SundaySep 24, 2023
Quotes: 53419 Authors: 9969
While we are mourning the loss of our friend, others are rejoicing to meet him behind the veil.
We are under the United States. But the United States is not the kingdom of God. It does not profess to be under his rule, nor his government, nor his authority.... Very well, what is expected of us? That we observe its laws, that we conform to its usages, that we are governed by good and wholesome principles, that we maintain the laws in their integrity and that we sustain the government. And we ought to do it.... We ought to pray ... for those that are in authority, that they may be led in the right way, that they may be preserved from evil, that they may administer the government in righteousness, and that they may pursue a course that will receive the approbation of heaven.
I suppose while we are mourning the loss of our friend, others are rejoicing to meet him behind the veil; and while he has left us, others are coming into the world at the same time, and probably in this our territory. There is a continuous change, an ingress of beings into the world and an egress out of it.
There were certain great principles involved in the organization of this earth, and one was that there might be a place provided whereon the children of our Heavenly Father could live and propagate their species and have bodies formed for the spirits to inhabit who were the children of God; for ... He is the God and Father of the spirits of all flesh.
Our feelings towards the world of mankind, generally, ought to be the same as Jesus manifested to them. He sought to promote their welfare, and our motto ought ever to be the same as his was'Peace on earth and good will to men:' no matter who they are or what they are, we should week to promote the happiness and welfare of all Adams race.
If a man were poor or hungry, [some] would say, let us pray for him. I would suggest a little different regimen for a person in this condition: rather take him a bag of flour and a little beef or pork, and a little sugar and butter. A few such comforts will do him more good than your prayers. And I would be ashamed to ask the Lord to do something that I would not do myself. Then go to work and help the poor yourselves first, and do all you can for them, and then call upon God to do the balance.
Laugh and be fat.
Supposing I live, I have got a work to do; and if I die, I shall still be engaged in the cause of Zion ... If we live, we live to God; and if we die, we die to God; and we are God's, any way.
This world is the state of our probation, and we look forward to the future as something with which we are as much connected as we are with anything pertaining to time. We look forward to another state of existence with that degree of certainty and confidence that we do when we go to bed in the evening expecting to see the light of the sun in the morning, or that we do with anything else that is associated with any of the affairs of this world upon which we place any degree of certainty. Were it not so, it would be, as I have already stated, of very little importance what our struggles were, or what we had to do with in this world.
Peace is the gift of God. Do you want peace? Go to God. Do you want peace in four families? Go to God. Do you want peace to brood over your families? If you do, live your religion, and the very peace of God will dwell and abide with you, for that is where peace comes from, and it doesn't dwell anywhere else.
What is our relationship to God? ... The position that we stand in to him is that of a son. Adam is the father of our bodies, and God is the father of our spirits.
We are here for the purpose of redeeming and regenerating the earth on which we live, and God has placed his authority and his counsels here upon the earth for that purpose, that men may learn to do the will of God on the earth as it is done in heaven. This is the object of our existence.
It is true, we do not like to lose a good, kind companion, a wife, a husband, a child, a brother, a sister, or any of our near and dear friends or relatives; but we have to do it, and it is right and proper that we should. They go a little before us; when we get there they will receive and welcome us and say, 'God bless you, you have come at last.' That is the way I look at it. I ex pect to strike hands and embrace my friends who have gone before.
I used to think, if I were the Lord, I would not suffer people to be tried as they are. But I have changed my mind on that subject. Now I think I would, if I were the Lord, because it purges out the meanness and corruption that stick around the saints, like flies around molasses.
It is necessary men should be tried and purged and purified and made perfect through suffering.
Put your trust in the living God and all will be right in time and eternity.
In every principle presented to us, our first inquiry should be, 'Is it true?' 'Does it emanate from God?' If he is its Author it can be sustained just as much as any other truth in natural philosophy; if false it should be opposed and exposed just as much as any other error.
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