_OBEDIENCE_
_Counsel_--How my heart longs to see the brethren and sisters in
a condition that when the words of truth and virtue--righteous words
of counsel--are poured upon them, they will meet like drops of water
meeting each other. How I long to see the brethren, when they hear the
words of truth poured upon them, ready to receive those words because
they are perfectly congenial to their feelings, and every soul exclaim,
"Those words savor of the Spirit that is in me; they are my delight, my
meat, and my drink; they are the streams of eternal life. How congenial
they are, instead of their being contrary to my feelings." 9:3.
If we hearken to counsel, we shall be the best people in the world; we
shall be as a bright light set upon a hill, that cannot be hid, or like
a candle upon a candlestick. 12:173.
If I or any other man give counsel that meets with opposition, that
intrudes upon the affections, meditations, and feelings of the people,
and is harsh to their ears, bitter to their souls, it is either not
the words of truth, or they have not the fountain of life within them,
one of the two. If the Lord speaks from the heavens, reveals his will,
and it comes in contact with our feelings and notions of things, or
with our judgments, we are destitute of that fountain of truth which we
should possess. If our hearts are filled with the Spirit of truth, with
the Spirit of the Lord, no matter what the true words from heaven are,
when God speaks, all his subjects should shout, "Hallelujah! praise
God! We are ready to receive those words, for they are true." 9:3-4.
{339}
Every man in the Kingdom of God would give the same counsel upon each
subject, if he would wait until he had the mind of Christ upon it. Then
all would have one word and mind, and all men would see eye to eye.
5:100.
If you would always pause and say, I have no counsel for you, I have no
answer for you on this subject, because I have no manifestation of the
Spirit, and be willing to let everybody in the world know that you are
ignorant when you are, you would become wise a great deal quicker than
to give counsel on your own judgment, without the Spirit of revelation.
5:100.
The Latter-day Saints who hearken to the words of the Lord, given to
them touching their political, social, and financial concerns, I say,
and say it boldly, that they will have wisdom which is altogether
superior to the wisdom of the children of darkness, or the children of
this world. I know this by the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and by the results of my own actions. They who have hearkened to the
counsels given to them in temporal matters, have invariably bettered
their condition temporally and spiritually. 12:118.
_Obedience_--When the Lord commands the people, let them obey.
2:123.
Every son and daughter of God is expected to obey with a willing heart
every word which the Lord has spoken, and which he will in the future
speak to us. It is expected that we hearken to the revelations of his
will, and adhere to them, cleave to them with all our might; for this
is salvation, and any thing short of this clips the salvation and the
glory of the Saints. 2:2.
Obedience is one of the plainest, most every-day and home principles
that you ever thought or know anything {340} about. In the first place,
learn that you have a father, and then learn strict obedience to that
parent. Is not that a plain, domestic, home principle? 6:173.
I cannot save you. I can tell you how to save yourselves, but you must
do the will of God. 10:317.
How shall we know what to do? By being obedient to every requirement of
the Gospel. 8:148.
A mere theory amounts to but little, while practice and obedience have
to do with stern realities. 9:330.
Every good and wholesome law we should obey strictly, and do it with a
good and honest-heart. 11:134.
Blessed are they who obey when the Lord gives a direct commandment, but
more blessed are they who obey without a direct commandment. 12:128.
Do you think that people will obey the truth because it is true, unless
they love it? No, they will not. Truth is obeyed when it is loved.
Strict obedience to the truth will alone enable people to dwell in the
presence of the Almighty. 7:55.
The Lord has sent forth his laws, commandments, and ordinances to the
children of men, and requires them to be strictly obeyed, and we do
not wish to transgress those laws, but to keep them. We do not wish to
change his ordinances, but to observe them; we do not wish to break the
everlasting covenant, but to keep that with our fathers, with Jesus,
with our Father in Heaven, with holy angels, and to live according to
them. 16:31.
If a man is called to go and labor for the poor, if his Bishop calls
upon him to go into the canyon after a load of wood for the poor, and
he goes there, with his heart uplifted to God, and with his eye single
to the building up of the Kingdom, and gets the load of wood and lays
it at the {341} door of the Bishop for the poor, for the widow or for
those who cannot help themselves, he is just as much in the line of his
duty in so doing as though he were on his knees praying. 11:293.
This people have got to become of one heart and one mind. They have
to know the will of God and do it, for to know the will of God is one
thing, and to bring our wills, our dispositions, into subjection to
that which we do understand to be the will of God is another. 3:54-5.
We believe in obeying the laws of the land, we should also obey the
laws of God. 16:45.
Some of you may ask, "Is there a single ordinance to be dispensed
with? Is there one of the commandments that God has enjoined upon the
people, that he will excuse them from obeying?" Not one, no matter how
trifling or small in our own estimation. No matter if we esteem them
non-essential, or least or last of all the commandments of the house of
God, we are under obligation to observe them. 8:339.
With regard to the obedience of heavenly beings, to which reference has
been made to-day; they live pure and holy, and they have attained unto
this power through suffering. Many of them have drunk of the bitter cup
even to the dregs. They have learned that righteousness will prevail,
that truth is the foundation of their very existence. 11:15.
The most effectual way to establish the religion of Heaven is to live
it, rather than to die for it: I think I am safe in saying that there
are many of the Latter-day Saints who are more willing to die for their
religion than to live it faithfully. There is no other proof can be
adduced to God, angels, and men, that a people faithfully live their
{342} religion, than that they repent truly of their sins, obey the law
of baptism for the remission of sins, and then continue to do the works
of righteousness day by day. 9:333.
There are a great many texts which might be used, very comprehensive
and full of meaning, but I know of none, either in the Old or New
Testament, more so than that saying, said to have been made by
the Savior, and I have no doubt it was, "If ye love me, keep my
commandments."
How long? For a day? Keep the commandments of the Lord for a week?
Observe and do his will for a month or a year? There is no promise to
any individual, that I have any knowledge of, that he shall receive
the reward of the just, unless he is faithful to the end. If we fully
understand and faithfully carry out in our lives the saying of Jesus,
"If ye love me, keep my commandments," we shall be prepared to go back
and dwell in the presence of the Father and the Son.
What are his commandments? Did he ever teach the people anything that
is wrong? If we read the requirements made by Jesus, by the Father, or
by any messenger sent from the heavens to the children of men, we shall
find nothing that will injure any human being or that will destroy
the soul of one of the sons or daughters of Adam and Eve. Many think
that the sayings and doings of some of the prophets and servants of
God, in ancient and modern times, said and done in obedience to the
commands of the Lord Almighty, tend to evil; but it is not so. All
God's requirements tend to do good to his children. Any notion to the
contrary is the result of ignorance. The human family are enveloped
in ignorance, so far as the origin and object of their existence here
is concerned. Their ignorance, superstition, darkness and blindness
are very {343} apparent to all who are in the least enlightened by
the Spirit of truth. They seek to hide themselves in ignorance and
blindness rather than learn who they are and the object of their being
here. What do the human family know of God or Jesus, or of the words
which I have quoted "If ye love me, keep my commandments?" "Search the
Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life," says Jesus,
"and they are they which testify of me." They testify of the Savior, of
his doctrines and requirements, and of the ordinances of his house; the
plan of salvation is there portrayed, and any person who follows its
dictation may redeem himself from the thraldom of sin, and know, by the
Spirit, that Jesus is the Christ. All who will take this course will
know by revelation that God is our Father; they will understand the
relationship they hold to him and to their fellow-beings. The world may
in vain ask the question, "Who are we?" But the Gospel tells us that
we are the sons and daughters of that God whom we serve. Some say, "We
are the children of Adam and Eve." So we are, and they are the children
of our Heavenly Father. We are all the children of Adam and Eve, and
they are the offspring of him who dwells in the heavens, the highest
Intelligence that dwells anywhere that we have any knowledge of. Here
we find ourselves, and when infants, the most helpless, and needing
the most care and attention of any creatures that come into being on
the face of the earth. Here we find in ourselves the germ and the
foundation, the embryo of exaltation, glory, immortality and eternal
lives. As we grow up we receive strength, knowledge and wisdom, some
more and some less; but only by keeping the commands of the Lord Jesus
can we have the privilege of {344} knowing the things pertaining to
eternity and our relationship to the heavens. 13:310.
The most excellent human or divine laws are of no use to earthly or
heavenly beings, unless they are faithfully observed. Law is for the
protection of the law-abider; and the penalty of the law is for the
law-breaker. 9:332.
People will never be taken and sacrificed for their ignorance, when
they have had no opportunity to know and understand the truth. Such a
proceeding would be contrary to the economy of heaven. But after we
receive and understand things as they are, if we then disobey, we may
look for the chastening hand of the Almighty. 3:246.
Walk up, O ye Latter-day Saints, and wake up! Come to the Lord, forsake
your covetousness, your back-slidings, forsake the spirit of the world,
and return to the Lord with full purpose of heart until you get the
Spirit of Christ within you, that you, like others, can cry, "Abba
Father, the Lord, he is God, and I am his servant." 15:6.
We have nothing to sacrifice. All we have to do is to love and serve
our God, and do everything we can to bring knowledge to ourselves and
to the people. 6:196.
When the Gospel is preached to the honest in heart they receive it
by faith, but when they obey it labor is required. To practice the
Gospel requires time, faith, the heart's affections and a great deal
of labor. Here many stop. They hear and believe, but before they go on
to practice they begin to think that they were mistaken, and unbelief
enters into their hearts. 16:40.
When we get to understand all knowledge, all wisdom, that it is
necessary for us to understand in the flesh, we will be like clay in
the hands of the potter, willing to be moulded and fashioned according
to the will of him who {345} has called us to this great and glorious
work, of purifying ourselves and our fellow-beings, and of preparing
the nations of the earth for the glory that awaits them through
obedience. 19:93.
I believe that it is a hell intolerable for a people, a family or a
single person, to strive to grasp truth with one hand, and error with
the other, to profess to walk in obedience to the commandments of God,
and, at the same time, mingle heart and hand with the wicked. 3:254.
_Effect of Obedience_--Great peace have they who love the law of
the Lord and abide in his commandments. 8:121.
If you wish to receive and enjoy the favor of our Heavenly Father, do
his will. 8:33.
When will this people become Saints indeed? Not until they observe
every counsel that is given to them of this kind, doing with their
might the things that are required of them. 11:139.
All who receive eternal life and salvation will receive it on no other
conditions than believing in the Son of God and obeying the principles
that he has laid down. Can we devise any other means and plan of
salvation? We cannot. 13:213.
The Saints who live their religion will be exalted, for they never
will deny any revelation which the Lord has given or may give, though,
when there is a doctrine coming to them which they cannot comprehend
fully, they may be found saying, "The Lord sendeth this unto me,
and I pray that he will save and preserve me from denying anything
which proceedeth from him, and give me patience to wait until I can
understand it for myself."
Such persons will never deny, but will allow those subjects which they
do not understand, to remain until the {346} visions of their minds
become open. This is the course which I have invariably pursued, and if
anything came that I could not understand, I would pray until I could
comprehend it.
Do not reject anything because it is new or strange, and do not sneer
nor jeer at what comes from the Lord, for if we do, we endanger our
salvation. It is given to us, as agents, to choose or refuse, as
brother S. W. Richards has set before you, but we are agents within
limits; if it were not so there would be no law. 3:266.
By obeying the ordinances of God, mankind glorify God, but if they
do not obey him, they do not detract one particle from his glory and
power. The commandments of God are given to us expressly for our
benefit, and if we live in obedience to them we shall live so as to
understand the mind and will of God for ourselves, and concerning
ourselves as individuals. 12:126.
How shall we know that we obey him? There is but one method by which we
can know it, and that is by the inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord
witnessing unto our spirit that we are his, that we love him, and that
he loves us. It is by the spirit of revelation we know this. We have no
witness to ourselves internally, without the spirit of revelation. We
have no witness outwardly, only by obedience to the ordinances. 12:99.
Law is made for the lawless. Let the Saints live their religion, and
there is not a law that can justly infringe upon them. 8:140.
There is no law against doing good. There is no law against love. There
is no law against serving God. There is no law against charity and
benevolence. There is no law {347} against the principles of eternal
life. Live them, and no righteous law of man can reach you. 8:140.
When the law of God is written on the hearts of a people, every person
will know his place. 8:296.
When men and women talk about giving everything for the salvation which
they anticipate and live for, behold, they have nothing to give; nor
have they anything to do, only to do their duty. And what is that? To
improve upon that which is committed to their possession--to prove
themselves worthy to their Father and God, that ere long they may be
worthy to receive crowns of glory, immortality and eternal life. Then
we shall be beyond the power of Satan. 6:196.
So long as the Latter-day Saints will live their religion, they shall
never be confounded, worlds without end. Never be afraid; your hearts
are brave, your arms are strong, and God is our defense. 10:40.
Those who live their religion will enjoy the Spirit, and that enjoyment
will increase; and if we will be faithful, the Lord will make our
feet as firm in these valleys as are the everlasting riches in these
mountains, and no power can remove us. He will give us a sure place
in these mountains until we go forth and redeem Zion. Do right, be
faithful, and make no calculations about removing before the time
comes. 8:285.
_Obedience and Free Agency_--Here is a brother who says, "Why,
yes, you may have some of my property or even take it all; but I
want to be a man for myself; I do not want to be dictated; I want to
preserve my own freedom; I do not want to be a slave." What an idea!
It is from the enemy, and because a person has not the Spirit of the
Lord to see how things are. There is not a man of {348} us but what is
willing to acknowledge at once that God demands strict obedience to
his requirements. But in rendering that strict obedience, are we made
slaves? No, it is the only way on the face of the earth for you and me
to become free, and we shall become slaves of our own passions, and of
the wicked one, and servants to the Devil, if we take any other course,
and we shall be eventually cast into hell with the devils. Now to say
that I do not enjoy the volition of my own will just as much when I
pray as I would to swear, is a false principle, it is false ground to
take. You take the man who swears, and he has no more freedom, and acts
no more on his own will than the man who prays; the man who yields
strict obedience to the requirements of Heaven, acts upon the volition
of his own will and exercises his freedom just as much as when he was
a slave to passion; and I think it is much better and more honorable
for us, whether children or adults, youthful, middle-aged or old, it
is better to live by and better to die by, to have our hearts pure,
and to yield strict obedience to the principles of life which the Lord
has revealed, than be a slave to sin and wickedness. All that the
Lord requires of us is strict obedience to the laws of life. All the
sacrifice that the Lord asks of his people is strict obedience to our
own covenants that we have made with our God, and that is to serve him
with an undivided heart. 18:246.
One of the simplest things in the world is to control a people. Is
there any particular art in making this people obedient? There is just
one. If you, Elders of Israel, can get the art of preaching the Holy
Ghost into the hearts of the people, you will have an obedient people.
This is the only art required. Teach the people truth, teach them
correct principles; show them what is for their greatest good {349} and
don't you think they will follow in that path? They will, just as far
as it is consistent with their weaknesses and the power of darkness
that is over the inhabitants of the earth--with us as with others.
12:257.
A person before he can understand the law and government of God must
see and understand the propriety of it and see its beauties. So it
is with the whole system of salvation. Not that I would say we are
machines, for we have our agency; but God has placed us here, and he
exacts strict obedience to his laws before we can derive the benefit
and blessings their observance will yield. You may take a beautiful
machine of any kind you please, and when the machinist has finished his
work and set it in perfect order, how could it be expected to operate
satisfactorily if a hook here or a journal yonder were to say, I am not
going to stay here, or, I am going to jump out of place and am going
somewhere else; and then another piece of the machinery would jump out
of its place into another part of the machine. What would be the state
of such a machine? Confusion and disorganization would soon result and
the machinist might very properly say, what a pity that I bestowed so
much labor on such unruly members of my machine. 13:241.
The world will not receive the Gospel, unless they can have it on their
own terms, and will persecute the few that do receive it. 9:331.
We as a people, will be chastened until we can wholly submit ourselves
to the Lord and be Saints indeed. 5:354.
_Effects of Disobedience_--When light comes, if the people reject
that light, it will condemn them, and will add to their sorrow and
affliction. 6:288.
If we live our religion we shall prosper, and if we live {350} in the
neglect of our duty, and continue to do so, there will be tribulation
and anguish here, and the chastening hand of the Almighty will be on
this people. 3:340.
I feel in my heart to bless you; it is full of blessings and not
cursing. It is something that does not occupy my feelings to curse any
individual, but I will modify this by saying those who ought not to be
cursed. Who ought to be? Those who know their Master's will, and do it
not; they are worthy of many stripes; it is not those who do not know,
and do not do, but those who know it, and do not do it--they are the
ones to be chastised. 1:248.
As soon as you are overcome by the spirit of the world, you forget
every good deed and kindness that has been extended to you, and you
only remember the transpiring and infliction of what you deemed to be
evil that would have resulted in good, had you done right. 3:358.
It is the misapplied intelligence God has given us that makes all the
mischief on the earth. That intelligence he designed to carry out the
purposes of his will, and endowed it with capabilities to grow, spread
abroad, accumulate, and endeavor to enjoy greater happiness, glory,
and honor, and continue to expand wider and wider, until eternity
is comprehended by it; if not applied to this purpose, but to the
grovelling things of earth, it will be taken away, and given to one who
has made better use of this gift of God. 2:124-5.
If we will only practice what we profess, I tell you we are at the
defiance of hell. 2:186.
For a man to undertake to live a Saint and walk in darkness is one of
the hardest tasks that he can undertake. You cannot imagine a position
that will sink a person more deeply in perplexity and trouble than to
try to be a Saint without living as a Saint should--without enjoying
the {351} spirit of his religion. It is our privilege to live so as to
enjoy the spirit of our religion. That is designed to restore us to
the presence of the Gods. Gods exist, and we had better strive to be
prepared to be one with them. 7:238.
Anything that is impure must, sooner or later, perish; no matter
whether it is in the faith and practice of an individual, town, nation,
or government. That kingdom, principality, power or person that is not
controlled by principles that are pure and holy must eventually pass
away and perish. 14:75.
I know it is hard to receive chastisement, for no chastisement is
joyous, but grievous at the time it is given; but if a person will
receive chastisement and pray for the Holy Spirit to rest upon him,
that he may have the Spirit of truth in his heart, and cleave to that
which is pleasing to the Lord, the Lord will give him grace to bear the
chastisement, and he will submit to and receive it, knowing that it is
for his good. 3:47.
Men must quit swearing and taking the name of God in vain; they must
refrain from lying, stealing, cheating, and doing that which they know
they ought not to do, or they must be severed from this Church and
Kingdom. 4:307.
The Latter-day Saints, in all their travels, have not been as
rebellious as the Children of Israel were. 11:279. {352}