The Latter-day Saints have taken a very definite stand in reference to their attitude towards the government, and towards the great problems of life. Have we had to shift our position? Has it been assailed successfully? When we have declared our loyalty and patriotism to the Constitution and the government, and that we recognize that the duty of the Latter-day Saints is to uphold and support the laws of the land as faithfully as they do the laws of the Church, were we right? Any people who depart from that will not be able to preserve a civilization very long.

Source: Elder Melvin J. Ballard
General Conference, October 1928

Topics: Law

All Are Subject To Law

“We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring and sustaining the law.”

My brethren and sisters, this is not a mere platitude; it is not a formality, but it is an article of faith of the Church of Christ. Let me call your attention to the fact that all people in all nations are under a reign of law. We cannot escape this conclusion, we cannot evade the fact, being upon the earth as we are, mingling one with another, we are subject to law. The Lord has said in one of the revelations to his Church, through the Prophet Joseph Smith (See D&C, Section 58):

“Let no man break the laws of the land, for he that keepeth the laws of God hath no need to break the laws of the land.”

That is direct and emphatic, and leads one to the obvious conclusion that the laws of God are higher and superior to the laws of the land.

Source: President Rudger Clawson
General Conference, April 1928

Topics: Law

We read in the scriptures that where the wicked rule the people mourn, and conversely it might be said that when the righteous rule the people rejoice. They rejoice because the righteous make righteous laws, and they mourn because the wicked make wicked laws. We are living; my brethren and sisters, under one of the best and most substantial governments in the world today, if not the best. It simply results from having the best and most liberal laws of government.

Source: President Rudger Clawson
General Conference, April 1928

Topics: Government, Good; Law

I call your attention to this important truth, that people who live in far distant hamlets are under law; that people who live in the cities of the land are subject to law, and it follows if a citizen desires to enjoy the privileges that belong to the city in which he resides, he must yield obedience to the laws of that city, and give heed to its ordinances. If a man wishes to enjoy the advantages and privileges of citizenship in this great nation of ours, he must subject himself to, the laws of the nation. You know quite as well as I do what is said of a man who disregards law, who goes beyond and away from it, who appears to think that that is his privilege. Well, the Lord has something to say about that, for he spoke by revelation to Joseph Smith the Prophet and said:

“And again, verily I say unto you, that which is governed by law is also preserved by law and perfected and sanctified by the same.

“That which breaketh a law, and abideth not by law, but seeketh to become a law unto itself, and willeth to abide in sin, and altogether abideth in sin, cannot be sanctified by law, neither by mercy, justice, nor judgment. Therefore, they must remain filthy still.”

So a man who ignores the law, who sets his face as flint against it, is called an outlaw, and if he sets himself against the Government in which he resides and of which he is a part, and violates the law and uses his influence against the Government, that is designated as treason. He is treasonable, he is subject to the action of this very law which he violates.

Source: President Rudger Clawson
General Conference, April 1928

Topics: Law, Respect For

Laws Of God And Laws Of Man

Now there are two great law-givers, the one is the Lord in heaven. He is the supreme law-giver of the universe. The other is man upon the earth. The laws of God are great spiritual and eternal laws, and are given to govern us in our conduct and to protect us in our future prospects. The laws of the land are of temporary character and appertain to mortal life. However, if the laws of the land are good laws, they have the approval of the Almighty. The greatest and most spectacular revealment of law, if I may use that expression, ever made, was given at Mount Sinai when the Lord descended upon the mountain, and in the midst of thundering and lightning and a great smoke going up, he gave the Ten Commandments. It might truly be said that all the righteous laws of man have their origin in the Ten Commandments.

Source: President Rudger Clawson
General Conference, April 1928

Topics: Law

A Blessing For Government Officials

I pray God to bless his Saints all over the wide world, and I bless them by the authority of the priesthood which I hold. I pray for our country and ask the Lord to bless those who preside in the nation, in the states, in the cities and in the counties. I pray God to inspire the people that they will obey his commands, and elect good men to office; that they will bury their political differences and seek for good men to hold office, and not men who connive with those who are breaking the laws of our country. It is one of the articles of our faith to obey and uphold the laws of the land. May God help us to do it. . . . [A]nd I do it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

Source: President Heber J. Grant
General Conference, April 1928

Topics: Heavenly Interest in Human Events; Politics

Uphold And Sustain The Civil Law

To me the establishment of the government of the United States, and the development of this nation of which we are citizens, did not come by chance, but was a thing of destiny, just one of the incidents connected with the development of the purposes of the Lord in the consummation of his great plan, looking to the redemption of his covenant people, coming in the time in which it was to come, developing, as he decreed it should develop, and accomplishing, notwithstanding all of the weaknesses and shortcomings of its people, the purposes for which it was intended.

Source: President Anthony W. Ivins
General Conference, October 1927

Topics: America, Destiny

A Government Designed For All Mankind

The coming of Columbus to this continent was not a thing of chance. It had been foreseen and foretold by the prophets of God. The coming of the Pilgrim fathers to New England, of the Dutch to New York, and the cavaliers of the Old World to Virginia, was not a thing of chance, it was just the chosen combination of men and women who were calculated to make up the composite government which was established at the time of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States. They were prayerful people, they were people who had faith in God, they prayed to him and their prayers were answered; and, as stated in the scripture which the President has read, it was under the Lord’s inspiration that these men were moved upon to give us this government under which we have so rapidly and wonderfully developed. It was not to be a government of Englishmen, nor of Dutchmen, nor of royalty represented in the cavaliers, nor of French people who were in Louisiana, and to the north of us, in Canada, but a government designed fo the benefit of all mankind, a government which was to make all people equal under the law.

Source: President Anthony W. Ivins
General Conference, October 1927

Topics: America, History

Civil And Religious Laws Are Separate

The beginnings of it in this dispensation were had when Martin Luther struck from the people of the Old World the shackles which bound them to a policy by which the church sought to dominate the state and government in civil, as well as religious affairs—a thing which the Lord has told us is not his will, that we are responsible to him for our faith, for the morality and the righteousness of our lives. He has told us just as definitely that we are responsible to the civil law, so far as the control of our temporal affairs is concerned. What could be accomplished without the proper administration of civil law? There would be no protection for society, the weak would be subject to the power of the strong, to prevent all of which fundamental laws of our country have been enacted by wise men. How wisely the Constitutional law of our country has been framed! It provides for a legislative body to carefully study and enact the laws of our country. These men are not to execute the laws that they themselves make it—would be a dangerous thing—but an administrative department of government is provided, which is to execute and administer the law enacted by the legislative body. They are just laws. It may be that laws have been enacted which were in a sense undesirable. A way is provided by which they may be abrogated or amended, and that is the proper mode of procedure.

Source: President Anthony W. Ivins
General Conference, October 1927

Topics: US Constitution

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