The Nephite prophet, Alma, gives a very comprehensive idea of the importance of repentance. "Yea, I would that ye would come forth and harden not your hearts any longer; for behold, now is the time, and the day of your salvation; and therefore, if ye will repent and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you. For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors. And now as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness, wherein there can be no labor performed. Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world. For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance, even until death, behold, ye have become subject to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked." _Alma_ 34. 31-35. "For Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death;" 2 _Cor_. 7. 10. Of the sorrow that worketh death was that of Judas; _Matt_. 27. 3-5 In some passages of the Scriptures repentance signifies a change of purpose in man, as in the case of the son who refused to work in his father's vineyard, but afterwards repented and went; 21. 28, 29. Again, it expresses the sympathy of the Lord for the sufferings of his people: "For the Lord hearkened because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them;" _Judges_ 2. 18. It sometimes expresses sympathy in man for the sufferings of others: "And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel;" 21. 15. In the history of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, we are informed that Pharaoh's heart was hardened, so that he would not let the people go. We are evidently to understand by this, that on account of the great wickedness of the Egyptians, the Lord did not soften their hearts by the gentle influences of his Spirit, but permitted them to pursue their own chosen way and suffer the consequences.