How to Read the Scriptures

[From Brigham Young, 8 October, 1859, in Journal of Discourses 7:333).


Do you read the Scriptures, my brethren and sisters, as though you were writing them a thousand, two thousand, or five thousand years ago? Do you read them as though you stood in the place of the men who wrote them? If you do not feel thus, it is your privilege to do so, that you may feel as familiar with the spirit and meaning of the written word of God as you are with your daily walk and conversation, or as you are with your workmen or with your households. You may understand what the Prophets understood and thought--what they designed and planned to bring forth to their brethren for good. When you can thus feel, then you may begin to think that you can find out something about God, and begin to learn who he is.