Friday, January 14, 2011

Comprehensiveness of True Religion - The Saints But Stewards. delivered at Great Salt Lake City, December 5, 1853 pg 334-341

"Can anything be taught that will edify this congregation like the principles of the gospel?" pg 334
"The whole mortal existence of man is neither more nor less than a preparatory state given to finite beings." pg 334
-this life isn't for accumulating stuff, etc. but to grow and to develop and to gain salvation
"It matters not what the subject be, if it tends to improve the mind, exalt the feelings, and enlarge the capacity. The truth that is in in all the arts and sciences forms part of our religion." pg 335
"Were I to lecture on business principles of any kind, our religion embraces it; and what it does not circumscribe, it would be well for us to dispense with at once and forever." pg 335
"How easy it is for their minds to become darkened by the God of this world, and become like the eyes of the fool, which are in the end of the earth, seeking for gold and silver, [etc.]..." pg 335
"If the Later-day Saints have not been schooled enough to realise that all things which partain to this world - riches, honours, [etc.]... are not wholly suservient to their religion, they are not fully skilled in their profession." pg 335
-how many really know where they stand and where and how they need to improve
-do you know spiritual and religous things as well as you do more trivial things? like the plot of a book or movie etc.
-are you after true and lasting treasures or temporary, worldly treasures?
"Who of this congregation can realize for one moment, that the Lord would notice so trifling an affair as the hairs you have combed from your heads this morning Yet it is so, not one hair has fallen to the ground without the notice of our Father in heaven." pg 336
"If we have not yet learned that poverty, sickness, pain, want, disappointment, losses, crosses, or even death, should not move us one hair's breadth from the service of God or separate us from the principles of eternal life, it is a lesson we have to learn." pg 336
-even if you know more than an encyclopedia but you don't know about salvation or building up the Lord's kingdom, you have a lot to learn
"They do not realize they are to be tried in all things." pg 337
-without gratitude, etc., we can harm ourselves thorugh the Lord's blessings
"Mysterious as it may appear to the children of me, God is in and round about all things." pg 337
"Shall we ever see the time we shall be perfectly independant of every other being in all the eternities? No; we shall never see that time." pg 338
"My religion must be with me from Monday morning to the next, year round, or it will not answer me." pg 338
"Let no man judge his fellow being, unless he know he has the mind of Christ within him." pg 339
-money will be of better use helping others than sitting in a bank for "being rich"

Friday, December 3, 2010

Gathering The Poor - The Perpetual Emigration Fund - Ingratitude. delivered in the tabernacle at General Conference, October 6, 1853 pg 322-237

-the Perpetual Emigration Fund was a process of loaning (?) to enable the poorer Saints to emigrate to Utah
-you have been helped and in turn you ought to help others
-remember what it was like when you were in trouble or a bad situation and now help others out of their trouble and bad situations
"If you can remember your own feelings then [when first learning about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints], you can know how others feel, you can realize how thousands... feel at this present moment. There is no hardship they would refuse to undergo,... if they could assemble with us here today." pg 323
"If you started on your journey with the influence of the Spirit warming your hearts, who prevented you from retaining it every day of your life? You may say it was the devil that robbed you of it. But what business had you with the devil?" pg 323
-if you get tempted you don't need to submit to it
"My advice to you is, go and be baptized for the remission of sins, and start afresh, that the temptation may not overcome you again; pause and reflect, that you be not overcome by the evil one unawares." pg 324
"When the Lord Almighty opens the vision of a person's mind, He shows him the things of the Spirit - things that will be." pg 324
-don't be ungrateful, if someone has helped you out of bad circumstances, be grateful and gracious to them.
-always be grateful

Friday, November 12, 2010

The Privileges and Blessings of the Gospel. Delivered at the Tabernacle Feb. 20, 1853 pg 309-316

"Truly happy is that man, or woman, or people, who enjoys the privileges of the Gospel of the Son of God, and who know how to appreciate his blessings." pg 309
"In this dispensation all things will be gathered together in one, and, strange and marvelous as it may appear to the world, these are the people who are instruments in the hand of God to bring it to pass." pg 309
"Here is the plan of salvation, here are the words of life, here is the light of eternity, here is the intelligence that will instruct kings, and impart judgment to rulers." pg 309
-there are very real and wonderful blessings that come through the gospel, can we realize this and step up to meet it?
-really you just need to read this discourse
"...they will all, with one voice as it were, testify to the truth of this work in which we are engaged." pg 310
"Nothing less than the power of the Almighty, enlightening the understandings of men, can demonstrate this glorious truth to the human mind." pg 310
"If I do not enjoy all I anticipated, if my happiness is not as complete as I anticipated,... the cause is in myself, in my own heart, in my own disposition..." pg 311
"It is a mistaken idea to suppose that others can prevent me from enjoying the light of God in my soul; all hell cannot hinder me from enjoying Zion in my own heart, if my individual will yields obedience to the requirements and mandates of my heavenly master. He has set me a pattern to copy, which if I initiate faithfully, will yield to me all and more of heaven in my own heart than I can anticipate." pg 311
-someone else doing wrong isn't a good reason for you also to do wrong
-you are the person to be blamed for your actions whether they be good or bad.
-no one will get you heaven or hell but yourself
"I will apply my heart to wisdom, and ask the Lord to impart it to me; and if I know but little, I will improve on it," pg 313
-the Saints had many trials and persecutions etc. and we may get discouraged, or be glad, thinking that we could not have endured such, however there were also great blessings that came along with those trials
"Anything I can do or suffer in the cause of the Gospel, is only like the hopping of a pin into the sea; the blessings, gifts, powers, honour, joy, truth, salvation, glory, immortality, and eternal lives as far outswelll anything I can do in return for such precious gifts,..." pg 313
"It is easy for us to think how things should be, bu the difficulty is, things are not always as we would like to have them." pg 314
"People suffer more in the anticipation of death, then in death itself. There is more suffering in what I call borrowed trouble than in the trouble itself." pg 315
"Those who are apt to go to one extreme, are almost sure to go to the other, which always causes disappointment, either agreeably, or disagreeably." pg 315
"...establish CONFIDENCE IN EACH OTHER." pg 315
-let people have their little private things and leave them alone
-stay out of debt

Friday, September 10, 2010

True and False Riches. delivered at the Special Conference in the tabernacle, August 14, 1853 pg 264- 276

"He will let his servants gaze upon eternal things for a moment, but straightway the vision is closed and they are left as they were, that they may learn to act by faith.: pg 264
"...to stretch out the arm of charity to every person, to fill up their days with industry, prudence, and faithfulness, proclaiming means to sustain themselves, and to administer to the wants of those who are unable to administer to themselves." pg 265
-the riches of the world are not "True Riches"
-possessions are not wealth
"The riches of this world are nothing more than a stepping stone, or a necessary means whereby people may obtain the true riches - by which they can sustain themselves until they can procure the true riches of the kingdom of God." pg 266
-go for the things that will last, the things of the world won't last; think about the stock market crashes
"They are to be used, but not abused. They are to be handled with discretion, and looked upon in their true light, with out any lustful desires... that we may be prepared to secure to ourselves eternal riches." pg 266
-riches etc. may seem more important than things like Christ and the gospel
-the Bible talks about what true riches are and who had them
-God holds the true riches
"But when we possess the true riches, we shall be able to call forth the bread from the native element, like as Jesus Christ did. [the loaves and the fishes]" pg 270
"[Jesus] had the keys and power of true riches, if any man possess which, he is rich in time and in eternity." pg 270
"The true coin is what we are after, the true riches. We are seeking to made rich in the power of God, so as to control the elements and say - "Let there be light," and there is light;..." pg 271
-money is very useful but when you get right down to it, money can't stop death or pain and you can't keep your money when you're dead.
"What shall we do to secure the true riches? "Seek first the Kingdom of God, and it's righteousness." Lay up treasures in heaven, ..." pg 271
"The only true riches in existence are for you and I to secure for ourselves a holy resurrection;..." pg 272
"When we talk about mystery, we talk about eternal obscurity; for that which is known, ceases to be a mystery; and all that is known, we may know as we progress in the scale of intelligence." pg 274

Friday, August 13, 2010

Weakness & Impotence of Men - Condition of the Saints - Dedication to the Lord - The Millennium. delivered at the opening of the new tabernacle, April 6, 1852 pg 198- 203
"We can now calmly reflect upon the experience of our past lives, and those minds that are opened to receive light and truth, that can behold the manifestations of the Lord, can at once see that He has done that which we could not have accomplished by our own power, and that directly behind... a frowning Providence oftentimes are concealed the greatest blessings that mankind can desire. It teaches us to trust in the Lord, to have confidence in our God. ..." pg 198
"Men may presume to dictate to the Lord; they come to naught, but His work moves steadily foreword." pg 198
"...I feel to dedicate myself and all I possess to the Lord, and constantly feel, with all I have, on the alter of sacrifice to the cause of my God." pg 199
"...I say to such, Go! but as for me, thought all the world should sink into oblivion, I will go up to worship the Lord." pg 199
"I dedicate myself, my family, and my substance anew unto the Lord, they are not mine, I am not my own creation, nor the producer of anything I possess; I did not originate one atom of it. Let the world and its cares go! The Lord Almighty, who made it, is able to take care of it, and He may do with it what He pleases;..." pg 199
-put the Lord first
"...let us dedicate ourselves, our families, our substance, our time, our talents, and everything we have upon the the face of this world, with all that will hereafter be entrusted to us, to the Lord our God; let the whole be devoted to the building up of His kingdom upon the earth, ..." pg 200
-don't get so comfortable that you forget the Lord
-put yourself in the Lord's hands and let him mold and guide you
-remember your blessings and serve the Lord accordingly, don't just whine and complain
"If you have gold and silver, let it not come between you and your duty." pg 202
"...I will make my hands labor in the cause of God until my heard bows in submission to it." pg 202
"...the more kind we are to our animals, the more will peace increase." pg 203

Friday, May 14, 2010

Where The Wicked Go -- Continual Opposition To And Prejudice Against The Truth -- The Judges And The Delegate of Utah -- The Spirit of God ANd The Spirit of the World -- Potency Of The Gospel.
Delivered at the tabernacle June 19, 1853 pg 185-191
"...all, when they die, go somewhere; and if they want to know particularly where they are going when they die, let them read the Bible and learn." pg 185
"...but I hope one thing concerning this people and kingdom of God which are established upon the earth, that they will turn neither to the right nor to the left, but maintain continually a steady and unslackened pace to build up the cause of truth." pg 186
"If anything oppose the progress of this great work, if any person, whether great or small, should stand in the way of it, do you suppose it will stop?..N
O..." page 186
"Do the righteous of this people cause persecution to come upon themselves? No.... But it is the disposition of the wicked to oppose the principles of truth and righteousness, which cause it." pg 186
"...but this I know, the Lord Almighty will not suffer the Saints, neither the world, to slumber upon their oars." pg 189
"I care not what may come, I will do the work the Lord has appointed unto me. You do the same and fear not, for the Lord Manages the helm of the Ship of Zion; and on any other ship I do not wish to be." pg 189
"...it is the Spirit of the Lord that is placed in man, and the reflection of light from it upon his spirit wakes up the sensibilities in him, and conviction." pg 190

Friday, April 23, 2010

Indian Hostilities and Trechery -- Excitment -- Covetousness -- Consequenses of Obedience and Disobedience -- Policy Towards the Indians -- Walker and His Band -- Vigilance.
delivered in the tabernacle, July 31, 1853 pg 162-172
"...all the powers that have been upon the earth, have been dictated, governed, controlled, and the final issue of their existence has been brought to pass, according to the wisdom of the Almighty. Then my testimony is, IT IS ALL RIGHT." pg 163
-be prepared and take precautions and be consistent
-in trials also remember your blessings
-if you want to live in a great place you need to be willing to pay the price, accept the rules or guidelines, etc.
-if you want to go off on your own you need to be ready for the consequences that may come
-you can't build up the kingdom of God while you're still hungry for the worldly things
"Now I say to you who are fearing and trembling, do not be afraid at all, for it is certian if we should be killed off by the Indians, we could not die any younger; this is about as good a time as can be for us to die, if we all go together, why you know, we shall have a good company along with us; it will not be lonesome passing through the valley, which is said to have a veil drawn over it." pg 164-165
"...I have no fault to find with the Later-day Saints, or with the Elders of Israel upon that subject, for they love to fight a little to well." pg 165
"...I should have more fear in consequence of the ignorant and foolish audacity of the Elders, than their being afraid." pg 165
"If the people of Utah Territory would do as they are told, they would always e safe." pg 165
"I make this apology because it is considered a sin to say devil, and it grates on refined ears." pg 166
-faith without works is dead
"If you will do as you are told, you will be safe continually." pg 167
-prophets don't just give council for the fun of it
"I am aware that the people want to ask me a thousand and one questions.... I have tried to answer them all, in my own mind, by saying, it will be just as the Lord will." pg 168
"The mob only had power to drive the Saints to do their duty, and to remember the Lord their God, and that is all the Indians can do." pg 169
"This people are worldly minded, they want to get rich in earthly substance, and are apt to forget their God..." pg 169
-there will be chastening and trials to help you learn and grow, to be able to get it right
"...you know we could not do without him [the devil]. If there had been no devil to tempt Eve, she never would have got her eyes opened. We need a devil to stir up the wicked on the earth to purify the Saints." pg 170
"The Lord will suffer no more trouble to come upon us than is necessary to bring this people to their senses." pg 172
"I take care of them that help themselves." pg 172
-watch and pray