The LDS Daily WOOL Home Page
(7/16/03)
"God has promised in the sermon on the mount a very great blessing to
the pure in heart:—'Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see
God.' How great is the blessing that is here pronounced! They shall
see God. God is a being who is willing to reveal himself, even to his
children here on the earth. If they will abide by law, give heed to
the ordinances that he has ordained, and walk in consistency with the
principles that are revealed, they may come up to that high privilege
here, in time, that the veil will be taken away and their eyes can
look on the face of the Lord, for they are pure in heart. I know it is
written in other places that no man hath seen God at any time. In the
book of Exodus 1t is written that 'no man shall see my face;' and then
again, the same book says that Jacob saw God face to face and talked
with him. Again it is written that Moses talked with the Lord face to
face as a man talks with his friend. How shall we reconcile these
passages of scripture? If we take the scriptures in their true import,
and according to the general tenor of their reading, they are easily
reconciled. No natural man hath seen God at any time. A natural man
could not behold the face of the Lord in his glory, for he could not
endure it; but when a mortal man or woman here on the earth has put
away the natural or carnal mind; when he or she has put away all sin
and iniquity, and has complied with the laws and commandments of God,
then, like Jacob of old, he or she may see God face to face, and, like
Moses, talk with the Lord as one man talks with another." -- Orson
Pratt, "Journal of Discourses," 14:273
6/18/09
“A person can not be a witness
to that which he merely believes. God requires mankind, or certain
individuals among mankind, to be witnesses for him—witnesses of his
existence—so that they can bear testimony to others. It is important
and necessary that they should have a knowledge of the things whereof
this testimony is given; hence, in some few cases among the
inhabitants of our globe, there have been men raised up to whom there
has been a knowledge imparted almost immediately, and they knew, most
perfectly, concerning the things which they were to communicate to
their fellow-beings. They were true witnesses, and on their evidence
and testimony the world have been condemned, and will be judged in the
great judgment day.” – Orson Pratt, “Journal of Discourses,” 26
vols., 16:211
6/19/09
"’But,’
says one, ‘I can not trace my forefathers, I can only go back to my
grandfather or great grandfather, what shall I do? Were not my
ancestors, ten or fifteen generations further back, as worthy of
salvation as they were?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Then how are you going to manage
that?’ That same God who has ordained baptism for the dead, and who
has commanded the believers in this generation to be baptized for
them, will in due time, when we have done all we can in searching out
our genealogies, reveal to us the chain so that we shall find our
fathers, no matter how many generations, until we get back to the time
when the Priesthood and authority were on the earth; and then, if they
have not attended to their duties, we will have to go back still
further, for the Lord has determined that, in the dispensation of the
fullness of times, everything pertaining to former dispensations shall
be perfected, whether it was in a dispensation before the flood, in
the days of Enoch, Abraham, Moses, or the Prophets, it matters not, if
there is anything that has been left undone pertaining to the dead in
any former dispensation, it must all be fulfilled in that great and
last dispensation spoken of by Paul, wherein all things in heaven and
on earth, that are in Christ Jesus, shall be gathered in one.” – Orson
Pratt, “Journal of Discourses,” 26 vols., 16:300
1/21/12
But we have no promise, unless we endure in faith unto
the end; whether we live few or many years upon the earth, we must
endure through all the trials, tribulations, difficulties, and
persecutions which the Lord sees fit in His infinite wisdom to cause us,
as individuals, or as a people, to wade through; we must endure them,
and hold steadfast to the faith, if we would inherit the crowns of
eternal lives that are promised to the faithful. - Orson
Pratt, "Journal of Discourses," 26 vols., 2:260
1/22/13
If we fall into
transgression and wallow in iniquity, we lose our position and our
claim on the goodness and protection of our Heavenly Father; but, by
a faithful adherence to the principles of virtue and righteousness,
we shall prepare ourselves to come forth in the resurrection of the
just, and dwell with the sanctified. -
Orson Pratt, "Journal of Discourses," 26 vols., 8:106