By Joseph Smith

1. The Visions That Roll Like An Overflowing Surge Before My Mind
2. The Sublimity Of The Ideas; The Purity Of The Language; The Scope For Action; The Continued Duration For Completion
3. The Veil Might As Well Be Rent Today As Next Week, Or Any Other Time
4. Could You Gaze Into Heaven Five Minutes
5. You Know No More Concerning The Destinies Of This Church Than A Babe Upon Its Mother's Lap; You Don't Comprehend It
6. It Has Been Like Splitting Hemlock Knots With A Corn­Dodger For A Wedge, And A Pumpkin For A Beetle
7. What He Had To Communicate Was So Much More Comprehensive, Enlightened And Dignified
8. Read the Round of Eternity vs. The Little, Narrow Prison…of Paper, Pen And Ink

By Joseph Smith

1. The Things Of God Are Of Deep Import; Time, Experience, Careful & Ponderous & Solemn Thoughts Can Only Find Them Out
2. The Nearer Man Approaches Perfection, The Clearer Are His Views, And The Greater His Enjoyments
3. When You Feel Pure Intelligence Flowing Into You; By Learning & Understanding It, You Grow Into The Principle Of Revelation

1. The Everlasting Gospel Is Mightier In Power To Save Than Our Narrow Finite Minds Can Comprehend -- Orson F. Whitney
2. Eternal Life Is An Inherent Quality Of The Creature -- Brigham Young
3. You Are In The Pathway To Eternal Fame, And Immortal Glory -- Joseph Smith
4. God is Not Cantankerous -- Jeffrey R. Holland
5. He Bound Himself Also, By Covenant To Us, That He Would Never Desert Us, Never Leave Us To Ourselves -- George Q. Cannon
6. The Least of Us, the Humblest, is in Partnership with the Almighty in Achieving the Purpose of the Eternal Plan of Salvation -- John A. Widtsoe
7. You Cannot Indefinitely Resist The Power And Pressure Of Truth -- Spencer W. Kimball
8. No Power Of Earth Or Hell Can Separate Them From Their Parents In Eternity -- Brigham Young
9. There Is Not One Of Us That He Has Not Desired To Save And That He Has Not Devised Means To Save -- George Q. Cannon
10. "Man's Destiny" -- Lorenzo Snow
11. We Will Continue On Improving, Advancing, And Increasing In Wisdom, Intelligence, Power, And Dominion -- John Taylor
12. You'll Never Fall Off From It, And, For All Practical Purposes, Your Calling And Election Is Made Sure -- Bruce R. McConkie
13. Sorrow and Suffering: Education We Came Here to Acquire, Makes Us More Like Our Father and Mother In Heaven -- Orson F. Whitney

1. "Origin and Destiny of Woman" -- John Taylor
2. By His Side I'll Reign In Heaven -- Vilate Kimball
3. The Thread Which Runs From The Beginning To The End Of The Holy Gospel Of Salvation -- Brigham Young

By Joseph Smith

1. We Don't Ask Any People To Throw Away Any Good They Have Got; We Only Ask Them To Come And Get More
2. I Will Lift Them Up, And In Their Own Way, Too, If I Cannot Persuade Them My Way Is Better

1. True Doctrine Changes Attitudes and Behavior -- Boyd K. Packer
2. They Govern Themselves -- Joseph Smith

1. The Visions That Roll Like An Overflowing Surge Before My Mind
 

It is my meditation all the day, and more than my meat and drink, to know how I shall make the Saints of God comprehend the visions that roll like an overflowing surge before my mind. O how I would delight to bring before you things which you never thought of, but poverty & the cares of the world prevent.

But I am glad I have the privilege of communicating to you some things which, if grasped closely, will be a help to you when the clouds are gathering, & the storms are ready to burst upon you like peals of thunder. Lay hold of these things & let not your knees tremble, nor your hearts faint. What can earthquakes do; wars and tornadoes do? Nothing. All your losses will be made up to you in the resurrection, provided you continue faithful. By the vision of the Almighty I have seen it.

(Joseph Smith -- 16 April 1843, Words of Joseph Smith, pg. 196) [top]

Nothing could be more pleasing to the Saints upon the order of the Kingdom of The Lord, than the light which burst upon the world through the foregoing vision. Every law, every commandment, every promise, every truth, and every point touching the destiny of man, from Genesis to Revelation, where the purity of the Scriptures remains unsullied by the folly of men, go to show the perfection of the theory (of different degrees of glory in the future life) and witnesses the fact that that document is a transcript from the records of the eternal world.

The sublimity of the ideas; the purity of the language; the scope for action; the continued duration for completion, in order that the heirs of salvation may confess the Lord and bow the knee; the rewards for faithfulness, and the punishment for sins, are so much beyond the narrow-mindedness of men, that every honest man is constrained to exclaim: "It came from God".

(Joseph Smith -- Summary of impact of DC 76 -- A transcript from the Records of the Eternal World. DHC 1:252) [top]

We have assembled together to do the business of the Lord and it is through the great mercy of our God that we are spared to assemble together, many of us have gone at the command of the Lord in defiance of everything evil, and obtained blessings unspeakable, in consequence of which our names are sealed in the Lamb's book of life, for the Lord has spoken it.

It is the privilege of every Elder to speak of the things of God; and could we all come together with one heart and one mind in perfect faith the veil might as well be rent today as next week, or any other time, and if we will but cleanse ourselves and covenant before God, to serve Him, it is our privilege to have an assurance that God will protect us at all times.

(Joseph Smith -- Teachings, pg. 8 -- FWR, p. 13-14; Oct. 25, 1831) [top]

Reading the experience of others, or the revelation given to them, can never give us a comprehensive view of our condition and true relation to God. Knowledge of these things can only be obtained by experience through the ordinances of God set forth for that purpose. Could we read and comprehend all that has been written from the days of Adam on the relations of God and angels in a future state, we should know very little about it.

Could you gaze into heaven five minutes, you would know more than you could possibly by reading all that ever was written on the subject.

(Joseph Smith -- 9 October 1843 -- The Words of Joseph Smith, p. 254.) [top]

Brethren, I have been very much edified by your testimonies here tonight. But I want to say to you, before the Lord, that you know no more concerning the destinies of this Church and Kingdom than a babe upon its Mother's lap. You don't comprehend it.

It is only a little handful of Priesthood you see here tonight. But this Church will fill north and south America. It will fill the world.

(Wilford Woodruff records: "In April of 1834, I arrived, a newly baptized member in Kirtland, Ohio. It was the first time I have ever seen the Prophet Joseph Smith and he invited me home with him. The next evening the Prophet called on all who held the Priesthood to gather into a little log school house. It was small, perhaps 14 feet square, but it held the whole of the priesthood of the Church of Jesus Christ who were then in Kirtland. That was the first time I had ever seen Oliver Cowdery or heard him speak. The first time I ever seen Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball. The Prophet called upon those present to bear testimony of this work. Those I had named spoke as well as many others. When they got through the Prophet said [the above]." -- Conference Report of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, April 1898, p. 57.) [top]

But there has been a great difficulty in getting anything into the heads of this generation. It has been like splitting hemlock knots with a corn­dodger for a wedge, and a pumpkin for a beetle. * Even the Saints are slow to understand.

I have tried for a number of years to get the minds of the Saints prepared to receive the things of God; but we frequently see some of them, after suffering all they have for the work of God, will fly to pieces like glass as soon as anything comes that is contrary to their traditions: they cannot stand the fire at all.

(Joseph Smith -- Teachings, Pg. 329­331 (Jan. 20, 1844.) DHC 6:183­185. * Words of Joseph Smith, page 386, "Using more current terminology, this sentence translates, 'It has been like splitting the knots of hemlock trees using a piece of corn bread for a wedge and a pumpkin for the sledge hammer.'") [top]

No wonder Joseph Smith should say that he felt himself shut up in a nutshell, there was no power of expansion; it was difficult for him to reveal and communicate the things of God because there was no place to receive them.

What he had to communicate was so much more comprehensive, enlightened and dignified than that which the people generally knew and comprehended, it was difficult for him to speak; he felt fettered and bound, so to speak, in every move he made, and so it is to the present time.

(Joseph Smith -- John Taylor on Joseph Smith, JD 10:147-148) [top]

Oh, Lord, when will the time come when Brother William, Thy servant, and myself, shall behold the day that we may stand together and gaze upon eternal wisdom engraven upon the heavens, while the majesty of our God holdeth up the dark curtain until we may read the round of eternity, to the fulness and satisfaction of our immortal souls?

Oh, Lord, deliver us in due time from the little, narrow prison, almost as it were, total darkness of paper, pen and ink;­­ and a crooked, broken, scattered and imperfect language.

(Joseph Smith -- Words of Joseph Smith, pg. 261­2; In Joseph's own handwriting.) [top]

1. The Things Of God Are Of Deep Import; Time, Experience, Careful & Ponderous & Solemn Thoughts Can Only Find Them Out
 

A fanciful and flowery and heated imagination beware of; because the things of God are of deep import; and time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out.

Thy mind, O man! if thou wilt lead a soul unto salvation, must stretch as high as the utmost heavens, and search into and contemplate the darkest abyss, and the broad expanse of eternity ­­ thou must commune with God.

How much more dignified and noble are the thoughts of God, than the vain imaginations of the human heart! None but fools will trifle with the souls of men. How vain and trifling have been our spirits, our conferences, our councils, our meetings, our private as well as public conversations - too low, too mean, too vulgar, too condescending for the dignified characters of the called and chosen of God, according to the purposes of His will, from before the foundation of the world!

We are called to hold the keys of the mysteries of those things that have been kept hid from the foundation of the world until now. Some have tasted a little of these things, many of which are to be poured down from heaven upon the heads of babes; yea, upon the weak, obscure and despised ones of the earth. Therefore we beseech of you, brethren, that you bear with those who do not feel themselves more worthy than yourselves, while we exhort one another to a reformation with one and all, both old and young, teachers and taught, both high and low, rich and poor, bond and free, male and female; let honesty, and sobriety, and candor, and solemnity, and virtue, and pureness, and meekness, and simplicity crown our heads in every place; and in fine, become as little children, without malice, guile or hypocrisy.

(Joseph Smith -- Teachings, Page 137) [top]

We consider that God has created man with a mind capable of instruction, and a faculty which may be enlarged in proportion to the heed and diligence given to the light communicated from heaven to the intellect; and that the nearer man approaches perfection, the clearer are his views, and the greater his enjoyments, till he has overcome the evils of his life and lost every desire for sin; and like the ancients, arrives at that point of faith where he is wrapped in the power and glory of his Maker and is caught up to dwell with Him.

But we consider that this is a station to which no man ever arrived in a moment: he must have been instructed in the government and laws of that kingdom by proper degrees, until his mind is capable in some measure of comprehending the propriety, justice, equality, and consistency of the same.… It is necessary for men to receive an understanding concerning the laws of the heavenly kingdom, before they are permitted to enter it: we mean the celestial glory.

(Joseph Smith -- Letter to the Brethren, January 22, 1834. Teachings, Page 47) [top]

The Spirit of Revelation is in connection with these blessings. A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; (i.e.,) those things that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God, will come to pass; and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus.

1. The Everlasting Gospel Is Mightier In Power To Save Than Our Narrow Finite Minds Can Comprehend
 

You parents of the wilful and the wayward! Don't give them up. Don't cast them off. They are not utterly lost. The Shepherd will find his sheep. They were his before they were yours - long before he entrusted them to your care; and you cannot begin to love them as he loves them. They have but strayed in ignorance from the Path of Right, and God is merciful to ignorance. Only the fulness of knowledge brings the fulness of accountability.

Our Heavenly Father is far more merciful, infinitely more charitable, than even the best of his servants, and the Everlasting Gospel is mightier in power to save than our narrow finite minds can comprehend.

The prophet Joseph Smith declared ­­ and he never taught more comforting doctrine ­­ that the eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to them for valiant service in the Cause of Truth, would save not only themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return.

They will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for their sins; and may tread a thorny path, but if it leads them at last, like the penitent Prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father's heart and home, the painful experience will not have been in vain.

Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God. Who are these straying sheep ­­ these wayward sons and daughters? They are children of the Covenant, heirs to the promises, and have received, if baptized, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, which makes manifest the things of God. Could all that go for naught?

(Orson F. Whitney -- April Conference, 1929, pg. 109-111) [top]

I know what I have to do, and that is to teach this people to appreciate their own present lives. There is no life more precious than the present life which we enjoy; there is no life that is worth any more to us than this life is. It may be said that an eternal life is worth more. We are [already] in eternity, and all that we have to do is to take the road that leads into the eternal lives.

Eternal life is an inherent quality of the creature, and nothing but sin can put a termination to it. The elements in their nature are as eternal as are the Gods. Let us learn, under the guidance and direction of Heaven, how to use these eternal elements for the building up, establishment and sending forth of the kingdom of God, gathering up the poor in heart to begin with, and the further things we will learn as we progress.

Dear Brethren: I am happy in being informed by your letter that your mission swells "larger and larger." It is a great and important mission, and one that is worthy those intelligences who surround the throne of Jehovah to be engaged in.

Although it appears great at present, yet you have but just begun to realize the greatness, the extent and glory of the same. If there is anything calculated to interest the mind of the Saints, to awaken in them the finest sensibilities, and arouse them to enterprise and exertion, surely it is the great and precious promises made by our heavenly Father to the children of Abraham; and those engaged in seeking the outcasts of Israel, and the dispersed of Judah, cannot fail to enjoy the Spirit of the Lord and have the choicest blessings of heaven rest upon them in copious effusions.

Brethren, you are in the pathway to eternal fame, and immortal glory; and inasmuch as you feel interested for the covenant people of the Lord, the God of their fathers shall bless you.

Do not be discouraged on account of the greatness of the work; only [be] humble and faithful, and then you can say, "What art thou, O great mountain! before Zerebbabel shalt thou be brought down." He who scattered Israel has promised to gather them; therefore inasmuch as you are to be instrumental in this great work,

He will endow you with power, wisdom, might and intelligence, and every qualification necessary; while your minds will expand wider and wider, until you can circumscribe the earth and the heavens,reach forth into eternity, and contemplate the mighty acts of Jehovah in all their variety and glory. … JOSEPH SMITH, JUN.

(Teachings, pg 163-164; DHC 4:128-129; To Orson Hyde & John E. Page; Nauvoo, Hancock Co., IL, May 14th, 1840) [top]

God is not dead, and he is not an absentee landlord. God is not uncaring, or capricious, or cantankerous. Above all, he is not some sort of a divine referee trying to tag us [out at] third base.

The experience of this people is different from that of any other people upon the face of the earth that I know anything about. We have proved God. We know He lives. We know that He will feed us, that He will clothe us, that He will shelter us. We know that He watches over us. We know that His angels are round about us, and that nothing occurs but, in His providence, if we do right, will be controlled for our good and for our eventual salvation.

He will let no trial descend upon us without giving us strength and grace to endure it, if we will live so as to obtain it. This is His promise to us. And God is bound irrevocably by His covenant to us. Am I irreverent in saying this? I hope not. I do not say it with any spirit of that kind. But it is a fact.

When we went forth into the waters of baptism, and covenanted with our Father in heaven to serve Him and keep His commandments, He bound Himself also, by covenant to us, that He would never desert us, never leave us to ourselves, never forget us; that in the midst of trials and hardships, when everything was arrayed against us, He would be near unto us and would sustain us. That was His covenant, and He has amply fulfilled it up to the present time, and has shown that we can tie to the promises that He has made. We have proved these things through experience.

(George Q. Cannon -- Salt Lake Tabernacle, August 6, 1893; Collected Discourses 3:330 and Gospel Doctrine 1:170) [top]

In our preexistent state, in the day of the Great Council, we made a certain agreement with the Almighty. The Lord proposed a plan, conceived by him. We accepted it.

Since the plan is intended for all men, we became parties to the salvation of every person under that plan. We agreed, right then and there, to be not only saviors for ourselves but measurably, saviors for the whole human family. We went into a partnership with the Lord. The working out of the plan became then not merely the Father's work, and the Savior's work, but also our work. The least of us, the humblest, is in partnership with the Almighty in achieving the purpose of the eternal plan of salvation.

That places us in a very responsible attitude towards the human race. By that doctrine, with the Lord at the head, we become saviors on Mount Zion, all committed to the great plan of offering salvation to the untold numbers of spirits. To do this is the Lord's self-imposed duty, this great labor his highest glory. Likewise, it is man's duty, self-imposed, his pleasure and joy, his labor, and ultimately his glory. Under the gospel what is man's highest ideal? Under the gospel it must be to become like the Father. If the Lord's concern is chiefly to bring happiness and joy, salvation, to the whole human family, we cannot become like the Father unless we too engage in that work.

(John A. Widtsoe -- "The Worth of Souls," Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, Oct. 1934, pp. 189ff ) [top]

The time will come when there will be a surrender of every person who has ever lived on this earth, who is now living, or who ever will live on this earth; and it will be an unforced surrender, an unconditional surrender.

When will it be for you? Today? In twenty years? Two hundred years? Two thousand or a million? When?

Again, to you...I say, it is not if you will capitulate to the great truth; it is when, for I know that you cannot indefinitely resist the power and pressure of truth. Why not now? Much time has been lost. The years ahead can be far more glorious for you than any years in the past.

(Spencer W. Kimball -- Ensign, Sept. 1978, p. 8) [top]

Let the father and mother, who are members of this Church and Kingdom, take a righteous course, and strive with all their might never to do a wrong, but to do good all their lives; if they have one child or one hundred children, if they conduct themselves towards them as they should, binding them to the Lord by their faith and prayers, I care not where those children go, they are bound up to their parents by an everlasting tie, and no power of earth or hell can separate them from their parents in eternity; they will return again to the fountain from whence they sprang.

Now, this is the truth. We humble people, we who feel ourselves sometimes so worthless, so good­for­nothing, we are not so worthless as we think.

There is not one of us but what God's love has been expended upon.
There is not one of us that He has not cared for and caressed.
There is not one of us that He has not desired to save and that He has not devised means to save.
There is not one of us that He has not given His angels charge concerning.

We may be insignificant and contemptible in our own eyes and in the eyes of others, but the truth remains that we are the children of God and that He has actually given His angels ­­ invisible beings of power and might ­­ charge concerning us, and they watch over us and have us in their keeping.

(George Q. Cannon -- Gospel Truth 1:2) [top]

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." Philippians 2:5,6

Dear Brother:

Hast thou not been unwisely bold, Man's destiny to thus unfold?
To raise, promote such high desire, Such vast ambition thus inspire?
Still, 'tis no phantom that we trace Man's ultimatum in life's race;
This royal path has long been trod By righteous men, each now a God:
As Abra'm, Isaac, Jacob too, First babes, then men­ to gods they grew.
As man now is, our God once was; As now God is, so man may be,­ Which doth unfold man's destiny.
The boy, like to his father grown, Has but attained unto his own;
To grow to sire from state of son, Is not 'gainst Nature's course to run.
A son of God, like God to be, Would not be robbing Deity;
And he who has this hope within, Will purify himself from sin.
You're right, St. John, supremely right: Whoe'er essays to climb this height,
Will cleanse himself of sin entire­ Or else 'twere needless to aspire.

(Lorenzo Snow -- Improvement Era 22:660-661, June 1919; Originally written January 11, 1892) [top]

Our identity will always remain the same. In considering ourselves and how we have been organized and what we are doing, we discover that there is immortality connected with us. We are immortal beings. That which dwells in this body of ours is immortal, and will always exist.

Our individuality will always continue. Eternities may begin, eternities may end, and still we shall have our individuality. Our identity is insured. We will be ourselves and nobody else. Whatever changes may arise, whatever worlds may be made or pass away, our identity will always remain the same; and we will continue on improving, advancing, and increasing in wisdom, intelligence, power, and dominion, worlds without end. Our present advancement is simply a starting out, as it were, on this path of immortality.

Whatever may have been our past, how long we may have existed before this, or whether there ever was a time when we did not exist, there is one thing sure ­­ our being in the future will never be annihilated, never destroyed.

(John Taylor -- 5 April 1901, Conference Report, pg. 2) [top]

This is a true gospel verity -- that everyone in the Church who is on the straight and narrow path, who is striving and struggling and desiring to do what is right, though is far from perfect in this life; if he passes out of this life while he's on the straight and narrow, he's going to go on to eternal reward in his Father's kingdom.

We don't need to get a complex or get a feeling that you have to be perfect to be saved. You don't. There's only been one perfect person, and that's the Lord Jesus, but in order to be saved in the Kingdom of God and in order to pass the test of mortality, what you have to do is get on the straight and narrow path...

You don't have to do what Jacob said, "Go beyond the mark."
You don't have to live a life that is truer than true.
You don't have to have an excessive zeal that becomes fanatical and becomes unbalancing.

What you have to do is stay in the mainstream of the Church and live as upright and decent people, keepingthe commandments, paying your tithing, serving in the organizations of the Church, loving the Lord, staying in the straight and narrow path.

If you're on the path when death comes -- because this is the time and the day appointed, this the probationary estate -- you'll never fall off from it, and, for all practical purposes, your calling and election is made sure.

(Bruce R. McConkie, University of Utah, Jan 1982) [top]

No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility.

All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God.

It is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven.

("Orson F. Whitney's Philosophy of Education," Orson F. Whitney; Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, p.99) [top]

1. "Origin and Destiny of Woman"
 

The Latter-day Saints have often been ridiculed on account of their belief in the pre-existence of spirits, and for marrying for time and all eternity, both being Bible doctrines. We have often been requested to give our views in relation to these principles, but considered the things of the kingdom belonged to the children of the kingdom, therefore not meet to give them to those without. But being very politely requested by a lady a few days since (a member of the Church) to answer the following questions, we could not consistently refuse, viz.: "Where did I come from? What am I doing here? Whither am I going? And what is my destiny after having obeyed the truth, if faithful to the end?" For her benefit and all others concerned, we will endeavor to answer the questions in brief, as we understand them. The reason will be apparent for our belief in the pre-existence of spirits, and in marrying for time and all eternity.

Lady, whence comest thou? Thine origin? What art thou doing here? Whither art thou going, and what is thy destiny? Declare unto me if thou hast understanding. Knowest thou not that thou art a spark of Deity, struck from the fire of His eternal blaze, and brought forth in the midst of eternal burning? Knowest thou not that eternities ago thy spirit, pure and holy, dwelt in thy Heavenly Father's bosom, and in His presence, and with thy mother, one of the queens of heaven, surrounded by thy brother and sister spirits in the spirit world, among the Gods?

That as thy spirit beheld the scenes transpiring there, and thou grewest in intelligence, thou sawest worlds upon worlds organized and peopled with thy kindred spirits who took upon them tabernacles, died, were resurrected, and received their exaltation on the redeemed worlds they once dwelt upon. Thou being willing and anxious to imitate them, waiting and desirous to obtain a body, a resurrection and exaltation also, and having obtained permission, madest a covenant with one of thy kindred spirits to be thy guardian angel while in mortality, also with two others, male and female spirits, that thou wouldst come and take a tabernacle through their lineage, and become one of their offspring. You also chose a kindred spirit whom you loved in the spirit world (and who had permission to come to this planet and take a tabernacle), to be your head, stay, husband and protector on the earth and to exalt you in eternal worlds. All these were arranged, likewise the spirits that should tabernacle through your lineage.

Thou longed, thou sighed and thou prayed to thy Father in heaven for the time to arrive when thou couldst come to this earth, which had fled and fallen from where it was first organized, near the planet Kolob. Leaving thy father and mother's bosom and all thy kindred spirits thou camest to earth, took a tabernacle, and imitated the deeds of those who had been exalted before you. At length the time arrived, and thou heard the voice of thy Father saying, go daughter to yonder lower world, and take upon thee a tabernacle, and work out thy probation with fear and trembling and rise to exaltation.

But daughter, remember you go on this condition, that is, you are to forget all things you ever saw, or knew to be transacted in the spirit world; you are not to know or remember anything concerning the same that you have beheld transpire here; but you must go and become one of the most helpless of all beings that I have created, while in your infancy, subject to sickness, pain, tears, mourning, sorrow and death. But when truth shall touch the chords of your heart they will vibrate; then intelligence shall illuminate your mind, and shed its lustre in your soul, and you shall begin to understand the things you once knew, but which had gone from you; you shall then begin to understand and know the object of your creation.

Daughter, go, and be faithful as thou hast been in thy first estate. Thy spirit, filled with joy and thanksgiving, rejoiced in thy Father, and rendered praise to His holy name, the spirit world resounded in anthems of praise to the Father of spirits. Thou bade father, mother and all farewell, and along with thy guardian angel, thou came on this terraqueous globe.

The spirits thou hadst chosen to come and tabernacle through their lineage, and your head having left the spirit world some years previous, thou came a spirit pure and holy. Thou hast obeyed the truth, and thy guardian angel ministers unto thee and watches over thee. Thou hast chosen him you loved in the spirit world to be thy companion. Now crowns, thrones, exaltations and dominions are in reserve for thee in the eternal worlds, and the way is opened for thee to return back into the presence of thy Heavenly Father, if thou wilt only abide by and walk in a celestial law, fulfill the designs of thy Creator and hold out to the end that when mortality is laid in the tomb, you may go down to your grave in peace, arise in glory, and receive your everlasting reward in the resurrection of the just, along with thy head and husband. Thou wilt be permitted to pass by the Gods and angels who guard the gates, on onward, upward to thy exaltation in a celestial world among the Gods.

To be a priestess queen upon thy Heavenly Father's throne, and a glory to thy husband and offspring, to bear the souls of men, to people other worlds (as thou dist bear their tabernacles in mortality) while eternity goes and eternity comes; and if you will receive it, lady, this is eternal life. And herein is the saying of the Apostle Paul fulfilled, "That the man is not without the woman, neither is the woman without the man in the Lord." "That the man is the head of the woman, and the glory of the man is the woman."

Hence, thine origin, the object of thy ultimate destiny. If faithful, lady, the cup is within thy reach; drink then the heavenly draught and live.

(John Taylor -- The Mormon, August 29, 1857, New York City) [top]

No being round the spacious earth Beneath the vaulted arch of heaven,
Divides my love, or draws it thence, From him to whom my heart is given.
Like the frail ivy to the oak, Drawn closer, by the tempest river,
Through sorrow's flood he'll bear me up And light with smiles my way to heaven.
The gift was on the altar laid; The plighted vow on earth was given;
The seal eternal has been made, And by his side I'll reign in heaven. (Vilate Kimball -- Wrote a poem for her husband, Heber C. Kimball, on Jan. 17, 1847) [top]

But the whole subject of the marriage relation is not in my reach, nor in any other man's reach on this earth. It is without beginning of days or end of years; it is a hard matter to reach. We can tell some things with regard to it; it lays the foundation for worlds, for angels, and for the Gods; for intelligent beings to be crowned with glory, immortality, and eternal lives.

In fact, it is the thread which runs from the beginning to the end of the holy Gospel of salvation-- of the Gospel of the Son of God; it is from eternity to eternity.

When the vision of the mind is opened, you can see a great portion of it, but you see it comparatively as a speaker sees the faces of a congregation. To look at, and talk to, each individual separately, and thinking to become fully acquainted with them, only to spend five minutes with each would consume too much time, it could not easily be done. So it is with the visions of eternity; we can see and understand, but it is difficult to tell. May God bless you. Amen."

(Journal of Discourses, Vol.2, p.90, Brigham Young, October 6, 1854) [top]

1. We Don't Ask Any People To Throw Away Any Good They Have Got; We Only Ask Them To Come And Get More
 

I have no desire but to do all men good. I feel to pray for all men. We don't ask any people to throw away any good they have got; we only ask them to come and get more.

What if all the world should embrace this Gospel? They would then see eye to eye, and the blessings of God would be poured out upon the people, which is my whole soul. Amen.

(Joseph Smith -- Conclusion of Speech Sunday 22 Jan. 1843 at the Nauvoo Temple. The Words of Joseph Smith, p. 158-159; DHC 5:256-259; TPJS, p. 274) [top]

If I esteem mankind to be in error, shall I bear them down? No. I will lift them up, and in their own way, too, if I cannot persuade them my way is better; and I will not seek to compel any man to believe as I do, only by the force of reasoning, for truth will cut its own way.

1. True Doctrine Changes Attitudes and Behavior
 

True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior.

I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves.