Moroni Rallies with Title of Liberty

Event 109

Reference: Alma 46:11-41

And now it came to pass that when Moroni, who was thechief commander of the armies of the Nephites, had heardof these dissensions, he was angry with Amalickiah.MormonNephite landsnear land ofZarahemla73 B.C.12 And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took apiece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God,our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, andour children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole. 13And he fastened on his head-plate, and his breastplate, andhis shields, and girded on his armor about his loins; and hetook the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat,(and he called it the title of liberty) and he bowed himself tothe earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for theblessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long asthere should a band of Christians remain to possess the land— 14 For thus were all the true believers of Christ, whobelonged to the church of God, called by those who did notbelong to the church. 15 And those who did belong to thechurch were faithful; yea, all those who were true believersin Christ took upon them, gladly, the name of Christ, orChristians as they were called, because of their belief inChrist who should come. 16 And therefore, at this time,Moroni prayed that the cause of the Christians, and thefreedom of the land might be favored.17 And it came to pass that when he had poured out his soulto God, he named all the land which was south of the landDesolation, yea, and in fine, all the land, both on the northand on the south—A chosen land, and the land of liberty. 18And he said:Surely God shall not suffer that we, who are despised because wetake upon us the name of Christ, shall be trodden down anddestroyed, until we bring it upon us by our own transgressions.Moroni19 And when Moroni had said these words, he went forthamong the people, waving the rent part of his garment inthe air, that all might see the writing which he had writtenupon the rent part, and crying with a loud voice, saying:Mormon20 Behold, whosoever will maintain this title upon the land, letthem come forth in the strength of the Lord, and enter into acovenant that they will maintain their rights, and their religion,that the Lord God may bless them.Moroni 21 And it came to pass that when Moroni had proclaimedthese words, behold, the people came running together withtheir armor girded about their loins, rending their garmentsin token, or as a covenant, that they would not forsake theLord their God; or, in other words, if they should transgressthe commandments of God, or fall into transgression, andbe ashamed to take upon them the name of Christ, the Lordshould rend them even as they had rent their garments. 22Now this was the covenant which they made, and they casttheir garments at the feet of Moroni, saying:MormonNephite landsnear land ofZarahemla73 B.C.We covenant with our God, that we shall be destroyed, even as ourbrethren in the land northward, if we shall fall into transgression;yea, he may cast us at the feet of our enemies, even as we havecast our garments at thy feet to be trodden under foot, if we shallfall into transgression.People23 Moroni said unto them:MormonBehold, we are a remnant of the seed of Jacob; yea, we are aremnant of the seed of Joseph, whose coat was rent by his brethreninto many pieces; yea, and now behold, let us remember to keepthe commandments of God, or our garments shall be rent by ourbrethren, and we be cast into prison, or be sold, or be slain. 24 Yea,let us preserve our liberty as a remnant of Joseph; yea, let usremember the words of Jacob, before his death, for behold, he sawthat a part of the remnant of the coat of Joseph was preserved andhad not decayed. And he said-MoroniEven as this remnant of garment of my son hath been preserved,so shall a remnant of the seed of my son be preserved by thehand of God, and be taken unto himself, while the remainder ofthe seed of Joseph shall perish, even as the remnant of hisgarment. 25 Now behold, this giveth my soul sorrow;nevertheless, my soul hath joy in my son, because of that part ofhis seed which shall be taken unto God.Jacob (Israel)26 Now behold, this was the language of Jacob. 27 And now whoknoweth but what the remnant of the seed of Joseph, which shallperish as his garment, are those who have dissented from us? Yea,and even it shall be ourselves if we do not stand fast in the faith ofChrist.Moroni28 And now it came to pass that when Moroni had said thesewords he went forth, and also sent forth in all the parts ofthe land where there were dissensions, and gatheredtogether all the people who were desirous to maintain theirliberty, to stand against Amalickiah and those who haddissented, who were called Amalickiahites.Mormon 29 And it came to pass that when Amalickiah saw that thepeople of Moroni were more numerous than theAmalickiahites—and he also saw that his people weredoubtful concerning the justice of the cause in which theyhad undertaken—therefore, fearing that he should not gainthe point, he took those of his people who would anddeparted into the land of Nephi. 30 Now Moroni thought itwas not expedient that the Lamanites should have any morestrength; therefore he thought to cut off the people ofAmalickiah, or to take them and bring them back, and putAmalickiah to death; yea, for he knew that he would stir upthe Lamanites to anger against them, and cause them tocome to battle against them; and this he knew thatAmalickiah would do that he might obtain his purposes. 31Therefore Moroni thought it was expedient that he shouldtake his armies, who had gathered themselves together, andarmed themselves, and entered into a covenant to keep thepeace—and it came to pass that he took his army andmarched out with his tents into the wilderness, to cut off thecourse of Amalickiah in the wilderness.MormonWilderness73 B.C.32 And it came to pass that he did according to his desires,and marched forth into the wilderness, and headed thearmies of Amalickiah.33 And it came to pass that Amalickiah fled with a smallnumber of his men, and the remainder were delivered upinto the hands of Moroni and were taken back into the landof Zarahemla. 34 Now, Moroni being a man who wasappointed by the chief judges and the voice of the people,therefore he had power according to his will with the armiesof the Nephites, to establish and to exercise authority overthem.Land ofZarahemla35 And it came to pass that whomsoever of theAmalickiahites that would not enter into a covenant tosupport the cause of freedom, that they might maintain afree government, he caused to be put to death; and therewere but few who denied the covenant of freedom.36 And it came to pass also, that he caused the title of libertyto be hoisted upon every tower which was in all the land,which was possessed by the Nephites; and thus Moroniplanted the standard of liberty among the Nephites.Nephite landsnear land ofZarahemla37 And they began to have peace again in the land; and thusthey did maintain peace in the land until nearly the end of the nineteenth year of the reign of the judges. 38 AndHelaman and the high priests did also maintain order in thechurch; yea, even for the space of four years did they havemuch peace and rejoicing in the church.MormonNephite landsnear land ofZarahemla73 B.C.39 And it came to pass that there were many who died,firmly believing that their souls were redeemed by the LordJesus Christ; thus they went out of the world rejoicing. 40And there were some who died with fevers, which at someseasons of the year were very frequent in the land—but notso much so with fevers, because of the excellent qualities ofthe many plants and roots which God had prepared toremove the cause of diseases, to which men were subject bythe nature of the climate— 41 But there were many whodied with old age; and those who died in the faith of Christare happy in him, as we must needs suppose.