Amasa Lyman

Counselor in the First Presidency (February 4, 1843 – June 27, 1844)

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (August 20, 1842 – October 6, 1867)

General Conference Addresses

• April 1866 General Conference
  • Marriage: Its Benefits
    • “Virtue, when practiced by us, is the surest and best foundation that we can have for confidence, not only in God, but in ourselves, and in one another, a degree of which is necessary to our happiness, to our comfort and joy.”
• October 1865 General Conference
  • Development of the Understanding Necessary
    • “If it is the business of the Lord to provide for his Saints, it is our business exclusively so to live that the Lord may have Saints for whom to care and provide, whom He may protect, and who may securely rest beneath the shadow of His wings, enjoying the blessings of His protection against evil.”
• April 1863 General Conference
  • Advice to Missionaries
    • “This is what we would expect of missionaries; we would naturally expect they should be praying men, that they should be Godfearing and God-loving men continually. And what we should expect from that class of missionaries we should expect and we ought to see with and among every other class of missionaries, the teamster as well as the preacher.”
• October 1862 General Conference
  • The Object of Gathering
    • “People talk about going to heaven, but when we find ourselves in heaven we shall find that we have reached it, without going to it. Heaven is a development of internal powers and external changes.”
    • “We say we want the Holy Spirit; then let us so live our religion that we may have the Holy Spirit, which will improve our condition continually, making us better and better citizens of the kingdom of God with every degree of gain over ourselves.”
    • “We cannot do any wrong that will render us acceptable to God and make us better.”
    • “Some people think they can pray the weeds out of their fields and gardens, but their prayers can only be effectual when accompanied with a reasonable amount of honest labor rightly and wisely applied.”
• October 1857 General Conference
  • Benefit of Experience
    • “If it was not our misery that prompted our Father in his dealings towards us—that gave character to his operations with us, then he had an object in view. He commenced with us to accomplish his own purposes, to bring about an increase of his own glory in our salvation. Well, when that increase shall be accomplished, we shall know that it was not our sorrow or our affliction that he sought: it was because he wished our salvation, that we were made to partake of the cup of suffering, that we should partake of sorrow before we could reach happiness and bliss as a reward for it.”
    • “It was said in old times that when the Lord commenced his work in the latter times, he will actually accomplish it. Well, now, we have actually come upon the stage of action to take our part when that work is about to be done, and we are to constitute a portion of his agents to accomplish that work. And when we have done that which is needful for the accomplishment of his work, then we shall see the consistency of God’s hand dealing with us.”
    • “Does a man ever apostatize when he knows the work is true and that God is working for his own glory, and when he all the time sees this? No, never. You never see a man apostatize that in the days of his apostasy ever knew this or appreciated it. Why, if he knew this, he would not apostatize.”
    • “Where division of sentiment, diversity of feeling, and discord exist, the principles of heaven are not there; the principles of peace are not there.”
    • “If we can triumph over our feelings, our affections, so that our whole souls can become subject to the principles of heaven, then we shall easily conquer the other foes.”
  • Peace, Confidence, and Ultimate Victory of the Saints
  • • “And if it is the Lord’s work, then there is no failure—then we are not to be destroyed, we are not to be driven away, we are not to be wasted anymore, we are not to be trodden down anymore by the iron heel of oppression; but we are here to gather strength, to put on power and might, and to be in the midst of the nations that our Father has designed from the beginning of his kingdom upon the earth in these last times.”
    • “Will he build up his kingdom on the earth? Yes, he will. Well, then, we shall not be driven away. Has he found the people—the material out of which to build his kingdom? Yes, he has. We have been traveling and preaching backward and forward to prepare us for these things. Is there a people here that is capable of being governed, and not only that are capable of being governed, but capable of becoming governors?”
    • “If I can only maintain my relationship unbroken with the cause of God, and remain identified with it, why, then I am saved; and why? Because the kingdom of God will make me just as great as I can be, and greater than I know enough to speak of now. Why? Because I will know more then. It is all embraced in the kingdom of God.”

Other Reported Talks

• Salvation, Discourse in Salt Lake City, December 9, 1855
  • “I do not know of anything that exists, as a means of happiness and comfort within our reach, or that can be made available, but that belongs to our salvation.”
  • “What has the Gospel done for you, and for me? It has never done us anything but good. “But,” says one, “Here is a man that has embraced the truth and then has gone from it, left it, and is now damned.” What has damned him? Is it the Gospel? Nothing has damned him but his own mean conduct; his own misdeeds that have influenced him thus against his own interest. Does the Gospel require him to commit sin? Does it require him to utter falsehoods, and cherish a principle of hypocrisy and practice deceit with his neighbor? No. The Gospel requires of him practical virtue, righteousness and truth in all his conduct.”
  • “Then let us not charge the Gospel with damning anybody, until we find out it has actually done it. The Gospel was sent into the world, by the Savior of mankind, to place the means of salvation within the reach of mortals, to give to those who should believe, the power to become the sons of God. That was the object of this proclamation throughout the earth, and was the reason why it was taught in that simplicity that marked the teachings of the ministers of truth. The Scriptures promise salvation to those who believe; and those who do not, we are informed, shall be damned. What damns them that do not believe? The same thing that damned them before they heard the Gospel. They were in darkness, and what was their condition afterwards? They were in darkness.”
  • “To learn the truth is the best thing we can do, it is a pursuit fraught with the greatest good to us, for it will bring salvation to us, and bestow upon us the bliss, and blessedness of that state in full; and enable us to appreciate it, for we shall have the light of truth to discover things as they exist around us. And this is in fact our happiness, glory, and strength.”
  • “You should cultivate that condition of feeling that is congenial with the Holy Spirit.”
  • “You should banish all littleness of soul; and banish all scanty, meager conceptions; and learn that the infinitude of truth is boundless.”
  • “When you appreciate the truth so—as it is worth everything you can give or exchange for it—then you are secure; and as long as you continue to love it, you will not apostatize. But if you begin to be discontented, look out or you will apostatize. You say, “I like “Mormonism” as well as ever I did, but I do not like this country.” You tell the truth, I believe, but you never believed it firm enough, if you had you would have loved this country where duty has called you; or any other country where the interest of the cause of truth calls you. Why? Because your interest is there; that which you love is there, and the reward you seek is there. You ought to have “Mormonism” get fast hold on your affections, so as to occupy the entire affections of the soul, until the love of the truth is disseminated throughout your whole being.”
• Comprehensiveness of the Gospel, Discourse in Salt Lake City, December 2, 1855
  • “The Gospel is connected with everything I can think about. It is expanded to such an extent that I cannot see beyond it; I cannot rise above it, nor descend beneath it. There are no depths it does not reach; no heights it does not surmount; no extent which is not filled by it. So let me talk to you what I will, that is true, and calculated to do good to mankind, it must of necessity form a part of the Gospel.”
  • “What does this obedience lead people to? It leads them to go where they are required to go, and to stay where they may be required to stay; in fine, it leads them to perform every labor that is required at their hands in the building up of the kingdom of God, and the establishing of Zion, or the cause of truth on the earth. In the pursuance of this, what do we find? We find men crossing the desert, and the ocean, of their own free will; passing through all the contingencies of a journey of that kind; passing through privations, hardships, dangers, and evils that may hang around their path, because they have been commanded to do so. We see some fall off who have spent a score of years in traveling, preaching, laboring, toiling, and striving to gain salvation by being obedient to the requisitions that were laid upon them; they have gone, when, and where they were sent, and have come back when called for; they have made it their business to respond to the calls that were made, regardless of what they might be.”
  • “If toiling, and laboring, and suffering privations and hardships were sufficient to save men, and place within their possession the constituent principles of happiness to redeem them from evil, such men would have been redeemed very likely; such men would have been pure. But what does it prove? It simply proves, that if there is anything in a man’s experience, in his toiling and labor, it is simply the facts that we see, the outward result that may be calculated, that flows from his labors, such as the building of houses, and cities.”
  • “If we would learn the God of truth that imparts life, and freedom from darkness and error to us; it is simply that truth that enables us to comprehend the facts in relation to Him. If we learn ourselves it is the same; it would be the revelation of some principle applied to ourselves, to our own history, to the reason why we are here, and the same that brought us here. Then this is what the Holy Spirit will do.”
  • “You can readily see, then, how the kingdom of God must be built up in the soul of every individual; Zion must be developed there. What is Zion? It is the pure in heart, so says the revelation. Do you suppose you are going to build up the kingdom of God until the perfection of purity and truth is developed in the hearts of the people of that kingdom? No. You may gather them together by thousands, and tens of thousands, until the concourse swell the congregation in Zion to millions, and what will it amount to until this principle is developed in them?”
  • “Be faithful now, and learn this one thing—that we have not learned the Gospel, but learned of it, and are still learning of it, as much truth as we can gain. How fast do we learn? Just as fast as the condition of feeling we cultivate will allow us; just as much as the spirit of it is with us; just so much we learn.”

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