Selected quotations from LDS leaders about the establishment of Zion.
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LOVE FOR THE THINGS OF
GOD—THE TEMPORAL NATURE OF THE KINGDOM—THE PROPER USE OF GRAIN—THE LOVE OF GOD
SHOULD RULE IN EVERY HEART, ETC.
Synopsis
of Instructions by President Brigham Young, during his visit to Davis, Weber,
Box Elder, and Cache counties, June 22–29, 1864.
(1860s,
1864, BY Love for • JD 10:328)
CENTERVILLE,
29th.
I will detain the people but a very short time.
The matters which have been laid before you this afternoon are inseparably
connected with our spiritual wellbeing. There is no man on this earth who can
receive the Kingdom of God in his heart and be governed according to the laws
of that Kingdom, without being governed and controled in all temporal matters.
If you are not of one heart and mind in these things, never think of Jackson
County, for you will not be wanted there. No man is going to inherit a
celestial glory, who trifles with the principles thereof. The man who does not
labor from day to day and from hour to hour for building up this Kingdom and
bringing forth the fulness of the Kingdom of God on the earth, and the
establishment of Zion, will sooner or later, fall and go out of the Church.
(1860s,
1864, BY Love for ¶61–62 • JD 10:338)
VERY FEW WILL INHERIT
CELESTIAL GLORY—LUST AFTER THE THINGS OF THE WORLD PRODUCES APOSTASY—NO REAL
HAPPINESS OUTSIDE OF GODLINESS—THE LORD REQUIRES THE HEARTS OF THE CHILDREN OF
MEN.
Discourse
by President Brigham Young, delivered at Logan, Cache Valley, Sunday, Aug. 15,
1876.
(1870s,
1876, BY Very Few Will • JD 18:212)
There has been much said with regard to our becoming a united people, living together in what is called the United Order. One man rises up here, and another there, saying “The Lord does not want my property; it is brother Brigham, or it is the Bishop,” and don’t feel disposed to enter into this organization. This, I admit, is partly true; the Lord does not care anything about his property. Who made the earth, and the riches thereof? To whom does the earth belong? “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” Do you suppose that the Lord cares anything about a man’s farm? Nothing at all, for the whole earth is his. At his command it is gone, and the man who claimed possession of any part of it, knoweth not whither it has gone. But what does the Lord want of his people? It is written in this Bible, and is said to be the words of the Lord, “Son, give me thine heart.” Without it, you are not worth anything; with it, he has your gold and silver, your houses and lands, your wives and children, your all. I have taught from the stand in this place, and in other places, for years, the necessity of our becoming one. I can say to the Latter-day Saints, you have never heard brother Brigham make a demand for your property. All I want is to see this people devote their means and interests to the building up of the kingdom of God, erecting Temples, and in them officiate for the living and the dead, and be instruments in the hands of God of bringing up from their graves those who have slept without having had the privilege of receiving the Gospel, that they may be crowned sons and daughters of the Almighty. We do not want your property, we want you.
When we all become one in faith and in spirit, we shall be one in our
acts, having the kingdom of God at heart. And the inquiry will be from the
brethren, “What can I do for my fellow creatures? Can I be the means of saving
a soul? Can I do anything for my friends who have slept without a knowledge of
the truth, or can I do anything for those who are living in foreign lands? Yes,
I can.” These should be the sentiments of our hearts, and this is required of
us.
Many of us have spent considerable of our time in
preaching the Gospel at home and abroad, and in otherwise assisting to
establish the kingdom of God upon the earth, and we are still engaged in this
work. We have donated towards the deliverance of the poor from foreign lands,
bringing them here, where they have the privilege of being taught further in
the plan of salvation, and where they can assist more materially in the establishment
of Zion in the earth.
Many of the poor, after having been brought here,
relieved in many instances, from the depths of poverty, no sooner do they
become the possessors of a little means, than they lift their heels against the
Gospel. This is painful to the Latter-day Saints, who rendered them assistance;
it is grieving to God who delivered them. Still, it is our duty to send the
Gospel to all nations, and to continue to donate means to gather out the poor.
The Lord will save a few, all that will accept salvation according to the
design which the Lord has devised. He has made the plan, not us. It is not the
conception of man. It was the Gods who sat in council together—they planned it
and now offer it to us. Will we accept of it?
There are only two churches on the earth—only two
parties. God leads the one, the devil the other. As soon as a man hears the
Gospel preached and becomes convinced of its truth fulness, he is tempted of
the devil, who, whenever there is an opportunity, suggests doubt for his
reflection. If he entertain these doubting influences, it is not long before
what he believed true becomes a matter of conjecture. Another may receive the
Gospel, travel and preach it faithfully, feeling in his heart to exclaim,
“Glory to God in the highest!” having no other motive than to do good to his
fellow beings. By and by he perhaps is left to himself; he now begins to
question himself, saying—“I wonder if I really was right?” This single doubt is
perhaps the beginning of his apostasy from the Church. In the days of Joseph,
people were inclined to turn away from the faith and go into apostasy, as much
as they do now in proportion to our numbers, and I have sometimes thought more
so. You allow the devil to suggest to you that I am not leading you right, and
allow that thought to abide in your hearts, and I will promise you that it will
lead you to apostasy. You allow yourselves to doubt anything that God has
revealed, and it will not be a great while before you begin to neglect your
prayers, refuse to pay your Tithing, and find fault with the authorities of the
Church. You will be repeating what apostates all say, “The Tithing is not used
aright,” etc.
(1870s,
1876, BY Very Few Will ¶9–12 • JD 18:214–JD 18:215)
POSITION OF THE
LATTER-DAY SAINTS—PROTESTANTISM MAKES NO CLAIM TO REVELATION—PRIESTHOOD, HOW
RESTORED, ITS PURPOSE—PERSECUTION THE HERITAGE OF THE CHURCH—THE PEOPLE MUST
KNOW THE WILL OF GOD, AND DO IT—RESPECT THE AUTHORITIES, AND RESPECT OUR
PROFESSION—AVOIDING ALL EVILS, CLEAVE TO THE GOOD.
Discourse
by Elder John Taylor, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday
Afternoon, Nov. 5, 1876.
(1870s,
1876, JT Position • JD 18:278)
And I will tell you another thing, God will not
be with us unless we are one. Says Jesus, “That they all may be one; as thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.” “I in them,
and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.” And the oneness will not
consist in each one of us seeking his own interest, his own emolument, and to
extend his own ideas and influence; but in his seeking the interest and welfare
of another, the establishment of Zion, that the welfare of all may be cared for
and reached, both among the living and the dead in all time and eternity. This
is the way I have been taught to regard these things. God is not setting up a
kingdom for you, or for me, or for any individual person.
(1870s,
1876, JT Position ¶12 • JD 18:283)
I
have sometimes feared in my own mind concerning ourselves, that we are not
living as near to the Lord as we ought to do; we do not always comprehend the
responsibilities which we are under to God our Heavenly Father. When I reflect,
my brethren and sisters, that the Lord has ordained the establishment of Zion,
upon the responsibility that rests upon us in warning the generation in which
we live that they may be left without excuse in fulfilment of the revelations
contained in this volume (the Book of Mormon)—when I reflect that we are called
as the servants of the Lord to perform this work, I feel within my own mind as
the Lord has said now nearly fifty years ago, that if we believe the words of
the Lord we will labor while it is called to-day. The Lord looks to nobody
else, he expects nothing from anybody else, as far as the fulfilling of the
revelations in the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants are concerned;
he looks to no other nation, kindred, tongue, or people henceforth to go and
perform this work, but the Saints of the living God. If the Lord has any
friends on the earth they are the Saints of God, and if the Saints of God have
any friends anywhere, they consist of the God of Israel and the heavenly hosts,
and the spirits of just men made perfect.
(1880s,
1880, April, First Prior Morning Meeting, Elder Wilford Woodruff, ¶2 • CR)
We have been looked upon as interlopers, as
fanatics. as believers in a false religion; we have been regarded with
contempt, and treated despicably; we have been driven from our homes, maligned
and spoken evil of everywhere, until the people of the world have come to
believe that we are the offscourings of the earth and scarcely fit to live.
There are thousands and thousands of innocent people in the world whose minds
have become so darkened by the slanderous reports that have gone forth
concerning us that they would feel they were doing God’s service to deprive a
member of this Church of life, or of liberty, or the pursuit of happiness, if
they could do it.
The Lord designs to change this condition of
things, and to make us known to the world in our true light—as true worshipers
of God, as those who have become the children of God by repentance, and by the
law of adoption have become heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ; and
that our mission in this world is to do good, to put down iniquity under our
feet, to exalt righteousness, purity and holiness in the hearts of the people,
and to establish in the minds of our children, above all other things, a love
for God and His word, that shall be in them as a fountain of light, strength,
faith and power, leading them on from childhood to old age, and making them
firm believers in the word of the Lord, in the restored Gospel and Priesthood,
and in the establishment of Zion, no more to be thrown down nor given to
another people. If there is anything that I desire above another in this world,
it is that my children shall become established in this knowledge and faith, so
that they can never be turned aside from it.
(1900s,
1901, November, 1st Session, President Joseph F. Smith, ¶3–4 • CR)
ESTABLISHMENT OF ZION
In the early days of the Church the brethren came
to the Prophet Joseph Smith asking what the Lord would have them do. The answer
given to them was “to bring forth the cause of Zion.” That is our work, to
establish Zion, to build up the kingdom of God, to preach the gospel to every
creature in the world, that not one soul may be overlooked where there is the
possibility for us to present unto him the truth.
As we have heard during this conference, we are
all going to be judged according to our works, every soul. I have often thought
of my place and responsibility in this Church. What a dreadful thing it would
be to be going forth to teach, to lead men, to guide them into something that
wasn’t true. I think the greatest crime in all this world is to lead men and
women, the children of God, away from the true principles. We see in the world
today philosophies of various kinds, tending to destroy faith, faith in God,
faith in the principles of the gospel. What a dreadful thing that is.
(1950s,
1951, April, 6th Session, Joseph Fielding Smith, ¶8–10 • CR)
The three phases of this great latter-day work
are as follows:
Phase I—From the First Vision, the setting up of
the kingdom on April 6, 1830, and the coming of Moses on April 3, 1836, to the
secure establishment of the Church in the United States and Canada, a period of
about 125 years.
Phase II—From the creation of stakes of Zion in
overseas areas, beginning in the 1950s, to the second coming of the Son of Man,
a period of unknown duration.
Phase III—From our Lord’s second coming until the
kingdom is perfected and the knowledge of God covers the earth as the waters
cover the sea, and from then until the end of the Millennium, a period of 1,000
years.
We live in the age of restoration. Peter calls it
“the times of restitution,” meaning the period or time in the earth’s history
when that which once was shall be restored in all its original glory and
perfection. He says the things to be restored include “all things, which God
hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” (Acts
3:21.) And there are few things of which Israel’s prophets have spoken with
more fervor and zeal than the latter-day gathering of the house of Jacob and
the part that favored people will play in the building of Zion again on earth.
(1970s,
1977, April, McConkie, Come: Let Israel Build Zion, ¶11–16 • CR)
In the scriptures we read, “Therefore, verily,
thus saith the Lord, let Zion rejoice, for this is Zion—the pure in heart.”
The establishment of Zion should be the aim of
every member of this Church. It can be safely said: As we seek with all our
hearts to bring forth and establish Zion, the vexations of too little time will
disappear. There are joys and blessings by enlisting in this noble cause.
One’s personal life is transformed. The home is no longer a hotel but a place
of peace, security, and love. Society itself changes. In Zion, contentions and
disputations cease, class distinctions and hatreds disappear, no one is
poor—spiritually or temporally, and all manner of wickedness is no more. As
many have attested, “Surely there could not be a happier people among all the
people … created by the hand of God.”
The ancient prophet Enoch labored many years to
bring his people to this state of righteousness. Like our day, they also lived
in a time of wickedness, wars, and bloodshed. But the righteous people
responded. “And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of
one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among
them.”
Take special note of the word because in
this scripture. Zion is established and flourishes because of the
God-inspired lives and labors of its citizens. Zion comes not as a gift but
because virtuous covenant people are drawn together and build it. President
Spencer W. Kimball observed, “As we sing together ‘Come to Zion,’ we mean …
come to the ward, the branch, the mission, the stake, and give assistance to
build up Zion.” Thus gathered in the Lord’s appointed way, Latter-day Saints
conscientiously strive to bring forth Zion as the “kingdom of our God and his
Christ,” preparatory to the Lord’s Second Coming.
President Hinckley has reminded us that “this
cause in which we are engaged is not an ordinary cause. It is the cause of
Christ. It is the kingdom of God our Eternal Father. It is the building of Zion
on the earth.”
“If we are to build that Zion of which the
prophets have spoken and of which the Lord has given mighty promise, we must
set aside our consuming selfishness. We must rise above our love for comfort
and ease, and in the very process of effort and struggle, even in our
extremity, we shall become better acquainted with our God.”
(2000s,
2002, October, McMullin, Come to Zion! Come to Zion!, ¶17–22 • CR)
The choice to come unto Christ is not a matter of
physical location; it is a matter of individual commitment. People can be
“brought to the knowledge of the Lord” without leaving their homelands. True,
in the early days of the Church, conversion often meant emigration as well. But
now the gathering takes place in each nation. The Lord has decreed the
establishment of Zion in each realm where He has given His Saints their birth
and nationality. Scripture foretells that the people “shall be gathered home to
the lands of their inheritance, and shall be established in all their lands of
promise.” “Every nation is the gathering place for its own people.” The place
of gathering for Brazilian Saints is in Brazil; the place of gathering for
Nigerian Saints is in Nigeria; the place of gathering for Korean Saints is in
Korea; and so forth. Zion is “the pure in heart.” Zion is wherever righteous
Saints are. Publications, communications, and congregations are now such that
nearly all members have access to the doctrines, keys, ordinances, and
blessings of the gospel, regardless of their location.
Spiritual security will always depend upon how
one lives, not where one lives. Saints in every land have equal claim
upon the blessings of the Lord.
(2000s,
2006, October, Nelson, The Gathering of Scattered…, ¶38–39 • CR)
We serve as teachers in quorums and auxiliary
organizations; we serve as missionaries at home and abroad; we serve as
researchers in family history and as temple workers—hopefully each with
diligence in our little corner—and from all of this there emerges a remarkable
and wonderful pattern, a phenomenon grand in its comprehensiveness, as broad as
the earth and encompassing all of the generations of men.
If each of us does not do well that which is his
or hers to do, then there is a flaw in the entire pattern. The whole tapestry
is injured. But if each of us does well his or her part, then there is strength
and beauty.
I need not remind you that this cause in which we
are engaged is not an ordinary cause. It is the cause of Christ. It is the
kingdom of God our Eternal Father. It is the building of Zion on the earth, the
fulfillment of prophecy given of old and of a vision revealed in this
dispensation.
Under its present organization it has been moving
forward for only a little more than a century and a half. It will continue,
ever growing and spreading over the earth, as part of a great millennial
pattern until the time comes when He whose right it is to reign will rule as
King of kings and Lord of lords.
(1980s,
1989, October, Hinckley, An Ensign to the Nations, ¶28–31 • CR)
We are sometimes looked upon as provincial. Is
there any group in all the world with a vision so broad and a work so
comprehensive? I know of no other people so concerned with the eternal
well-being of the sons and daughters of God of all generations. Surely the work
that goes on in these sacred houses is the most unselfish of all work. Those
who labor here do so, for the most part, in behalf of those beyond the veil of
death. They do it because of a knowledge of the importance of eternal
ordinances and covenants. They do it so that even the dead may exercise agency
concerning the acceptance or rejection of sacred ordinances.
It is all part of the great pattern of the God of
Heaven, who is our Eternal Father, and of His Son, who is our Savior and our
Redeemer, the author of our salvation, through whose sacrifice came universal
resurrection from the dead and opportunity for exaltation for those who,
whether in life or in death, will walk in obedience to His commandments.
My brethren and sisters, the priesthood is upon
the earth, the power of God given to men to act in His name and for His
purposes. It carries with it “the keys of the kingdom, for an ensign, and for
the gathering” of the people of the Lord in the last days. (D&C 113:6.)
My co-workers in this great cause and kingdom,
you and I are weaving the grand design of that standard to the nations. It
waves to all the world. It says to men and women everywhere: “Come, walk with
us and learn of the ways of the Lord. Here is the priesthood given to men in
these last days. Here are the great keys for the redemption of the dead. Here
is the authority to carry the gospel to the nations of the earth.”
We do not say it selfishly. We do not say it with
egotism. We do not say it boastfully. We say it as those charged with a great
and compelling responsibility. We say it with love in our hearts for the God of
heaven and the risen Lord, and with love for the children of men everywhere.
To those of the Church, all within the sound of
my voice, I give the challenge that while you are performing the part to which
you have been called, never lose sight of the whole majestic and wonderful
picture of the purpose of this, the dispensation of the fulness of times. Weave
beautifully your small thread in the grand tapestry, the pattern for which was
laid out for us by the God of heaven. Hold high the standard under which we
walk. Be diligent, be true, be virtuous, be faithful, that there may be no flaw
in that banner.
The vision of this kingdom is not a superficial
dream in the night that fades with the sunrise. It is veritably the plan and
work of God our Eternal Father. It has to do with all of His children.
(1980s,
1989, October, Hinckley, An Ensign to the Nations, ¶49–55 • CR)
While we strive to be diligent in building up
Zion, including our part in the gathering of the Lord’s elect and the
redemption of the dead, we should pause to remember that it is the Lord’s work
and He is doing it. He is the Lord of the vineyard, and we are His servants. He
bids us labor in the vineyard with our might this “last time,” and He labors
with us. It would probably be more accurate to say He permits us to labor with
Him. As Paul said, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the
increase.” It is He who is hastening His work in its time. Employing our
admittedly imperfect efforts—our “small means”—the Lord brings about great
things.
This great
and last dispensation is building steadily to its climax—Zion on earth being
joined with Zion from above at the Savior’s glorious return. The Church of
Jesus Christ is commissioned to prepare—and is preparing—the world for that
day. And so, this Easter, let us truly celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus
Christ and all that it portends: His return to reign for a thousand years of
peace, a righteous judgment and perfect justice for all, the immortality of all
who ever lived upon this earth, and the promise of eternal life. Christ’s Resurrection
is the ultimate assurance that all will be put right. Let us be about building
up Zion to hasten that day. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
(2010s,
2019, April, D. Todd…, Preparing for…, ¶30–31 • CR)
When Daniel interpreted the dream of Babylonian
King Nebuchadnezzar, making known to the king “what shall be in the latter
days,” he declared that “the God of heaven [shall] set up a kingdom, which
shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people,
but it shall break in pieces and consume all [other] kingdoms, and it shall
stand for ever.” The Church is that prophesied latter-day kingdom, not created
by man but set up by the God of heaven and rolling forth as a stone “cut out of
the mountain without hands” to fill the earth.
Its destiny is to establish Zion in
preparation for the return and millennial rule of Jesus Christ. Before that
day, it will not be a kingdom in any political sense—as the Savior said, “My
kingdom is not of this world.” Rather, it is the repository of His authority
in the earth, the administrator of His holy covenants, the custodian of His
temples, the protector and proclaimer of His truth, the gathering place for
scattered Israel, and “a defense, and … a refuge from the storm, and from wrath
when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth.”
(2010s,
2015, October, Christofferson, Why the Church, ¶27–28 • CR)