Happiness is the object and design of our
existence, and will be the end thereof, if
we pursue the path that leads to it; and this
path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness,
holiness, and keeping all the commandments
of God; but we cannot keep all the commandments
without first knowing them, and we cannot
expect to know all, or more than we now know,
unless we comply with or keep those we have
already received!
That which is wrong under one circumstance,
may be, and often is, right under another.
God said, ‘Thou shalt not kill’; at another
time he said, ‘Thou shalt utterly destroy.’
This is the principle on which the government
of heaven is conducted, by revelation adapted
to the circumstances in which the children
of the Kingdom are placed.
Whatever God requires is right, no matter
what it is, although we may not see the reason
thereof till long after the events transpire.
If we seek first the kingdom of God, all good
things will be added So with Solomon; first
he asked wisdom, and God gave it him, and
with it every desire of his heart; even things
which might be considered abominable to all
who understand the order of heaven only in
part, but which, in reality, were right, because
God gave and sanctioned by special revelation.
A parent may whip a child, and justly too,
because he stole an apple; whereas, if the
child had asked for the apple, and the parent
had given it, the child would have eaten it
with a better appetite; and there would have
been no stripes; all the pleasures of the
apple would have been secured, and the misery
of stealing lost.
This principle will justly apply to all of
God’s dealings with his children.
Everything that God gives us is lawful and
right, and it is proper that we should enjoy
his gifts and blessings, whenever and wherever
he is disposed to bestow; but if we should
seize upon those same blessings and enjoyments
without law, without revelation, without commandment,
those blessings and enjoyments would prove
cursings and vexations in the end, and we
should have to lie down in sorrow and wailings
of everlasting regret.
But in obedience there is joy and peace unspotted,
unalloyed; and as God has designed our happiness,
the happiness of all his creatures, he never
has, he never will, institue an ordinance,
or give a commandment to his people that is
not calculated in its nature to promote that
happiness which he has designed, and which
will not end in the greatest amount of good
and glory to those who become the recipients
of his law and ordinances.
Blessings offered, but rejected, are no longer
blessings, but become like the talent hid
in the earth by the wicked and slothful servant;
the proffered good returns to the giver; the
blessing is bestowed on those who will receive,
and occupy; for unto him that hath shall be
given, and he shall have abundantly, but unto
him that hath not, or will not receive, shall
be taken away that which he hath, or might
have had.
‘Be wise to day; ‘tis madness to defer!
Next day the fatal precedent may plead;
Thus on till wisdom is pushed out of time,
into eternity.’
Our Heavenly Father is more liberal in his
views, and boundless in his mercies and blessings,
than we are ready to believe or receive, and,
at the same time, is more terrible to the
workers of iniquity, more awful in the executions
of his punishments, and more ready to detect
every false way than we are apt to suppose
him to be; he will be inquired of by his children;
he says, ‘Ask and ye shall receive, seek
and ye shall find; but, if ye will take that
which is not your own, or which I have not
given you, you shall be rewarded according
to your deeds; but no good thing will I withold
from them who walk uprightly before me, and
do my will in all things; who will listen
to my voice, and to the voice of my servant
whom I have sent; for I delight in those who
seek diligently to know my precepts, and abide
by the laws of my Kingdom; for all things
shall be made known unto them in mine own
due time, and in the end they shall have joy
