Topic: America, History, Matches 40 quotes.

The Declaration of Independence expresses the power of the Creator in three different places, and in words that speak of the divine in man. It says:

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

This document and the Constitution of our country in their very spirit recognize the divine truth that government should be the expression of all that is noblest and true in the life of man. In the settlements of the frontiers of America, groups of religious men carried the spirit of religion into the unconquered lands, and the very fabric of our government was made up of many beliefs in the ways of providence. America for this reason has a rich background of the ideals of human liberty. All through our history the people have held to the belief in the divine guidance of the Master. Yet when we weigh the influence of social conditions today, we may well fear that we are slowly discarding our faith in the directive hand of an all-wise providence. Can there be any nobler truth than that the Lord does rule in the affairs of men? Is his power not seen in the onward march of civilization? Yet are we coming to the destructive belief that man and not God must ultimately rule in the affairs of man. Is the wisdom of mn the only power that will solve our problems? At times, such a thought was prevalent in the days of ancient Israel, but the Lord through his prophets guided Israel...

Source: Elder Levi Edgar Young
General Conference, April 1936

Topics: America, History

The Prophet Isaiah once wrote: “Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn,” and the ancient Psalmist of Zion warned us when he said: “Remove not the ancient land-mark, which thy fathers have set.” I believe that the life of America depends upon the religion of America, and if this our government is to be preserved, it will be because America is pervaded, inspired, and controlled by the spirit of a faith in Almighty God. Our country was settled by people imbued by deep religious convictions. When the Pilgrim fathers came and landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620, they drew up the Mayflower Compact which in part reads: “In the Name of God, Amen. We whose names are written, the loyal subjects of our Lord, King James, by the Grace of God King ... having undertaken for the glory of God, and the advancement of the Christian faith . . .” “In the name of God” those Pilgrim fathers braved the terrors of the deep to plant homes in America and to establish religious freedom. The Quakers came to Pennsylvania, the Catholics to Marland, and the Methodists to the Carolinas. James Oglethorpe who brought colonists to Georgia required that his people draw up a form of government based on the fundamentals that were given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai: the Ten Commandments. This nation must naturally be pervaded by a spiritual life, and we have today no more important duty than to inspire the youth with a true religious spirit. When the First Continental Congress met in Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia in September, 1774, Dr. Jacob Duche was called in to offer prayers, and as he prayed, John Adams of Massachusetts tells us that tears “gushed into the eyes of all present.”

Source: Elder Levi Edgar Young
General Conference, October 1934

Topics: America, History

A Land Of Promise

We, my brethren and sisters, are assembled here today in this historic building, in a city which we call Salt Lake, in a territory which we call Utah, a territory which forms one of the forty-eight federated states of our union, each state independent in its own sphere, but all bound together by constitutional law, which welds them into a single entity.

Only yesterday the ground upon which this building stands, in fact the entire area covered by the United States of America, was an uncultivated wilderness. The prophets of the Lord, centuries before, had predicted the existence of this land, before it was known to the people of the old world. They had outlined to us the establishment of this government of ours; they had declared that upon this land, which to them was a land choice above all others, there would be established a system of civil government, which would be a light to the world; a government to which would be gathered the remnant of the scattered house of Israel; a government in which men would enjoy equal rights under the law; a government in which men would act as their own conscience might prompt them to do—with this restriction, however, that in that which they did they must not infringe upon the rights of others or prevent them from exercising the agency which they themselves exercised.

Source: President Anthony W. Ivins
General Conference, October 1933

Topics: America, History; Heavenly Interest in Human Events; Rights

The prophet Isaiah, referring to this land of America, these everlasting hills, declared that at a future time—the time to which he referred was the latter days—the house of the Lord the Lord would be established here, and that all nations would flow unto it; that they would be taught here the way of the Lord and learn to walk in his paths. By foreknowledge of God the prophets declared that by the direction of his Spirit the Lord would bring people to this continent who would establish this form of government, and said that they would never be overthrown or conquered by other nations, if they would but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ.

The destiny of America from the day that Columbus sailed from the ports of Spain to the present, was declared by the prophets of the Lord, as I have said, before the people of Europe knew that America existed. The sailing of Columbus, from the port of Palos, in Spain, was not a thing of chance. It had been declared by the prophets nearly two thousand years before that the Spirit of the Lord would rest upon a man among the Gentiles, and that he would sail forth and land upon this continent. As he sailed on and on over uncharted seas, his crew was in open revolt, they declared that they would go no farther, and that upon the morrow they would turn the prows of their ships back to the east and endeavor to find their way back to Spain, but upon that eventful night a gun from the Pinta announced that land had been sighted. A new world had been discovered.

Source: President Anthony W. Ivins
General Conference, October 1933

Topics: America, History; Heavenly Interest in Human Events

Coming Of Pilgrims

Two hundred years after the landing of Columbus another landing occurred which had been just as definitely declared by the prophets of God. When the Pilgrim Fathers anchored their ships off Plymouth Rock, another prophecy had been fulfilled and the history of the American nation had been commenced. Both of these events had been declared, according to the dates I have been able to discover, two thousand years before their final accomplishment.

Source: President Anthony W. Ivins
General Conference, October 1933

Topics: America, History; Heavenly Interest in Human Events

Independence Declared

For more than a century the colonists who had come from the Old World continued to live under the governments of the countries from which they came. At the end of that time, and this too in fulfilment of the decrees of the prophets, they declared that they of right were and should be an independent people.

The Declaration of Independence was published to the world, the War of Independence was fought and won, and our ship of state was launched on a troubled sea. The hour had struck that kingcraft and priestcraft, which for ages had held the struggling masses of the world in thralldom, under perverted control both in civil and religious life, were to be stricken and the people of the world were to be emancipated from the shackles with which they had been bound.

Source: President Anthony W. Ivins
General Conference, October 1933

Topics: America, History; Heavenly Interest in Human Events

God bless you, my brethren and sisters, keep us in the faith. Do not falter. The daydawn is breaking, when Christ our Lord shall come, not only to assume dominion over his Church, of which we form a part, but over the world at large. It was by church people—do not forget—that this government was founded and the foundations of it were laid. It was by church people that the War of Independence was fought. It has been by church people that it has been maintained, and it will be by church people that it shall be rescued from chaos, if it is rescued at all.

Source: President Anthony W. Ivins
General Conference, October 1933

Topics: America, History

Founder of the Government

Just as our Father in heaven, through Christ his Son, is the founder of the Church, so is he the founder of the government by which we are—or should be if we are not—controlled in civil affairs. He it was who brought the Pilgrim fathers and those who followed after to the shores of New England. He has said that he established the Constitution of our country by the hands of wise men whom he raised up for that very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.

Both the Church and the government have experienced periods of deep affliction since their establishment. Both have been assailed by enemies from without and foes within which have threatened disruption. Each in time of trial has found strong hearts and arms to sustain it.

Source: President Anthony W. Ivins
General Conference, April 1933

Topics: America, History; Heavenly Interest in Human Events

“Thou beholdest that the Gentiles who have gone forth out of captivity, and have been lifted up by the power of God above all other nations, upon the face of the land which is choice above all other lands, * * * thou seest that the Lord will not suffer that the Gentiles will utterly destroy the mixture of thy seed, which are among thy brethren.”

So there was this prediction. Now, of course, perhaps the world will not admit that this was a prophecy uttered some six hundred years before the coming of the Christ upon this land; but it must be inevitably conceded that these words are prophetic, because they were uttered in 1830, when the Book of Mormon was published. At that time, of course, the Gentile nation here under the government of the United States numbered but about thirty millions; and now, behold, the great Gentile nation has become so increased in numbers and in power that there are perhaps nearly a hundred and thirty millions that constitute the citizens of the United States.

As for its power and dominion above all other nations of the earth, it has become somewhat customary to speak of America, but we generally mean the United States of America. Some of the Latin American republics take exception to this assumption of supreme domination in the western world, and demur from such homage being given to the United States. But nevertheless it is a fact which exists, and the dominating political power, the master spirit and dominant power in a political way, is this Anglo-Saxon republic known as the United States of America.

That nation alone was competent to state the great Monroe Doctrine, to the effect that these continents were closed to the establishment of the political systems of Europe, and they could not attempt to introduce such systems as theirs in this country, without giving offense to the United States of America; and behind the utterance was the necessary force to maintain such a declaration; it was inherent in the great Anglo-Saxon republic of this country.

Source: Elder Brigham H. Roberts
General Conference, April 1933

Topics: America, History; Politics, International

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