Public Education Not Enough

Dr. Andrew D. White, great scholar, wise diplomat, historian, and the first president of Cornell University, said many years ago that since all the republics of the past have failed, he had made a careful study for the purpose of determining whether in our republic there is any element that did not exist in those republics which have not endured. His conclusion was that the only new and outstanding characteristic of our republic is its public school system and he expressed the view that if our nation is to endure indefinitely it will be because of the broad democratic training and education in our public school system that we are giving to all the citizens of our nation.

But there are those who have strong convictions that public school education alone is not enough to preserve indefinitely and in peace, the life, the liberty and the prosperity of this our beloved country, the United States of America. Many are of the opinion that other elements are necessary. Religion, morality, righteousness! These are elements which must be factors in the make-up of any nation, it is said, if that nation is to endure indefinitely.

Experience has taught that morality is the life of a nation and religion is the life of morality. “Arming a country with guns and tanks and airplanes is not enough,” says Roger W. Babson. Selecting men for the army, the navy and the air force on physical fitness alone will not suffice. “If our defense program is to succeed,” he continues, “the entire country must experience a re-birth, for in the end, only righteousness can save a nation.”

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

Topics: Education; Government, Threats to; Morality

Coercion In Government Not The Lord’s Way

The Lord Himself has always favored government by the people. You will remember that in the days of Samuel the Prophet the Lord instructed him to let the people have whatever form of government they desired. They clamored for a dictator, a king, and because the Lord respected the right of free-will and human choice, because He recognized the right of men to govern themselves, and that it is better that humanity be self-governed, even though they are poorly governed, than to be compelled to obey even the divine law, He told the Prophet to let the people have a king, a dictator, since they insisted upon it. And the Bible tells us that after the decision of the Israelites to have a king, their dictatorial rulers wasted the substance of the people, they took away their personality and their freedom, and oppressed them with heavy taxes and other burdens. Instead of making a government for the people, as in a democracy, the people became the subjects of the dictators who did not rule for the good of the many but to bring power, wealth and idleness to a few.

Our government is founded on the principle laid down by the Lord Himself: that a man is capable of self-government. This is in harmony with the divine intent expressed by the Creator when He said:

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness and let them have dominion . . . over all the earth.”

This important statement of man’s right and ability to rule is expressed in our Declaration of Independence thus: “Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.” And no doubt those forms of government in which there is an assumption to rule without the consent of those who are to be governed are responsible for that forceful expression, “Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.”

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

Topics: Free Agency; Freedom, Loss of; Government; Government, Ideal; Taxes

Provision Made For Three Branches Of Government

Wisely did our forefathers organize our national institution with three different, distinct departments, each one to be entirely separate from and independent of the other two. These three departments are the Legislative, the Executive and the Judicial. These able and farseeing patriots and statesmen thus made these three separate and distinct departments the cornerstone of our republic and the guarantee that in our land there shall never be a dictator.

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

Topics: Checks and Balances; Dictatorships; Government, Power

Among those who created this great free government were Puritans whose ancestors had struggled for generations in England and in Holland to secure the right to think, the right to be free, and the right to worship God in whatever way they saw fit. In England, in those early days, non-conformity with the rules, regulations, beliefs and doctrines of the established Church was neither permitted nor tolerated. Puritanism contained the principle of true religious toleration. And doubtless the ultimate tendency of the views of the Puritans was to republicanism rather than to monarchy although in England the Church and the State were considered one and inseparable.

Eight restless years the Pilgrims spent in Holland where they had gone to find religious liberty and free government. They discovered soon, however, that for them Holland could not be a permanent home. Bradford says that when they looked toward America they were actuated by a great hope and an intense inward zeal to lay a good foundation in those then remote parts of the world for the propagating and the advancing of “the gospel of the Kingdom of Christ.” They struggled to prepare stepping stones, at least, to assist others in the accomplishment of this great and important gospel service.

Thus were the Puritans inspired to come to America and here help to prepare a people and frame a government providing such religious tolerance that it was possible for God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ to come to these United States and here restore and establish the Gospel in its original fulness. Under these just and liberal laws it was possible for the ancient church to be established again with all its keys, rights and authority to teach, preach and proclaim the fundamentals of righteousness in preparation for the coming again of our Lord and Master who is to bring joy, happiness and peace to the world.

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

Topics: Uncategorized

The aim of our patriotic fathers was to establish a government that would guarantee to them and to their descendants to the last generation freedom, security, and happiness. They expressed their feelings in the Declaration of Independence which says:

Appealing to the supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, we do in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare that these United States are and of right ought to be free and independent states.

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

Topics: Freedom; Government, Ideal

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

Peace Achieved Through Unselfishness

And now, in the name of Him who is our only King, Jesus the Son of God, let us as members of the Church and as citizens of this great nation, unite in an appeal to our heavenly Father, with whom nothing is impossible, to bring to us and to all mankind that glorious blessing of peace, good will and understanding, for which righteous people all over the world these days are so devoutly praying. And when making these our heartfelt, prayerful appeals may we never forget that only by living unselfish lives, by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and extending to all men their God-given liberty, can we hope to secure joy and happiness and everlasting peace.

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

Topics: Charity; Peace; Virtue

Intelligent Voting Commended

Brethren and sisters, the obligations of American citizenship are numerous and sometimes heavy. But to a genuine Latter-day Saint, diligently trying to keep the commandments of God, it is a real pleasure to bear these responsibilities. May I remind you that among the greatest of them is the duty of wise voting. Perhaps few, if any, of us fully meet this responsibility. To do so we must keep ourselves informed of the necessary pertinent facts relative to candidates, remain free from the influence of prejudice and all deceptive propaganda, give no support of any kind to demagogues and their deceptive promises, but be willing to labor and to sacrifice as much as necessary that our government and our country shall be kept free from the hands of those who would despoil them.

Source: Elder Joseph F. Merrill
General Conference, October 1940

Topics: Mass Media; Responsibility; Voting

The following taken from the Declaration (D&C 134) is a key sentence: “We believe that no government can exist in peace, except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life.” The Church cannot look with any degree of favor upon any proposition whatsoever that would oppose to the slightest extent this statement.

Brethren and sisters, our free America, the America of our fathers, is gravely in danger, not from enemies without but from enemies within. It is the duty of all Latter-day Saints, living under the stars and stripes, as well as of all loyal citizens, to forget their petty differences and their ignoble personal selfishness, and rally to her support. This may best be done by holding inviolate the Charter of our liberties the Constitution of the United States and all good laws made in harmony therewith. This certainly requires that we shall be careful and elect to make and administer the laws only people who are wise, patriotic and morally worthy—only men and women of high character.

Source: Elder Joseph F. Merrill
General Conference, October 1940

Topics: Character; Freedom, Threats to; Patriotism; Selfishness; Tolerance; Voting

•  ⟨⟨ 
•  ⟨ 
•   |  
•  ⟩ 
•  ⟩⟩