Rudger Clawson – Gospel Study

Rudger Clawson

President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (March 17, 1921 – June 21, 1943)

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (October 10, 1898 – June 21, 1943)

General Conference Addresses

April 1943 General Conference
- A Great Work
  - “I testify to you, my brethren, that this revelation was given for our profit, and I express to you my testimony in these words, that I know the Lord is with us, that Jesus is the Christ, and that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God. We are engaged in a glorious work. It is a marvelous scene to look out upon this gathering of Priesthood.”
October 1942 General Conference
- The Lord’s Mercy to the Repentant
  - “Now, brethren, this is a remarkable case. It shows the love and mercy of God that was shown to this man when he repented of his sins. God took mercy upon him and forgave him of his sins, and he accomplished a mighty work among his people, and he became high priest in the Church.”
April 1942 General Conference
- The Blessings of the Priesthood
  - “If a man would ascend to exaltation and glory he must have the Priesthood. Without the Priesthood we are helpless. With the Priesthood we can accomplish much.”
October 1941 General Conference
- Church Leadership
  - “There has been leadership in every dispensation of the Church, and the finest kind of leadership. Good leadership means effective work; poor leadership means poor work. That is a rule that will always be in force.”
April 1941 General Conference
- Preaching of the Gospel
  - “The miracles and blessings that follow the preaching do not come before but come after the preaching to confirm the faith of the Latter-day Saints and all who will receive the word of God. God does not give signs and miracles to make us believe, but rather to strengthen and help those who receive the message.”
  - “There is nothing greater than to preach the word of God, to acknowledge His hand, to walk uprightly before Him, to be humble and faithful, and not only by word of mouth but also to preach the Gospel by example. We are making history individually and collectively, and so it is highly essential that our lives and example should conform with our preaching, and then it will be effective.”
October 1940 General Conference
- Love of the Work
  - “It is wonderful what the Lord can do with these young men who are going out; and mark you, these young men who are going out as missionaries could not do very effective work without divine authority, so they come up here and get it. They go to the Temple and get the Temple blessings, and they go into the study room and listen to lectures on the Gospel, after which the hands of the Council of the Twelve Apostles and First Council of Seventy are laid on their heads conferring the authority to preach the Gospel.”
April 1940 General Conference
- The Work of the Church
  - “I think I may safely say that this is a day of inspiration, of revelation and miracles. If all the miracles that have been and are being performed by this people were written into a book it would be a very, very large volume.”
April 1939 General Conference
- The War in Heaven
  - “Satan is here with his followers, and the fight is still on. The righteous spirits find, when they are brought into material form, that they stand naked and bare as it were. If they are to battle with the evil spirits they must be clothed upon with divine authority.”
October 1938 General Conference
- The Gospel Should be Everything To Us
  - “There may be some young people among us who haven’t got the testimony that I speak of. They may say, “I do not know the Gospel is true, but I believe it is true.” That is a good testimony. It is a fine thing if they believe it. There are hundreds and thousands and millions of people who do not believe it. So if our children believe it is true we surely should be thankful for that, and if they will hold on to their belief and cultivate the Spirit of the Lord in their hearts the testimony will come later.”
  - “What is the Gospel of Jesus Christ? It is the power of God unto salvation, and if we persist in that testimony and magnify that power in our callings it will be our salvation.”
  - “I have come to the conclusion that, in life or in death. I must cleave to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved, and I’m sure that is the conclusion of every faithful Latter-day Saint.”
April 1938 General Conference
- The Law of Health
  - “The Lord not only points out the evils connected with our living, but also points out things that would be good for us, and altogether this short revelation covers a wide range. It is truly a law of health and those who observe to keep this Word of Wisdom will realize a blessing from it.”
October 1937 General Conference
- The Doctrine and Covenants
  - “Marriage should be approached in a prayerful spirit. We should pause and consider this matter. Sometimes it happens that a couple will pass the Temple door and go and get a civil marriage, and I have wondered sometimes if such a couple had weighed the matter fully.”
  - “A civil marriage is a good marriage because it has the authority of the United States government behind it. The law protects it, and we cannot condemn it. All we can say about a civil marriage is that it is good as far as it goes, but it may not go very far. That is the trouble. It may last a month, it may last six months, it may last ten years, or twenty years, or thirty years, or forty, or fifty years, which is just a moment of time.”
April 1937 General Conference
- The Spiritual and the Temporal
  - “The spirit is precious, the body is precious, and when joined together they constitute the soul of man. The spiritual body is greater than the temporal body, but even so we see how very important is the body and how careful we should be to refrain from taking into the body anything that would be hurtful to it or would have a tendency to defile it.”
October 1936 General Conference
- Work of the Temples
  - “It is such a blessing, my brethren and sisters, that constitutes a man a prophet of God. Surely it must be so. And the blessings of the holy temple of God were restored to the earth. These blessings are dispensed to those who are faithful but cannot be purchased by money. Gold and silver instantly lose their value when compared with these mighty blessings.”
April 1936 General Conference
- A Testimony
  - “I testify to you for myself, in all solemnity, that I do know that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world, and was crucified upon Mt. Calvary for the sins of the world, and that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. I rejoice with all my heart and soul in this testimony, which I hope to have and to retain all the days of my life.”
October 1935 General Conference
- Laws of Finance and Health
  - “The Latter-day Saints are a practical people. If it is said that they have to do with spiritual things it may be said with equal truth that they also have to do with temporal things. The line that divides the temporal from the spiritual—if such a line there be—has never been discovered.”
  - “Any member of the Church who has an income and refuses to pay his tithing is not loyal to the cause. The Lord plainly says also in connection with this important law that it is by and through this law that the land: ot Zion is to be sanctified. And should the people of the Latter-day Saints fail to observe it, it would not be a land of Zion unto them.”
April 1935 General Conference
- Eternal Progression
  - “If there were no fathers there wouldn’t be any mothers, and if there were no mothers there wouldn’t be any fathers. The Lord in heaven arranged it so.”
  - “Young men in Israel be careful, young women be careful. In seeking this blessing be sure to get the best there is. The best is what God offers, and not what is given by man.”
October 1934 General Conference
- Making Choices
  - “In the great scheme of life there are two roads to travel, and it is the privilege of every human soul to determine, under the God-given right of his free agency, which road he will elect to follow. If he chooses the road of wickedness it will lead him down to certain destruction. If he chooses the road of righteousness it will lead him up to everlasting life in a kingdom of glory.”
April 1934 General Conference
- Articles of Faith
  - “We know that except we are one we are not Christ’s. And further let me add that except the people of the Latter-day Saints are one they are not Christ’s, because he is not the author of doubt or disbelief or contention or false doctrine.”
October 1933 General Conference
- Marriage
  - “Is it not wonderful, is it not marvelous, is it not an honor of the very highest dignity, that people upon the earth have the opportunity of entering into this co-partnership? Marriage to the Latter-day Saints means very much more than it does to our friends of the other Christian denominations. They marry for this world only, but the Latter-day Saints marry for this world and the world to come.”
  - “It may be said that there are some Latter-day Saints who marry for this world only. What is the answer? It is because of a lack of understanding. They little comprehend the nature and farreaching influence of marriage for eternity.”
  - “I say unto you Latter-day Saints in boldness and without fear of successful contradiction that any man or woman who contracts a Temple marriage in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and abides by the conditions and restrictions of this great law will have lived a successful life.”
April 1933 General Conference
- Work For the Dead
  - “When our loved ones sicken and die they are carefully laid away in their graves. We mourn for those who die, and we say of them that they have gone to their rest in the paradise of God, there to await the resurrection of the just, and that they will come forth, in the first resurrection. All that is very true.”
  - “What greater treasures can you lay up in heaven than by bringing salvation through the Gospel to some of those immortal souls of God, his children?”
  - “To pray for the dead may not be of any real assistance to them. To actually help them we must do a work for them.”
October 1932 General Conference
- Entering the Kingdom
  - “When the immortal spirit of a man secures and enters a mortal body, it can then be said, I take it, that his creation is complete. He is a living soul.”
  - “The kingdom of God and the church of God are not very far apart. One cannot. get into the kingdom of God upon the principle of faith alone, or repentance alone, or receiving the Holy Ghost alone. He will have to be baptized, go down into the water, and come up out of the water, and have hands laid upon him for the gift of the Holy Ghost. That is the procedure that was followed by the apostles of Christ. That is the procedure of the Church today. It is the only way.”
  - “The man who expects to find a fulness of joy in the light and frivolous pleasures of the world or in matters pertaining strictly to the world will be sadly disappointed, because it is said that a man whose heart is wedded to the things of the world is carnally minded, and we are told in the scriptures that to be carnally minded, or altogether worldly minded, is death, but to be spiritually minded is life eternal.”
April 1932 General Conference
- Duty to Preach the Gospel
  - “Having received from on high, without money and without price, the Gospel with its saving power, Joseph Smith and his people were in duty bound to give the Gospel to the world freely without money and without price, that all might have equal opportunity of securing the blessing of salvation, and that it might be said of God that he is no respecter of persons and that the righteous in every nation are acceptable unto him.”
October 1931 General Conference
- Work for the Dead
  - “The Gospel is complete in itself. Nothing is to be added to it. Nothing may be subtracted from it. The Gospel cannot be divided up into sectional parts, and if it were these sectional parts could not be safely treated separately. The Gospel must be taken as a whole.”
April 1931 General Conference
- Salvation
  - “Religion is a serious and solemn thing—serious for the reason that it involves the question of salvation, individual and general salvation, and this, I take it, is an extremely important matter.”
October 1930 General Conference
- Temple Marriage
  - “No impure or unholy thing can come into the presence of God and dwell there. This emphasizes powerfully the importance of the doctrine of repentance.”
  - “We say to the young men of Israel, be careful in selecting your companions. Make it a subject of prayer and much thought. Seek women of faith, women of pure lives; and then be sure, be very sure that you are in love with the women you espouse and hope to marry. I would not say to love them with all your heart and soul, because that belongs to God. That duty is to him alone. But be sure you love the young woman sincerely and truly, and be sure that she is a good woman.”
  - “We would say to the young woman in making her choice: Be ye equally careful. Be sure the young man is of good character, pure in his life, that he is a young man of faith; and after all be very sure that you love him. Without love there could be no lasting happiness between husband and wife. Love is very binding in its nature and will help to hold them together.”
April 1930 General Conference
- The Kingdom of God
  - “The stone cut out of the mountain without hands, representing the kingdom of God, was established April 6th, 1830, with six members, and is known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Thus the work of the Lord in our own time, designated by revelation as a marvelous work and a wonder, had a very humble beginning, but it has grown apace.”
October 1929 General Conference
- Deliverance
  - “We cannot even know God without exercising this tremendous principle of love. He is love, and if we shall come to understand him and comprehend him, it must be in part through this glorious attribute.”
April 1929 General Conference
- The Scriptures
  - “We realize as la Church that we are greatly indebted to the Jewish race for much information respecting the plan of redemption. We ought not to forget that. It appears to me that we should be kept in remembrance of it, and that we ought to feel an interest, and probably we do, in the Jewish people.”
October 1928 General Conference
- The Purpose of Life
  - “A man cannot grow to the full measure of a man without a woman, and conversely a woman cannot grow to the full measure of a woman without a man. They were created together and God intended them to be together in wedlock.”
April 1928 General Conference
- Follow the Commandments
  - “When the wicked rule the people mourn, and conversely it might be said that when the righteous rule the people rejoice. They rejoice because the righteous make righteous laws, and they mourn because the wicked make wicked laws.”
  - “When a righteous man dies the angel who comes to take charge of his spirit is not a destroying angel, but rather an angel of mercy, of peace and love, a messenger from the Father. The death of a wicked and disobedient man is bitter, and he has no promise that the destroying angel will pass by him and not slay him.”
October 1927 General Conference
- The Presiding Quorums
  - “I rejoice in the integrity, in the faithfulness, in the devotion of my brethren and associates of the Council of Twelve and the First Council of Seventy. I know these brethren intimately. I think I have been able to looik into their hearts, and to know how they feel. I know what they are doing. I believe that their labors are approved of the Lord, and that his blessing is attending their activities.”
April 1927 General Conference
- The Savior and His Apostles
  - “The apostles of the Savior suffered also most seriously from the spirit of persecution. All of the apostles, as I remember it, except one, gave their lives for the testimony of Jesus. John only escaped because of the promise of the Master, who said that he should live until Christ’s second coming.”
October 1926 General Conference
- Faith and Works
  - “It is said that without faith it is impossible to please God, and I think we may say also that without repentance it would be impossible to please him.”
April 1926 General Conference
- Scripture
  - “The gospel involves principles that are everlasting in their character. They always existed, and they will always exist. For that reason these principles of salvation are applicable to all times and all nations throughout the world.”
October 1925 General Conference
- Cooperation
  - “Who among us has the wisdom to draw the line between the spiritual and the temporal, and to say where the spiritual ends and the temporal begins? I am sure that I haven’t that wisdom, and really I don’t think it can be done.”
April 1925 General Conference
- The Word of Wisdom
  - “Death comes to all. The death of the righteous is sweet but the death of the wicked, of the rebellious, of those who are wilfully neglectful of their duty and treat lightly the sacred commandments of God, is bitter.”
October 1924 General Conference
- Physical Resurrection
  - “Man never did develop, and never could have developed into a perfect soul without the body.”
  - “A rejection of the gospel is a bar, an absolute bar, against any man or woman entering into the kingdom of God.”
April 1924 General Conference
- Religious Confusion in the World
  - “If we look out into the world—the so-called Christian world—and take note of the confusion, of the spirit of strife, and contention, and division which prevail there, we are at once driven to the conclusion that they are without this great gift of God, the Holy Ghost, and surely we may well believe that it is so; because they have entirely neglected the ordinance of the Holy Ghost.”
October 1923 General Conference
- A Testimony
  - “I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I know it throughout my whole being. My soul responds to this testimony, and I know and rejoice in the fact that whatever of Priesthood and authority I enjoy and am able to exercise have come down to me from the Lord through Joseph Smith the Prophet. Oh, how I do revere the memory of that man. I do not worship him. No, I do not worship him, but I reverence his good name, and I reverence the authority that he held and exercised, and I reverence the authority that is held by one of his successors, our present leader, President Heber J. Grant. I sustain him with all my heart as the prophet, seer and revelator and the president of the Church.”
April 1923 General Conference
- Modern Revelation
  - “This is the doctrine that we promulgate. We say: Yes, the Church of Jesus Christ is built upon the rock of revelation, and everything points to this fact, so far as the Latter-day work of God is concerned.”
October 1922 General Conference
- Divine Law
  - “The divine law is always a righteous law and needs no repealing.”
  - “There is no future for any nation that despises virtue, and continuously and persistently violates the moral law. This is a fatal and deadly sin.”
April 1922 General Conference
- The Bible
  - “I have thus spoken of the Bible to emphasize the importance of its study, which, if mastered, would be quite equal, I am sure, to a college education. This holy record has come down to us, under the providence of the Lord, through the years. It is a most precious treasrise and will be found in nearly every household, but I ferr it is hot read as often, and is not pondered over as deeply, by the Latter-day Saints, as it should be. God has given us His word and He will not be mocked.”
October 1921 General Conference
- The Atonement
  - “It is in the dispensation of the fulness of times, for the Lord requires of us a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and the sacrament, which is regarded by the Church as a most holy ordinance, is again restored to the people of God.”
  - “Oh, the height and the depth of divine love, the love of God for his children here upon the earth! We are put under an obligation that we never can repay in this life or in the life to come. The greatness of this sacrifice cannot be measured, cannot be fully understood by mortal man; but, nevertheless, we can get the benefit of it by faith and obedience to the commandments of God.”
April 1921 General Conference
- Honoring the Priesthood
  - “The Priesthood is not received, or held, or exercised in any degree, by the women of the Church; but, nevertheless, the women of the Church enjoy the blessings of the Priesthood through their husbands. This emphasizes very strongly the importance of marriage.”
October 1920 General Conference
- Repentance
  - “He is a God of mercy and of forgiveness and is long-suffering. We should be like him.”
April 1920 General Conference
- The Triple Combination
  - “If that were the only book of the kind in the world and it was in my possession, dear me, I would not part with it upon any consideration. I would hold on to it as I would hold on to my soul. I would eat with it and sleep with it, and have it with me at all times. But, brethren and sisters, you have this book. How many of the Latter-day Saints appreciate these great standard works of the Church? How many of the Latter-day Saints are giving them study and reflection? We are commanded to search out wisdom from all good books, and particularly good books of the Church.”
- Investments
  - “The means that come into our hands are a direct blessing from the Lord and he expects us to expend them wisely and well and to be very careful in our management of affairs.”
  - “What think you, brethren and sisters, of marriage as an investment? One of the most important steps that a man or woman can take in the world. There are two kinds of marriage. One is rather a poor investment, that is, it is not as good as the other. There is marriage for time ; there is marriage for time and all eternity. Here is the choice of two investments to every young man and to every young woman in the Church. Which will you have? That which is of eternal value or the thing that is of mere temporal ease? So I repeat, always distinguish between what is of eternal value and what is of a mere temporal ease.”
October 1919 General Conference
- Raising Children
  - “How great is the responsibility that goes with these children, when they come into our homes! Do you not know, brethren and sisters, that the pure spirits of these little children who are among us were sent down from heaven to take upon themselves mortality? It takes the body and the spirit to constitute the soul of man. That was the blessing that you received at your birth.”
  - “If parents want their children to be good children, they will have to be good themselves.”
  - “Woe unto that man, or woe unto that woman who despises little children, who passes them coldly by, who ignores them, and who has no thought or love for them, because these little ones are the gift of God unto man, precious immortal souls.”
June 1919 General Conference
- Tribute to Joseph F. Smith
  - “I loved him because of his kindly and thoughtful consideration for his brethren and associates in the ministry and for the Latter-day Saints generally, for he was a most genial and lovable man. I loved him because of the wise counsel and timely admonitions that constantly fell from his lips. He was indeed a powerful preacher of righteousness.”
October 1918 General Conference
- Judgment and Repentance
  - “It is a time for solemn prayer to the Lord. We surely cannot reach him nor get near to him without the exercise of faith in prayer.”
April 1918 General Conference
- Abraham
  - “And since man in the beginning was made in the image of God and after his likeness, and since he is still in the image of God and will &o continue, we have no reason to conclude that there has ever been any change at all in the order of things as first instituted.”
October 1917 General Conference
- The Priesthood
  - “There is no need for envy. There is no need for overweening ambition. There is no need to reach out and try to grasp that to which we are not entitled.”
  - “Nothing will be withheld from the man who is worthy and no blessing will be withheld from the woman who is faithful and true.”
  - “Any man who neglects his privileges and opportunities, is the loser. He is not advancing, he is not growing in faith and knowledge and good works as he should do.”
April 1917 General Conference
- The Power of Love
  - “The offender is less accountable for sin than the unforgiving man who is injured, when his brother comes to him and confesses his sin and is willing to make it right, and wants to be reconciled, and the brother says, “No, I will not forgive you. I hold it against you. I cannot forget it. I will not forget it, and I will not accept your offering.” That man stands condemned before the Lord.”
  - “I do not think that any person or any community or any part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can go very far astray if they will cultivate the spirit of mercy and charity and love.”
  - “Those who ignore counsel, those who trample upon the word of the Lord, those who turn their backs upon this people and upon this work, will go into darkness; they will lose the light of truth, and their knowledge and their testimony will go from them.”
October 1916 General Conference
- Following Christ
  - “It sometimes happens that when a person finds a thing, he may pick it up on the street, he may pick it up in a building, but he has found it and he assumes that it is his by right of discovery. It is not his; he has stolen it, and the Lord has commanded against this sin, whether he finds a thing that does not belong to him or whether he has taken it of his own accord.”
  - “Adultery is the deadly sin of this age, and was the deadly sin of other ages.”
  - “We always favor ourselves, we are always very charitable to ourselves, we are quite willing to forgive ourselves when we are in the wrong. Well, that is the way we must be towards our neighbor.”
April 1916 General Conference
- The Restoration
  - “Joseph Smith, the prophet, was by far the most striking figure of the nineteenth century. 1 realize that this is a very bold declaration and while many will readily concede to it, others will regard it as presumptuous, but let me say to you, brethren and sisters and friends, that there is ample evidence to sustain it.”
April 1915 General Conference
- Visions Fulfilled
  - “The weapon that has been put into their hands is keen in cutting; it is like a two-edged sword, to the dividing asunder of both joints and marrow. This weapon is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
October 1914 General Conference
- Self Sacrifice
  - “Now, we see from this that it is only possible to attain to so great a degree of glory in the presence of God by keeping His commandments, yielding obedience to the ordinances of the Gospel and walking in the light continually and being just and true. This is the price we have to pay for it, but if we are willing to make the sacrifice, if it can be called a sacrifice, our highest ambition, our fondest hopes,”our most earnest desires will be realized to the very fullest extent.”
April 1914 General Conference
- Marriage
  - “Those who administer in the name of the Lord ought to be very careful and know of a surety that they enjoy divine authority. It is a very serious thing to speak in the name of the Lord. You will remember what Paul the Apostle said upon this subject. He said, “If any man preach any other gospel than that which I have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” You see from this that it is truly a serious and a dangerous thing to preach and minister in the name of the Lord, without authority.”
  - “This is the law. If you obey the law you will receive the blessing. If you reject the law you will be damned. Then, if people reject the law, though they may love one another, if people reject the law, though they may be married one to another; if people reject the law, though they may have had children in that marriage, they cannot blame the Lord. If in the resurrection they are separated from each other, from their loved ones, it is their own fault. They had their choice. We have our choice. We must remember always that the Lord governs by law, and we must give obedience to His word and to His law, else we lose the blessing.”
October 1913 General Conference
- Doctrine and Covenants
  - “There is no man in this room, there is no woman in this assembly, that can comprehend, can begin to grasp the idea of eternal life. We can feel it. We just feel it in our very bones. We feel that we are destined to live forever. We feel that, but we cannot explain it.”
  - “God is not a respecter of persons. He is absolutely just in these matters, and He will not receive unnecessary excuses. He makes no allowance for neglect of duty, or for sin. Those who sin must repent and do better.”
  - “I declare to you, if a man pays tithing, he will pray, he will go to his quorum meetings, he will go to his sacrament meetings, and he will do a great many other things. I do not know that you could apply a greater or a stronger test.”
April 1910 General Conference
- The Savior’s Example
  - “He prayed not for riches, for fear that he would forget the Lord; he prayed not for poverty, because it is a distressing thing and may lead to crime; but he prayed for just sufficient to meet his reasonable wants, and then he would be content.”
  - “If you choose the riches of eternity, then all other things will be added unto you. If you choose the riches of the earth, you may lose all else, yea, even the riches of the earth.”
October 1909 General Conference
- History and Benefits of the Priesthood
  - “If you should separate the priesthood and the power of the priesthood from those who are gathered in this great assembly today, we would be weak indeed.”
April 1909 General Conference
- Missionary Work
  - “It is not the fact that the elders are going forth into the world to preach that is so significant, as it is the power and authority which accompanies them.”
October 1908 General Conference
- Temples
  - “Therefore, brethren and sisters, these temples of the Lord are regarded by the Latter-day Saints as the connecting link between the heavens and the earth; and therefore, again, because of the ordinances for the dead, which are performed in the House of God we are not only building up a great church upon the earth, but are laying the foundation for a great church in the spirit world. It is because of this, in my judgment, that the Lord emphasizes the importance of temple work and that with us His people, it must continue on and not cease.”
  - “Our dead are waiting, anxiously waiting for this people to go into the house of God and officiate for them that they may be liberated from the prison house in the spirit world.”
April 1908 General Conference
- Priesthood
  - “I say, my brethren and sisters,the Lord God of heaven bless our leader, and bless the Priesthood of the Church. May He bless the Saints, the people of God,that we may go on from one victory to another, without fear, without trepidation, putting our trust in the arm of Jehovah.”
- Growth and Stability of the Church
  - “The Latter-day Saints hate the spirit of apostasy, and they despise a traitor, and God despises a traitor, and there will be no place found in the kingdom of heaven for a traitor, for the man who would betray his God or his religion, or his country.”
  - “Let me say to you that a people who are weak spiritually and strong temporally are a weak people, and a people who are strong spiritually and weak temporally are a weak people; but a people who are strong spiritually and strong temporally are a strong people.”
October 1907 General Conference
- Families
  - “We are a people who believe in marriage and in children, and we not only believe in them, but this belief has taken an active form, and has become a living principle with us.”
  - “Woe unto that nation or people who disregard that sacred obligation of marriage, or interfere with the fountains of life. Every nation which has taken this, course has felt the anger of an offended God.”
April 1907 General Conference
- Music
  - “I believe we are most profoundly influenced by the songs which we sing. Some writer has said, in substance, that if you will show me the songs which a people or a community sing, then I will tell you the character of that community.”
  - “The Lord never works in a direct way, by revelation, or word of mouth, among the people of the earth, except He has a prophet, a man who holds the keys of authority to officiate in the ordinances of the Gospel, who possesses the sealing power, to seal on earth and it shall be sealed in the heavens, to loose on earth and it shall be loosed in the heavens, to remit sin on earth and it is remitted in the heavens.”
October 1906 General Conference
- Zion Will Flourish
  - “I submit that anybody who is looking for Zion must ex])ect to find at least two very essential features: first, he must look for a wilderness and a solitary place, which shall afterwards become like the garden of Eden, and shall blossom as the rose.”
April 1906 General Conference
- Temporal and Spiritual Inspiration
  - “We have representatives also from a great number of the 600 or 700 wards of the Church. There are before us a good many of the presidencies of the stakes of Zion, and I would like to say a word in relation to these leading men. They are very practical men, well acquainted with the affairs of life; men of experience, and understanding, occupied in various avocations; men who are called to be spiritual and temporal leaders of the people; men who should be and no doubt are, able by their experience, to give counsel and to direct. Among them are farmers, stockmen, contractors and builders, masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, merchants, lawyers, educators, literary men—and all of them preachers of the Gospel.”
  - “Now, brethren and sisters, there is a spiritual side to the Gospel, and there is a temporal side, and it is difficult to find a dividing line. I do not know that there is any dividing line, if so, I have never been quite able to discover it.”
  - “Zion is not only the pure in heart, but it is a location, also. Zion consists of cities, towns and villages, containing buildings for various purposes; and eventually it will include the holy city and the mighty temple of God which is to be built. Those are temporal affairs. It means hard work, application, devotion, sacrifice of means and time; and it will require the physical and spiritual strength and power of the people of God. Zion is to flourish upon the hills, and it will be made to flourish in just this way.”
October 1905 General Conference
- Great Responsibilities
  - “In every age of the world when the Lord has given a commandment to men, it has always been accompanied by a heavy weight of responsibility.”
  - “With the restoration of this authority there came to Joseph Smith a very heavy responsibility. He could not be justified for a moment in keeping the information from the world. He could not hide it away. He could not call around him his immediate family and friends and indicate to them only what the Lord had done, but he must bear the message to the whole world.”
April 1905 General Conference
- The Work of God
  - “Whether we disguise it or not, the fact still remains that the boys and girls of today will be the men and women of tomorrow. The authority resting upon the men of today will speedily descend to their children; and this emphasizes the need and the importance of the quorums of the Holy Priesthood and the auxiliary organizations of the Church.”
  - “This is the work of God, and not of man; and any man, in the Church or out of it, who pits himself against this work is measuring arms with the Almighty, and his effort will be futile, his folly will be manifest in the eyes of the people.”
October 1904 General Conference
- Eternal Nature of the Gospel
  - “The heights and the depths of the Gospel are quite beyond our reach. The finite mind is not capable of wholly comprehending the great plan of redemption. We, occasionally, have a glimpse of its power and beauty; but we must learn line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, until we come up to the full stature of a man in Christ Jesus.”
  - “I say to you that the principle of faith is as firm as the very pillars of heaven. It can not be changed nor modified to suit the opinions of men or of any particular condition of the world. The principle of faith is the same today as it ever was.”
  - “Without faith it is impossible to please God in any age of the world. This great law of faith is unchangeable. Why? Because God is unchangeable, and it belongs to the everlasting Gospel.”
  - “Consider, for a moment, the great law of repentance. It is binding upon this Church. We must consider it and meet its requirements. It must have an influence in our daily lives. God has said that He can not look upon sin with the least degree of allowance. Hear it, O Israel! It can not be condoned, it can not be excused, it can not be winked at, because confronting sin is this great and eternal law of repentance. If we will have absolution, if we will have forgiveness of sin, we must submit to the law and repent. I say—no, I do not say it—it is declared in the Gospel which we have received, that no man or woman can be saved in the kingdom of God except by faith and repentance.”
  - “He who sins in this Church, be it a small or a sreat transgression, must repent.”
April 1904 General Conference
- Unity in Prayer
  - “We must not suppose that when an Elder of Israel is called upon to pray, the words which he utters belong to him, or that the prayer is altogether his prayer. I do not so consider it. The prayer which is offered up ascends to heaven in behalf of the entire congregation.”
  - “We must pray under all circumstances. Prayer is not reserved for the Sabbath day or for any particular occasion. It is not only to be used at the general conferences of the Church, but the spirit of prayer must be in our hearts unceasingly. We must pray in our families; we must pray in secret; we must pray in our hearts. The spirit of prayer must be with us when we retire at night and when we arise in the morning. It must be upon us when we leave our homes for our daily employment; in the office; in the shop; in the field; in the mountains or in the valleys, or wherever we are.”
  - “To show the importance of prayer I remind you, my brethern and sisters, that in this world there are two great powers, and these two powers are at warfare. There is the power of good and the power of evil. They do not harmonize, they do not mix. Like oil and water, they will not mix. On the one hand, there is the power of good striving with every man and woman; on the other hand, there is the power of evil striving with every man and woman.”
  - “Although Simon Peter was one of the chiefest of the Apostles; like other men he had his weaknesses and his imperfections, and I suppose the Lord knew wherein he was the weakest. He understood that Satan desired especially to sift Peter as wheat, and to destroy him if possible. Herein comes the power and virtue of prayer. The Lord Himself prayed for him. He did not criticize or scold him, for He saw that he had weaknesses—as we all have, and I doubt not but Satan would like to have all of us that he might sift us; as wheat. I firmly believe that if it were not for the faith and prayers of this people, which are ascending continually to heaven, Satan certainly would have power over us, and perhaps in many instances we would be overcome and destroyed. The Lord prayed for Peter, and His prayer was heard, and so He charged Peter that when he was converted he should strengthen the brethren.”
October 1903 General Conference
- The Sin of Idleness
  - “We can see that idleness is a positive sin, and that those who indulge in this spirit, to the neglect of their duties, shall be found unworthy of fellowship in the Church.”
  - “The Twelve esteem it as binding upon them, when in the city, to be present at their meetings. They regard it as one of their highest duties; they feel they must be there, unless perchance there is sickness or death in the family, or they are sent elsewhere by the Presidency. That is how they feel in relation to their quorum meetings. That is how we want the brethren of the Priesthood throughout the Church to feel, in relation to their respective quorum meetings.”
October 1902 General Conference
- Obedience
  - “But I often think that some of us are like the people of ancient Israel—we are slow to hearken to the voice of the Lord. We acknowledge His hand; we admit the importance of these things, and see the necessity of them: but in many cases fail to carry out counsel, and thereby lose the blessing.”
April 1902 General Conference
- Restoration of the Priesthood
  - “The Priesthood connects this Church with the heavens, and the channel of communication is open. Oh! how weak indeed would we be without this authority; and oh! how weak indeed are we except we honor it, for if we do not we come under condemnation.”
  - “I do not believe that it is the duty of the president of a stake to spend his whole time in preaching the Gospel. I look upon the presidency of a stake as executive officers. You will find in every stake of Zion scores of preachers, eloquent men, who can edify and strengthen the people, and It is not needful for the presidency of the stake to spend very much time in preaching the gospel. But it is their duty to see that others magnify their calling; to see that the presidency of the High Priests’ quorum honor the Priesthood; to see that the presidency of the Elders’ quorum are active, diligent and faithful men, and to watch over these quorums of the Priesthood and see that «very man does his duty.”
October 1901 General Conference
- The Marvelous Work of the Lord
  - “What manner of men ought they to be? Quick to manifest the spirit of obedience that was so beautifully alluded to by Apostle Smoot. They should be humble, prayerful men, quick to hear the word of counsel, and to impart that word to their people.”
- Eternal Character of the Priesthood
  - “There is no appointment in this Church, that I know of, that is absolutely permanent, excepting the Holy Priesthood, which we are called to hold. When we receive that we hold it in this life, and we take it with us in the life to come. We exercise It in the world, and we exercise it out of the world, so long as we are faithful.”
April 1901 General Conference
- Salvation of Self, Family, World
  - “So the matter is clear in my mind that in this kingdom a man must first begin at home. He must start with himself. He must place himself in the way of salvation, and obtain the Priesthood. Then he must set in order his own household, and labor for the salvation of his family. He must not ignore his own home, and forget those who are near and dear to him. A man who cannot save himself through the power of God; a man who cannot save his wife and children, cannot bring to Christ the souls of men in the world.”
  - “But let me tell you brethren and sisters, that we must not stop here. The piuiciple of repentance is not only intended for the world, but it belongs to the Latter-day Saints. It is a principle that should come into our lives and be before us continually. Have we not need of repentance?”
October 1900 General Conference
- Temples and Temple Work
  - “The value of that building is not in its outward appearance, not in the expense that has been put in it, not in the beauty of its architecture, nor in the richness of its furnishings. The value of that Temple is in the ordinances which are performed therein for the living and the dead.”
  - “Now, I want to tell the men of means among the Latter-day Saints of a good investment; where they can place some of their means to bring them in a hundred per cent. Find me an investment in this country today that pays twelve per cent, or perhaps fifteen per cent, and I will point out to you a most splendid enterprise. But this investment that I allude to will pay one hundred per cent, and never fail. What is it? Lay up some of your treasures in heaven. Invest with the Lord. Put some of your means into His temple.”
  - “I believe that God speaks to us as if we were in eternity, and that whenever He gives a commandment or a law unto this Church, it is done as if there were no such thing as death or a veil dividing us from His presence. His laws are permanent and eternal in their nature; they are binding upon this world and upon the world to come; they are binding upon the living and binding upon the dead.”
April 1900 General Conference
- God’s Goodness
  - “Here is a very strange explanation given in the case of a Seventy: It states that he does not like the Bishop, consequently he ignores the law of God. I suppose that because he does not like the Bishop, he won’t be saved. Of one Elder it was said that he was full of good intentions for the future. Of course we have no means of knowing whether these good intentions may be relied upon for the future, but we do know that these good intentions did not lead him to pay his tithing in the year 1899.”
  - “Now, brethren and sisters, if there are in this vast congregation of Israel, or in any of the Stakes, people whose names appear on the record that President Snow exhibited to us, I say it is to your interest to see to it that your names are taken from it, and that they appear, instead, in the book of the law of God, in order that, in due time, you may receive your eternal inheritance in the kingdom of God.”
October 1899 General Conference
- Obedience
  - “We can see that when the Lord gives a commandment to the children of men He requires the strictest obedience to that command. When the Lord speaks he means something.”
  - “We have strayed in a measure from the commandments of the Liord. Some of our people have put private interpretations upon the laws of God. Take the law of tithing for instance. It is very simple and easy to be understood. Very few words are employed by the Lord to set this law before his people. He says that He requires of his Saints one-tenth of their interest annually. It seems to me that every man, woman and child could easily determine what their interest is annually. It is not a command of man; it is a command of our Heavenly Father. I have no right to put a private interpretation upon it, or to vary from it, or to say that a man is entitled to figure out this that and the other until he has nothing to pay tithing on, and in some cases until the Lord himself is brought in debt to the individual.”
  - “We are told that if we would have salvation we must follow the example of the Savior, and the great distinguishing quality of the Savior was his obedience.”
  - “We do not single out the principle of tithing and say it is the greatest commandment God has given. We simply say, it is a commandment of God and we should obey it. We do not say that a man will be saved and exalted simply because he obeys the law of tithing. We must live by every word that proceedeth forth out of the mouth of the Lord, and one commandment is as sacred as another. They are all needful for the welfare of the Church and for the accomplishment of the purposes of God. We cannot pick and choose and say we will keep this commandment because it is pleasant to us and we will slight another because it is not agreeable.”
April 1899 General Conference
- Pride
  - “Let us imagine for a moment a poor man, albeit an honest, intelligent man, and one who may stand high in the estimation of heaven, coming into a gathering of the rich—why, the social distinction between that poor man and the rich man is so great that doubtless it would be thought to be a contamination to have him there, and a demand for his withdrawal would be made. They cannot associate together. Yet, my brethren and sisters, the Prophet Jacob tells us that we are made of one flesh. God does not draw these distinctions that we find upon the earth. We are led to understand from the scriptures that God is no respector of persons, and that these social distinctions that are in the world, and in some degree perhaps in our midst, are not pleasing in His sight.”
  - “So, my brethren and sisters, if there are to be distinctions among us, they must not be based upon our financial condition, but rather upon the principle of righteousness. One man is better than another if he is more righteous than the other. One man is more acceptable to the Lord than another if he lives nearer to the Lord than the other.”
- The Temple
  - “The grandeur of that building, which is estimated to have cost between three and four million dollars. The beauty of its finish, the richness of its furnishings, are nothing compared to the spirit that you find in that building.”
  - “When the Saints go into that building they are at first impressed by its surroundings, by the spaciousness of the rooms, and the beauty of the furnishings; but after awhile they forget all that; they have no time to think about the building, they are so deeply impressed by the spirit that is there. A place where they can enter and leave the world behind them. They are not troubled in that house by the cares and the anxieties and the troubles of this world. The world seems to be far beneath them. They have no time to think about it. They are swallowed up in the spirit and power of God.”
October 1898 General Conference
- A New Call
  - “When I came out of the penitentiary I was told that the Lord wanted me to labor as President of the Box Elder Stake, and I assure you, brethren and sisters, that that was a great surprise to me at that time, and very trying. I had been brought up in Salt Lake City; all my interests, all my associations, and, as I thought, all my expectations were in Salt Lake City, and it was a great trial for me to be called away. No inducements were offered, but I was told that the Lord would bless and sustain me in that appointment, and I testify to you, my brethren and sisters, that I have been sustained in my presidency of the Box Elder Stake of Zion, and I have enjoyed my labors there.”
  - “My patriarchal blessing, that was given a number of years ago, indicated that I would be called to a high appointment in the Church in the due time of the Lord, and I presume that this is the appointment now. I feel very weak; I feel very humble. I know that unless I can enjoy the spirit of the apostleship and the faith and prayers and the support of my brethren and sisters of this Church I cannot stand, I cannot succeed in this labor; and therefore I earnestly pray that God will be with me, and that I may have your faith and prayers, and I ask it in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”

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