Joseph Fielding Smith

“ The Heavens No Longer Sealed No longer were the heavens as brass. No more would man be forced to stumble and grope in darkness. Salvation was made known and the glad tidings were to sound forth, as with the blast of a mighty trumpet, to the ends of the earth. Satan’s reign was nearing its end, and the message of eternal peace was shortly to be proclaimed to every nation, and kindred, and tongue and people.
The Vision Rejected by the World No wonder Joseph Smith rejoiced, he now possessed greater knowledge than all the professors and divines in all the world! ”

“ IT IS THE BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD. For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect. Neither can they nor we be made perfect without those who have died in the Gospel also; for it is necessary in the ushering in of the dispensation of the fulnesss of times, which dispensation is now beginning to usher in, that a whole and complete and perfect union and welding together of dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glories, should take place, and be revealed, from the days of Adam even to the present time ”

“ The Saints were happy and their prospects were bright. They gave thanks to the Lord and in humility desired to serve him. In the months of May and June they were menaced by a danger as bad as the persecution of mobs. Myriads of crickets came down the mountain sides into the valley, like a vast army marshalled for battle, and began to destroy the fields. From one they would pass on to another, and in a few moments leave a field as barren as a desert waste. Something had to be done, or the inhabitants must perish. The community was aroused and every soul entered the unequal conflict. ”

“ The greatest work, after all, devolves on the members of the Church who have the priesthood, power and privilege, to go into the temples, taking the names from these compiled records and from all other authentic sources and performing the ordinances in behalf of their dead. We live in the greatest dispensation of the world's history, that of the fulness of times, when all things are to be gathered and restored to their proper order, ushering in the millennial reign of the Redeemer and the righteous. ”

“ Thou hast borne the burden and the heat of the day, thou hast toiled hard and labored much for the good of thy father's family; thou hast been a stay many times to them, and by thy diligence they have often been sustained. Thou hast loved thy father's family with a pure love, and hast greatly desired their salvation. Thou hast always stood by thy father, and reached forth the helping hand to lift him up when he was in affliction, and though he has been out of the way, thou hast never forsaken him nor laughed him to scorn ”

“ Here in America freedom and religious toleration became a fundamental part of our great government. Our land became a land of refuge for the afflicted, the downtrodden, and the oppressed of other nations, who found in the United States a haven of rest; for this land had been dedicated to liberty by the shedding of blood.
Praise be to the great souls who conducted the Protestant Revolution. They helped to make it possible for the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the early part of the nineteenth century, preparatory to the second coming of the Son of God. ”

“ Could we even feel that we were doing our full duty, when the responsibility given us is so great, and the Saints have not too much time to save and redeem their dead and gather together their living relatives, that they may be saved also before the earth will be smitten, and the consummation decreed falls upon the world? Suppose we did all this each year, in the course of a century we would have endowed one hundred million souls, which is about the present population of the United States, and a very small part of the work for those whose records we may now obtain. ”

“ I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness. Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shall call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. ”

“ There are three degrees of glory in this kingdom, the celestial, into which those who keep the whole law shall enter; the terrestrial, in which are found the honorable men of the world, and those who were blinded by the craftiness of men, and were overcome by the things of the world, and also those who have accepted Christ but were not valiant in his cause, and those who died without law among the heathen: the third, or telestial, is that glory which contains the great majority of mankind who differ in their glory as the countless stars of heaven. ”

“ He has called you to an holy calling, even to be the priests of the Most High God, messengers to the nations of the earth; and upon your diligence, your perseverance and faithfulness, the soundness of the doctrines which you preach, the moral precepts that you advance and practice, and upon the sound principles that you inculcate, while you hold that Priesthood, hang the destinies of the human family. You are the men that God has called to spread forth his kingdom. ”

“ And I, the Lord God, had created all the children of men, and not yet a man to till the ground, for in heaven created I them, and there was not yet flesh upon the earth, neither in the water, neither in the air. ”

“ Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.
"And the Messiah cometh in the fullness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because they are redeemed from the fall, they have become free for ever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves, and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given.
"Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. ”

“ How much easier it would have been for Sidney Rigdon to have said, August 8, 1844: "I want to be appointed 'Guardian' until young Joseph grows up," instead of declaring that no successor could be appointed! How easy it would have been for Lyman Wight to have said, "I was present when Joseph blessed his son in Liberty prison, as his successor," or for James Whitehead and John S. Carter to have declared that young Joseph had been ordained as his father's successor in a public meeting in Nauvoo shortly before the martyrdom, and thus have reminded the people of it. ”

“ The spirit of speculation and desire for wealth, during the brief spell of peace and harmony, had beclouded the minds of many, and their souls were filled with deadly hatred against their former brethren. Joseph Smith was called a fallen prophet by those whom he had cherished and loved, and whose love for him had been pronounced. Some, in their bitterness and darkness of mind, sought his life. Those who sought his welfare and spoke in his defense, were ridiculed and treated with great contempt. ”

“ Release of Sidney Rigdon The Prophet wrote in his Journal that January 1, 1839, “dawned upon us as prisoners of hope, but not as sons of liberty. O Columbia, Columbia! How thou art fallen! ‘The land of the free, the home of the brave!’ ‘The asylum of the oppressed’—oppressing thy noblest sons, in a loathsome dungeon, without any provocation, only that they have claimed to worship the God of their fathers according to his own word, and the dictates of their own consciences.” Elder Parley P. Pratt and his companions in tribulation were still held in bondage in their doleful prison in Richmond. ”

“ What good reason can be given why the Lord should not forgive sins in the world to come? Why should man suffer throughout the countless ages of eternity for his sins committed here, if those sins are not unto death? There are many good, honorable men who have wilfully wronged no man, have lived to the best of their opportunities, righteously; yet have not received the gospel, for one reason or another. ”

“ Jesus was a merciful Redeemer, who suffered as no other man suffered that he might save the children of his Father. He would take no pleasure in the suffering of the wicked. It was his nature to plead for them, to entreat his Father for mercy in their behalf. Therefore, whatever his mission was, it was one of mercy and comfort to those prisoners. Peter tells us that the object of his visit was that the gospel might be preached also to the dead, "that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." ”

“ Let the flocks and the herds greatly increase and multiply upon the mountains and the hills; and let thy great kindness conquer and subdue the unbelief of thy people. Do thou take from them their stony heart, and give them a heart of flesh; and may the sun of thy favor dispel the cold mists of darkness which have beclouded their atmosphere. ”

“ All the enemies upon the face of the earth may roar and exert all their power to bring about my death, but they can accomplish nothing, unless some who are among us and enjoy our society, have been with us in our councils, participated in our confidence, taken us by the hand, called us brother, saluted us with a kiss, join with our enemies, turn our virtues into faults, and, by falsehood and deceit, stir up their wrath and indignation against us, and bring their united vengeance upon our heads. ”

“ In this wonderful communication from the heavens, the following eternal principles, among many others, were revealed:
The light of Christ is the light of truth and is the light of the sun, the planets, the stars, and the power by which they were made; it is the light which quickeneth the intelligence of man; it is the life and light of all things, and is the law by which they are governed; it fills the immensity of space; to every kingdom there is given laws which have their bounds and conditions; there is no space in which there is no kingdom, great or small ”

“ In answer to the questions: “When will the wilderness blossom as the rose? When will Zion be built up in her glory, and where will thy temple stand, unto which all nations shall come in the last days?” the Lord gave the following:
“Hearken, O ye elders of my Church, saith the Lord your God, who have assembled yourselves together, according to my commandments, in this land, which is the land of Missouri, which is the land which I have appointed and consecrated for the gathering of the Saints: wherefore this is the land of promise, and the place for the city of Zion. ”

“ If you never learned manners in Missouri, we’ll teach you that gentlemen are not to be imposed upon by a nigger-driver. You cannot kidnap men here, if you do in Missouri; and if you attempt it here, there’s a committee in this grove that will sit on your case; and, sir, it is the highest tribunal in the United States, as from its decision there is no appeal! ”

“ President John Taylor has been killed by the cruelty of officials who have, in this territory, misrepresented the government of the United States. There is no room to doubt that if he had been permitted to enjoy the comforts of home, the ministrations of his family, the exercise to which he had been accustomed, but of which he was deprived, he might have lived for many years yet. His blood stains the clothes of men, who with insensate hate have offered rewards for his arrest and have hounded him to the grave. ”

“ Should political parties make war upon the Church, or menace the civil, political, or religious rights of its members as such—against a policy of that kind, by any political party or set of men whatsoever, we assert the inherent right of self-preservation for the Church, and her right to call upon all her children, and upon all who love justice, and desire the perpetuation of religious liberty, to come to her aid, to stand with her until the danger shall have passed. ”