Daily Inspiration Quote by Joseph Smith, Jr.

A masterclass in prophetic restraint, Joseph Smith frames revelation as both overflowing and withheld: he claims access to “a hundred fold more” glory, then immediately binds it behind two locks - permission and preparedness. The move is rhetorically ingenious. It lets him expand his authority without having to cash it out in specifics. The vision is presented as inexhaustible; the absence of detail becomes evidence of abundance, not a weakness.

The subtext is governance. “Were I permitted” invokes a higher chain of command (God, angels, priesthood order) that places Smith inside a disciplined heavenly bureaucracy rather than a freewheeling mystic. “Were the people prepared” shifts the limiting factor onto the audience. If you don’t receive more, it’s not because the prophet lacks content; it’s because the community lacks spiritual maturity. That’s an accountability structure that consolidates leadership while offering believers a ladder: obedience and readiness promise access to deeper things.

Historically, this fits an early Latter-day Saint world defined by rapid doctrinal development, intense scrutiny, and internal volatility. New cosmologies (multiple “kingdoms,” graded afterlives, expansive salvation) were electrifying and destabilizing at once. Smith’s line manages that tension by staging revelation as progressive and conditional. It creates anticipation, protects esoteric claims from hostile interrogation, and legitimizes incremental disclosure as pastoral care. The real power here isn’t the glimpse of heaven; it’s the disciplined control of who gets to hear about it, when, and on whose terms.