Brigham Young

“ Never be fearful that the Lord will first forsake you; for you have first to leave him, since he never forsaketh those who are striving to do right. Abide in the truth, and you are sure to enjoy, more or less, the sanctifying influence of the Holy Ghost; and if you do not, you have strayed from the paths of rectitude and truth—of love and mercy. You must forsake the ways of the Lord in order to get out of the way, and then the Lord will forsake you. Otherwise he is with you, more or less, by his influence—with you by his angels and his protecting care. ”

“ With me it is a fact that persons of sound sense, and possessing correct principles, and striving for eternal life, will not exchange those principles for a gill of whisky or a pinch of snuff, nor cast them aside for every stranger who meets them and says, "How I love you!" ”

“ When the eternal living principles of the Gospel of the Son of God are implanted in the heart of a genuine intelligent being, they do not leave him when the wicked present their blandishments and the ungodly their enticements to swerve the godly and the righteous from the paths of rectitude. ”

“ I want you to thoroughly understand that you are not to fear any being in heaven, on earth, or in hell, superior to fearing that Being who has created the heavens and the earth, by whom we and all things are. ”

“ We have all the time allotted to us in a state of probation, and then for ever and ever, worlds without end. And if we do not live to enjoy truth, it is because we take the road that leads to dissolution. We must live to be prepared for better or for worse for all time to come ”

“ Such persons, when convinced that the sun shines, that it was dark last night, that it stormed yesterday, that the river Jordan runs from Utah Lake and empties into Great Salt Lake, that there are mountains on our right and left, do not, after sleeping for five minutes, wake up and dispute those facts, and declare it nonsense to believe that we are here, and that we might as well at once cease all efforts to do right. ”

“ Walk righteously before God and before each other; and though the enemies of Jesus howl—though temptations come and the floods of persecution overflow, trust in him and strive to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. ”

“ Compare this people with the mass of mankind, and what other class will sacrifice for, their faith what we have—will sell their buildings, farms, and other property, subject themselves to poverty and want, and travel thousands of miles? ”

“ You will walk humbly before God, and deal justly one with another, and disregard the condemnation and aspersions of those who are ignorant of the principles of the eternal law of Jehovah, and of the intent of the laws of the nations of the earth. ”

“ After they have travelled thousands of miles for their religion—for their faith, it is pitiable to see some enticed from their integrity through the proffering, by the wicked, of a fancied good job—of a little speculation. ”

“ It is a pity that the Latter-day Saints who live here, who say that they have embraced the Gospel of eternal life, and are willing to sacrifice all for their salvation, or to give up all for Christ, should be bought over by a gill of whisky. ”

“ We must meet periods of trial, or how can we prove that we have faith, and do actually permit the power of the sensibility placed within us by our Creator to have its free, untrammelled course? And those who can be led away by the enticements of the servants of the Evil One do not belong to the number of the elect. ”

“ What do they know about the Almighty and his purposes and work in the latter days? Nothing. Live your religion, keep the commandments of God, and you will have no occasion for breaking the laws of the land. ”

“ None save those who first forsake him and begin to walk in by-and-forbidden paths, where neither he nor his angels walk; and then such persons say the Lord has forsaken them. They have forsaken the path of rectitude and are upon the grounds of the Devil, being led captive by his will, and do not enjoy the benign influence that flows from the Fountain of all intelligence as they did when they were in the path of truth. ”