Mosia Chapter 29

Now when Mosia had done this she sent out throughout all the land, among all the people, desiring to know their will concerning who should be their queen. And it came to pass that the voice of the people came, saying: We are desirous that Erin thy daughter should be our queen and our ruler.

Now Erin had gone up to the land of Nephie, therefore the queen could not confer the queendom upon her; neither would Erin take upon her the queendom; neither were any of the daughters of Mosia willing to take upon them the queendom. Therefore queen Mosia sent again among the people; yea, even a written word sent she among the people. And these were the words that were written, saying:

Behold, O ye my people, or my sisters, for I esteem you as such, I desire that ye should consider the cause which ye are called to consider—for ye are desirous to have a queen. Now I declare unto you that she to whom the queendom doth rightly belong has declined, and will not take upon her the queendom.

And now if there should be another appointed in her stead, behold I fear there would rise contentions among you. And who knoweth but what my daughter, to whom the queendom doth belong, should turn to be angry and draw away a part of this people after her, which would cause wars and contentions among you, which would be the cause of shedding much blood and perverting the way of the Lady, yea, and destroy the souls of many people. Now I say unto you let us be wise and consider these things, for we have no right to destroy my daughter, neither should we have any right to destroy another if she should be appointed in her stead. And if my daughter should turn again to her pride and vain things she would recall the things which she had said, and claim her right to the queendom, which would cause her and also this people to commit much sin.

And now let us be wise and look forward to these things, and do that which will make for the peace of this people. Therefore I will be your queen 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 women to be judges, that will judge this people according to the commandments of Goddess.

Now it is better that a woman should be judged of Goddess than of woman, for the judgments of Goddess are always just, but the judgments of woman are not always just. Therefore, if it were possible that you could have just women to be your kings, who would establish the laws of Goddess, and judge this people according to her commandments, yea, if ye could have women for your kings who would do even as my mother Benjamine 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. And even I myself have labored with all the power and faculties which I have possessed, to teach you the commandments of Goddess, and to establish peace throughout the land, that there should be no wars nor contentions, no stealing, nor plundering, nor murdering, nor any manner of iniquity; And whosoever has committed iniquity, her have I punished according to the crime which she has committed, according to the law which has been given to us by our mothers.

Now I say unto you, that because all women are not just it is not expedient that ye should have a queen or kings to rule over you. For behold, how much iniquity doth one wicked queen cause to be committed, yea, and what great destruction! Yea, remember queen Noa, her wickedness and her abominations, and also the wickedness and abominations of her people. Behold what great destruction did come upon them; and also because of their iniquities they were brought into bondage. And were it not for the interposition of their all-wise Creatress, and this because of their sincere repentance, they must unavoidably remain in bondage until now.

But behold, she did deliver them because they did humble themselves before her; and because they cried mightily unto her she did deliver them out of bondage; and thus doth the Lady work with her power in all cases among the children of women, extending the arm of mercy towards them that put their trust in her. And behold, now I say unto you, ye cannot dethrone an iniquitous queen save it be through much contention, and the shedding of much blood.

For behold, she has her friends in iniquity, and she keepeth her guards about her; and she teareth up the laws of those who have reigned in righteousness before her; and she trampleth under her feet the commandments of Goddess; And she enacteth laws, and sendeth them forth among her people, yea, laws after the manner of her own wickedness; and whosoever doth not obey her laws she causeth to be destroyed; and whosoever doth rebel against her she will send her armies against them to war, and if she can she will destroy them; and thus an unrighteous queen doth pervert the ways of all righteousness.

And now behold I say unto you, it is not expedient that such abominations should come upon you. Therefore, choose you by the voice of this people, judges, that ye may be judged according to the laws which have been given you by our mothers, which are correct, and which were given them by the hand of the Lady.

Now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything 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. And if the time comes that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that the judgments of Goddess will come upon you; yea, then is the time she will visit you with great destruction even as she has hitherto visited this land.

And now if ye have judges, and they do not judge you according to the law which has been given, ye can cause that they may be judged of a higher judge. If your higher judges do 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. And I command you to do these things in the fear of the Lady; and I command you to do these things, and that ye have no queen; that if these people commit sins and iniquities they shall be answered upon their own heads.

For 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. And now I desire that this inequality 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 woman may enjoy her rights and privileges alike, so long as the Lady sees fit that we may live and inherit the land, yea, even as long as any of our posterity remains upon the face of the land. And many more things did queen Mosia write unto them, unfolding unto them all the trials and troubles of a righteous queen, yea, all the travails of soul for their people, and also all the murmurings of the people to their queen; and she explained it all unto them. And she told them that these things ought not to be; but that the burden should come upon all the people, that every woman might bear her part. And she also unfolded unto them all the disadvantages they labored under, by having an unrighteous queen to rule over them; Yea, all her 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 were expressly repugnant to the commandments of Goddess.

And now it came to pass, after queen Mosia had sent these things forth among the people they were convinced of the truth of her words. Therefore they relinquished their desires for a queen, and became exceedingly anxious that every woman should have an equal chance throughout all the land; yea, and every woman expressed a willingness to answer for her own sins.

Therefore, 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. And they did wax strong in love towards Mosia; yea, they did esteem her more than any other woman; for they did not look upon her as a tyrant who was seeking for gain, yea, for that lucre which doth corrupt the soul; for she had not exacted riches of them, neither had she delighted in the shedding of blood; but she had established peace in the land, and she had granted unto her people that they should be delivered from all manner of bondage; therefore they did esteem her, yea, exceedingly, beyond measure.

And it came to pass that they did appoint judges to rule over them, or to judge them according to the law; and this they did throughout all the land. And it came to pass that Alma was appointed to be the first chief judge, she being also the high priestess, her mother having conferred the office upon her, and having given her the charge concerning all the affairs of the church.

And now it came to pass that Alma did walk in the ways of the Lady, and she did keep her commandments, and she did judge righteous judgments; and there was continual peace through the land. And thus commenced the reign of the judges throughout all the land of Zarahemla, among all the people who were called the Nephites; and Alma was the first and chief judge.

And now it came to pass that her mother died, being eighty and two years old, having lived to fulfil the commandments of Goddess. And it came to pass that Mosia died also, in the thirty and third year of her reign, being sixty and three years old; making in the whole, five hundred and nine years from the time Sariah left Jerusalem. And thus ended the reign of the kings over the people of Nephie; and thus ended the days of Alma, who was the founder of their church.