[22]. Mormon was born in the north land about 311 A. D. To him was entrusted the Nephite records by one Ammaron; and while they were in his possession he made the abridgment which bears his name, "The Book of Mormon." All the sacred Nephite records he did away except his abridgment of those records; and that he delivered to his son Moroni.
CHAPTER XIII.
GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION AMONG THE NEPHITES.
Nephite Government.
Some twelve or fifteen years after Lehi's colony arrived in the new world, Nephi with that part of the colony which he could influence—the more righteous part, by the way—separated from the elder sons of Lehi and their following, and established a separate community. Such was the esteem in which Nephi was held by his following that his people besought him to be their king. Nephi appears not to have favored the establishment of this kind of government, but yielded to the desire of his people. Perhaps he had inherited the prejudices of the Hebrew prophets against the kingly form of government,[[1]] and would gladly have seen his people live under an administration of government by judges, as in ancient Israel. This, however, is but an inference drawn from the fact of Nephi's expressed desire that his people would have no king.
Succession to the kingly dignity was made hereditary in Nephi's family,[[2]] and the kings on their accession to the kingly power took the title of Nephi I, Nephi II, Nephi III, Nephi IV, etc.[[3]] What the nature of this kingly government was, what secondary officers existed in it, and what means were employed for the administration of its laws cannot be learned from the Nephite record. For some time the community over which the established government held sway was but a small one, hence the kingly office had no such dignity as attaches to it in more extensive governments; but was most likely akin to the petty kingdoms which existed in Judea[[4]] at various times and with which Nephi and some few of those who had accompanied him from Jerusalem were acquainted. The Nephites had the scriptures containing the law of Moses, and were taught to some extent in some of the customs of the Jews, but not in all of them.[[5]] And these customs, and the law of Moses administered with no very great amount of machinery, I apprehend, constituted the character of the Nephite government. Under it the Nephites lived for a period of more than four hundred and fifty years.
The transition from a kingly form of government to what may be called a democracy was made at the death of Mosiah II, 509 years from the time Lehi left Jerusalem, or 91 years B. C. The Israelitish genius in matters of government inclines them to the acceptance of what men commonly call a theocracy, which is defined as meaning literally "a state governed in the name of God." The election of this form of government by Israelities as most desirable, grows out of the fact of the Mosaic legislation; for Moses received the law by which Israel was governed direct from Jehovah; its regulations were carried out in Jehovah's name, by the administration of judges, both during the life time of Israel's great prophet and also after his demise. Living thus under the divine law, administered in the name of Jehovah by judges divinely appointed, was to be governed of God. And so completely was this form of government recognized as the government of God, that to reject it was held to be rejecting God as the ruler of the state, as witness the words of the Lord himself in the closing years of the prophet Samuel's life when Israel clamored for a king. The Lord said unto Samuel: "Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them."[[6]]
No one, it appears to me, could have a clearer conception of the evils that grow out of kingly government than the Nephite king, Mosiah II. Nor a clearer conception of the strength and advantages of that form of government. I give a summary of his reasoning upon two sides of this question: "It is better that a man be judged of God than of man; for the judgments of God are always just, but the judgments of men are not always just." This is said in support of the old Israelitish idea of government—a theocracy: "If it were possible that you could have just men to be your kings, who would establish the laws of God and judge this people according to his commandments, * * * * then it would be expedient that you always have kings to rule over you;" but "because all men are not just, it is not expedient that you should have a king or kings to rule over you. * * * * Behold, how much iniquity doth one wicked king cause to be committed, yea and what destruction!" Moreover Mosiah understood the strength of those forces behind which an ungodly king could intrench himself. "Behold, * * * * ye cannot dethrone an iniquitous king, save it be through much contention, and the shedding of much blood; for behold, he has his friends in iniquity, and keepeth his guards about him, * * * * and he enacteth laws, and sendeth them forth among his people; yea, laws after the manner of his own wickedness; and whosoever does not obey his laws, he causeth to be destroyed; and whosoever doth rebel against him, he will send his armies against them to war, and if he can, he will destroy them: and thus an unrighteous king doth pervert the ways of all righteousness." "Behold, I say unto you the sins of many people have been caused by the iniquities of their kings."
These were the considerations which led him to recommend the abandonment of kingly government and establish a reign of judges chosen by the voice of the people. By this arrangement Mosiah held that the people would bear the responsibility of the government. "It is not common," he reasons, "that the voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which is right; but it is common for the smaller part of the people to desire that which is not right; therefore this shall ye observe, and make it your law, to do your business by the voice of the people; and if the time comes that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that the judgment of God will come upon you; yea, then is the time he will visit you with great destruction, even as he has hitherto visited this land." All of which is a clear setting forth of the responsibilities of self-governing communities.