Topic: Heavenly Interest in Human Events, Matches 33 quotes.

A Remarkable Conception of Civil Government

Among the large contributions which Joseph Smith made was that remarkable conception of civil government which he gave to the world, for it was he who emphasized, if he did not first teach, the doctrine that all governments are instituted of God for the benefit of men; and it was he who first plainly declared—assuming that some attention had been given to the same thought before—that the Constitution of the great land in which we live came from the inspiration of God through men who were raised up for the purpose of establishing it as an instrument of government. I have always been grateful for these conceptions of government and I have felt in recent years that until the great ideas of government which he promulgated among this nation find their place more securely and firmly in the minds and hearts of the citizenship of this country, America will never achieve her great destiny and will never be what she was intended to be, the beacon light of liberty and freedom and civil righteousness to all the world.

My attention has recently been directed, by my colleague, Brother Richard R. Lyman, to a book which is off the press but a few months, in which the author, Mr. Clarence True Wilson, sets forth rather more clearly than I have ever seen it stated before, the conception of government which has been taught in this Church for nearly a hundred years. The author points out that for more than thirty years he has studied all the works which have been written upon the Constitution of this country, the influences which brought it about, and the influences exercised upon its framers, which culminated in the form and plan of government which find expression in that great document. He says that never in all his research has he discovered a single author who attributes the Constitution to the influence of the Bible and God. He points out that some contend that influences derived from the Assyrian, the Babylonian, the Greek, and the Roman attempts at Republican government found their expression in this great document.

Influence of the Bible on the Constitution

He says that most commentaries on the Constitution pay homage to the influence of the common law of England and the English experiment in free government, but in no works on this great document does he find a single expression which indicates that it was the Holy Bible, the scriptures of the Lord, which furnished the foundation for this great instrument of government, and yet, says he, the Bible is the only book with which all the framers of the Constitution were intimately familiar. It was the book which they had read from their childhood to their maturity. It was the book from which they learned their spelling; it was the book from which they learned their English, it was their chief literature; and he asks this question: “Is it not reasonable, natural and logical, to draw the inference that it was the influence of the Scriptures of the Lord which permeated the hearts and the minds of those patriotic men in the formulation of the greatest instrument, which Gladstone says, ever fell from the pen of man?” Time will not permit to make anything like an analytical comparison between the fundamental institutions of our government, as they were established in the Constitution, and the Hebrew government which was established under the hand of God, and which prevailed for so many centuries under his divine guidance. It might be said, however, in a moment, that there is not a single fundamental institution of this country, ordained and established under the Constitution, that does not have something like a counterpart in the Israelitish form of government which prevailed prior to the time of the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Source: Elder Stephen L. Richards
General Conference, October 1923

Topics: Heavenly Interest in Human Events; US Constitution, Inspired

A Land Hidden For The Lord To People

There are those who would destroy the Constitution of this land; and there are some who would rejoice if they could overthrow this Nation, not realizing that our heavenly Father has given us the best government on earth. No loyal member of this great Church will raise his voice against the government, but he will be found upholding it; he will be found praying for those who have been exalted to the office of presidency and for those who make the laws, under the Constitution. He will petition his Father in heaven for the governors and legislators of States, and for all those who are chosen from time to time to administer the laws that are calculated to continue unto us our liberty that they may be wise and just and exemplars to the people. If you are doubtful as to the interest of our heavenly Father in the settlement of this land, read in the first chapter of 2nd Nephi in the Book of Mormon, where the Lord says that it had been his purpose to keep America hidden from the other nations until he was ready to have it peopled.

Source: Elder George Albert Smith
General Conference, October 1922

Topics: Heavenly Interest in Human Events

When you stop to think about it, you must conclude that this Church has been right throughout its whole history upon all of the important moral questions that have affected our welfare. In the nature of things there is not within the United States a people more patriotic than the Latter-day Saints. I know of no sect that assumes the position that the constitution of the United States was written as it were by the very finger of God. Surely that belief is an inspiration to the highest patriotism. You remember reading in the history of the Church that this people were accused in Missouri of being opposed to slavery. In that slave-holding state such an attitude became one of the reasons of our persecution and drivings. You remember that the first message that flashed across the completed telegraph line from here to the Atlantic ocean was a message of congratulation from Brigham Young to Abraham Lincoln that the Union was preserved or was in the way of preservation.

Source: President Heber J. Grant
General Conference, April 1920

Topics: Civil War; Heavenly Interest in Human Events; Morality

The Church And This Government

Our nation, our country and this Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, seem to conform to what was predicted and specified by the ancient prophets. We verily believe that in our present combination of Church and government we have what the Prophet Daniel said had been shown to King Nebuchadnezzar in his famous dream. The king was shown things that are to come to pass in these latter days. Many nations and many kingdoms are to be destroyed but the God of Heaven is to set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed, a Kingdom that shall not be left to other people, a Kingdom that shall break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms, and, the Prophet adds, it is a Kingdom that shall stand forever. It is the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, the stone that is to become a great mountain; yes, the prophet says it is the stone that is to fill the whole earth. (Daniel 2) It is our belief that this refers to our own land, choice above all other lands, and to the Church of Jesus Christ of atter-day Saints, with its principles of free agency and self-government.

Source: Elder Richard R. Lyman
General Conference, October 1940

Topics: America, Future; Heavenly Interest in Human Events

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