The principle of union. The principle of union . . . is one of the most delightful features connected with this Church. I would not give much for a system of religion that did not make its followers one and did not unite them, because it would fail in the most essential feature. One cannot conceive of a pure religion that would lack the great qualification of making those who believed it and espoused it one in their feelings, in their faith and their actions.
All our ideas of heaven cause us to feel that dissension and division, strife and factional differences and contention concerning any important point are effectually excluded from that blest abode. We picture hell, when we picture it at all, as a place where devils contend and quarrel and fight and where union and love are entirely absent. We cannot conceive of hell being a place of love and oneness, because if love reigned it would cease to be hell. If love did not reign in heaven, nor union and peace abound there, it would not be heaven.
Therefore, inasmuch as religion is given for the purpose of preparing us to dwell eternally with God our Eternal Father, it is natural that we should expect that religion would have the effect upon mankind to give them a foretaste of that bliss and union and love and peace, the full realization of which is expected to be enjoyed in heaven. I think I am justified, therefore, in saying that if a religion does not produce union among its followers, it is unworthy of the acceptance of mankind and of very little value to any of us.
A distinguishing feature. The distinguishing feature of the religion taught by Jesus was that it would make His followers one; and He gave this as one of the evidences by which the world might know it was true. His last prayer was that His disciples might be one, even as He and the Father were one, thus showing that, according to the idea of the Great Founder of religion, it was capable of making us one, even as closely as the Father and Son are one. When we come short of this ideal perfection and union, we come short of being the people of God.
Contention to be avoided. Whenever factions exist among us, whenever disunion prevails, whenever there is opposition in views concerning points of doctrine or concerning counsel, it may be set down as indisputable that the Spirit of God is not in our midst and that there is something wrong. Whenever two men in this Church differ upon points of doctrine, they may know and others who may be acquainted with the fact may know also that there is something wrong; for the Spirit of God will not teach two men different ideas. If it teaches one man a truth, it will not teach another man something that is opposite to that truth. If it gives to the presiding officer in the Church, or to a man in authority, certain counsel to give to the people, it will not give to another man different counsel. If there should be a difference, the very fact that there is such a difference ought to convince the parties themselves that the Spirit of God does not reign in their hearts.
Is it right for Latter-day Saints to contend and to have arguments? It is not right; it is not according to the mind and will of God. Whenever two Elders contend and argue, they may know and everyone may know that the Spirit of God is not there to the extent that it should be, because where the Spirit of God reigns there is no contention, no controversy. Men may differ in their views, but after they have expressed these differences then contention should cease; in fact, it should never exist. (Aug. 3, 1890, DW 41:484)
Spirit of oneness should characterize disciples of Jesus. It is evident that the Savior designed that the spirit of oneness and of love and union should characterize His disciples and those who obeyed His commandments. He says. . . , "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another," and He continued, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." (John 13:34-35.) They were to be distinguished as His disciples by their love one for another. If this characteristic should be absent, there would be nothing, according to these words, to distinguish His disciples from those who were not His disciples. John has also recorded that if we love Him we will keep His commandments. As disciples of the Lord Jesus, we should show our love for Him by keeping His commandments. Those who love Him not will not keep His commandments.
These features which the Lord Jesus impressed upon His disciples are the attractive features of the Gospel which He preached; and where this love and this union, which He so beautifully describes, are absent, then there is evidence that His commandments are not being kept and that those who are in that condition are not His disciples.
In these words that I have read we have the means of testing His Gospel and of proving who are His disciples. When men say they want some evidence concerning the truth of the Gospel, they have in these characteristics the tests by which they can ascertain for themselves whether those who profess to be the disciples of the Lord are such in reality. (Nov. 14, 1897, MS 60:146)
The power of a united people. Now, what have we to fear? The only cause of fear in my mind is concerning ourselves-- divisions, differences of views, ideas concerning the course that should be pursued that may not be in accordance with the mind and will of God. It is of the utmost importance to us as a people that we should be united. Our strength, our prosperity, our success in the past have been due to union. It is the union of the people that has been hated and that has brought upon us the persecution that we have had to contend with. That is all that gives us importance in the earth. . . .
The fact that these people are united creates a dread in the breasts of those who dislike them. It is this that has given us influence, that has given us importance, that has made us what we are, that causes us to occupy the position that we do. Take this away from us, and we are indeed . . . like salt that has lost its savor, good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under foot of men. Take away from us as a people the principle of union, and you take away from us the salt that makes us the savor that we are today. And it is of the utmost importance for us as a people that we should keep this constantly in view. (Dec. 2, 1883, JD 24:361)
The oneness of the Father and the Son. Now, can you conceive of a oneness more close, more complete than the oneness that exists between the Father and the Son? It is impossible for the human mind to get the faintest idea of any difference of opinion or expression or action between the Father and the Son. We worship them as one God-- not three Gods, not two Gods but as one God. The Father and the Son are the two personages of the Deity, with the Holy Ghost as their ministering Spirit or agent. We worship them as one. We do not separate them in our thoughts and in our feelings. . . .
While they are two Personages, they are but one-- one in feeling, one in thought, one in mind, one in everything, in fact, in every direction in which their power is or can be exercised. And in all the records that have come down to us from the Son of God there is one thing that stands out clearly and prominently throughout all the teachings and acts of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and that is His entire devotion to the Father, His complete submission to the will of the Father and His oft-expressed desire to know and to do that will. It is wonderful the submission that the Savior manifested in His life, when we think of His great dignity and the position that He occupied. . . .
Disunity the source of our troubles. Can any of you put your finger on any serious trouble that we have had that has not had its origin in professed Latter-day Saints dissenting from us and turning against us? I tell you . . . there is no power on earth, there is no power in the domains of the damned that can shake or disturb this people if they are only united. No matter what course we may take, so long as it is in righteousness, if we are united, we can stand against the world and all its assaults. We can stand not only against visible enemies, but we can stand against the invisible hosts of darkness which Lucifer has at his command; and we can stand unshaken and unmoved amid the tempests that may break upon us, or whatever may be the character of the assault that may be made upon us. . . .
When dissension comes in our midst, when disunion manifests itself, when you see men who call themselves Latter-day Saints yielding to the spirit of Satan and rebelling in their feelings against the Spirit of God and the work of God, then there is cause for apprehension and for us to tremble, if we ever do tremble, because that is and always has been the fruitful source of our troubles, and it always will be.
Chief cornerstone of Church superstructure. Union, therefore, ought to be the keynote of the entire people as it is the chief cornerstone of the superstructure of the Church. It ought to be more desirable than anything else among us. How shall we obtain it? Shall we have it by each man having his own way and carrying out his own designs? Was that the way Jesus, our great Exemplar, did?
"Ah! but," I have heard it said, "that takes away man's independence." There are some people who seem to have the idea that rebellion and disobedience are evidences of independence and of manhood. Well, I am glad to know that, so far as I am concerned, I never took that view. I always felt that I was just as independent in being obedient, and I know I felt much better than I could possibly feel if I were disobedient. It is not necessary to be disobedient to show independence.
A united presidency speak will of Lord. There are at the head of this Church, chosen by the Lord, three men who constitute what is called the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One is the President. The other two are his counselors. But all three are Presidents, according to the revelations. One, however, holds the keys. President Woodruff is distinguished from every other one of us by the fact that he possesses the keys of the Kingdom on the earth. He represents the Supreme authority. His voice to us, in its place, brings to us the voice of God. Not that he is God, not that he is infallible. He is a fallible man. His counselors are fallible men. The First Presidency cannot claim, individually or collectively, infallibility. The infallibility is not given to men. They are fallible.
God is infallible. And when God speaks to the Church through him who holds the keys, it is the word of the Lord to this people. Can President Woodruff do this without his counselors? I do not know what he can do, or what he might do, but I know that he does not do it. I know that President Young did not, nor President Taylor. I know that President Joseph Smith did not. He sought the counsel of his counselors. They acted in concert. And when the First Presidency act in concert, they are a power. . . .
Now, how is it with the First Presidency? Do we have a mind of our own? . . . It is our duty to make our thoughts known upon every subject. But we should not be hard in our hearts; we should be soft and tender so that the Spirit of God will influence us. It does not do for us to be opinionated and set in our feelings and think that our view is the correct view; but to hold our hearts open to receive the manifestations of the Spirit of God.
I suppose each one of us is fond of having his own way. I know I am. I am willing to confess that I like to have my own way. But I do not like my own way well enough to want it in opposition to my brethren's way. That is our duty as the First Presidency of the Church. It is the duty of every presidency throughout the Church.
All who preside should act in unity. The Presidents of Stakes and their counselors, the Bishops and their counselors and all who act in presiding positions should be united. It is our duty as the First Presidency of the Church to seek for this spirit of union for which the Savior prayed and to be one, to bring our feelings in subjection, and when two agree on a thing and the third cannot see it, let him say, "I am going with you. No feeling that enters into my heart shall stand between you and me."
Suppose that one man has more wisdom than another; it is better to carry out a plan that is not so wise, if you are united on it. Speaking generally, a plan or a policy that may be inferior in some respects is more effective if men are united upon it than a better plan would be upon which they were divided.
But some may ask, where comes in the inspiration of God in such cases as this? We should understand that God uses men as instruments in carrying out His purposes. He uses them according to their capacity. He gives them opportunity to exercise their agency and to work out self-development. . . .
Lord sustains counsel of united leaders. The First Presidency ought to have in the first place their hearts single to the glory of God, to have no personal feeling that will influence them in any policy but have their motives pure, and then when they unite on anything and give any counsel, I tell you that God will sustain that and carry it through; He will supplement it by His wisdom and power and make it effective.
The First Presidency are but mortal men. We can only see a certain distance. God sees to the utmost limit. There are no bounds to His sight. But there are bounds to ours. Does He require superhuman wisdom of us? No, only as He gives it to us. He points out the path, and if our motives are pure and we are united on any plan or policy, He will bless and sanctify that, and He will make it successful. That constitutes the strength of the First Presidency, their unity and the purity of their motives.
They may err-- and who does not? As I said, we are fallible men. Whatever my views may be concerning the Church and its infallibility, I suppose there are none of the officers of the Church who claim infallibility. Certainly, I do not claim it for myself. But when we are united, our motives pure and we divest ourselves of every personal desire and bias and ask God to take away all hardness from our hearts and all blindness from our minds and then supplicate Him for His blessing, it will surely come. Then the Twelve Apostles and the other officers of the Church, when they carry that counsel out unitedly and in the same spirit, will be blessed, and the Church will be blessed, and, as I have said, God will supplement our weakness by His strength and our want of knowledge by His infinite knowledge and His great power. . . .
Occasionally men arise who tower above the multitude in the extent of their knowledge, such as the Prophet Joseph and others whose names I need not mention; for, as the Lord revealed to Abraham, there are differences in spirits. He spoke of the Kokaubeam or the stars and of the difference manifest in them, that one star was greater and brighter than another until Kolob was reached, which is near the throne of the Eternal; and He said it was so with the spirits of men. . . .
Our duty to seek counsel. The First Presidency must be united. The Twelve must be united, not among themselves alone but with the First Presidency. They should come and ask counsel of the First Presidency. . . . When men do things in secret and are not willing to bring that which they have into the light of day, there is always cause for fear. We should have our hearts open and be willing for all our brethren to read our hearts and our thoughts. We should enter into no arrangement nor have any connection with anything that we have to conceal. It is not the Spirit of God that prompts concealment. Nor should we enter into things without being willing to ask counsel respecting them, no matter what they be.
It is our duty to ask counsel, to seek the mind and will of God; for God does speak through His servants, and He does give counsel through them unto the people. The Twelve ought to be in this condition. They ought not to shun the society and the counsel of the First Presidency. Do we want this for our self-glorification? The Lord knows we do not. But it is the order of the Church that the Twelve should seek counsel from those whom God has placed to preside. And they should be free in asking counsel and not do anything without it.
In the same manner the Presidents of Stakes and their counselors should ask counsel; the Bishops and their counselors should ask counsel; and the seven Presidents of the Seventies, in their place, should ask counsel also. They are under the direction of the Twelve Apostles, who are their file leaders, under the First Presidency of the Church. And one man should not give counsel without consulting his fellow servants. (Apr. 7, 1895, DW 50:641-44)
Gospel draws people together. There is no power of human origin that can bind men to men for any length of time. There are occasions, when some great exigency or peril arises, when people will cling together. When nations are attacked and when all their liberties and perhaps their lives are at stake, they will then move forward animated by one common impulse, and they will cling together with wonderful tenacity. . . . But apart from these great crises in the history of individuals and nations, there is no power among men that will unite and hold men together. They will differ in a little while; they will separate.
We see this in the religious world. As soon as men attempted to reform religion, as soon as they dissented from the mother church and began to establish reformed religions, they began to differ, and they went on differing and separating until now the whole of Christendom is filled with churches, among which there is no union, notwithstanding they call themselves the churches of Christ. They have not the secret of union with them.
Now, the difference between this Church and other churches is this: when men receive this Gospel, wherever they may be, however widely separated they may be, as soon as they are confirmed members of the Church, they receive a spirit that fills them with that union, and when they are brought together from the ends of the earth, they feet alike and are drawn together. True, they have their failings and their weaknesses; but they possess a spirit of union that no human being is able to impart unto his fellows. It comes from God. It is the power that reigns in heaven. It is the power that makes heaven the glorious place that it is described to be by all who have any conception of it, in contradiction to hell, the place of misery and torment. . . .
If we were not united, we would not be the people of God. It is the true sign by which the people of God may be found. I do not care what we may claim or what our pretensions may be, we are not the people of God when we are not united. Union is one of the fruits of the Spirit. (Apr. 17, 1897, DW 55:33)
Satan hates a united people. The devil does not want the will of the Lord done. He does not want the people united. He seeks for division, for contention and for strife. He hates the Latter-day Saints because they act together. All his followers hate them for the same reason. If we would split up and divide, refuse to listen to the counsel of the man of God, then the devil and his followers would rejoice. He tries to persuade the people that it is true independence to divide up and every man go for himself and to refuse to do as the servants of God say.
But remember, this is a step towards apostasy. Whenever you see a man disobeying the counsel of the Lord through the Holy Priesthood, you may know that unless he repents he will apostatize. It is a sure sign of apostasy. A man may be an Apostle, a Seventy, a High Priest, an Elder or a Bishop, yet if he tries to divide the people and persuades them to disobey the Prophet of God, he will surely fall, unless he repents with all his heart. The Lord asks us to obey Him. He tells us how to do so. He does not ask for blind obedience, because He gives His Holy Spirit to all who ask for it to show them that it is right to obey.
Unity in political matters. But some men think that it may be right to be obedient and united in church matters but in politics it is not so necessary. They act as though it was all right to divide and quarrel in political matters. This, however, is a great mistake. The Lord says to us that we must be one, not in church affairs alone but in all things.
It would be a blessed thing for the Latter-day Saints if the Lord would choose their officers for them, and they would accept those whom He should choose. Does not the Lord know what is best for us politically? He certainly does. (Mar. 1, 1878, JI 13:54)
This is what I was trying to say about the LDS Church for I know from experience that the Spirit guides the LDS tongue when we turn our life over to the Lord!
Thank you for this I will read it again later must go out for a while!