The Book of Mormon Part 61

Alma 12:34 34 Therefore, whosoever repenteth, and hardeneth not his heart, he shall have claim on mercy through mine Only Begotten Son, unto a remission of his sins; and these shall enter into my rest.

Alma 12:35 35 And whosoever will harden his heart and will do iniquity, behold, I swear in my wrath that he shall not enter into my rest.

Alma 12:36 36 And now, my brethren, behold I say unto you, that if ye will harden your hearts ye shall not enter into the rest of the Lord; therefore your iniquity provoketh him that he sendeth down his wrath upon you as in the first provocation, yea, according to his word in the last provocation as well as the first, to the everlasting destruction of your souls; therefore, according to his word, unto the last death, as well as the first.

Alma 12:37 37 And now, my brethren, seeing we know these things, and they are true, let us repent, and harden not our hearts, that we provoke not the Lord our G.o.d to pull down his wrath upon us in these his second commandments which he has given unto us; but let us enter into the rest of G.o.d, which is prepared according to his word.

Alma 13 Chapter 13

Alma 13:1 1 And again, my brethren, I would cite your minds forward to the time when the Lord G.o.d gave these commandments unto his children; and I would that ye should remember that the Lord G.o.d ordained priests, after his holy order, which was after the order of his Son, to teach these things unto the people.

Alma 13:2 2 And those priests were ordained after the order of his Son, in a manner that thereby the people might know in what manner to look forward to his Son for redemption.

Alma 13:3 3 And this is the manner after which they were ordained--being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of G.o.d, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling, yea, with that holy calling which was prepared with, and according to, a preparatory redemption for such.

Alma 13:4 4 And thus they have been called to this holy calling on account of their faith, while others would reject the Spirit of G.o.d on account of the hardness of their hearts and blindness of their minds, while, if it had not been for this they might have had as great privilege as their brethren.

Alma 13:5 5 Or in fine, in the first place they were on the same standing with their brethren; thus this holy calling being prepared from the foundation of the world for such as would not harden their hearts, being in and through the atonement of the Only Begotten Son, who was prepared--

Alma 13:6 6 And thus being called by this holy calling, and ordained unto the high priesthood of the holy order of G.o.d, to teach his commandments unto the children of men, that they also might enter into his rest--

Alma 13:7 7 This high priesthood being after the order of his Son, which order was from the foundation of the world; or in other words, being without beginning of days or end of years, being prepared from eternity to all eternity, according to his foreknowledge of all things--

Alma 13:8 8 Now they were ordained after this manner--being called with a holy calling, and ordained with a holy ordinance, and taking upon them the high priesthood of the holy order, which calling, and ordinance, and high priesthood, is without beginning or end--

Alma 13:9 9 Thus they become high priests forever, after the order of the Son, the Only Begotten of the Father, who is without beginning of days or end of years, who is full of grace, equity, and truth.

And thus it is. Amen.

Alma 13:10 10 Now, as I said concerning the holy order, or this high priesthood, there were many who were ordained and became high priests of G.o.d; and it was on account of their exceeding faith and repentance, and their righteousness before G.o.d, they choosing to repent and work righteousness rather than to perish;

Alma 13:11 11 Therefore they were called after this holy order, and were sanctified, and their garments were washed white through the blood of the Lamb.

Alma 13:12 12 Now they, after being sanctified by the Holy Ghost, having their garments made white, being pure and spotless before G.o.d, could not look upon sin save it were with abhorrence; and there were many, exceedingly great many, who were made pure and entered into the rest of the Lord their G.o.d.

Alma 13:13 13 And now, my brethren, I would that ye should humble yourselves before G.o.d, and bring forth fruit meet for repentance, that ye may also enter into that rest.

Alma 13:14 14 Yea, humble yourselves even as the people in the days of Melchizedek, who was also a high priest after this same order which I have spoken, who also took upon him the high priesthood forever.

Alma 13:15 15 And it was this same Melchizedek to whom Abraham paid t.i.thes; yea, even our father Abraham paid t.i.thes of one-tenth part of all he possessed.

Alma 13:16 16 Now these ordinances were given after this manner, that thereby the people might look forward on the Son of G.o.d, it being a type of his order, or it being his order, and this that they might look forward to him for a remission of their sins, that they might enter into the rest of the Lord.

Alma 13:17 17 Now this Melchizedek was a king over the land of Salem; and his people had waxed strong in iniquity and abomination; yea, they had all gone astray; they were full of all manner of wickedness;

Alma 13:18 18 But Melchizedek having exercised mighty faith, and received the office of the high priesthood according to the holy order of G.o.d, did preach repentance unto his people. And behold, they did repent; and Melchizedek did establish peace in the land in his days; therefore he was called the prince of peace, for he was the king of Salem; and he did reign under his father.

Alma 13:19 19 Now, there were many before him, and also there were many afterwards, but none were greater; therefore, of him they have more particularly made mention.

Alma 13:20 20 Now I need not rehea.r.s.e the matter; what I have said may suffice. Behold, the scriptures are before you; if ye will wrest them it shall be to your own destruction.

Alma 13:21 21 And now it came to pa.s.s that when Alma had said these words unto them, he stretched forth his hand unto them and cried with a mighty voice, saying: Now is the time to repent, for the day of salvation draweth nigh;

Alma 13:22 22 Yea, and the voice of the Lord, by the mouth of angels, doth declare it unto all nations; yea, doth declare it, that they may have glad tidings of great joy; yea, and he doth sound these glad tidings among all his people, yea, even to them that are scattered abroad upon the face of the earth; wherefore they have come unto us.

Alma 13:23 23 And they are made known unto us in plain terms, that we may understand, that we cannot err; and this because of our being wanderers in a strange land; therefore, we are thus highly favored, for we have these glad tidings declared unto us in all parts of our vineyard.

Alma 13:24 24 For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory.

Alma 13:25 25 And now we only wait to hear the joyful news declared unto us by the mouth of angels, of his coming; for the time cometh, we know not how soon. Would to G.o.d that it might be in my day; but let it be sooner or later, in it I will rejoice.

Alma 13:26 26 And it shall be made known unto just and holy men, by the mouth of angels, at the time of his coming, that the words of our fathers may be fulfilled, according to that which they have spoken concerning him, which was according to the spirit of prophecy which was in them.

Alma 13:27 27 And now, my brethren, I wish from the inmost part of my heart, yea, with great anxiety even unto pain, that ye would hearken unto my words, and cast off your sins, and not procrastinate the day of your repentance;

Alma 13:28 28 But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually, that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be led by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering;

Alma 13:29 29 Having faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the love of G.o.d always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his rest.

Alma 13:30 30 And may the Lord grant unto you repentance, that ye may not bring down his wrath upon you, that ye may not be bound down by the chains of h.e.l.l, that ye may not suffer the second death.

Alma 13:31 31 And Alma spake many more words unto the people, which are not written in this book.

Alma 14 Chapter 14

Alma 14:1 1 And it came to pa.s.s after he had made an end of speaking unto the people many of them did believe on his words, and began to repent, and to search the scriptures.

Alma 14:2 2 But the more part of them were desirous that they might destroy Alma and Amulek; for they were angry with Alma, because of the plainness of his words unto Zeezrom; and they also said that Amulek had lied unto them, and had reviled against their law and also against their lawyers and judges.

Alma 14:3 3 And they were also angry with Alma and Amulek; and because they had testified so plainly against their wickedness, they sought to put them away privily.

Alma 14:4 4 But it came to pa.s.s that they did not; but they took them and bound them with strong cords, and took them before the chief judge of the land.

Alma 14:5 5 And the people went forth and witnessed against them--testifying that they had reviled against the law, and their lawyers and judges of the land, and also of all the people that were in the land; and also testified that there was but one G.o.d, and that he should send his Son among the people, but he should not save them; and many such things did the people testify against Alma and Amulek. Now this was done before the chief judge of the land.

Alma 14:6 6 And it came to pa.s.s that Zeezrom was astonished at the words which had been spoken; and he also knew concerning the blindness of the minds, which he had caused among the people by his lying words; and his soul began to be harrowed up under a consciousness of his own guilt; yea, he began to be encircled about by the pains of h.e.l.l.

Alma 14:7 7 And it came to pa.s.s that he began to cry unto the people, saying: Behold, I am guilty, and these men are spotless before G.o.d. And he began to plead for them from that time forth; but they reviled him, saying: Art thou also possessed with the devil?

And they spit upon him, and cast him out from among them, and also all those who believed in the words which had been spoken by Alma and Amulek; and they cast them out, and sent men to cast stones at them.

Alma 14:8 8 And they brought their wives and children together, and whosoever believed or had been taught to believe in the word of G.o.d they caused that they should be cast into the fire, and they also brought forth their records which contained the holy scriptures, and cast them into the fire also, that they might be burned and destroyed by fire.

Alma 14:9 9 And it came to pa.s.s that they took Alma and Amulek, and carried them forth to the place of martyrdom, that they might witness the destruction of those who were consumed by fire.

Alma 14:10 10 And when Amulek saw the pains of the women and children who were consuming in the fire, he also was pained; and he said unto Alma: How can we witness this awful scene? Therefore let us stretch forth our hands, and exercise the power of G.o.d which is in us, and save them from the flames.

Alma 14:11 11 But Alma said unto him: The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory; and he doth suffer that they may do this thing, or that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that the judgments which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just; and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them, yea, and cry mightily against them at the last day.

Alma 14:12 12 Now Amulek said unto Alma: Behold, perhaps they will burn us also.