The World’s Religions

131:2.1The Ken­ites of Pales­tine sal­vaged much of the teach­ing of Mel­chiz­e­dek, and from these rec­ords, as pre­served and mod­i­fied by the Jews, Je­sus and Ga­nid made the fol­low­ing se­lec­tion:

131:2.2“In the be­gin­ning God cre­ated the heav­ens and the earth and all things therein. And, be­hold, all he cre­ated was very good. The Lord, he is God; there is none be­side him in heaven above or upon the earth be­neath. There­fore shall you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. The earth shall be full of the knowl­edge of the Lord as the wa­ters cover the sea. The heav­ens de­clare the glory of God, and the fir­ma­ment shows his hand­i­work. Day af­ter day ut­ters speech; night af­ter night shows knowl­edge. There is no speech or lan­guage where their voice is not heard. The Lord’s work is great, and in wis­dom has he made all things; the great­ness of the Lord is un­search­able. He knows the num­ber of the stars; he calls them all by their names.

131:2.3“The power of the Lord is great and his un­der­stand­ing in­fi­nite. Says the Lord: ‘As the heav­ens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.’ God re­veals the deep and se­cret things be­cause the light dwells with him. The Lord is mer­ci­ful and gra­cious; he is long-suf­fer­ing and abun­dant in good­ness and truth. The Lord is good and up­right; the meek will he guide in judg­ment. Taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who trusts God. God is our refuge and strength, a very pres­ent help in trou­ble.

131:2.4“The mercy of the Lord is from ev­er­last­ing to ev­er­last­ing upon those who fear him and his righ­teous­ness even to our chil­dren’s chil­dren. The Lord is gra­cious and full of com­pas­sion. The Lord is good to all, and his ten­der mer­cies are over all his cre­ation; he heals the bro­ken­hearted and binds up their wounds. Whither shall I go from God’s spirit? whither shall I flee from the di­vine pres­ence? Thus says the High and Lofty One who in­hab­its eter­nity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place; also with him who is of a con­trite heart and a hum­ble spirit!’ None can hide him­self from our God, for he fills heaven and earth. Let the heav­ens be glad and let the earth re­joice. Let all na­tions say: The Lord reigns! Give thanks to God, for his mercy en­dures for­ever.

131:2.5“The heav­ens de­clare God’s righ­teous­ness, and all the peo­ple have seen his glory. It is God who has made us, and not we our­selves; we are his peo­ple, the sheep of his pas­ture. His mercy is ev­er­last­ing, and his truth en­dures to all gen­er­a­tions. Our God is gov­er­nor among the na­tions. Let the earth be filled with his glory! O that men would praise the Lord for his good­ness and for his won­der­ful gifts to the chil­dren of men!

131:2.6“God has made man a lit­tle less than di­vine and has crowned him with love and mercy. The Lord knows the way of the righ­teous, but the way of the un­godly shall per­ish. The fear of the Lord is the be­gin­ning of wis­dom; the knowl­edge of the Su­preme is un­der­stand­ing. Says the Al­mighty God: ‘Walk be­fore me and be per­fect.’ For­get not that pride goes be­fore de­struc­tion and a haughty spirit be­fore a fall. He who rules his own spirit is might­ier than he who takes a city. Says the Lord God, the Holy One: ‘In re­turn­ing to your spir­i­tual rest shall you be saved; in quiet­ness and con­fi­dence shall be your strength.’ They who wait upon the Lord shall re­new their strength; they shall mount up with wings like ea­gles. They shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not be faint. The Lord shall give you rest from your fear. Says the Lord: ‘Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dis­mayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; yes, I will up­hold you with the right hand of my righ­teous­ness.’

131:2.7“God is our Fa­ther; the Lord is our re­deemer. God has cre­ated the uni­ver­sal hosts, and he pre­serves them all. His righ­teous­ness is like the moun­tains and his judg­ment like the great deep. He causes us to drink of the river of his plea­sures, and in his light we shall see light. It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to the Most High; to show forth lov­ing-kind­ness in the morn­ing and the di­vine faith­ful­ness ev­ery night. God’s king­dom is an ev­er­last­ing king­dom, and his do­min­ion en­dures through­out all gen­er­a­tions. The Lord is my shep­herd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pas­tures; he leads me be­side still wa­ters. He re­stores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righ­teous­ness. Yes, even though I walk through the val­ley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for God is with me. Surely good­ness and mercy shall fol­low me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for­ever.

131:2.8“Yah­weh is the God of my sal­va­tion; there­fore in the di­vine name will I put my trust. I will trust in the Lord with all my heart; I will lean not upon my own un­der­stand­ing. In all my ways I will ac­knowl­edge him, and he shall di­rect my paths. The Lord is faith­ful; he keeps his word with those who serve him; the just shall live by his faith. If you do not well, it is be­cause sin lies at the door; men reap the evil they plough and the sin they sow. Fret not your­self be­cause of evil­do­ers. If you re­gard in­iq­uity in your heart, the Lord will not hear you; if you sin against God, you also wrong your own soul. God will bring ev­ery man’s work to judg­ment with ev­ery se­cret thing, whether it be good or evil. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

131:2.9“The Lord is near all who call upon him in sin­cer­ity and in truth. Weep­ing may en­dure for a night, but joy comes in the morn­ing. A merry heart does good like a med­i­cine. No good thing will God with­hold from those who walk up­rightly. Fear God and keep his com­mand­ments, for this is the whole duty of man. Thus says the Lord who cre­ated the heav­ens and who formed the earth: ‘There is no God be­side me, a just God and a sav­ior. Look to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. If you seek me, you shall find me if you search for me with all your heart.’ The meek shall in­herit the earth and shall de­light them­selves in the abun­dance of peace. Who­ever sows in­iq­uity shall reap calamity; they who sow the wind shall reap the whirl­wind.

131:2.10“‘Come now, let us rea­son to­gether,’ says the Lord, ‘Though your sins be as scar­let, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crim­son, they shall be as wool.’ But there is no peace for the wicked; it is your own sins which have with­held the good things from you. God is the health of my coun­te­nance and the joy of my soul. The eter­nal God is my strength; he is our dwell­ing place, and un­der­neath are the ev­er­last­ing arms. The Lord is near to those who are bro­ken­hearted; he saves all who have a child­like spirit. Many are the af­flic­tions of the righ­teous man, but the Lord de­liv­ers him out of them all. Com­mit your way to the Lord—trust him—and he will bring it to pass. He who dwells in the se­cret place of the Most High shall abide un­der the shadow of the Al­mighty.

131:2.11“Love your neigh­bor as your­self; bear a grudge against no man. What­so­ever you hate do to no man. Love your brother, for the Lord has said: ‘I will love my chil­dren freely.’ The path of the just is as a shin­ing light which shines more and more un­til the per­fect day. They who are wise shall shine as the bright­ness of the fir­ma­ment and they who turn many to righ­teous­ness as the stars for­ever and ever. Let the wicked for­sake his evil way and the un­righ­teous man his re­bel­lious thoughts. Says the Lord: ‘Let them re­turn to me, and I will have mercy on them; I will abun­dantly par­don.’

131:2.12“Says God, the cre­ator of heaven and earth: ‘Great peace have they who love my law. My com­mand­ments are: You shall love me with all your heart; you shall have no gods be­fore me; you shall not take my name in vain; re­mem­ber the Sab­bath day to keep it holy; honor your fa­ther and mother; you shall not kill; you shall not com­mit adul­tery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false wit­ness; you shall not covet.’

131:2.13“And to all who love the Lord su­premely and their neigh­bors like them­selves, the God of heaven says: ‘I will ran­som you from the grave; I will re­deem you from death. I will be mer­ci­ful to your chil­dren, as well as just. Have I not said of my crea­tures on earth, you are the sons of the liv­ing God? And have I not loved you with an ev­er­last­ing love? Have I not called you to be­come like me and to dwell for­ever with me in Par­a­dise?’”