Mosiah XIII

20and now as I said unto you that after king Mosiah had done these things he took the plates of brass and all the things which he had kept and conferred them upon Alma which was the son of Alma yea all the records and also the interpreters and conferred them upon him and commanding him that he should keep and preserve them and also keep a record of the people handing them down from one generation to another even as they had been handed down from the time of that Lehi left Jerusalem 29now when Mosiah had done this he sent out through all the land among all the people desiring to know their will concerning who should be their king 2and it came to pass that the voice of the people came saying we are desirous that Aaron thy son should be our king and our ruler 3now Aaron had gone up to the land of Nephi therefore the king could not confer the kingdom upon him neither would Aaron take upon him the kingdom neither was any of the sons of Mosiah willing to take upon them the kingdom 4therefore king Mosiah sent again among the people yea even a written word sent he among the people and these were the words that were written saying 5behold O ye my people or my brethren for I esteem you as such for I desire that ye should consider the cause which ye are called to consider for ye are desirous to have a king 6now I declare unto you that he to whom that the kingdom doth rightly belong hath declined and will not take upon him the kingdom 7and now if there should be another appointed in his stead behold I fear there would rise contentions among you and who knoweth but what my son to whom the kingdom doth belong should turn to be angry and draw away a part of this people after him which will cause wars and contentions among you which would be the cause of shedding much blood and perverting the way of the Lord yea and destroy the souls of many people 8now I say unto you let us be wise and consider these things for we have no right to destroy my son neither should we have any right to destroy another if he should be appointed in his stead 9and if my son should turn again to his pride and vain things he would recall the things which he had said and claim his right to the kingdom which would cause him and also this people to commit much sin 10and now let us be wise and look forward to these things and do that which will make for the peace of this people 11therefore I will be your king the remainder of my days nevertheless let us appoint judges to judge this people according to our law and we will newly arrange the affairs of this people for we will appoint wise men to be judges that will judge this people according to the commandments of God 12now it is better that a man should be judged of God than of man for the judgments of God are always just but the judgments of man are not always just 13therefore if it were possible that ye could have just men to be your kings which would establish the laws of God and judge this people according to his commandments yea if ye could have men for your kings which would do even as my father Benjamin did for this people I say unto you if this could always be the case then it would be expedient that ye should always have kings to rule over you 14and even I myself have labored with all the power and faculties which I have possessed to teach you the commandments of God and to establish peace throughout the land that there should be no wars nor contentions no stealing nor plundering nor murdering nor no manner of iniquity 15and whosoever hath committed iniquity him have I punished according to the crime which he hath committed according to the law which hath been given to us by our fathers 16now I say unto you that because all men are not just it is not expedient that ye should have a king or kings to rule over you 17for behold how much iniquity doth one wicked king cause to be committed yea and what great destruction 18yea remember king Noah his wickedness and his abominations and also the wickedness and abominations of his people behold what great destruction did come upon them and also because of their iniquities they were brought into bondage 19and were it not for the interposition of their all-wise Creator and this because of their sincere repentance they must have unavoidably remained in bondage until now 20but behold he did deliver them because they did humble themselves before him and because they cried mightily unto him he did deliver them out of bondage and thus doth the Lord work with his power in all cases among the children of men extending the arm of mercy towards them that put their trust in him 21and behold now I say unto you ye cannot dethrone an iniquitous king save it be through much contention and the shedding of much blood 22for behold he hath his friends in iniquity and he keepeth his guards about him and he teareth up the laws of those which have reigned in righteousness before him and he trampleth under his feet the commandments of God 23and he enacteth laws and sendeth them forth among his people yea laws after the manner of his own wickedness and whosoever doth 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 24and now behold I say unto you it is not expedient that such abominations should come upon you 25therefore choose you by the voice of this people judges that ye may be judged according to the laws which hath been given you by our fathers which are correct and which was given them by the hand of the Lord 26now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth any thing contrary to that which is right but it is common for the lesser 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 27and if the time cometh that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity then is the time that the judgments of God will come upon you yea then is the time he will visit you with great destruction even as he hath hitherto visited this land 28and now if ye have judges and they do not judge you according to the law which has been given ye can cause that he may be judged of a higher judge 29if your higher judges doth not judge righteous judgments ye shall cause that a small number of your lower judges should be gathered together and they shall judge your higher judges according to the voice of the people 30and I commanded you to do these things in the fear of the Lord and I commanded you to do these things and that ye have no king that if these people commit sins and iniquities they shall be answered upon their own heads 31for behold I say unto you the sins of many people have been caused by the iniquities of their kings therefore their iniquities are answered upon the heads of their kings 32and now I desire that this unequality should be no more in this land especially among this my people but I desire that this land be a land of liberty and every man may enjoy his rights and privileges alike so long as the Lord sees fit that we may live and inherit the land yea even as long as any of our posterity remaineth upon the face of the land 33and many more things did king Mosiah write unto them unfolding unto them all the trials and troubles of a righteous king yea all the travails of soul for their people and also all the murmurings of the people to their king and he explained it all unto them 34and he told them that these things had not ought to be but that the burden should come upon all the people that every man might bear his part 35and he also unfolded unto them all the disadvantages they labored under by having an unrighteous king to rule over them 36yea all his iniquities and abominations and all the wars and contentions and bloodshed and the stealing and the plundering and the committing of whoredoms and all manner of iniquities which cannot be enumerated telling them that these things ought not to be that they was expressly repugnant to the commandments of God 37and now it came to pass after king Mosiah had sent these things forth among the people they were convinced of the truth of his words 38therefore they relinquished their desires for a king and became exceedingly anxious that every man should have an equal chance throughout all the land yea and every man expressed a willingness to answer for his own sins 39therefore it came to pass that they assembled themselves together in bodies throughout the land to cast in their voices concerning who should be their judges to judge them according to the law which had been given them and they were exceedingly rejoiced because of the liberty which had been granted unto them 40and they did wax strong in love towards Mosiah yea they did esteem him more than any other man for they did not look upon him as a tyrant who was seeking for gain yea for that lucre which doth corrupt the soul for he had not exacted riches of them neither had he delighted in the shedding of blood but he had established peace in the land and he had granted unto his people that they should be delivered from all manner of bondage therefore they did esteem him yea exceedingly beyond measure 41and it came to pass that they did appoint judges to rule over them or to judge them according to the law and this they done throughout all the land 42and it came to pass that Alma was appointed to be the chief judge he being also the high priest his father having conferred the office upon him and had given him the charge concerning all the affairs of the church 43and now it came to pass that Alma did walk in the ways of the Lord and he did keep his commandments and he did judge righteous judgments And there was continual peace through the land 44and thus commenced the reign of the judges throughout all the land of Zarahemla among all the people which was called the Nephites and Alma was the first and chief judge 45and now it came to pass that his father died being eighty and two years old having lived to fulfill the commandments of God 46and it came to pass that Mosiah died also in the thirty and third year of his reign being sixty and three years old making in the whole five hundred and nine years from the time Lehi left Jerusalem 47and thus ended the reign of the kings over the people of Nephi and thus ended the days of Alma who was the founder of their church