Mark E. Peterson, Part Four - Daniel Webster Fighting the Devil

For Part One, Part Two, or Part Three, choose your link and click it.  

This is the last quote from this talk by Elder Mark E. Peterson, "Warnings From the Past".

The Quote

 

"One of the most stern of all warnings came from the great statesman Daniel Webster when he said: 

“If we and our posterity reject religious instruction and authority, 

violate the rules of eternal justice, 

trifle with the injunctions of morality 

and recklessly destroy the political constitution which holds us together, 

no one can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us, 

that shall bury all our glory in profound obscurity.” 

 

This quote wasn't in this format in the talk - sometimes with older language, I like to breathe a little air into quotes when I can, to make them a little more readable and impactful online. So the many lines in these quotes are mine. You're welcome.

 

If you've never heard of Daniel Webster, you're in for a treat. A scary one. I almost wish this quote could have come closer to Halloween, because Daniel Webster was epic like that. Seldom have I seen such an intimidating mug as his, and few people were ever as powerful as he was.

He was a lawyer who argued cases before the Supreme Court. He was a senator. He was represented in a short story by Stephen Benet where he argued for a man's soul against the devil himself, and was portrayed in several movies - a real larger than life character. Ralph Waldo Emerson, after his death, called him "the completest man" and 'a masterpiece".

This quote happens to come from a speech he gave at the New York Historical Society on February 23, 1852, titled “The Dignity and Importance of History; A Prophetic Warning.” 

It's a very very....very very very...very very very long speech, but go ahead and give it a try if you have the inclination and a long afternoon to kill.

I'm saving that one for later myself. But I'll get to it eventually. Since he's the husband of my fifth cousin three times removed, he'll be at the heavenly Thanksgiving table someday, giving me that stare over the rolls and gravy...

(shudder)