Page:A dictionary of the Book of Mormon.pdf/315

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Noah.

dicted that they would be brought into bondage to their enemies unless they repented of their wickedness. The king and the people were very angry with Abinadi, and sought to take his life. Two years after he came among them in disguise. This time he uttered, in the name of the Lord, very terrible prophecies against Noah and his people, all of which were fulfilled in a very few years. But the people would not heed Abinadi, and the more he exposed their iniquities the more furious raged their anger against him. They finally took him, bound him, and hurried him, with railing accusations, before the king. There the priests began to cross-question him, that they might confuse him and cause him to say something that would give them a pretext for slaying him. This conduct gave Abinadi the chance in turn to question his accusers, by which he exposed their deceit and iniquity; and it also enabled him to explain many of the principles of the gospel of life and salvation. His teachings were, however, exactly what Noah's infidel priests did not want. They charged Abinadi with having reviled the king, and on this charge obtained Noah's consent for his execution. And, finally, Abinadi was cruelly tortured and burned to death by his fellow citizens in the sin-stained city of Lehi-Nephi.

Abinadi's cruel death was, in the providences of the Lord, made the means of establishing the church of Christ among Noah's subjects. One of the young priests, named Alma, was converted by the prophet's teachings; he wrote them down and taught them to others. A church was organized on the outskirts of the city, but, in a little while, the movement reached the ears of the king, and he sent his soldiers to capture the believers. Being warned of the Lord, the latter fled and escaped their pursuers.

Soon after the return of Noah's army from their unsuccessful attempt to capture Alma and