Mormon Musings

Brother Kimball referred to Zion’s Camp going to Missouri.  When I returned from that mission to Kirkland, a brother said to me, “Brother Brigham, what have you gained by this journey?”  I replied, “Just what we went for; but I would not exchange the knowledge I have received this season for the whole of the Geauga County; for property and mines of wealth are not to be compared to the worth of knowledge.”  Ask those brethren and sisters who have passed through scenes of affliction and suffering for years in the Church what they would take in exchange for their experience, and be placed back where they were, were it possible.  I presume they would tell you that all the wealth, honors, and riches of the world could not buy the knowledge they had obtained, could they barter it away.  Let the brethren be contented, if you have trials and must have hard times, learn to acknowledge the hand of the Lord in it all.  He directs the affairs of this world… Brigham You...

" Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.  And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come." D&C 130:18-19

I will do all the good I can, and all I know to do, and I will shun every evil that I know to be an evil.  You can all do that much.  I will apply my heart to wisdom, and ask the Lord to import it to me; and if I know but little, I will improve upon it, that tomorrow I may have more, and thus grow from day to day in the knowledge of the truth, as Jesus Christ grew in stature and knowledge from a babe to manhood; and if I am not now capable of judging for myself, perhaps I shall be in another year.  We are organized to progress in scale of intelligence, and the least Saint by adhering strictly to the order of God may attain to a full and complete salvation through the grace of God, by his own faithfulness . Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses  1:313

No nation possesses any wisdom but what it has received from the same God that we worship. He is the best mechanic and the most scientific personage that we have any knowledge of. There is not a principle in astronomy, known by men of science, but what has been revealed from Heaven.  All true knowledge among men, in relation to agriculture, the arts, the science, commerce, and every vocation of life, has been given from our Father in Heaven to His children, whether they acknowledge and obey Him or not. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:278

“A man is saved no faster than he gains knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge, and consequently more power than many men who are on the earth.  Hence it needs revelation to assist us, and give us knowledge of things of God.” Joseph Smith - History of the Church , 4:588

Brethren and sisters, I rejoice exceedingly with you in this glorious Gospel. If there is anything on the earth that can satisfy the human soul in its desires for excellence, virtue, exaltation and greatness, it certainly is this Gospel of the kingdom. If there is anything in the world that can satisfy the hungry soul for knowledge, it is the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ, which open up continually line upon line, and precept upon precept; here a little and there a little; indeed there is nothing else can satisfy the longing of the human soul. Franklin D. Richards, Journal of Discourses 25:236

"[John Taylor] was given a special call to go to New York City to organize and publish a newspaper whose purpose would be to present the doctrines and practices of the Church in such a way as to neutralize the groundswell of anti-Mormon feeling that had been mounting for over a year. . . . ". . . He responded with boldness, challenging his critics to prove their charges: " 'We have said before and say now, that we defy all the editors and writers in the United States to prove that Mormonism is less moral, scriptural, philosophical; or that there is less patriotism in Utah than any other part of the United States. We call for proof; bring on your reasons, gentlemen, if you have any; we shrink not from the investigation, and dare you to the encounter' (in Roberts, Life of John Taylor, 249). "He then sketched for readers the salient characteristics of a converted Latter-day Saint: 'He grasps at all truths, human and divine. . . . He has nothing to lose but...

Brother Kimball referred to Zion's Camp going to Missouri.  When I returned from that mission to Kirkland, a brother said to me, "Brother Brigham, what have you gained by this journey?"  I replied, "Just what we went for; but I would not exchange the knowledge I have received this season for the whole of the Geauga County; for property and mines of wealth are not to be compared to the worth of knowledge."  Ask those brethren and sisters who have passed through scenes of affliction and suffering for years in the Church what they would take in exchange for their experience, and be placed back where they were, were it possible.  I presume they would tell you that all the wealth, honors and riches of the world could not buy the knowledge they had obtained, could they barter it away.  Let the brethren be contented, if you have trials and must have hard times, learn to acknowledge the hand of the Lord in it all.  He directs the affairs of this world... Brigham ...

“When you climb a ladder, you must begin at the bottom, and ascend step by step, until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the Gospel—you must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all of the principles of exaltation.  But it will be a great while after you have passed through the veil before you will have learned them.  It is not all to be comprehended in this world ; it will be a great work to learn our salvation and exaltation even beyond the grave.” Joseph Smith , History of the Church, 6:306-7; from a discourse given by Joseph Smith on April 7, 1844, in Nauvoo Illinois “We consider that God has created man with a mind capable of instruction, and a faculty which may be enlarged in proportion to the heed and diligence given to the light communicated from heaven to the intellect; and that the nearer a man approaches perfection, the clearer are his views, and the greater his enjoyments, till he has overcome the evils of his life and lost ev...

“Mormonism is truth, or in other words the doctrine of the Latter-Day Saints is truth…The first and fundamental principle of our holy religion is that we believe that we might have the right to embrace all, and every item of truth, without limitation or without being circumscribed or prohibited by the creeds or superstitious notions of men, or by the dominations of one another, when truth has been clearly demonstrated to our minds, and we have the highest degree of evidence of the same.” Josesph Smith, Letter from Joseph Smith to Isaac Gallad, March 22, 1839, Liberty Jail, Liberty Missouri, published in the Times and Seasons, February 1840, pp. 53-54 “‘Mormonism’...embraces every principle pertaining to life and salvation, for time and eternity. No matter who has it. If the infidel has got truth it belongs to ‘Mormonism.' The truth and sound doctrine possessed by the sectarian world, and they have a great deal, all belong to this Church… All that is good, lovely, and praiseworthy...