Men are called as high priests because of their exceeding faith and good works—They are to teach the commandments—Through righteousness they are sanctified and enter into the rest of the Lord—Melchizedek was one of these—Angels are declaring glad tidings throughout the land—They will reveal the actual coming of Christ. [About 82 B.C.]

 AND again, my brethren, I would cite your minds forward to the time when the Lord God gave these commandments unto his children; and I would that ye should remember that the Lord God ^aordained^• priests, after his holy order, which was after the order of his Son, to teach these things unto the people.

 And those priests were ordained after the ^aorder^• of his Son, in a ^bmanner^• 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 ^acalled^• and ^bprepared^• from the ^cfoundation^• of the world according to the ^dforeknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to ^echoose good or evil; therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great ^ffaith, are ^gcalled with a holy calling, yea, with that holy calling which was prepared with, and according to, a preparatory redemption for such.

 And thus they have been ^acalled^• to this holy calling on account of their faith, while others would reject the Spirit of God on account of the hardness of their hearts and ^bblindness of their minds, while, if it had not been for this they might have had as great ^cprivilege^• as their brethren.

 Or in fine, in the first place they were on the ^asame^• 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 Only Begotten Son, who was prepared—

 And thus being called by this holy calling, and ordained unto the high priesthood of the holy order of God, to teach his commandments unto the children of men, that they also might enter into his ^arest^•—

 This high priesthood being after the order of his Son, which order was from the foundation of the world; or in other words, being ^awithout^• beginning of days or end of years, being prepared from ^beternity to all eternity, according to his ^cforeknowledge of all things—

 Now they were ^aordained after this manner—being called with a holy calling, and ordained with a holy ordinance, and taking upon them the high priesthood of the holy order, which calling, and ordinance, and high priesthood, is without beginning or end—

 Thus they become ^ahigh priests forever, after the order of the Son, the Only Begotten of the Father, who is without beginning of days or end of years, who is full of ^bgrace^•, equity, and truth. And thus it is. Amen.

 Now, as I said concerning the holy order, or this ^ahigh^• priesthood, there were many who were ordained and became high priests of God; and it was on account of their exceeding ^bfaith and ^crepentance, and their righteousness before God, they choosing to repent and work righteousness rather than to perish;

 Therefore they were called after this holy order, and were ^asanctified^•, and their ^bgarments^• were washed white through the blood of the Lamb.

 Now they, after being ^asanctified^• by the ^bHoly Ghost, having their garments made white, being ^cpure and spotless before God, could not look upon ^dsin^• save it were with ^eabhorrence^•; and there were many, exceedingly great many, who 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 ^afruit^• meet for repentance, that ye may also enter into that rest.

 Yea, humble yourselves even as the people in the days of ^aMelchizedek^•, who was also a high priest after this same order which I have spoken, who also took upon him the high priesthood forever.

 And it was this same Melchizedek to whom Abraham paid ^atithes^•; yea, even our father Abraham paid tithes of one-tenth part of all he possessed.

 Now these ^aordinances^• were given after this ^bmanner^•, that thereby the people might look forward on the Son of God, it being a ^ctype 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 abomination; yea, they had all gone astray; they were full of all manner of wickedness;

 But Melchizedek having exercised mighty faith, and received the office of the high priesthood according to the ^aholy 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 prince of peace, for he was the king of Salem; and he did reign under his father.

 Now, there were ^amany^• before him, and also there were many afterwards, but ^bnone^• 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 ^ascriptures^• are before you; if ye will ^bwrest^• 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: ^aNow is the time to repent, for the day of salvation draweth nigh;

 Yea, and the voice of the Lord, by the ^amouth^• 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 ^aplain^• terms, that we may understand, that we cannot err; and this because of our being ^bwanderers^• 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, ^aangels^• 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 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 ^aknow^• 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 ^ajust^• and holy men, by the mouth of angels, at the time of his coming, that the words of our fathers may 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 ^awish^• from the inmost part of my heart, yea, with great ^banxiety^• even unto pain, that ye would hearken unto my words, and cast off your sins, and not ^cprocrastinate the day of your repentance;

 But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and ^awatch and pray continually, that ye may not be ^btempted^• above that which ye can bear, and thus be ^cled^• by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, ^dmeek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering;

 ^aHaving^• faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the ^blove^• of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his ^crest^•.

 And may the Lord grant unto you repentance, that ye may not bring down his wrath upon you, that ye may not be ^abound down by the chains of ^bhell, that ye may not suffer the second ^cdeath.

 And Alma spake many more words unto the people, which are not written in ^athis^• book.