Ammon glories in the Lord—The faithful are strengthened by the Lord and are given knowledge—By faith men may bring thousands of souls unto repentance—God has all power and comprehendeth all things. [Between 90 and 77 B.C.]

 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 ^astarted^• from the land of Zarahemla that God would have granted unto us such great blessings?

 And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell?

 Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how ^amany^• 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 ^binstruments^• in the hands of God to bring about this great work.

 Behold, ^athousands^• of them do rejoice, and have been brought into the fold of God.

 Behold, the ^afield^• was ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye did thrust in the ^bsickle^•, and did reap with your might, yea, all the day long did ye labor; and behold the number of your ^csheaves^•! 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 ^astorm^• 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 Lord of the ^aharvest, and they are his; and he will ^braise^• them up at the last day.

 ^aBlessed^• be the name of our God; let us ^bsing^• to his praise, yea, let us give ^cthanks to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever.

 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 ^ahatred^• against us, yea, and they would also have been ^bstrangers to God.

 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.

 But Ammon said unto him: I do not ^aboast^• in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my ^bjoy^• is full, yea, my heart is brim with ^cjoy, and I will rejoice in my God.

 Yea, I know that I am ^anothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will ^bnot^• boast of myself, but I will ^cboast^• of my God, for in his ^dstrength^• I can do all ^ethings^•; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

 Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of ^ahell; and they are brought to ^bsing^• redeeming love, and this because of the power of his word which is in us, therefore have we not great reason to rejoice?

 Yea, we have reason to praise him forever, for he is the Most High God, and has loosed our brethren from the ^achains^• of hell.

 Yea, they were encircled about with everlasting ^adarkness^• and destruction; but behold, he has brought them into his everlasting ^blight, 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.

 Therefore, let us ^aglory^•, yea, we will ^bglory^• 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 ^cmercy^•, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.

 Who could have supposed that our God would have been so merciful as to have snatched us from our awful, sinful, and ^apolluted state?

 Behold, we went forth even in wrath, with mighty threatenings to ^adestroy^• his church.

 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 ^adespair?

 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 ^agulf^• of death and misery, even to the salvation of our souls.

 And now behold, my brethren, what ^anatural man is there that knoweth these things? I say unto you, there is ^bnone^• that ^cknoweth^• these things, save it be the penitent.

 Yea, he that ^arepenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good ^bworks, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the ^cmysteries^• of God; yea, unto such it shall be ^dgiven^• to ^ereveal^• 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.

 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 ^alaughed^• 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 ^aincorrectness^• of the ^btraditions^• of their fathers, as ^cstiffnecked a people as they are; whose hearts delight in the ^dshedding^• 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.

 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 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.

 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to ^aturn^• back, behold, the Lord ^bcomforted^• us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with ^cpatience^• thine ^dafflictions^•, 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 God.

 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 ^asynagogues^• and taught them; and we have been cast out, and mocked, and spit upon, and smote upon our cheeks; and we have been ^bstoned^•, and taken and bound with ^cstrong^• cords, and cast into prison; and through the power and wisdom of God 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 ^ajoy^• would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.

 Now behold, we can look forth and see the ^afruits^• of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are ^bmany^•; yea, and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us.

 For behold, they had rather ^asacrifice^• their lives than even to take the life of their enemy; and they have ^bburied^• their weapons of war deep in the earth, because of their love towards their brethren.

 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 brethren; they would not suffer themselves to be slain. But behold how ^amany^• 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.

 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 ^apower, ^ball^• wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a ^cmerciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name.

 Now if this is ^aboasting^•, 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 ^bbranch^• of the tree of Israel, and has been ^clost^• from its body in a strange land; yea, I say, blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, ^dwanderers^• in a strange land.

 Now my brethren, we see that God is ^amindful^• of every ^bpeople^•, 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.