One wonders what it would take to persuade these rebellious souls to bring themselves into line with the word of the Lord. In this case, the angel had barely left (having given stern and straightforward counsel), when immediately the record indicates that “Laman and Lemuel again began to murmur,” and to doubt their abilities to obtain the brass plates.
These verses dramatize the principle that something as remarkable as the rending of the veil and the appearance of angels has little if any lasting influence upon hardened souls, souls which are not attuned to the infinite.
President Joseph Fielding Smith has taught that “a visitation of an angel ... would not leave the impression” that we “receive through a manifestation of the Holy Ghost. Personal visitations might become dim as time goes on [now Laman and Lemuel’s rationalizations on a later date—1 Nephi 16:38], but this guidance of the Holy Ghost is renewed and continued, day after day, year after year if we live to be worthy of it.” (Doctrines of Salvation 1:44.)