And again:, Mmy brethren, I would cite your minds forward to the time whichen the Lord God gave these commandments unto his children; and I would that ye should remember that the Lord God ordained Ppriests, after his holy order, which was after the order of his Son, to teach these things unto the people;.
aAnd those Ppriests 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.
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 God, 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;.
aAnd thus they havinge been called to this holy calling on account of their faith, while others would reject the sSpirit of God 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.
Or in fine:, Iin 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 oOnly bBegotten Son, whicho was prepared;—
aAnd thus being called by this holy calling, and ordained unto the Hhigh Ppriesthood of the holy order of God, to teach his commandments unto the children of men, that they also might enter into his rest,—
tThis Hhigh Ppriesthood 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.—
Now they were ordained after this manner: B—being called with a holy calling, and ordained with a holy ordinance, and taking upon them the Hhigh Ppriesthood of the holy order, which calling, and ordinance, and Hhigh Ppriesthood, is without beginning or end;—
tThus they become Hhigh Ppriests forever, after the order of the Son of, the oOnly bBegotten of the Father, whicho is without beginning of days or end of years, whicho is full of grace, equity, and truth. And thus it is. Amen.
Now, as I said concerning the holy order, ofr this Hhigh Ppriesthood:, Tthere were many whicho were ordained and became Hhigh Ppriests of God; and it was on account of their exceeding faith and repentance, and their righteousness before God, they choosing to repent and work righteousness, rather than to perish;
tTherefore they were called after this holy order, and were sanctified, and their garments were washed white, through the blood of the Lamb.
Now they, after being sanctified by the Holy Ghost, having their garments made white, being pure and spotless before God, could not look upon sin, save it were with abhorrence; and there were many, exceedingly great many, whicho were made pure, and entered into the rest of the Lord their God.
And now, my brethren, I would that ye should humble yourselves before God, and bring forth fruit metet for repentance, that ye may also enter into that rest;.
yYea, humble yourselves even as the people in the days of Melchizedek, who was also a Hhigh Ppriest after this same order which I have spoken, who also took upon him the Hhigh Ppriesthood forever.
And it was this same Melchizedek to whom Abraham paid tithes; yea, even our father Abraham paid tithes of one -tenth part of all he possessed.
Now these ordinances were given after this manner, that thereby the people might look forward on the Son of God, 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.
Now this Melchizedek was a king over the land of Salem; and his people had waxed strong in iniquity and abominations; yea, they had all gone astray:; they were full of all manner of wickedness;
bBut Melchizedek having exercised mighty faith, and received the office of the Hhigh Ppriesthood, according to the holy order of God, 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 Pprince of Ppeace, for he was the king of Salem; and he did reign under his father.
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.
Now I need not rehearse the matter; what I have said, may suffice. Behold, the Sscriptures are before you; if ye will arwrest them, it shall be to your own destruction.
And now it came to pass 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;
yYea, 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.—
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.
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 for to receive his word, at the time of his coming in his glory.
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 God that it might be in my day; but let it be sooner or later, in it I will rejoice.
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 mightay be fulfilled, according to that which they have spoken concerning him, which was according to the spirit of prophecy which was in them.
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;
bBut 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 hHoly sSpirit, becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long -suffering;
hHaving faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the love of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day, and enter into his rest;.
aAnd 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 hell, that ye may not suffer the second death.
And it came to pass that Alma spake many more words unto the people, which are not written in this book.