VI. THE INCENTIVES TO, AND THE GLORY OF, KNOWLEDGE IN THE NEW DISPENSATION.
Against all the shams of simulated humility and false reverence which are but pleas to promote and justify mental laziness, I launch the mighty exhortations and rebukes of the New Dispensations of the Gospel of the Christ—the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, in which God has promised "to gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth; even in him." They are as follows:
"The glory of God is Intelligence." (Doc. and Cov. Sec. 93.)
"It is impossible for a man to be saved in Ignorance." (Doc. and Cov. Sec. 131.)
"Whatever principles of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection." (Doc. and Cov. Sec. 130.)
"If a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come." (Doc. and Cov. Sec. 130.)
"A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge, and consequently more power, than many men who are on the earth." (Joseph Smith—History of the Church, Vol. IV., p. 588.)
"Knowledge saves a man; and in the world of spirits no man can be exalted but by knowledge; so long as a man will not give heed to the commandments he must abide without salvation. If a man has knowledge he can be saved; although he has been guilty of great sins, he will be punished for them. But when he consents to obey the Gospel, whether here or in the world of Spirits, he is saved." (Joseph Smith—Minutes of the General Conference of the Church, April, 1844. "Improvement Era," Jan., 1909, p. 186.)
"Seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom: seek learning even by study, and also by faith." (Doc. and Cov. Sec. 88:118.)
"I give unto you a commandment, that you teach one another the doctrine of the Kingdom."
"Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;
"Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land, and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms,
"That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the mission with which I have commissioned you." (Doc. and Cov. Sec. 88:79-90.)
"It is important that we should understand the reasons and causes of our exposure to the vicissitudes of life and of death, and the designs and purposes of God in our coming into the world, our sufferings here, and our departure hence. What is the object of our coming into existence, then dying and falling away, to be here no more? It is but reasonable to suppose that God would reveal something in reference to the matter, and it is a subject we ought to study more than any other. We ought to study it day and night, for the world is ignorant in reference to their true condition and relation. If we have any claim on our Heavenly Father for anything, it is for knowledge on this important subject." (Joseph Smith—History of the Church, Vol. VI., p. 50.)
"God shall give unto you (the saints) knowledge by his Holy Spirit, yea by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost, that has not been revealed since the world was until now: which our forefathers have waited with anxious expectation to be revealed in the last times, which their minds were pointed to, by the angels, as held in reserve for the fullness of their glory; a time to come in the which nothing shall be withheld, whether there be one God or many Gods, they shall be manifest; all thrones and dominions, principalities and powers, shall be revealed and set forth upon all who have endured valiantly for the gospel of Jesus Christ; and also if there be bounds set to the heavens, or to the seas; or to the dry land, or to the sun, moon, or stars; 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 glories, laws, and set times, shall be revealed, in the days of the dispensation of the fulness of times, according to that which was ordained in the midst of the Council of the Eternal God of all other Gods, before this world was, that should be reserved unto the finishing and the end thereof, when every man shell enter into his eternal presence, and into his immortal rest. How long can rolling waters remain impure? What power 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 hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven, upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints" (Doc. and Cov. Sec. 121, 26-33.)