Franklin D. Richards

“ THE present favorable opportunity affords us a proper occasion for gratitude, and to think of and listen to those principles which pertain to our salvation, to our improvement, and our advancement in the knowledge of the truth as it has been revealed to us in this last dispensation.
The earnest and cordial exhortation which we have just listened to is one that appears to me very appropriate and highly important for all faithful Saints to consider. All matters which affect the interest and well-being of the rising generation are to us of the deepest importance. ”

“ It will be found—if you search carefully among us as a people—that you are carrying a great many people and their sins, and if you don't shake them off they will lead you down, you will be partakers of their sins, and you will have to answer for them. It is necessary that the Bishops—more especially those who have not had experience—learn correct principles of government—how to build up their Wards in righteousness and in the power of God. ”

“ I pray that all earnest spirit of improvement and purification among parents, among children, among households, among members of Wards and Stakes, may take possession of the presiding authorities of the laboring Priesthood, and that they may put away iniquity, and all manner of unrighteousness, and become more and more acceptable in the sight of the Lord. Then we shall be more and more ready to do anything that the Lord would have us do in the interests of His Kingdom. We must remember that the strength of the Lord's people does not consist in their numbers ”

“ You are supplied with other public buildings that place you in a good, comfortable position, such as a splendid court house, and a good, substantial college building, and you are in a position, as a people, by means of that college, to enjoy all the general benefits of a liberal and classical education and of knowledge that may be imparted unto you, not only in the laws and ordinances of the Church and the Kingdom of God particularly, especially and pre-eminently, but also in the arts as well as the sciences. ”

“ The Lord our God will make His deliverance manifest, and the exercise of His power, less or more to His people in proportion as His people incline less or more to draw near to Him, and to learn His holy will. ”

“ They are features in the society of the Saints which ought to be considered, and no less but more because you are here, as it were, under the very shadow of the Temple; and are the people who have so abundantly contributed to the construction of this house; they want now to preserve themselves in purity before God, that they may be counted worthy to enter within its walls, and there receive all the blessings which are to be bestowed upon the just. ”

“ We are making advancement by the directions of the Priesthood in building Temples; we are making advancement continually as God gives us increase by the multiplication of our numbers in the land, all legislation concerning us to the contrary notwithstanding. ”

“ This of course we have to put up with when we take it as from the world and the ungodly, on the common ground of our warfare to contend against those powers in high places; but when it comes from those who profess to be brethren, when they undertake to insist and push and crowd these things to the destruction of the souls of their brethren, this seems sometimes to us more than we should be required to bear, unless it be required of us from God. ”

“ Saints; because where there is. righteousness and faith there is the favor and blessing of God; and when the sick are among you and you have this faith, you can call down the blessings of God upon them, and if you don't, and remain careless, then you will find that you have not the power to take hold of and receive those blessings. We want so to live day by day, that whatever affliction may overtake us, we may be prepared for the worst as well as for the best. ”

“ Although there may be grog-shops, and billiard saloons in your midst, contrary to your wishes and contrary to your feelings, and which you would prefer might never exist among you—they have the liberty, they have not the right—still we have the reserved right to let them alone; we need not patronize them, nor partake of their poisonous draughts, nor gamble in any of their saloons. We are not obliged to get down into their low-lived habits. ”

“ If the Saints would make it their first and leading purpose in all the labors and duties of their lives to draw near to God, to sanctify themselves, sanctify their inheritance their families, their habitations, their houses and lands, their flocks and herds ”

“ Parents afflicted with these propensities ought to take warning not to breed them into the natures of their children, and if possibly they have done so, to use diligence to preserve them from being thrown in the way of temptation until they come to years of understanding, judgment and firmness of purpose, which will enable them to practice self-denial, and live as men of God. ”

“ If the Presidents of Quorums would arise and say to the Elders, "Let us wake up and pay a dollar a head for the finishing off of the Temple," in three mouths not only will the Temple be finished, but every dollar of debt will be paid ”

“ And we ourselves want to work against the appetites which are inbred in many of us. I am not asleep to, nor unaware of the fact that many of us coming from the world have brought with us a deep craving for spirituous liquors, and for other things which are not good for us, but which we may have dabbled in to gratify a wicked appetite. ”

“ May the Lord help us to draw near unto Him, nearer than we have ever done before; that we may be able to go into His presence and realize the association of angels, and that we may realize all those blessings which He has in His hands ready to bestow upon us as fast as we will put ourselves in a position to receive them ”

“ On the contrary, this prosperity should induce you to increase your diligence in all good things. For you know very well—you see and have the experience right among you—you have the contending elements striving to bring in drunkenness and iniquity in your midst. ”

“ The Superintendent has endeavored to progress with this work and keep out of debt; but one thing and another has come along so much faster than means have come into his hands, that he has got a little behind. ”

“ Well, it seems a good deal the same way, when we see men who are Elders in Israel, partakers of the holy, High Priesthood, striving to urge the sale of liquors, and to promote drunkenness in our midst. ”