Mormon Musings

There are many things associated with the Church and kingdom of God that are very peculiar : it differs from all other churches, and is dissimilar to all other kingdoms. There is a spirit and wisdom associated with it that the world knows nothing of, and there is a power accompanying it to which mankind are entire strangers without that spirit. There is generally a great amount of obloquy and reproach associated with it; people are apt to treat the servants of God with contempt; yet there is a spirit, and power, and intelligence imparted by the gift of the Holy Ghost; that sustains his people under all circumstances, in all places, and among all nations... President John Taylor, Journal of Discourses 7:118 (emphasis added), compare with Deuteronomy 14:2  " For  thou  art  an  holy  people  unto  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  the  Lord  hath  chosen  thee  to  be  a  peculiar  people  unto  himself,  above  all  the  nations  that  are  upon  the  earth." Deuteronomy 14:2 (

I will do all the good I can, and all I know to do, and I will shun every evil that I know to be an evil.  You can all do that much.  I will apply my heart to wisdom, and ask the Lord to import it to me; and if I know but little, I will improve upon it, that tomorrow I may have more, and thus grow from day to day in the knowledge of the truth, as Jesus Christ grew in stature and knowledge from a babe to manhood; and if I am not now capable of judging for myself, perhaps I shall be in another year.  We are organized to progress in scale of intelligence, and the least Saint by adhering strictly to the order of God may attain to a full and complete salvation through the grace of God, by his own faithfulness . Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses  1:313

Truth, like God, is unchangeable, and cannot be controverted. Darkness flees before it, and error hides its head wherever it appears. John Taylor 5:148

No nation possesses any wisdom but what it has received from the same God that we worship. He is the best mechanic and the most scientific personage that we have any knowledge of. There is not a principle in astronomy, known by men of science, but what has been revealed from Heaven.  All true knowledge among men, in relation to agriculture, the arts, the science, commerce, and every vocation of life, has been given from our Father in Heaven to His children, whether they acknowledge and obey Him or not. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:278

How shall we know that we obey  [God] ? There is but one method by which we can know it, and that is by the inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord witnessing unto our spirit that we are His, that we love Him, and that He loves us. It is by the spirit of revelation we know this.  Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 12:99

We cannot go to reap our crops and worship the devil one day, and then the next go into the Tabernacle or Temple of the Lord and worship him. That is not our religion; it does not admit of this. We cannot feel justified in such conduct; but if we live our religion, the blessings of Almighty God will be with us, and he will multiply them upon our heads. Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses 8:272

I do not believe that any man in the world who has power, wealth, influence, and a good understanding of things, is satisfied with the present confused state of the world, either religiously or politically; neither do I believe that a man who does not know God or the principles of eternal life and salvation—a man, for instance, that has come to an understanding of the world, and that has received the benefits of civilization, as understood by the great mass of Christendom—I do not, I say, believe that such a man is or can be satisfied. I can readily believe that the professors of religion are not fully satisfied in their minds and feelings, unless they have partaken of that life which is made manifest by the gift and influence of the Holy Ghost. And we have an abundance of evidence to prove that the world are not satisfied with their condition—not even those that are seeking the pleasures of life. We frequently hear them complaining of the state of affairs at the present time. Man

There are a great many things, probably, that are taught you from this stand—that is, from individuals. They are taught to you; and you, probably, have not got faith and confidence in them. Well, now, I do not care whether you have or not: if you will go and do as you are told, you shall have a knowledge, although you had not a particle of faith when you began. That is curious religion; but there is no knowledge on any other principle, only by obedience. Heber C. Kimball Journal of Discourses 6:30   17  If any man will  a do  his  b will , he shall  c know  of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or  whether  I speak of myself. John 7:17

Belief is inherent in the creature—implanted within him for his use and benefit—to believe or disbelieve. Your own experience may satisfy you that faith is not brought into requisition by the presentation of either facts or falsehoods to the external senses, or to the inward perceptions of the mind. If we speak of faith in the abstract, it is the power of God by which the worlds are and were made, and is a gift of God to those who believe and obey his commandments. On the other hand, no living, intelligent being, whether serving God or not, acts without belief. He might as well undertake to live without breathing as to live without the principle of belief. But he must believe the truth, obey the truth, and practice the truth, to obtain the power of God called faith. Belief and faith continue in the person who is in possession of faith. It is thought by some that the time will come when we shall no longer believe. So far as I now know, I shall have to live a few hundred thousand years b

I do not believe there is a man here today but what knows that the doctrine taught today is truth. It is the word of God—the revelations of Jesus Christ to every one that hears, and salvation to all who yield obedience to it and carry it out practically. Your faith without works is vain. The religion which you and I believe in requires us to live by its precepts—to be Saints in very deed. It is life, joy, and peace to those who practice it, and condemnation to those who despise it. Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses 8:256

This lesson we have all got to  learn—that we and all that we possess is the Lord's, and that continually, and that we must forever hold ourselves subject to his counsels and ready to obey his will. Erastus Snow, Journal of Discourses 8:220

A man can commit sin, and return to the Lord and receive forgiveness; but who has the assurance that he will have power to repent? Who has the right and privilege granted unto him to swear, or to take that which is not his own and make use of it for himself? I know of no such right... I know of no person who has a right to sin. “Brother Brigham, don’t you sometimes sin?” If I do, it is none of your business; and the whole of you are not smart enough to catch me in a wrong. Look back at my life since I have been preaching the Gospel, and point out, if you can, the iniquity I have committed. “Have you not taken the name of God in vain?” Not the first time have I ever used the name of my Savior, or the name of a holy angel, or the name of the mother of Jesus, or the name of our Father in heaven with trifling feelings. “Have you not taken that which was not your own?” No; and I have not been able to get half of what is my own. I am going to have much more than I now have—not twice o

My exhortation to every man, woman, and child that has named the name of Christ—my positive command to you, which I urge upon you, and which it is your imperative duty to hearken to and obey, is to so live every moment that there will not be a dark spot upon your lives—that you can say every night, "The last is the best day I have ever lived. God be praised that I have been enabled to so live this day that I can go to sleep with a clear conscience." In short, so live that when you wake in the spirit world you can truthfully say, "I could not better my mortal life, were I to live it over again." I exhort you, for the sake of the house of Israel, for the sake of Zion which we are to build up, to so live, from this time, henceforth, and forever, that your characters may with pleasure be scrutinized by holy beings. Live godly lives, which you cannot do without living moral lives. A man can commit sin, and return to the Lord and receive forgiveness; but who has the as

The spirit of revelation must be in each and every individual, to know the Plan of Salvation and keep in the path that leads them to the presence of God. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 9:279

The kingdoms that God has prepared are innumerable. Each and every intelligent being will be judged according to the deeds done in the body, according to his works, faith, desires, and honesty or dishonesty before God; every trait of his character will receive its just merit or demerit, and he will be judged according to the law of heaven as revealed; and God has prepared places suited to every class. The Savior said to his disciples—"In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." How many kingdoms there are has not been told to us: they are innumerable. The disciples of Jesus were to dwell with him. Where will the rest go? Into kingdoms prepared for them, where they will live and endure. Jesus will bring forth, by his own redemption, every son and daughter of Adam, except the

Can you discern and understand the dealings of the Lord with this people from the beginning? If we can understand this, it is indeed a matter of great rejoicing to us. All intelligent beings who are crowned with crowns of glory, immortality, and eternal lives must pass through every ordeal appointed for intelligent beings to pass through, to gain their glory and exaltation. Every calamity that can come upon mortal beings will be suffered to come upon the few, to prepare them to enjoy the presence of the Lord. If we obtain the glory that Abraham obtained, we must do so by the same means that he did. If we are ever prepared to enjoy the society of Enoch, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or of their faithful children, and of the faithful Prophets and Apostles, we must pass through the same experience, and gain the knowledge, intelligence, and endowments that will prepare us to enter into the celestial kingdom of our Father and God. How many of the Latter-day Saints will endur

Our religion is peace, happiness, wealth, and a fullness of good things to walk in the light of truth. These blessings are with and for the Latter-day Saints, and we have nothing to do but to live for them. God has given us our tabernacles, and planted in them the germs of eternity; and it is for us, in this present existence, to let the spirit overcome every passion of the flesh, and never to suffer the spirit to submit to the temptations of the flesh. Labor to bring everything into subjection to Christ, for this is his earth. It came from God in the beginning, and that, too, not by any chances of creation; for all that you see and can comprehend and understand, that is good, is produced by the Almighty Creator of the worlds. Respect one another; do not speak lightly of each other. Some, if they get a little pique against an individual, are disposed to cast him down to hell, as not worthy of a place upon earth. O fools! not to understand that those you condemn are the workmanship

There are real dangers—subtle and obvious—when members fall into lockstep with the world’s ways. In so many respects, the world’s ways head in opposite directions from gospel destinations. Moreover, as a covenant people, our behavioral loyalties are to be with the Lord, not with the Caesars of this world. But the tugs of the world are real and persistent. Besides, following the fashions of the world is merely to pursue eventual obsolescence, “for the fashion of this world passeth away” ( 1 Cor. 7:31 ). Typically, President Brigham Young spoke sternly concerning popularity and what can be its ruining acclaim: “I do not want ‘Mormonism’ to become popular. … I would rather pass through all the misery and sorrow, the troubles and trials of the Saints, than to have the religion of Christ become popular with the world” (in Journal of Discourses,  10:297). President N. Eldon Tanner cautioned, “This craving for praise and popularity too often controls actions, and as [people] succumb th

You know the history of "Mormonism;" and if this is not the Lord's work, we had better quit it, for we should derive no benefit from remaining in it. If this is the Church of Christ, God will take care of his people and carry on this work. Brother Cannon stated that one gentleman he conversed with said that there is a power in this work beyond the power of Brigham Young. If we did not know this, we should quickly scatter. All that any man can do is to do his duty. No one possesses power in himself to bear off the work of God and build up the Lord's kingdom. It is His work, and the Lord will accomplish it by the means He will employ. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:145

Our duty is to make the best of our present position. We have the Gospel of life and salvation, to make bad men good and good men better. We are to preach, exhort, expound, continue in our duty, be fervent in spirit, bearing and forbearing with our brethren, being filled with love and kindness; and we will yet, perhaps, get some of our froward connections into heaven. Jesus said, when the woman caught in adultery was brought to him, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." We are all sinners, and it is our duty to cast sin from us when we learn what it is. If we are a little good, become a little better; if we have a little light, get a little more; if we have a little faith, add to it; and by-and-by we shall be prepared to build up and beautify Zion, and to be exalted to reign in immortality and be crowned with the Gods. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:130