Lorenzo Snow

“ God bless the President, the Priesthood, and all Israel, and may we be successful in winning our way onward in the path of eternal truth and glory; and that, as we advance in life, we may not only have the privilege of gazing upon this beautiful scenery within these walls, but of meeting together in a temple built by the power of the Almighty and the united efforts of His Saints ”

“ When I go into a family I do admire to see the head of that family administering to it as a man of God, kind and gentle, filled with the Holy Ghost and with the wisdom and understanding of Heaven. Men and women can increase their spiritual knowledge; they can grow better as years multiply upon them. ”

“ If there can be such a thing as a man laying off his religion, the moment he does so he gets on to ground he knows nothing about, he gives himself over to the powers of darkness; he is not on his own ground; he has no business there. The idea of Elders in Israel swearing, lying, and giving way to intoxication is far beneath them; they ought to be above such things. Let us put from us every evil, and live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. ”

“ Knowing our religion to be true, we ought to be the most devoted people on the face of the earth to the cause we have embraced. Knowing as we do, or should know, that the gospel we have received promises all our hearts can wish or desire, if we are faithful, we ought to be very faithful, devoted, energetic, and ambitious in carrying out the designs and wishes of the Lord, as He reveals them from time to time through His servants. ”

“ So in regard to ourselves, when duties are required at our hands, whether it is to go to the southern part of our Territory, to Europe, to contribute to the Perpetual Emigration Fund, or to build temples, or whatever we may be required to do within the pale of the kingdom of the Almighty, we have to walk in the spirit of these requirements, and perform them, if we would gain power and influence with our God. ”

“ Quite a number of young men have been called to go to the southern portion of our Territory for the purpose of developing the resources thereof and building up Zion. Now, should they imagine that they could be as successful by taking upon themselves a mission similar to that given by Jesus to his disciples, they would find themselves very much mistaken. Had the Apostles or Seventies in the days of Jesus imagined that they could have fulfilled the missions given them by building an ark as Noah did, or building granaries and storing grain as Joseph did, they would have been grandly mistaken. ”

“ We ought not to be lukewarm or negligent in attending to our duties, but with all our might, strength and souls we should try to understand the spirit of our calling and nature of the work in which we are engaged. ”

“ They were bound to succeed; no power could cross their path and prevent them reaping the most sanguine success, because they went forth in the strength of the Almighty to perform His will, and it was His business to sustain and support them and to furnish them all the means of success. Through obedience to the commands of the Lord they secured to themselves the blessings of life with the privilege of coming forth in the morning of the first resurrection, and they had the assurance that in their labors no power on earth could successfully oppose them. ”

“ There are very few people who have arrived at the age of fifty and upwards who feel like studying mathematics; they do not feel like attending school and applying their minds to the acquisition of the sciences, but there is a kind of education worthy the best attention of all, and in which all ought to engage—that is the education of the Spirit. ”

“ As we advance in life we one and all ought to be less passionate, more spiritually minded. The men ought to be more fatherly at home, possessing finer feelings in reference to their wives and children, neighbors and friends, more kindly and godlike. ”