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| Prayer and prophecies written by Joseph Smith the Prophet, while he was a prisoner in the jail at Liberty, Missouri, dated March 20, 1839. HC 3:289—300. The Prophet with several companions had been months in prison. Their petitions and appeals directed to the executive offices and the judiciary had failed to bring them relief. | ||
7—10, The Lord speakes peace to him; 11—17, Cursed are all those who raise false cries of transgression against the Lord's people; 18—25, They shall not have right to the priesthood and shall be damned: 26—32, Glorious revelations promised those who endure valiantly; 33—40, Why many are called and few chosen; 41—46, The priesthood should be used only in righteousness. | ||
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D&C 121:1 O God, awhere are thou? And where is the pavilion
that covereth thy bhiding place?
D&C 121:2 aHow long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea thy pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries? D&C 121:3 Yea, O Lord, ahow long shall they suffer these wrongs and unlawful boppressions, before thine heart shall be softened toward them, and thy bowels be moved with ccompassion toward them?
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D&C 121:4 O Lord God aAlmighty, maker of
bheaven, earth, and seas, and of all things that in them
are, and who controllest and subjectest the devil, and the dark and benighted
dominion of Sheol—stretch forth thy hand; let thine eye pierce; let thy
cpavilion be taken up; let thy dhiding
place no longer be covered; let thine ear be inclined; let thine
eheart be softened, and thy bowels moved with compassion
toward us.
D&C 121:5 Let thine aanger be kindled against your enemies; and, in the fury of thine heart, with thy bsword cavenge us of our wrongs. D&C 121:6 Remember thy asuffering saints, O our God; and thy servants will rejoice in thy name forever.
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D&C 121:7 My son, apeace be unto thy soul; thine
badversity and thine afflictions shall be but a
csmall moment;
D&C 121:8 And then, if thou aendure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shall triumph over all thy bfoes. D&C 121:9 Thy afriends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands. D&C 121:10 Thou art not yet as Job; thy afriends do not contend against thee, neither charge thee with transgression, as they did Job.
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D&C 121:11 And they who do charge thee with transgression, their hope shall
be blasted, and their prospects shall amelt away as the
hoar frost melteth before the burning rays of the rising sun;
D&C 121:12 And also that God hath set his hand and seal to change the atimes and seasons, and to blind their bminds, that they may not understand his cmarvelous workings; that he may dprove them also and take them in their own craftiness; D&C 121:13 Also because their hearts are corrupted, and the things which they are willing to bring upon others, and love to have others suffer, may come upon athemselves to the very uttermost; D&C 121:14 That they may be adisappointed also, and their hopes may be cut off; D&C 121:15 And not many years hence, that they and their aposterity shall be aswept from under the heaven, saith God, that not one of them is left to stand by the wall.
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D&C 121:16 aCursed are all those that shall lift up the
bheel against mine canointed, saith the
Lord, and cry they have dsinned when they have not sinned
before me, saith the Lord, but have done that which was meet in mine eyes,
and which I commanded them.
D&C 121:17 But athose who cry transgression do it because they are the servants of sin, and are the bchildren of disobedience themselves. D&C 121:18 And those who aswear bfalsely against my servants, that they might bring them into bondage and death— D&C 121:19 Wo unto them; because they have aoffended my little ones they shall be severed from the bordinances of mine house. D&C 121:20 Their abasket shall not be full, their houses and their barns shall perish, and they themselves shall be bdespised by those that flattered them. D&C 121:21 They shall not have right to the apriesthood, nor their posterity after them from generation to generation. D&C 121:22 It had been abetter for them that a millstone had been hanged about their necks, and they drowned in the depth of the sea.
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D&C 121:23 Wo unto all those that adiscomfort my people,
and drive, and bmurder, and testify against them, saith the
Lord of Hosts; a cgeneration of vipers shall not escape the
damnation of hell.
D&C 121:24 Behold, mine eyes asee and know all their works, and I have in reserve a swift bjudgment in the season thereof, for them all; D&C 121:25 For there is a atime bappointed for every man, according as his cworks shall be.
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D&C 121:26 God shall give unto you aknowledge by his Holy
bSpirit, yea, by the unspeakable cgift of
the Holy Ghost, that has not been drevealed since the world
was until now;
D&C 121:27 Which our forefathers have awaited with aanxious expectation to be revealed in the last times, which their minds were pointed to by the angels, as held in reserve for the fulness of their glory; D&C 121:28 A time to come in the which anothing shall be withheld, whether there be bone God or many cgods, they shall be manifest.
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D&C 121:29 All thrones and dominions, principalities and powers, shall be
arevealed and set forth upon all who have endured
bvaliantly for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
D&C 121:30 And also, if there be abounds set to the heavens or to the seas, or to the dry land, or to the sun, moon, or stars— D&C 121:31 All the times of their revolutions, all the appointed days, months, and years, and all the days of their days, months, and years and all their aglories, laws, and set times, shall be revealed in the days of the bdispensation of the fulness of times— D&C 121:32 According to that which was aordained in the midst of the bCouncil of the Eternal cGod of all other gods before this dworld was, that should be reserved unto the finishing and the end thereof, when every man shall enter into his eternal epresence and into his immortal frest. D&C 121:33 How long can rolling waters remain impure? What apower shall stay the heavens? As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to bhinder the cAlmighty from pouring down dknowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints.
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D&C 121:34 Behold, there are many acalled, but few are
chosen. And why are they not chosen?
D&C 121:35 Because their ahearts are set so much upon the things of this bworld, and caspire to the dhonors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson— D&C 121:36 That the arights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heavena, and that the powers of heaven cannot be bcontrolled nor handled only upon cprinciples of righteousness.
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36a inseparably connected with the power of heaven The Priesthood is the power to act in God's name. Certainly God is not going to allow action in his name which he does not approve and authorize. If any such action is taken, it is not by the rights of the priesthood by done according to unrighteous dominion of man exercising his supposed position of power and authority over another of his own volition. How can one tell the difference? The Priesthood to be both connected with heaven and opperate according to God's will, must be governed and controlled by the guiding influence of the Holy Ghost. That is the connection between man and God. | |
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D&C 121:37 That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we
undertake to acover our bsins, or to
gratify our cpride, our vain ambition, or to exercise
control or ddominion or compulsion upon the souls of the
children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens
ewithdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved;
and when it is withdrawn,
Amena to the priesthood or the
authority of that man.
D&C 121:38 Behold, ere he is aware, he is left unto himself, to akick against the pricks, to bpersecute the saints, and to cfight against God. D&C 121:39 We have learned by sad experience that it is the anature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little bauthority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise cunrighteous dominion. D&C 121:40 Hence many are called, but few are chosen.
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37a when it is withdrawn, Amen When it, when the Holy Ghost, the Spirit which connects man with God, is withdrawn from that man, then Amen to the priesthood. It no longer is functioning as authorized by God and whatever is then done, is not done in the name of God, by the power of God, by the authority of God, but is done only in the name of that man. | |
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D&C 121:41 No apower or influence can or ought to be
maintained by virtue of the apriesthood, only by
cpersuasion, by dlong-suffering, by
gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;
D&C 121:42 By akindness, and pure bknowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the csoul without dhypocrisy, and without eguile—
— Reproving 'only' when moved upon by the 'Holy Ghost', not out of personal temper, frustration and/or hypocritical self-righteousness. And then showing forth an increase of love toward him/her whom thou has reproved lest he/she esteem thee to be his/her enemy. |
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D&C 121:43 aReproving betimes with
bsharpness, when cmoved upon by the Holy
Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of
dlove toward him whom thou has reproved, lest he esteem
thee to be his enemy;
D&C 121:44 That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of adeath.
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D&C 121:45 Let thy abowels also be full of charity towards
all men, and to the household of faith, and let bvirtue
garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy
cconfidence wax strong in the dpresence
of God; and the doctrine of the
priesthooda shall distill upon thy
soul as the edews from heaven.
D&C 121:46 The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant acompanion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of brighteousness and truth; and thy cdominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.
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45a doctrine of the priesthood The Doctrine of the Priesthood consists of that which has just been taught in these surrouning verses. It is not unlike the doctrine of the gospel. In fact there are many parallels between the two. | |