been speaking, of whom were poor in heart, because of their poverty as to the things of the world. And they came unto Alma; and the one who was the most foremost among them, said unto him, behold, what shall these my brethren do, for they are despised of all men, because of their poverty; yea, and more especially by our priests; for they have cast us out of our synagogues, which we have labored abundantly to build, with our own hands; and they have cast us out because of our exceeding poverty, and we have no place to worship our God; and behold, what shall we do? And now when Alma heard this, he turned him about, his face immediately towards him, and he beheld, with great joy; for he beheld that their afflictions had truly humbled them, and that they were in a preparation to hear the word; therefore he did say no more to the other multitude, but he stretched forth his hand, and cried unto those whom he beheld, who were truly penitent, and said unto them, I behold that ye are lowly in heart; and if so, blessed are ye. Behold, thy brother hath said, what shall we do? for we are cast out of our synagogues, that we cannot worship our God. Behold I say unto you, do ye suppose that ye cannot worship God, save it be in your synagogues only? And moreover, I would ask, do ye suppose that ye must not worship God only once in a week? I say unto you, it is well that ye are cast out of your synagogues, that ye may be humble, and that ye may learn wisdom; for it is necessary that ye should learn wisdom; for it is because that ye are cast out, that ye are despised of your brethren, because of your exceeding poverty, that ye are brought to a lowliness of heart; for ye are necessarily brought to be humble. And now because ye are compelled to be humble, blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance; and now surely, whosoever repenteth, shall find mercy; and he that findeth mercy and endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. And now as I said unto you, that because ye were compelled to be humble, ye were blessed, do ye not support that they are more blessed who truly humble themselves because of the word? Yea, he that truly humbleth himself, and repenteth of his sins, and endureth to the end the same shall be blessed; yea, much more blessed than they who are compelled to be humble, because of their exceeding poverty; therefore blessed are they who humble themselves [p. 332]