Mormon Musings

In plain, blunt words, then, we are told that whatever nations occupy this land must serve God or die! The great men of modern America have given us similar warnings, peculiarly enough. A generation ago, Roger Babson, at that time one of our leading economists, said: “Only religion can prevent democratic rule from developing into mob rule. A nation can prosper only as its citizens are religious, intelligent, capable of service and eager to render it.” And then this great man said, and it is something to which we should give careful attention, “Every great panic we have ever had has been foreshadowed by a general decline in observance of religious principles.” Abraham Lincoln told the people of his day that America “need fear no danger from without. … If danger were ever to threaten the United States, it will come from within. ‘As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide. …’” Then the great emancipator added this: “We have grown in numbers, wealt...

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation. Let your heart feel for the affections and distresses of every one, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse; remembering the widow’s mite, that it is not every one that asketh that deserveth charity; all however, are worthy of the inquiry, or the deserving may suffer. -George Washington