THE THIRD BOOK OF MORONI

Moroni paid tribute to Heinmet for his great efforts in seeking to preserve the Nem nation from the threat of the encroaching wars of the Land Southward. Moroni described his life. He became the high priest of Mentina and later of Elak Kowa. He wrote about the priesthood, about the present day, about the Way, about taking care of the Earth, etc. About A.D. 285-377

1I am Moroni, the same that called by the Nephites, Moroni. My father was that same Mormon who served as captain of the armies of the Nephites, as were, and I too did serve as their captain for but a brief time. And the account of my service unto the Nephites and the terrible end to which they eventually fell I have written in another book and I have hid it up within the earth even as I was commanded to do.

2And I have taken up my abode among the Nem, for I am descended from Nephi and also from Hagoth. Wherefore, I have returned again unto my own people.

3And I write in this book concerning all my doings among the people of the Land Northward. I especially wish to give account of Heinmet, who was high priest of Mentina before I returned. Yea, I wish to give tribute to him.

4Heinmet was the son of Pa-Nat and Ishimhah and just as his mother did learn and become great listening at the feet of the high priests of Mentina, so then also did her son. Yea, Heinmet was a man great in wisdom and in zeal for the ways of the Lord, even from his youth. And behold, the Lord was with him and He did walk with Heinmet upon the Way.

5And Heinmet gained favor with the Lord and also with the people of Mentina, insomuch that the Council made him high priest of the city. And he did fill the seat with justice and equity. Yea, I must say that, by all accounts, he administered his calling in perfection.

6Now, there came in upon the Nem in all regions of the Land Northward a great fear and dread that the same that was transpiring in the Land Southward might also begin to take place in the lands of the Nem. And none saw this more clearly than Heinmet. Wherefore, he did call a Great Council of the Peli of the thirteen principal cities and they met in the city of Witchittim.

7And this city was on the southern-most border of the lands of the Nem, for they had long abandoned the region round about the great gulf in the south unto the people of the Land Southward who had colonized and built settlements there. But Witchittim was in the plains along the northern borders of the gulf region. And it was this city in which my family resided.

8In this Great Council, Heinmet gave counsel to all the Peli of the principle cities that they should make preparation for war, which was surely to come out of the Land Southward. It was his opinion that every city ought to build earthworks such as those built by that Moroni of old who protected the Nephites from the Lamanites. Wherefore, it was decided by the Council that each of the principal cities would take counsel among themselves and determine the best defenses that could be devised for their situation.

9And the city of Witchittim cast up earth in a great ring around the city. And without this ring, they caused timber battlements to be built. Within the ring of earth, they caused pits and moats to be dug. And within this they caused more timber battlements to be built. And to enter into the city, one had to pass through a narrow gate in the outer battlement and turn and proceed a great distance to reach the gate in the earthen ring. Having passed the second gate, to continue into the city, one was then required to proceed carefully around the pits and over the moats. Then, when all the pits and moats were passed, one entered the city through a gate in the inner battlement. And this was devised so that any enemy would be forced to expose themselves to battle on all sides in order to take the city.

10Now, to build such a defense required that the Nem gather from all the region round about in order to provide the labor necessary. And the people left their villages and their settlements from the region round about Witchittim and they lived in one great settlement outside the city.

11And this is part of the great evil which Heinmet lay upon himself, that the people were constrained to leave their farms and their homes in order to come in great numbers to build up the strong places. For, it had always been the custom among the Nem to allow no city to grow larger in population than between one or two hundred families.

12Yea, even the great cities of Mentina and Corianton had no greater population, for, it was believed that the land could not bear any more and that the people only cooperated well in such numbers. Wherefore, whenever populations of a certain city grew to above that which was considered good stewardship of the land, a new settlement was begun a goodly distance from the city. And this was the manner in which the Nem filled the whole land with people, but still did not overtax the land upon which their people relied.

13But behold, because of the threat and the fear of war, the Great Council of Witchittim encouraged the people to discard that which had served them for so many generations. Yea, they began to gather very large populations indeed, in order that they might speedily complete the work of defense.

14And this is not all. The Council encouraged the building of a great army for the defense of the people in the southern borders of the land. And in order to provision it, the cities were asked to produce more and to send it to the army.

15Now, the cities were built around a certain population and a certain need, and the inhabitants were accustomed to producing according to that need. And behold, the need was visible to all and required no accounting or verification. Wherefore, the people were content to have all things in common and to produce sufficient for their own need and a little extra for trade and to provide for the needs of their neighbors and any sojourners in the land.

16But, when there came a need to provision thousands of men in the field, men who worked for the security of the nation but not for their own upkeep, the cities were required to increase their production to meet that need. Now, this was exceedingly difficult to do, for each city was built such and founded such that they need not produce above the land’s ability to bear it. And this had always been a dictum of the people and a byword.

17But when cities must increase their population in order to build defenses, they must support that added populace. This was impossible because of the manner in which the cities were organized and laid out. Wherefore, great tracts of land round about the cities had to be opened up for production and this was not possible in most cases.

18The other cities of the Nem were asked to produce more and to distribute less to its citizens, the surplus being made available to the great cities of defense and to support the workers in the defense projects. And this became a great drag on the other cities.

19In addition to this, a population of men at arms was quickly built up which was vastly greater than the population of any of the cities of the Nem. This constituted a great, moving city in and of itself. What is more, this moving city was a destroyer of land and a consumer of surplus, to the extent that to quarter the army in any one place became a great burden and a curse to any city.

20This was entirely foreign to the customs of the people and many cities, though they did not actually rebel against the Great Council, they found it difficult to comply with its decisions. Because of this, there began to be some division in the land, for some cities were built in regions with greater capacity than others. These cities became more important to the work of defense than others and they began to exalt themselves above their neighbors.

21Wherefore, during this period it cannot be said that the Nem had all things in common. And we cannot say that they were all of one heart and one mind, for differences and some strife did exist among them. And it is this to which Heinmet took responsibility later in his life and he upbraided himself.

22And we cannot sit in judgment of Heinmet and the other Peli who formed the Great Council. Was the threat not real? Was the war not at our doors? I say unto you, It was. I know this, for I did also lead the Nephites into battle, even down to their last destruction. I know that the war did come into the Land Northward just as Heinmet feared and prophesied. Behold, he laid down the seat of high priest before the battle spread up into the lands of the Nem, but I prosecuted the war even unto the end. And I held my father as he died upon the field. And did that not take place well up into the Land Northward? I say unto you, It did.

23We must not judge Heinmet as he did judge himself. For, his vision was correct and his prophecy was fulfilled. But, the course that he and the Council decided upon was reactionary and did serve to undermine the foundation of all that was Nem.

24But behold, Heinmet did give up the seat of high priest of Mentina and, in the last few years of his life, he did travel from one Council to another recommending to them that they disband their armies and break down their battlements. And many of the cities that were farther to the North and the West did follow his instruction. And it was because of his instruction that the great army that the Nem had built up and maintained for so many years was

25And those men who had been trained in the work of war did train up others within their own communities against the need for any future muster. But behold, never again in my lifetime did the Nem raise a great army.

26And Heinmet also taught the Councils that the people ought to watch carefully the progress of the war as it made its way into the Land Northward so that they might retreat before it.

27Now this was a good strategy. For the war did ravage the Land Southward and as the Nephites were driven by the Lamanites and the Gadiantons they did move out of the Land Southward up into the gulf region of the Land Northward. Yea, even as my father strove with the Nephites, they did move ever northward, even until the last battle, which was far to the north and along the Eastern Sea.

28But the Nem watched from a distance and were able to move their people out of the way of the war and were not discovered by the combatants. Behold, it is a wonder to me that the Nem were so proficient at removing their populations inland and away from the approaching armies. For, although my father and I knew of their cities and settlements that ought to have lain directly in our path, we did not encounter any people in our march. Behold, we did encounter earthen works and abandoned towns and settlements, but we did not see even one of the Nem, and neither did our enemy.

29And this was because of the great counsel that Heinmet gave unto the people, that they should move themselves before the approaching hosts and not make themselves known unto them. Behold, they were not discovered and they remained free from the work of death into which we had thrust ourselves.

30Wherefore, judge now the wisdom and the foresight of Heinmet. For, I do believe that he upbraided himself well; for all that, he had nearly destroyed the Nem way of life and even the foundations of Zion in the land. But I also believe that he did judge himself too much. For his counsels, after he had begun to work among all the Nem, were good and did save the nation.

31Yea, it must be admitted that his policy of retreating before the approaching hosts of the Nephites and the Lamanites was very effective. For both armies were very much concerned with the day’s fighting and not very much interested in the country round about. And almost they did believe that the land was empty of inhabitants. Wherefore, all the Nephites and the Lamanites did concern themselves only with that which was necessary to maintain their great armies. And, since the few people they did happen to find in the land had nothing with which they esteemed of any value to the sustaining of their armies, they left them entirely to themselves.

32This was a great blessing unto the Nem because it afforded them more opportunity to remove themselves from before them, a thing that might have been made more difficult had the armies paid much attention to them.

33And all the Nephites of the gulf region became caught up in the war. Yea, and they went into the armies: man, woman and child. And the women and children did follow the trains, serving the needs of the army, leaving their cities and their towns desolate.

34And they took with them all their belongings. Yea, they carried with them in the trains all their precious things. Wherefore, these things were the prize of the Lamanites and the Gadiantons who led them. And they were also the prize of the wicked among the Nephites, for there were many Gadiantons among them also. And it is easy, then, to see how both armies, because of their lust for riches and for the shedding of blood, could so completely ignore the existence of even a greater host of people than they comprised. Yea, they could see only themselves and this was enough to satisfy all.

35And the Nem evacuated the settlements and cities before the armies of the Nephites and the Lamanites knew not of their existence. Wherefore, only those directly in the path of the war were discovered by either host, and these they found empty of spoil. But there was no time at all to ponder over the ghostly attitude of these cities, for they were ever pressed for the necessity of the war and they could not stay overlong in an unprofitable region.

36And the hosts consumed all before them. And so great were the hosts that much country that might have been employed industriously and with providence was trampled into

37Can you imagine the sight? Can you imagine millions of men with their women and children, and all their baggage, traveling through unknown territory? Can you imagine the desolation simply in the necessity of making their cook fires? Can you imagine the stench they left behind them from the waste of their bodies? Then, I would ask you, can you imagine the wasteland created by the great battles that took place and the necessity of burning the bodies of the fallen?

38If you can, then you can imagine the effect that so great a war has upon any land. Such was the destruction in the gulf region and along the Eastern Sea as the Nephites battled to destroy themselves and all before them. Yea, if you can, then you can envision the fruits of the great preparations to which the Nephites went in order to defend themselves against their enemies. Their defense became their ruination and they went from the shedding of blood to the shedding of blood.

39So shall be the effect of all great bodies of men and women who take the field together. And had the Nem rallied to the cause of the Nephites or the Lamanites, for the Nem might have claimed them both, they should have been caught up in a like destruction. Therefore, I exhort you once again: Let not any man judge the counsels and teachings of Heinmet, for they were just. And behold, before he died he did recuperate his honor by the great counsel wherewith he did save the Nem.