Having taught the beatitudes to the multitude during the Sermon on the Mount as part of His mortal ministry, the resurrected Christ taught them to the Nephite people during His visit in the western hemisphere.
The beatitudes are declarations of blessedness recorded in Matthew 5:3-12 that describe certain elements of spiritual character. They are recorded with greater comprehensiveness and spiritual emphasis in the Book of Mormon account in 3 Nephi 12:3-12. (See Bible Dictionary, p. 620.)
In an April 1992 general conference sermon, President Gordon B. Hinckley, then first counselor in the First Presidency, spoke of the beatitudes as part of a broader code of conduct that comes to bear upon Latter-day Saints. He said:
"As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you have been taught many values of divine origin. These values are based on the commandments which the finger of the Lord wrote upon the tablets of stone when Moses spoke with Jehovah upon the mountain. You know them. You are familiar with them.
"The values you have been taught likewise are based upon the beatitudes which Jesus spoke to the multitude. These, with others of His divine teachings, constitute a code of ethics, a code of values, a code of divine doctrine familiar to you and binding upon you.
"To these have been added the precepts and commandments of modern revelation.
"Combined together these basic, divinely given principles, laws and commandments must constitute your value system. You cannot escape the consequences of their observance. If you will shape your lives according to their pattern, I do not hesitate to promise that you will know much of peace and happiness, of growth and achievement. To the degree that you fail to observe them, I regretfully say that the fruits will be disappointment, sadness, misery and even tragedy."
