King of saints

“ He shall give power and strength unto His people; blessed is God.' We shall describe many wonders in this book, because God is wonderful in His Saints, as we said before, and the miracles of His Saints glorify Him, because He wrought them by their means. An earthly king hath many servants and divers stewards ; he cannot be an honoured king unless he have the state which befitteth him, and as it were serving-men, to offer him their obedience. ”

“ We are not told, again—and I beg you all to mark this well—that this great multitude consists merely of those who, according to the popular notion, have “gone to heaven,” as it is called, simply because they have not gone to hell. Not so, not so! The great multitude whom we commemorate on All Saints’ Day, are saints. They are the holy ones, the heroes and heroines of mankind, the elect, the aristocracy of grace. These are they who have kept themselves unspotted from the world. ”

“ So down the ages we trace the golden thread of the succession of Saints, Christ the first, afterwards they that are his, in turn receiving, in turn giving life, blessed and blessing—till at last the kingdom comes. ”

“ The vision and scene of the whole chapter belongs to this world, and the kingdom of the saints here spoken of is as much material and political as the other. The difference is, the rulers and people are Christians, they are called saints. ”

“ The least idea never entered their hearts that the people would be found here that would dare to oppose them. I presume the Saints feel that all will be well as a general thing, and to see these feelings existing in the bosoms of the Saints this day is pleasing and gratifying to my feelings; and I feel assured that whatever shall take place —whatever course shall be pursued by our enemies or be taken by ourselves, all will terminate for the glory and exaltation of the Saints of the living God. The kingdom of our God is bound to prosper and to go forward. ”

“ After this, Christ will command His Angels to bring all the Saints before Him. And as they come up to His throne, He will array each one in a garment of glory, brilliant and beautiful, so that they will shine like stars. On their heads He will place golden crowns of surpassing brightness, and into their hands He will give lilies, roses, palm-branches, and a sceptre, to betoken the victory they have achieved over the world, the flesh, and the devil. ”

“ If he is carried up into heaven, it is not in a flaming chariot that he vanishes in the twinkling of an eye; he ascends with majesty, and allows all leisure to his affectionate disciples to worship him, and to accompany their divine Master with their eyes and their homages. The angels, as if to receive him into his empire, come to greet this King of Glory and comfort the affliction of the disciples, by promising him once more to the earth, surrounded with glory and immortality. ”

“ I seldom see the saints that they are not surrounded with a halo of light; they wear rich and precious crowns, as it is reasonable they should. I see them always under the same forms, and have never found in their discourse any discrepancies. ”

“ You speak of the saints as though they were all persons who have lived before the world peculiar and exceptional lives. Of course, even while I speak, you remember that the church does not pretend to have canonized all her holy children, and that she has appointed a day to commemorate those who have won the heavenly crown without drawing upon themselves the attention of mankind. ”

“ Consider, I beseech you, those glimpses of the Eternal Worship in heaven which St John gives us in the Book of Revelation—How he saw the elders fall down before Him who sat upon the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power; for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.” ”

“ When he shall come to be glorified in his saints - As the grace of God is peculiarly glorified in saving sinners and making them into saints, this gracious power will be particularly manifested in the great day, when countless millions will appear before that throne who have come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ”

“ Was, or will there ever be an age of the world, when there are saints on the earth that are fit subjects for the celestial kingdom, whose faith has not been tried to the utmost, even trials that would fall nothing short of sacrificing their good names, their houses and lands, wives and children, and even their own lives, for the cause and kingdom of God? ”

“ In trouble, what a resting place, Have they who know the throne of grace! Though men and devils rage, And threaten to devour; The saints, from age to age, Are safe from all their pow’r: Fresh strength they gain to run their race, By waiting at the throne of grace. Eli her case mistook, How was her spirit moved By his unkind rebuke? But God her cause approved. We need not fear a creature’s face, While welcome at the throne of grace. ”

“ The generations generally, except the saints, as they have passed by, from the beginning, have had their measure, of glory, fame and power, because they have eagerly sought for it—but where are the mightiest of them? ”

“ But on her face there is no expression of ecstatic joy, modest, indeed "humble in the midst of glory", she droops her eyes, almost as if she dared not rest them on the Saviour. Angels and saints, symmetrically disposed at the sides, fill the whole background of the picture, with heads either raised in admiration or bowed in respect, but in attitudes so similar, that they give a sense of monotony. Then come the saints, some kneeling at the foot of the throne, and others in the side wings of the triptych, reverently bowing to the Mother of God. ”

“ Why, a Latter-day Saint has no individual interest separate and apart from the kingdom of God, any where, at any time and in any place, and all he does should be with an eye to advance the interests of that kingdom upon the earth. ”

“ Nothing can be more pleasing and delightful than to contemplate the situation of the Latter Day Saints; placed as it were on an eminence and bringing within the compass of their observation, all the kingdoms of the world, not only those which now are, but those which are past as well as those to come ”

“ Those saints who stand round the throne of God as so many advocates and intercessors; our protectors and guardians, who by their prayers and merits obtain God's grace and mercy for us who are still on earth; to whom we appeal with an assured confidence in our wants and necessities, and by whose intercession we are often miraculously helped in troubles? Shall these saints one day stand up as judges against us, to pronounce on us the sentence of eternal reprobation: Depart, ye cursed, into eternal fire? ”

“ OUR DEBT TO THE DEAD. CARDINAL MANNING The Saints, by their intercession and their patronage, unite us with God. They watch over us; they pray for us; they obtain graces for us. Our guardian angels are round about us: they watch over and protect us. ”

“ Whenever he and the saints under his authority mingle among ordinary men, they are not distinguished by a dignified appearance, but are always humbly clad. [49] These, and even inferior saints, are said to perform astonishing miracles, such as flying in the air, passing unhurt through fire, swallowing fire, glass, etc., walking upon water, transporting themselves in a moment of time to immense distances, and supplying themselves and others with food in desert places. ”

“ We are all called to be Saints, to be filled with the purity of God, and with the power of the Holy Spirit of the Lord Jesus—the spirit of revelation—we are called from darkness into light, from error to truth, from the power of Satan to the living God, we are called from the kingdoms of darkness to the kingdom of God and light, and, by and bye, we shall be chosen because we are worthy, and it will be said to us: "You have lived the life of a Saint, now you are chosen to be an heir of the celestial kingdom of our Father and God." ”

“ Lead us, Almighty God, to the number of thy chosen saints, into the everlasting bliss of thy kingdom, which thou hast prepared from the beginning of the world for those who love thee, thou who livest and reignest with the Eternal Father and the Holy Ghost for ever and ever. ”

“ I am satisfied that neither I nor anybody else comprehends this work to the fullest extent. A great many can see the kingdom, some do not; some of those who profess to be Saints, judging by the course they take, do not see the kingdom. But it is here all the same, whether you see it or not, and it is actually transpiring; and the course and history of the Latter-day Saints are a testimony to the world from the Lord of the building up of his kingdom, the bringing to pass of his purposes, and the fulfillment of prophecies uttered thousands of years ago. ”

“ First, you know that under the papacy it is not only taught that the saints in heaven intercede for us—even though we cannot know this as the Scripture does not tell us such—but the saints have been made into gods, and that they are to be our patrons to whom we should call. ”

“ You might talk about principle to a great many men until your heads turned gray and your tongues cleave to the roofs of your mouths, and it would make no difference—they are not prepared to receive it. But the Latter-day Saints are to a very great extent. ”

“ As the saints are to reign with Christ on the renewed earth, in obedience to the invitation: “Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” (Matt. 25:34) ; their being inducted into the kingdom is symbolized by their being seated on thrones. Thus they sing in the “new song,” addressed to Christ: “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall [pg 351] reign on the earth,” 5:9, 10. ”

“ Since the days of the Bible when saints were inspired, there have been but few of them roving the earth. Latter day saints are material, hence, susceptible to all the temptations and frailties of this world. ”

“ Many things prophesied of in ages past and gone are actually transpiring to-day, yet the people generally do not comprehend them. But the majority of the Latter-day Saints do, and they know that the time of the second coming of the Savior is approaching. ”

“ Grand and joyous is the feast of the Saints, when we lovingly honor all our brethren who have gained their thrones in Heaven, and with faith and hope invoke their powerful aid, that we, too, may come where they are, and be partakers in their eternal blessedness; solemn and sad, but most sweetly soothing to the heart of faith, is the day of All Souls, when the altars are draped in black, and the chant is mournful, and sacrifice is offered, the whole world over, for the dead who have slept in Christ, with the blessing of the Church upon them. ”

“ Compared with these beaked and taloned graspers of the world, saints are herbivorous animals, tame and harmless barn-yard poultry. There are saints whose beard you may, if you ever care to, pull with impunity. Such a man excites no thrills of wonder veiled in terror ”

“ Instead of preaching to all nations the good news that Christ the Son of God was their King, they said: “I, the pope, am your king. Christ is gone far away into heaven, and has committed all power on earth to us; we are Christ’s vicars; we are in Christ’s place; He has entrusted to our keeping all the treasures of His merits and His grace, and no one can get any blessing from Christ, unless we choose to give it him.” ”

“ He preserves the souls of the saints; he preserves their lives as long as he has any work for them to do, and wonderfully delivers them many a time out of the hand of the wicked, their persecutors that thirst after their blood; for precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. ”

“ SEVEN CHAMPIONS OF CHRISTENDOM, the name given in medieval tales to the seven national saints—of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, Spain and Italy—i.e. Saints George, Andrew, Patrick, David, Denis, James and Anthony. ”

“ And when we look at the blessings we enjoy, as Saints of the Most High, from the stand point from which the Latter-day Saints should view this work, how can we limit the feelings which should animate our hearts continually with praise to our Father and God? ”

“ Only the angels have kept the record of the multitude of saints whom it has given to heaven, some bearing the palm branches of victorious martyrs, all clad in virgin robes, and swelling the celestial canticle which only the Spouses of the Lamb are privileged to sing. ”

“ On your own showing, you are absolutely against the saints. For if you make an image of Christ and not of the saints, it is evident that you do not disown images, but the honour of the saints. You make statues indeed of Christ as of one glorified, whilst you reject the saints as unworthy of honour, and call truth a falsehood. ”

“ These saints are anybody who has died in an odour of sanctity, probably within this century or the last—for few, I imagine, have a perennial reputation. Some of the great saints are commonly appealed to in the slightest emergency, such as lifting a weight or climbing an obstacle ”

“ These statements may appear strange to those who are accustomed to look upon the popular reverend clergy, fashionable church members and wealthy deacons, as choice specimens of the saints of the Lord. The true, and most favored saints, are generally found among those who are subject to poverty and tribulation, in this world. ”

“ The former day saints could by their faith stop the mouths of lions, quench the violence of fire, escape the edge of the sword, put the armies of the aliens to flight, receive their dead children to life again, heal the sick, cast out devils, speak with tongues, interpret tongues, prophecy, dream dreams, see visions, &c. ”