Every blessing the Lord proffers to his people is on conditions. These conditions are: “Obey my law, keep my commandments, walk in my ordinances, observe my statutes, love mercy, preserve the law that I have given to you inviolate, keep yourselves pure in the law, and then you are entitled to these blessings, and not until then.” Now, is this not the fact? I leave it to you. You have the Old and the New Testament, from which we can learn doctrine. You have the Book of Mormon to read, from which we can learn doctrine. You have the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, which is more especially necessary to this generation. It does not contain different doctrine to the Book of Mormon and Testaments. It is explanatory of these three books, corroborates the doctrine that is taught in them, and points out the path for this people to walk in today, so that we may not err, but know how to order our lives from morning till evening, from evening till morning, from Sunday morning till Sunday morning again, from New Year to New Year, and every day of our lives. The doctrine that the Lord has taught us and given to us through his servant Joseph, points out the path for us to walk in, and, while walking in this path, we do not lose sight of one iota of the Gospel, but you must hold it secure, and always keep it before you by preserving those laws and ordinances, and continuing to hold them precious. If the Saints will do this, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, the Spirit of our Father and God will enlighten their minds and bring to their remembrance things that transpired in the past, and things to come to pass in the future, and they may lay a foundation for everlasting life and eternal lives in the celestial kingdom of our God. --Brigham Young, August 31, 1873, JD 16:162.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 15:02:01 +0000