And does not the world, at this minute, seem to be seeking for happiness in doing iniquity? It is character, it is honesty, it is integrity, sincerity, dependability, that will bring stable success. This Church is struggling to bring up a generation of people having these qualities. The Relief Society conference, just adjourned, was struggling to learn what to do before and after children are born, to make them young men and young women with the qualities of Abraham Lincoln, upon whose life and character no limelight has yet been turned that is strong enough to find a flaw.

Source: Elder Richard R. Lyman
General Conference, October 1927

Topics: Character

In all seriousness I ask if the United States, or the people thereof have partially lost the old-fashioned virtues of honesty, sincerity, sobriety, virtue, and dependability.

Source: Elder Richard R. Lyman
General Conference, October 1927

Topics: Character; Virtue

I appeal to you as good citizens to go to the primaries, to do your duty at the polls, and elect to office men who are concerned with the wishes and hopes of the people, not heeding the bidding of men whose principal interest is money-making.

Source: Elder Richard R. Lyman
General Conference, October 1927

Topics: Voting

Are we losing respect for the Constitution, that document which Gladstone has called “the greatest State document of all the Christian ages”? Must voices be raised in the tops of these everlasting hills, calling to the people of the United States to come to the defense of the Constitution? Our forefathers and our own loved ones have spent their lives for its principles. Are we unwilling to cast our votes for those who will honor it?

Source: Elder Richard R. Lyman
General Conference, October 1927

Topics: Responsibility; US Constitution, Defend

Much has been said during this conference relative to law and order. It seems to me that the Latter-day Saints have been taught from their youth that the Constitution of the United States, and that great document of human rights, the Declaration of Independence, were written by men inspired of our heavenly father. Mr. Babson said recently, “The United States of America at the present time is blessed with everything except religion.” I feel that not only as a nation, but sometimes as a people, the thing we need most is a return to simple faith in God our Father. We need in our home-lives more of the Spirit of God to lead and guide us. We need to have more family prayer. We need to pray in the spirit and meaning of the word.

Source: Elder Henry A. Gardner
General Conference, October 1927

Topics: Righteousness

The theme of this conference has been, obey the law. Some of us know enough to obey the law, for we appreciate that through obedience to law we are blessed. There are others who feel that it is proper to obey the law when there is danger in breaking the law of being caught and punished; some who obey the law when it is convenient; for that reason, it is necessary that we should have peace officers to protect those who are peace-loving, just and honest. When men cultivate the Spirit of God, when they learn to love God, when they can put out of their souls and their very lives, the spirit of selfishness, covetousness and envy, then will the need of peace officers be lessened and perhaps done away. But as long as individuals are seeking their own ends, regardless of the effect of their actions upon the peace and safety of others, we cannot hope for that condition which God has promised to come through our obedience to his laws. As long as that condition exists, it will be necessary to have peace officers and armes.

Source: Elder David A. Smith
General Conference, October 1927

Topics: Law, Respect For

God bless the people, God bless our country. Instill in the hearts of the American people a greater love, if possible, in the future than in the past, of the great Constitution of this land. I feel in my soul that the time will never come in all the history of the world, be it short or be it long, that this people will deny that the Constitution of the United States came from God himself through men raised up for the purpose of establishing it and building upon it the greatest nation on earth. God be with us, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Source: Elder Reed Smoot
General Conference, October 1927

Topics: Freedom, Loss of

A Warning Voice Against Evil

It is pleasing to know that the Latter-day Saints are loyal, as a people, to the Government, to the Constitution, and that they observe the law. Moreover, it is well to have our attention called to the duties and responsibilities that are ours as members of the Church, and to have the warning voice raised, from time to time, against the evils that prevail in the world that we may be prepared to resist them.

Source: Elder Joseph Fielding Smith
General Conference, October 1927

Topics: Law, Respect For; Responsibility

Recall the new star that announced the birth at Bethlehem? It was in its precise orbit long before it so shone. We are likewise placed in human orbits to illuminate. Divine correlation functions not only in the cosmos but on this planet, too. After all, the Book of Mormon plates were not buried in Belgium, only to have Joseph Smith born centuries later in distant Bombay.

The raising up of that constellation of “wise” Founding Fathers to produce America’s remarkable Constitution, whose rights and protection belong to “every man,” was not a random thing either (see D&C 101:77-78, 80). One historian called our Founding Fathers “the most remarkable generation of public men in the history of the United States or perhaps of any other nation” (Arthur M. Schlesinger, The Birth of the Nation [1968], 245). Another historian added, “It would be invaluable if we could know what produced this burst of talent from a base of only two and a half million inhabitants” (Barbara W. Tuchman, The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam [1984], 18).

Source: Elder Neal A. Maxwell
General Conference, October 2002

Topics: America, History

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