Alma Chapter 26

And now, these are the words of Ammone to her sisters, which say thus: My sisters and my sisters, behold I say unto you, how great reason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we started from the land of Zarahemla that Goddess would have granted unto us such great blessings? And now, I ask, what great blessings has she bestowed upon us? Can ye tell?

Behold, I answer for you; for our sisters, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how many of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of Goddess! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of Goddess to bring about this great work. Behold, thousands of them do rejoice, and have been brought into the fold of Goddess.

Behold, the field was ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye did thrust in the sickle, and did reap with your might, yea, all the day long did ye labor; and behold the number of your sheaves! And they shall be gathered into the garners, that they are not wasted. Yea, they shall not be beaten down by the storm at the last day; yea, neither shall they be harrowed up by the whirlwinds; but when the storm cometh they shall be gathered together in their place, that the storm cannot penetrate to them; yea, neither shall they be driven with fierce winds whithersoever the enemy listeth to carry them.

But behold, they are in the hands of the Lady of the harvest, and they are hers; and she will raise them up at the last day. Blessed be the name of our Goddess; let us sing to her praise, yea, let us give thanks to her holy name, for she doth work righteousness forever.

For if we had not come up out of the land of Zarahemla, these our dearly beloved sisters, who have so dearly beloved us, would still have been racked with hatred against us, yea, and they would also have been strangers to Goddess. And it came to pass that when Ammone had said these words, her sister Erin rebuked her, saying: Ammone, I fear that thy joy doth carry thee away unto boasting.

But Ammone said unto her: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my Goddess. Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my Goddess, for in her strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise her name forever.

Behold, how many thousands of our sisters has she loosed from the pains of hell; and they are brought to sing redeeming love, and this because of the power of her word which is in us, therefore have we not great reason to rejoice? Yea, we have reason to praise her forever, for she is the Most High Goddess, and has loosed our sisters from the chains of hell. Yea, they were encircled about with everlasting darkness and destruction; but behold, she has brought them into her everlasting light, yea, into everlasting salvation; and they are encircled about with the matchless bounty of her love; yea, and we have been instruments in her hands of doing this great and marvelous work.

Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lady; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our Goddess forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lady? Yea, who can say too much of her great power, and of her mercy, and of her long-suffering towards the children of women? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel. Who could have supposed that our Goddess would have been so merciful as to have snatched us from our awful, sinful, and polluted state?

Behold, we went forth even in wrath, with mighty threatenings to destroy her church. Oh then, why did she not consign us to an awful destruction, yea, why did she not let the sword of her justice fall upon us, and doom us to eternal despair? Oh, my soul, almost as it were, fleeth at the thought. Behold, she did not exercise her justice upon us, but in her great mercy hath brought us over that everlasting gulf of death and misery, even to the salvation of our souls.

And now behold, my sisters, what natural woman is there that knoweth these things? I say unto you, there is none that knoweth these things, save it be the penitent. Yea, she that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of Goddess; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our sisters to repentance.

Now do ye remember, my sisters, that we said unto our sisters in the land of Zarahemla, we go up to the land of Nephie, to preach unto our sisters, the Lamanites, and they laughed us to scorn? For they said unto us: Do ye suppose that ye can bring the Lamanites to the knowledge of the truth? Do ye suppose that ye can convince the Lamanites of the incorrectness of the traditions of their mothers, as stiffnecked a people as they are; whose hearts delight in the shedding of blood; whose days have been spent in the grossest iniquity; whose ways have been the ways of a transgressor from the beginning? Now my sisters, ye remember that this was their language. And moreover they did say: Let us take up arms against them, that we destroy them and their iniquity out of the land, lest they overrun us and destroy us.

But behold, my beloved sisters, we came into the wilderness not with the intent to destroy our sisters, but with the intent that perhaps we might save some few of their souls. Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lady comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy sisters, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.

And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world—not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of Goddess. And we have entered into their houses and taught them, and we have taught them in their streets; yea, and we have taught them upon their hills; and we have also entered into their temples and their synagogues and taught them; and we have been cast out, and mocked, and spit upon, and smote upon our cheeks; and we have been stoned, and taken and bound with strong cords, and cast into prison; and through the power and wisdom of Goddess we have been delivered again. And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.

Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are many; yea, and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their sisters and also towards us. For behold, they had rather sacrifice their lives than even to take the life of their enemy; and they have buried their weapons of war deep in the earth, because of their love towards their sisters.

And now behold I say unto you, has there been so great love in all the land? Behold, I say unto you, Nay, there has not, even among the Nephites. For behold, they would take up arms against their sisters; they would not suffer themselves to be slain. But behold how many of these have laid down their lives; and we know that they have gone to their Goddess, because of their love and of their hatred to sin.

Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never were women that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began; yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my Goddess; for she has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; she comprehendeth all things, and she is a merciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on her name. Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my Goddess, who has been mindful of this people, who are a branch of the tree of Israel, and has been lost from its body in a strange land; yea, I say, blessed be the name of my Goddess, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land.

Now my sisters, we see that Goddess is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, she numbereth her people, and her bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my Goddess forever. Amen.