This is a column about one of my favorite swaths of scripture in the Book of Mormon. But first it's about a clever idea.
Curt Bench of Benchmark Books was tickled when a first edition of the Book of Mormon came his way.
What tickled him less was it had pages missing.
Like an old workhorse, most early editions of the book got ridden hard and roughed up. The nice thing is that the pages tend to shine. This one was no exception.
So Curt and his cohorts hatched a plan.
Not many people could afford $50,000 for a first-edition Book of Mormon. But maybe they could come up with enough for a first-edition page or two.
So they created special presentation copies of certain pages and sold them
Some pages were gone in a flash — the "I will go and do the things" page and the "And when ye shall receive these things" page.
The "we rejoice in Christ" page was a quick seller, as was "O that I were an angel" from Alma 29.
But as far as I know, page 320 wasn't in the first tier. It slid in under the radar.
Page 320 (page 294 in the current edition) would have been my choice.
It's in Alma. Amulek is speaking. And what he has to say reads like a psalm, but his delivery is full-throated.
I call it "Amulek's Anthem."
It is a rhetorical haymaker.
It begins with the words "Cry unto him for mercy" and ends with the line, "the welfare of those which are around you."
Amulek uses the expression "cry unto him" like Thor's hammer to drive home his feelings.
Cry unto him when ye are in your fields, yea, over all your flocks.
Cry unto him in your houses, yea, over all your household, both morning, mid-day, and evening.
Yea, cry unto him against the power of your enemies.
Yea, cry unto him against the devil, who is an enemy to all righteousness.
Cry unto him over the crops of your fields, that ye may prosper in them.
Cry over the flocks of your fields, that they may increase.
But this is not all; ye must pour out your souls in your closets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness.
Yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your welfare, and also for the welfare of those who are around you. (Alma 34:20-27)
That has so much gusto that even when read aloud by stumbling grade-schoolers or monotone oldsters, you still feel the surging of the waves beneath the text.
It is an excited utterance and — as many know — excited utterances are often admissible in court because excited people speak from the heart.
Amulek does.
I think for raw spontaneity, nothing can touch "Cry unto him."
I mentioned earlier that first edition copies of the Book of Mormon get worn down like old horses.
It's because passages like Amulek's whip readers along. The closest thing I've seen to such a burst in the modern church are the poems of the late Agricol Lozano, former president of the Mexico City Temple.
But that's another column.
This one, as I said, is about one of my favorite swaths of scripture in the Book of Mormon.