Temporal and Spiritual Principles of the Gospel

(President of the Northern States Mission) ¶

I believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe that when God opened the heavens, one hundred years ago, and gave to the children of men the knowledge of himself and his purposes, he commenced a most momentous work, and that when he gave to us, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the responsibility of carrying his message to all corners of the earth, he meant that we should do the work. I believe in the principles of the gospel, not only in the first principles of faith, repentance, baptism by immersion, and the laying on of hands for the ¶

gift of the Holy Ghost, but I believe also in the temporal principles of the gospel, those all important ordinances, those vital laws, those rigid 'rules of conduct that have been given to us by which we should order our lives, and I believe implicitly that God had a purpose when he gave to us a strict and a rigid plan for us to live. He will have a tried people and in order for us to be a tried people we must keep his commandments and live up to the rigid law he has given. I believe that the purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ is not only to save the souls of men, but to save also their bodies, and that if we strive to save our bodies and shape our lives here on earth in harmony with the temporal plan, the rest will take care of itself. In the Book of Alma we read : ¶

Behold, now 7 say unto you that he commandeth you to repent; and except ye repent, ye can in no wise inherit the kingdom of God. But behold, this is not all — he has commanded you to repent, or he will utterly destroy you from off the face of the earth; yea, he will visit you in his anger, and in his fierce anger he will not turn away. Behold do ye not remember the words which he spake unto Lehi, saying that: Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper in the land? And again it is said that: Inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord. ¶

I believe the Lord knew whereof he spoke and that he had a purpose, a definite and a positive purpose, in giving to us the commandments, that we have. I believe also that unless we strive to keep these commandments ; unless we exert ourselves to the utmost to obey his divine law, we cannot look for, hope for, nor will we receive, the blessings that are promised upon the keeping of those laws. We have been blessed as a people. We have been gathered from all the corners of the earth. We have been sustained by our heavenly Father in times of adversity. We have triumphed, as it were, over the most momentous obstacles, and today the light of Zion stands here shining from the tops of the mountains, and (he world is looking up and .admiring the wonderful work we are doing. We dare not, my brethren and sisters, feel that we have accomplished all. No, we have merely begun. The work stands before us. The great field is here to be harvested. The world must be prepared. God has given us the responsibility. The charge is on our heads, and the burden is ours. Our duty is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ by precept and by example. Our calling is to prepare the world for the coming of the Lord, and if we will do our duty, if we will exert ourselves to the utmost, if we will work, full of faith, full of zeal, full of determination, and give everything that we have, our hearts, our souls and our strength, the world will be prepared, and when the Lord Jesus Christ comes to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords, we, his people, will be accepted by him. God help us and sustain us to do that which he has given us to do, is my prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶