Mormon Musings

“The minute a man stops supplicating God for His Spirit and direction, just so soon he starts out to become a stranger to Him and His works. When men stop praying for God's Spirit, they place confidence in their own unaided reason, and they gradually lose the Spirit of God.”  (  “Some Sentence Sermons,”  Improvement Era,  Aug. 1944, 481. ) 

We have in the modern history of the Church contrasting examples of men who were highly favored of the Lord.  One, Hyrum Smith, remained totally faithful and committed, even to the giving of his life, while the other, Oliver Cowdery, despite having witnessed 'some great things' in the history of the Restoration, became blinded by his personal ambition and lost his exalted place in the leadership of the Church. . . . No one except the Prophet Joseph was more honored with the ministering of angels than Oliver Cowdery. But when the Prophet Joseph fell upon hard times, Oliver was critical of him and became estranged from him. . . . . . Even though Oliver came back, he lost his exalted place in the Church. In contrast, President Heber J. Grant said of Hyrum Smith: 'There is no better example of an older brother's love than that exhibited in the life of Hyrum Smith for the Prophet Joseph Smith. . . . They were as united and as affectionate and as loving as mortal men

"There is but one path of safety to the Latter-day Saints, and that is the path of duty. It is not testimony, it is not marvelous manifestations, it is not knowing that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true, . . . it is not actually knowing that the Savior is the Redeemer, and that Joseph Smith was His prophet, that will save you and me, but it is the keeping of the commandments of God, the living the life of a Latter-day Saint."   Heber J. Grant,  Improvement Era,  November 1936, p. 659