Doctrine and CovenantsMormonism / Latter-day SaintsModern Religious TextEnglishShareDoctrine and Covenants 134LDS Documentation Project - EnglishMoreVersion - 1 availableLDS Documentation ProjectLanguageEnglishEspañol‹Doctrine and Covenants 1Doctrine and Covenants 2Doctrine and Covenants 3Doctrine and Covenants 4Doctrine and Covenants 5Doctrine and Covenants 6Doctrine and Covenants 7Doctrine and Covenants 8Doctrine and Covenants 9Doctrine and Covenants 10Doctrine and Covenants 11Doctrine and Covenants 12Doctrine and Covenants 13Doctrine and Covenants 14Doctrine and Covenants 15Doctrine and Covenants 16Doctrine and Covenants 17Doctrine and Covenants 18Doctrine and Covenants 19Doctrine and Covenants 20Doctrine and Covenants 21Doctrine and Covenants 22Doctrine and Covenants 23Doctrine and Covenants 24Doctrine and Covenants 25Doctrine and Covenants 26Doctrine and Covenants 27Doctrine and Covenants 28Doctrine and Covenants 29Doctrine and Covenants 30Doctrine and Covenants 31Doctrine and Covenants 32Doctrine and Covenants 33Doctrine and Covenants 34Doctrine and Covenants 35Doctrine and Covenants 36Doctrine and Covenants 37Doctrine and Covenants 38Doctrine and Covenants 39Doctrine and Covenants 40Doctrine and Covenants 41Doctrine and Covenants 42Doctrine and Covenants 43Doctrine and Covenants 44Doctrine and Covenants 45Doctrine and Covenants 46Doctrine and Covenants 47Doctrine and Covenants 48Doctrine and Covenants 49Doctrine and Covenants 50Doctrine and Covenants 51Doctrine and Covenants 52Doctrine and Covenants 53Doctrine and Covenants 54Doctrine and Covenants 55Doctrine and Covenants 56Doctrine and Covenants 57Doctrine and Covenants 58Doctrine and Covenants 59Doctrine and Covenants 60Doctrine and Covenants 61Doctrine and Covenants 62Doctrine and Covenants 63Doctrine and Covenants 64Doctrine and Covenants 65Doctrine and Covenants 66Doctrine and Covenants 67Doctrine and Covenants 68Doctrine and Covenants 69Doctrine and Covenants 70Doctrine and Covenants 71Doctrine and Covenants 72Doctrine and Covenants 73Doctrine and Covenants 74Doctrine and Covenants 75Doctrine and Covenants 76Doctrine and Covenants 77Doctrine and Covenants 78Doctrine and Covenants 79Doctrine and Covenants 80Doctrine and Covenants 81Doctrine and Covenants 82Doctrine and Covenants 83Doctrine and Covenants 84Doctrine and Covenants 85Doctrine and Covenants 86Doctrine and Covenants 87Doctrine and Covenants 88Doctrine and Covenants 89Doctrine and Covenants 90Doctrine and Covenants 91Doctrine and Covenants 92Doctrine and Covenants 93Doctrine and Covenants 94Doctrine and Covenants 95Doctrine and Covenants 96Doctrine and Covenants 97Doctrine and Covenants 98Doctrine and Covenants 99Doctrine and Covenants 100Doctrine and Covenants 101Doctrine and Covenants 102Doctrine and Covenants 103Doctrine and Covenants 104Doctrine and Covenants 105Doctrine and Covenants 106Doctrine and Covenants 107Doctrine and Covenants 108Doctrine and Covenants 109Doctrine and Covenants 110Doctrine and Covenants 111Doctrine and Covenants 112Doctrine and Covenants 113Doctrine and Covenants 114Doctrine and Covenants 115Doctrine and Covenants 116Doctrine and Covenants 117Doctrine and Covenants 118Doctrine and Covenants 119Doctrine and Covenants 120Doctrine and Covenants 121Doctrine and Covenants 122Doctrine and Covenants 123Doctrine and Covenants 124Doctrine and Covenants 125Doctrine and Covenants 126Doctrine and Covenants 127Doctrine and Covenants 128Doctrine and Covenants 129Doctrine and Covenants 130Doctrine and Covenants 131Doctrine and Covenants 132Doctrine and Covenants 133Doctrine and Covenants 134Doctrine and Covenants 135Doctrine and Covenants 136Doctrine and Covenants 137Doctrine and Covenants 138›Doctrine and Covenants 134Doctrine and Covenants 134ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1We believe that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man; and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them, both in making laws and administering them, for the good and safety of society. 2We believe that no government can exist in peace, except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life. 3We believe that all governments necessarily require civil officers and magistrates to enforce the laws of the same; and that such as will administer the law in equity and justice should be sought for and upheld by the voice of the people if a republic, or the will of the sovereign. 4We believe that religion is instituted of God; and that men are amenable to him, and to him only, for the exercise of it, unless their religious opinions prompt them to infringe upon the rights and liberties of others; but we do not believe that human law has a right to interfere in prescribing rules of worship to bind the consciences of men, nor dictate forms for public or private devotion; that the civil magistrate should restrain crime, but never control conscience; should punish guilt, but never suppress the freedom of the soul. 5We believe that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they reside, while protected in their inherent and inalienable rights by the laws of such governments; and that sedition and rebellion are unbecoming every citizen thus protected, and should be punished accordingly; and that all governments have a right to enact such laws as in their own judgments are best calculated to secure the public interest; at the same time, however, holding sacred the freedom of conscience. 6We believe that every man should be honored in his station, rulers and magistrates as such, being placed for the protection of the innocent and the punishment of the guilty; and that to the laws all men owe respect and deference, as without them peace and harmony would be supplanted by anarchy and terror; human laws being instituted for the express purpose of regulating our interests as individuals and nations, between man and man; and divine laws given of heaven, prescribing rules on spiritual concerns, for faith and worship, both to be answered by man to his Maker. 7We believe that rulers, states, and governments have a right, and are bound to enact laws for the protection of all citizens in the free exercise of their religious belief; but we do not believe that they have a right in justice to deprive citizens of this privilege, or proscribe them in their opinions, so long as a regard and reverence are shown to the laws and such religious opinions do not justify sedition nor conspiracy. 8We believe that the commission of crime should be punished according to the nature of the offense; that murder, treason, robbery, theft, and the breach of the general peace, in all respects, should be punished according to their criminality and their tendency to evil among men, by the laws of that government in which the offense is committed; and for the public peace and tranquility all men should step forward and use their ability in bringing offenders against good laws to punishment. 9We do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government, whereby one religious society is fostered and another proscribed in its spiritual privileges, and the individual rights of its members, as citizens, denied. 10We believe that all religious societies have a right to deal with their members for disorderly conduct, according to the rules and regulations of such societies; provided that such dealings be for fellowship and good standing; but we do not believe that any religious society has authority to try men on the right of property or life, to take from them this world's goods, or to put them in jeopardy of either life or limb, or to inflict any physical punishment upon them. They can only excommunicate them from their society, and withdraw from them their fellowship. 11We believe that men should appeal to the civil law for redress of all wrongs and grievances, where personal abuse is inflicted or the right of property or character infringed, where such laws exist as will protect the same; but we believe that all men are justified in defending themselves, their friends, and property, and the government, from the unlawful assaults and encroachments of all persons in times of exigency, where immediate appeal cannot be made to the laws, and relief afforded. 12We believe it just to preach the gospel to the nations of the earth, and warn the righteous to save themselves from the corruption of the world; but we do not believe it right to interfere with bond-servants, neither preach the gospel to, nor baptize them contrary to the will and wish of their masters, nor to meddle with or influence them in the least to cause them to be dissatisfied with their situations in this life, thereby jeopardizing the lives of men; such interference we believe to be unlawful and unjust, and dangerous to the peace of every government allowing human beings to be held in servitude. ‹Previous chapterDoctrine and Covenants 133Next chapterDoctrine and Covenants 135›Similar passagesBy tradition and source labelFind similarCompare selectedCompare with similarAsk Deep ThoughtSelect passages to search for parallels.Tap any verse to select it, then compare selected passages or ask Deep Thought. 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