Topic: America, Heritage, Matches 49 quotes.

The Power Of Prayer Recognized

Our government, in its beginning, recognized the power of prayer, for in the first gathering of Congress, the Senate and the House, prayer was offered before a thing was undertaken in the way of legislation. Among those wonderful men who met at Carpenter Hall on September 5th, 1774, were some of the greatest Americans, men who were perfectly willing to give their lives for their country. They bowed in prayer, and more than half of them knelt when the prayer was being offered.

Source: Elder Reed Smoot
General Conference, October 1932

Topics: America, Heritage

Judge Marshall of Wisconsin in the case of Borgnis vs. Falk County, in a decision written by him for the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, said:

“At no period has appreciation of the great work of the fathers been more important than now. We need to sit anew at their feet, revive knowledge that the result was wrought by a body of men, representatives of the great seat of learning of the English speaking races of two hemispheres, and otherwise men of broad experience, many of whom had been students of all federal governments of all prior ages in preparation for the special task—as the historian declared, ‘the goodliest fellowship of lawgivers whereof this world has record,’ a body dominated by specialists, inspired by ennobling love for their fellow-men and the thought that they wrought, not for their age alone, but for the ages to come, and so sought to avoid the infirmities of previous systems of government by the people, by carefully providing that no change in letter or spirit should occur except in a particular and most deliberate and conservative way.”

Source: Elder Charles H. Hart
General Conference, April 1931

Topics: America, Heritage; America, History; US Constitution

Gratitude To God For This Age And Nation

I feel very grateful for the privilege of being here. I often think what a grand thing it is to be permitted to live in the world today—this wonderful age of the world, with its marvelous developments of science and art, and the great progress that has been made from the conditions of the world as they existed two or three hundred, or even a hundred years ago. What a different world! And what a wonderful land of liberty we are living in—a choice land; under the freest and best of all governments on the face of the earth; where there is more security, more protection for the rights and liberties of the people, than there is many other nation. The hand of the Lord has guided the destinies of this great nation, for he it was that planned it. He tells us in a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith which we often quote: “I, the Lord, raised up wise men for this very purpose”; that is, to found this government; and it has had divine guidance all the way through. The people here in the United States, even those who are not so well off financially, are housed better, fed and clothed better, and better situated than the rich and well-to-do in most other nations. Never before in all the history of the world has there been a nation like this, of such commanding importance, and yet not desiring anything but what rightfully belongs to it.

Source: President Charles W. Nibley
General Conference, October 1926

Topics: America, Heritage

An Act Of Heroism

These men were not Latter-day Saints—but they deserved to be. They did not bear the Priesthood, nor did they have the fulness of the gospel, with the gifts and powers of the Holy Ghost. They were not members of the Church of Christ—they had no opportunity to be, for it was not then upon the earth. Yet there was something within them that made them willing to imperil their lives, not for personal profit, not for self-aggrandizement, but for freedom and justice and the rights of man.

Their act was heroic, thrilling. Even to read about it almost brings the tears to one’s eyes. One of those men, after signing his name and laying down the pen, said: “Now we must hang together, or we shall all hang separately.” And this was no exaggeration. Had they failed, they would have been executed as traitors and rebels. It was their success that saved them, and God gave them that success.

Source: Elder Orson F. Whitney
General Conference, October 1926

Topics: America, Heritage; America, History

The Mission Of America

Were I to say that the founders of this Nation builded better than they knew, few if any would question the statement. But if, in addition to that, I should voice my conviction that this great Government was established purposely to favor the coming forth of the Church of Christ in this dispensation—the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times—many would deem my declaration presumptuous and even preposterous. Great movements are generally so regarded in the beginning.

It was “presumptuous” in Columbus to pit himself against the learned ignorance of his age, and proclaim the earth round, when public opinion held it to be square and flat or shaped like a cheese. But his “presumption” led to the discovery of the Western Hemisphere and the founding of the mightiest nation of modern times. It was “presumptuous” for the American colonies to declare their independence and array themselves against the militant might of the British Empire. But they succeeded, and their “presumption” was swallowed up in victory, amid the thunders of the world’s applause. In like manner it may look presumptuous for a little handful of people, numbering only half a million all told, to claim that a nation originally of three millions and now of one hundred and ten millions, was founded for the express purpose of furthering their God- given mission of preparing the way before Messiah’s second advent. But when the Kingdom of Heaven prevails, and Christ is reigning in person over a glorified planet, sucha claim will not be considered presumptuous, preposterous, nor at all out of the way.

All great builders build better than they know. Some realize in part, but others not at all, that they are instruments of Deity, used for carving out his sublime and beneficent purposes.

Source: Elder Orson F. Whitney
General Conference, October 1926

Topics: America, Heritage

We Latter-day Saints believe in the sacredness of the Mayflower compact, and we hold very reverently in our hearts the Constitution of the United States, This document is the greatest expression of government that has come forth in all history, and its principles, if lived up to, will change the political and civic life of the world. The beautiful thing about the American government is that it is an expression of the lives of the people, and if the people live magnanimous and Christian-like lives, so will our Government become greater and greater. There are problems today to be solved, and I consider that the greatest ills of society are: first, the unprecedented challenge of authority and disrespect for law; secondly, hatred between man and man; and thirdly, the excessive search for pleasure as the aim of life. I believe that we people should be the greatest lovers of the law of any people living, for just law expresses our ideals and concepts of life. We should dedicate our lives to the highest political and civic truths and we should grow in the abiding thought that man is made in the image of God; that the Christian virtues are the highest codes of ethics; and that immortality and the establishment of God’s kingdom on the earth are illuminated because of the restored Priesthood which we hold. With such ideals we will be able to contribute more to the solution of the problems of the world than any other people. I pray that we may not only see the problems of human society that lie before us, but that we will be able to meet them with a potency that comes as a result of the deepest faith in almighty God and his purposes.

Source: Elder Levi Edgar Young
General Conference, April 1926

Topics: America, Heritage; Law; Morality

Great By Process of Natural Selection

I say, we are a great people. We are great by process of natural selection. You have heard of the blood of the Pilgrim fathers extolled. Sociologists today are saying that the perpetuation of that blood, the blood of those men who came from England and Holland and established this great republic, is indispensable to the perpetuation of the great principles of liberty, equity and justice which underly this mighty nation, its Constitution and institutions. It is my belief that the men who were drawn from the Old World to found this Government have been selected with no more care and to no higher purpose than the people who have been selected from all the hamlets and the villages of the Old and the New World to come to Zion to prepare the foundation of the Kingdom of the Living God. The same great qualities of independent thinking, high manhood, power and strength, were indispensable in both instances; so that by the heritage which we have from our great ancestors we are a great people.

Source: Elder Stephen L. Richards
General Conference, April 1925

Topics: America, Heritage

What a wonderful thing is this government of ours! How blessed are we that we live under a form of government such as ours. I am one who believes that there is no other form of government in all the world in which “Mormonism,” so-called, could have been established. The religious liberties granted are necessary for the people to live the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fulness. It required just such a form of government as ours. And when I see, as I think I see, the least move upon the part of men claiming to be citizens of this government to destroy the very foundations upon which it stands, to cut from the Constitution of the United States, that which gives and is the bulwark of our liberty, I feel that every man and every woman should lift their voices, if necessary cry aloud, against any such action upon the part of any clique or group of people. I thank God for America. I thank him that I was born under the Stars and Stripes. I thank him for the Constitution of the United States. I thank him for the laws and for the institutions created under the Constitution of the United States; and I shall continue to pray with all the fervor at my command to the overruling God of nations in the world to preserve the Constitution of our country, to preserve our country from those without and from those within: America, the most blessed of all lands in the world.

Source: Elder Reed Smoot
General Conference, October 1924

Topics: America, Heritage; US Constitution, Defend

The gospel of Jesus Christ was given to the world at a new period of history. It was when the Government of the United States was in its infancy, yet it had been launched with the greatest political and civic ideals that were ever known to modern times. It was a new period of social and economic life, and during the period or two decades from 1830 to 1850, there was more advancement in industrial history than there had been in all the history of the world up to that time.

Source: Elder Levi Edgar Young
General Conference, April 1924

Topics: America, Heritage

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