In burying their swords deep in the earth as a witness to God and all men that they never again would shed the blood of their fellowmen, the Anti-Nephi-Lehites willingly deprived themselves of all means whereby to wage combat; they felt that therein they had offered a sacrifice of righteousness which would prove their integrity to the covenants they had made when they entered God’s Kingdom. They regarded all men as being brothers, and God the Father of all. In Christ they now lived, and in Christ, they resolved, they would die. Rather than slay a brother, they determined to “give up their own lives,” and instead of them taking from him, they would impart of their own substance that he, too, might feel the strength and power of their newly found faith. They also saw, in retrospect, their lives wherein indolence had returned them only misery and filth. They now resolved that henceforward they would eat the fruits of their own labor, and that no more would idleness rob them of its just rewards.
They Took Their Swords … and Did Bury Them Deep in the Earth
All the king’s converted subjects heard his plan to bury their implements of war, and also saw with their own eyes, his determination to stand aloof from the threatened struggle. With one accord, and together, “they took their swords, and all the weapons which were used for the shedding of man’s blood, and they did bury them deep in the earth.”
In the historical portions of the Book of Mormon, there are two outstanding features that deserve special study. One is the determination of the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi not to defend themselves with arms against the attacking Lamanites, but rather to meet death as martyrs for the cause of peace. The other is the long era of millennial harmony that prevailed among the people here after the appearance of our Lord and the establishment of His Church.
Concerning the first of these features, the facts of this self-sacrificing resolution in which the Christian Saints of Anti-Nephi-Lehi entered are recorded in the preceding verses now under perusal.
The evident lesson of this remarkable historical incident is this, that the Doctrine of Non-resistance, when carried out in practice, even in the face of death, is a conquering, regenerating, and irresistible, force. It is a doctrine which our Lord and His Apostles proclaimed.
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh of thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. (Matthew 5:38-42.)
Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:17-21.)
It is all the more remarkable to find this distinctively Christian doctrine set forth so forcibly and clearly in the Book of Mormon. At the time when this sacred volume was published in 1830, there were very few advocates of the cause of the Prince of Peace in the world, and it is very unlikely that the youthful Prophet Joseph, in his rural home, had even heard of such a doctrine as “disarmed patriotism.” If he had heard of the stand taken by the Quakers, he had heard it denounced as an error of one of the sects, all of whom had gone astray, and not as something pleasing in the sight of God. It is quite certain that he, at that time, knew nothing of the views of Erasmus, of Grotius, of Immanuel Kant, or Henry IV, on peace and arbitration, and as for peace societies, they were unknown at that time. The Prophet Joseph could not have invented the story in Alma.
And yet, it is a natural, necessary part of the narrative. The Book of Mormon would not have contained “the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ” if this part of it had been absent, for the problem of which it suggests the solution, is one inseparably connected with the salvation of the world through the Gospel. 1
An Indian Peace Society. Is there in Indian history any evidence that the American aborigines ever were peacefully disposed, as the Anti-Nephi-Lehis are represented to have been? is a question both interesting and important. Were not the Indians always and everywhere a cruel, bloodthirsty race?
For a striking answer to that question, let us turn to a page of the history of the Iroquois.
At the time of the first white men’s explorations of the country, the Iroquois inhabited the shores of the St. Lawrence River in the vicinity of the present sites of Quebec and Montreal, and the state of New York, except the lower Hudson Valley. They were known as the “Five Nations.” The Cherokees, the Hurons or Wyandots, the Mohawks, the Neutral Nation, the Senecas, the Susquehannas and the Tuscaroras belonged to this famous stock, which, according to Dr. Daniel G. Brinton, is not surpassed, in physical qualities, by any in America, while, at the same time, it stands very high intellectually.
In the 16th Century, five tribes of Iroquois Indians formed a league for the purpose of putting an end to bloodshed and establishing lasting peace on the basis of justice and righteousness. 2 Where did that idea have its root, if not in the traditions of their fathers?
The chief actors in this drama. Three men and one woman were the leading actors in the events that culminated in the attempted league for peace. They were Deganawida, Hiawatha, Djigonsasen, and Atotarho. Much of what is known of these characters is myth, but the historical facts are clear.
The legend of Deganawida tells that his birth was announced to his grandmother in dreams and visions and attended by many wonders. But, as the old woman had been told in a dream that the child when grown up would destroy the nation, it was decided to have him done away with at birth. He was, therefore, thrust into the water of a frozen stream and left to perish. But the next morning, the mother and grandmother found the child unharmed between them. The attempt to destroy the child was repeated, but without avail. He was then permitted to live.
When grown up, he informed the women that he must leave them, because he had a great mission to perform in the lands south of the Great Lakes. So he left and became a prophet, a statesman and a lawmaker
The Hiawatha of this narrative was, according to one tradition, a cannibal. One day he had brought home a human corpse for food, but was struck with the horrible enormity of the habit. Deganawida had climbed to the top of the lodge and was peering through the smoke hole. His face was reflected in the pot, and when Hiawatha saw those noble features, he was struck with remorse. Deganawida then descended, went to meet him, and preached his message of peace and righteousness to him. Hiawatha became a loyal and enthusiastic disciple of Deganawida. He undertook several important missions and labored with great success.
Djigonsasen was chieftainess of the Neutral nation (or tribe), which was then very powerful and warlike. She was the first convert to the doctrine of peace of Deganawida, and became a powerful help to his remarkable cause.
Atotarho (also spelled Watototarho) is described as a wizard and a sorcerer, and an Onondaga chief, who was feared far and near. He became the bitter opponent of Deganawida and Hiawatha. He is said to have murdered Hiawatha’s children.
But, thanks to the efforts of Deganawida, Hiawatha, and Djigonsasen, the league was formed. It was a peaceful revolution in the methods, the scope, the form, and the purpose of the governments of the peoples that joined, which might have had great future possibilities.
The description of the construction and scope of this remarkable organization is best given in Mr. Hewitt’s own words:
The dominant motive for the establishment of the League of the Five Iroquois Tribes was the impelling necessity to stop the shedding of human blood by violence through the making and ratifying of a universal peace by all the known tribes of men, to safeguard human life and health and welfare. Moreover, it was intended to be a type of model of government for all tribes alien to the Iroquois. To meet this pressing need for a durable universal peace these reformers proposed and advocated a constitutional form of government as the most effective in the attainment of so desirable an end.
The founders of the league, therefore, proposed and expounded as the requisite basis of all good government three broad “double” doctrines or principles. The names of these principles in the native tongues vary dialectically, but the three notable terms expressed in Onondaga mean: First (a) sanity of mind and the health of the body; and (b) peace between individuals and between organized bodies or groups of persons; second (a) righteousness in conduct and its advocacy in thought and in speech; and (b) equity or justice, the adjustment of rights and obligations; third (a) physical strength or power, as military force or civil authority; and (b) the orenda or magic power of the people or of their institutions and rituals, having mythic and religious implications. Six principles in all. The constructive results of the control and guidance of human thinking and conduct in the private, the public, and the foreign relations of the peoples so leagued by these six principles, the reformers maintained, are the establishment and the conservation of what is reverently called the Great Commonwealth, the Law of Equity and Righteousness and Well-being, of all known men. It is thus seen that the mental grasp and outlook of these prophet-statesmen and stateswomen of the Iroquois looked out beyond the limits of tribal boundaries to a vast sisterhood and brotherhood of all the tribes of men, dwelling in harmony and happiness. This was a notable vision for the Stone Age of America.
Some of the practical measures that were put in force were the checking of murder and bloodshed in the ferocious blood-feud by the legal tender of the prescribed price of the life of a man or a woman—the tender by the homicide and his clan for accidentally killing such a person was 20 strings of wampum, 10 for the dead man and 10 for the forfeited life of the homicide; but if the dead person were a woman, the legal tender was 30 strings of wampum, because the value of a woman’s life to the community was regarded as greater that of a man. And Cannibalism, or the eating of human flesh, was legally prohibited. Even Hiawatha foreswore this abominable practice before taking up the work of forming the league.
The institution of the condoling and installation council was important and most essential to the maintenance of the integrity of their state, for the ordinances of the league constitution required that the number of the chiefs in the federal council should be kept intact. So to the orenda, or magic power, believed to emanate and flow from the words, the chants and songs, and the acts of this council, did the statesmen and the ancients of the Iroquois people look for the conservation of their political integrity and for the promotion of their welfare.
So potent and terrible was the orenda of the ritual of the mourning installation council’ regarded, that it was thought imperative to hold this council only during the autumn or winter months. Since its orenda dealt solely with the effects of death and with the restoration and preservation of the living from death, it was believed that it would be ruinous and destructive to the growing seeds, plants, and fruits, were this council held during the days of birth and growth in spring and in summer. To overcome the power of death, to repair his destructive work, and to restore to its normal potency the orenda or magic power of the stricken father side or mother side of the league and so making the entire league whole, were some of its motives. 3
In eulogizing their completed labors the founders of the league represented and described it as a great human tree of flesh and blood, noted for size and length of leaf, which was also represented as being set up on a great white mat—that is to say, on a broad foundation of peace, and whose top pierced the visible sky. It was conceived as having four great white roots composed of living men and women, extending respectively eastward, southward, westward, and northward, among the tribes of men who were urgently invited to unite with the league by laying their heads on the great root nearest to them. It was further declared that should some enemy of this great tree of flesh and blood approach it and should drive his hatchet into one of the roots, blood indeed would flow from the wound, but it was said further that this strange tree through its orenda would cause that assailant to vomit blood before he could escape very far. In certain laws the federal chiefs are denominated standing trees, who as essential components of the great tree of the league are absorbed in it symbolically, and who are thus said to have one head, one heart, one mind, one blood, and one dish of food.
The spirit of Indian culture. This Iroquois peace league was an embodiment of the highest Indian culture which was to be found all over the American Continents before it was quenched by the European invasions. Had this not been so, there would have been no conquest of Mexico by Cortez, and no overthrow of the Incas by the Pizarros. Even the terrible Indians who inhabited Tuzulutan, the Land of War, north of Guatemala and bordering on Yucatan, were conquered without bloodshed by the missionaries under Las Cases, who came to them with the story of the life and death of Christ, both in prose and in poetry.
In the history of the Jews there is recorded an incident that in many ways resembles the one here that Alma committed to writing: "It was on the fifteenth day of the month of Kislev, that the messengers of King Antiochus set up an idol on the altar of God, and had incense burnt in its honor. And they gave order that the people of Judea should forsake the Law and the Covenant, profane the Sabbath and pollute the Sanctuary. And many chose rather to die than to forsake the Holy Covenant. And the king’s officers came to the City of Modin, and said to Mattathias, the son of John, the son of Simon the Hasmonean, a priest of the sons of Joarib who dwelt in Modin: Thou art a great man and strengthened with sons and brethren in this city. Come, then and fulfill the king’s command as all the Heathen have done, and the men of Judah and they that remained in Jerusalem. And thou shalt be in the number of the king’s friends. But Mattathias answered and spake with a loud voice: Though all the nations that are under the king’s dominion obey him and fall away each from the religion of his fathers, yet will I and my sons and my brethren walk in the Covenant of our fathers. God forbid that we should forsake the Law to depart from our faith either to the right or the left. And when one of the Jews came in the sight of all to sacrifice to the idol, Mattathias was inflamed with zeal, neither could he forbear to show his anger, and he slew him, and the city king’s officer, and the altar he pulled down. And Matthias cried throughout the city with a loud voice saying: Whosoever is zealous of the Law and maintaineth the Covenant, let him follow me. So he and his sons fled into the mountains, and they went about pulling down the Heathen altars, and they rescued the Law out of the hands of the Gentiles.
"And the days of Mattathias drew near that he should die and he said to his sons: Be ye zealous for the Law and give your lives for the Covenant of your fathers. Remember what your fathers did in their generations. Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation, and it was accounted to him for righteousness? Phineas, our father, for that he was zealous exceedingly, obtained the covenant of an everlasting Priesthood. David, for being faithful, inherited the throne of a kingdom for ever and ever. Throughout all the ages none that put their trust in God were overcome. Therefore be strong, my sons, and show yourselves men in behalf of the Law; for therein shall ye obtain glory. And he blessed them and was gathered to his fathers.
“Then Judah, called Maccabee, rose up in his stead, and all his brethren aided him, and they fought with gladness the battle of Israel. He battled like a lion and the lawless shrunk for fear of him. He cheered Jacob by his mighty acts, and his memorial is blessed forever. And when all the people feared and trembled at the sight of the great number of the enemy, and said: What? Shall we be able, being a small company, to fight against so great and so strong a multitude? Judah answered: With the God of Heaven it is all one to save many or a few. And all the people shall know that there is One who redeemeth and saveth Israel. And Judah led them into battle, and behold the hosts of the enemy were discomfited before him. And Israel had a great deliverance. And they sang songs of thanksgiving, and praised the Lord of Heaven for His goodness, because His mercy endureth forever.” (From I Maccabees)
It may be argued that the followers of Judah used arms to fight their battles, and upon those arms rested victory. On the other hand, the Anti-Nephi-Lehites were imbued with the Spirit of Christ, that was their only weapon, and in it was found God’s most precious gift, Peace