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There is nothing that would so weaken my hope and discourage me as to see this people in full fellowship with the world, and receive no more persecution from them because they are one with them.
J.D. 10:32
~Brigham Young
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When Mormonism finds favor with the wicked in this land it will have gone into the shade; but until the power of the Priesthood is gone, Mormonism will never become popular with the wicked.
J.D. 4:38
~Brigham Young
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I look forward to no distant period when this people, called Latter-day Saints, will be obliged to sustain themselves. We must prepare to gather around us every necessary of life, to make every implement we may wish to use, and to produce from the earth every grain, vegetable, and fruit that we need, and not go to any other place to buy.
J.D. 9:32
~Brigham Young
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And with regard to the conduct of this people--if an angel should come here and speak his feelings as plainly as I do, I think he would say, 'O, Latter-day Saints' why don't you see, why don't you open your eyes and behold the great work resting upon you and that you have entered into? You are blind, you are stupid, you are in the dark, in the mist and fog, wandering to and fro like a boat upon the water without sail, rudder or oar; and you know not whither you are going.
~Brigham Young
from J.D. 19:93
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There is one principle that I wish the people would understand and lay to heart. Just as fast as you will prove before your God that you are worthy to receive the mysteries, if you please to call them so, of the kingdom of heaven-that you are full of confidence in God-that you will never betray a thing that God tells you-that you will never reveal to your neighbor that which ought not to be revealed, as quick as you prepare to be entrusted with the things of God, there is an eternity of them to bestow upon you. Instead of pleading with the Lord to bestow more upon you, plead with yourselves to have confidence in yourselves, to have integrity in yourselves, and know when to speak and what to speak, what to reveal, and how to carry yourselves and walk before the Lord. And just as fast as you prove to Him that you will preserve everything secret that ought to be-that you will deal out to your neighbors all which you ought, and no more, and learn how to dispense your knowledge to your families, friends, neighbors, and brethren, the Lord will bestow upon you, and give to you, and bestow upon you, until finally he will say to you, 'You shall never fall; your salvation is sealed unto you; you are sealed up unto eternal life and salvation, through your integrity'
~Brigham Young
from Journal of Discourses, 4:371-72
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When he again visits this earth, he will come to thoroughly purge his kingdom from wickedness, and, as ruler of the nations, to dictate and administer to them as the heir to the kingdom; and the Gentiles will be as much mistaken in regard to his second advent as the Jews were in relation to the first.
~Brigham Young
from Journal of Discourses 8:115
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The worst sinners, according to Jesus, are not the harlots and publicans, but the religious leaders with their insistence on proper dress and grooming, their careful observance of all the rules, their precious concern for status-symbols, their strict legality, their pious patriotism. Longhairs, beards, and necklaces, LSD and and rock, Big Sur and Woodstock, come and go, but Babylon is always there: rich, respectable, immovable.... We want to be vindicated in our position and to know that the world is on our side as we all join in a chorus of righteous denunciation; the haircut becomes the test of virtue in a world where Satan deceives and rules by appearances.
~Hugh Nibley
from "What is Zion?," in What Is Zion? Joseph Smith Lecture Series, 1972-73 (Provo, UT; Brigham Young University Press, 1973)
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I met with the Twelve at Brother Joseph's. He conversed with us in a familiar manner on a variety of subjects, and explained to us the Urim and Thummim which he found with the plates, called in the Book of Mormon the Interpreters. He said that every man who lived on the earth was entitled to a seer stone, and should have one, but they are kept from them in consequence of their wickedness, and most of those who do find one make evil use of it; he showed us his seer stone.
~Brigham Young
from Millennial Star 26 (February 20, 1864): 118-19
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The origin of life, whether human or inferior, must be lodged in some character whom I have not seen! Follow it back, no matter whether it be for six thousand years, six millions, six million millions, or billions of years, the figures and numbers are immaterial, I must have come from some source; my natural philosophy teaches me this. But, leaving the natural philosophy of the child free from false tradition, let us inquire. What does the philosophy of the Christian sects, or many of them, not all, teach? “God made the world in six days, out of nothing!” This is very wrong; no child should be taught any such dogma. God never did make a world out of nothing; He never will, He never can!
~Brigham Young
from Journal of Discourses, 13:248 [25 September 1870]
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I will make a remark here that will perhaps reflect a little light on the minds of some. We are taught to ask the Father when we pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. The ancients as well as the modern revelations ascribe honor, praise, and glory to Christ. We render praise, and honor, and thanksgiving to the Fathers, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost; or in other words, Holy Spirits. This idea may give you a particle of light. I do not, however, pretend to say how many spirits the Lord has sent forth; but the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised to his disciples, the ancients enjoyed, and so does every man who understands the way of the Lord and has had committed to him the Keys of the Everlasting Priesthood; they are exhorted to seek and enjoy a Holy Spirit. It is not a matter of moment to me how many other spirits there are; but, brethren and sisters, let you and I seek diligently to possess the Holy Spirit of the Lord Jesus, and then if there are myriads of unholy spirits around us we are prepared to discern the difference.
~Brigham Young
from The Essential Brigham Young, 08, “When I Contemplate the Subject of Salvation”, pg. 79-80