Amasa Lyman

“ The light must be in the soul before its benefit can be realized. We have heard our teacher tell us that two and two make four; if we had never heard anything else, if this was all that had been connected with it, would we ever have comprehended the principle? No. The comprehension of it must exist in a man's mind. It must be in the centre of his being, a fountain of light, and consequently of life and glory, from which fountain should proceed life and truth until it is diffused throughout his whole being, until all his affections are sanctified, and his judgment corrected. ”

“ If this was the way that we were to be saved, by living for the truth, and getting it in our possession, and this was to be the only principle upon which we were to possess ourselves of its advantages, if anything should happen that we could not go to church, we should be as hard off as a mariner in a fog without a compass or chart. We should, in every sense of the word, be lost, and be entirely unable to find ourselves. ”

“ Some people talk as though they would have to go to heaven, to some distant locality to treasure up this indescribable something called wealth where the doors and gates are strong so as to defy the art of the robber and thief. The most secure thing I can think of and the nearest to an imperishable reality is the knowledge of the truth safely treasured in the memory of an intelligent human being. ”

“ Knowledge is just as near the earth, so far as that is concerned, now as it will be then; but where is it? There is such a thing as truth, as a comprehension of it, but that does not prove that it exists within you or me; or that either of us have the advantage, or can secure to ourselves the advantage of having it in possession; although a seraph might stand by our side, whose being has been made radiant by the light of truth, we still will be in some ignorance, corresponding to the amount of knowledge we possess. ”

“ If, after all, we do not comprehend the Gospel in its fulness, and in its widest extent, we may perhaps fall as far short of what may be called—according to our way of understanding—a perfect salvation, as we may lack understanding to comprehend the Gospel in its fulness.
The Gospel as I receive it, believe it, learned to be true, to be a system of truth, that circumscribes all things; that embraces all the good that exists, is a something that is designed to produce for the children of men such things as are requisite to their happiness ”

“ How do we expect to gain the point where we shall realize a full and perfect deliverance from the evils that afflict us—with which we are surrounded in life—and from which we expect to be saved, when the Gospel has wrought out for us all we anticipate, shall have brought to us the realization of our highest hopes, and loftiest expectations? ”

“ How often have we been told that it was requisite for us to live that the Spirit of God would come and dwell with us, live in us constantly, until it should be a living fountain of life, and light, and glory in our souls, until it should lead us into all truth. ”

“ Suppose you all individually take a home mission, to examine yourselves, and institute that inquisition I have alluded to, into your own conduct and condition, day by day, week by week, month by month, and year by year. Is it not of importance that it should be set up?
To keep this perishable body from starving, you would work day and night; is not the soul of man, that, can never die, that must be happy or miserable for eternity, worth your notice? Go to work and examine yourselves for a short time each day, and see how you are getting on. ”

“ If it is not the love of the truth that binds the people of God together, that holds them firmly round the great centre from which they cannot be induced to take their departure, and for which there is no feeling of the soul but would exert its influence to the fullest extent to bind them to it, then what is it? ”

“ Then the truth is the highest point that can be gained, it is the richest gem that can be possessed; you cannot go beyond it, nor stop short of it without partaking of falsehood, and error. There is no alternative left. The principle that governs the dwelling of Jehovah is truth, simple truth, and that is all there is upon which a permanent foundation for happiness can be laid.
If we would learn the God of truth that imparts life, and freedom from darkness and error to us; it is simply that truth that enables us to comprehend the facts in relation to Him. If we learn ourselves it is the same ”

“ And if you do not, on examination, find your love of truth a little better to-day, and that you would do a little more for it to-day than twenty-five years ago, you had better get up and look around you, for you are certainly going down hill, and you will soon be like the man that found "Mormonism" to be not what it was cracked up to be; you will be going south to a warmer country, or to some other place.
I want you to become philosophers, as far as examining yourselves is concerned, and in seeing how that little kingdom is getting on, that should be built up within you. ”

“ What has it ever done for any man, or for any people who have been so happy as to enjoy the blessing of its presence with them, as to partake of its fruits, to live and enjoy the life which it imparts? ”

“ If you go on a journey you take your heaven with you, or if you stay at home, it is there; if you go to meeting, you take it with you: and when you die and your spirit mingles with the spirits of just men made perfect, you take your heaven there. ”

“ This is a point that Latter-day Saints should duly appreciate and consider; because if we do not, the consequences are, discontent in the mind, and dissatisfaction; we shall quarrel with circumstances that are around us, we shall find fault, simply because we are not contented; and because the estimates we place upon truth, and the blessings conferred upon us, lead us to consider that they are not worth the labor we are required to bestow, the money or means we are required to give. ”

“ When a man learns the truth, he does not feel any more anxiety about it, he does not become hungry for the comprehension of that truth any more. So Jesus said, "They that drink of the water I will give them shall not thirst again."
A man that receives the knowledge of the truth does not thirst for the same knowledge again. This is the principle that saves men. And if men, while they build houses and inhabit them; while they make cities, and preach the Gospel, and gather the Saints together ”

“ They may mar the body, and destroy it, or in other words, cause it to cease to live, but they cannot take away from that which constitutes the man; the treasure he holds, they cannot reach it.
If I was going to lay up an imperishable treasure, I would seek for the knowledge of the truth, and get as much as I could of it, and there would be my treasure, and my heart, and my soul affections. ”

“ With the years of experience that have added the contributions to the store of knowledge, I have been able to gain in the short time I have lived in the world, the subject seems to increase in its dimensions and in its extent. That which I thought I knew when I was but a boy—that I thought I understood—that I supposed in the vanity and ignorance of childhood I comprehended—I find in the mature years of manhood that I knew nothing about it, so far as the comprehension of the great truths of the Gospel, in their extent, are concerned. ”

“ If toiling, and laboring, and suffering privations and hardships were sufficient to save men, and place within their possession the constituent principles of happiness to redeem them from evil, such men would have been redeemed very likely; such men would have been pure. But what does it prove? It simply proves, that if there is anything in a man's experience; in his toiling and labor, it is simply the facts that we see, the outward result that may be calculated, that flows from his labors, such as the building of houses, and cities. ”

“ Is it because the Gospel is untrue; because He is not faithful that has promised? No. But it is simply because he has been looking where it is not, for the constituent principles of happiness where they do not exist: and while he has been laboring and toiling he has failed to gather to himself a store of happiness as the reward of his toil. He supposed if he built this house, performed this mission, or discharged that duty, that this would give him salvation. Says one, "Is it not this which gives men salvation?" ”

“ The principles of truth will be exemplified in the conduct of men on earth as it is with the spirits of the just in heaven, because men will know and appreciate the truth, and their conduct will be shaped according to it. ”

“ He once on a time defined what eternal life is; and that is what we all seek; that is the principle without which we as Latter-day Saints calculate that men cannot be happy, and be saved in the kingdom of God, which is to know the only true God, and, Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
Then traveling by sea and land, living in luxury or poverty, suffering hardships and toil does not constitute eternal life ”

“ This review of the matter has led me to conclude that it is not the heathen nations alone—as we denominate them in contradistinction to the, christian world—that are groveling in darkness, that are worshiping they know not what, and that are seeing they know not what, but that it is actually the case with thousands who have subscribed to the doctrine God, has revealed in the last days, even the Gospel as a system of truth and salvation. ”

“ The knowledge of God will never cover the earth until it is first in the hearts of the people. The principle must be developed there; then our building of houses, our suffering and toil will all find their reward. In what? In securing to us those blessings that cannot be destroyed; in laying up that treasure where moth and rust do not corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal. ”

“ If we have counted on you as a Saint, as a substantial material, when we come to look for you, we do not find you, but we find the place you filled unoccupied, waiting to be filled with some better material, when it is on hand, how long will it take us to build up Zion, to emigrate people from the far off corners of the earth, and they apostatize and run away when they get here? What a Zion we should have! ”

“ We see some fall off who have spent a score of years in traveling, preaching, laboring, toiling, and striving to gain salvation by being obedient to the requisitions that were laid upon them; they have gone, when, and where they were sent, and have come back when called for; they have made it their business to respond to the calls that were made, regardless of what they might be. ”

“ If you are able to save yourselves, you will do first rate, because you will get all the reward you need—all that will make you happy, and an abundant entrance will be administered unto you into the everlasting kingdom of God, and to the enjoyment of every thing that is requisite to your happiness. ”

“ And so long as this objection fails to be accomplished—so long the preaching of the Gospel has failed to accomplish its object, as far as those individuals are concerned, and the object for which that labor was performed. Whether the lack is in the man who preaches, or in the people to whom he preaches, it is all the same. ”

“ I shall secure to myself, how much? that that my conduct has rendered me worthy of. "But suppose brothers Brigham, Heber, and Jedediah pronounce blessings upon me, shall I not get them?" If you are worthy of them you will. ”

“ Another man considers it worth everything; and more than everything of which he can entertain a perception. He would not refuse to pour out the last dollar; he will hunt the last corner of his pocket to get out the last farthing to give to it. ”

“ Because, forsooth, some who feel a great deal of human solicitude for the cause of God, would be very sorrowful because somebody is going to leave. "O, dear, I really do feel the cause of God will apostatize, if we lose our President for a little time, for a few months or a year, what will become of us?" ”

“ When you put your hand where you expect they are, you will not find a vacancy that is not filled. If you require a service done, you will always find the individual there to perform it, no odds whether it is duty at home or abroad, pleasant or grievous. ”

“ Says one, "How is the kingdom of God to be built up if that constitutes the great and important point?" Why, bring in the Saints from the four corners of the earth, by tens of millions, and associate them together, and what will they do? They will do what they are required to do. They will live in harmony one with another collectively, and with themselves individually, and with their God ”

“ And I hope when we have wound up the little routine of duties assigned us here, we shall have secured to ourselves that wealth that shall be to us worth all sublunary considerations, and remain when they have passed away. ”