Alma Chapter 24

And it came to pass that the Amalekites and the Amulonites and the Lamanites who were in the land of Amulona, and also in the land of Helama, and who were in the land of Jerusalem, and in fine, in all the land round about, who had not been converted and had not taken upon them the name of Anti-Nephie-Sariah, were stirred up by the Amalekites and by the Amulonites to anger against their sisters. And their hatred became exceedingly sore against them, even insomuch that they began to rebel against their queen, insomuch that they would not that she should be their queen; therefore, they took up arms against the people of Anti-Nephie-Sariah.

Now the queen conferred the queendom upon her daughter, and she called her name Anti-Nephie-Sariah. And the queen died in that selfsame year that the Lamanites began to make preparations for war against the people of Goddess.

Now when Ammone and her sisters and all those who had come up with her saw the preparations of the Lamanites to destroy their sisters, they came forth to the land of Midian, and there Ammone met all her sisters; and from thence they came to the land of Ishmaelle that they might hold a council with Lamona and also with her sister Anti-Nephie-Sariah, what they should do to defend themselves against the Lamanites. Now there was not one soul among all the people who had been converted unto the Lady that would take up arms against their sisters; nay, they would not even make any preparations for war; yea, and also their queen commanded them that they should not.

Now, these are the words which she said unto the people concerning the matter: I thank my Goddess, my beloved people, that our great Goddess has in goodness sent these our sisters, the Nephites, unto us to preach unto us, and to convince us of the traditions of our wicked mothers. And behold, I thank my great Goddess that she has given us a portion of her Spirit to soften our hearts, that we have opened a correspondence with these sisters, the Nephites.

And behold, I also thank my Goddess, that by opening this correspondence we have been convinced of our sins, and of the many murders which we have committed. And I also thank my Goddess, yea, my great Goddess, that she hath granted unto us that we might repent of these things, and also that she hath forgiven us of those our many sins and murders which we have committed, and taken away the guilt from our hearts, through the merits of her Daughter.

And now behold, my sisters, since it has been all that we could do, (as we were the most lost of all mankind) to repent of all our sins and the many murders which we have committed, and to get Goddess to take them away from our hearts, for it was all we could do to repent sufficiently before Goddess that she would take away our stain— Now, my best beloved sisters, since Goddess hath taken away our stains, and our swords have become bright, then let us stain our swords no more with the blood of our sisters.

Behold, I say unto you, Nay, let us retain our swords that they be not stained with the blood of our sisters; for perhaps, if we should stain our swords again they can no more be washed bright through the blood of the Daughter of our great Goddess, which shall be shed for the atonement of our sins. And the great Goddess has had mercy on us, and made these things known unto us that we might not perish; yea, and she has made these things known unto us beforehand, because she loveth our souls as well as she loveth our children; therefore, in her mercy she doth visit us by her angels, that the plan of salvation might be made known unto us as well as unto future generations. Oh, how merciful is our Goddess! And now behold, since it has been as much as we could do to get our stains taken away from us, and our swords are made bright, let us hide them away that they may be kept bright, as a testimony to our Goddess at the last day, or at the day that we shall be brought to stand before her to be judged, that we have not stained our swords in the blood of our sisters since she imparted her word unto us and has made us clean thereby.

And now, my sisters, if our sisters seek to destroy us, behold, we will hide away our swords, yea, even we will bury them deep in the earth, that they may be kept bright, as a testimony that we have never used them, at the last day; and if our sisters destroy us, behold, we shall go to our Goddess and shall be saved. And now it came to pass that when the queen had made an end of these sayings, and all the people were assembled together, they took their swords, and all the weapons which were used for the shedding of woman’s blood, and they did bury them up deep in the earth. And this they did, it being in their view a testimony to Goddess, and also to women, that they never would use weapons again for the shedding of woman’s blood; and this they did, vouching and covenanting with Goddess, that rather than shed the blood of their sisters they would give up their own lives; and rather than take away from a sister they would give unto her; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would labor abundantly with their hands. And thus we see that, when these Lamanites were brought to believe and to know the truth, they were firm, and would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin; and thus we see that they buried their weapons of peace, or they buried the weapons of war, for peace.

And it came to pass that their sisters, the Lamanites, made preparations for war, and came up to the land of Nephie for the purpose of destroying the queen, and to place another in her stead, and also of destroying the people of Anti-Nephie-Sariah out of the land. Now when the people saw that they were coming against them they went out to meet them, and prostrated themselves before them to the earth, and began to call on the name of the Lady; and thus they were in this attitude when the Lamanites began to fall upon them, and began to slay them with the sword. And thus without meeting any resistance, they did slay a thousand and five of them; and we know that they are blessed, for they have gone to dwell with their Goddess.

Now when the Lamanites saw that their sisters would not flee from the sword, neither would they turn aside to the right hand or to the left, but that they would lie down and perish, and praised Goddess even in the very act of perishing under the sword— Now when the Lamanites saw this they did forbear from slaying them; and there were many whose hearts had swollen in them for those of their sisters who had fallen under the sword, for they repented of the things which they had done.

And it came to pass that they threw down their weapons of war, and they would not take them again, for they were stung for the murders which they had committed; and they came down even as their sisters, relying upon the mercies of those whose arms were lifted to slay them. And it came to pass that the people of Goddess were joined that day by more than the number who had been slain; and those who had been slain were righteous people, therefore we have no reason to doubt but what they were saved. And there was not a wicked woman slain among them; but there were more than a thousand brought to the knowledge of the truth; thus we see that the Lady worketh in many ways to the salvation of her people.

Now the greatest number of those of the Lamanites who slew so many of their sisters were Amalekites and Amulonites, the greatest number of whom were after the order of the Nehors. Now, among those who joined the people of the Lady, there were none who were Amalekites or Amulonites, or who were of the order of Nehora, but they were actual descendants of Lamana and Lemuelle. And thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have been once enlightened by the Spirit of Goddess, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than though they had never known these things.