26:1 And now, these are the words of Ammon to his brethren, which say
thus: My brothers and my brethren, 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 God would have granted unto us such
great blessings?
26:2 And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can
ye tell?
26:3 Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, 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 God! And this is the
blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made
instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work.
26:4 Behold, thousands of them do rejoice, and have been brought into
the fold of God.
26:5 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.
26:6 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.
26:7 But behold, they are in the hands of the Lord of the harvest, and
they are his; and he will raise them up at the last day.
26:8 Blessed be the name of our God; let us sing to his praise, yea,
let us give thanks to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness
forever.
26:9 For if we had not come up out of the land of Zarahemla, these our
dearly beloved brethren, who have so dearly beloved us, would still
have been racked with hatred against us, yea, and they would also have
been strangers to God.
26:10 And it came to pass that when Ammon had said these words, his
brother Aaron rebuked him, saying: Ammon, I fear that thy joy doth
carry thee away unto boasting.
26:11 But Ammon said unto him: 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 God.
26:12 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 God, for
in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles
we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name
forever.
26:13 Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the
pains of hell; and they are brought to sing redeeming love, and this
because of the power of his word which is in us, therefore have we not
great reason to rejoice?
26:14 Yea, we have reason to praise him forever, for he is the Most
High God, and has loosed our brethren from the chains of hell.
26:15 Yea, they were encircled about with everlasting darkness and
destruction; but behold, he has brought them into his everlasting
light, yea, into everlasting salvation; and they are encircled about
with the matchless bounty of his love; yea, and we have been
instruments in his hands of doing this great and marvelous work.
26:16 Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we
will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever.
Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much
of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards
the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest
part which I feel.
26:17 Who could have supposed that our God would have been so merciful
as to have snatched us from our awful, sinful, and polluted state?
26:18 Behold, we went forth even in wrath, with mighty threatenings to
destroy his church.
26:19 Oh then, why did he not consign us to an awful destruction, yea,
why did he not let the sword of his justice fall upon us, and doom us
to eternal despair?
26:20 Oh, my soul, almost as it were, fleeth at the thought. Behold, he
did not exercise his justice upon us, but in his great mercy hath
brought us over that everlasting gulf of death and misery, even to the
salvation of our souls.
26:21 And now behold, my brethren, what natural man is there that
knoweth these things? I say unto you, there is none that knoweth these
things, save it be the penitent.
26:22 Yea, he 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 God; 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 brethren to repentance.
26:23 Now do ye remember, my brethren, that we said unto our brethren
in the land of Zarahemla, we go up to the land of Nephi, to preach unto
our brethren, the Lamanites, and they laughed us to scorn?
26:24 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
fathers, 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 brethren, ye remember that this was their language.
26:25 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.
26:26 But behold, my beloved brethren, we came into the wilderness not
with the intent to destroy our brethren, but with the intent that
perhaps we might save some few of their souls.
26:27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn
back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren,
the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will
give unto you success.
26:28 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 God.
26:29 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 God we have been delivered again.
26:30 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.
26:31 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
brethren and also towards us.
26:32 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 brethren.
26:33 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.
26:34 For behold, they would take up arms against their brethren; 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
God, because of their love and of their hatred to sin.
26:35 Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there
never were men 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
God; for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he
comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being, even unto
salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name.
26:36 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 God, 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 God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange
land.
26:37 Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people,
whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his
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 God forever.
Amen.