Joseph Smith

“ And after this manner did Sherem contend against me. But behold, the Lord God poured in his spirit into my soul, insomuch that I did confound him in all his words. And I sayeth unto him, Deniest thou the Christ which should come? And he sayeth, if there should be a Christ, I would not deny him; I know that there is no Christ, neither hath been, nor never will be. ”

“ Wherefore, it burdeneth my soul, that I should be constrained because of the strict commandment which I have received from God, to admonish you, according to your crimes, to enlarge the wounds of those which are already wounded, instead of consoling and healing and their wounds; and those which have not been wounded, instead of feasting upon the pleasing word of God, have daggers placed to pierce their souls, and wound their delicate minds. ”

“ Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. -- How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of Him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. -- And no man knoweth of his ways, save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God. For behold, by the power of his word, man came upon the face of the earth ”

“ I have led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem, by the power of mine arm, that I might rise up unto me a righteous branch, from the fruit of the loins of Joseph. Wherefore, I the Lord God, will not suffer that this people shall do like unto them of old. Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: for there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none: For I, the Lord God, delighteth in the chastity of women. And whoredoms is an abomination before me: thus saith the Lord of Hosts. ”

“ Wherefore, we laboured diligently among our people, that we might persuade them to come unto Christ, and partake of the goodness of God, that they might enter into his rest, lest by means he should swear in his wrath they should not enter in, as in the provocation in the days of temptation, while the children of Israel were in the wilderness. -- Wherefore, we would to God that we could persuade all men not to rebel against God, to provoke him to anger, but that all men would believe in Christ, and view his death, and suffer his cross, and bear the shame of the world ”

“ And now, beloved, marvel not that I tell you these things; for why not speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of him, as to attain to the knowledge of a resurrection and the world to come? Behold, my brethren, he that prophesieth, let him prophesy to the understanding of men; for the spirit speaketh the truth, and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls. But behold, we are not witnesses alone in these things ”

“ For I, Jacob, and my brother Joseph, had been consecrated priests, and teachers of this people, by the hand of Nephi. And we did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads, if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence; wherefore, by laboring with our mights, their blood might not come upon our garments, and we would not be found spotless at the last day. ”

“ O my brethren, I fear, that unless ye shall repent of your sins, that their skins will be whiter than yours, when ye shall be brought with them before the throne of God. Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, which is the word of God, that ye revile no more against them, because of the darkness of their skins; neither shall ye revile against them because of their filthiness; but ye shall remember your own filthiness, and remember that their filthiness came because of their fathers. ”

“ But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they
despised the words of plainness, and killed the Prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall: for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. ”

“ Wherefore, if God, being able to speak, and the world was; and to speak, and man was created, O then, why not able to command the earth, or the workmanship of his hands upon the face of it, according to his will and pleasure. ”

“ Wherefore, let us go to, and labor with our mights, this last time: for behold, the end draweth nigh; and this is for the last time that I shall prune my vineyard. Graft in the branches: begin at the last, that they may be first, and that the first may be last, and dig about the trees, both old and young, the first and the last, and the last and the first, that all may be nourished once again for the last time. ”

“ And now my brethren, I have spoken unto you concerning pride; and those of you which have afflicted your neighbor, and persecuted him, because ye were proud in your hearts, of the things which God hath given you, what say ye of it? Do ye not suppose that such things are abominable unto him, and who created all flesh? And the one being is as precious in his sight as the other. And all flesh is of dust ”

“ Behold, their husbands love their wives, and their wives love their husbands, and their husbands and their wives love their children; and their unbelief and their hatred towards you, is because of the iniquity of their fathers ”

“ This people begin to wax in iniquity; they understand not the Scriptures: for they seek to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms, because of the things which were written concerning David, and Solomon
his Son. Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord. ”