Saints of the Most High

“ It is said, and we profess to believe it, that the kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and that that kingdom and its fulness shall be given to the Saints of the Most High. It is not to be given to the wicked, or to a people who will hand it over to the wicked as fast as the Lord hands it over to them. We may as well learn this lesson to-day as at any other time. The blessings of the Lord are not bestowed upon the Latter-day Saints to be placed by them in the hands of the wicked. ”

“ With regard to the introduction of legends connected with saints into the school curriculum, my chief plea is the element of the unusual which they contain and an appeal to a sense of mysticism and wonder which is a wise antidote to the prosaic and commercial tendencies of today. Though many of the actions of the saints may be the result of a morbid strain of self-sacrifice, at least none of them was engaged in the sole occupation of becoming rich: their ideals were often lofty and unselfish; their courage high, and their deeds noble. ”

“ The warning of the nations of the earth and the labours of all the faithful Elders among the nations all contribute to the accomplishment of this work and the preparing of the Saints for a high and exalted position in the kingdom of God, to reign as kings and Priests of the Most High, according to the promises of the Father. ”

“ Angels are those beings who have been on an earth like this, and have passed through the same ordeals that we are now passing through. They have kept their first estate far enough to preserve themselves in the Priesthood. They did not so violate the law of the Priesthood and condemn themselves to the sin against the Holy Ghost as to be finally lost. They are not crowned with the celestial ones. They are persons who have lived upon an earth, but did not magnify the Priesthood in that high degree that many others have done who have become Gods, even the sons of God. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ All hell may then give up the chase, for they never can drive the Saints from a spot that is hallowed by the faith of the Saints, through the medium of Jesus Christ by the power of the Father, for that place is dedicated and sanctified to him. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The veneration of the saints is useful and profitable to us. Men conspicuous in life for knowledge, bravery, or other noble qualities and unusual merits are honored after death. Why, then, should Catholics not be permitted to honor the heroes of their faith, who excelled in the practice of supernatural virtue and are in special grace and favor with God? That this veneration is profitable to us is evident from the fact that the example of the saints incites us to imitate them to the best of our ability. ”

“ May God help us to be in deed and in truth what we have been called to be—Saints of the last days, and then, whether in life or death, we shall be His, we shall enter into His glory and be numbered with His jewels; for the Lord cometh to make up His jewels, and it will be those who have met together often and have spoken often one to another, that will be numbered therein; while all the proud and they that do wickedly, will become as stubble ”

“ 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? ”

“ Yet he was magnificently adapted to the larger environment of history; and so far as any saint's example is a leaven of righteousness in the world, and draws it in the direction of more prevalent habits of saintliness, he is a success, no matter what his immediate bad fortune may be. The greatest saints, the spiritual heroes whom every one acknowledges, the Francises, Bernards, Luthers, Loyolas, Wesleys, Channings, Moodys, Gratrys, the Phillips Brookses, the Agnes Joneses, Margaret Hallahans, and Dora Pattisons, are successes from the outset. They show themselves, and there is no question ”

“ It has been the case for many years, in fact, from the beginning, that our Elders have been proclaiming to the world that we are a growing people, and predicting that God has a great destiny in store for the Latter-day Saints ”

“ Not only can each one of us become a saint, and that by a simple and ordinary course of life, but the canonized saints themselves bear witness that they reached heaven in no other way, and attained their crowns by no other means. The saint, be assured of it, is the truest gentleman, the pleasantest companion, and most faithful friend. ”

“ It seems to me that none but Catholics believe in heaven, the eternal home of the saints after death, because they alone appear to understand what a saint is, as the church has proved herself to be the only power which has been able to train and canonize one. ”

“ 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. ”

“ If we have set out to obtain Celestial glory, the precious and inestimable gift of eternal lives, there is no trial necessary for our purification and perfection as Saints of God that we will not have to meet, contend with and overcome. ”

“ The people called Latter-day Saints are, generally speaking, obedient; and if they continue to strive to live their religion they will become of one heart and one mind. We have the kingdom of God here spiritually, and by and bye we will be prepared to receive it temporally ”

“ The Saints were all at once driven from heaven; and senses, thought and heart were turned from a divine mother with a tender child, to the grown man doing good and suffering evil, who was later transfigured into a being half-divine in its nature, and then recognized and honored as God himself. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The Latter-day Saints throughout these valleys, from north to south, have been gathered without much, if any, trouble on the part of the Elders, for the word of God has come to them in the power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost, and they have been convinced of the truth very frequently before they scarcely heard it. ”

“ More than fifty years have passed since the glorious message was first proclaimed to the world; many of those true, noble Saints who toiled as builders of their Master's Kingdom have finished their work, and with years filled with honors have passed on to their rest and reward. ”

“ It necessarily opens up that intercourse with the upper world, that enables the saint, though he live in this world, to live above it.
Under the influence of this grace, the peace of God will rest with them, rule in and reign over them, to which the apostle says to his brethren they were called, in one body: and from a consideration that the peace, the joy and consolation, that the saints enjoy, and that they flow from him, from whom emanates light and life, he exhorts them to be thankful. ”

“ 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. ”

“ And the greater the Saint, that is, the nearer the Saint approaches the perfection of God, to which he is called--Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect--the more influential he must be; that is the more perfectly he will show the divine likeness and transmit the divine influence. When we think of the power of the saints as intercessors that is what actually we are thinking of,--the perfection of their understanding of the mind of Christ. ”

“ 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. ”

“ They say "we know you Latter-day Saints are a very nice people, very kind, very free, generous and benevolent; we know you believe in helping the stranger, and that is not all, we know you believe in giving all your substance to your enemies." ”

“ 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? ”

“ And in our day we behold the same effect. The Latter-day Saints and their work have been like a city set on a hill. They have attracted the gaze of the nations, and that, too, without any especial effort on their part to make themselves conspicuous. The clamor of our enemies has greatly contributed to this. What do their attacks accomplish for us? They advertise us and give us an importance to which we could not otherwise attain. ”

“ Faithful Latter-day Saints everywhere triumph over all the ills that humanity is subject to, because they know that the Lord has redeemed them, and brought them forth to bless them with salvation in His presence. ”

“ The glory of the world passes away, but the glory that the Saints are after is that which is to come in the eternal world; the intelligence, honor and brightness that come from the Supreme Being, by which the inhabitants of celestial spheres live without sorrow and pain. ”

“ And be not given to inquire or dispute about the merits of the Saints, which is holier than another, or which is the greater in the Kingdom of Heaven. Such questions often beget useless strifes and contentions: they also nourish pride and vain glory, whence envyings and dissensions arise, while one man arrogantly endeavoureth to exalt one Saint and another another. ”

“ The chiefest Saints before God are the least in their own judgments; and the more glorious they are, so much the humbler within themselves.
Those that are full of truth and heavenly glory, are not desirous of empty glory. ”

“ The Saints pray their Father in heaven to hasten His work, and roll it forth with mighty power.
Do you not know that the heavens are ready to drop with blessings in store for the faithful Saints, if they were ready and able to receive them? The Almighty God is ready to establish His kingdom upon the earth, in power and majesty, if His people were ready to receive, were prepared to administer therein in holiness, purity, and wisdom. ”

“ One in everything; then we shall grow, and prosper like a green bay tree. Then will riches, honor, and power flow to the Latter-day Saints in far greater abundance than they have ever yet done; then you and your offspring will be the blessed of the Lord. ”

“ We are far from our oppressors, far from those who seek to destroy us solely on account of our faith, and are secured in the midst of these sterile, inhospitable mountains and valleys. They are so to every person, upon natural principles, but the Saints live here. ”

“ The Saints look for a tangible heaven, the same as we have here, only glorified immensely. We expect to be like God, our heavenly Father—to take part in creation, in the creation and peopling of new worlds, and in doing things similar to what God has done. ”

“ I verily believe that there are not many Latter-day Saints, but who, if they knew that they could enjoy all the blessings of the ancients and have the visions of the heavens laid open to their minds, so that they could have before them the past, the present, and the future, so that they could understand the things of God, would live very faithful, and be of one heart and of one mind. ”

“ If the Latter-day Saints magnify their calling, walk humbly before their God, do the things that are pleasing to their Father in heaven, and walk up to their duty in every respect, I am bold to say that not five years only, but scores of years, will pass away without the Saints ever being interrupted, or driven again from their possessions: thus far it is for our good. ”

“ 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. ”