B. H. Roberts

“ So Joseph Smith: "The powers of heaven can only be controlled upon the principles of righteousness. When men undertake to cover their sins or to gratify their pride or vain ambition or exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men in any degree of unrighteousness, the heavens withdraw themselves, the spirit of the Lord is grieved, and when it is withdrawn, amen to the authority of that man. ”

“ 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!"
The Prophet represents God as saying: "I give unto men weaknesses that they might be humble, and my grace is sufficient for all those who humble themselves before me." ”

“ Unborn ages and visions of glory crowd upon my soul, the realization of all which, however, is in the hands and good pleasure of Almighty God; but, under His divine blessing, it will be dependent on the character and the virtues of ourselves, and of our posterity. If classical history has been found to be, is now, and shall continue to be, the concomitant of free institutions, and of popular eloquence, what a field is opening to us for another Herodotus, another Thucydides, and another Livy! ”

“ Then what of the decreed purpose of God to punish moral Evil? And what of the much-vaunted justice of God in that punishment? Wherein lies the just responsibility of man if he was so created as to love Evil and to follow it?" It is revolting to reason, as it is shocking to piety, to think that God, of His own free will, created some men, not only inclined to wickedness, but desperately so inclined; while others He, of His own volition, created with dispositions naturally inclined toward goodness. ”

“ CREATION—THE LAW OF SUBSTANCE: In opposition to the doctrine that God had created the universe of nothing, the Prophet asserted the doctrine of the eternity of substance and energy and law, and their infinite extension throughout all space; that creation is but the wisely wrought changes made in the modes of existences, which are themselves—in their essence—eternal, the changes constantly tending to higher developments, from good to better, or else ministering to that end. ”

“ Man is the tabernacle of God, even temples."
"The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably united, receive a fulness of joy [Hence the importance of man's earth life in which spirit is united to earthly elements.]
"If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not
comprehend themselves."
"God Himself was once as we are now; and is an exalted Man; for
Adam was created in the very fashion, image and likeness of God."
"The spirit of man is not a created being; it existed from eternity, and will exist to eternity. Anything created cannot be eternal." ”

“ So Joseph Smith's disciples hold the Constitution of the United States to be inspired of God. I think sometimes, however, that we do not realize all that this truth means. We are apt to think of things in mass, and do not take the time to analyze them. What does it mean to say that the Constitution of the United States is an inspired instrument? Undoubtedly, it means primarily that God recognizes the right of the people, in their political capacity, to govern themselves. It expresses the divine belief, so to speak, in the capacity of man for self-government. ”

“ The people are sovereign, and the people alone are rulers, and they appoint or elect their servants. Moreover, this Constitution provides for the freedom of the press; for freedom of speech; for freedom and independence of the individual. It guarantees religious liberty, hence a free church, as well as a free state, each independent of and separate from the other. The government is an indestructible Union, composed of indestructible States. ”

“ Each individual must have an equal voice in the government. Every man must be a sovereign in the civil institution, and his vote must represent the voice and judgment of a free man. A vote unawed by influence, and uncoerced by any power whatsoever. Less than this would convert the whole scheme of government by the voice of the people into mockery. Under a system of government by the people, in order to retain the element of moral responsibility of the people in civil affairs, there must be no appeal but to the intelligent judgment of the individual. Each man's act must be the act of a free man ”

“ As to movement and change in this infinite universe, our Prophet represents God as saying:
"Worlds without number have I created. * * * Behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power, and there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they to man. * * * The heavens, they are many, and they cannot be numbered unto man; * * * and as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof, even so shall another come, and there is no end to my works, neither to my words." ”

“ Evil exists in the balance of natural forces. * * * It is also the background of good, the incentive to good, and the trial of good, without which good could not be. As the virtue of courage could not exist without the evil of danger, and as the virtue of sympathy could not exist without the evil of suffering, so no other virtue could exist without its corresponding evil. In a world without evil—if such a world be really conceivable, all men would have perfect health, perfect intelligence, and perfect morals. No one could gain or impart information, each one's cup of knowledge being full. ”

“ We are next to consider the universe in which men, angels, archangels and Gods—Intelligences all—live.
"There are many kingdoms * * * and there is no space in the which there is no kingdom; and there is no kingdom in the which there is no space."
This was said by Joseph Smith in 1832. The context of the passage makes it clear that "kingdoms" here are not groups of men or nations over which a monarch reigns; but substance, matter, worlds and systems of worlds, under the dominion of law, and Intelligences. It is the doctrine of the eternal and everywhere existence of matter and space. ”

“ It is one of the eternal existences, just as duration is and space. It is as old as law—old as Truth, old as this eternal universe. Intelligences must adjust themselves to these eternal existences; this, the measure of their duty.
THE INTELLIGENT ENTITY: Of man's spirit, called often by other names—"mind," "intelligence," "ego," "self;" but by whatever name it is called, and all nice distinctions set aside, here I mean that conscious, self-determining entity, which thinks, reasons, wills, loves, aspires—I mean the real man. Let us in our discourse call him spirit. ”

“ In the first great revelation which opened this last dispensation our Prophet beheld Father and Son as separate persons, distinct from each other; persons in the form of men, but more glorious and more splendid, of course, than words could describe them to be. All through the revelations received, and all through his discourses, the Prophet reaffirms the old doctrine of the Scriptures, the doctrine of all the prophets, asserting that man indeed was created in the image of God, and that God possessed human qualities, consciousness, will, love, mercy, justice ”

“ Having no oppression to resist and no perils to apprehend, we no longer need the courage to defy, nor the fortitude to endure. Heroism is a failing memory and magnanimity a dream of the past; for not only are the virtues known by contrast with the vices, they spring from the same seed, grow in the same soil, ripen in the same sunshine, and perish in the same frost. ”

“ On the subject of the fate of the uninstructed heathen, as also upon the matter of children dying in infancy, or before arriving at the years of accountability, the doctrine of Joseph Smith held that where no law is given men will be judged without law, but will stand within the circle of the mercy of God, and there is hope, nay, assurance, of ultimate salvation for the heathen. "The heathen nations shall be redeemed, and they that knew no law shall have part in the first resurrection; and it shall be tolerable for them," are the words of the Lord through the Prophet. ”

“ One who, directly or indirectly, in all councils presides; who guides all movements; who directs all undertakings; who controls all worlds and world-systems; who loves all; who comprehends all things, even the sum of existences—the Truth! And so in the last analysis of the matter, wheresoever there are existences to be known, even though they stretch to infinity, there are also Intelligences that parallel such existences to cognize them, control them, dominate them, and through them work out Their will.
The phrase above—"the sum of existence:" we have more to do with that. ”

“ The storehouse of Truth is not yet exhausted by man's discoveries. There are more Truths in heaven and earth than are yet dreamed of in human philosophies.
And yet it may be that running parallel with those existences, substances and relations unknown to man, there exist intelligences that cognize such existences and relations. To recur to one item in the illustrations above: America existed though all Europe was without knowledge of it until discovered by Columbus; but America had inhabitants, intelligences of her own that knew of the existence of these Western continents. ”

“ Not "for any good or ill" that they had done or could do, but their fate was fixed by the volition of God alone. These whom He would save, He would move by irresistible grace to their salvation; those whom He had pre-determined should be damned might not escape, struggle they never so persistently; no prayers could save them; no act of obedience might mitigate their punishment; no hungering and thirsting after righteousness, bring them to blessedness; they must perish, and that eternally! Those who perish in ignorance of Christ—the heathen races—were damned. ”

“ Why, ever present through all changes, through all the processes of betterment, is the self-existent entity of the "Intelligence" with the tremendous fact of his consciousness and his moral freedom, and his indestructibility—he has his choice of moving upward or downward in every estate he occupies; often defeating, for a time, at least, even the benevolent purposes of God respecting him, through his own perverseness; he passes through dire experiences, suffers terribly, yet learns by what he suffers, so that his very suffering becomes a means to his improvement ”

“ Know ye not that there are more nations than one; know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men; yea, even upon all the nations of the earth? For I command all men, both in the east and in the west * * * and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them. ”

“ Notwithstanding this, I say, men, in the early decades of the nineteenth century, were possessed of a "morbid terror" of anthropomorphism—the ascription of human form, feeling or qualities to God—as if they could escape it and still hold belief in the Bible revelation of God! Or, for matter of that, hold to any doctrine of God taught either by religion or philosophy. At the very least, if the God-idea survive at all, God must be held to possess consciousness, both consciousness of self, and of other than self—self-consciousness, and other-consciousness ”

“ What a good and happy people! Alas, no! With poverty have vanished benevolence, providence, and the foresight which, born of the fear of individual want, stands guard at a thousand gates to defend the general good. The charitable impulse is dead in every breast, and gratitude, atrophied by disuse, has no longer a place among human sentiments and emotions. ”

“ It is the American philosopher Emerson, I think, who describes a proverb to be the language of absolute Truth—the statement of Truth without qualification. It is the literature of power. Fortunate, indeed, is the man who gives a people or nation a proverb; and so, too, is the nation or people fortunate who receive it. Like mercy, it is twice blessed, it blesseth him that gives and him that takes. Usually proverbs are produced by a race's experience. Proverbs come up out of the tribulations of a people. They are produced slowly and represent the hived wisdom of the ages. ”