Joseph F. Smith

“ For every upright, honest person is possessed, more or less, of the Holy Spirit, and this holy messenger in the hearts of men bears record of the word of God; and when all such read these inspired writings, with honesty of heart and meekness of spirit, divested of prejudices and the false conceptions arising from traditions and erroneous training, the Spirit of the Lord bears witness in unmistakable language that burns with conviction, therefore, I believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Savior, the only begotten of the Father ”

“ It is well for us to realize, if we possibly can—and we can if we enjoy a sufficient portion of the Spirit of God—that we are living in an age in which the Father in heaven has deigned to visit his children, making himself known by declaring his law and his word, by his own mouth and by his own presence. ”

“ They are, therefore, words of truth, and of eternal life, words upon which we may rely with the utmost confidence, without doubt or misgiving, or fear of yielding to the caprice of vain philosophy, for they are not the words of man, but of God. ”

“ And if we prove faithful while in the flesh we will soon follow, and be glad that we had the privilege of passing through mortality, and that we lived in a day in which the fullness of the Everlasting Gospel was preached, through which we will be exalted, for there is no exaltation but through obedience to law. Every blessing, privilege, glory, or exaltation is obtained only through obedience to the law upon which the same is promised. ”

“ This, in part, will constitute the misery, sorrow and anguish of the condemned—those who reject the truth when it is offered to them, for their eyes will be opened to behold, in part, the greater light, exaltation and joy which they might have attained unto, but which is irretrievably lost to them, because of their disobedience and wrong doings. Then I say we cannot be satisfied with anything short of a complete salvation in the kingdom of God our joy cannot be full unless we obtain a fullness of knowledge. ”

“ The dead are not perfect without us, neither are we without them. We have a mission to perform for and in their behalf; we have a certain work to do in order to liberate those who, because of their ignorance and the unfavorable circumstances in which they were placed while here, are unprepared for eternal life; we have to open the door for them, by performing ordinances which they cannot perform for themselves, and which are essential to their release from the "prison-house," to come forth and live according to God in the spirit, and be judged according to man in the flesh. ”

“ Convictions that we may previously have had respecting the truth the Holy Ghost confirms, giving us a positive assurance of their correctness, and through it we obtain a personal knowledge, not as one that has been told, but as one that has seen, felt, heard, and that knows for himself. ”

“ We have come to sojourn in the flesh, to obtain tabernacles for our immortal spirits; or in other words, we have come for the purpose of accomplishing a work like that which was accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. The object of our earthly existence is that we may have a fullness of joy, and that we may become the sons and daughters of God, in the fullest sense of the word, being heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, to be kings and priests unto God, to inherit glory, dominion, exaltation, thrones, and every power and attribute developed and possessed by our heavenly Father. ”

“ The Lord has taught us the ordinances of the Gos-pel by which we may perfect our exaltation in his kingdom. We are not living as the heathen, without law; that which is necessary for our exaltation has been revealed. Our duty, therefore, is to obey the laws, then we shall receive our reward, no matter whether we are cut down in childhood, in manhood or old age; it is all the same, so long as we are living up to the light we possess, we shall not be shorn of any blessing, nor deprived of any privilege ”

“ Simply the society of her earthly friends, but not to the extent that we miss her; for I believe the greater can always comprehend the lesser, but the lesser can only comprehend the greater as it may be revealed by glimpses from time to time by the Holy Spirit. While we are in mortality we are clogged, and we see as through a glass darkly, we see only in part, and it is difficult for us to comprehend the smallest things with which we are associated. ”

“ Jesus had not finished his work when his body was slain, neither did he finish it after his resurrection from the dead, although he had accomplished the purpose for which he then came to the earth, he had not fulfilled all his work. And when will he? Not until he has redeemed and saved every son and daughter of our father Adam that has or ever will be born upon this earth to the end of time, except the sons of perdition. That is his mission. We will not finish our work until we have saved ourselves, and then not until we shall have saved all depending upon us ”

“ There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of the world, upon which all blessings are predicated; and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. ”

“ They return from the midst of death to life, where death has no power. There is no death except to those who die in sin, without the sure and steadfast hope of the resurrection of the just. There is no death where we continue in the knowledge of the truth and in hope of a glorious resurrection. Life and immortality are brought to light through the Gospel, hence there is no death here ”

“ We must, therefore, learn the laws of heaven, which are the laws of the Gospel, live and obey them with all our hearts, and in faith abide in them, perfecting ourselves thereby, in order to receive the fulness of the glory of that kingdom. ”

“ We have not met here to brood over our sorrows in this our temporary loss—in thus being deprived, perhaps only for a little while, of the society and companionship of a daughter, a sister, a friend; for tears are partially dried and sorrow is greatly ameliorated in the fact that our loss is her gain. ”

“ If we will abide the law, we shall receive the reward; but we can receive it on no other ground. Then let us rejoice in the truth, in the restoration of the Priesthood—that power delegated to man, by virtue of which the Lord sanctions in the heavens what man does upon the earth. ”

“ Those who die in the Lord shall not taste of death. When Adam partook of the forbidden fruit he was cast out from the presence of God into outer darkness; that is, he was shut out from the presence of his glory and the privilege of his society, which was spiritual death. ”

“ If we could always realize this, it appears to me that we would place greater reliance upon the words of eternal life which have come unto us; we would thereby be induced to live so near to the Lord, and be so faithful in the discharge of our duties, as the covenant people of God, that our hearts would burn with grateful joy, we would be inclined to that which is pleasing and acceptable unto the Lord, all the day long, and we would eschew even the appearance of evil. ”

“ In all the varied scenes of life, we would never forget him, disobey his will, nor neglect a duty; but we would abide in the covenant of the Gospel, in the love of God and of our fellow-creatures, doing the works of righteousness, not omitting to improve an opportunity to do good. ”

“ The righteous spirit that departs from this earth is assigned its place in the Paradise of God; it has its privileges and honors which are in point of excellency, far above and beyond human comprehension ”

“ She has been released from a world of sorrow, anguish and pain, and rests from her earthly labors. Blessed is her condition, for she has performed her mission to earth, she has made her name honorable amidst the honest and true of God's people, she has fought the good fight, and has now taken her departure, gone to her old home from whence she came. ”

“ We have got that work to do, or at least all we can of it, leaving the balance to our children, in whose hearts we should instil the importance of this work, rearing them in the love of the truth and in the knowledge of these principles, so that when we pass away, having done all we can do, they will then take up the labor and continue it until it is consummated. ”

“ For while the body sleeps and decays, the spirit receives a new birth; to it the portals of life are opened; it is born again into the presence of God. The spirit of our beloved sister in taking its departure from this world is born again into the spirit world, returning there from the mission it had been performing in this state of probation, having been absent a few years from Father, Mother, kindred, friends, neighbors, and from all that was dear ”

“ Because this is the dispensation of the fullness of times, which will usher in the millennial reign, and in which all things spoken by the mouth of holy Prophets, since the world began, must be fulfilled, and all things united, both which are in heaven and in the earth. ”

“ That the Lord may bless, comfort and solace the family of his servant, who are called to lament this momentary loss, that in the midst of their affliction, while their sorrow finds no relief in tears, they may bow obedient to Heaven's will, and in gratitude and thanksgiving, praise Him "from whom all blessings flow." ”

“ No; there are tens of thousands to-day that can bear this testimony. They, too, know it for themselves; God has shown it to them, they have received the Holy Ghost, which has born witness of these things in their hearts, and they likewise are not dependent upon books, nor upon the words of another, for they have received a knowledge from God themselves, and know as he knows, and see as he sees in relation to these plain and precious things. ”

“ And I do not believe that any upright, honest man or woman, possessing common intelligence, can read the Gospels of the New Testament and the testimonies therein given of the Savior, without intuitively feeling that he was what he professed to be. ”

“ It is given to us to know these things for ourselves. God has said he will show these things unto us; and for this purpose the Holy Ghost has been imparted to all who are entitled to it through submission, which bears record of the Father and the Son, and also takes of the things of God and shows them unto man. ”