THE BOOK OF SHIONI AKEK

1And in the _five hundred and sixty-seventh year_ , behold, a great body of people did arrive among the Nem of the Coasts and beg leave of the, that they might take up their residence there. For they had been driven upon the seas for the more part of a year and they were torn and weary. Wherefore, they were accepted and taken in, and succored by our relations on the coast and they became part of the Nem.

2And behold, they told of wars and of pestilences and of famines and of plagues in the country from which they did travel. Yea, and so great were their losses because of the hardship of their flight that only the tenth part of them escaped to the West alive. And they wanted for everything. Yea, their state was pitiable.

3But they did accept the manner in which we live. Yea, they had taken up the Common Consent before they had left their homeland and they had been persecuted because of it. They had all things in common and had attempted to live by this law in the place of their fathers, but the people were wicked and persecuted them. Behold, they were driven from country to country and none gave them place. Wherefore, when they come into the shores of the Nem, even though they were a great people still, they told of how they had dwindled to the tithe of their former numbers.

4And they were a sea-loving people. Wherefore, the Nem did suggest places along the ocean where they might build settlements and begin again to live as the Spirit had instructed them. And they did establish service missions among them and sent them teachers whom they gratefully accepted.

5Now, this people were of small and compact stature and their features were like unto the people who dwell in the north countries that are found across the West Sea. And they speak a language that is not far sundered from that which is spoken by the Nem of the Coasts, for that language has been added upon by the travelers and settlers that have come from that country.

6And the leader of this people was Hin. And he was a man of wisdom who told of how his fathers lived in a great land that could be found by crossing over the West Sea and when landfall is reached, by traveling again into the north. And he told of people who came in unto their country to live and that they taught his fathers their ways and their customs, and they became one people. These people called themselves Nemen and they came from the Islands of the West Sea.

7But the rulers of his nation grew wicked and the people with them. And they persecuted the Nemen and all they who joined with them in their peculiar way of living. And when Hin decided to lead the remnant of that people away back into the east, there were many who chose to journey with him. These were the remnants of a kindred people who had left the Nem of the Islands to settle in other lands, but now they were come again home at last. Yea, they had found a home again among their own kindred.

8And behold, it was at the same time as the appearance of the Nem of Hin, and their union with the Nem of the Coasts, that Timothy did visit the people of Nespelem. He it was who told us of the arrival of Hin and his people and we sent emissaries to greet them and to welcome them.

9Timothy is the brother of Nephi and of Lehi, who is called Mathonihah by this people. And he has visited from time to time. These brothers are wonderful in their wisdom and in their gifts, for they walked and talked with the Peacemaker when He came to visit the people of this land. Yea, I say unto you, that they did walk and talk as we do in the day that the Peacemaker appeared from out of commotion and ministered to our people.

10Now, Timothy has for his stewardship the teaching of the people who live here in the Land Northward and also they who live in the Land Southward. He is our minister and he assists us in keeping the sure way of the Lord.

11And Nephi has for his stewardship the teaching and observing of the people who live in the lands of our fathers, even round about Jerusalem of old, and he does travel in the lands to the west and to the south of that place.

12And Mathonihah has for his stewardship the teaching and observing of the people who live in the lands of our fathers, even round about Jerusalem of old, and he does travel in the lands to the east and to the north of that place.

13And they live and do not taste of death. Neither do they taste of sickness or of pain as we do. Or, in other words, they do not suffer such things in the way in which we do. For they do suffer pain and hunger, but they do not die of it. But, notwithstanding they are preserved from such things, that they might accomplish the thing that they desired of the Lord, they are harrowed up by the things they see. For they must witness all the wickedness of men in all the lands of the earth, and this must harrow up their souls.

14And behold, they are directed in all things by that Apostle who was the beloved of the Lord when He too walked the earth as a man. Yea, John is the Chief Disciple of their Council.

15The work of these translated men is a work of instruction unto all people who might listen unto the voice of their counsel. And also, when the Lord’s church and His ways are found among the people, these three assist them in regulating themselves, that they might retain the direction of the Peacemaker. But, if the shepherds and the servants of the Lord do become puffed up in the pride of their hearts, behold, tales of these shall become but a myth and a fable unto the people of that time.

16Now, at the same time as the Nemen of Hin came into the land to take up their place among their relations, Timothy did also appear as a man walking from the east. And he did tell somewhat of the arrival and of the history of the Nemen of Hin. And that history is written and is hid up with the records of the Nem of the Coasts. And behold, that record shall come forth in the due time of the Lord for the benefit of all people.

17And Timothy did remain some time with the Nem of Nespelem, and also he did go over unto the Nem of Potal to teach them also. And the words and the teachings of the Three are of great import unto us, for we believe that they are sent of God and that they are the servants of the Peacemaker. Wherefore, we cherish their words and we do follow their teachings. And these are some of the words of Timothy when he visited the Nem of Nespelem:

18Behold, the Lord is with you, Nem. You walk in a sacred manner, as also your talk is in a sacred manner. You did come out from iniquity because you will insist upon following the counsels of the Lord. Yea, you abandon home and hearth, merely because you esteem the Lord more than you do the stuff of the earth. And behold, you esteem Him more than you do your customs and your traditions. Even do you esteem the Lord greater than the land of your fathers. And this is folly in the sight of men, but I say unto you, Nem, it is of great worth unto the Lord. Yea, He is pleased with you.

19But this is not all. You do also continue in that thing wherein He did teach your forefathers. Yea, you do continue to teach the New and Everlasting Covenant that He revealed unto them in times past. Behold, this is a thing seldom seen in the world in these times. For there is no nation under heaven except the Nem that continues in the gospel of the Peacemaker.

20Yea, believe me when I say that you are a blessed people. For, the Lord blesses them that believe on Him and hold fast to that which He has taught them. And blessed are you, Nem.

21And what is it that you teach that has preserved your peace, even when all the world around you is harrowed up in war and bloodshed? Behold, what is your safeguard against that turmoil in the which the whole world is embroiled. Is it that your wise men have more wisdom? I say unto you, Nay. For, you are only as wise as any.

22It is that you do keep the Way of the Lord. Yea, it is that you do walk upon the Way which He has provided for all they who believe in His name and who wish to obtain greater truth and knowledge. But it is not that you are born more intelligent, never believe it.

23For the children of men are born in this natural state in like manner as all the living things upon the earth are born. And if they continue in this state, so shall they remain, lives and deaths everlasting, for they are satisfied to be ruled by the natural man.

24But if they will be elevated and set aside this natural man, the Lord shall welcome them upon the Way to receive greater wisdom and knowledge. And behold, they are changed even in their physical, and this is a thing that must be so. For, the natural man may only take up that knowledge that is useful to the survival of the race. Wherefore, what knowledge he may acquire is of a kind and a nature that will serve himself. But, when the children of men do stretch themselves past that knowledge which conveys from the strength of the arm of the flesh, they are elevated above the world, worlds without end.

25And behold, in the crisis of your faith, you did set aside all the needs of the natural man and you did teach the laws and statutes of the kingdom of God. Yea, you did even send out missionaries to teach the laws of God, so greatly did the Spirit pull upon your intellects. And I declare unto you, These are the things that do elevate a man or a nation.

26And the things that are important to all the world, you set aside as if they were a thing of naught. Yea, did you not set aside homes? And I know that some of you had lived in such places many generations and all your good memories are there. Yet, in the conflict and the crisis, you did pack up your few things and you did take to the wilderness. And why would you do this? It is because the house is built to accommodate the family, and yet, it is not the family.

27And behold, you were not caught up in the pride of your hearts because someone decided that your way was not adequate for their needs. You found it not necessary that all men speak and act as you do. Nay, but pride did not make you dictators. Nevertheless, you did defend the faith. But pride would have proven your destruction just as it did your adversaries. Behold how you did vanquish the enemies of God, but you did not do it in the pride of your hearts.

28And your little ones are taught that they must seek the face of the Lord to obtain the gospel. And they are taught obedience at the feet of the Peacemaker. I ask you, shall they ever be despoiled of this great blessing? Shall any ruler or despot wrest from them this boon? Shall any false prophet gainsay them, or bring them into the bondage of the soul? And if they are ever taken into bondage, where is the sting? For behold, can any petty ruler be esteemed greater than the Lord of Heaven?

29And shall any man raise himself up to be the arm of the Lord without that all the people shall be able to prove his claim? Shall any deceiver raise himself up to lead the people astray when they have communion with Angels and with the Peacemaker Himself? Behold, this shall never be, so long as your little ones are taught from their youths to seek that revelation which comes of the Lord, and directly.

30And behold, all your sacrifices are selfless, and in this is the Lord greatly pleased. Yea, there is no self service in your oblations, and this is because you have taught the first law. For, how can anyone be misled in the sacrifice and in the offerings when their schoolmaster is the Peacemaker? Surely, a man may teach you false doctrine and thereby lead you into strange sacrifice. But the Lord shall never do it. Strait is His way and narrow the gate. But you have sought His face early and cannot be deceived in anything.

31And behold again, in all your families there is fidelity. Yea, men do honor their covenants and women do faithfully serve their families. And there is no wantonness, nor the strife that comes of it. And men do not break the hearts of their wife or their children with adultery. And behold, women are not found in wickedness. Is there any nation on earth where such things do not corrupt the hearts of the children of men? I say unto you, Yea! It is found among the Nem.

32Behold, where men and women make durable covenants in the Lord, shall He not uphold those covenants? When the man and the woman are sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise, with whom the Peacemaker has made His covenant, even that covenant He made with the Father and the Holy Ghost before the world was, shall He not take up such covenants as His own, when the man and the woman are made His? Wherefore are you become eternal and your marriage is eternal, even from everlasting to everlasting, for heaven and earth shall pass away, yet all that is His shall be durable forever.

33It is because that you do hold fast unto these teachings that you are the more able to put away the natural man. And herein lies your greatest blessing, for it is the fullness of your faith, even the fullness of the gospel. Yea, because of these precepts it is made the easier for you to cast off the natural man and create Zion in your hearts. And when Zion is created in the hearts of the people, shall it be prevented in the foundation? Shall not Zion become the charter of the nation?

34For, shall you do differently in the administration of your civil duty than you do in your home? Shall you teach your children one thing and the citizens another? I say unto you, Shall a man attempt such duplicity, his efforts shall not survive the generation.

35But when the laws of the Peacemaker are not taught in the home, see you how the nation is corrupted. When children are taught that the father is sovereign and that his will is the gospel in the home, shall they seek the face of the Peacemaker? If the law of the home is the law of the father or of the mother, and they make of themselves tyrants unto their children, shall the children learn to follow the King of Heaven while yet in the home?

36And when the sacrifice is determined for them by the father or the mother, how will they ever look to the Lord to determine their sacrifice. And if they make their oblations upon the commands of the father or the mother, shall their sacrifice ever cease to be dictated by some other person, some ruler? If their offering in their youth is made to satisfy the demands of men or women, shall they ever make a suitable sacrifice when they are grown? Shall they break their hearts and throw off the natural man? Shall they sit at the feet of the Peacemaker and be instructed?

37And if they are taught in their youths to respect the dictates of their father or their mother and to seek not to honor them by the confirmation of the Holy Ghost in all things, shall they ever seek such confirmation in anything else? Can they be expected to change their custom simply because they become fathers and mothers? Shall they not also dictate all things unto their children? Is equity taught in this manner?

38And shall men join themselves in fidelity when they have been taught to dictate in the home? Shall the father and the mother ever work diligently to serve their children in faith when they have been raised to respect the will of the tyrant? Shall their unions ever be blessed and sealed up unto the Lord by the Holy Spirit of Promise? I say unto you, Nay. For how can you expect the Lord to take up wickedness?

39Can any who has studied unrighteous dominion in the home ever hope to set the world and its ways aside? Can the Law of Consecration ever be understood by such a one? It is impossible and cannot be expected. It is for this cause that the Lord did teach your forefathers the laws and ordinances of the High Place in the very manner in which He did. Yea, His ways are wise and He has all things before Him. Wherefore, do not distrust the instruction He gave unto your fathers.

40Behold, Nem, you are an ensign unto the world and an ensample. Shall the world ever say that the Lord’s purposes are too difficult for the children of men to accomplish? Shall the world ever justify itself in perverting the laws of God? Shall men ever justify a lesser law because the people cannot live the greater?

41Behold all these things shall be in the mouths of men in latter days, but the Nem shall have laid a foundation for all men. Such false prophets and wicked rulers shall lay the account upon the people, but the fault thereof shall be their own. Yea, the Lord shall cease to reveal anything unto their prophets and generations shall pass in which He shall hold His peace and give no instruction through them. But behold, a time shall come when the people shall cast such rulers aside and turn again to their Lord and seek His face. Behold, Nem, the ensample that you make for them shall assist them and shall edify them.

42But even these shall not make serious conquest of the world. Yea, I say unto you, Even they unto whom the Lord shall have given the commencement of the restoration of all things shall not walk in sound principles and they shall lead the nation in false doctrine. But mothers and fathers shall teach their children in spite of all their shepherds shall demand. And here a few, and there a few, shall the Lord build up again a Zion in the land, but not out of the ashes of a fallen church.

43Behold, He shall take away the stewardship and the keys of His kingdom from among the Gentiles. And when they are taken back, even according as He has promised unto your ancestors, they shall not be given back unto them that did pervert His ways. But He shall not withhold such things from the children of men, nay, not even for a season. For, in the very same generation in which He shall take up the stewardship over His kingdom on earth from out of the Gentiles, He shall also restore the Sons and Daughters of Lehi and of Levi. It is unto these that your teachings shall be an ensign. Yea, it is unto these that your musings shall be instructive.

44For they shall have been prepared by all that the Lord did accomplish through the Gentiles. And even there shall be some few from among the Gentiles who shall continue to be His servants, and shall set aside the riches and the enticements of the world to serve Him. They shall not want of reward. Nay, behold, they shall be numbered in among the children of Lehi by adoption. And all wherein the Lord has blessed them shall also be a blessing unto they who become the Sons and Daughters of Lehi and of Levi. But they shall not pollute the way of the Lord with the filthiness of men.

45But the rulers of the people shall wallow in their own judgment. Yea, they shall be drunken as with bad wine, which is bought from the disreputable. Yea, the wine of their sacrament shall have been thinned down with water of the trough and it shall be unfit to drink. Thinned and polluted shall be the cup that they take to their lips in the name of the Lord and their sacrifice shall be unprofitable.

46And the goodness of the grain shall they winnow out and there shall be no substance left in the bread. They shall be fat with bread that shall have been bought with the strength of the innocent. Yea, the bread of their sacrament shall have no part in the covenant of the Lord but shall be a token of their bondage only and shall be unfit to eat. Yet shall they hold it up unto the Lord and say:

47This is thy body, Lord. We eat it in remembrance of our covenants with Thee.

48Behold, they have sold the profitable out of the grain before ever they held it up as a sacrifice unto the Lord.

49And shall He respect their sacrifice? Shall He think of it in any better light than He did the sacrifice of Cain? Is He become no discerner of the hearts of men? Or does He know less the motives and intentions of men now than He did when Cain and Abel made their first sacrifices? Nay, but there is one sacrifice in the last days that He will accept and justify and that is the fullness of a heart broken in pure sacrifice and the fullness of a spirit made contrite in the blood of the Lamb of God.

50By the sweat of his brow does man break the earth, and dung it, and plant the grain and care for it. Then by that same sweat does he reap down the corn and winnow it. And whole and wholesome as his own intention does he labor to make the bread and bake it. This is the broken heart, and anything else than this is not justified. Let the sacrifice of bread be whole and not in parts.

51Yea, by the sweat of his brow shall man set in the earth the vine and nurture it. And he is certain to ready the bees ere the blossom is set and prepare them. And when the fruit is laid on, does he not carefully judge the time to harvest? Yea, and he does gather in with his strength the fruit of the vine to the winepress and stamp it out with his feet. And the sacrifice is pure wine, of his own make, and is not purchased from afar off.

52Take not up the polluted to offer it a sacrifice unto the Lord. Take not up that which is taught of men and make it up as doctrine and the will of God. This is the sacrifice of bad intention. Such was the sacrifice of Cain and the Lord accepted it not. Neither shall He accept bad water and empty bread for your sacraments. Let your oblations be of full heart and your sacraments be of good intention and the Lord shall accept it, as He did Abel’s. And the Gentiles who are gathered into the House of Israel shall be made new by the good sacrifice, casting away that which is empty and taking up that which is full of grace.

53This is the thing which shall be taken up by the Remnant of the House of Israel that shall be left in this land in the last days. Behold, they shall not take up that which the Gentiles have already polluted and wrest it again. Nay, the hide beaten poorly by the Gentiles shall not be softened and shall not be made respectable. Nor shall the darkened and scorched linen of the Gentiles be made white at the hands of the Remnant. But they shall take up that which was softened and whitened in times past and with it they shall bring again Zion.

54The field planted by the Gentiles shall be filled with vice. Wherefore, shall the Remnant take residence in such a field? Shall they, as squatters, take of that which the Gentiles have made waste and with it fatten the calf? Nay. But they shall harrow up the ground anew and plant anew. For, the fertile earth shall have lain fallow at the hands of absent stewards who knew it not. And the Remnant shall plow it up once again and plant it. And it shall once again bare the grain that shall fatten the Remnant.

55For the vineyard shall have lain desolate in the sloth of the unprofitable servant. And when the Lord of the vineyard shall take up the stewardship from him and give it into the hands of another, then shall the old vines be cast down and the new stock set and the rows renewed. And shall he take of the diseased root to plant again? I say unto you, Nay. But he shall find a good and profitable strain out of a vineyard which is distant, and this shall he use to restore the vine of the Lord’s House.

56Then shall the Lord of the Vineyard come in from His journey and see the good steward and His profitable servant.

57Do you see, then, how good and profitable your writings shall be unto them that the Lord shall raise up in this land in the latter day? Can you discern how they shall take up your precept and your principle and carry it into the vineyards of their intentions? Yea, they shall take the seed laid up in store by you and plant it in the fallow earth and it shall prosper. They shall take up the root preserved by you and plant it in their hearts and Zion shall grow up again in the land.

58Wherefore, I do not praise you out of reason. I observe your doing and foreknow the good that the Lord shall do with it. Do but continue in it, Nem, for in this is your happiness now, but also out of your doings shall the Remnant of the House of Israel set in order the House of God and renew the stewardship. And in that day the just shall receive their stewardship not by the dictate of any man, but by the voice of the Lord and their surplus shall they render up to the poor of their own and without commandment.

59Yea, they shall read of your works in days far sundered from you. And some shall scorn them because they did not flow unto them from out of the mouths of their shepherds, whom they have justified. Behold, for no greater sin than to have come from out of the dust and to be delivered by one other than their own prophets, many shall turn the heal from your words.

60And again behold, many shall spurn your works because they contradict that which they hold by their own knowledge to be true. The writings and record of your days shall come to them in a time when their wise men shall declare that such things could never have happened.

61And yet, in the midst of this turmoil over man’s knowledge and the strength of the arm of the flesh, some few will read them with pure intent. These are they who will subject your records unto the Holy Ghost to discern what portion of them shall be useful unto them in their times. Behold, and it shall happen that, because of the curious work of the Lord in the last days, these few shall have flowing through them the blood of Lehi and they shall be a Remnant of the House of Israel, though they shall also be of Gentile lineage.

62This is the fullness of the Gentiles and the fullness of the Jews. These shall not be daunted by the ridicule of their neighbors. Nay, nor shall they be swayed by the doctrines and sciences of men. Nor even shall they be turned away by the heel of their shepherds, who shall persecute them. But they, being firm in the faith of their fathers, shall read your words and shall subject them to the confirmation of the Holy Spirit of Promise.

63Then shall this record become an ensign unto them. They shall take wisdom from it, and also they shall be encouraged. For, with what they learn in the pages that shall be translated by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, they shall come out of Babylon and take not up her unclean thing anymore. They shall withstand the buffetings of the world and the jeering of the rabble mob and they shall lift up an emblem of peace and of charity to all the world.

64And the wisdom of the wise shall conspire against them. For, the wise men shall have already determined by the application of all their knowledge and science, that your people could not have lived at all, let alone record your doings on plates of metal. But this shall not sway the Remnant left in the land in the last days. They shall already know that man’s knowledge is weak and his wisdom and science is not steady.

65And harshness and persecution shall not return the faith of the people to the shepherds who use it to extort such faithfulness. Nay, evil speaking of the Lord’s Anointed shall turn many from exploring your doings, but not all. There shall be some who retain a knowledge and a witness more sure than that which is conveyed to them from the mouths of such shepherds. These are they who shall remember to prove all things by the power of the Holy Ghost. Yea, these are they who shall not be separated from God, but shall exercise their right to the wisdom and the mysteries of godliness.

66And they shall be Heirs with Christ in the Kingdom of God, for they shall not deny the Holy Ghost, but shall seek His confirmation of all things. These are they unto whom the Lord shall extend His almighty hand once again and they shall walk in His dignity. Yea, they shall see Him face to face, as their ancestors did. Through them shall the Lord once again order His house and theirs shall be the victory and the reward of heaven.

67Yea, you may rejoice in your posterity in the last days, for they shall again establish Zion in this land. They shall do it in their hearts and they shall teach their children the ways of the Lord in their homes. Then shall their children combine together to do the Lord’s work and none shall separate them again. Yea, there shall be no division in the House of the Lord when they shall cast off the yoke of bondage and raise up a Zion again.