A collection of LDS perspectives

Reprinted as a chapter in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 11.

A dive into Brigham Young’s ongoing battle with the devil.

Reprinted as “Educating the Saints” in Nibley on the Timely and the Timeless, 1978, and in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 13.

The compelling mystique of those franchise businesses that in our day have built up enormous institutional clout by selling nothing but the right to a name was anticipated in our great schools of Education, which monopolized the magic name of Education and sold the right to use it at a time when the idea of a “School of Education” made about as much sense as a class in Erudition or a year’s course in Total Perfection. The whole business of education can become an operation in managerial manipulation. In “Higher Education,” the traffic in titles and forms is already long established: The Office, with its hoarded files of score sheets, punched cards, and tapes, can declare exactly how educated any individual is, even to the third decimal. That is the highly structured busywork which we call education today. But it was not Brigham Young’s idea of education. He had thoughts which we have repeated from time to time with very mixed reception on the BYU campus. Still, we do not feel in the least inclined to apologize for propagating them on the premises of a university whose main distinction is that it bears his name.

A critique of the New English Bible

The different scriptural accounts of the Creation and theories on the meaning of article eternity from a scientific perspective

“The Passing of the Primitive Church (Forty Variations on an Unpopular Theme)” [reprinted from Church History 30, no. 2 (June 1961): 131–54]. “The Forty-day Mission of Christ: The Forgotten Heritage” [reprinted from Vigiliae Christianae 20 no. 1 (1966): 1–24]. “Christian Envy of the Temple” [reprinted from Jewish Quarterly Review 50, nos. 2–3 (October 1959; January 1960): 97–123; 229–40].

Three of Nibley’s important essays on the fate of the primitive Christian church and its institutions and beliefs previously available only in academic journals in 1959-60, 1961, and 1966 are reprinted and indexed for the Mormon audience.

LDS scholars on the Creation

This article deals with defining the exact date of Alvin Smith’s death which helps the author to pinpoint the visits of Moroni.

While much that has been said regarding the origin of the Book of Mormon is beyond the experience of the average searcher, only as he accepts or rejects the credibility of the earliest witnesses, the existence of the book itself provides a common ground for careful investigation. But beyond this, some surviving, badly weathered fragments of the original manuscript permit a consideration of the Book of Mormon from a paleographic standpoint. It is the purpose of this study to review the history, and consider the handwriting and composition of the remaining segments of the original manuscript for what they may contribute to the credibility of early witnesses regarding the Book of Mormon origin.

The biographer of Joseph Smith’s early life will know his subject when he relies on sources that know their subject. This truism is more obvious in statement than application, for non-Mormon biography has not faced the severe limitations of the uniformly hostile affidavits taken by a sworn enemy of the Mormon Prophet. The image thus obtained is sharply discordant from the Joseph Smith documented in the 1830’s: a leader of physical prowess and vigorous manhood, a profound idealist with spontaneous humor and warmth, who displayed personal courage under tremendous odds. A similar youth in the 1820’s is discovered, not by editing out non-Mormon sources, but finding those non-Mormon sources that reflect definite contact with Joseph Smith. Such a study shows that collecting informed statements about the Prophet will produce a substantial favorable judgment. Although initial collection of statements against Joseph Smith is an oft-told story, its outline is a necessary background for the affidavits to be analyzed. D. P. Hurlbut, excommunicated twice by LDS tribunals for immorality; became so personally vindictive that he was put under a court order restraining him from doing harm to the person or property of Joseph Smith. He was next “employed” by an anti-Mormon public committee to gather evidence to “completely divest Joseph Smith of all claims to the character of an honest man. . . .” To achieve this goal he traveled to New York and procured statements at Palmyra Village, the largest business center adjacent to the Smith farm and also at Manchester, the rural district that included “Stafford Street.” Cornelius Stafford, then twenty, later remembered that Hurlbut arrived at “our school house and took statements about the bad character of the Mormon Smith family, and saw them swear to them.” The Painesville, Ohio, editor, E. D. Howe, replaced Hurlbut as a respectable author, and published the affidavits in Mormonism Unvailed (1834), laying the cornerstone of anti-Mormon historiography. Howe lived to see the solidity of the edifice, observing forty-four years afterward in his memoirs that the book “has been the basis of all the histories which have appeared from time to time since that period touching that people.” More accurately, Howe’s writing was insignificant, but the Palmyra-Manchester affidavits published by him have introduced Joseph Smith in every major non-Mormon study from 1834 to the present. Yet even supposedly definitive studies display no investigation of the individuals behind the Hurlbut statements, nor much insight into their community.

On September 2, 1829, a new paper was born in Palmyra, New York, called The Reflector and published by O. Dogberry, Jun. The object of the papers was to “correct the morals and improve the mind.” O. Dogberry was the pseudonym for a certain Esquire Cole, an ex-justice of the peace, who had obtained access on Sundays and evenings to the use of the idle E. B. Grandin & Co. press, the same press which was being used to print the Book of Mormon. Apparently rumors and gossip about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon were widespread; and Esquire Cole, who looked upon Joseph as an impostor, printed rather tart comments about him and the Book of Mormon.

With the many branch, ward, and stake organizations which currently bedeck the international scene of Mormonism, it is understandable that the activities of a small branch of Saints at Colesville, Broome County, New York, could have been virtually forgotten with the passage of time. Yet, at the close of 1830, it was one of some five principal branches serving as focal points for the gathering of the faithful in the new Church. Fayette, Seneca County, New York, served as the headquarters of the Church, while other branches existed at Colesville; Kirtland and Mentor, Geauga County, Ohio; and Warrensville, Cayahoga County, Ohio. The Colesville Branch was personally inaugurated by the Prophet Joseph Smith and its membership played a significant role in the initial years of the new dispensation. Drawn by Joseph’s affirmation of communication with the heavens and the supportive evidences contained in the Book of Mormon, the Colesville Saints gave impetus to the missionary zeal of the Restoration and provided elements of needed leadership for the rapidly expanding faith. From the very inception of “Mormonism,” the Saints comprising the Colesville Branch linked their lives inexorably with the Restored Gospel and the volume which had inspired their conversion, the Book of Mormon. They relinquished family, friends, homes and material comforts in pursuit of their testimonies. The Prophet Joseph Smith was not unmindful of these sacrifices. On August 22, 1842, while making entries in the Book of the Law of the Lord, he paid tribute to certain of the Colesville membership, which might well be applied to them all.

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In 1880 James T. Cobb, a graduate of Dartmouth and Amherst colleges and a resident of Salt Lake City, was making an attempt to establish the falsity of the Book of Mormon through an extensive examination of its origins. Among those to whom he directed letters of inquiry was William E. McLellan, whose close association with Joseph Smith and the witnesses of the Book of Mormon in the early years of the Church made him an appropriate subject for correspondence. William E. McLellan joined the Church in 1831. Although he became an early critic of Joseph Smith and other Church leaders, he nevertheless progressed to top leadership positions and on February 15, 1835, he was ordained as one of the original members of the Quorum of the Twelve. Yet due to his criticism of Church leadership he was excommunicated in 1838. The testimony reproduced in this article, written in reply to James T. Cobb’s inquiry, is significant because despite McLellan’s disillusionment with Joseph Smith, he nevertheless was unable to deny his conviction that the Book of Mormon was what it claimed to be.

Though the Book of Mormon expressly states that it is written in the “language of the Egyptians,” (1 Nephi 1:2), nevertheless, it quite clearly reflects a number of Hebrew idioms and contains numerous Hebrew words. This is no doubt due to the fact that the Nephites retained the Hebrew language, albeit in an altered form (See Mormon 9:35). Moreover, it is not impossible that the plates themselves contained Hebrew words, idioms,and syntax written in Egyptian cursive script (Moroni’s “reformed Egyptian”—see Mormon 9:32). In this present treatise, we will not be concerned so much with the methodology involved in the writing of the Book of Mormon as with the evidence for the use of Hebrew expressions, or of expressions akin thereto. Only the more important examples will be cited.

This article shares histories produced by Native Americans during the colonial period of America contain accounts similar to those in the Book of Mormon. The Works of Ixtlilxochitl appears to be a Lamanite history. Four other books that may correspond with the Book of Mormon are The Annals of the Cakchiquels, Title of the Lords of Totonicapan, the Popul Vuh, and Anales de los Xahil.

Two slightly different versions of this have been preserved and circulated.

The name of Hugh Nibley has become a byword within the Church in the past two decades, primarily as a result of his writings published in the pages of the Improvement Era for 21 years. Since 1948, only six volumes of the Era have been published without the by-line of Hugh Nibley, which is usually part of an extended series of articles. His brilliant, incisive mind, fortified on one hand by fluency in some ten languages and strengthened on the other by his strong faith in the gospel’s message, has blessed countless readers. But it is his zest for knowledge, his joy in discovery, and his thrill at uncovering old things for us to view anew that have endeared him to all who have read his works. In this respect, Brother Nibley represents a symbol of the person hungering and thirsting after knowledge, an ideal that most individuals could well adapt for the betterment and fulfillment of their own personal lives. In this spirit, as his current series is concluded, the Era is pleased to feature Brother Nibley as a fitting symbol of one who has truly found many adventures in learning.

An explanation of what Adam and Eve did and why

poem

This article reaffirms that the purpose of the Book of Mormon is to bear witness of Jesus Christ.

This article discusses various native traditions of the Western Hemisphere and Pacific region that refer to a “Great White God.” Several sources are cited and their common points are discussed and compared to 3 Nephi 11. Jesus Christ was the Great White God referred to in all instances.

Originally printed as a 1948 Improvement Era article.

Book of Mormon proper names are related to Egyptian etymologies.

Reprinted in Studies of the Books of Moses and Abraham: Articles from BYU Studies. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book.

A history of “The Book of Breathings” as well as a description of what it is.

Reprinted in Studies of the Books of Moses and Abraham: Articles from BYU Studies, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book.

Looks at several of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers and rumors surrounding them that may or may not be true based on the lack of evidence surrounding them.

Later published in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints.

An exhortation to turn the hearts of the men toward peace rather than toward war.

Church pamphlet

Kitsch in the Visual Arts [an interview in Lori Schlinker’s “Kitsch in the Visual Arts” (BYU, August 1971), 60–64; augmented by the inclusion of some miscellaneous comments made by Nibley in a panel discussion on the arts in Letters to Smoother, Etc. . . . Proceedings of the 1980 Brigham Young University Symposium on the Humanities, ed. Joy C. Ross and Steven C. Walker (Provo, UT: BYU Press, 1982), 102–4; 111–12]

The writer’s reason for making this study is a felt lack of taste and a general misunderstanding and misuse of the visual arts in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She is convinced that art, generally considered as a matter of personal taste, is actually a matter of professional judgement. A characteristic of our time is the “do-it-yourself“ trend and to make up ones own mind about everything without any consultation of authorities and also a loss of feeling for integrity in productions of the human mind and hand which broke down the fences against kitsch and opened up the way, not only into man’s environment, but also into his thinking. May the reader find in this study a help towards a better understanding and a greater awareness of the problem of kitsch.

Reprinted in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 13.

Why it’s a good thing that the leaders of the Church are amateur clergy, not paid professionals.

Chapter Sixteen of Mark Twain’s Roughing It begins, “All men have heard of the Mormon Bible, but few except the ”elect’ have seen it, or, at least, taken the trouble to read it.” Conversely, all Mormons have heard of Twain’s caustic burlesque on the Book of Mormon, but none seems to have taken the trouble to demonstrate to Gentiles that Twain was obviously one of the multitude who had not read the book. Indeed, the four chapters in Roughing It(1872) devoted to the Mormons and their “golden Bible” continue to evoke hilarity from Latter-day Saints, not only because of the burlesque on sacred Mormon institutions, of which Twain was understandably but appallingly ignorant, but also because of the amusingly evident fact that if Twain read the Book of Mormon at all, it was in the same manner that Tom Sawyer won the Sunday School Bible contest—by cheating.

This article will attempt to look at the Church in the early 1830s and, so far as it is possible, will trace the introduction of several important doctrinal concepts into the Church during that time. In this context we will discuss the role of new translation of the Bible in the restoration of the gospel in this dispensation. When speaking of the “development” of the Church doctrine, we do not mean particularly to dwell on an evolutionary phenomena but rather simply to emphasize that all of the doctrines were not revealed at once and that there has been a developmental increase of doctrine from continuing revelation. It is in the spirit of this principle that we trace the historical relationship that exists between Joseph Smith’s new translation of the Bible and the increase of doctrine during the Kirtland period.

Specific plans to preach the restored gospel in the west matured during the second conference after Church organization, held late September, 1830. The missionary theme was prominent during the three-day duration of this conference. The official minutes summarize what was probably the first missionary farewell in LDS history: “Singing and prayer in behalf of Brother Oliver Cowdery and Peter Whitmer, Jr., who were previously appointed to go to the Lamanites.” The Ohio labors of Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt, and their companions doubled the membership of the Church and created a solid nucleus for rapid growth and a secure, if temporary, gathering location. One must assess the impact of these four men in four weeks with a certain awe.

Joseph Fielding Smith - There is no need for anyone to remain in darkness; the light of the everlasting gospel is here; and every sincere investigator on earth can gain a personal witness from the Holy Spirit of the truth and divine nature of the Lord’s work.

Spencer W. Kimball - History repeats itself, and we need only return to the past to learn the solutions for the present and the future.

Marvin J. Ashton - It is imperative that there be love, understanding, and acceptance in the home so our youth can learn that only steadfast pursuit of God’s ways will bring a rich, happy life.

Ezra Taft Benson - As eternal beings, we each have in us a spark of divinity.

Marion G. Romney - Satan was in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve before the fall. Not only so, but he continued to tempt them and their children after they had been driven from the Garden.

ElRay L. Christiansen - When Solomon declared: “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Prov. 16:32), he knew that individual spiritual development cannot be realized without self-discipline.

S. Dilworth Young - Conversion brings strength, determination to defend the work of the Lord on earth and to expand it. This conversion comes when one receives the baptism of fire, the witness of the Holy Ghost.

Milton R Hunter - The greatest of all laws in this gospel plan pertains to marriage for life and eternity. Thus it pertains to the family eternal. The sweetest joys and greatest blessings that can be gained in mortality and in the life to come are attained through family life lived in accordance with the gospel plan.

Sterling W. Sill - I am presently in possession of the world’s most valuable information. I know that God lives, that we were created in his image, and that by obeying the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the offspring of God may eventually hope to become like their eternal parents.

Franklin D. Richards - Regardless of the difficulties existing in the world today, we as a people must recognize that we have been blessed abundantly with the resources of this world; yet we know that whatever we have is the Lord’s and that he has blessed us with these things to see how we will use them.

Mark E. Petersen - God has revealed that in the last days he would warn the people through the voice of tempests, earthquakes, and seas heaving themselves beyond their bounds. Do we hear his voice now and recognize it?

Joseph Fielding Smith - We are ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our commission is to represent him. We are directed to preach his gospel, to perform the ordinances of salvation, to bless mankind, to heal the sick and perhaps perform miracles, to do what he would do if he were personally present—and all this because we hold the holy priesthood.

Howard W. Hunter - If we are to teach one another, if we are to seek wisdom and learning by study and by faith, we must organize and prepare every needful thing.

David B. Haight - We as members of this church know the meaning of life. It has been revealed in its truthfulness and purity and is available to all who seek, will listen, and believe. The mission and responsibility of this church and its members have been made abundantly clear—to proclaim the Lord’s teachings unto the entire world.

Victor L. Brown - Acknowledging the fact that this mortal body is the tabernacle of the spirit and that the spirit was fathered by our Father in heaven, it behooves us to show respect for our bodies.

Wendell J. Ashton - You will know wisdom when you fully realize that the lasting lessons in leadership do not change. They are eternal. They helped make Noah and Abraham and Moses giants in the land, giants in character, in leadership, in bringing men and women closer to God.

N. Eldon Tanner - Let us as leaders, and all of us, always remember and never forget that everyone is looking for happiness. Everyone wants to be happy. It is our great privilege and responsibility to show him the way to happiness and success.

Harold B. Lee - In your own circle, in your own home, in your own lives, you must do all you can of your own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness.

N. Eldon Tanner - The choice to serve God, worthily made, does not necessarily preclude a home or sufficient money or income, or the things of this world which bring joy and happiness, but it does require that we must not turn away from God and the teachings of Jesus Christ while in the pursuit of our temporal needs.

John H. Vandenberg - Since God has been so good to us, he has asked us to be good to our brethren who may not be so fortunate as we.

A. Theodore Tuttle - The personal appearance of both the Father and the Son, clarified once and for all the fact of their existence. The fact that they lived. The fact that they are separate, distinct beings. And the fact that they love us.

Gordon B. Hinckley - I know of no single practice that will have a more salutary effect upon your lives than the practice of kneeling together as you begin and close each day. Somehow the little storms that seem to afflict every marriage are dissipated when, kneeling before the Lord, you thank him for one another, in the presence of one another, and then together invoke his blessings upon your lives, your home, your loved ones, and your dreams.

6-page typescript of a talk. Reprinted as an article in To the Glory of God and as a chapter in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 13.

An exploration into how Brigham Young felt about the environment.

An exposition of the large stone cut out of a mountain

Reprinted in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, Collected Works of Hugh Nibley vol. 13.

What are the answers to war and peace for Latter-day Saints? Does the Lord suggest a position to be taken by members of the Church? Hugh Nibley answers.

This article was adapted from Elder Evans’s book A Century of “Mormonism” in Great Britain, published in 1937. The book in turn was based on a series of articles written for the Millennial Star in 1928–29, while Elder Evans served as a missionary in England.

Suggests that early mythology writers not only were aware of the parallels between religious stories and myths but often used wove parallels together to create their faith-promoting myths.

Joseph Fielding Smith - Our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the great Exemplar. Our mission is to pattern our lives after him and do the things he wants us to do.

Boyd K. Packer - It is not unusual to find people who take an interest in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but give only casual attention to the ideal that the fullness of the gospel is here.

Henry D. Taylor - As we travel through life upon this earth, there come times when we must stand up and be counted. These are times of testing. Are we on the Lord’s side, keeping his commandments?

Eldred G. Smith - Free agency requires that there must be a choice. There must be an opposing force. There is no growth, no movement, no accomplishment or progress without overcoming an opposing force.

Loren C. Dunn - I am impressed by the fact that the plan of redemption and salvation for all mankind was worked out between a father and his son, even God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ.

Franklin D. Richards - Although it is not customary for one to seek out the difficult or unpleasant experiences, it is true that the trials and tribulations of life that stand in the way of man’s growth and development become stepping-stones by which he climbs to greater heights, providing, of course, that he does not permit them to discourage him.

Ezra Taft Benson - We love the youth of the Church and we know the Lord loves them. There isn’t anything the Church wouldn’t do that’s right to help our young people—to save them. They are our future. We have faith in them. We want them to be happy.

Richard L. Evans - We all make choices every day. We all have to live with the results of the choices we make.

ElRay L. Christiansen - This is a time of sifting, a time when, more than ever in the history of the modern world, the adversary and his followers have shown themselves to be enemies of God. Yet as we heard our prophet say, we need not fear the fiery darts of the adversary, because each of us has the power to avoid becoming entangled in sin more definitely than ever before.

Bernard P. Brockbank - The God-given Ten Commandments are still a basic part of God’s way of life and a basic part of the gospel of the kingdom.

Hartman Rector, Jr. - All too often when we hear the word sacrifice we think of burnt offerings or one man laying down his life for another as the Master did for us all. These are valid examples, but surely there are some very modern sacrifices that the Lord has instituted to bless his children today.

S. Dilworth Young - There are many lonely people, people whose loneliness is hidden. We need to seek them out and relieve them. There are those who feel they are not accepted, who need to be built up in spirit and helped to find themselves.

Milton R. Hunter - Our Eternal Father and his Only Begotten Son both have intense, comprehensive, and full love for us. They have much greater intelligence and understanding than we have, and so their feelings of love go far beyond our capabilities to love.

Howard W. Hunter - May the spirit of Elijah burn deep into our hearts and turn us toward the temples.

Harold B. Lee - Have your family prayers, keep your home ties strong, and let love abound therein.

Mark E. Petersen - The Lord makes it clear that all have need of repentance, and that if we truly repent and accept his yoke of love and forgiveness and of obedience, he will receive us.

Marion G. Romney - The restored gospel of Jesus Christ is the sure light shining in the darkness of our troubled world.

Theodore M. Burton - It has been said that what is needed most today is not the voice of man, but the voice of God. Which generation of men and women have ever needed more the voice of a prophet of God to guide them than we do today?

LeGrand Richards - The kind of foundation upon which we build our lives is just as important for our eternal happiness as is the kind of a foundation upon which they built that holy temple that it might stand through the millennium.

James A. Cullimore - Through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ our sins can be washed clear.

Victor L. Brown - Men dressed in prison uniforms offered humble, sincere prayers to God, expressing gratitude for their blessings and for the knowledge they now have of his gospel. Several stood at the pulpit and testified that they know God lives, and expressed gratitude for his goodness to them.

A. Theodore Tuttle - Have we sought “so much” for material things while missing, even ignoring, the things of God? The beauty of nature at this or any other season goes unseen and unappreciated.

Sterlling W. Sill - Because of our birthright, our intelligence, our covenants, and our assignments, we are all special witnesses for God and have some very important things that we should do.

Delbert L. Stapley - It is my earnest prayer that all of us will be firm, steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of our Lord.

Joseph Fielding Smith - It is by the power and authority of the priesthood that the gospel is preached, and what greater blessing can come into the life of anyone than to receive the gospel?

Marvin J. Ashton - The field is white, ready for harvest. The lost want to know how to get back. They want to be shown they can get there from where they are. Let us not give up. Let us not tire. Let us not weary.

Robert L. Simpson - A recurring theme during the life of the Savior as he taught the people was that each man is his brother’s keeper.

Marion D. Hanks - What can we do? How can we help this great young generation meet the challenges of their time? - October 1971 General Conference.

James O. Mason - What will these health missionaries do? A guiding principle, in the tradition of the Word of Wisdom, will place emphasis on health education and disease prevention. These health missionaries will work with priesthood leaders.

Dallin H. Oaks - Live so that you can be guided and taught by the Spirit in all your activities. - October 1971 General Conference.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1971/10/strive-for-excellence?lang=eng15861 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUaIbVRoW4M

N. Eldon Tanner - Your study and your devotion and experience have prepared you for real service in the work of the Lord.

Harold B. Lee - “The Church has need of every member that all may be edified together.”

N. Eldon Tanner - We are all like Adam in that when we partake of “forbidden fruits” or do the things we are commanded not to do, we are ashamed, and we draw away from the Church and from God and hide ourselves, and if we continue in sin, the Spirit of God withdraws from us. There is no happiness in disobedience or sin.

John H. Vandenberg - Faith in God is a prerequisite to the influence of the Holy Spirit. To have a belief in God is the foundation of a full and happy life.

Paul H. Dunn - We all have problems. The world is sick with problems. And yet in these sacred words, in the standard works, are the solutions to the problems we face. Let us encourage the world to know the word of God.

Alvin R. Dyer - There is weakness in the thought that one can indulge heavily in both evil and good things at the same time.

Spencer W. Kimball - Heaven is a place, but also a condition; it is home and family. It is understanding and kindness. It is interdependence and selfless activity. It is quiet, sane living; personal sacrifice, genuine hospitality, wholesome concern for others.

Gordon B. Hinckley - What marvelous things happen when men walk with faith in obedience to that which is required of them!

Joseph Anderson - The thing that is needed more than anything else today is a return to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in the gospel plan that he gave.

Bruce R. McConkie - As the spirit children of the Eternal Father, we have been placed on earth to be tried and tested, to see if we will keep his commandments and do those things which will qualify us to return to his presence and be like him. He has planted in our hearts an instinctive desire to worship, to seek salvation, to love and serve a power or being greater than ourselves. Worship is implicit in existence itself.

Thomas S. Monson - May we succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees, thereby inheriting that eternal life promised by the Redeemer.

Hugh B. Brown - One of the compensations for going away from home is coming home again, where we receive such a warm welcome.

Joseph Fielding Smith - It is my prayer that we may ever be one, even as Jesus said that he and the Father and the Holy Ghost are one.