In saying that the first result of belief in God, and in the revelations which he has given is repentance, I shall raise no controversy, for it is a truth generally accepted; indeed it follows faith in logical sequence. No sooner does conviction of God's existence, and of the truth of the revelations which he has given of himself, and of his laws, dawn upon the mind, than man becomes conscious of his being a violator of the holy and just laws of heaven. In the days of his unbelief and spiritual darkness he sinned recklessly and wantonly, without regard to God and often in defiance of him; but when belief takes hold of the mind, and when mere belief begins to ripen into intelligent faith through becoming acquainted with the character of the Deity—when it becomes clear to the understanding that he is the creative and sustaining power of all things; when it is understood that from him man derives his existence and that in him he lives, and moves and has his being; and when it is further known that his laws are beneficent and good, shaped for the purpose of ennobling man and exalting him; when some revelation of the great love of God and his Son Jesus Christ rushes in upon the mind like a flood of heavenly light into darkness—how the haughty, rebellious spirit is humbled, the heart softened, and the whole demeanor changed! With what contrition does the man, truly convinced of all these things we have enumerated respecting the Deity, seek the throne of grace and cry aloud: "O God! Have mercy upon me a sinner!" For almost at the same moment that faith took hold of him, he began to understand how great his sins were before God. And that realization growls upon him as conviction, becomes more certain, until the spirit is bowed down with sorrow because of his many violations of the laws of righteousness. Nor do these remarks apply only to those who have been enormously wicked. Take those of a naturally good disposition, and who have followed the light of reason, and even they, in taking a retrospective view of their lives, will find that they have fallen far short of coming up to what they conceived to be their duty. Even the light they possessed—I mean aside from the revelations of God—revealed to them a higher moral excellence than they have attained. They have not done as well as they could have done. This fact is evident—one of which all may give witness. This being true, that is, man seeing that he has come short of doing his whole duty according to his natural conceptions of what that duty is, how much more distant from the goal of desired excellence will he esteem himself when the light of revelation breaks in upon his life, bringing into bolder relief his mistakes, and revealing to him a purer moral and spiritual life than it was possible for his mind, unaided by revelation, to conceive? I venture the assertion that even the best men—by that I mean those who have best conformed their lives to the rules of conduct dictated by reason—will be ready to say with the apostle, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God."

Hence they, as well as those guilty of more flagrant sins, will, as faith takes possession of their minds, be brought to repentance through its influence, and be led to seek forgiveness of their sins, and reconciliation with God.

That repentance is the first result growing out of faith in God and the Gospel, is abundantly proven from the scriptures. The multitude that assembled on the day of Pentecost, and listened to the remarks of the apostles, and even heard them speak in tongues, by the power of the Holy Ghost, were ready to scoff at those things, and even went so far as to say that these men were drunken with new wine; but when Peter arose and reasoned with them from the scriptures, proving from the law and the prophets that Jesus, whom the Jews had slain, was both Lord and Christ, his words and testimony were accompanied by so much of the power of God, that conviction took hold of the people, and, as with one voice, they cried, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" In this instance, then, the first fruits of that faith which had been created in the minds of this people, was a desire to know what they were to do; and the first words that the inspired apostle said in reply were, "Repent, every one of you."^[A]

[Footnote A: Acts ii.]

Paul, of Tarsus, afterwards the great apostle to the Gentiles, at first persecuted the disciples of Jesus, casting both men and women into prison for what he considered their blasphemous faith. And when Stephen was martyred, Paul stood by and held the clothes of those who did the ghastly, cruel deed. He appears to have been proud of and zealous in the prosecution of this work of opposition; but when the Lord appeared to him on the way to Damascus, and announced himself as Jesus whom he persecuted, the ambitious, arrogant Paul was immediately humbled to the dust, and in tremulous accents he inquired, "Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do?"^[B] How deep the sorrow, how sincere the repentance was which began in the very moment of his learning the fact that Jesus was the Lord, is witnessed by his life of zealous labors and his suffering in the interest of the kingdom of Messiah.

[Footnote B: Acts ix.]

The Book of Mormon also furnishes a number of examples of like character. When a church was established among the Nephites, in the reign of good King Mosiah, about 100 B. C, the work of God was bitterly opposed, derided and persecuted by the sons of King Mosiah, and especially by Alma, one of the sons of the first Alma, and a man of great influence and consummate eloquence. Paul-like, these men went about doing all the mischief to the people of God within their power; but at last an angel of the Lord appeared to them, to bring them to a knowledge of the truth, and this occurred in answer to the fervent prayers of their parents. The glory of God shone about the angel, and his voice shook the earth. Alma was smitten dumb for a season, and had to be carried to the presence of his father; and when his speech returned to him, the eloquent scoffer of a few days before, was as humble as a child, and as penitent and submissive as it is possible for man to be. He repented of all his former sins, and throughout the remainder of his eventful life, was a zealous missionary and a faithful witness for God.^[C]

[Footnote C: The history of this case is in the Book of Mosiah, Book of Mormon, ch. xxvii.]

Similar in point, too, is the case of Zeezrom, the lawyer, who withstood, for a time, the teachings of Alma and Amulek, but was brought to faith and repentance through the manifestation of the power of God.^[D] Enough, however, has been said in relation to a fact that in the very nature of things is largely self-evident; and surely after the illustration it has received, will not now be questioned; that is, that repentance is the first result growing out of faith in God and in revelation; and therefore it is the subject that, according to the natural order of things, must now receive our attention.

[Footnote D: See Book of Alma, xi-xvi.]