“ The Constitution of the United States is a glorious standard; it is founded upon wisdom; it is a heavenly banner; it is like a great tree under whose branches men from every clime can be shielded from the burning rays of an inclement sun; and Mormons as well as Presbyterians, and every other denomination, have equal rights to partake of the fruits of this great tree of our national liberty. ”

“ How long, O Lord, shall iniquity triumph, and sin go unpunished? Do thou arise in the majesty of thy strength, and make bare thine arm in behalf of thy people. Redress their wrongs, and turn their sorrow into joy. Pour the spirit of light and knowledge, grace and wisdom, into the hearts of her prophets, and clothe her priests with salvation. Let light and knowledge march forth through the empire of darkness, and may the honest in heart flow to their standard, and join in the march to go forth to meet the Bridegroom. ”

“ When the day comes in which the Kingdom of God will bear rule, the flag of the United States will proudly flutter unsullied on the flagstaff of liberty and equal rights, without a spot to sully its fair surface; the glorious flag our fathers have bequeathed to us will then be unfurled to the breeze by those who have power to hoist it aloft and defend its sanctity. ”

“ Peter:—How perfectly did Paul describe the condition of the world at the present time! Instead of having inspired Apostles and Prophets to reveal to them the mind and will of the Lord, and to teach to them the true plan of salvation, the people have heaped to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and they have turned their ears away from the truth and turned them unto fables. When you think of the multitude of jarring and contending sects that are in the world today, you can see how literally the prophecies of Paul and Isaiah have been fulfilled. ”

“ A millennium—a reign of righteousness and peace—would be an impossibility with myriads of human beings on the earth that are sunk in the slough of corruption, delighting in deeds of violence and strife. They repent not, and to introduce purity and peace, those whose lives are in contravention of, instead of in harmony with those conditions, must be blotted out of existence. Therefore it is decreed in the heavens that those who remain at His coming will be those only who will bow to His sceptre, deporting themselves in accordance with righteousness and truth. ”

“ We not only plead with you to consider the eternal welfare of your own soul, but, in the name of Jesus Christ, we testify to you that God the Eternal Father, has at last broken the speechless gloom of centuries. He has spoken from heaven and established his authority on the earth. If you have, by evil and false reports regarding the Saints, been surrounded by prejudice, break down the repulsive barrier. Draw the bolts and throw open the shutters of your mind, that the glorious sunlight of eternal truth may enlighten your soul with its illuminating beams. ”

“ But it is here in this weak mortal state, where our eyes are dazzled by the tinsel of earthly vanities, where our ears are enchanted by the dulcet but delusive notes of fame, and our feet are so apt to be seduced from the paths of virtue by the gilded snares of vice; it is here that there is an ever present danger of misusing the gifts and blessings we are privileged to enjoy, and it is this continuous and extreme liability that should render the acquisition of earthly power and wealth, to the great majority of mankind, exceedingly undesirable. ”

“ How can he repent if he will not acknowledge that he has sins? And how can he claim that he has no sins without branding himself as a liar and consequently as a sinner in the sight of heaven?
It is the act of a hero to acknowledge an error. It is the act of a coward to deny or resent a righteous accusation. Herod was a coward when he imprisoned and beheaded John the Baptist for reprimanding him for committing the crime of adultery. David was never more a hero than when, on being accused of a similar misdeed, he humbly acknowledged his transgression. ”

“ Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? ”

“ Look abroad upon the face of the earth, search in all the Christian world for the true Church of Christ as organized and recognized by Him, where do you find it? Like the shipwrecked mariner whose weary eye scans the vast horizon with a lingering hope that a friendly sail will come to his relief, till his heart grows faint and dies within him, so it is with many an honest soul seeking the way to eternal life, anon as he listens to the various creeds and examines the doctrines of the different sects, he discovers discrepancies everywhere. ”

“ Avowing, with maledictions upon it, that polygamy is the "twin-relic of barbarism" and must die, they yet will not let it die, but drag it from its senile sleep, enhorse and caparison it like a waxen image of some old Catholic saint and lead it in triumphal procession through the land to excite the clamor of women gone hysterical through brooding in nightly loneliness over the clandestine amours of their monogamous husbands with other women more charming than themselves! ”

“ Hell is a place and condition of torment, in which the suspense and remorse and anguish of soul of the wicked, waiting for judgment and not knowing what their fate will be, is as 'the worm that dieth not and the fire that is not quenched.' This they will endure as long as justice demands, and until they repent and turn to God and are perfectly willing to obey Him. When they are released, in future ages, their destiny will be as they have fixed it themselves by their own acts and according to the eternal principles of justice and mercy extended by the all-wise Judge, the eternal Father. ”

“ The insect creeps, the bird flies, the fish swims, by faith; the flowers spring, the grasses grow, the trees bloom and bear, by faith; the infant prattles, the man toils, the God creates, upholds, redeems and glorifies His workmanship, by faith. It is the main-spring of life, the motive power of creation, the active principle of the entire universe. Hence it is necessarily the first principle of the Gospel, the initial element of salvation, the basic principle or foundation law upon which all other laws and principles rest. ”

“ For more than 1800 years Christianity has not been the religion of Christ. The Christianity that boasts of having civilized the world is a mass of dogmatic bran that makes poor bread of life—intellectually a bran-mash for hidebound bigots who send all but a "predestined and foreordained" baker's dozen to eternal torment because they will not take the medicine. It has been itself partially civilized by the natural development of the human mind, but is still much like that "white sepulchre," fair to see, but full of lying dogmas, hypocrisy and sham. ”

“ Who that has had one glimpse of the order of the celestial family and of the eternal connections and relationships which should be formed here in order to be enjoyed there; who that has felt one thrill of the energy and power of eternal life and love which flows from the divine spirit of revelation, can ever be contented with the corrupt pleasures of a moment which arise from the unlawful connections and desires? ”

“ I believe in every true principle that is imbibed by any person or sect, and reject the false. If there is any truth in heaven, earth, or hell, I want to embrace it, I care not what shape it comes in to me, who brings it or who believes in it, whether it is popular or unpopular. Truth, eternal truth, I wish to float in and enjoy. ”

“ So long as a man will not give heed to the commands, he must abide without salvation.
Here, then, is eternal life—to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power. ”

“ There the great Physician will heal the soul, and the body, too. There the heavens will converse with the sons of earth, and pour down the rich treasures of wisdom to feast the hungry, longing soul. There the Lord has commanded the blessing, even life forever more. There, in the Lord's mountain, will He take away the veil that is over all flesh, and wipe away the tears of the sorrowful, and impart a fullness of life and everlasting joy. ”

“ Its roots are striking deeper every day, and its thriftly branches shoot forth vigorously. The blasts of hell cannot wither it; the fire of the world's wrath cannot touch it; but while "every tree that the Father has not planted shall be rooted up," this "plant of renown," which is the "kingdom of heaven," growing up on the face of the earth, shall stretch out its mighty boughs, and yield forth its precious fruit, till the whole earth reposes under its shelter, and the heavenly ones shall "lodge in the branches thereof." ”

“ Joseph Smith:—You would. "If the veil was rent today, and the Great God, who holds this world in its orbit, who upholds all worlds and all things by His power, was to make Himself visible—I say, If you were to see Him today, you would see Him like a man in form—like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion, image, and likeness of God, and received instruction from, and walked, talked, and conversed with Him, as one man talks and communes with another." ”

“ Faith and good works, those inseparable, Siamese twins of Gospel efficacy, have done all that ever has been or ever will be done, in heaven or on earth, for the benefit and blessing of humanity, while blind, bigoted unbelief and cold-hearted skepticism, though always the loudest to boast of the world's advancement, especially if it advances in wickedness, have as invariably been the persistent opposers and stumbling-blocks in the way of all righteous progress and development. ”

“ I am not a member of any church, and view all sects philosophically. I cannot perceive that any religion has been of divine origin, in the theological sense of the terms. To my mind they are all human, very human, in their origin. But, conceding to all the rights of intellectual liberty I claim for myself, I question not the right of the people to any religion that satisfies them. In so far as creeds and dogmas impose upon credulity, I claim the right to protest. ”

“ Is it a thing so strange and unaccountable to the Christian world, that such men as Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and other ancient worthies who walked and talked with God, as friend to friend, and were clothed upon with the fullness of the authority of His Holy Priesthood, should have been vouch-safed the precious privilege of yielding obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ—"the only name given under heaven whereby man can be saved?" ”

“ Now, my Reorganite friends, in the face of this how dare you presume to circumscribe, limit and profane this doctrine of salvation for the dead? Why do you call this eternal and most glorious principle a "permissive rite," a "local commandment?" and declare before God that it is not binding on you? God has declared it to be ordained before the foundations of the world were laid for the salvation of the dead who die without a knowledge of the Gospel—an eternal principle, the burden of the Scriptures, obligatory to man. Are you in harmony with the word of God? ”

“ Some men want to be saved without any righteousness on their own part, without any forgiveness of sin, without any repentance, without humility of acknowledgment that they are unworthy, except through a remission of their sins, to enjoy the blessings and inherit the glory of the Kingdom of God. They even hold out the idea, the erroneous, wicked, pernicious thought or idea, that the murderer on the scaffold can be ushered into the presence of God and to the highest glory if he will only say, on the scaffold, before the drop is cut, that he "believes in the Lord Jesus Christ." ”

“ Believing the word of God, I had confidence in the declaration of James, 'If a man lack wisdom let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him,' I retired to a secret place in a grove and began to call upon the Lord. While fervently engaged in supplication, my mind was taken away from the objects with which I was surrounded, and I was enwrapped in a heavenly vision, and saw two glorious personages who exactly resembled each other in features and likeness, surrounded with a brilliant light, which eclipsed the sun at noon-day. ”

“ But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. ”

“ Let the land become abundantly fruitful, when possessed by its rightful heirs; let it again flow with plenty to feed the returning prodigals who come home with a spirit of grace and supplication; upon it let the clouds distill virtue and richness, and let the fields smile with plenty. Let the flocks and the herds greatly increase and multiply upon the mountains and hills; and let thy great kindness conquer and subdue the unbelief of thy people. Do thou take from them their stony heart, and give them a heart of flesh ”