jealous of one of his own sons, whom he shut up in prison and starved to death. Before long other sons of Akish seduced the people from their allegiance to their father, a civil war of the utmost magnitude ensued, which ceased not until all the people were slain except thirty, and those who had fled to Omer in the land of Ablom. After this, Omer returned and reigned over the few souls that remained.
CHAPTER LXXVIII.
THE KINGS OF THE JAREDITES FROM OMER TO CORIANTUMR—THE MATERIAL PROSPERITY OF THIS RACE.
OMER was succeeded by his son Emer; he by his son Coriantum; Coriantum by his son Com. Com was slain by his son Heth, who took possession of the kingdom after having murdered his father.
In the days of Heth there was a great famine which destroyed the greater portion of the people, among them the king himself. He was succeeded by Shez, Shez by his son Riplakish, who was dethroned by Morianton, whose son Kim afterwards followed him in the kingly power. Kim was brought into captivity, through rebellion, and it was not until the next reign, that of his son Levi, that the usurpers were driven from the throne. Then follow the reigns of Corom, Kish, Lib and Hearthom. The last named was deposed after reigning twenty-four years, and was held in captivity all the remainder of his days. So also were his son Heth, his grandson Aaron, his great grandson Amnigaddah, and the latter's son Coriantum.
We are not informed what were the names of the kings of the usurping dynasty, who reigned while the royal family served in captivity; but in the days of Coriantum's son Com, the reigning prince was named Amgid. Com went to war against him, overthrew him, and gained possession of the throne of his ancestors. Shiblon, the son of Com, succeeded his father, but was slain, his son Heth being made captive and thus held all his days.
In the next generation, Ahah, Heth's son, regained the throne and reigned over the whole people for a short time. Few and iniquitous were his days. Ethem, called a descendant, and also the son of Ahah, was the next king. His son Moron succeeded him; in his days there were renewed rebellions, which ended, as had been so frequently the case before, in the captivity of the king. Moron was a captive all the rest of his life, and his son Coriantor passed his whole earthly existence in captivity.
Ether, the prophet, was the son of Coriantor. The king in his day was named Coriantumr, the last of his race, for the wars that desolated the land in his reign culminated in the destruction of the Jaredites. This very short sketch of the reigns of their kings shows how thoroughly were the fears of Jared and his brother realized, that the anointing of a king would lead to captivity.
Like their successors, the Nephites, the troubles of the Jaredites grew out of their iniquities. Many mighty prophets ministered to them, but they were only occasionally listened to. Like the Nephites, in another phase of their existence, they owed many of their misfortunes to cherishing the secret bands of Gadianton-like assassins, who, bound by infernal covenants, perpetrated the most unnatural and blood-thirsty crimes. In the days of Omer, the daughter of Jared (who in more than one respect reminds us of the daughter of Herodias) was the instrument in first introducing these soul-destroying confederacies with Satan among the Jaredites; and in after ages they dwindled or flourished, according to the amount of faith and faithfulness in the people.
Materially the Jaredites were wonderfully blessed. It could scarcely have been otherwise; they had all the treasures of this most choice land at their disposal. In the days of Emer, the inspired historian describes them as having become exceeding rich, having all manner of fruit, grain, silks, fine linen, gold, silver, and precious things; and also all manner of cattle, sheep, swine, goats, and also many other kinds of animals which were useful for the food of man; and they also had horses, and asses, and there were elephants and cureloms and cumoms; all of which were useful to men, and more especially the elephants, cureloms and cumoms. [35]