Orson F. Whitney
"Many beautiful lessons might be drawn from this passage (Alma 29:1-9) of scripture, but I have only time to dwell upon one. It tells me that Providence is over all, and that he holds the nations in the hollow of his hand; that he is using not only his covenant people, but other peoples as well, to consummate a work, stupendous, magnificent, and altogether too arduous for this little handful of Saints to accomplish by and of themselves. Alma seems to have thought, for the moment, that man was doing God’s work for him, instead of which it is God, who is doing his own work, and using men as his instruments. Nor is he limited in the choice of instruments to his own people. He sways the scepter over all nations, and they are all playing into his hands, knowingly or unknowingly. Alma knew this, but had momentarily lost sight of it.
“All down the ages men bearing the authority of the Holy Priesthood -- patriarchs, prophets, apostles and others, have officiated in the name of the Lord, doing the things that he required of them; and outside the pale of their activities other good and great men, not bearing the Priesthood, but possessing profundity of thought, great wisdom, and a desire to uplift their fellows, have been sent by the Almighty into many nations, to give them, not the fulness of the Gospel, but that portion of truth that they were able to receive and wisely use. Such men as Confucius, the Chinese philosopher; Zoroaster, the Persian sage; Gautama or Buddha, of the Hindus; Socrates and Plato, of the Greeks; these all had some of the light that is universally diffused, and concerning which we have this day heard. They were servants of the Lord in a lesser sense, and were sent to those pagan or heathen nations to give them the measure of truth that a wise Providence had allotted to them.” (Conference Report, Apr. 1921, pp. 32-33)
Heber J. Grant
“Perhaps there is no other passage, no single chapter, in all the Book of Mormon, that I have preached from as often as I have from that twenty-ninth chapter of Alma…I commend to all Latter-day Saints when the conference pamphlet is published, to read what Elder Orson F. Whitney said about the inspiration of God being given to men in all parts of the world. We endorse his remarks.” (Conference Report, Apr. 1921, p. 202-3)
Joseph Fielding Smith
“In this present glorious dispensation, in which all things are to be gathered in one, and the work of the Lord, eventually, to be consummated so far as the salvation of men is concerned, the Lord has placed within our power the means by which the voice may be carried forth to all parts of the earth; not in a manner to shake the earth, but in a manner that the message of salvation may be proclaimed to the thousands, perhaps millions, scattered on all the face of the earth. In the days of Alma such powers were not available to the preachers of the plan of eternal life, and they were to be content with the things which the Lord allotted unto them, but in this day these means have, by the grace of God, been placed at our disposal.” (The Restoration of All Things, p. 6)
Elder Charles A. Callis
“The Prophet Joseph Smith was only 25 years of age when the translation of this book was completed. How did he know that the gospel was to be preached unto every nation, in their own tongue? How did he know, except by the spirit of revelation, that you Latter-day Saints would raise up sons unto the Lord who would be instructed in foreign languages and, leaving their mountain home, would go forth and preach the gospel in Germany, Russia, Scandinavia, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and on the isles of the sea preaching in the tongue of the people to whom they are sent? This prophecy is being fulfilled…O how our hearts should rejoice to know that the divine mission of Joseph Smith is being proclaimed every day of our lives, and in almost every country on the earth.” (Conference Report, Apr. 1909, p. 18)