The significant self is one who ha come through the ravages of an insignificance-producing technology, has learned to accept and know oneself, has come to appreciate one’s place in the scheme of things (nature and other people), and has learned how to integrate the various sides of oneself in an authentic and honest fashion. The person who is struggling to be oneself and know oneself and enjoy being alive ever comes back, full circle, to the beginning, to that vaguest of all concepts: Love. Love, more than being a mere feeling, idea, ideal, or notion, is the most complex experience in all human life. It is the cause of more joy and also more misery than anything else we can know. “Monday, then, one o’clock, at the exhibition.” Very good, I shall have the honor of turning up at a quarter to one. A little rendezvous. On Saturday, I finally cut the matter short and decided to pay a visit to my much-traveled friend Adolph Bruun. With that in mind, about seven o’clock in the evening I started out on Vestergade, where someone told me he was supposed to live. However, he was not to be found, not even on the fourth floor, where I arrived all out of breath. As I was about to go down the stairs, my ears picked up a melodious female voice saying in an undertone, “Monday, then, one o’clock, at the exhibition; and that time the others are out, but you know that I never dare to see you at home.” #RandolphHarris 1 of 27

The invitation was not meant for me but for a young man who—one, two, three—was out of the door so fast that my eyes, let alone my feet, could not catch up with him. Why do they not have a gaslight in stairways; then I might have been able to see whether it was worth the trouble to be so punctual. However, if there had been a light, I perhaps would not have managed to hear anything. The established order is still rational, and I am and remain an optimist…Now who is it? The exhibition, to use Donna Anna’s expression, swarms with girls. It is precisely a quarter to one. My beautiful stranger! Would that your intended might be as punctual in every way as I am, or do you wish instead that he may never arrive fifteen minutes early? As you wish—I am at your service in every way…“Enchanting troll woman, fairy, or witch, dispel your fog,” show yourself. You are probably here already but invisible to me; make yourself known, for otherwise I certainly do not dare to expect a revelation. Are there perhaps several up here on the same errand as she? Very possibly. Who knows the ways of an individual, even when he is attending an exhibition? –There comes a young girl through the foyer, hurrying faster than a band conscience after a sinner. She forgets to hand over her ticket; the man in a red uniform stops her. #RandolphHarris 2 of 27

Good Heavens, what a rush she is in. It must be she. Why such premature vehemence? It is not one o’clock yet. Do remember that you are supposed to meet your beloved. Does it make any difference how one looks on such an occasion, or is this an occasion when one must out one’s best foot forward, as they say? When such an innocent young thing is keeping an appointment, she goes at it in a frenzy. She is as nervous as can be. I, however, sit here most comfortably in my chair and contemplate a lovely rural landscape…She is a very daughter of the devil; she storms through all the rooms. You must still try to hide your eagerness a bit; remember what was said to Miss Elizabeth: Is it seemly for a young girl to be so eager to become involved with someone? However, your involvement, of course, is one of the innocent ones. A rendezvous is usually regarded by overs as the most beautiful moment. I myself still recall as clearly as if it were yesterday the first time I hurried to the appointed place with a heart as full as it was unacquainted with the joy awaiting me. The first time I knocked three times; the first time a window was opened; the first time a little wicker gate was opened by the invisible hand of a girl who concealed herself by opening it; the first time I hid a girl under my cape in the luminous Summer night. #RandolphHarris 3 of 27

However, in this opinion there is a considerable admixture of illusion. A neutral third party does not always find the lovers to be most beautiful at this moment. I have witnessed trysts in which, although the girl was lovely and the mand handsome, the total impression was almost revolting and the meeting itself far from beautiful, although it undoubtedly seemed so to the lovers. In a way, one gains in becoming more experienced, for admittedly one loses the sweet disquietude of impatient longing but gains the poise to make the moment really beautiful. It annoys me to see a male become so confused on such an occasion that out of sheer love he has delirium tremens. What, indeed, do peasants know about cucumber salad! Instead of having the composure to enjoy her disquietude, to let it inflame her beauty and make it incandescent, he brings about only an ungainly confusion, and yet he goes home happy, imagining that it was something glorious. However, where the devil is the man? It is now almost two o’clock. Well, they are a splendid tribe, these lovers! What a scoundrel—to let a young miss wait for him! No, but of course I am a much more dependable person! It is probably best to speak to her now as she passes me for the fifth time. “Forgive my boldness, lovely lady; you are presumably looking for your family here. #RandolphHarris 4 of 27

“You have hurried by me several times, and as my eyes followed you I noticed that you always stop in the next to the last room. Perhaps you do not know that there is still another room beyond that. There you will possibly find the ones you are looking for.” She curtseys to me; it is very becoming to her. The opportunity is propitious. I am glad that the man is not coming—the fishing is always best in troubled waters. When a young miss is agitated, one can successfully risk much that otherwise would miscarry. I have bowed to her as politely and formally as possible; I am once again siting on my chair looking at my landscape and keeping my eye on her. To follow her immediately would be risking too much; it might seem as if I were obtrusive, and then she would be on her guard at once. Now she is of the opinion that I spoke to her out of sympathy, and I am in her good favour. –I know for sure that there is not a soul in the last room. Solitude will have a favourable effect upon her; as long as she sees many people around her, she is uneasy; if she is alone, she no doubt will subside. Quite right—she is staying in there. In a while, I will en passant [casually] come in; I have the right to say one line more—after all, she does owe me as much as a greeting. She has sat down. Poor girl, she looks so sad; she has been crying, I think, or at least she has had tears in her eyes. #RandolphHarris 5 of 27

It is shocking—to force such a girl to tears. However, be calm, you shall be avenged; I will avenge you; he will find out what it is to wait. –How beautiful she is now that the various squalls have calmed down and she is at rest in one mood. Her bearing is a harmonious blend of sadness and pain. She is really attractive. She sits there in her traveling clothes, and yet it was not she who was going to travel; she put them on to go out looking for joy, and now they are a symbol of her pain, for she is like one from whom joy is traveling away. She looks as if she had taken leave of her beloved forever. Let him go! –The situation is propitious; the moment beckons. The thing to do now is to express myself in such a way that it will appear as if I were of the opinion that she was looking for her family or a party of friends up here, and yet so warmly that every word is suggestive to her feelings, so I will have the opportunity to insinuate myself into her thoughts. Darn the scoundrel—there a fellow comes full speed into the room; no doubt it is he. Oh, no, what a clumsy fool, now when I have just got the situation the way I wanted it. Oh, well, I shall probably be able to turn this to advantage. I must come into casual contact with them, manage to be brought into the situation. When she sees me, she will involuntarily smile at me, who thought she was looking for her family out here, whereas she was looking for something entirely different. #RandolphHarris 6 of 27

This smile will make me her confidant, which is always something. –A thousand thanks, my child; that smile is worth much more to me than you think; it is the beginning, and the beginning is always the hardest. Now we are acquaintances; our acquaintance is established in a piquant situation—for the time being it is enough for me. You no doubt will stay here scarcely more than an hour’ in two hours I will know who you are—why else do you think the police keep census records? Have I become blind? Has the inner eye of the soul lost its power? I have seen her, but it is as if I had seen a Heavenly revelation—so completely has her image vanished again for me. In vain do I summon all the powers of my soul in order to conjure up this image. If I ever see her again, I shall be able to recognize her instantly, even though she sands among a hundred others. Now she has fled, and the eye of my soul tries in vain to overtake her with its longing. –I was walking along Langelinie, seemingly nonchalantly and without paying attention to my surroundings, although my reconnoitering glance left nothing unobserved—and then my eyes fell upon her. My eyes fixed unswervingly upon her. They no longer obeyed their master’s will; it was impossible for me to shift my gaze and thus overlook the object I wanted to see—I did no look, I stared. #RandolphHarris 7 of 27

As a fencer freezes in his lunge, so my eyes were fixed, petrified in the direction initially taken. It was impossible to look down, impossible to withdraw my glance, impossible to see, because I saw far too much. The only thing I have retained is that she had on a green cloak, that is all—one could call it capturing the cloud instead of Juno; she has escaped me, like Joseph from Potiphar’s wife, and left only her cloak behind. She was accompanied by an elderly woman, who appeared to be her mother. Her I can describe from top to toe, even though I did not really look at her at all but at most included her en passant. So it goes. The girl made an impression on me, and I forgot her; the other made no impression, and I can remember. My soul is still caught in the same contradiction. I know that I have seen her, but I also know that I have forgotten it again, yet in such a way that the remnant of the recollection that is left does not refresh me. With a restlessness and vehemence, my soul, as if my welfare were at stake, demands this image, and yet it does not appear; I could tear out my eyes to punish them for their forgetfulness. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence come my help. #RandolphHarris 8 of 27

 Then, when I have chafed in impatience and have calmed down, it is as if presentient and recollection were weaving an image that still cannot take definite shape for me, because I cannot make it stand still in context; it is like a pattern in a fine weaving—the pattern is lighter then the background, and by itself it cannot be seen because it is to light. –This is a strange state to be in, and yet it has its pleasure intrinsically and also because it assures me that I am still young. This I also am able to learn from another observation—namely, that I continually seek my prey among young women. I like them to be more natural, more coquettish; a relationship with her is more beautiful, very interesting; it is piquant, and the piquant is always the last. —I had not expected to be able to taste once again the fresh fruits of falling in love. I have gone under in love-rapture; I have been given what movie stars call a stunner. No wonder that I am a little dazed. So much the better, so much the more do I promise myself out of this relationship. In thinking about a performance it is easy to assume that the content of the presentation is merely an expressive extension of the character of the performer and to see the function of he performance in these personal terms. This is a limited view and can obscure important differences in the function of the performance of the interaction as a whole. #RandolphHarris 9 of 27

 First, it often happens that the performance serves mainly to express the characteristic of the task that is performed and not the characteristics of the performer. Thus one finds that service personnel, whether in profession, bureaucracy, business, or craft, enliven their manner with movements which express proficiency and integrity, but whatever this manner conveys about them, often its major purpose is to establish a favourable definition of their service or product. Further, we often find that the personal front of the performer is employed not so much because it allows one to present oneself as one would like to appear but because one’s appearance and manner can do something for a scene of wider scope. It is in this light that we can understand how the sifting and sorting of urban life brings girls with good grooming and correct accent into the job of receptionist, where they can present a front for an organization as well as for themselves. However, most important of all, we commonly find that the definition of the situation projected by a particular participant is an integral part of a projection that is fostered and sustained by the intimate co-operation of more than one participant. For example, in a medical hospital the two staff internists may require the intern, as part of one’s training, to run through a patient’s chart, giving an opinion about each recorded item. #RandolphHarris 10 of 27

One may not appreciate that one’s show or relative ignorance comes in part from the staff studying up on the chart the night before; one is quite unlikely to appreciate that this impression is doubly ensured by the local team’s tacit agreement allotting the work-up of half the chart to one staff person, the other half to the second staff person. This teamwork ensures a good staff showing—providing, of course, that he right internist is able to take over the catechism at the right time. Furthermore, if the team’s over-all effect is to be satisfactory, it is often the case that each member of such a troupe or cast of players may be required to appear in a different light. Thus if a household is to stage a formal dinner, someone in uniform or livery will be required as part of the working team. The individual who plays this part must direct at oneself the social definition of a menial. At the same time the individual taking the part of host or hostess must direct at oneself, and foster by one’s appearance and manner, the social definition of someone upon whom it is natural for menial to wait. This was strikingly demonstrated in the island tourist hotel studied by the writer (hereafter called “Shetland Hotel”). There an over-all impression of middle-class service was achieved by the management, who allocated to themselves the roles of middle-class host and hostess. #RandolphHarris 11 of 27

And to their employees that of domestics—although in terms of the local class structure the girls who acted as maids were of slightly higher status than the hotel owners who employed them. When hotel guests were absent, little nonsense about a maid-mistress status difference was allowed by the maids. Another example may be taken from middle-class family life. In our society, when husband and wife appear before new friends for an evening of sociability, the wife may demonstrate more respectful subordination to the will and opinion of her husband than she may bother to show when alone with him or when with old friends. When she assumes a respectful role, he can assume a dominant one; and when each member of the marriage team plays its special role, the conjugal unit, as a unit, can sustain the impression that the new audiences expect of it. Etiquette in the Southern United States of America provides another example. When few others are in the region, an individual may call his fellow workers by his first name, but when others approach it is understood that mistering will be reintroduced. Business etiquette provides an example: When outsiders are present, the touch of businesslike formality is even more important. #RandolphHarris 12 of 27

 You may call your office assistant “Mindy” and your partner “Jim” all day, but when a stranger comes into your office you should refer to your associates as you could expect a stranger to address them: Miss or Mr. You may have a running joke with the switchboard operator, but you let it ride when you are placing a call in an outsider’s hearing. She [Mindy] want to be called Miss or Mrs. In front of strangers; at least, she will not be flattered if your “Mind” provokes everyone else into addressing her with familiarity. Since the god-adjustment line is presented by those who take the standpoint of the wider society, one should ask what the following of it by the stigmatizes means to normals. It means that the unfairness and pain of having to carry a stigma will never be presented to them; it means that normals will not have to admit to themselves how limited their tactfulness and tolerance is; and it means that normals can remain relatively uncontaminated by intimate contact with the stigmatized, relatively unthreatened in their identity beliefs. It is from just these meanings, in fact, that the specifications of a good adjustment derive. When a stigmatized person employs this stance of good adjustment one is often said to have a strong character or a deep philosophy of life, perhaps because in the back of our minds we normals wan to find an explanation of one’s willingness and ability to act this way. #RandolphHarris 13 of 27

A visually impaired persons may be cited: “The disbelief that one’s desire to go on can spring from quite ordinary motives is so generally encountered that as a defense against it you almost automatically develop a rationale to explain your behaviour. You develop a ‘philosophy.’ People seem to insist that you have one and they think you are kidding when you say you have not. So you do your best to please and to strangers you encounter on trains, in restaurants, or on the subway who want to know what keeps you going, you give your little piece. You are an individual of unusual discernment if you can realize that your philosophy is seldom one of your own devising but a reflection of the World’s notion about blindness.” The general formula is apparent. The stigmatized individual is asked to act so as to imply neither that one’s burden is heavy nor that bearing it has made one different from us; at the same time one must keep oneself at that remove from us which ensures our painlessly being able to confirm this belief about one. Put different, one is advised to reciprocate naturally with an acceptance of oneself and us, an acceptance of one that we have not quite extended one in the first place. A phantom acceptance is thus allowed to provide the base for a phantom normalcy. #RandolphHarris 14 of 27

So deeply, then, must one be caught up in the attitude to the self that is defined as normal in our society, so thoroughly must one be a part of this definition, that one can perform this self in a faultless manner to an edgy audience that is half-watching one in terms of another show. One can even be led to join with normals in suggesting to the discontented among one’s own that the slights they sense are imagined slights—which of course is likely at times, because at many social boundaries the markers are designed to be so faint as to allow everyone to proceed as though fully accepted, and this means that it will be realistic to be oriented to minimal signs perhaps no meant. The irony of these recommendations is not that the stigmatized individual is asked to be patiently for others what they decline to let one be for them, but that tis expropriation of one’s response may well be for them, but that this expropriation of one’s response may well be the best return one can get on one’s money. If in fact one desires to live as much as possible “like any other person,” and be accepted “for what one really is,” then in many cases the shrewdest position for one to take is this one which has a false bottom; for in many cases the degree to which normals accept the stigmatized individual can be maximized by one’s acting with fully spontaneity and naturalness as if the conditional acceptance of one, which one is careful not to overreach, is full acceptance. #RandolphHarris 15 of 27

However, of course what is a good adjustment for the individual can be an ever better one for society. It might be added that the embarrassment of limits is a general feature of social organization; the maintenance of phantom acceptance is what many, to some degree, are being asked to accept. Any mutual adjustment and mutual approval between two individuals can be fundamentally embarrassed if one of the partners accepts in full the offer that the other appears to make; every “beneficial” relationship is conducted under implied promises of consideration and assistance such that the relationship would be injured were these credits actually drawn on. That the mind is the crucial component in the spiritual journey cannot be accurately denied. The apostle Paul’s writings are probably the most complete set of biblical instructions about what individual and corporate discipleship are and how they are to be attained. Arguably, the most important text he ever penned about spiritual transformation is Romans 12.1-2. In this wise and tender admonition, the devotional master, Paul, puts his finger on the very essence of how we grow to become like Jesus: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this World,” he tells us, “but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” #RandolphHarris 16 of 27

“Renewing” is anakainosis in the Greek, and its meaning is fairly straightforward: making something new. This is what happens to the mind when it incorporates new thoughts and beliefs. “Mind” is nous and means “the intellect, reason, or the faculty of understanding.” We are so familiar with this verse that some of its oddness or peculiarity is lost on us. However, to see how truly peculiar this teaching is, think of what Paul could have said but did not. He could have said, “Be transformed by developing close feelings toward God,” or “by exercising your will in obeying biblical commands,” or “by intensifying your desires for the right things,” or “by fellowship and worship,” and so on. Obviously, all are important part of the Christian life. Yet Paul chose to mention none of them in his most important precis of the spiritual life. Why is that? What is it about the mind that justifies Paul’s elevation of it to such a position of prominence in religious life? In the preceding verse, Paul reminds us that we should offer our bodies to God because this is the most reasonable way to express service to Him in light of His mercies towards us. Paul mentions the body and its members—our faces, hands, tongues, feet—for two reasons. First, the body is the vehicle through which we interact with the World. For example, to get groceries, it is not enough for me just to think about the grocery store. I have to move my body and go to the store! #RandolphHarris 17 of 27

Likewise, it is not enough to think about showing love to my wife or to feel a desire inside to evangelize a friend. In both cases, I have to move my body—I smile, use my speech to bless or communicate, and so forth Second, my habits dwell in my body and its members. Some people frown so much, gossip so often, or eat certain soothing foods so regularly that routines and habit get deeply woven into their bodies. In the right circumstances, their faces are habituated to frown, their tongues to talk, and their legs to walk to the refrigerator without even thinking about it. To change our habits and to interact differently with the World, we need to retrain our bodies to form new habits that replace old ones. However, how do we gain the motivation, the insights, the perspective necessary to change? Anyone who has struggled with bad habits knows that you do not become transformed by just willing the old habits to go away. This is why preaching that centers too much on exhortation without instruction is ineffective. According to Paul, the key to change is the formation of a new perspective, the development of fresh insights about out lives and the World around us, the gathering of the knowledge and skill required to know what to do and how to do it. #RandolphHarris 18 of 27

And this is where the mind comes in. Truth, knowledge, and study are powerful factors in the transformation of the self and the control of the body and its habits for a healthy life in the kingdom of God. Paul’s teaching about the centrality of the intellect for spiritual renewal was not new. The Old Testament is pregnant with this same idea in its teaching about the nature and role of wisdom in life. It summons us to think long, har, and carefully because God has placed His stamp of reason all about us: “Do you know the ordinances of the Heavens…Who has put wisdom in the innermost being, or has given understanding to the mind?” reports Job 38.33, 36. Wisdom is a particular attitude toward reality, a Worldview…That Worldview assumes…the one God embedded truth within all reality. The Old Testament proclaims that the same rational God who reveals Himself to the prophets also created the World as an orderly, understandable cosmos. And the Old Testament assures us that this God made our minds to be apt for gaining knowledge and understanding so as to avoid foolish living and ignorant beliefs. For those willing to pay the price of exercising their minds and studying diligently, there is knowledge and wisdom in the scriptures. #RandolphHarris 19 of 27

However, just as surely as the Old Testament places a value on wisdom and knowledge, it warns us that they only come to the diligent: “Make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding,” Proverbs 2.2. “We are to seek her [wisdom] as sliver, and search for her as for hidden treasure,” reports Proverbs 2.4. A wise life of virtue and knowledge comes to those who, with humility of heart and reverence for God, work hard at using their minds to study, to seek understanding, to capture truth. However, what is it about our makeup that requires us to use our minds in order to change? How does intellectual growth change the soul, and what is it about a well-informed mind that makes it so valuable for gaining a new way of seeing life? In order to answer these questions, we will first have to examine the nature of the soul and the mind it contains a second, investigate how the mind relates to other aspects of the human personality. Here is the thesis of the chapter: the mind is the soul’s primary vehicle for making contact with God, and it plays a fundamental role in the process of human maturation and change, including spiritual transformation. In thought, the mind’s structure conforms to the order of the object of thought. #RandolphHarris 20 of 27

Since this is so, and since truth dwells in the mind, truth itself is a powerful and rationality is valuable as a means of obtaining truth and avoiding error. Therefore, God desires a life of intellectual growth and study for His children. “And it came to pass that Limhi and his people returned to the city of Nephi, and began to dwell in the land again in peace. And it came to pass that after many days the Lamanites began again to be stirred up in anger against the Nephites, and they began to come into the borders of the land round about. Now they durst not slay them, because of the oath which their king had made unto Limhi; but they would smite them on their cheeks, and exercise authority over them; and began to put heavy burdens upon their backs, and drive them as they would a dumb mule—yea, all this was done that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled. And now the afflictions of the Nephites were great, and there was no way that they could deliver themselves out of their hands, for the Lamanites had surrounded them on every side. And it came to pass that the people began to murmur with the king because of their afflictions; and they began to be desirous to go against them to battle. And they did afflict the king sorely with their complaints; therefore he granted unto them that they should do according to their desires. #RandolphHarris 21 of 27

“And they gathered themselves together again, and put on their armor, and went forth against the Lamanites to drive them out of their land. And it came to pass that the Lamanites did beat them, and drove them bac, and slew many of them. And now there was a great mourning and lamentation among the people of Limhi, the widow mourning for her husband, the son and the daughter mourning for their father, and the brothers for their brethren. Now there were a great many windows in the land, and they did cry mightily from day to day, for a great fear of the Lamanites had come upon them. And it came to pass that their continual cries did stir up the remainder of the people of Limhi to anger against the Lamanites; and they went again to battle, but they were driven back again, suffering much loss. Yea, they again even the third time, and suffered in the like manner; and those that were not slain returned again to the city of Nephi. And they did humble themselves even to the dust, subjecting themselves to the yoke of bondage, submitting themselves to be smitten, and to be driven to and from, and burdened, according to the desires of their enemies. And they did humble themselves even in the depths of humility; and they did cry mightily to God; yea, even all the day long did they cry unto their God that he would deliver them out of their afflictions. #RandolphHarris 22 of 27

 “And now the Lord was slow to hear their cry because of their iniquities; nevertheless the Lord did hear their cries, and began to soften the hearts of the Lamanites that they began to ease their burdens; yet the Lord did not see fit to deliver them out bondage. And it came to pass that they began to prosper by the degrees in the land, and began to raise grain more abundantly, and flocks, and herds, that they did not suffer with hunger. Now there was a great number of women, more than there was of men; therefore kind Limhi commanded that every man should impart to the support of the windows and their children, that they might not perish with hunger; and this they did because of the greatness of their number that had been slain. Now the people of Limhi kept together in a body as much as it was possible, and secured their grain and their flocks; and the king himself did not trust his person without the walls of the city, unless he took his guards with him, fearing that he might by some means fall into the hands of the Lamanites. And he caused that his people should watch the land round about, that by some means they might take those priests that fled into the wilderness, who had stolen the daughters of the Lamanites, and that had caused such a great destruction to come upon them. #RandolphHarris 23 of 27

“For they were desirous to take them that they might punish them; for they had come into the land of Nephi by night, and carried off their grain and many of their precious things; therefore they laid wait for them. And it came to pass that there was no more disturbance between the Lamanites and the people of Limhi, even until the time that Ammon and his brethren came into the land. And the king having been without the gates of the city with his guards, discovered Ammon and his brethren; and supposing them to be priests of Noah therefore he caused that they should be taken, and bound, and cast into the prison And they have been priests of Noah he would have caused that they should be put to death. However, when he found that they were not, but tat they were his brethren, and had come from the land of Zarahemla, he was filled with exceedingly great joy. Now king Limhi had sent, previous to the coming of Ammon, a small number of humans to search for the land of Zarahemla; but they could not find it, and they were lost in the wilderness. Nevertheless, they did find a land which had been peopled; yea, a land which was covered with dry bones; yes, a land which had been peopled and which had been destroyed; and they, having supposed it to be the land of Zarahemla, returned to the land of Nephi, having arrived in the borders of the land not many days before the coming of Ammon. #RandolphHarris 24 of 27

“And they brought a record with them, even a record of the people whose bones they had found; and it was engraven on plates of ore. And now Limhi was again filled with joy on learning from the mouth of Ammon that king Mosiah had a gift from God, whereby he could interpret such engravings; yea, and Ammon also did rejoice. Yet Ammon and his brethren were filled with sorrow because so many of their brethren had been slain. And also that kind Noah and his priests had caused the people to commit so many sins and iniquities against God; and they also did mourn for the death of Abinadi; and also for the departure of Alma and the people that went with him, who had formed a church of God through the strength and power of God, and faith on the words which had been spoken by Abinadi. Yea, they did mourn for their departure, for they knew not wither they had fled. Now they would have gladly joined with them, for they themselves had entered into a covenant with God to serve him and keep his commandments. And it came to past that king Limhi and many of his people were desirous to be baptized; but there was none in the land that had authority from God. And Ammon declined doing this thing, considering himself an unworthy servant. #RandolphHarris 25 of 27

“Therefore they did not at that time form themselves into a church, waiting upon the Spirit of the Lord. Now they were desirous to become even as Alma and his brethren, who had fled into wilderness. They were desirous to be baptized as a witness and a testimony that they were willing to serve God with all their hearts; nevertheless they did prolong the time; and an account of their baptism shall be given hereafter. And now all the study of Ammon and his people, and king Limhi and his people, was to deliver themselves out of the hands of the Lamanites from bondage,” report Mosiah 21.1-36. LORD, please teach me the nature of a sacrament as a seal and pledge of love, that Christ is faithful to make himself a present reality to his own who are guests at his table. Assure me by it that his word is made good to my faith, that he by sacramental union is given to me, that I shall have strength not to fall into sin, that I shall have strength not to fall into sin, that his life begun in me will be perfected hereafter, that my covenant with him is confirmed, that he gives himself to all who take him thankfully. As I come to the feast, please help me to recall my neglect of duties towards myself, my family, church, friends, by not instructing, exoring, being an example. Riches are not from an abundance of Worldly goods, but from a contented mind. #RandolphHarris 26 of 27

Please grant me to see my ignorance, not knowing how or what to pray, my unsavourines, not delighting in, but loathing to speak for Thee, my pride, because I would not speak what I could from fear of not doing it well, my lukewarmness, in not reaching for Thy glory, my idleness and sloth, my want of tender love, my apprehension of unfruitfulness in case I should attempt and do no good, and hence sow seed upon rocks. Let me know that even if I have done right, yet I must lament the principles that caused my neglect, that good duties might be done or omitted out of ill principles or motives, and only when these are dealt with shall I know what is my duty and its extent. Please heal me now, as I approach Thy table, and please fill me with all grace, with Thyself. We beseech Thee, Almighty God, to receive with Fatherly tenderness Thy people fleeing from Thine anger to Thyself; that they who dread the scourge that comes from Thy Majesty may be enabled to rejoice in Thy forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Please hear, O Lord, our prayers, and enter not into judgment with Thy servants; for as no righteousness is found in us on which we could rely, so we acknowledge Thee the Fountain of pity whereby we trust both to be cleansed from our sins, and delivered from our distresses; through Jesus Christ our Lord. #RandolphHarris 27 of 27

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Cowards die many times before their deaths; that valiant never taste of death but once. O God, whose loving-kindness is so transcendant, that from the conversation of one sinner Thou causest the utmost rejoicing to take place in Heaven; look on this small portion of Thy people, that all affliction my be removed, and Thine inheritance may increase in numbers and advance in devotion; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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