Brigham Young

“ Those who work righteousness, do as they are commanded by the Holy Priesthood; and those who do not according to the commands and requirements of the Holy Priesthood of the Son of God, never did and never can work righteousness; they may do thousands of good acts, for which they will have their reward, but as the followers of Jesus—as his disciples—as light shining in darkness—as way marks to the Kingdom of heaven—as the oracles of truth to the children of men—they do not and cannot work righteousness to be saved in the celestial Kingdom, independent of the holy Priesthood. ”

“ There are many before me today who have suffered the loss of houses, lands, flocks, herds, and all the comforts of life and former friends and relatives for the Gospel's sake and to gather home to Zion.
Who can make a people of one heart and mind, like unto this people, without the aid of the power of God? ”

“ We Latter-day Saints believe that God is our Father, according to the declaration of the Prophets and Apostles; and we are his offspring and that He has made of one flesh and blood all the inhabitants of the earth, no matter whether they be white, black, red, yellow, or copper-colored. We believe in a God who has eyes to see, ears to hear, indeed every member and sense of his body well developed as a perfect man. ”

“ When men have the privilege of hearing the plan of salvation from the mouth of an inspired servant of God, and they reject it, I will promise them that if they have ever possessed any portion of the Holy Spirit, it will depart from them and sevenfold more darkness will ensue to the mind of that person than is the lot of all to suffer in a state of nature, unenlightened by the inspiring rays of the Holy Spirit. ”

“ All that Joseph Smith did was to preach the truth—the Gospel as the Lord revealed it to him—and tell the people how to be saved, and the honest-in-heart ran together and gathered around him and loved him as they did their own lives. He could do no more than to preach true principles, and that will gather the Saints in the last days, even the honest-in-heart. All who believe and obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ are his witnesses to the truth of these statements. ”

“ I am answered:—"It was so in the days of Christ and the Apostles, but it is not exactly so now, for God is merciful to all, is no respecter of persons, but giveth to all men liberally that asketh, whether they are baptized or not. We believe in the light of the Spirit, but we do not believe that baptism is either here or there to effect salvation." Another one says: "You can be baptized, if you wish to be, for it is right for every person to answer his own conscience, for if you can only answer a good conscience before God, it is enough." ”

“ The Lord has suffered the earth to lie under sin for thousands of years:—"Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death hath passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."
The system of Church government that we have differs from others, but we take the Bible for our standard, which you can all read at your leisure. Jesus said to his disciples: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned." ”

“ There is no evidence to be found in the Bible that the Gospel should be one thing in the days of the Israelites, another in the days of Christ and his Apostles, and another in the 19th Century, but, on the contrary, we are instructed that God is the same in every age, and that his plan of saving his children is the same. He has redeemed the world by offering up His Only Begotten Son, and that Son is the heir of the earth and to all things which pertain to it. He has not changed his laws, ordinances and covenants pertaining to Himself and the salvation of mankind. ”

“ Others are as enthusiastic in their faith and religious doctrine, as we are. I doubt not that those we call heathen are as sincere in their heathenish worship as we are in ours. The Christian world of the 19th century acknowledge the Old and New Testaments as the standard of their religion, yet it would be difficult to imagine a greater variety of views, notions and beliefs, in regard to the Supreme Being, than exist among the Christians of the present day. ”

“ How many witnesses are there to the New Testament? Only eight, and those witnesses were the disciples or followers of the Lord Jesus. There cannot be a disinterested witness to the New Testament, yet we believe it. In courts of justice they are very particular to have disinterested witnesses, but how can there be a disinterested witness of Jesus and his mission? there cannot one be found; there was not one to be found in his day nor in the days of the Apostles. How many witnesses has the Book of Mormon? Hundreds and thousands are now living upon the earth, who testify to its truth. ”

“ It gives to us the key of knowledge with regard to receiving the Holy Ghost through the ordinances of the Gospel, that it is free to all, Jew and Gentile, as Peter exclaimed when Cornelius had related to him how he was instructed to send men to Joppa. "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons; but in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness, is accepted of him." ”

“ We also are free to choose or refuse the principles of eternal life. God has decreed and foreordained many things that have come to pass, and he will continue to do so; but when he decrees great blessings upon a nation or upon an individual they are decreed upon certain conditions. When he decrees great plagues and overwhelming destructions upon nations or people, those decrees come to pass because those nations and people will not forsake their wickedness and turn unto the Lord. ”

“ Still, when we meddle with that which we know nothing about, we are apt to fall into error and differ; but we have so much which we do know, and think about and talk about, that we have no time to speculate about that which we do not know. ”

“ Our friends of the Christian world have labored from the pulpit and through the press, for ages, to make it appear that baptism by immersion is non-essential, and that the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost is done away and no longer needed. Suppose Cornelius had refused to be baptized, on the grounds that he had received the Holy Ghost as well as the Apostles, the result would have been that the Holy Ghost would have left him, and the light that was in him would have become darkness, and then it could have been exclaimed, how great is that darkness! ”

“ When Jesus Christ, while on the earth, sent his servants to preach he instructed them to promise all baptized believers that, "these signs shall follow them that believe: in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." ”

“ When we reflect upon the path in which the faithful children of God have walked, from the days of Adam to this day, we find that the path of the transgresser [transgressor] is much the hardest—that the righteous have always fared better than the wicked, in every age and nation. ”

“ In regard to the character of the Deity, our faith is different from that of our former religious associates; but we leave the world to judge, every man for himself, whether we are right or whether they are right, at the same time pleading with them to lay aside their prejudices, and weigh matters in the scale of justice, that they may correctly judge of right and wrong and know the difference between truth and error. ”

“ We are safe in saying that from the day that Adam was created and placed in the Garden of Eden to this day, the plan of salvation and the revelations of the will of God to man are unchanged, although mankind have not for many ages been favored therewith, in consequence of apostacy and wickedness. ”

“ God is considered to be everywhere present at the same moment; and the Psalmist says "whither shall I flee from thy presence?" He is present with all his creations through his influence, through his government, spirit and power, but he himself is a personage of tabernacle, and we are made after his likeness. ”

“ Societies have been organized and immense wealth expended to form an united community, but all their endeavors have more or less failed to accomplish the purpose they sought; but God has gathered a people from all nations and brought them home to Zion, through the preaching of the Gospel and his power. ”

“ You may inquire whether we believe in foreordination; we do, as strongly as any people in the world. We believe that Jesus was foreordained before the foundations of the world were built, and his mission was appointed him in eternity to be the Savior of the world, yet when he came in the flesh he was left free to choose or refuse to obey his Father. ”

“ It is the system of government God has revealed to the children of men that gives people a right to the ordinances, blessings and privileges of the Gospel of Christ, and without that they have not any legal right to them, and cannot claim them. ”

“ And not only have we numerous witnesses in this land, but they are scattered all over the world wherever the Gospel has found believers. When people embrace this Gospel, no matter in what country, nation, or clime, and have received the gift of the Holy Ghost, it prompts them to gather up to Zion; from this cause alone the Church of Latter-day Saints in the mountains is composed of people from almost every nation in the world. ”

“ All people have their national and individual capacities, desires, faith, pursuits, habits, manners, customs, etc. We, like others, think that our religion is the best religion upon the earth. All have the privilege of worshipping the sun, moon, or stars, if they please; to imagine to themselves a Supreme Being existing in any form their imaginations may create, or in no form at all. ”

“ There exist in the minds of men throughout the world a great variety of ideas and notions in regard to the character of the Supreme Being, yet all believe in a Supreme ruling power which is invisible to them, which does not speak to them, whose dwelling place, as some suppose, is beyond the most distant stars, and, as others suppose, is everywhere ”

“ Another's conscience is not answered, without being buried with Christ in baptism. Another one, to answer his conscience, must be buried in the water face downward, that he may come up back first to the spectators. ”

“ Add thou not unto His words lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." Again in the last chap., of Revelations it is written:—"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophesy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; and if any man shall take away from the words of the Book of this prophesy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book? ”

“ The world suppose that Brigham Young possesses this influence, in and of himself, thus to draw together from the ends of the earth a great people of different customs, habits, nationalities and languages ”