Learn to control yourselves; learn to be in the hands of {408} God as clay in the hands of the potter; and if he will turn our enemies away, praised be his name. But if it should become a duty to take the sword, let us do it manfully and in the strength of Israel's God. 5:229. I answer, it is the absolute and imperative duty of the Elders of Israel to try and control themselves and their families and their brethren, until they can hold control over all things in righteousness. 10:333. I have frequently said that the greatest endowment God ever gave to man is good, sound, solid sense to know how to govern ourselves. 9:250. No man can ever become a ruler in the Kingdom of God, until he can perfectly rule himself; then is he capable of raising a family of children who will rise up and call him blessed. 9:334. No man ever did, or ever will rule judiciously on this earth, with honor to himself and glory to his God, unless he first learn to rule and control himself. A man must first learn to rule himself rightly before his knowledge can be fully brought to bear for the correct government of a family, a neighborhood, or nation, over which it is his lot to preside. 3:256. In this probation, we have evil to contend with, and we must overcome it in ourselves, or we never shall overcome it anywhere else. 6:99. You have been taught the standard of right. Now subdue your rebellious passions, dismiss everything that you know or consider to be wrong, and embrace that which is better. 6:74. Let each person be determined, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to overcome every besetment--to be the master of himself, that the Spirit God has put in your tabernacles {409} shall rule; then you can converse, live, labor, go here or there, do this or that, and converse and deal with your brethren as you ought. 8:139. You cannot inherit eternal life, unless your appetites are brought in subjection to the spirit that lives within you, that spirit which our Father in Heaven gave. I mean the Father of your spirits, of those spirits which he has put into these tabernacles. The tabernacle must be brought in subjection to the spirit perfectly, or your bodies cannot be raised to inherit eternal life; if they do come forth, they must dwell in a lower kingdom. Seek diligently, until you bring all into subjection to the law of Christ. 4:200.