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{"id":2998,"date":"2014-11-12T22:33:37","date_gmt":"2014-11-13T05:33:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidson-law.net\/gospelstudy\/?p=2998"},"modified":"2019-09-09T16:51:12","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T22:51:12","slug":"james-talmage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidson-law.net\/gospelstudy\/2014\/11\/12\/james-talmage\/","title":{"rendered":"James E. Talmage"},"content":{"rendered":"

James A. Talmage
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (December 8, 1911 – July 27, 1933)<\/p>\n

General Conference Addresses<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
April 1933 General Conference\n
\n
Time and Timeliness<\/a>\n
\n
“Time and timeliness are very important in the affairs of men, and no less in the ever unfolding purposes of the Lord our God. He does things in his own due time, and that is always the right time.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
October 1932 General Conference\n
\n
Eternal Things<\/a>\n
\n
“There is something in this human frame of ours that existed before the body was formed. Some people have called it soul, spirit, mind, and some by names that are less common among us\u2014gnome or devil; but it is there. It is the immortal spirit that existed in the primeval kingdom, in its period of pristine childhood, before ever it came to take its place in this school of mortality, and to assume the student’s garb of flesh.”<\/li>\n
“A man is more than body and mind; he consists of body and mind and spirit, though we may regard the mind as being an attribute of the spirit.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
April 1932 General Conference\n
\n
Signs of the Times<\/a>\n
\n
“Yet men are prone to deny the reality of these dread occurrences as signs of the time, telling of the imminence of the Lord’s coming to rule among men and to inaugurate the millennium of a new order. Conditions prevailing in the world today demand our serious attention. The solemnities of the eternal word and plan should move mankind to repentance, reformation, and soulful worship of Deity, worship expressed in a rectification of individual and national life.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
October 1931 General Conference\n
\n
The Name of the Lord<\/a>\n
\n
“To take the name of God in vain, therefore, is to use that name lightly, to use it emptily, to use it without effect, so far as the intent is concerned\u2014but nevertheless, with awful effect upon the profane user.”<\/li>\n
“There is profanity of action, which is of greater import than the spoken word, even as the prayer of the heart is greater than the prayer of the lips. Profanity in this sense is any manifestation of disrespect or irreverence for the name of God ; blasphemy consists in attributing to Deity any unworthy act or motive, or in claiming for one’s self the distinguishing attributes of Deity.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
April 1931 General Conference\n
\n
The Evil Gift<\/a>\n
\n
“As the Lord gives revelations, so does Satan, each in his way. As the Lord has Irevelators upon the earth, so has Satan, and he is operating upon those men by his power, and they are receiving revelations, manifestations, that are just as truly of the devil as was his manifestation to Moses, to which I have referred.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
October 1930 General Conference\n
\n
An Idolatrous Generation<\/a>\n
\n
“In every dispensation living scriptures are given. The history of the past is of value, but the great principles are restated, the fundamental laws are reenacted.”<\/li>\n
“Let us lift the banners of Zion, the banner of the true worship of the living God, the banner of Sabbath observance, make it a holy day for the service of the Lord, not a day of idle rest and sleep and inactivity, but a day of activity in the Lord’s important service. This he has required of us, and he never has modified the requirement by the slightest amendment.”<\/li>\n
“Zion will prosper in spite of me, if I am not faithful. But wo unto him who sits down in idle complacency, neglecting the commandments of God.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
April 1930 General Conference\n
\n
Messages for the World<\/a>\n
\n
“The Lord has told us of places prepared for those entitled to salvation. He has told us that those who will keep all the laws and commandments of God can come where he is and shall be heirs of celestial glory and power. And he has told us of lesser degrees unto which others who have failed to rise to the occasion of laying hold on the blessing of eternal life, in its fulness, shall come.”<\/li>\n
“God holds himself accountable to law even as he expects us to do. He has set us the example in obedience to law.”<\/li>\n
“He is not a judge sitting to be influenced by the specious pleas of crafty advocates; and yet there is an eloquence that moves him; there is a plea that influences him. The eloquence of prayer from a broken heart and a contrite spirit prevails with him.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
October 1929 General Conference\n
\n
Obedience to Laws<\/a>\n
\n
“This life is ofttimes, and very properly, referred to as a probation. “And we will prove them” the Lord says, putting us upon test, to see whether we will exercise our agency in choosing to do whatsoever the Lord our God requires of us. The Lord wants to know about that. Perhaps His foreknowledge shows the result to Him, but it is necessary that we demonstrate it.”<\/li>\n
“Our great men are at work in laboratories, and we think it nothing now to expend millions upon the equipment and maintenance of such institutions. Summed up, what are they trying to do? To discover new laws. Not to create them; you cannot create laws of nature, but to discover new laws. For what purposes? So that they can put themselves in subjection to those laws, to obey them. What? To be subject to new laws? Yes, because there are blessings predicated upon each of those laws, and men want those blessings. Men of science know very well that blessings cannot be obtained except through obedience to the corresponding laws.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
April 1929 General Conference\n
\n
The Book of Isaiah<\/a>\n
\n
“There is enough truth in the Book of Mormon to occupy you and me for the rest of our lives, without our giving too much time and attention to these debatable matters.”<\/li>\n
“Some of us are very apt to be led away by a statement because we find it in a book bearing the name of some man assumed to be great. Let us read in a more discriminating way, and seek for the guidance of the Lord as we read.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
October 1928 General Conference\n
\n
The True Church<\/a>\n
\n
“When you are in doubt as to just how you should calculate your tithes, reverse the terms as we sometimes do in solving complex mathematical problems, and suppose for the time being that the Lord had said this; let us postulate this as an assumed law given to the Church: “In order to show my love for my people, the faithful members of my Church, it is my will, saith the Lord, that each one shall receive from my storehouse, the storehouse of my church, at regular intervals during the year, an amount equal to one-tenth of his income.” Now my dear brother, sit down and calculate how much the Lord owes you under that kind of law, and then go pay it to your bishop.”<\/li>\n
“When we say that the Lord is not pleased with those churches, we do not mean that he is not pleased with the members thereof. We hold that God is no respecter of persons, but on the contrary that he will acknowledge good in any soul, no matter whether that person belongs to a church or not. But the Lord is not pleased with those churches that have been constructed by men and then labeled with his name. He is not pleased with those doctrines that are being taught as being his doctrines when they are only the effusion of men’s brains, undirected by inspiration and utterly lacking in revelation.”<\/li>\n
“There are some who have just enough oil in their tiny lamps to show that they claim to belong to the organization, but their light goes out when a little trouble comes, a little persecution; and they walk in the light of the Church without individual light. I pray that the Lord shall be well pleased with his people individually, as I know he will continue to be pleased with his Church collectively.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
April 1928 General Conference\n
\n
The Resurrection<\/a>\n
\n
“This would be a poverty stricken world if it knew nothing but what man can explain and expound.”<\/li>\n
“Can a resurrected being eat food of earth? A resurrected being can function upon any lower plane. A resurrected personage can do anything that a mortal personage can do, and much besides.”<\/li>\n
“Forget not that we are eternal! We had an existence before we were born. In that existence you were you and I was I before our spirits entered into these bodies. You will be yon and I shall be I after the change called death befalls us.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
October 1924 General Conference\n
\n
Missionary Work<\/a>\n
\n
“Our missionaries go with a message, not with a command. They go in the spirit of persuasion, asking only a hearing, a respectful hearing; for they have something of worth to present.”<\/li>\n
“What is better, what is more up-to-date than the method of a man approaching another with the truth, and bearing witness to it in all solemnity? And yet with all humility, earnest in his testimony, merely asking the other man to listen.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
April 1924 General Conference\n
\n
Authority Restored<\/a>\n
\n
“Many have assumed that men may administer these ordinances of their own accord, though such assumption is opposed to all reason. In the early days of this Church, when many were trying to get in, some wanted admission because they had been baptized in other churches; they had received the ordinance called baptism; and the Lord spoke definitely upon the matter.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
October 1923 General Conference\n
\n
Relationship with the Earth<\/a>\n
\n
“The gross materialist may say there is no relationship between the righteousness of man and earthquakes, or between man’s probity and floods. But there is!”<\/li>\n
“Remember the admonition of the Lord: “Stand ye in holy places,” and we cannot do that unless we are holy.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
April 1923 General Conference\n
\n
A Peculiar People<\/a>\n
\n
“The idols that man makes and which he sets up and worships are the workmanship of his hands or mind. The God of our spirits, verily the Father of our spirits, is no God of man’s creation.”<\/li>\n
“We are not required, nor are we permitted, if we obey the law of God, to be idle. We should be active and in service, but Sabbath-day work should be directly the service of God and not the secular and wage-earning service of man.”<\/li>\n
“Whatever shall be the fancies and fantasies of the world, let us be true to the living God.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
October 1922 General Conference\n
\n
The Restoration<\/a>\n
\n
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is no sect; it owes no allegiance to any other religious society, call it by the name pf church or what you will, on the face of the earth. It does not claim to possess the Holy Priesthood by direct and uninterrupted descent from Peter of old, but it does claim that Peter, accompanied by his associates James and John, the three who constituted the presidency in the organization of the apostolate of old, did come by instruction of the Lord and did confer upon men here upon the earth the authority they possessed and which they exercised in the flesh before their martyrdom. We speak that plainly.”<\/li>\n
“We are tolerant, tolerant in the extreme. We grant unto every man the right to worship after his own conscience, even as we claim it; but we do not compromise by the acceptance of the views of men in an attempt to mingle them with the doctrine of Christ, and call it all the word of God.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
April 1922 General Conference\n
\n
The Name of the Church<\/a>\n
\n
“The Church, therefore, is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and while I say we do not resent the term “Mormon,” I am inclined to think that we Latter-day Saints, as we call ourselves, and rightly too, are prone to use the term “Mormon” a little too freely.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
October 1921 General Conference\n
\n
Be True<\/a>\n
\n
“When one speaks with the power of his Priesthood, and in the authority of his office, then what he speaks is binding upon himself and all who hear. Oftimes I tremble, literally, as I consider what I am doing when addressing the Latter-day Saints, for I know that what I say unto therm is binding upon me, and that I shall be judged by the precepts that I impress upon them; and what I say under such conditions is likewise binding upon those who hear.”<\/li>\n
“You cannot, we cannot, pass by lightly the words that come by way of counsel and instruction from the ordained servants of God, and escape the inevitable penalty of that neglect. Nevertheless, we have our agency; we may choose to disobey, but we must take the consequences of that choice.”<\/li>\n
“Many of us can’t stand prosperity. We forget the Lord until we find ourselves in distress, and thereby we demonstrate that we are yet not wholly what we profess to be.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
April 1921 General Conference\n
\n
Remission of Sins<\/a>\n
\n
“Blessed is he whose sins are forgiven, remitted; but this remission comes as no capricious act, as no favor in the sense of a discriminatory gift, even from God; for he is a just God and he remits sins according to the law of God, which combines both justice and mercy.”<\/li>\n
“God desires to be merciful to us and ofttimes we block his way. He desires and yearns to bless us in some particular, and ofttimes we make it impossible for him so to do, because we do not comply with the conditions that render us eligible for that exercise of the divine power.”<\/li>\n
“The blessings of the Lord are always conditional, the condition being our living up to the requirement making us fit recipients of blessing.”<\/li>\n
“Let us keep the commandments of the Lord. Then, by his own word, he is bound to give unto us the blessings that have been promised; but when we do not do what he says, when we go back upon our covenant, we forfeit.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
October 1920 General Conference\n
\n
Being Faithful<\/a>\n
\n
“Men may be potential liars, robbers or murderers, but, lacking opportunity to become criminals in fact, or restraining their evil impulses through considerations of policy or personal advantage, they may maintain outward signs of probity. The wearing of a sheep’s fleece by a ravening wolf is no modern camouflage.”<\/li>\n
“Evil purpose, thought, or desire, is of itself essentially sin; and such a case, therefore, presents no phenomenon of abstract guilt, but actual and individual offense; for the thinker of evil is a sinner.”<\/li>\n
“Who of us can regard tuberculosis, smallpox, or the insidious and deadly influenza that has swept the earth, with other feelings than repugnance and fear? Yet we treat the afflicted person with effort to bring about his recovery; and if we loved him while well, we do not hate him because he has become ill; but, to the contrary, we become the more solicitous in his behalf.”<\/li>\n
“My love for my brother in this Church does not mean that I am to shield him when he has violated the law of the land, nor that I am to stand between him and righteous judgment.”<\/li>\n
“Now, the Lord hath enjoined love for our fellowmen upon us, such love as will cause us to do even disagreeable things for their welfare, to do that which we do not like to do, to speak a word of caution when, perchance, we would rather not, lest we be misunderstood; but the Lord requires it at our hands; and he has enjoined upon us tolerance toward one another.”<\/li>\n
“Our religion should make us honest in business, truthful in all our doings. To be so is to be in line with the keeping of the commandments of the Lord.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
April 1920 General Conference\n
\n
The Restoration<\/a>\n
\n
“We have been severely criticized because of the declaration that the sects and denominations of that day were wrong. Remember, please, the declaration was not of Joseph. He had not before known that to be the case. Those words were the words of One greater than he, greater than you, greater than all of us here assembled, the words of the Son of God.”<\/li>\n
“Latter-day Saints are individually answerable to their God, for individually they receive that great gift of God, the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
October 1919 General Conference\n
\n
Gathering of Israel<\/a>\n
\n
“Well, you may say, are not the people of this nation iniquitous? It is true that sin befouls and defiles the land; but in spite of it, I know not where you will find a nation with higher ideals or with plainer purposes to uphold the institutions that God has established for the government and freedom of men.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
June 1919 General Conference\n
\n
Tribute to Joseph F. Smith<\/a>\n
\n
“I do bear witness to you that Joseph F. Smith was one of the real apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have listened to his ringing words of testimony and warning before the assemblies of thousands, and I have sat with him, on very rare occasions, alone; and on occasions less rare, but still not common, with my brethren and associates, I have heard him preach in conversation, and I have never seen his face so enlightened nor his frame so thrilled with power as when he was bearing testimony of the Christ. He seemed to me to know Jesus Christ as a man knows his friend.”<\/li>\n
“He possessed that gift which is as far above oratory as prophecy is above necromancy, the gift of eloquence. He did not speak to the ears, but right straight to the hearts of men.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
October 1918 General Conference\n
\n
The Completeness of the Gospel<\/a>\n
\n
“Right glad am I that we stand upon the rock of revelation, and though the rains may beat and the winds may blow, we shall not be moved unless we get frightened and abandon the refuge of safety, and be swept into the whirlpool of man-made doctrine.”<\/li>\n
“The gospel is as simple today as it ever has been, and it will never be less simple.”<\/li>\n
“Men may establish laws, and so far as they are not infringements upon the inherent rights of men they are valid and must be obeyed by all concerned; but no legislature, no parliament, no congress created by man, can legislate with regard to affairs beyond the grave.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
April 1918 General Conference\n
\n
Need of a Living Priesthood<\/a>\n
\n
“The priesthood is eternal, and therefore when it is conferred carries with it the possibilities of this endless progression, development and expansion.”<\/li>\n
“We must have freedom; there must be freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and above all, freedom of conscience, ever remembering that freedom means real liberty in righteousness, and not license to do wrong.”<\/li>\n
“This gospel is broad enough, and deep enough, and of such towering heights as to surpass the powers of the greatest mind to comprehend, and yet so simple in its fundamentals as to satisfy the honest inquiry of the child.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
October 1917 General Conference\n
\n
To Be Saved<\/a>\n
\n
“Now, those who are saved in the telestial glory are saved from the horrors of perdition; those who attain the terrestrial glory are saved from the lower state, in the telestial; and those who attain the celestial are saved from all lesser conditions and the lower glories of the telestial and the terrestrial.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
April 1917 General Conference\n
\n
Literal Acceptance of the Scriptures<\/a>\n
\n
“We believe that the Scriptures are very simple to understand, if we can only get the theologians to leave them alone and not confuse us with explanations. The Spirit of the Lord will enlighten the mind of the earnest reader, and will interpret the Scriptures, for that is the spirit in which the Scriptures were written.”<\/li>\n
“I admit that we Latter-day Saints are behind the times in many respects. We are still simple-minded enough to believe what the Scriptures say, which is the truth, and which cannot be gainsaid.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
October 1916 General Conference\n
\n
Fulfillment of Prophecy<\/a>\n
\n
“Again God had spoken and again men were proved to be liars. If the word be a harsh one, remember I speak it within quotation marks; I take it from the scriptural record.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
April 1916 General Conference\n
\n
A Marvelous Work and a Wonder<\/a>\n
\n
“We rejoice in simplicity. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is wonderfully simple.”<\/li>\n
“We hold the Gospel is simple that all may understand it who will. It is the proud and they who do wickedly who close their eyes and their ears and their hearts to the signs of the times, to the word of the Gospel and to the testimony of the Christ.”<\/li>\n
“The Bible is very simple to those who read it with earnest and honest intent, as are all the scriptures, but it is very puzzling to the theologians, very puzzling, sometimes to Biblical scholars and interpreters who seek to apply to it only those tests that are common among men.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
April 1915 General Conference\n
\n
Knowledge of God’s Attributes<\/a>\n
\n
“We know that Christ is God, and that He lived upon the earth as a Man. In the sense in which Christ was perfect in His sphere, we may become perfect in ours. We may progress, not to become each one a savior of the world in the particular sense in which Christ was the Savior of the world, but we may follow Him to eternal glory, and to eternal life.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
October 1914 General Conference\n
\n
The Hand of God<\/a>\n
\n
“There is a very general tendency today to relegate God to the background in human affairs, to consider that He has no voice in our doings and in this course the Lord hath declared Himself and thus makes plain to us that His anger is aroused against those unfilial children of His who forget Him; for the man who forgets the living God turns to idolatry, and having once known God and turned away from Him he is worse than the heathen who has never known other gods than those of wood and stone.”<\/li>\n
“The Lord’s hand is in our lives; if we will but feel for it, in the darkness, we can grasp it and be lifted thereby.”<\/li>\n
“I have heard it taught by advocates of a frivolous theology that whatever is, is in accordance with the will of God, that all we see is as He would have it be. My whole soul revolts against any such conception as that. I cannot believe that it is God’s will that men shall be as they are in sin. I cannot believe that it is according to the will of God that vice walks our streets and stalks through the land; that dishonesty, and drunkenness, and the spirit of murder are rampant in the land. Do not hold God accountable for such things; do not acknowledge His hand in the sense of placing the blame upon Him, but acknowledge His hand in the free agency that is thus given to men and in His power to eventually bring good out of all this evil.”<\/li>\n
“Is it God who leads nations to fight with one another? It is when the Spirit of God is withdrawn from men that they fight. It is when the Lord hath hidden His face from the nations that they go to war.”<\/li>\n
“Do you pray or do you content yourself with saying your prayers? There is a vital difference between the two processes. Many of us are taught to say prayers and have not learned how to pray.”<\/li>\n
“If Satan and his hosts were bound today and no longer able to work personally upon the earth, evil would go on for a long time, because he has very able representatives in the flesh.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
April 1914 General Conference\n
\n
Simplicity of our Teachings<\/a>\n
\n
“Many there be who will no longer endure sound doctrine, but turn away after fables that tickle their ears and please their fancy, and demand of them none of that self-denial, sacrifice and earnest effort so characteristic of the requirements made of those who have taken upon themselves the name of Christ.”<\/li>\n
“Parables there are, and of great value are the lessons set forth thereby. But there is no parable, there is no metaphor in the plain declarations of the scriptures as to what is the price of salvation.”<\/li>\n
“I believe our people stand upon the platform of the word of God as it has been delievered unto them through the mouths of men who have been empowered and directed to declare it unto them. But there are some, particularly of our younger people, who perhaps are inclined to believe that it is a little superior to profess doubt as to the truth and plain meaning of the Holy Scriptures. To them let me say, it is not the leaders in thought in the world today who are doubting the scriptures, and reading into them a meaning that was never intended. The majority of the really great men, great thinkers, men who have influence amongst their fellows, accept the scriptures in their literalness and simplicity.”<\/li>\n
“Beware of these who come telling you that you are behind the times in accepting the faith of your fathers.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
October 1913 General Conference\n
\n
The Fall<\/a>\n
\n
“We Latter-day Saints do not regard the body as something to be condemned, something to be abhorred, and something to be subdued in the sense in which that expression is oft-times heard in the world. We regard as the sign of our royal birthright, that we have bodies upon the earth.”<\/li>\n
“Be not afraid of soiling its hands; be not afraid of scars that may come to it if won in earnest effort, or in honest fight, but beware of scars that disfigure, that have come to you in places where you ought not have gone, that have befallen you in unworthy undertakings; beware of the wounds of battles in which you have been fighting on the wrong side.”<\/li>\n
“Memory is the library of the mind, in which we find stored away the valuable as well as the worthless things that have come to us. Recollection is the librarian, and he is very often sluggish and sleepy, often neglectful of his duty; he doesn’t know where to put his hand on the book or the document we need, just when we need it.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
October 1912 General Conference\n
\n
Satan a Clever Imitator<\/a>\n
\n
“I rejoice in the progressivism of this Church and more particularly in the fact that its progressivism is of the right kind. It is not that so-called progressivism that seeks to belittle or destroy the achievements of the past; it is not a progressivism that seeks to tear down, that says our fathers were wrong and we know more than they did; that they laid a foundation which in its way was good but not sufficient for us to build upon. We have no such spirit of progression as that, for that is destruction. The spirit of advancement and progressivism in the Church of Christ is that which marks the progression from the seed to the blade and from the blade to the ripened ear. It is a constructive progressivism; the past is added to, and every new revelation doth but make the revelations of the past plainer and reveal their sanctity and their sacred origin the better.”<\/li>\n
“Of all the imitators, of all the counterfeiters, Satan is the chief, for he has had the greatest experience and the longest training and he is a skillful salesman; he not only knows how to manufacture his spurious goods, but how to put them upon the market. And it is wonderfully attractive\u2014the way in which he does up those little packages in bright colored paper, tied with tinsel string to attract; and we are very apt to pay the price asked before we open the package. And do you know of all the counterfeits and of all the imitations that the devil has put forth on sale, I know of none that is more dangerous than his spurious brands of liberty and freedom, such as are being offered on every hand. Some of them are so rank as to be a stench in the nostrils of a normal man. How shall we distinguish between the genuine and the imitation, you may ask? Is it necessary that we get expert advice and call in a professional chemist to make the analysis? Oh, there are simple tests by which you can determine. You can always tell after consumption whether it was the genuine or not, for the imitation leaves a wretchedly bad taste in the mouth, but that test may not be as serviceable as one that may be applied before taking. Well, you will find that true liberty always works both ways, it never works one way alone, but is of universal application. For example, I hear some men say that they claim the right to speak out and say just what they like. They make that claim that they have the right to speak out and say just what they like to say. I grant you that is true if you will let it apply the other way as well. I have the right to be safeguarded against utterances which are offensive to hear. If a man says that he under the guise of his rights as a free citizen may swear and use vile and obscene language, and may profane the name of God, I say to you that is not liberty, that is a license that is illegal. To hear some men say that they are free citizens and they are not going to be told what to do. I grant them that right, but by the same token I claim the right to seek advice if I want it and to go to whomsoever I choose for the advice and counsel which I desire. Now the men who sav that they don’t want to be told, usually find fault with their brothers who are willing to be told, usually criticize them because they are willing to be advised and guided. I claim the right to give advice to my brother if T do it in a manner to cause him no offense. I claim the right, if I so choose, to publish my views in magazine or newspaper or book if I can make arrangements with the publishers. I have that perfect right as long as I say nothing in my publication inimical to the rights of men nor contrary to law and order, and you have the right to read my writings or not just as you choose. I cannot force them upon you, but if there be some who do choose to read them and who are willing to be influenced and guided by them, what business is that of others who refuse so to do? I believe that we are too apt to apply these so-called rules of liberty and of freedom in a one-sided way. There are men who say that they have the right to smoke tobacco if they want to, and in this State if they be of age they have that right legally and I know they exercise it, but I long to see the day when I shall have some rights too in that matter, and when I shall not be forced to breathe the foul emanations that come from smokers’ mouths. 1 hope to see the day when women will no longer be offended as they board or leave street cars or as they pass along the streets, by having clouds of tobacco smoke blown into their faces. I believe we shall improve in the matter of liberty and come to see that there are rights that others have as well as rights that we claim for ourselves. The spirit of the Gospel safeguards the right of no man to the injury of another, but provides for the liberties of all; and I hope that I will never become so lifted up in egotism that I shall feel that I am the people and that I know it all. I hope that I shall ever be led to seek for those to whom I feel I can look with confidence for advice, for counsel, for guidance, and if I choose to follow the counsel and advice of those in whom I have respect, I claim that I have the right so to do as a citizen and a free man.”<\/li>\n
“We stand for the Constitution and do not believe in any false notions of advancement and enlightenment and progressivism such as seeks to undermine that foundation of our liberties, for as a document we know that it was inspired and we believe that the men who framed it were raised up, as truly as was ever prophet raised up in Israel in ancient or modern times, to frame that instrument and thereby provide for the fulfillment of prophetic utterances regarding the freedom and the liberty that should prevail in this choice land.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
April 1912 General Conference\n
\n
Easter<\/a>\n
\n
“Let us not deny the literalness of the resurrection as made known through the revelations of God. We believe that we shall in very truth die, and that the spirit\u2014that immortal part of man, which existed before the body was framed, and which shall exist and continue to live after that body has gone to decay, that spirit shall take upon itself again this tabernacle of earthly element, immortalized, however, and destined to serve it as a fit garment through all eternity.”<\/li>\n
“The Latter-day Saints have been charged with great literalness, with astounding simplicity, and as one critic put it to me, with a brutal materiality, in their doctrine. We acknowledge the charge in the sense in which it was meant, although we may object to some of the adjectives. The Latter-day Saints are just so simple-minded that they are willing to believe the Lord when He speaks, and take Him at His word. We rejoice in the hope and the assurance of a glorious resurrection. We rejoice in the work that was inaugurated at that first Easter period, for and in behalf of the dead.”<\/li>\n
“The temple-building spirit manifested among the Latter-day Saints is the spirit of absolute unselfishness; it is the spirit of Elijah, the spirit by which the feelings of the children are turned toward the fathers, and the feelings of the fathers are directed toward the children; for no man stands upon this earth alone.”<\/li>\n
“He did not base His doctrines upon what the prophets who had gone ahead of Him had said, though He referred approvingly to many of their inspired utterances ; but He spoke from the knowledge He had within Him, and He spoke by reason of the authority that He held; and thus was He distinguished among the teachers of the day, and therefore did He compel attention.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Other Talks<\/strong><\/p>\n
Articles in Church Publications<\/strong><\/p>\n
Other Publications and Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
James A. Talmage Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (December 8, 1911 – July 27, 1933) General Conference Addresses April 1933 General Conference Time and Timeliness “Time and timeliness are very important in the affairs of men, and no less in the ever unfolding purposes of the Lord our God. He does things in his own…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5cQFZ-Mm","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidson-law.net\/gospelstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2998"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidson-law.net\/gospelstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidson-law.net\/gospelstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidson-law.net\/gospelstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidson-law.net\/gospelstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2998"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/davidson-law.net\/gospelstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6303,"href":"https:\/\/davidson-law.net\/gospelstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2998\/revisions\/6303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidson-law.net\/gospelstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidson-law.net\/gospelstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidson-law.net\/gospelstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}