THE UNBELIEF OF THE YOUTH OF ZARAHEMLA--THE YOUNGER ALMA AND
THE SONS OF MOSIAH--THEY ENCOURAGE THE PERSECUTIONS AGAINST
THE CHURCH--THEY ARE MET BY AN ANGEL--HIS MESSAGE--ALMA'S AWFUL
CONDITION--HIS VISION AND TESTIMONY--THE CHANGED LIFE OF THE YOUNG
MEN.
(MOSIAH CHAP. 26 AND 27.)
In the course of the years many of the rising generation gave no heed
to the word of God. These were mostly such as were too young to enter
into covenant with the Lord at the time that king Benjamin anointed
Mosiah to be his successor. Not only did they themselves reject
the doctrines of the atonement, the resurrection and other gospel
principles, but they led away many of the members of the church into
darkness and iniquity, and abused, reviled and persecuted those who
remained faithful to the cause of Christ. Neither the fear of the
civil nor of the divine law restrained them. Their course, and that
of those in the church who gave way to evil doing, gave much trouble,
and caused deep anxiety to Mosiah and Alma, the latter now the high
priest of the whole church. When sought in prayer, the Lord directed
what action should be taken with transgressors in the church, and after
due consultation with his priests, with Alma and others, Mosiah issued
a proclamation of equality to his people, forbidding all his subjects
to persecute, vex or abuse their fellows because of their faith or
religion, and announcing that in matters of conscience all men were
equal before the law, and all were the subjects of his protection.
Still it required a greater than an earthly king to bring to naught the
evil intents of the disbelievers, who were greatly encouraged in their
misdeeds by the fact that the king's four sons and one of the sons of
Alma were their leaders.
Frequent and fervent were the prayers offered by Mosiah and the elder
Alma in behalf of their rebellious sons, and those prayers prevailed
with Him who sits on heaven's eternal throne.
One day, as the younger Alma and his company were going about
persecuting the members of the church, an angel descended in a cloud
and stopped them in the way. When he spoke his voice was as thunder,
that caused the whole earth to tremble beneath their feet. Naturally
this manifestation of the power of God spread terror and dismay in
the hearts of those who witnessed it. They fell to the ground, and so
confused and terrified were they that they failed to understand the
words of the holy messenger. Arise, Alma, and stand forth, he cried;
and when Alma arose, his eyes were opened to see who stood before him.
Why persecutest thou the Church of God? he was asked, for the Lord hath
said, This is my Church, and I will establish it; and nothing shall
overthrow it, save it is the transgression of my people. If thou wilt
of thyself be destroyed, seek no more to destroy the Church of God.
Besides this, the angel spoke to him of his father's prayers in his
behalf, and told him that because of those prayers, he had been sent to
convince him of the power of God. The messenger also recounted to Alma
the captivity of his fathers in the lands of Helam and Nephi, and of
their miraculous deliverance therefrom. But Alma heard none of these
latter sayings, for the terrors of the first salutation had overpowered
him.
When the angel departed Alma was overcome, and dismayed and
soul-stricken, he sank to the ground. When his companions gathered
around him, they found he could not move, neither could he speak.
Outwardly he was dead to the world; but the torments of the damned had
taken hold of his soul, and in the most bitter pain and mental anguish
he lay racked with the remembrance of all his past sins. The thought
of standing before the bar of God to be judged for his iniquities
overwhelmed him with horror. He desired to become extinct both body and
soul without being brought before his Creator. Thus he continued for
three days and three nights to suffer the pains of hell, which, to his
racked conscience, must have seemed an eternity.
When his companions found that he could neither speak nor move, they
carried him to his father, and related all that had happened. Strange
as it must have seemed to them, the elder Alma's heart was filled with
joy and praise when he looked upon the body of his much-loved son, for
he realized it was God's power that had wrought all this, and that his
long-continued prayers had been answered. In his joy he gathered the
people to witness the mighty manifestation of the goodness and power
of Jehovah. He assembled the priests, sought their co-operation, and
unitedly, in God's own way, they prayed and fasted for the stricken
youth. For two days they continued their cries to heaven, at the end
of which time Alma stood upon his feet and spoke. He comforted them by
declaring, I have repented of my sins, and have been redeemed of the
Lord, behold I am born of the Spirit.
In later years, Alma, in relating to his son Helaman the details of
his conversion, thus describes the causes that led him to bear this
testimony. He says: Behold, I remembered also to have heard my father
prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a
Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world. Now as my mind caught
hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart, O Jesus, thou Son
of God, have mercy on me, who art in the gall of bitterness and art
encircled about by the everlasting chains of death. And now, behold,
when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was
harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more. And oh, what joy, and
what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with
joy as exceeding as was my pain; yea, I say unto you my son, there
could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as my pain. Yea, and
again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be
nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy; yea, methought I saw,
even as our father Lehi saw, God sitting upon his throne, surrounded
with numberless concourses of angels, in the attitude of singing and
praising their God; yea, my soul did long to be there.
From that time to the end of his mortal career, Alma labored without
ceasing to bring souls to Christ, and to guide his fellow-man in the
paths of salvation.
What effect had this heavenly visit upon the sons of Mosiah? A very
great one. From that moment they were changed men. As the voice of the
angel reached their astonished ears, the essence of divinity entered
their souls, they knew, they felt, they realized there was a God, and
that they had been fighting against him. The sense of their own utter
unworthiness filled their hearts; remorse and anguish reigned supreme
therein, and they condemned themselves as the vilest of sinners. By
and by the bitterness of their remorse was swallowed up in their faith
in the coming of Christ, and they determined by God's help, to their
utmost strength, to undo the evil that their previous course had
wrought. These resolutions they faithfully carried out. If they had
been energetic in their wrong-doing they were yet more active in their
works of restitution. They journeyed from city to city, from land to
land, and everywhere bore triumphant testimony of the incidents of
their miraculous conversion, and in no equivocal tones proclaimed the
glorious gospel message of love to God, salvation to mankind.