Discourse by Elder Geo. Q. Cannon, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, September 15, 1878.

[The speaker commenced by reading the 7th chapter of St. Matthew, commencing at the 7th verse] There are many important principles embodied in these few verses which I have read in your hearing, and they are especially applicable to us as Latter-day Saints, a people professing to be the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. We claim the holiest of names, and certainly with such professions as we make, there should be holiness of life corresponding to those professions. If we are called the disciples of Jesus, the followers of the Son of God, and have any claim to that name or title, we should exemplify in our lives the principles which he taught; if we do not, then our claim to his name is baseless and may be treated with contempt.

The Lord Jesus has caused to be left on record certain principles, certain doctrines, a plan which has been properly called the plan of salvation; and He required in ancient days when upon the earth clothed in mortality, that those who professed his name and to be his followers, should believe in and practice those principles and doctrines. If they did not, they ceased to be his followers and they soon left him. His doctrines came in contact with many things that were popular in the day and age in which he lived; his teachings came in contact with the follies, the pride, and the selfishness of men, then, and in this respect they have not changed a particle. They come in contact today with the selfishness of men, with men as found in what is termed their natural condition, or more properly speaking, their fallen condition. And this is one reason for the unpopularity of the doctrines of Jesus. He taught mankind a higher life, the means of attaining to a better condition; and to require the assistance of the Holy Spirit which he promised to bestow upon those who kept his commandments to enable them to carry out in a proper manner the principles he imparted to them. If he had taught man to gratify all his inclinations; to indulge in every selfish desire; that self-denial and self-abnegation were not necessary, it is probable that he would have had many more followers than he did have; and his doctrines doubtless would have been more popular than they were. But this was not the case. The Savior started out teaching men at the beginning of his ministerial career the most pure and godlike principles, principles which were not understood and practiced by men generally, which were more heavenly, which seemed to be more fitted for a more exalted race of beings than for man in his fallen condition. Hear what he says:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

“Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”

And in another place in the same chapter, he says:

“Let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”

And again he said; “Resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.” These were peculiar doctrines. Who is there among men naturally that could practice them? Why if a man were struck on the cheek by another man, the natural impulse would be to knock him down, if he could; to return evil for evil. If a man sued another at the law and took his coat, would he be inclined to give his cloak also? No he would contend for his coat. And again: “And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain”—go with him two miles. “Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.” This sort of teaching came directly in contact with man’s fallen nature. It is the same today, and yet they are the teachings of the Son of God, they are the principles which he taught; their practice he required then, and he requires the same today. “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for those which despite– fully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”

In order then to be the children of our Father in heaven, we must love our enemies, we must bless them that curse us, we must do good to them that hate us, and pray for them who despitefully use and persecute us. Now mark how pointedly the Savior puts this to those who are listening to him: “For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? The wicked love one another, that is they at least affect to do so. It is natural for man to love those who love him; it requires no effort, it comes easy. It requires no particular superiority in a man to love his friend. But the Savior requires more than this; the requirement is that he shall not only love his friends and brethren, but he shall love his enemies. He shall not hate his enemies he shall not hate them that despitefully use and persecute him, but shall pray for them, allowing the feeling of forgiveness to reach after them. This feature you will find exemplified in the Savior’s entire life. Up to his last moments when upon the cross suffering the agonies of death, and although possessing all power, instead of using that power by way of revenge upon those who so cruelly treated him, he submitted himself meekly into their hands, and cried, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” He thus set all men an example which they should imitate.

It is common now, it is common among newspapers, and it is common in our city to publish alms doing that everybody might know how benevolent we are; that it might be carried by the wings of lightning and published to the world what generous people we are. This city of Salt Lake does this very thing. “Take heed,” says the Savior, “that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.” You get your reward when you get the praise of men. His teaching was to do good by stealth, that it might not be known, and that men might not get honor from their fellow men. “Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do that they might have the glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms might be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.” The whole of these teachings are full of instruction, and indicate the character of the Savior and the nature of the Gospel which he preached.

Here is another saying: “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.” This kind of teaching did not suit mankind, it came in contact with their ideas, and with their traditions, and the manner in which they had been taught. It was the praise of the world that they sought; it was to be seen of men that they worshipped, and it was to be seen of men that they gave alms. And they loved those that bestowed favors upon them, that were kind to them. They invited the rich to their feasts and not the poor. Jesus commanded his disciples to invite the poor and not the rich, as they could invite themselves. In fact, he taught doctrines that laid the axe at the root of all selfishness, and, if carried out, that would destroy it entirely, leaving no vestige of it in the human bosom.

I have already read to you the great rule that the Savior taught: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” Let us Latter-day Saints ask ourselves this afternoon, partaking as we are of the Sacrament, eating the bread and drinking of the cup in remembrance of the body and the blood of our Lord and Savior; let us ask ourselves—and I include myself with all of you, for I preach to myself as much as I do to anyone of this congregation upon these points—do we remember this golden rule that the Savior gave? Do we endeavor, when dealing in any way or manner whatever with our brother or our sister, to put ourselves in his or her position and say in our hearts, that which I do to my brother or to my sister, or am about to do, is just what I would that he or she should do to me? Do we think of this? Do we carry it out? Or do we think about ourselves, and forget about our brother and sister, unmindful of their interest and the rights and the claims which they have upon us?

Well, now, I know, that situated as we are it is somewhat difficult to carry out these principles properly in their perfection, and that there has to be wisdom used. But nevertheless, here is the standard to which we are required, as Latter-day Saints and as disciples of Christ, to attain to. We must attain to it. Just as sure as we live, if we do not attain to it, where God and Christ are we never can come; we could not dwell in their presence unless we have the same spirit, the same feelings and in– clinations, having conquered the weaknesses of our fallen natures sufficiently, so that the Gospel that He taught shall be exemplified in us as it was in him. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;” it is not all those who will say unto him in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?” It is not all of these whom the Savior will recognize and acknowledge, and whom he will admit into his presence and into his kingdom; but it is those that do the will of his Father in heaven; it is those that enter into the strait gate and that walk in the narrow way, and that persevere unto the end, denying themselves and overcoming every evil inclination, and bringing their dispositions into complete subjection to the mind and will of God, bringing forth the fruits of righteousness; for every tree will be known by its fruits. No corrupt tree can bring forth good fruit; no good tree can bring forth evil fruit. No Latter-day Saint, that is, a true Latter-day Saint, will bring forth the fruits of unrighteousness or wickedness. No professed Latter-day Saint who is a hypocrite, who is not of God, can bring forth fruit that will be acceptable unto him. I know how we feel as a people. The general feeling in our hearts is that we have borne witness unto the Father and unto the Son and unto angels and unto all the earth, by the course of life we have taken in joining this Church, and in taking upon us the name that has been hitherto so ignominious, in taking up our cross; and because of our obedience to the Gospel of the Son of God there is scarcely doubt in our minds respecting our future condition, that we are almost sure to enter into the celestial kingdom of God and sit down with the Father and the Son, and with the Prophets and Apostles who have gone before. I am sensible of the fact that this feeling is general. And I believe there is no people of the same number who are entitled to this feeling, than the Latter-day Saints are. I say this because there is no people who have endured so much for their religion; and they have witnessed to the heavens and the earth their willingness to forsake all things for its sake. They have taken no thought of their lives; they have taken no thought in times past as to what they should eat, as to what they should drink, or as to what they should wear and they have held themselves ready to sacrifice their all for the Gospel of the Son of God. But there are other duties, there are other obligations resting upon us as a people besides these to which I have referred. And it is necessary we should live a Godly life after we have done all these things. After we have prophesied, after we have done many wonderful works, after we have received the Holy Ghost and cast out devils, it is essentially necessary we should do other things, and that is to carry out in our lives the principles of our Lord and Master. And upon these points we need continued instruction and reproof; we need continued warning least we should be overcome by the spirit of the world and become self-deluded by imagining that our case is a good one, our condition is a sure one, and that we are secure of eternal life. We should always remember that which the Apostle Paul says—“Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” There are none of us in so secure a position but what we may do things that may displease the Father.

It is necessary, as the world have been taught by the Elders of this Church from the beginning, that men should have faith in God; and it is as true today as it was anciently that faith without works is dead. It is necessary that men should repent of their sins, and it is not only necessary to repent of, but to forsake those sins and be baptized for the remission of them, and that they should receive the laying on of hands, according to the apostolic pattern, for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and without which no man can see God, nor dwell in his presence, nor prepare himself to dwell there. Man needs it all the time to be with him to assist, to guide him, acting as a monitor to him. The Elders of this Church have testified that these things are necessary and essential to salvation in the kingdom of God. It is just as necessary now as in ancient days that men should take a certain course in order to receive certain blessings, and this is the great cause of the disunion and the variety of opinions which exist in the religious world today. It is because men have departed from the truth as it was originally; it is because they have changed the ordinances of the Gospel and broken the everlasting covenant as foretold by Isaiah. And hence, when you travel through the world of Christendom today, you find every variety of religious belief. You can scarcely conceive of a doctrine that is not entertained. There is but one Christ, and Christ is believed in, or at least men profess to believe in him. But they have some three different kinds of baptism, and I have heard of more. There are as many methods of approaching the Savior and obtaining remission of sins, almost, as there are sects and denominations; and all professing to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, as though the Lord were the author of confusion, as though the Lord were the author of strife. Hence it is that there is so much infidelity, so much atheism, and so many men that deny God; for they can see nothing admirable or desirable in the professions of Christianity, as it is called. And why so? Because men have strayed from the truth; it is because they have forsaken the faith and doctrine taught by the Savior; and having departed from it, of course they are left to themselves. Every reformer that has arisen has presented some new form of doctrine; he has enunciated some new ideas, or ideas which he thought were new. He promulgated some new teachings, and has not failed to draw some followers, according to his popularity.

The Latter-day Saints believe that the Lord has spoken from the heavens. And this appears to be very objectionable. I remember the time, in my boyhood, when it was thought the worst thing—that is, before the principle of plural marriage was taught. It is very often said now, “If you were not polygamists, and did not believe in polygamy, there would be no trouble. You are a pretty good people, you ‘Mormons,’ if you would only get rid of your peculiar institutions we could got along with you.” It seems to be but a few years ago when we were not known generally as believers in plural marriage, and what was the objection to us then? “You ‘Mormons’ believe in new revelation, and we do not know what kind of revelation you may get: you may profess to receive a revelation and get a false one, and we do not know what may be the result; it is a dangerous doctrine.” Well, it is a dangerous doctrine for the wicked world. But think of it. What is there about the doctrine of revelation—continuous revelation from God, that conflicts with the Gospel as taught in ancient days? Why, we are taught in the Bible that all flesh are equal in the sight of God; that he that works righteousness is acceptable to God in every generation among every people; that God does not confine his mercies and providences and blessing to one generation, or one people, or one nation, but that he is God over the whole earth; that his salvation is as boundless as eternity, and his hand is over all his handiwork—that is, over all his creations. That he was the God of Adam and those who lived contemporary with him; was the God of Noah and was mindful of him and those who lived contemporary with him who feared him and kept his commandments; and also of the Savior and the Apostles; and he is the same God today as he was yesterday, the same God in this year of our Lord one thousand, eight hundred and seventy-eight, as he was in the first year of our era; and that he has not changed or grown old, that his eyes have not grown dim, or his arm less powerful to save today than it ever was. And this doctrine appeals to every human being as divine truth, as the revelation of nature to man—if you may use the word nature, if you do not like the word God—that all men of every generation are equal before God; and it is a doctrine that runs through all the teachings of every inspired man through all the ages. And I would not give a fig for a religion that did not teach it, nor a system that did not recognize it. It is not worthy of a place in a man’s belief.

We believe, then, that God has revealed himself to man again, for his own purpose, to accomplish his own design and to prepare a people for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. For we believe he will come that he will come to reign upon the earth and to establish righteousness and uproot iniquity, and carry out the doctrine I have read in your hearing; and establish an order of society that shall have for its basis eternal truth, some of the principles of which I have read to you. We believe he is coming for this purpose and to destroy all those man-made systems, and this inequality, and this fraud, and all wickedness that prevails. He will do it, better than Kearney, better than Labor Unions or Working-men’s Leagues. He will do it better than any man-made institution. In fact the whole of them will be overturned by him; and he will introduce a plan by which every man will recognize the value of his brother man, a plan by which the poor can rejoice, and which will prevent the oppressor and the evildoer and the strong hand of Wealth from controlling and governing the earth, as is the case today. And it is for this purpose that the Gospel has been restored; and we have commenced to practice some of the principles calculated to bring about this condition of affairs. Imperfectly we admit, very imperfectly; but nevertheless the principles themselves are true and are perfect, however imperfectly they may be believed in and carried out by those professing to be the followers of them, and, as I have said, the Lord has restored the ordinances in their ancient power and in their ancient purity; and the results we see before us today, to a certain extent, in this Territory. We are partially united; and I thank God for it; I praise him every day of my life that my lot is cast among this people, and that I am counted worthy to be a member of this Church. However humble my station may be, I still feel that I would have abundant cause for thanksgiving in the fact that I am a member of this Church and that through membership I have a claim to the fellowship of this people. Imperfect as we are, I never– theless feel thankful for the degree of union that we have attained to throughout these valleys. I am thankful for these my brethren and these my sisters. When I see their union and course of life and the disposition they manifest in the midst of the temptations which surround them, I feel thankful that the Gospel has been restored and for the power it has upon the hearts of those with whom I am associated. To me the spectacle is one that fills me with thankfulness and admiration to God, when I see these elements gathered to these mountains from so many different nations and peoples, notwithstanding our peculiarities and original differences of faith and of language education and training, to see them dwell together so peacefully as they do, loving one another and ever ready and willing to do good to each other; not to the extent probably we should do or that we are required to do, for in too many instances we forget ourselves and partake too much of the spirit of the world. But I am thankful, as I have said, for that which I do witness, for the union and love and disposition to deny ourselves, and the reverence we have for God and sacred things and also the regard we have for his Priesthood.

This Gospel to which I have referred, if taught and believed in and practiced by the inhabitants of the earth, would revolutionize the face of society; it would change the affairs of the earth, as we witness them. Instead of one man lauding it over his fellow man, as though he were made of better clay, as though he were made of porcelain, while his neighbor was made of common stuff, and thinking himself entitled to better board and bed and finer clothes, and to live in greater ease, instead of feeling that way, when the principles of the Gospel are practiced by us in their en– tirety, we will get rid entirely of these feelings, and we will seek to carry out that which he has commanded his servants, namely to love your neighbor as yourselves; and not to profess to do it; but do it. And when we trade with our neighbor, instead of taking advantage of him and of his ignorance and necessities, trade with him as we would want him to trade with us under similar circumstances, and mete out to him even handed justice, as we would wish him to do to us were our positions reversed. These are lessons required of us in the Gospel; to learn them and practice them, and then struggle with our weakness—for these are weaknesses of our nature—and they come in contact with this sort of doctrine, these heavenly and advanced principles which Jesus taught when upon the earth.

It is an easy thing to tell a true Latter-day Saint from one who only professes the religion; it is an easy thing to tell a false Prophet from a true Prophet; it is easy to tell where a man gets his doctrines from, whether from beneath or from above, by the fruits that they bring forth. The doctrines of the Lord Jesus Christ bring peace; they bear testimony to every man’s soul who practices them that they are true. And if a man wants to know whether God lives and whether Jesus is his Son, and had a right to teach the doctrines accredited to him in the Bible, let him practice those doctrines, and he will find out for himself that they are true, because there will be a spirit that will bear testimony to him of their truthfulness. He will have the spirit of heaven, the spirit of peace, the spirit of love, of charity, of patience and forgiveness, and the spirit of joy in his heart. But when he believes them and comes in contact with them, there is another spirit takes possession of him, and his joy, his peace and happiness take their flight.

Why, brethren and sisters, it is good for us on this the Lord’s day to leave our business, leave our workshop, leave our counting houses, leave our stores and our fields and farms, our gardens and cattle, and the other things that engross our attention during the six days of the week, and come here on the Lord’s Day, and ponder upon his Word and on the doctrines given unto us, and treasure them up in our hearts, and seek them a practical application in our lives as fast as we can. And the more a man seeks to do this, the more he labors in his own individual interest. In one sense it makes but little difference, and will make but little difference to me what your fate may be. It is true it would add to my happiness to see and know that my friends were saved and exalted in the presence of our Father; but the great duty devolving upon you and me, is to see that we are individually saved. It is not for me to watch and scrutinize and comment upon you, having my attention directed to your weaknesses, and then say, “There is Brother So-and-So; how unworthy he is;” or “There is Sister So-and-So, look at her conduct, and what poor management she has in her household; and how she treats her household.” It is not for you or me to do this one to another, but it is for each one of us to look at ourselves and examine our own hearts, look at and scrutinize our own conduct doing that which is right in the sight of God ourselves.

Are we individually complying with those requirements which Jesus gave his apostles? If we are, it is well with us. If we are not it matters not how many others are doing wrong, it does not help my case or excuse you in the least degree. But it is for me to do right myself; it is for me to carry out and practice in my life the principles revealed, and which I know to be true; and then whether those on the right or those on the left do wrong, it makes no difference so far as my individual salvation is concerned. And this is practical religion. If I were to sit down and begin to relate to some of my neighbors the faults of another neighbor, do you think that would add to my perfection? No, it would tend to make me more contemptible in the sight of God, and in the sight of all men more just and upright than myself. Therefore it is our duty to indulge in and practice self-examination, and self-condemnation if necessary. The man that looks at himself in the light of the Spirit of God, and who is a humble man, will not find much fault with his fellow man; for the presence of his own faults arise before him continually when he sees another man’s weaknesses, and instead of filling him with self-pride and self-justification and feeling self– righteous, it produces a feeling within him of commiseration for others, and the spirit of charity takes possession of him, and undoubtedly a prayer ascends from his heart to God in behalf of him who had given way to weakness desiring the Lord to deliver him that he might not be left to be overcome by the adversary. There is too much talking among us about one another. If we perceive a weakness in a brother or a sister, instead of talking about it, we should rather pray for him or her; it would be much better for us. If we are so perfect that we need no help ourselves, let us exercise faith for those who are not in so good condition, and pray the Lord to help them, that they may be enabled to overcome.

The Lord bless you, brethren and sisters, and help us to be that which we profess to be, not only to be Latter-day Saints in name, but in word and deed, exemplifying the principles of our religion in our lives; which I ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by President George Q. Cannon, delivered at Ogden, on Sunday Morning, July 21st, 1878.

I am very pleased this morning at having the opportunity of meeting with the Latter-day Saints in Ogden, and I trust that while I shall attempt to address you, I shall be assisted by the Spirit of God, in making such remarks as shall be appropriate to your circumstances and condition. Brother Hardy, in his remarks, said we were the people of God, and that we were engaged in establishing His Kingdom on the earth. If this is so—and I suppose you as Latter-day Saints who are present today, can bear testimony that this is the case—then we ought to be a people entirely different from every other people upon the face of the earth; because there can be but one people of God, or one Church of God, or one Kingdom of God; there cannot be two, nor three, nor more, one opposed to the other. Everything that has been revealed concerning God, concerning His Church, and concerning the principles of salvation, leads us to the conclusion that there is a oneness, that there is union, and that divisions and opposition cannot exist among the people of God; it would be entirely inconsistent with every idea of the eternal Creator to suppose anything else than this. Hence, no matter where you find those who are truthfully the people of God, you will find them under all circumstances united, thinking alike, believing alike, and acting alike. That is, having the same objects in view, the same aims to reach, and being prompted by one common motive or impulse. Therefore, having this view, I differ, upon some points, from some who are called Latter-day Saints, who seem to entertain the idea that because we are in the world we must necessarily be of the world, a part of them; and that the standard which is looked up to and recognized in the world as correct, is one to which we should conform. Now, in this respect I differ from those of my brethren who entertain these ideas. I think it is our duty, making the professions we do and occupying the position we do, to be so far as necessary entirely original, or to use a word that is commonly used to describe us, a peculiar people. Because the world have a certain way to accomplish certain objects, I do not recognize it as at all necessary for us to do the same as they do. And I am quite willing that it should be known and understood, so far as I am individually concerned, that in many respects I differ from the world by which I am surrounded: and that in being a Latter-day Saint I claim the right, so long as I act in accordance with the rules of good order and do not violate any rules of decorum, to do as I please, to think as I please, and talk as I please. This is a right that I claim as a Latter-day Saint. If I choose to believe that God has established upon the earth His Church, at the head of which He has placed a Prophet, and I choose to believe in that Prophet, to listen to his teachings, to be guided by his counsels, I claim that so long as I do this and do not interfere with my fellow citizens in the exercise of their privileges, it is my right to do so. If I choose to believe that the Lord has placed in His Church Twelve Apostles, to whom He has given the keys of the Apostleship and authority, and to whom He has committed the last dispensation, requiring of them to go to all nations as messengers of life and salvation, or see that the Gospel is carried to all the nations of the earth, and I choose to listen to their instructions and counsels and be governed by them, choosing to acknowledge them as channels through which life and salvation shall flow unto me, and that every administration of the laws and ordinances of God’s House is sacred and holy; if I choose to do this, I think it is my right to do it, so long as in doing so I interfere with no other man’s rights and privileges. So in relation to gathering together. If, as a Latter-day Saint, I choose to leave other societies and communities and separate myself from them, to cast my lot in the midst of a people with a faith similar to my own, to choose them as my associates and mingle with them, and to patronize them and uphold them in all their labors and undertakings, who is there that has the right to question me in so doing, so long as I do not interfere with the rights of my fellow citizens? In speaking thus of myself, the same applies to this entire people; for that which is right in individual cases, is right in cases of an entire community, whether they be numbered by thousands or millions. A great deal of fault has been found with us, as a community, because of these peculiarities, because we choose to believe that God our Eternal Father has established His Church and placed at the head thereof a Prophet; because He has established His Church and placed therein Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Teachers and other helps: because He has restored the everlasting Gospel in its simplicity and power; and also the gifts thereof, so that men can enjoy them again; because, I say, we believe in this and claim this, a great many are disposed to find fault with us. Now, I claim that it is nobody’s business but our own what we believe, as to how we live, as to how we do or how we organize ourselves, so long as we do not violate law and do not trample upon the rights of those by whom we may be surrounded who are our fellow citizens. I speak thus because of some things which I notice in our midst. Now, I am away considerably, and when I get back I suppose I look upon the condition of affairs here with a little more scrutiny than if I were here altogether. And I notice this, that there is a disposition among some who belong to the Church to truckle, a tendency to bow, a tendency to drift in the direction of society as it exists elsewhere, and I have noticed that some people are dreadfully afraid of the association of church and state, dreadfully afraid that somebody will be mingling politics and religion, that someone who holds office in the Church among us may hold some political office. I do not share in that fear in the least. I have never shared in it, I hope I never shall, and have no idea I ever shall. To do this, I am too conscious of the fact that the Latter-day Saints have been led to these mountains by the Almighty, through His servants, and that He has given unto us rights as citizens of the land, and being in the majority, it is our right to govern this land, to govern it in such a manner as shall secure to all men who enter its borders their rights, whether they be Latter-day Saints, Methodists, Presbyterians, Infidels, or anybody else, either “heathen Chinese” or civilized American. The Lord has given us ability thus far to govern the land; and it affords me no little pleasure to be able to say that there is no part of this nation so well governed as this Territory, which has since the day we came here been governed by the “Mormon” people; and there is no part of these United States that compares with this Territory for prosperity, for good order, for good government, and for freedom from taxation and everything else that is burdensome. And to whom is the credit due? It is due to the Lord; and next to Him it is due to His servants and people.

There have been attempts, and there will be continued attempts made to wrest the control of this land from us. We are engaged in a warfare; we have been told from the beginning that it is a warfare that will not cease until righteousness prevails on the earth. Every man that enters into this Church, if he understands the nature of his calling, understands that he enters into a warfare to contend for the triumph of truth. Do not those who are opposed to the Latter-day Saints recognize this? Certainly they do; and their efforts have been, and are so directed today, and will continue to be, to wrest that power from us which the Lord has given unto us. They would throw dust in the eyes of the Latter-day Saints, if possible, and try to foster in the minds of the people that there is something very inconsistent with the Constitution and genius of our institutions for men who are religious to have anything to do with politics. It is considered all very well for a wicked man to hold office; he can mingle in politics and help to frame the government of the country; but the man who makes any profession of religion, especially if he be an official in the church to which he belongs, has no right to meddle in politics, or interfere in any way with the government of society. This is all wrong from beginning to end. Admitting what I said in the beginning, that we are the people of God, I would ask, what better people can be found, and what more suitable people to take charge of the affairs of mankind in the earth and establish righteous principles and maintain laws under which all men can dwell in peace and be entirely free from oppression and everything of this character? Who, I would ask, are better qualified to do this than the men who understand the principles of truth? Suppose, for instance, that today and from this day forward, the Latter-day Saints, those who are active in their religion and in the performance of the duties of their religion, were to withdraw from politics and leave the government of this land to others, what would be the result? It would not be but a little while before the scenes we see in other places, and that are deplored by every lover of liberty in the country, would be enacted in this part of the land; you would see a condition of affairs that would cause you to mourn, and you would be willing to flee to any place almost to be free from participating in them. This would be the result if those who are active, as Latter-day Saints, were to withdraw from participation in these matters. But is this the design of the Lord? No, it is not; He never did design that this should be the case, and it would be a want of wisdom on our part, as a people, to allow any such a condition of affairs to exist. I maintain that Latter-day Saints have a perfect right to hold office, and they should not be excluded from office; that whenever the people choose to elect one of them, it would not be considered improper in the least degree, no matter what his standing, he has a perfect right to hold that office; and if he be a righteous man, the better it will be for the people, if he will condescend to take upon him the duties of the office. Instead of excluding such a person I would feel thankful to him to fill it, feeling assured that such men would give satisfaction, and that while they were in power good government would be preserved in the land. Some of our enemies have come to Congress, and have complained about “Mormons” holding office. I have said, gentlemen, if you would exclude a “Mormon” from holding office, because of his ecclesiastical authority, you will have to exclude every man of worth in the Territory, for there is not a man of worth in the Territory who does not hold some office in our Church. The shoemaker who works at his trade for a living, may be called upon on the Sabbath to preach to the people; the carpenter, the blacksmith, the mason, the man who works from Monday morning to Saturday night may be called upon to preach the Gospel of salvation; and such men are all the time being called to go to the nations of the earth as ministers of the Gos– pel; and if it be a crime for a man to hold a political office who is a minister in our Church, then you will have to exclude every man of worth in our Territory, for our Bishops are our most prominent and active business men; and there is this feature with those who act in this Territory, they act without pay; and the men who distinguish themselves in the manipulation of their own affairs are generally selected to manage the affairs of the public, and they are men most suitable to attend to business affairs, to act as Probate Judges, or in any other office. When this is explained, it is very rarely you will hear a man find fault. But there are some who complain about the “Mormon” hierarchy, who do not seem to know that it consists of the entire people, and that every man of worth, professing the faith and religion of the Latter-day Saints, belongs to that hierarchy.

I trust none of the Latter-day Saints are tender on this point. I would proclaim it to the world that we have such confidence in our leading men, the men who have made this country, and who have planted our feet in these mountains, the men who have all the day long urged the people to habits of industry, and to become self-sustaining, the men who framed our governments—our city government, or county government, our Territorial government, such as we have today, and who organized us as we are organized here; I say, I am not ashamed to acknowledge that I am willing to be led and governed by the counsels of men who have done such wonders, as we witness on every hand. Call them Apostles, call them Prophets, call them Bishops, call them Elders, call them anything you please that is honorable, I am not ashamed of it. I would just as soon they dictate as to have a little caucus do it. I have seen these caucuses outside of this Territory and among non-Mormons. A few men get together and caucus, and plan and arrange, and they get up a ticket, and lay their wires so that others will sustain it, and the Convention will sustain it, and by this means get their favorites into power. This is a common practice all over the United States. I would deplore it as one of the greatest evils that could occur to us, that there should be a scramble for office among the Latter-day Saints. When two or three brethren, who aspire for office, try to divide the people, this is something to be deplored. I therefore have always advocated keeping down our salaries, that offices may not be very desirable, so that men shall not desire to get possession of office to use it, or feel that because they are elected once to office they ought to always have it. We should always be ready and willing to serve when called upon, and just as willing to decline when required, having at heart the good of the community. A great many of the Members of Congress during the last session were exceedingly anxious for an early adjournment. Why? That they might return home in time, to manage the primary meetings, because if they did not, there was every probability that they would be defeated. It has been noticed, for instance, that Oregon has never elected the same man twice. Why? Because when the convention met to nominate a candidate the member would be in Washington, and somebody else would be nominated, and he would be left out in the cold. It is a remarkable fact that from that State up to the present date a Member of Congress and a Senator has never been elected twice for the same term. And there are other places similarly situated, where men have to be home to superintend the nominations, or they would lose the election. I cannot tell how many times I have been congratulated on the ease with which I have been elected. Members ask me if I have to spend much money and time to secure my election. I tell them it has never cost me any trouble in the least; that I have been elected because the people want me; and when they do not want me I should stop at home. There are some districts in the United States in the same condition, where men are so strong in their districts that it is not necessary that they should return to arrange for their election. But in the most of cases this is what they have to do; they have to watch very carefully, and have their friends on the watch for them, and lay their plans so that they may not have their primary meetings and conventions captured by their enemies. I would indeed deplore the existence of this condition of affairs among us. If there should be any division of sentiment among us at any time, let us do as brethren and sisters should do—for the sisters have a voice in this matter as well as the men, and their voice should have weight; there should be representatives of both sexes—and arrange our differences in the beginning, in our first meetings and there settle them; and then let us go to the polls united, as one body, sinking any differences of opinion we may have, being determined to carry out that which the majority decides upon, because the majority should rule, and this is a principle that should be recognized. The voice of the majority should be potent, and have influence with the minority, and the minority should not rebel against the majority. You take a republican caucus or a democratic caucus; let them get together and talk about any principle or upon any nomination. They set us an example in some respects, which we might imitate with a good deal of profit. I have seen and known of them quarrelling, and have heard strong arguments—the most bitter arguments; but after the vote has been taken, after the will of the majority has been announced by vote, then the minority submit and cast their votes with the majority. It is so in nominating the Speaker of the House. The Democratic speaker of the House is not the choice of the entire Democratic party, but he is the choice of the majority. So with the doorkeeper, sergeant at arms and the various officers selected, and the minority submits to the majority. So with the Republicans in the Senate. It should be so with us, as a community; we should be willing to submit to the will of the majority upon these points.

I am thankful, brethren and sisters, in coming back to find so much prosperity in our Territory. You may think you have had hard times, as I have no doubt you have, there is a scarcity of money, and in some instances a scarcity of labor. But compared with the condition of the East, you can well say you have a good deal of prosperity. It is a most painful thing to witness the amount of destitution and poverty found in many of the eastern cities, and through the land generally. You can scarcely walk from the Capitol down Pennsylvania Avenue to the hotel, without being solicited as many as half a dozen times for charity, colored people and white people soliciting alms. And this is the case in most cities. It is most painful to see respectable people, people whom you would not suspect were in want, from the appearance of their clothes, ask for alms. And this is the case almost universally throughout the east. One of the most grave fears I noticed in the minds of members during this and the summer previous to the adjournment was, that the difficulty arising from the hard times, the want of labor, etc., would give rise to destructive riots. It is true that men’s hearts are failing them in looking forward for the things that are coming to pass.

In this respect we are not without our difficulties. We have trouble about water. That is one of the weighty questions that is looming up in our midst—how to divide our water equitably and justly, and will have to receive attention. Another question is, how to employ our poor people; how shall we put an end to idleness in our midst? How shall we furnish employment to our numerous children, our young men and women growing up? What shall we do to furnish an abundance of employment for everyone who desires labor? These two questions require attention. But notwithstanding the existence of these difficulties, our condition in many respects is a most enviable one. We have a healthy country; we have a country where we can live in peace and quietness. The rights of society have been respected thus far in our midst; secret combinations do not exist among us having for their object the overthrow of existing institutions or the destruction of society and property, or the reducing of property to one common level. There are no evils of this kind menacing us today. We have an abundance of land. It is true our land is dry land: but still there is plenty of room for our young people to spread out. And there should be one principle, I think, observed by us, and that is, that every father and every man who has influence in our various localities should endeavor to the extent of his ability and opportunity to bestow upon our young men a knowledge of the various branches of business. It is a matter pressing itself upon our attention, and it should receive attention from us; that every boy and every girl in our community should be taught something, some branch of skilled industry by which they can sustain themselves. If our boys wish to become farmers, make them the best of farmers, endeavor to teach them some knowledge concerning agricultural chemistry, so that they will be the better qualified to make our land as productive as it can be made. Let our girls be taught branches adapted to their sex, by which they can sustain themselves. Let our great desire in this direction be to become a nation of producers, that idleness may not be known in our land. This is a matter that must receive attention; it has received some, but it must receive more. If some of our boys evince a desire to become herdsmen, efforts should be made to put them in possession of books on stock-raising. The very best sources of information respecting this business should be placed within their reach to enable them to raise the very best animals; and this desire to make the best use of the blessings of God, should be encouraged and entertained by all. Do not forget, my brethren and sisters, the teachings you have heard and which have been repeated in our hearing for so many years; I refer to the saving and storing of grain; for the day will come when you will see the wisdom of doing so, and when many of you will doubtless wish you had profited by it. For I tell you that wars and desolation will cover the land, just as prophets have declared they would; and these are coming, coming, coming, as plainly and as surely as the light comes in the morning before the sun rises above the summit of yonder mountains, and before we see his rays. We see the light approaching from the east, which gives us notice that the sun is upon us, and that we will soon feel his rays. So with the signs of the times at the present. We have only to read the newspapers, and look abroad and see confusion, and see difficulties, and see war, and see pestilence foreshadowing themselves over the land. And these things will come to pass as sure as the Lord has spoken it, and as sure as His servants have testified to these words. I say you should be thankful every morning, noon and night, and all day long, that you are in these mountains, and that your families are so comfortably taken care of in these secluded valleys. You may have difficulties to contend with, we may have many things that render our position unpleasant; but nevertheless our position is the most enviable of any community or any people within the confines of the United States, from Canada in the north to Mexico in the south. There are no people who enjoy a more enviable position. Men have already begun to accord this to us, and say our location is exceedingly desirable. And the fact is being understood and recognized, that there has been what they call a series of fortunate circumstances, but which we call the providences of God, around this people, that have placed us in a most wonderful position to exercise power and do great good. Every time I come home I have these feelings deepened in my heart. I feel more thankful every time I come in sight of these mountains from the east; it seems that every trip increases my thankfulness, to see the homes and places which God has given unto us, to which He has led us and which He has made so blessed in our dwelling here. We are blessed with pure healthy water; and the sun, although its rays are fierce, does not have the effect upon us as upon the people in the east. If the thermometer were to rise 10 degrees higher, I would rather endure the heat here, say at 100 degrees, than at 90 degrees in the east. I feel more vigorous, which is doubtless in consequence of the cool and refreshing canyon breezes which blow down upon us evenings and nights, which enable us to recuperate from the wastes of the day. This is only one thing, but it shows how good the Lord has been in leading us out to this land; and the time will yet come when we will appreciate our position, geographically, still more, when the calamities which have been spoken of by ancient and modern prophets overtake the inhabitants of the earth as well as those of our own nation. Look at our nation for instance; it is asserted by a majority of the people that the President has been put in his position by fraud. Although it has not been proven that President Hayes has been a party to the fraud, and indeed, I believe him to be free from accusations of this kind, yet this does not change the fact that a majority of the nation believe that he occupies the presidential chair through fraud. And of course if this is the case his Cabinet is not legally chosen. But it shows the condition we are coming to; those of you who are posted in the results of what is called the Potter investigating committee are acquainted with the irregularities that have been brought to light, which alone give an idea of the state of society.

Shall we, brethren and sisters, allow ourselves to drift into this channel? When men come to us saying that it is not right that we should manage our election affairs as we do, shall we hearken to them when there are such examples before us all through the east? I say it would be placing ourselves in a most undesirable and critical position; it would be throwing away the blessings God has given us, and which He wishes us to magnify and appreciate. I hope to see the day when through all of these mountains, from Idaho in the north to Mexico in the south, there shall be a free people dwelling at peace, enjoying the blessings of liberty, enjoying the blessings of a Constitutional form of government, electing their own officers by their own free and unbiased choice, and upholding them; and these officers executing justice and righteousness in the midst of the people. I do already see it in part, for all through these valleys we have a system of government which is the purest Constitutional republican-democratic form of government that can be found anywhere over the United States. I prize it, I know its cost; and we should maintain it, every man and woman should maintain it by standing up for their rights, for they have a right to vote, and vote for any man they may choose, no matter who he may be. When you decide that he is the man to fill the office, then elect him, and if you find that such a man does not suit you, when the time comes, change him, and uphold such men only as will maintain the laws and the princi– ples of Constitutional government, and honor the office to which they are elected. Let us never feel to oppress any man because of his religious views, or because of his poverty or because of his political views; but to the contrary, feel that it is a sacred duty imposed upon us to tolerate freedom and preserve good order, and see that integrity and honesty prevail in the land. And you will see the day, and it is not far distant, when these mountains will be the stronghold of a free people, and when men will come here because the principles of the Constitution will be maintained here; and they will be protected in their political and religious rights. And this is the mission which God has given unto us. We should stand shoulder to shoulder, and let no man divide us, no matter who he may be. It is our duty to bind these people together in the strongest possible manner by the bonds of righteousness, not in iniquity, not by secret combinations, but by the bonds of righteousness; because we are few in number, and it is only by our unity that we can be made strong. Let us maintain unity, brethren and sisters; let us maintain it in the Gospel, maintain it in the ordinances that God requires us to submit to; maintain it in all our political affairs, from north to south, and be one, bearing in our minds that a poor nomination well sustained is better than a good nomination not sustained.

That God may bless you, and fill you with His Holy Spirit, and preserve you in the liberty of the Gospel, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Geo. Q. Cannon, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, July 7, 1878.

It is with much pleasure I meet with the Latter-day Saints this morning; it was a great pleasure to me yesterday to sit and listen to the remarks which were made by the brethren who spoke, and to the testimonies which they bore; and I trust that the same spirit which rested upon them while addressing us yesterday, will be upon us, speakers and hearers, today.

I can appreciate the privilege we enjoy in meeting in these quarterly conferences, perhaps more so because of my lengthened absence from home, than I could were I constantly in your midst. After a person has been deprived of food, many of you know how good it is to sit down to a well-spread table. I do not know that the Latter-day Saints are exactly in this condition. There are privileges we need and which we can enjoy, even when away from the body of the Church, which enable those who are thus separated to rejoice in their religion and its blessings. It has been a rule of my life, since I was old enough to comprehend the truth, to so live that the Spirit of the Lord would be my companion, and thus to have peace, to have joy and to have satisfaction of mind; and this I can testify I have had. But still absence from the society of the Latter-day Saints is a great deprivation; at least it is to me.

With regard to our condition politically, I do not think it would be inappropriate for me to allude to it casually, although it is Sunday. There probably never was a time since we have been in these mountains when we were in a better political position than we are today. Notwithstanding all the efforts which are being made against us to destroy our liberties, to embarrass us in our progress and to malign us, the people who reside in these mountains have gained and are gaining a credit which in many respects is very gratifying to those who love the truth. It is a difficult thing to condemn an entire people, and make the world believe that those who manage a Territory such as ours, the affairs of which are so well managed, and are in so healthy and thrifty a condition, are a wicked people. And so far as my observation has extended, I think we are being better understood. There is one thing particularly that I have noticed, that where men and women have visited this Territory, with scarcely any exception, they speak favorably of what they have seen. I have endeavored to urge men of national standing, men who hold high positions in the Government, to visit Utah. And I may say that some of the warmest friends we have, while they do not sympathize particularly with our religious views, but are tolerant and desirous that we should have our rights in common with other people, are those who have visited this Territory and have seen us in our homes, and have had opportunities of witnessing the changes that have been effected in this desert land by our residence and labors.

As to the time when we shall become a state, concerning which considerable is said by outside parties, as well as by ourselves, it is difficult at the present time to say anything definite respecting it. I believe, however, the time will come, and that too before long, when certain exigencies of a political character will arise that will make the vote of Utah necessary in deciding national questions, and under those circumstances it would be important to have Utah as a state. In fact it is already acknowledged that had Utah been admitted as a state when Colorado was, that all this difficulty which has occurred connected with the presidential election would have been entirely settled; indeed it would not have arisen. This is now conceded. But this experience comes too late to be of any benefit in correcting the injustice which we suffered, and to be of any avail in the presidential contest which is now past; but it may have some effect in the future. There are many, a great many men of both political parties who have said to me that they would vote for Utah’s admission whenever the question should be brought up, provided they had a voice in the matter. However, as far as this is concerned I think sometimes it is a matter of comparatively small moment. It is true we have looked to our admission to statehood as likely to greatly relieve us, and to bring about a better condition of affairs throughout our Territory. But the conviction has grown upon me in watching the progress of events, that our being kept in a territorial condition to the present time has been attended with great advantage to us as a people. The experience we have gained under this condition of affairs is an experience that is necessary to us, and without which we could not so well, in my opinion, fulfill the destiny assigned to us. I believe there is an overruling Providence in all these affairs; I believe the Lord is watching over this people, and that he is controlling and shaping events and circumstances, and managing everything connected with the affairs of this nation, and our affairs as part of the nation, with a view to accomplish his great designs and purposes. And whenever it shall be wisdom in his sight that we should have our political condition changed and our Territory become a State, it will be effected. And it will come, too, as easily as other changes that have been wrought out and that at one time seemed exceedingly improbable. So that it is not necessary that we should become excited or impatient or indulge in too much anxiety concerning such things, but leave them in the hands of Him who has up to the present time controlled all things for the good of his people and for the bringing to pass of his own purposes.

I consider our condition today in these mountains the best condition that we can occupy. When I travel through the States and converse with gentlemen who are familiar with the affairs of the nation through its length and breadth, I never arise from such conversation without feeling impressed more than ever with the excellence of the circumstances which surround us. It is true we have a desert land, that it is a land requiring excessive toil to make it fruitful and habitable for those who live in it. The grass does not clothe our hills spontaneously; our Territory is not favored with the rains of heaven to make it green with verdure: our fields would be barren indeed, if it were not for the labor of irrigation and the constant efforts of the husbandman. In this respect our country differs very much from every other place east of us. In traveling through the broad prairies of Illinois, with the continuous fields of grain; and through Iowa and Nebraska, so far as Nebraska is settled, and contrasting the ease with which those lands are cultivated, compared with the toil required in this mountain region, I could not help thinking that if we were permitted to live in so goodly a land, under favorable circumstances, we would soon convert it into an Eden. But in the providences of the Almighty we were driven out and led to this land, and the Lord has showed unto us, and is showing to the inhabitants of the earth, that when a people will do that which He requires of them, that he is abundantly able to sustain them and make their labors successful. He has done this in leading us to this country, and in sustaining us since we came here. Our condition in many respects is far superior to those who live in those favored localities to which I have referred. We have a healthy land; we have a land that the Lord has blessed and made fruitful as the result of our labors. It is a land in which men cannot, from the very nature of things, monopolize large bodies of land to the exclusion of their poorer neighbors. This is an advantage to the people of this country. The nature of our surroundings compels us to occupy small holdings and the result is our land is better cultivated, there is a more widespread ownership of the soil than you will find in any part of these United States; that is, there are more men holding land and owning and occupying it, in this country, in proportion to the entire population, than you can find elsewhere. The result, is a condition of independence you cannot find elsewhere. At the present time, in the western States especially, men are greatly concerned about the element known as Communism, which has taken possession of the minds of a numerous class of the people. The working classes are becoming very dissatisfied, and men are trembling for fear of what will come upon the nation. One of the strongest arguments that was made in favor of keeping up the United States army up to its present numbers was, that there would probably be riots in large cities and in populous centers, which would require the presence of the military acting as police to quell. And had it not been for this evil the army would have been cut down. But a good many men were anxious to have it increased, deeming it necessary for the preservation of life and property. When we reflect upon this it shows how changed have become the affairs of our nation, when it is deemed necessary to appeal to military power to maintain good order in the Republic. There can be no surer sign of the decay of a republic than when human life and property and liberty cannot be sustained by the masses of the people, and the military power, the ranks of which are filled with hired soldiers, has to be appealed to sustain good order in the midst of the people. Let such a state of things continue and there would soon be an end of true republicanism.

In this respect we also have our difficulties. The business of furnishing employment for our poor people, so that our streets shall not be filled with idle men and boys, has no doubt pressed, and will continue to press itself upon the minds of the leading men of this Territory. But in comparison with the magnitude of this question elsewhere, it seems to sink into insignificance here. It is a matter of small moment, comparatively speaking, in this Territory; because the great bulk of the people have employment, and can easily furnish themselves with employment. However, this is a matter that should receive attention and from those, too, who care for the people and have their welfare at heart. No doubt everything will be done that should be to preserve good government throughout this Territory, and throughout all these valleys which are inhabited by the Latter-day Saints. The fact is, the time will come, concerning which there has been so much said in the past, when it will devolve upon the people of these mountains to maintain good government, to uphold constitutional rights; and we are receiving the training necessary to fit and prepare us for that great and glorious destiny. I have no doubt that the day will come, and come speedily, when Utah will be looked to, as an example of good government, and that the condition of affairs in this Territory will be pointed to as an example for other communities and other societies to imitate with advantage to themselves and the country at large. There is every inducement therefore for us, as Latter-day Saints, to continue to persevere in the direction in which we are going.

I have no doubt many of you would be surprised if you knew the interest that is being taken, outside of our Territory, in our affairs. When the news of the death of President Young reached the east, there was, I might say, a general expectation that rival claimants to the power he wielded would arise, that dissensions would ensue and that the work of disintegration would commence and the speedy overthrow of the system soon follow. I suppose I have been spoken to hundreds of times upon this point; and men seem surprised that this has not been the result. Many have said to me, “Your affairs seem to go on prosperously, notwithstanding the death of your great leader.” Yes. “Well, we scarcely expected this would be the case; we have heard so much said through the newspapers concerning the probability of dissensions in your midst and quarrels over the leadership, that we were expecting you would have trouble.” I have told them invariably that President Young had all his lifetime acknowledged that the qualities and powers he possessed he owed to what the world call “Mormonism;” that he was not the creator of “Mormonism,” but he himself was the product of it, and that this would continue to increase, no matter how many leaders might die or pass away. The results which have followed the decease of President Young have given to thinking men a higher idea of the strength and power of this system. It assumes a different position in their minds. The idea now begins to prevail that it is not entirely dependent upon the life or the ability of any single individual; and I think the death of President Young has had the effect also to cause men to pause, and to look upon the work a little differently. He was the target at which every arrow was aimed, he was the object of every plot and scheme; every combination for evil had for its object, his destruction or his embarrassment. His withdrawal from the scene spoiled these combinations, and brought these plots to naught. To this I attribute the quiet of the past season. Although I have often been at Washington for the past 20 years, and have spent a considerable portion of my time there for a number of years past, I have never seen less of the disposition on the part of public men to take adverse measures against the people of Utah Territory than there has been this season. The feeling has been to let us alone for the present; and although there were emissaries sent down from here who labored very diligently to stir up feeling and to secure action against the people of Utah, their efforts scarcely created a ripple upon the surface of political affairs, and they attracted no attention outside of the committees, to whom they addressed themselves. Though it is unpleasant upon some accounts to have men there who are circulating all manner of falsehood about the people of Utah to gain their ends, they have their uses. They create discussion. They stir one up, and their presence and opposition furnish opportunities to talk to committees and members about Utah affairs, which otherwise the Delegate would not have. Such discussions made things lively in the committee rooms, but, outside of the committees there was not a feeling that I could discover particularly hostile to Utah. This is a remarkable condition of affairs; and I attribute it in part to the effect that the death of President Young has had upon the public mind throughout the entire country.

I do not think there is any less hostility against the truth; I do not think that Belial has lost any of his hatred to the Lord; but the Lord in his wisdom has permitted a feeling of this kind to grow up, and is overruling it for his own purpose.

I have said the eyes of the people are upon us; they are watching us and great hopes are entertained concerning us by many people who are not of us. We are looked upon as the pioneers in many reforms. The ladies, as you are aware, have lately been agitating in Congress their question—Woman’s Rights. Among other ladies who argued their cause before the general committees of the Senate and the House, was a sister of the Rev. Henry Ward Bencher—Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker, a lady of character and great ability. It was most gratifying to me to hear the tribute that these ladies paid to the women of Utah; not that they sympathized with plural marriage, for they disavowed their sympathy with it; but they begin to recognize, as they never have until quite recently, the true position that the men and women of this Territory occupy upon this question. Indeed, I heard more than one say, and among them was one very prominent lady, that if there had to be a choice, she would prefer plural marriage than to have the condition of affairs which exists in their communities. There seems to have been a good deal of light thrown upon this subject: and our sisters here, through their publication, the “Woman’s Exponent,” as well as other channels of communication, have greatly aided in this matter. Their efforts are commendable, and are already beginning to have their good effects in the States among their sisters; and I am pleased to be able to bear this testimony. When the question of legislation for Utah was argued, the committee rooms were thronged to listen to my argument upon the subject; and on one occasion two ladies took part in the discussion against the bills urged by our enemies and in favor of the rights of the women of Utah. A knowledge of the true condition of affairs in this Territory is gradually growing, and although it may be but slowly, it is of faster growth than we generally imagine. This is especially true of that much abused principle called plural marriage. It is becoming recognized in its true light, and people are beginning, as I never heard them before in my experience, to talk about it and reflect upon it, often alluding to it in a way that shows that a better understanding of the subject is steadily spreading among the people. And there is a reason for this: this question has been so much agitated. It is a remarkable fact that every publication against this doctrine of the Latter-day Saints has the effect to spread the knowledge of it among the people and it makes men and women reflect upon it. Our efforts alone would not be attended with the results that are now witnessed. But every man that has published articles against it, or lectured or written books or made any effort against it, has helped to propagate the knowledge of it; they have been missionaries in its favor. And no true doctrine need ever fear being assailed and denounced; for it will emerge from the conflict brighter and better understood than it otherwise would appear. Every man who has gone down to Washington from here to fight us has made men in Congress think about us and talk about us, and has made editors write about us. They have, without designing it, helped to disseminate a knowledge of our cause. The more the “Mormon” question, as it is termed, is agitated, the better it is for us; the more it is fought, the more it is written against and talked about, the more that Congress is stirred up to take steps against it, the better the principles of our faith are understood; because there are some men and some women who reflect upon these things, and who will contrast that which they hear of us, with that which exists in their midst. And when they see a man stand up boldly and say, “We believe in plural marriage; we do not believe in prostitution; we do not suffer women to become the slaves of men’s lusts; but believe they ought to become honored wives and mothers, and that children ought to be educated and provided for and called by the name of their father, and at their father’s death his property be equally divided among them even though their mothers should be plural wives.” When they hear this, they cannot help thinking about such a condition of affairs; and they say, there is a moral courage which these people evince in this matter that is admirable. I have had it said to me often times, by both sexes, that it is better that we should live as we do, than such practices as exist elsewhere should come in our midst.

So that, as has often been said, everything done against us is overruled for the good and spread of the work of God.

The subject of plural marriage is always an interesting subject, and it is made still more so by the constant attacks made upon it, and the misrepresentations made concerning it. Whenever people meet with a Latter-day Saint, it is almost sure to be the first topic broached. The opinion which some entertain who take their views from the slanderous reports published about us, is that we are a licentious people, who take wives to gratify lust. Such persons, if reasonably honest, are soon made to reflect and to modify their views by asking them a few questions. A prominent gentleman with whom I recently conversed, entertained that opinion. I said to him, after conversing a little while: Sir, you believe the people of Utah are bad and licentious, and that they degrade women by their system of plural marriage. Let me ask you, if their purposes were only sensual, have they any occasion in this day to marry women? Could they not accomplish sensual ends much easier, cheaper, and without creating any especial remark by not marrying women and not caring for and educating and legitimatizing their children? There are practices which prevail in society, and which are not unpopular if a certain degree of secrecy be observed which a licentious people could avail themselves of, without the trouble, care, expense and responsibility of marriage. What is the crime of which the people of Utah are accused? It is that of marrying women! It is not that of seducing or debauching them. All the pains and penalties inserted in bills before Congress for the punishment of the “Mormon” people are affixed to the marriage of women. This is made a crime, and because of it, it is proposed to punish men. Not one word of condemnation, nor penalty of any character, is proposed for the seducer, or the vile betrayer of female innocence; he is to walk up to the polls and vote unchallenged; but the man who marries women, and maintains them honorably and virtuously, sustaining family and parental relations in all purity and sacredness, is to be disfranchised and visited with other pains and penalties! You will perceive, therefore that the “Mormon” people are either not a licentious people or they are the most foolish in the world. No one ever charges them with a lack of shrewdness or prudence. Such a charge would be utterly at variance with all their known characteristics. If they were not a conscientious people, with strong moral and religious convictions, they would not risk becoming martyrs, as they do, for the sake of marrying women, when, if they followed the usual practice of the age, they could get them without marrying.

He frankly acknowledged that what I had said had given him a new view of the case, and he admitted that if the gratification of sensual desires were our object, we could reach that without marriage and without exciting any particular odium. The fact is, illicit connections are winked at and overlooked by very many people in the world while they are kept from public knowledge; they only excite scandal and unfavorable comment when the parties to them are so unfortunate as to become known.

A reply of Bro. Hooper and myself, which we are credited as having made to inquirers who were curious to know respecting our domestic relations, is often quoted and created some amusement in Washington City. Both of us have doubtless made remarks similar to that quoted; the reply, however, is not original with us, but with Bro. Horace S. Eldredge. Upon one occasion, while purchasing machinery in the East, he called upon a firm in Providence, Rhode Island, to whom he brought a letter of introduction. One of the members of the firm, after carrying him in his carriage to see the various objects of interest in the city, brought him back to his place of business and introduced him to his partner. This gentleman had a number of inquiries to make respecting Utah and its people, and soon learned that Bro. Eldredge was a “Mormon.” After stating that he understood that the “Mormons” believed in marrying more than one wife, to which bro. Eldredge replied in the affirmative, he asked if he himself had more than one, to which he again responded affirmatively. He then asked how many he had. To this bro. Eldredge replied: “I have such a plenty of my own that I have no occasion to trouble my neighbors’; and that is more than a great many in the land of steady habits can say.” This was a home shot. His partner laughed heartily. Knowing the other’s character, he could appreciate its applicability to him. After getting his reply, the gentleman had no more questions to ask, and soon made an excuse to go out. Many who have heard of this reply, think the idea embodied in it a capital one, for it is not uncommon in many places for other men’s wives to receive attentions which should be only tendered to them by their husbands.

I desire greatly to see this people prosper and increase in everything which will make them the favored people of God. I want to see us be come a strong people, strong in our virtues; looking after our children, and bringing them up in the fear of God, and teaching them good morals and good precepts; whilst we endeavor to put down those evil practices that are creeping in, such as smoking and chewing tobacco, using the name of the Lord in vain, and also profane and improper language, and to see that our boys and girls are educated in everything that will make them great and noble. It is the great desire of my life to see this people become all that the Lord desires us to be. But when I saw how few there were in this Tabernacle yesterday, few compared to the attendance this morning, I felt the reproofs that were made by brothers Pratt and Woodruff were well-timed, and ought to be taken to heart by all of us, and the disposition be encouraged to be more attentive to our duties.

That the Lord may bless you, and bless all who belong to His Israel, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Geo. Q. Cannon, delivered at the Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning April 7, 1878.

It is somewhat unexpected to myself that I have the opportunity, this morning, of appearing in your midst. Important business demanded my return to this city for a short time; but in consequence of certain responsibilities devolving upon me at Washington, it seemed imprudent for me to leave and come here. A week ago last Friday morning I scarcely thought it possible that I could get away; but during the day I was favored in making such arrangements that I felt I could leave with safety, for a few days at least. And I immediately started for this city by way of Philadelphia.

I am glad to have the opportunity of meeting with so many of my brethren and sisters, of beholding your faces, of listening to the instructions which have been given, and in sharing in the spirit that has been and will be poured out upon us. It is a great relief to one who has been absent for any length of time, mingling with the world, to have the opportunity of associating with you, my brethren and sisters; at least I esteem it as such. I never turn my face homewards without experiencing joy and gladness at the thought of once more being reunited with you.

I never in my life have had a deeper interest in the welfare, in the prosperity and in the advancement of the cause with which we are identified, than at the present time. This feeling has rested with great weight upon my mind; I feel we are living in a most important era of time. I feel that the mission assigned unto us is one that we, at the present time, scarcely begin to comprehend. The most important results that are to flow from it have scarcely begun to dawn upon our minds. At least personally this is my feeling. When I contemplate the immensity of the field of labor that lies before us, the evils and wrongs that have to be corrected, as I believe, through the agency of this people, as also the reforms that have to be effected and to be carried out successfully, it seems to me that as the days roll around, I begrudge the passing hours; I feel as though the days are entirely too short, and that I should like to live for a millennium to help those with whom I am associated to bring to pass the great, the important, the soul-saving as well as body-redeeming plans that are to be carried out in order to bring to pass the designs of Providence in relation to man and the earth.

Already the Latter-day Saints can see that the leaven that has been planted by the Gospel has been doing a gradual work in effecting important changes. It may be thought of a people confined to these mountains, numbering no more than we do, that our influence must be necessarily very limited, and that we can accomplish but very little. But the ideas that have been propagated by the Latter-day Saints, though they have not converted as many to our faith as they should have done, have had a most wonderful influence upon the religious, the philosophic and the scientific world. Ideas that men now believe in and receive readily, Joseph Smith was persecuted and denounced for proclaiming. And while there are millions who do not believe that he was a Prophet of God, or that the principles he taught were revealed from God, there is no mistaking the fact that his teachings, that the truths he advanced, and the ideas which he dissemi– nated, have had a wonderful effect upon the human mind throughout Christendom. If those of you who have had experience in the world, who have arrived at middle age, will let your minds revert to the time when you first heard these principles, and will compare the condition of human thought at that time with the condition of human thought today, I doubt not you will agree with me in saying that, although men and women have not become Latter-day Saints, nor have the mass of mankind received the religious truths in their entirety, as they were taught by Joseph, and as they have been taught by those who succeeded him, yet there has been a very visible and a marked advancement by men and women all over the world wherever the Elders of this Church have traveled. So that it is not in the baptism of people, it is not in the gathering of the people together alone that we are accomplishing great results; but it is in teaching the world the principles that God has revealed to us, and gradually indoctrinating the mind of mankind, to some extent at least, uplifting them from the prejudices and the darkness and the ignorance in which they have been enshrouded to a higher plane, to breathe a purer and a freer spirit of inquiry in religious and scientific thought. Much, however, remains to be done, and it devolves upon us, as a people, to discharge our duty, each one of us, as though the entire responsibility devolved upon us. And herein, probably, there is as much fault to be found with us as upon any other point—a non-recognition by the Latter-day Saints of the fact that God holds us, each one of us, individually responsible; for there is assigned unto every man and every woman an individual labor which he and she must per– form. For myself, I know that the influence of one man rightly exercised is potent for good; or, if improperly exercised, for evil, upon his fellow man. Each man’s life, each man’s conversation, each man’s deportment and walk before his fellow man, wields an influence that he most probably does not begin to comprehend, or understand. And if we all understood this, and acted accordingly, living up to the light and knowledge we possess, just think of the influence that we, as a united body, could wield among the inhabitants of our land, and in fact among the inhabitants of the whole earth.

I look upon our position, politically, as one that is most important, far more important than that of any other community with which I am acquainted. Today it is conceded upon all sides, and the fact is not disputed by intelligent persons, that the Latter-day Saints, or, to speak more properly, the people of Utah Territory, occupy a position superior to that of any other Territory within the confines of the Union. This is conceded. And for temperance, for frugality, for economy, for good government and for submission to the law (if I may except that relating to plural marriage, which is in violation of the constitution, and which was passed as a blow at our religion), for the honest administration of financial and governmental affairs, for the preservation of good order and the maintenance of peace, and for the promotion of education; on all of these points, it is conceded if we are not superior, at least we are the equals, of any other people of our Republic. While the eastern states are burdened with debt and groaning under local taxation, with failures of no mean magnitude occurring continually, and men not knowing what to do to redeem them– selves from their financial difficulties, Utah Territory occupies, it may truly be said, the unique position of being out of debt: no Territorial debt to speak of, no county debts. Notwithstanding the innumerable temptations that have existed, and that our officers might have succumbed to, we are, I am happy to say, free from debt, and also the most lightly taxed community now within the confines of the government. When I mentioned these facts to President Hayes, he remarked: “Your position is certainly an enviable and unique one.” This is conceded upon all hands. In our own neighboring territories, take, for instance, Wyoming, the people of which are justly proud of their position, because they have comparatively little debt; yet their taxes are 2 1/2 higher than ours; and so with all our neighboring territories. Our percentage of illiteracy is lower than that of any of the territories, and also than many of the states; not but that the illiteracy of Utah ought to be lower still, for there is room for great improvement in matters of education. We have 1200 miles of telegraph line owned in this Territory; we have upwards of 300 miles of local railroad, not counting the Union and Central Pacific railroads. This is the condition of this Territory. If we take the statement of the last Federal census respecting our population, and apply the ratio of increase during the previous decade—that is the increase from 1860 to 1870—to the last eight years, it will be seen that Utah has a population of at least 150,000. But our ratio of increase has been greater during the last eight years than the previous ten. The States are divided into Congressional districts, at the present time, with a population numbering about 135,000; that is to say, a district having a population of that number is entitled to a member of Congress. In this Territory our population is in excess of that number. No Territory has ever applied for admission into the Union with so many advantages as ours. In 1789 the Federal Constitution was adopted, and we became a consolidated Republic. This was 89 years ago. We have lived in this country upwards of one-third of that time. It might be thought, then, that with such a lengthened experience and advantages, with such capacity for self-government, with such a developed and lightly taxed Territory, with such good order and freedom from debt, that Utah would be welcomed into the union of states. Why are we not? Because we are “Mormons.” That embodies the whole reason. If we were split up into factions, if we were fighting, party against party, if drinking saloons and houses of ill fame were through all our settlements, and if we were heavily in debt, not having even the requisite population, and were not “Mormons,” we would be admitted into the union of states. What is the reason assigned for it? “We do not want to countenance polygamy. If we admit Utah, we sanction, to a certain extent, polygamy.” This is the reason assigned. Suppose, for instance, that one man of every ten among these “Mormons” is a polygamist, are there any more than that? If there are I do not know it. I have never taken the census, but in the range of my personal acquaintance, as I have scanned them I think that there are not one-tenth of the men in this Territory who have attained their majority who are polygamists. And we will say there are 150,000 people in the Territory, how many of them are men? If we apply the same rule of ascertaining this that we do to other communities—and it will not apply to ours because our children are in excess; but as it is, we will apply the same rule and divide 150,000 by five; how many does it leave? Thirty thousand. We will say there are thirty thousand men in Utah Territory who have attained their majority, and one-tenth of this number are polygamists, What do we have left? Three thousand men. And for three thousand men the Congress of the United States say that the bulk of the people shall not have their political rights. Does it not seem as though by the action of Congress in this respect, that they are uplifting a doctrine comparatively obscure, when you take into consideration the forty millions of people that live under the flag of the United States—and giving it national importance? This is one of the most extraordinary instances of fatuity that I ever recollect reading of in any history; yet such a thing is done, and this is the only reason that can be truthfully and correctly assigned for the refusal, on the part of the nation, of admitting Utah as a State. In spite of all we can say and do, there seems to be a determination to give this doctrine of plural marriage a national and a worldwide importance, like everything else connected with this people. It has been advertised and talked of as though it might be the practice of twenty millions of people, instead of that of three or four thousand men.

Now, I say that we have to teach the world a lesson in this direction. A people patiently pursuing their course, without murmuring, without rebelling, without rising in riotings, when receiving a denial of their legitimate and constitutional rights. Such a spectacle as this is worthy of admiration, especially when it is understood that not an officer within the confines of our Territory can hold an office of Federal appointment, if it be known that he is a “Mormon,” or scarcely if it be known that he is even favorable to the “Mormons.” As soon as the office of Postmaster becomes worth holding, the Mormon Postmaster, who may have held it when it did not pay him for his labor, is turned out and somebody else is put in. The Marshal, the Secretary, the Governor, and Judges and all of the Federal officials were appointed during the last administration from those who were known to have no sympathy with the “Mormons.” It was as much as our present Governor could recently do to retain his position, because he was accused of favoring the “Mormons,” because it was believed that he favored a people he was sent to govern. This is most extraordinary when you think of it; but the most surprising thing connected with it is, that the people thus imposed upon should bear it with the forbearance and equanimity that the Latter-day Saints manifest, under these circumstances.

You remember our last Governor. He started out thinking he had been sent here to govern this Territory and the people of the Territory as his fellow citizens. He was disposed not to know the difference between a Mormon and a non-Mormon; he was disposed to travel through the Territory and mingle with the people, attend their public gatherings, and talk to them, as he would were he in any other place. This he did, and it was brought against him as a crime, as a reason why he should not continue to hold office. And an important official no less a person then the Assistant Secretary of the Interior, was sent to find out whether these things were really true. And this officer of the government, a gentlemen, who is acknowledged to be efficient, and who had served three terms in Congress with credit to himself and his constituency; and who is looked upon as a man of national reputation, and who, in his private life, is considered most exemplary, for no other reason than that he was mingling with the “Mormon” people, treating them as his fellow citizens, was removed from office.

I allude to these things not to find fault particularly, not to embitter your feelings because of treatment you have received, this is not my motive; but to call to your attention the fact that among other things we have to teach this nation and show to the whole world is that, although largely in the majority in this Territory, we have learned the great and most important lesson that a citizen can and should learn, namely, that of obedience. I am glad that this is the case. I am glad to know that the Latter-day Saints are setting an example to their fellow citizens all through the union in this respect. Will this continue? Shall we continue to live as we are living today—denied rights to which we are entitled? We shall, doubtless, for a time, until, in the Providence of the Almighty, we shall be enabled to assume the position that rightfully belongs to us, and receive those rights to which we are fully entitled. The time will come, and it is not far distant—although we may occasionally get tired waiting, and may ask ourselves, how long will it be delayed—but let me say to you that the signs of the times portend for us a much greater degree of liberty than we possess today, or even than we have dared to anticipate. And as I have said often—for I have never failed to declare it—that the Latter-day Saints or “Mormons” as we are called, expect it to be their destiny to uphold constitutional liberty on this continent, and to preserve our government and the forms thereof from overthrow and destruction. I have been taught from my boyhood that this was to be the destiny of the Latter-day Saints, and this people have been trained in the same belief, and we train our children to look forward to it, and to cherish the love of civil and religious liberty in their hearts, toleration for all men of every creed, of every nation, of every language and of every color, that all the sons and daughters of Adam, without exception, who dwell upon this broad land, may enjoy the inestimable blessing of liberty, and that it will be our favored and honored destiny, in the course of human events, unlikely as it may appear today to be the case, to preserve constitutional liberty in this land, which God has said shall be a land of liberty to all those who are righteous who dwell thereon. I have said, and I firmly believe, that the day will most assuredly come when the people of these mountains will become a great factor in the settlement of differences, in the preservation of human rights in the future, in the great contests which seem ready to burst upon us at any moment. You contemplate the condition of the East today! The elements of destruction are widespread in society, and instead of being smothered and allayed, they are more or less fostered and harbored, and are fast maturing; and when certain contingencies arise, they are likely to burst forth, and that, too, to the death and misery of many souls. Think of the feeling that existed thirteen months ago, when it was not known who would be the President of the United States, or whether we would have another President or not. That was a time when the memories of the late war were forced upon the attention of earnest and thoughtful men. They remembered the blood and sacrifices and dreadful horrors of that struggle, and they shrank from the bare thought of their repetition. Had it not been that the great civil war had been so recent, and the recollection of its horrors was so vivid, especially among the Southern people, undoubtedly there would have been a conflict of arms before the President could have been seated in the presidential chair. But men shrank from the dreadful arbitrament of war and they preferred to submit even to what they believed to be wrong, agreeing to a compromise as being better than war.

Our position, as a people, in many respects, is one for which we can be exceedingly thankful. We can congratulate ourselves that we are in these mountains, a land of liberty, a land of freedom. No man, that is a man, can breathe this air and be a slave. When he looks upon those towering mountains, lifting their grand and lofty peaks to heaven, and he breathes the pure air of freedom, and his lungs expand with it, he feels as though he never could bow to slavery, nor his children after him. There is a race springing up in these mountains whose influence and power, sooner or later, must be felt in shaping the future of this nation. There need be no fear about this. Let us pursue the course marked out for us, submitting, if necessary, to wrong, but never failing to protest and contend, nevertheless against it; let our continued protest go forth, that we understand our rights, and that we are disposed to maintain them, as far as we can without violence. Let us continue to pursue our course patiently and unitedly, presenting an unbroken front to the enemy, having no traitors within, no factions, no strifes or bickerings, burying our little piques and feelings, having the one great and grand object to accomplish, namely, the establishment of truth and righteousness upon the earth, that eventu– ally a place and people may be found worthy of Him who will come, and whose right it is to reign. And in pursuing faithfully and diligently the course which God has marked out, you may depend upon it that the day star will arise, and the dawn of that glorious day will be witnessed by all that share and engage in this labor. But how many labors devolve upon us, and how they accumulate and crowd upon us. The labor of lifting up the people and uniting them, furnishing suitable work for the unemployed and for our sons and daughters, that there may be no idleness in our land, that there may be no need of any Union societies to be organized, arraying labor against capital. How necessary it is that we should listen to the words of wisdom and instruction which have been given, counseling us to so organize ourselves and arrange our temporal affairs, that there may not be a single individual throughout our land, who desires to work, go unemployed, but that all may have this blessed privilege, for when men labor they keep out of mischief. You remember the old proverb—“An idle man’s brain is the devil’s workshop.” We want to banish idleness, how shall we do it? By organizing, and every President of Stake and every Bishop making it the study and object of his life to furnish employment to every man under his immediate presidency who may desire it. And thus we will preserve ourselves, and our sons will find employment at home, instead of scattering abroad, going hither and thither: and our daughters, too, will then find husbands who will be in a position to maintain them honorably and properly, and thus marriage be promoted in the land. Our boys, when they arrive at years of maturity and can take earn of a wife, should get married, and there should not be a lot of young men growing up in our midst who ought to be, but are not married. While I do not make the remark to apply to individual cases, I am firmly of the opinion that a large number of unmarried men, over the age of twenty-four years, is a dangerous element in any community, and an element upon which society should look with a jealous eye. For every man knowing himself, knows how his fellow man is constituted; and if men do not marry, they are too apt to do something worse. Then, brethren, encourage our young men to marry, and see that they are furnished employment, so that they can marry.

And then there is the education of our children. O, that we could bestow upon them, in every sense of the word, a proper education, so that they might become the peers of any people. Our children are noted for their brightness of intellect. Teachers say, who come from the east and the west, they never saw children receive knowledge with more ease than the children of these mountains do. We should take all the pains in our power to educate our children, furnishing them the best facilities, that our daughters and sons may be educated and accomplished. And at the same time teach them to labor. I tell my daughters that I want them to learn to wash, and sew, and cook, and become the best of housewives; and that I do not care then how much else they may know about music and other accomplishments, that they may be fitted to mingle with and feel at home in the best society. Girls as well as boys ought to be so trained as to confer dignity upon labor; and the idea, prevalent among some people, that because girls are accomplished they are spoiled and unfitted for labor, or to do housework, ought to be frowned down.

Let us think of these things after we separate and go to our homes; and let us endeavor to carry in our breasts the spirit of this Conference, and diffuse the same among the people not present. And let us so live that the desire may continually well up in our hearts, not how can we aggrandize ourselves, but how can we enrich this community, how can we benefit and bless this people, how can we elevate them and make these multitudes of children growing up in our midst more useful, so that they can be ornaments to society?

I pray the Lord to bless us and preserve us in the truth, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Geo. Q. Cannon, delivered at the Semi-Annual Conference, on Sunday Afternoon, April 6, 1878.

The speaker read from the Doctrine and Covenants (new edition), commencing at the 24th paragraph, and ending at the 33rd paragraph, of section 58.

This is a great people, and if anything would be likely to appall a man and make him feel his own nothingness, it is to stand up before such an audience as is here assembled, to attempt to speak to them and to instruct them. We have, however, something besides our own strength to rely on; if it were not so, I should not be here. The promise of the Lord is that when we assemble together as we have this day, and as we are now assembled, he will give unto us that portion of his word and his counsel as shall be suited to our circumstances, so that every soul shall eat of the bread of life and go away satisfied, and rejoice in the privilege he may have had of coming together as we now are.

This work in which we are engaged embraces more and more. The older I grow the more I become acquainted with its magnitude, with the responsibilities that are connected with it, and especially the responsibilities which rest down upon those who are the chosen leaders of the people.

We know, as was testified to this morning, that this is the work of God, that God has laid its foundation, that God has chosen the men who are associated with it and who are in authority connected with the work, to fill the situations which they occupy. We know also that he has restored the authority that was once enjoyed by man, by which men are enabled to act in the midst of the people in Christ’s stead. And knowing these things we are encouraged as a people and as individuals to press forward and to help establish that cause which he has revealed to the earth. But there are many things connected with this work, with its advancement, with the binding of the people together, with the carrying out of the great designs which God has revealed for the salvation of the children of men; which press upon our attention and cause us to exercise every faculty of our minds in thinking, in pondering upon and in giving shape to measures that shall result in the greatest good to this great people.

The principles of the Gospel we are all familiar with, as a people; we have studied the lesson from the beginning and have become familiar with it in almost all its details. We have traveled, we have preached, we have borne testimony to this work; we have helped to gather the people together, organizing them, before doing so, into branches, into conferences, into missions, and then have organized them into companies to travel by sea, to travel by land, to bring them to the gathering places which have been appointed. With these labors the Elders of this church have obtained great familiarity; they have become experts in preaching spiritual salvation, in preaching the first principles of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ; in telling the people how they shall be saved from their sins, and what they shall do to obtain the promises of God connected with obedience to this Gospel. And we have, in coming to these mountains, obtained considerable knowledge concerning other matters. Probably today a man would not be open to the charge of egotism, of being vain concerning the people, were he to say that, to take the Latter-day Saints, the men of this church, and in no other body of men of the same numbers will you find men of such experience in preaching, in traveling, as missionaries, as Elders, in organizing the people, in handling companies of large bodies of men and women and laying the foundation of settlements, in building cities, in developing countries, and in organizing systems of government in those countries. I do not know that I am open to the charge of being vain concerning the Latter-day Saints when I make this statement—that in all the earth, among all the inhabitants of the earth, you cannot find so large a body of principal men familiar with spiritual things, familiar with tem– poral things, familiar with the handling of large bodies of people and organizing them and dictating their labors and planning for their temporal salvation, and for their good government, as you will find in the midst of these mountains and numbered in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

And yet, after making this statement, we stand, as it were, at the very threshold of our work, just at the door of it; we have scarcely accomplished anything compared to what remains to be done connected with the work devolving upon us. We have made a beginning, it is true, we have solved some problems; but there is an immense amount of work to be done by us as a people, and especially by those who act in our midst in the capacity of leaders. The highest qualities of statesmanship are needed and called for; the highest qualities that men and women possess that make them capable of planning for nations devising schemes and plans that will not only save a town or a small community of people, but that will extend to nations the means of saving them from national peril and from evils that menace the existence of every power that now exists upon the face of the earth.

You look abroad today among the inhabitants of the earth and see their condition, see the evils with which they are afflicted and which threaten the downfall and the overthrow of nations and we need not to go beyond our own land to gain experience in this matter, and to ascertain the danger which besets this republic, the most glorious nation, and the most glorious form of government that exists upon the habitable globe. How many times it is said that this republic cannot stand, that evils are working and undermining the fabric of government, and which threatens its speedy overthrow. You can scarcely talk with a thinking man upon these subjects, a man who takes in, to the extent of his vision, all the evils which threaten our nation, without having him acknowledge that the future, in many respects, looks exceedingly dark, and that it is somewhat doubtful whether the republic can be preserved as it is at the present.

With all these facts, then, before us, it is well for us today, assembled as we are in this general Conference, to take into some consideration our own condition, the circumstances which surround us, and examine them in the light of intelligence and wisdom, as He has given it to us, and whether we should not take steps to preserve our existence, and not only preserve, but perpetuate it, and to increase our power, and to cause that work with which we are identified to continue to progress and to fulfil its high and glorious destiny.

There is one principle which I think in mentioning everyone will see the power of, and that is union. It is a trite saying, often repeated, that union is strength. Certainly we have proved the truth of this saying through the long or short period, as it may be, of our existence as a people. There is no people today with whom I am acquainted who has proved so satisfactorily as we have throughout our past experience, the value of union. It is that which makes us, numerically a weak people, a strong people; it is that which makes us one hundred and fifty or one hundred and sixty thousand, or perhaps two hundred thousand people throughout these mountains north and south, a power in the land; and a power certainly which there is more said about than any other power, probably, in existence. Divide us up, segregate us into denominations, into factions, and what would we amount to? Nothing; our strength would be dissipated, we would be enfeebled, and nothing particularly would be said about us more than is said about thousands and millions of others from whom we are separated. It was the union of the Latter-day Saints which in the beginning created opposition against us, brought it to the surface, and made it moving when there were but fifty or less members of the church. The very fact that a new principle of union, had been brought to light, through which these fifty men and women were united as the heart of one, was sufficient to arouse opposition and create to a certain extent, fear. Sectarian influence was brought to bear against us. “Our creed is in danger, our sect is in danger, our place is in danger, if this people with this union should gain a foothold among us.” Alarm was felt in the ranks of the various sects, and they felt that, although a power insignificant and weak, as it were, it should be fought and its existence extirpated, if possible from off the earth. Hence the opposition it met with in the beginning A few weeks old, like a little trembling, puny infant not able to walk, not able to speak or make itself felt. Yet the very existence of the infant aroused fear, as great fear as that which animated Herod of old when he issued an edict for all the firstborn male children of Israel to be slain. It created terror in the land; and all because a certain babe of Bethlehem had been born, and he hoped, in issuing this cruel edict, to destroy this man-child and with him the power which he feared. So it was in the beginning of this work, when it was weak and feeble it created in the minds of those who watched its birth and its aftergrowth a feeling of fear, and they were determined to destroy it from off the earth, if they could.

When the church moved to Kirtland and the people began to gather together to go to that place to settle, you will see by reading the history, the fear that was produced. And you read the history of the settlement of the people in Jackson County and you will see the same manifestations, only more violent, until such a spirit was engendered that the mob succeeded in driving the people from the county. You can trace it through all the history of this people to the present time. It has been the union of the Latter-day Saints that, as I have before said, aroused opposition, crystallized it and made it as effective as it has been against us. Had we been a divided people, had we been quarrelling among ourselves, had there been factions among us and jealousies among our leading men, you would not have seen this opposition neither would you have seen the credit that has been given to us, nor the power that this people have wielded in the earth to the present time. You would not have seen this spectacle—this inspiriting spectacle of 12,000 people assembled under one roof to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences and the revelations of God, and partaking of the Lord’s Supper, as we are today. You would not have seen these valleys peopled from Idaho in the north to Mexico in the south with settlements of people of one faith, of one belief, worshipping God in the same manner and calling upon him unitedly to bestow upon them the same blessings, and laboring for the same objects. The value, therefore, of union we, as a people, have demonstrated as no other people now living have. And I leave you to your own reflections to imagine what we would be without it. Everyone can think for himself, or herself, upon this subject, and can draw his or her own conclusions. But as we are united and have been spiritually, it is not the design of God, as is clearly manifest in his revelations, plainly spoken through his word, and deeply impressed by his Holy Spirit upon every heart belonging to this church, that this alone is not the object of our organization as a people. It was not for spiritual salvation alone that the word of the Lord came to us to gather out of Babylon; it was not for spiritual salvation alone that the Elders of this Church traversed sea and land for so long a period, gathering the people together at such an expense of time and means; it was not for spiritual salvation alone that we have suffered the attacks and the violence of mobs, that we left our homes in the east—the pleasant places that many left, and crossed these dreary wastes, and planted ourselves in these mountains. There was something more than this embodied in the idea; there was something more than this embodied in the effort. There was temporal salvation also connected with the spiritual salvation that had been extended to us. I use the term “temporal salvation,” because it is better understood probably than any other term I could use. My training has led me to blend the two, it being difficult for me to draw the line of demarcation between the temporal and spiritual; but in many minds there is a distinction. I use the phrase, therefore, that those who are familiar with it will understand my meaning. Temporal salvation is as necessary, according to the faith of the Latter-day Saints, in its time and season, as spiritual salvation. Of course spiritual salvation occupies the first, and ought to be foremost within every heart; but we cannot accom– plish our spiritual salvation and the destiny of our Father and Creator without also connecting with it temporal salvation, temporal acts, the performance of temporal labor. Hence, as I have said, it should occupy some portion of our thoughts, it should be considered by us; and as I have remarked, we have not come out of our present location for purely spiritual performances, but to lay the foundation of a system that should stand forever, that should be connected with man’s existence here upon the earth, both his spiritual and his temporal existence; a work that should affect everything connected with man and his relationship to his fellow man.

A great many of the Latter-day Saints have failed, as I have sometimes thought, to grasp this idea, to grasp the idea that the Lord was founding a great nationality—if I may use such a limited phrase as that; it limits the idea to call it a nationality. The Lord is gathering out from every nation, kindred, tongue and people a community, out of which he intends to form for himself a kingdom, not an earthly kingdom, but a kingdom over which he will preside in the heavens; a kingdom that should be based upon purely republican principles upon the earth; and therefore not a kingdom in the strict sense of the word, so far as its earthly location is concerned; but a republic. And for this purpose, as the Latter-day Saints have believed from the beginning, the Lord raised up the founders of our nation and inspired them—George Washington and others—to do the work that they accomplished, in laying the foundation of a form of government upon this land under which that kingdom that he should establish should grow and flourish and extend itself without interfering in the least degree with the genius of the government. And this is the work in which we are engaged; this is the labor that should occupy our attention, and as I have said, we should take warning by that which we see around us on every hand—the decay, the disintegration of the various governments and powers, and organize ourselves so that we can preserve ourselves, and grow and increase and add to the power we already possess. I believe our people are beginning to take higher views of the organization with which they are connected, and consequently higher views of their own individual responsibility and the labor that devolves upon each one as an individual. We see more of this spirit manifested. The Elders have ever evinced a willingness to go forth at the call of the proper authorities to preach the Gospel and perform labors of this character for the public good; but it has been a difficult lesson for us to learn that it was equally binding upon us, as servants of God, that we should labor in temporal matters with the same devotion trod the spirit of self-abnegation that we did in laboring to preach the Gospel. There seemed to be a higher calling in the mind of man associated with spiritual matters; it seemed to be more dignified; it has seemed to be more worthy of men’s gratuitous labor, than to labor with their hands or brain for the temporal advancement of the work and for the temporal salvation of the people. I believe that you will all have noticed that there is a change taking place in many minds in regard to this, and many men are beginning to take a different view—in fact they have done for years; probably some never had any other view, but a great many who have had different views, who have imagined that it was their duty to look at these temporal matters, are beginning to take different views, to take a higher concep– tion of their responsibility in this direction. It is right and proper that we should do so. There is no good reason why a man should imagine that he has fulfilled the requirements more acceptably, more approvedly in preaching this Gospel, than in laboring, after the people have been gathered home, for their salvation in temporal things.

There is a subject that has occupied a great amount of thought, and has been dwelt upon very frequently in our public assemblies for the past few years; I refer to that of the United Order. There have been some attempts, in fact I may say many attempts at organization with a view to its more complete carrying out. There is another principle connected with this that has been in force also upon our attention for many years past, namely, the system of cooperation in temporal matters. We have felt to a very great extent the importance of this; I believe the spirit, of it has rested upon the Latter-day Saints. When you look back a few years, by way of contrasting our condition then with our condition today, you will perceive, doubtless, there has been a great change effected among us in regard to this matter. There has been considerable thought among the people concerning it; a great many have reasoned upon it for themselves, and have become thoroughly convinced of the importance of the principle. In this a good work has been done, because it is an exceedingly difficult thing to leaven the whole mass of people, like this people who inhabit these valleys, to leaven them with correct ideas and have them understand them. If the First Presidency of the Church comprehend a principle, and the Twelve comprehend it, but the people fail to comprehend it, you can readily understand how difficult it would be to make that principle practical and operative. The leading men, then, have carried the whole people upon their shoulders, so to speak; if under those circumstances anything has to be done it is to be done upon their faith and influence alone. But when you can get the thinking men and women throughout our community to understand and realize the importance of the principle, the victory is won, the work then is comparatively easy of accomplishment. And this has been a subject of congratulation to me in my feelings, that notwithstanding the many errors, notwithstanding the many failures, notwithstanding the lack of success in many directions, the principle of cooperation, the principle of uniting ourselves together in the United Order has been reflected upon, has been cogitated and discussed in all the circles of this people and at their firesides, until it may be said an understanding of it permeates the entire mass of the people, as a people; and there is scarcely an argument needed in talking about it now to convince those who are the most stubborn and reluctant in giving adherence to the principle. When you hear any opponent to the principle express himself nowadays, it is in this way: “It is an excellent principle, if we could only carry it out properly.” The principle is conceded, its correctness is assented to; it only remains now for us to carry it out properly, in order for us to gain the confidence and the support of those who are doubtful upon that point. And I think this a great work accomplished. It seems to me that the Latter-day Saints today are in this position: Tell us what to do and how to do it. You leading men, tell us how we can operate, how we can unite together. Devise the plan, suggest how it can be carried out successfully, and we are on hand to carry it out.” I do not know from your expressions, whether I state your feelings correctly or not on this point; but I state that which I believe, that which I am impressed with in connection with my brethren and sisters, wherever I meet them, and whenever this subject or topic comes up for discussion or mention. There is one thing, brethren and sisters, that must strike us all as being right and proper; and that is to throw our efforts in one channel, to make our influence felt as an entire body and not as I have remarked, to divide ourselves and scatter our influence so that it will be unfelt.

I have endeavored to describe to you the influence we wield because of our union in spiritual matters. The same remark will apply exactly to our union in temporal matters. Let this people be united in temporal matters; let it be known that we work together for one another’s good, that we labor, as a people to benefit the whole and not the individual, and that our influence is in this direction; and I tell you that the same influence, the same power, that wield now as a spiritual organization will be felt in our temporal affairs, in our financial affairs, in all the affairs in fact which attract our attention.

One great object we should aim to reach, that we should aim to accomplish, is to make ourselves independent in regard to manufactures. We have had, the last week, considerable conversation with leading men from various parts of this Territory concerning this principle of cooperation. Notwithstanding some differences of opinion upon some points, upon this one point that I have endeavored to set before you in my last few sentences, there has been an unanimity of feeling and opinion, that is of the imperative necessity of our being united in our business matters, in our financial matters and work to sustain each other and build each other up. I am persuaded that a great amount of good will result from these interviews and from the measures that will be adopted. I have felt that it will be a most excellent thing for us to have a permanent organization of our best business men, and the most practical men, from all parts of our Territory, acting in the capacity of a board of trade, whose duty shall be to look after our manufacturing, mercantile and other interests; and should there at any time be anything wrong in our systems of doing business, tending in the least to prevent perfect union, that the necessary measures might be devised to remedy these things and bring about a concert of action upon all hands. Now you have heard it stated frequently that those who are engaged in home manufactures do not receive the patronage that they should do, that our home manufactories were not treated properly, that those engaged in them did not receive the sympathy of business men, and that the masses of the people were not disposed to patronize then, I think there is at the present time but little cause for statements of this kind; in fact I have not heard of them of late. But if we had such an organization as this—and I understand that Pres. Taylor is thinking seriously of having it a permanent organization—then if there were anything of this character that needed correction, if there was a struggling institution that needed help, by making a requisition to this Board of Trade, it perhaps could receive the support it needed, and be placed upon a firm footing in our midst, and perhaps be able to sustain itself and live.

Already the stockholders of Z. C. M. I. as it is called—Zions Cooperative Mercantile Institution, met, and a report was made by the President and Secretary of that Institution, which I think was most gratifying to all present upon that occasion. I have been familiar with the institution since its inception. I think I can truly say that at no period since its organization was it ever in so good condition, having so few liabilities to meet as it has today. It is in a sounder, healthier and more prosperous condition than it has ever been. I allude to this because it is called the Parent Institution. In Box Elder County where Brother Snow presides, he took the profits of their mercantile business to start the branches of manufacture that are now in successful running order. Our institution has done much in a similar direction. It has carried many a struggling enterprise; it has been the beast of burden for almost every institution and every establishment and railroad almost in the country. It has accomplished an immense amount of good, far more than the mere paying of dividends, although it has done this to a surprising extent. Those who invested their means seem to have become the most discouraged. Therefore, in alluding to it in this manner, it is in justice to it, and in justice to those especially who have all the time, over and again, kept their shoulders to the Institution, sustaining it and bearing it up to the best of their ability. You all know, who have attended conferences in past times, how much President Young was interested in this matter; not so much in the sale of merchandise as in the principle of cooperation. And he and others have stepped forward repeatedly, and have sustained it in the midst of the people, when otherwise it would have gone down. I allude to this because it comes in the line of my remarks, in the thread of my argument, so to speak. To be successful we ought, instead of dividing asunder and drawing one from another, to cling closer together; it is of the utmost importance that all our financial matters should be conducted in a way to contribute to the influence of the whole people; it is of the utmost importance that we should take steps to develop in our midst something of a home character. Steps have already been taken, as some of you know, in the establishment of a tannery, and in connection with it a shoe manufactory I was exceedingly gratified to learn from the report that nearly $100,000 of home manufactured goods, besides a large list of small articles, the value of which was not estimated, had been sold during the last half year by the Cooperative Institution. I am informed that this was the purchase price, the price at which they were sold would of course amount to still more. This speaks well for home manufactures, sold by one institution.

It is an easy thing to tear down; any man no matter what his knowledge, no matter what his experience can pull down; a fool could set fire to a building; a few fools could set fire to a city and consume the works of man that had cost hundred of years of labor. It requires no wisdom for a man to criticize the acts of another man. It is even said that a fool can ask questions that could not be answered by the wisest men. Unwise people can criticize plans and schemes the creation of wise and experienced heads; that is a comparatively easy matter for parsons to do. But it requires great wisdom to organize; it requires great wisdom to create measures that will bind a people of diversified interests together; of varieties of views, dissimilar habits and to some extent of training, and to bring them together, and bind them together, and make one people of them, it requires the highest qualities of wisdom, and it is this we are endeavoring to do. Can it be found fault with? Undoubtedly there are many things in our organizations that are defective; but it is our duty, if there be faults, to correct them. If there be wise men among us let them come forward; let us see their wisdom, and not retain it to benefit one, but let it be used to benefit the whole. There was not any more obligation upon President Young, when he was alive, or upon the Prophet Joseph when he lived, than there is upon us individually; that is looking at it in one light. You and I all expect to share if faithful, the same glory that they will attain to. Every man and every woman in this audience comprising this body of Latter-day Saints, expect, if found faithful, to share with those who have gone before—the righteous and holy, and become heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ; that is, attain to the very highest glory. If this be our aspiration, our hope and anticipation, we should work for that, we should labor for it. In the words of the revelation I have read in your hearing, “He is a slothful servant that waits to be commanded.” A man may do, and he should do many things of his own free will in the exercise of his agency. And if there be wisdom in the breast of any man that has not been brought to light, let it come forth to the light that we may have the benefit of it in causing to be effected a more perfect organization of this people. For I tell you we have a perfect organization in view, and nothing short of it will satisfy us. The Twelve have all had it at heart, and they are bound by the covenants of the Holy Priesthood and by the responsibility which rests upon them, and upon him, who is the President of the Twelve and of the Church. I say we are bound by these covenants and these signs of re– sponsibility, and to labor today, and labor tomorrow, and labor continuously until eternity shall dawn upon us for the more perfect organization of this people in their temporal affairs. And as for division, we want it not; disunion, we want it not. We do not want to see the Elders of Israel fall asunder, dividing this people and leading them away from the union that should characterize us. We say that any man that does it is not of God; the man that does it is not inspired by the Spirit of God, and has not the love and prosperity of this work at heart.

We are struggling now, the elements are chaotic. In some respects we are endeavoring to gather together. Dealing in merchandise is a small matter, and yet it lies to a certain extent at the foundation of our business; therefore we talk about it; but merchandising is a small matter compared with the work of organizing the people to get them to manufacture and to furnish labor, that there may be no idle among us, that every boy and every girl, and every man and every woman in this community shall find employment; and that measures may be devised to use their labor and talent and ingenuity for the welfare and prosperity of this people for the elevation of the whole; not for the elevation of a few individuals, but for the uplifting of the entire community, and the whole human race out of ignorance, out of vice and from vicious habits, and everything degrading, lift us up, until we shall stand as man and woman could in the divine presence, filled with that divinity which we inherit from our Heavenly Father; and govern and control the elements with which this earth is so abundantly endowed, for our happiness, for the happiness of our posterity, for the happiness of the entire human family as far as they reach—from the north to the south, from east to west, until we shall comprehend the whole family of God our Heavenly Father, gradually diffusing the blessings we enjoy in these valleys throughout the entire earth, until the whole earth shall be benefited and blessed by our organization and by our existence upon it.

These are some of the responsibilities that devolve upon us as a people. Shall I live for myself? God forbid that I should live to spend my time and exercise the talent I may possess for my personal benefit, or for the benefit of my family alone. Why? It is unworthy of any man or any woman to live for self alone; to pile up our benefits and comforts for our own luxury and aggrandizement. God forbid that we whom God has chosen, we whom he has called and inspired by his Holy Spirit, and blessed with the everlasting Gospel, and upon whom he has placed his Holy Priesthood, and called us to be saviors of men, I say God forbid that we should do this, that we should settle down and think entirely of self and build up self, and let our sphere of usefulness be limited to our own family, extend not an inch beyond our own household and our own family circle. God did not choose us for any such purpose, he did not reveal himself to us for any such object; but he has chosen us to be his missionaries in the earth, to be the pioneers in laying the foundation of that great work that shall stand forever, that shall swallow up all the works and powers of man, all the organizations of man, shall swallow all up and comprehend them all within itself. He has called us to this high and holy calling; and it should be your aim and it ought to be my aim to labor for the general good. To starve ourselves? No. Neglect ourselves? No. Let our families go uncared for? No. This is not necessary, that is the other extreme. I have no right to have a family and neglect them; but on the other hand I am under obligation to look after them, to treat them properly and give them every advantage in my power. When I became a father I took upon myself that responsibility, and it is a serious one, that is, I should educate my children and train them up in a proper manner, and see that they do not go hungry or naked. But I have another duty, a duty that reaches out beyond the family circle, a duty I owe to my fellow creatures. It is my duty to use my surplus strength and surplus means for their good, to endeavor to make them better for my existence; because I have been born that the earth will be better for it, that men and women will be better because I have lived. And it should be that the world will be better, because this Church has been organized, that the world will be better for our existence as an organization. And it should be the aim of every man in this Church, of every Bishop and every President of Stake and every Counselor and officer of whatever name or calling; it should be his aim to labor for the salvation of the people. And the Apostles above all, it devolves upon us, it is the covenant, as I have said, of the priesthood we have received; and it rests upon us, and it requires us to labor to combine and unite the interests of this people. And we beseech you, in Christ’s stead, brethren and sisters, be ye united, put away bickerings, put away strifes, put away all those causes of division whether they are real or imaginary, and be united as a people, and I tell you in the name of Jesus, as one of his Apostles if you do this, the heavens will be open to you and the blessings of God will descend upon you, in your basket and in your store, in your fields and in your flocks, and herds, in your wives and children, in your husbands, in your fathers and mothers, in your brothers and sisters and all your organizations; the blessings of God will descend, like the dew distilled from heaven, and rest upon you, and all that bless you will imbibe and cherish the same spirit. Now, these things are pressing upon us. We have everything against us, the whole world it may be said, are ready to pass judgment upon us; but yet there are many who oppose the work of God who do so because they have not understood it, and such people, many of them will yet be gathered in and numbered among us. This work is not for this little handful of people, it is for the whole earth and all the inhabitants thereof and the day will come when the lessons taught by the Latter-day Saints will be approved by those who are not Latter-day Saints. When the good government maintained in the midst, of the people of God will be copied after, and we will be looked to as exemplary.

I pray God to bless you, to pour out his Spirit upon this Conference and upon all who shall speak and all who shall hear and all who are kept, away from the Conference that the same spirit may run through every heart; for I tell you, my brethren and sisters, it is in vain we labor, unless God is with us, in vain we assemble unless his Spirit is poured upon the people to make them to comprehend and to soften their hearts. It is a need greatly to be desired that God’s Spirit will descend upon the Latter-day Saints. Oh, that it might, be poured out in power and break and rend asunder the darkness that beclouds our minds, that we may see the things of God as they really are, and sense fully the responsibilities we are under as individuals before him. And I believe that it will be poured out more and more, and the blessings that we have yearned for and which we have prayed for and that we have so much desired in our hearts, and for which we have built Temples, these blessings will descend upon us, and the angels will be nearer to us, and the heavens will be more open to our cries and to our supplications to bestow upon us the blessings there of. We approach nearer to heaven correspondingly as we live the Gospel revealed to us. It is a precious Gospel, it is a Gospel in which there is contained every requisite to make men and women happy, and to produce a heaven upon earth; and if we will obey it and carry it out there will be more blessings conferred upon us. And that this may be the case, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Geo. Q. Cannon, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, October 8, 1877.

Our Conference is a most important one, one that doubtless will be long remembered by those who have participated in its deliberations and actions. It is not often that we, as a people, have been called upon to pass through such circumstances as those which have surrounded us for the past four or five weeks. Twice in our history, during the past forty-seven and a half years, have we been called to mourn the loss of him who has led the cause of the Holy Priesthood upon the earth. At both times the blow has fallen, it may be said, unexpectedly upon us; it was particularly so at the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith, for he had passed through so many difficulties, and had so many narrow escapes, and so many deliverances from perils of the most menacing character, that the Latter-day Saints had been led to regard him as almost invulnerable, and that his life would be spared to a good old age, if not to the winding up scene. His martyrdom, then, fell as a very unexpected blow upon the people. It was a dreadful shock, for which a great bulk of the Latter-day Saints were unprepared. It is true that many were warned, especially those who were abroad among the nations preaching; they had dreams and manifestations of the Spirit concerning the terrible calamity. But those at home were scarcely prepared. Evidences came so quickly, one after another, that there was scarcely an idea among the people that his arrest, or his delivering himself up as he did, would terminate in such a catastrophe. The Church itself was so unprepared, by any previous experience, for the steps that were necessary to carry on the work that the Lord had established, and of which he had been the instrument.

I well remember the feelings that were experienced upon that occasion; how men’s minds wondered, and the surmises that were indulged in; the guesses, the anticipations, some thinking one man would be chosen, and others that someone else would be. Many of the people were at an entire loss to know who would take charge of the Church affairs. And while they were not satisfied with Sidney Rigdon, nor his preaching, nor his propositions; a great many were undecided in their minds as to who would be the leader, or who would have the right to stand at the head. When the Twelve returned and their voices were heard in the midst of the people; when President Young stood before the congregation and spake to the people, doubt and uncertainty and every kindred feeling vanished, and everyone who had a sufficient portion of the Spirit of the Lord recognized in him the man whom the Lord had chosen to lead and guide his people, instead of the martyred Prophet.

For the first time in the history of the Church, the Twelve Apostles stepped forward and took the charge of affairs, by the authority of the Apostleship, and the authority which they had received from the Prophet Joseph. And for a little rising of three years they led and guided the Church, until the Lord inspired his servant Brigham, to organize a First Presidency of the Church. This experience has been most valuable to us under our present circumstances. Men have looked back to the past; they have remembered what was done at the period to which I refer, and doubt uncertainty and hesitation have not existed to any extent; in fact, have not existed at all in the minds of those of long experience in the Church. The Twelve Apostles have the authority to lead and guide, to manage and direct the affairs of the Church, being the Quorum standing next to the First Presidency. Naturally it falls to them to step forward once more and assume the direction and control, to dictate and counsel and to regulate, so far as may be necessary, everything connected with the organization of the people, and the proclamation of the Gospel among the nations of the earth.

Although the blow has been a heavy one, and has fallen unexpectedly upon us, it seemed to me, during the past summer, in watching President Young, in listening to him, in associating with him, that he had obtained a new lease of life. He had not been able to speak for years in public assemblies with the ease to himself that he had done since the last winter. It seemed that he had overcome his weakness, a weakness of the stomach from which he suffered when he spoke to large congregations, and his bodily health appeared to be as perfect as it could be for a man of his age; this being the case, it was a very unexpected thing for him to pass off so suddenly. But in looking back at the circumstances that surrounded him and that surrounded the Church, and the labors that were so essential for him to perform, we can now understand why it was that he was so greatly strengthened, that he had such vigor not only in speaking, but in performing the labors of traveling and visiting the various settlements, that he enjoyed. I do not believe myself that President Young could have felt as happy, as I know he does feel, had he left the Church in the condition it was in when he commenced his labors last spring. I am convinced that it has added greatly to his satisfaction; it has been a fitting consummation to the labors of his long life that he should be spared to organize the Church throughout these valleys in the manner in which it now is organized. It was remarked by brother Pratt, in his discourse, that at no time since the first organization of the Church have the Latter-day Saints been so well organized; everything set in order so completely as we now see them. This is his experience and his testimony; and you know he has been familiar with the Church from nearly the first of its organization to the present time. And I believe this would be the testimony of every man of years belonging to the Church. And I am thankful this day that President Young was spared to accomplish this work, that the Lord gave him the bodily vigor and the mental capacity sufficient to enable him to close up the labors of his earthly career in so fitting a manner.

He has marked out the path for the Twelve to pursue. And I was a number of times impressed during the summer that the spirit he possessed in relation to these matters impelled him to hurry them up, and have everything attended to quickly; almost a feeling of restlessness was manifested by him (which was so con– trary to his usual calmness of manner), to have the work of organization completed. I have been reminded a number of times of the same spirit that rested upon the Prophet Joseph; he seemingly could not rest, he was constantly stirring up and urging the Twelve to step forward and assume the responsibility that lay upon them, and to impart to the people the knowledge that the Lord had given to him, and to bestow upon the servants of God the keys and the authority of the holy Priesthood in its fulness. And President Young manifested the same spirit. He lived to receive Elder Taylor and the brethren of the Twelve who accompanied him after their return from organizing the last of the Stakes of Zion, and to confer with them. In a few hours afterwards he took his exit.

At no time probably in the history of the Church have the Saints been so calm and so serene, manifesting so little concern in relation to the way matters should go, and the affairs of the Church be conducted, as they have on this occasion. It has seemed as though the Lord has prepared the people for these things. He has poured out upon us the spirit of union that has not been enjoyed, probably, to so great an extent at any time in our history. There are great labors assigned to all of us in every department of the Priesthood. If we take up the work and carry it forward in the spirit with which it has been committed to us by him, now that he has gone from our midst, the Lord will continue to be with us, and to bless us as he did him. For He was with him all his life; He was with him in counseling the people; He was with him in prophesying to the people, and in teaching them and directing them in their temporal as well as their spiritual labors. And the Lord crowned his life with success, and his labors with blessing; and they who sustained him and obeyed his counsel have been prospered in every instance; and when they received the counsel in a proper spirit, and carried it out as it was given to them, they and the Church prospered under his presidency and administration; and it has gone forth in power and majesty, and in such a way as to bring conviction to the hearts of thousands of people that there is a power connected with this system called “Mormonism,” not comprehensible to any who do not view it, by the Spirit of God. I feel that we, as a people, should take hold of this work; that we, as Apostles, that we, as Seventies, and as High Priests, as Elders, as Priests, Teachers and Deacons, should take hold of this work in earnestness and in zeal, and carry it forward as our Prophet and file leader did during his lifetime; that we should take it up where he laid it down, and carry it on until the end is reached, and the full consummation of all things is accomplished; seeking to have the spirit that animated him, and to follow him as he followed Joseph, as he honored Joseph, as he revered Joseph, as he upheld Joseph, as he maintained Joseph, touching doctrine and counsel, so that it appears to me if we are animated by the Spirit of God we will honor him and follow in his footsteps, as he followed Joseph, and as Joseph followed Christ. When we do this, and take hold of this work with the earnestness and zeal which should characterize our actions, the Spirit and power of God will rest upon us, and he will bear us off as he has borne them off who preceded us; he will not desert us, nor leave us in any position where we will be destitute of help.

I listened with a great deal of pleasure to that portion of brother Pratt’s discourse which I heard, in relation to the Apostleship and the authority of the Apostleship, and the right of the Priesthood to rule and to govern. There have been a great many ideas afloat in the minds of men concerning this work, and I suppose I have been interrogated I might say thousands of times—at any rate I have been interrogated upon this point more than any other namely, Who will succeed President Young in case he dies? The Latter-day Saints who have had experience in this matter have not had occasion to ask this question; but many inexperienced Saints had it in their hearts, wondering what shape affairs would take in case anything were to happen to the President of the Church.

Every man who is ordained to the fullness of Apostleship, has the power and the authority to lead and guide the people of God whenever he is called upon to it, and the responsibility rests upon him. But there is a difference, as was explained by brother Pratt, that arises in some instances from seniority in age, in other instances from seniority in ordination. And while it is the right of all the Twelve Apostles to receive revelation, and for each one to be a Prophet, to be a Seer, to be a Revelator, and to hold the keys in the fullness, it is only the right of one man at a time to exercise that power in relation to the whole people, and to give revelation and counsel, and direct the affairs of the Church—of course, always acting in conjunction with his fellow servants. And while we say that the Twelve Apostles have the right to govern, that the Twelve have the authority, that the Twelve Apostles are the men who preside—when we say this, we do not mean that every one of the Twelve is going to give revelation to this great people, that every one of the Twelve has the right to counsel and dictate and regulate the affairs of the Church as emergencies may arise, independent of the rest. The Church is not governed like Zion’s Cooperative Institution, by a Board of Directors; this is not God’s design. It is governed by men who hold the keys of the Apostleship, who have the right and authority. Any one of them, should an emergency arise, can act as President of the Church, with all the powers, with all the authority, with all the keys, and with every endowment necessary to obtain revelation from God, and to lead and guide this people in the path that leads to the celestial glory; but there is only one man at a time who can hold the keys, who can dictate, who can guide, who can give revelation to the Church. The rest must acquiesce in his action, the rest must be governed by his counsels, the rest must receive his doctrines. It was so with Joseph. Others held the Apostleship—Oliver received the Apostleship at the same time that Joseph did, but Joseph held the keys, although Oliver held precisely the same authority. There was only one who could exercise it in its fullness and power among the people. So also at Joseph’s death, there was only one man who could exercise that authority and hold these keys, and that man was President Brigham Young, the President of the Quorum of the Twelve whom God had singled out, who by extraordinary providence had been brought to the front, although many were ahead of him according to ordination at one time and another.

Now that he has gone, one man only can hold this power and authority to which I refer, and that man is he whom you sustained yesterday, as President of the Quorum of the Twelve, as one of the Twelve Apostles and of the Presidency, John Taylor by name. When revelation comes to this people, it is he who has the right to give it. When counsel comes to this people, as a people, it is he who has the right to impart it; and while the Twelve are associated with him, one in power, one in authority, they must respect him as their President, they must look to him as the man through whom the voice of God will come to them, and to this entire people. By extraordinary providence he has been brought to the front. Men have wondered at it, why it was so. It is easy of explanation. There was a time when three living Apostles, three Apostles who now live, whose names were placed above his in the Quorum of the Twelve. But, when this matter was reflected upon, President Young was moved upon to place him ahead of one, and afterwards ahead of two others, until by the unanimous voice of the Apostles he was acknowledged the Senior Apostle, holding the oldest ordination without interruption of any man among the Apostles. Not that he sought it; not that he endeavored to obtain it; not that he begged for his place, for it is due to him to say to this congregation today, that no man has been more modest in urging his claim or setting forth his right than he. But President Young was led by the Spirit of God, as we do verily believe, to place him in his right position; and two years ago last June, in Sanpete, he declared in a public congregation that John Taylor stood next to him; and that when he was absent it was his right to preside over the Council. We little thought then, at that time, that there would be a necessity so soon arise when he would be required to exercise that power, that authority and right. Most of the people could very readily imagine that President Young would have outlived President Taylor, but the Lord has ordered otherwise.

In relation to ordination, a great many people have imagined that it was necessary to ordain a man to succeed another, that it would impart a particular efficacy or endow him with some additional power. Ordination is always good and acceptable; blessings and setting apart are always desirable to those who have to go forth to prepare them for God’s service; but it is not necessary that an Apostle should be ordained to stand at the head of the people. When the exigency arises, he has already got the fulness of authority, and the power of it. I was told of a dream that a person had shortly after the death of the Prophet. A person dreamed that a certain man had been set apart by the President, and the keys had been given him; and that President Young came and said that he had given to this person the keys. Now, that of itself, to a person understanding the principle, would carry its own contradiction with it. The man dreamed of was already an Apostle, holding and exercising the keys of the Apostleship; and therefore it would not be necessary for President Young to confer again upon him the keys. If every man of the Twelve but one were slain, the one remaining would have the right to organize a First Presidency of the Church, to choose Twelve Apostles, and to organize the Church in its fulness and power, and to preside over it. And his acts would be accepted of the Lord, and binding upon the people. This is the authority of the Apostleship. If every Apostle anciently had been slain but John the Revelator, as they all were, and there had been faith and men enough left, he would have had the right to ordain other Apostles, and set in order the entire Church, and carry forward the work as the Lord should dictate it. So in our day. As I have stated, it is not necessary for a man who has received this power and these keys to be ordained and set apart to act; he can act in any position. President Young, when he chose brother George A. Smith to be his First Counselor, in the place of Heber C. Kimball, did not lay his hands upon his head to confer upon him any additional power or authority for the position, because brother George A. held the Apostleship in its fulness, and by virtue of that Priesthood he could act in that or in any other position in the Church. He chose other assistant Counselors; he did not set them apart, there was no necessity for it, as they already held the Apostleship. And if he had, he could only have blessed them; he could not bestow upon them any more than they already had, because they had all that he himself had, that is when he chose them from the same Quorum. He did choose several of his assistant Counselors from the Quorum of the Twelve; he did not put his hands upon them to set them apart, nor to give them the authority and power to act as his Counselors; they already held it.

It is well for the Latter-day Saints to understand the principles of the Holy Priesthood, and the power thereof, that it may be known by you where the authority rests, who has the right to teach and guide and counsel in the affairs of the kingdom of God. The Lord has revealed it in plainness, so that a wayfaring man, though a fool need not err therein. Was it necessary that Elder Taylor should be set apart to preside over this people? Was it necessary that the Twelve Apostles should be set apart to preside over this people? No it was not, for they already possessed the power, authority and ordination. Was it necessary for the Prophet Joseph Smith to set apart Brigham or Heber or Willard, or any of the rest of the Twelve Apostles? No, for the same reason, they had received the fulness of the Holy Priesthood, the full endowment and the keys, and the authority, and the fulness of the Apostleship; therefore it was not necessary. It might have been done; there would have been no wrong in doing it; there would be no impropriety in blessing a man; there would be no impropriety in a man like Joseph or Brigham, favored of God with the power to move the heavens to bring down blessings upon the children of men; I say, there would be no impropriety in such men laying their hands upon any man and blessing him; the Lord would bless him, if he were thus blessed. But I am now speaking of the authority and power of the Holy Priesthood. The blessing of such men or by such men, would not bestow upon him any additional authority or any more keys, presuming that he already had received the fulness of the Apostleship. Some may feel that the Lord should raise up a man by special manifestations of power to preside over his Church—they having an expectation of that kind. Whenever the Lord does it will be because of there being a necessity for it, and whenever there is a necessity for it, it will not be made plain through one of the Twelve aside from the President, it will not be made plain through a Seventy, it will not be made plain through a High Priest, through an Elder, through a Patriarch; it will come as all revelations from the Lord come, to be binding upon this people, through the voice of him whom the Lord chooses to be his voice, sanctioned by the Twelve Apostles. Hear it, O Israel! and remember it. Have I the right to say who shall preside over this people? No. Although an Apostle, holding the keys with my brethren and being side by side with them, having equal authority with them. Why? Because I am not chosen by the Lord to be his mouthpiece to the Latter-day Saints; what I mean by this, to give them revelation. It is my right to instruct and teach, to labor and to counsel; but it is not my right to organize a First Presidency for this Church, neither is it the right of any other man, excepting him whom the Lord has chosen the President of the Twelve, with that Quorum standing as the First Presidency. A day or two ago, a man came here and notified the President of the Twelve that he was to be the successor to Brigham. The most charitable construction you can put upon such speeches is that the man is crazy. Whenever the voice of the Lord comes upon such a subject, it will come with the power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost and with much assurance, and every Latter-day Saint on the earth will receive it, because the Spirit of God will bear testimony to our spirits that it is from Him, so that we cannot be deceived. It is our privilege to so live that we know the voice of the true shepherd, and cannot be deceived by those who profess to have revelation and have authority, when they have it not. And every man and woman in this Church should so live that when they hear the true voice, they will know it as they would know the voice of their nearest friend, and not be deceived or led astray. Well but, says one, Why cannot you organize a First Presidency now, if the Twelve have this authority? Do you want to know the reason, brethren and sisters, why we do not take such a step? I suspect you would like to know why a man and his two Counselors are not singled out, called and set apart by the voice of the people at this Conference, as the First Presidency of the Church? The reason is simply this: the Lord has not revealed it to us; he has not commanded us to do this, and until he does require this at our hands, we shall not do it. For the present, it seems to be the mind and will of God, as manifested to us, that the Twelve should preside over the Church. And until he does reveal unto his servants that it is right and proper that a First Presidency should be organized again, we shall wait, we shall do nothing of that kind. When the voice of God comes, when it shall be the counsel of our Heavenly Father that a First Presidency shall be again organized, the Quorum of the Twelve will be organized in its fullness as before. Therefore you can wait, as well as we, for the voice of the Lord; and when it does come, whenever it will be, you will see the Church take action in this matter; but until then, Latter-day Saints, you will be governed by the authority that already exists. If three men have the right to govern, certainly twelve men, all possessing the same keys, have that right and that authority. Then let us wait the good pleasure of the Lord, and cease surmises, and cease indulging in vain and foolish ideas upon these subjects.

I pray God to bless you, and pour out his Spirit upon us all, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sept. 23, 1877.

I have listened with a great deal of pleasure to the remarks which have been made by our brethren, and the instructions which they have given unto us upon the principles of the Gospel. The interesting remarks of brother Brigham Young must have appealed very strongly unto all of us, and impressed us with their truth. First, he has said if our professions are greater than those of the rest of the world, and if we testify that we have received truths in advance, and authority greater than that possessed by others, our lives should correspond with our professions, or we can never justly expect that we will receive any greater reward than they; and this is a truth that should be taken home to the hearts of all the people who are called Latter-day Saints. The Lord requires of us that our acts, and that our desires, and that all our labors shall be in harmony with our professions, and that when we testify that we know that God lives, and that he has restored the everlasting Gospel to the earth, in its primitive simplicity, purity, and power, with the authority to administer in the ordinances thereof for the salvation of the children of men—that making these professions and bearing these testimonies, we should exhibit in our lives the fruits of the glorious doctrines and truths that we profess to have received. In no other way can we truly bear testimony to the veracity of these things. “A tree is known by its fruits; a good stream does not send forth bitter waters; men do not gather grapes of thorns and figs of thistles.” And so with us and the rest of mankind. When we profess to have received the truth, we should exhibit the fruits of that truth in our lives. When we profess to have received the everlasting Gospel and the Spirit of God, we should rejoice in the gifts of that Spirit. We should live so as to enjoy them, and in times of trial, of difficulty, of perplexity, and of affliction, we should exhibit a self-control and power and strength that might be expected from a people situated as we are, and having the blessings that we enjoy. Do the Latter-day Saints exhibit these fruits as they should? In some respects they are to be seen, and in others they are not so fruitful as they should be. There is an abundance of room for improvement on our part. There is room for an increase of exertion and an exhibition of greater faith as a people, than we have ever yet exhibited. The Lord is ready, according to our own testimonies, to pour out upon us every blessing that we need. Are we sick? Are any of our households sick? What is the privilege of the Latter-day Saints according to our doctrines, according to the teachings of these books (the Bible and the Book of Mormon), and according to our own belief? It is our privilege to exercise faith in the name of Jesus Christ, to have the sick, where not appointed unto death, restored to life. This is the privilege of the Latter-day Saints, the privilege of every faithful man and woman in the Church of Christ upon all the face of the earth. If there be a misfortune impending that is fraught with difficulty, or disaster, or trouble of any kind, what is the privilege of those who are the servants and handmaidens of the Lord Jesus Christ? It is the privilege, and has been the privilege in all ages of the world, according to the records that have come down to us, for those who live godly in Christ Jesus to have revelation concerning those events, that they may be prepared for them, and not be taken unawares. I would not give much for a religion that did not prepare me for events of that character; I would not think it the religion of Jesus Christ. I would not give much for a church, to me it would have no attractions, in which God did not manifest his power, in which there were no evidences received of God’s power and of God’s ability to deliver in the hour of trial and difficulty. It is this which makes the Church of Christ, it is this which makes what men call “Mormonism,” so attractive to me. It is because it is a system of power; it is because there are gifts connected with it; it is because I was told when a child that if I would be baptized for the remissions of my sins and repent of them, I should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. It is because there are in this Church Prophets and Apostles, the gifts of revelation, of healing, and discerning of spirits, and all the other gifts, that were ever enjoyed by the ancient people of God. It is these gifts that make the Church of Jesus Christ a power in the earth, and that makes the teachings and doctrines of this Church so attractive to all the inhabitants of the earth who believe truthfully and sincerely the doctrines contained in the Old and New Testaments. It supplies the want that is felt by every honest heart, a yearning after a knowledge of God, a yearning after the things of God, and a yearning after that certainty that dispels all darkness and unbelief, and is a rock, which is like the rock of ages, upon which the foundation being built, the building is forever without fear of being shaken or overturned, when the storms and tempests shall beat upon it.

This is the secret of the union that has always characterized this Church of Jesus Christ, and yet we do not live up to our privileges. What is the privilege of the Latter-day Saints? Are the privileges of this Gospel confined to a few individuals? Revelations have been given to our departed President—President Brig– ham Young—but were the gifts, powers and qualifications of this Gospel confined to his person alone? Were they confined to his Counselors? Are they confined to the Twelve? Are they confined to the Bishops or to any other class in this Church? Certainly not. They are like the air we breathe; they are like the light that enlightens our understandings and gives light to our intellects. They are free to all who will live so as to receive them. There is none so old, none so learned, none so high, neither is their any so low, nor so young, nor so illiterate, unto whom these are denied. They are the free gift of God to all His children; to all who keep His commandments. They shall receive these gifts, and enjoy them if they will live so as to have them in their hearts, so that the Holy Spirit will bestow them upon them, and it is this also that causes this Church and this Gospel to be so delightful, there is an equality about it. It is not, as I have said, confined to a few, but it is extended to all the inhabitants of the earth, who will place themselves in a position to receive it. “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for this promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Even all. Whom does he call? Go preach this gospel to every creature, therefore every creature is called, at all times and in all generations throughout the earth. None are excluded from its glorious benefits. It is therefore the privilege of every member of this Church to enjoy revelation for himself or herself, to know the mind and will of the Father, to know concerning the doctrine whether it be of the Lord or whether it be of man, and I would not give much for a people or an individual who is destitute of this knowledge. Sooner or later unless they repent and feel after it, they will stand in slippery places, and when the floods come and the tempests beat upon them, they are in danger of falling away and becoming castaways from the Church of Christ; but the man who receives his knowledge from the Father, and the woman who can come to the Father in the name of Jesus and ask and receive for herself a testimony concerning this work, and concerning the government of God, in times of trial and difficulty, they are safe, because they know where their strength is and unto whom they can apply for light and guidance in the hours of temptation, trial and difficulty. They know then the voice of the true Shepherd.

My brethren and sisters let me address myself more directly to you upon this point. We have been bereft of our President. We have been bereft of the man who has stood at our head and guided us for thirty-three years, and we have learned to look upon him as the mouthpiece of our Father to us, but we ought, also, to have learned, as I have no doubt the majority of this people have learned, that he was but an instrument in the hands of God to accomplish the work entrusted to him, and that he being gone, the Lord will raise up and strengthen those who remain, and give them the power necessary to accomplish his work and carry it forward in the earth; and if they fall too, as they likely will, the column of humanity, the column of the Priesthood will still press forward, until all that the Lord has appointed to his people, he will accomplish on the earth, and Zion will be established and fully redeemed according to all the words of the Prophets. And further, it will cause us to draw nearer unto the Father and live so that we shall receive revelation from him for ourselves, that the knowledge of the Spirit shall be in our hearts, that the voice of the true Shepherd will be known to our ears, that when we hear it we will know it, that we cannot be deceived or led astray. This is the privilege of the Latter-day Saints, and the man and woman in this Church who does not live so as to enjoy this privilege comes short of being what he should be. It is these blessings that compensate for the falsehoods, for the contumely and for the persecution to which the Latter-day Saints are subjected. If it were not for these gifts and blessings our case would not be a very enviable one; but in possession of these blessings, and knowing for ourselves the truth, and understanding the will of our Father in heaven and rejoicing in the blessings of peace, quietude, union and love, such as cannot be obtained elsewhere, with those other gifts to which I have alluded—having these in our possession we can look calmly upon the efforts of the wicked. We can, without being afflicted in our souls, receive the persecution which they may seem fit to heap upon us; to have our names cast out as evil, to be accused of all manner of wickedness and crime. We can submit to these things cheerfully, knowing that the day will come when these lies shall be swept away; when the will of the Father and the glorious light of truth will shine upon us, and we shall be vindicated in the sight of the inhabitants of the earth, in the sight of heaven and angels. This being our condition, we can rejoice under these circumstances, and look forth to the time when we shall receive the happiness and reward alluded to. Brethren and sisters, live so that each of you can go to the Father and ask and receive from him the blessing that you need. He has said, “Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm.” Do not build upon man. Do not lean upon him, but lean upon our Father in heaven. Seek unto him; implore his blessing; ask for light and strength from him; humble yourselves before him, and confess your sins; be of a broken heart and contrite spirit, and he will visit you with his Spirit, and bestow upon you gifts such as you have never yet received.

That you may do this, and that we all may do it, that we may be eventually saved and exalted in the kingdom of our Father, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sept. 16, 1877.

Those who have listened to the discourse of Elder Woodruff and to the testimonies which he has borne concerning this work, must have been interested in his recital, in his explanations and in the doctrines which he has advanced, and which have special interest for the Latter-day Saints. If it were not for the new revelations received from the Almighty, this people called Latter-day Saints would not be in existence. If it were not that the Lord has revealed in great plainness his mind and will unto his people, they would not be an organization, neither would his Elders have gone forth bearing testimony of the truths of the everlasting Gospel. The rock upon which this Church is built, and the foundation stone thereof, is new revelation from God to men, and that revelation being of divine origin it must of necessity agree with the revelations which have already been given; hence, as he has said, the doctrines taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the organization of the Church as he was directed to accomplish it, was all in perfect harmony with the truths contained in this book (the Bible). It can not be otherwise and be what it professes to be. It made no difference to Joseph Smith whether he read and was familiar with every doctrine taught by the Apostles; he was under no necessity of framing his teachings therewith that there should be no difference between that which he taught, and that which had been taught, because the same spirit that revealed to the ancient Apostles and Prophets, and inspired them to teach the people, and leave on record their predictions and doctrines, taught him also and enabled him to teach exactly the same truths.

I remember hearing related brother Parley P. Pratt’s first interview with the Saints at Fayette, Seneca County, where the Church was organized. Those of you who remember brother Parley know his familiarity with the Scriptures, especially with the prophecies. On that occasion he was called upon to speak; the Prophet Joseph was not present at the time. He brought forth from the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and other prophets, abundant proofs concerning the work which the Lord had established through his servant Joseph, a great many of the Latter-day Saints were surprised that there were so many evidences existing in the Bible concerning this work. The Church had then been organized some five months, but the members had never heard from any of the Elders these proofs and evidences which existed in the Bible. And, if I remember correctly, he told me that Oliver Cowdery and the Prophet Joseph himself were surprised at the great amount of evidence there was in the Bible concerning these things. The Prophet Joseph was inspired of God to teach the doctrines of life and salvation, and he did so without reference to what the ancient prophets had said. I have heard President Young make the same remarks. He said that he never consulted the Book of Covenants, he never consulted the Bible or Book of Mormon to see whether the doctrines and counsels which he was inspired to give, corresponded with these books or not. It was a matter that gave him no particular concern, from the fact that he endeavored always to be led by the Spirit of the Lord, to speak in accordance therewith; hence these men have had very little care resting upon their minds as to whether their doctrines and counsels were in harmony with the doctrines and counsels of those who preceded them. It was for them to seek to know the mind and will of the Lord and comprehend his Spirit as it rested upon them, to speak in accordance therewith; and the doctrine that has been taught under the inspiration of that spirit will be found to be in perfect harmony with the doctrines which have been taught by men inspired of God in ancient days.

There are no two modes of baptism, there are no two methods of organizing the Church of Christ; there are no two paths leading into the kingdom of God our heavenly Father; there are no two forms of doctrine. “There is one Lord,” as the Apostle Paul says, “one faith and one baptism.” There is one form of doctrine, and when we all meet (those of us who shall be so fortunate as to be redeemed and sanctified in the presence of our Father and the Lamb), we shall find that our doctrines will precisely agree; our obedience will be of a similar character, we shall all discover that the doctrines that we have received and bowed in submission to are precisely the same doctrines, whether we were baptized into Christ in America, in Asia, in Africa or any other part of the earth, and it will be found when we all come together (that is the family of our heavenly Father), that we have all received the same faith, the same doctrines, and have partaken of the same Spirit and the same gifts, the Spirit having rested down upon all alike according to his or her faith. If it were not so heaven would be full of clashing sectaries; it would be full of confusion, strife and division and every kind of contention; because the same spirit that characterizes men here, and that creates division and contention among them here, if they could reach heaven in the possession of it, as some claim they do, would turn heaven itself into a pandemonium, and make it no better than this earth so far as confusion is concerned. This is not the Gospel of the Lord Jesus; this is not the path that he marked out. He marked out a plain path and all the inhabitants of the earth must, if they ever come into the presence of the Lamb, walk in that path to the end, or they never can reach there. And the millions of the dead, to whom allusion has been made by brother Woodruff, they also shall hear of the glad tidings of salvation. And the unnumbered millions who have died without ever having heard the name of the Son of God, and without ever having known anything concerning the redemption which he wrought out for them; they who died in ignorance of the law will not, of course, be judged by or held accountable to the law, having never known it. This would be contrary to the justice, the eternal justice of our Father in Heaven, to hold any man or being accountable for the law which they violated without their first having been made acquainted with it, hence, if they die in their ignorance they will be judged according to the light they received. But will they forever, through the endless ages of eternity, remain in this ignorance? Certainly not. The work of our Father is not confined to this earthly existence, it extends throughout the eternities: it extends from eternity to eternity; it is without beginning and without end; it is as indestructible and enduring as he himself. But all of the sons of our Father who ever dwelt upon the earth, and his daughters also, will hear at the proper time and under the proper circumstances the glad tidings of salvation, the name of our Redeemer and the plan by which they can be redeemed and be exalted into his presence. There are several plain allusions to these doctrines in the Scriptures. Peter talks about them very plainly. The Savior himself alluded to the same idea when he spoke to the thief on the cross, when he said to him—“This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise;” when it is a well-known fact that he did not ascend to his Father in Heaven. But while his body lay in the earth his spirit went elsewhere, and was absent from that body. The Apostle Paul also alludes to it in the 15th chapter of his Epistle to the Corinthians, and our minds have been set at rest by those glorious revelations and doctrines, because they explain to us the goodness, mercy and justice of our Father in Heaven, and enable us, who have received these doctrines and believe in them, to glorify Him as we could not if we believed these unnumbered millions that I have alluded to were condemned to endless perdition, without ever having a chance to be redeemed therefrom. It has always been a mystery to me, since I have been old enough to comprehend the truth, how it is that men, with the ideas which they entertain concerning the Gospel, can reconcile their belief with the fact that our Father is a God of truth, a God of mercy, and a God of perfect justice. I do not wonder at men becoming skeptical in view of the ideas which prevail in the so-called Christian world. A man must, in some instances, throw away his feelings and reason, and surrender his judgment, and accept the theories which prevail upon this subject, without reasoning and without questioning, in order to flow along with the orthodox stream. This is the only way in which many do, to go along without difficulty. But if the Gospel was taught in its plainness and in its fullness, and if men and women understood the Gospel as it is, there would be nothing that would be in contradiction to those truths to which I have alluded; but all would be harmonious therewith, and everything would tend to increase the faith, strengthen the love, and heighten the feeling of admiration in the breast of the human being in contemplating the character of our Father in the light of the plan which He has revealed for our salvation from the power of sin. And this is what the Gospel (or as men choose to call it in these days “Mormonism”) has done for us. It is this that has enlightened this people; it is this that has gathered them from the nations of the earth, and has enabled them to submit to the privations and persecutions that they have had to contend with; and it is this that will carry them forward, until they are brought back into the presence of our Father in Heaven.

I pray that the blessings of the Lord may rest upon the people, and that the revelations of the Lord Jesus may be in their hearts, and in their souls, to guide them in that path that will bring them back into the presence of our Father, which I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the Temple, at St. George, on Wednesday Morning, April 4, 1877, at the First of the Two Days’ Meetings held by the St. George Stake of Zion.

It is with peculiar feelings I arise to speak to you, my brethren and sisters, for the short time remaining, in this holy Temple. If I were to describe my feelings on entering and worshiping in this house, I would occupy more time than remains to be used, and I do not know if I were to attempt to do so I could succeed. Each one present can the better estimate the feelings of his brother from those entertained by himself.

I was here last fall, and then my emotions upon entering this room were of the most peculiar character. I felt overpowered, and I have felt so each time I have entered the building. It is a holy place, and all those who come here should be holy; they should examine themselves, and finding themselves guilty of wrong, they should make up their minds in the strength and power of God to put it away. I do not think that any person who has any of the love of the truth, the love of righteousness, or the fear of God abiding in his heart, can enter this building without being impressed with the sacredness of the spirit which reigns here, and that seems to pervade even the atmosphere we breathe. My fervent prayer to God is that this building will be kept clean and pure, free from every act and spirit antagonistic to the holy influences that God has promised to bestow upon the pure in heart who enter herein; and that this building will stand as long as it shall be necessary to fulfil the purposes of God.

The remarks we have heard from President Wells are very true, and are so in keeping with the Scriptures, that every Latter-day Saint who has heard them, must be satisfied of their truth. It is always a cause of joy to me that, in the providences of God our heavenly Father, the sacred records we have, which have come down through so many ages, and which are recognized by Christendom to be the words of God (at least acknowledged by all Christians to be so, whether they believe it or not); I say that in the providence of God these records have come down to us in as pure condition as we find them. Because it is a comfort to a people like we are, whose names are cast out as evil, and who are derided and visited with every kind of contumely, accused of every conceivable crime, to know that the doctrine and ordinances that we believe in have a similarity to, and are in strict accordance with, those of the recognized word of God. We need not go to the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants alone, for the proofs of the truth of the work we are engaged in; for in appealing to those books we only appeal to a corroborative testimony showing that God’s words and dealings with the children of men are the same in all ages of the world. While he gave his revealed word to the ancients on the Eastern Continent, he also gave to the inhabitants of the Western Continent his word, and they both agree. He has also given to us, his people in the last days, his word. By these three witnesses, or these three divine records, his word is corroborated and maintained. Having received the word of God from these various sources, we can rejoice this day in the great truth that the doctrines we teach, the ordinances we have submitted to, and that have been and are being administered to us, and that our lives when we live as we should, are in strict accordance with these three records, which we know to be the word of God, but particularly in accordance with the Bible, which the Christian world acknowledge to be true. This has always been a great cause of joy to me, and I have been greatly strengthened in knowing that no reference could be made to any part, or to any doctrine or principle of the Bible, which was not believed in and practiced by the Latter-day Saints to the extent of their ability, that is, so far as the doctrine or requirement was applicable to them. Of course, where distinct revelations were given to people under peculiar conditions and of a peculiar character, as for in– stance, Noah or Abraham, or the disciples when they were commanded to flee from Jerusalem, the common sense of all men would suggest that such requirements were not applicable to us. It is not necessary for us to build an ark, or to do any of these things, especially commanded to others; but where general revelations, doctrines, ordinances, or commandments are revealed or communicated to the people of God, we as a people have received all such, and they form part of our faith and belief, and we, to some extent at least, are engaged in carrying them out. In conjunction with these glorious facts, precisely the same consequences or results flow from the teachings of the servants of God in these days as in the days of old. God confirmed the word by signs following. The adversary in the same spirit of hatred that characterized his attacks upon the work of God in all ages, is in these last days as bitter and as determined to cause the same results to follow the preaching of the servants of God, and the administration of the ordinances of life and salvation, as at any previous time in the world’s history, thus showing that the old antagonism that existed between God and Belial, the old animosity that actuated the mind of those whom he inflamed to crucify the Son of Man, and to destroy his Apostles, had not died out, but was as determined in this our day to effect the ruin of those who believe in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, who have submitted to its ordinances, as at any previous time in the history of the world.

If we had believed all that is taught in the Scriptures, and had not received the promised blessings; or if we had believed in all that is written in the Scriptures, and had received the promised blessings, and had not received the hatred and animosity of the wicked, there might have been cause for doubt as to our having obeyed the Gospel. We might have been assailed with a fear that something was lacking in the system, and that, therefore, we could not be the people of God after all. But when, in addition to the doctrine that God has revealed, and the ordinances of life and salvation that he has restored and commanded us to obey, that is, to believe in Jesus Christ, to repent truly and sincerely of all our sins, to be baptized for remission of them, by one holding the authority, and then receive the Holy Ghost through the laying on of hands, and its gifts and blessings and its powers, for our names to be cast out as evil, to have our names heralded through the earth as the most ungodly and wicked and abominable people that live upon the earth, to have men think that in destroying us they would be doing God’s service; I say that when these characteristics attend the administration and ordinances of the House of God, we can rejoice even as the ancients did in the knowledge that there is no peculiarity of feature pertaining to the ancient Gospel from the days of Adam to John the Revelator, or from the days of Jared and his brother to Moroni, or from the days of Joseph and Hyrum to this our day, that does not attend the Gospel now. Not only is there no feature, characteristic or peculiarity absent, but there is no sign or evidence lacking of its being the same work of God. Precisely the same signs follow now, and precisely the same external evidences follow the preaching of the Gospel now, as anciently. Having these signs and evidences and blessings, should we not, as a people, rejoice exceedingly? Should not our hearts be full of thanksgiving to Almighty God, that, however humble and obscure and illiterate, however contemptible in the minds of the children of men, our doctrines, lives and characters may be, our names are numbered with the holiest, the best and the greatest that have ever trod the footstool of God, that our names are numbered with Jesus the firstborn, the Son of God, and with Enoch, Abraham, the friend of God (distinguished above all the sons of men by that glorious evidence of God’s nearness to him, being called his friend), and with all the holy Prophets whose lives are living testimonies to the divinity of their calling? If we would enjoy the society and glory of such personages we must be willing to suffer as they did; and if not so, we cannot reasonably expect to be numbered among the happy throng who are to live and reign with Jesus. When we shall have done all they have done, passed through and experienced the same blessings that they have, drunk the same cup, and been baptized with the same baptism, and, when necessary, laid down our lives as they have in testimony of the truth, then we can reign with them.

It is easy to die in the heat of battle, or when men are selected for some heroic duty, and the eyes of the world are upon them; but this is not the manner in which the servants and people of God have lost their lives. Jesus was crucified between two thieves, the most ignominious death to which anyone could be subjected, and those who crucified him believed him to be worthy of such a fate. They disseminated among the people such slanders and misrepresentations of his works and actions that many felt justified in taking the responsibility of shedding his blood upon themselves and their posterity.

Thus it always has been with the servants and Saints of God. They do not die when their lives are taken by violence in a manner which the world calls heroic or glorious; but as malefactors, the ignominious death administered to those who are slain for the testimony of Jesus, and thus it always has been with God’s children, the brightest, the best and noblest, that ever lived. They have had to lay down their lives as Joseph did, slain in the prison where he was confined. The same self-sacrifice, the same godlike self-sacrifice is required at the hands of the servants and Saints of God in this our day, as was required of those in ancient days, when they were cast into dens of wild beasts, into the fiery furnace, or when sawn asunder and subjected to every kind of violent death because of their supposed wickedness.

I thank God this day for the restoration of this truth. I thank God that I was ever counted worthy to live in the day when the revelations of Jesus are restored. I thank God, with all my heart, that I am a member of this Church; I think it the most glorious honor and dignity that could be conferred upon me, and more so in the goodness of God in permitting me to officiate in the holy Priesthood. I thank him too that he has inspired his servants to lead forth his people and bring us here, and that through the kind providences of God and the wise counsels and administrations of his servants, we are blessed with those glorious privileges in being permitted to rear a habitation to the name of the Most High in which we worship this day; this chaste, this grand, this magnificent house of God.

When I reflect upon what God has done for us, in addition to that which I have alluded to, it gives me deeper gratitude still in knowing that in all the revelations given us concerning ourselves and our future glory, there has been no concealment concerning the destiny of our dead who have passed away without a knowledge of the Gospel. There would have been something lacking in our joy had this revelation not been made, for we could not have contemplated our own happiness in the eternal worlds with any degree of satisfaction, if we had been disturbed by the thought that our ancestors could not partake of the same blessings we had received. But God in his mercy has revealed his purposes to us, so that there are none that understand the Gospel who cannot enter into this house and glorify God in his heart because of the fullness of these blessings; and because we know the Lord possesses all the glorious attributes we have ascribed to him.

You enquire of the enlightened men of Christendom respecting their dead, and they readily acknowledge it to be a subject they know nothing about. A great many think that the heathen nations who have died in ignorance are consigned to the miseries of a never-ending hell. Who with such feelings and belief can glorify God in their hearts and ascribe to him the glorious attributes of mercy and justice, and recognize him as a just and merciful being?

But when we received the Gospel, there came with it a distinct message of mercy, a message of glad tidings of great joy, that not only the living should receive the testimony of Jesus, not only should the living rejoice in the glorious principles of life and salvation, but the dead themselves should hear the voice of the servants of God, and the glad tidings of salvation should be proclaimed in their hearing, and through the exercising of their agency in receiving these truths, their prison doors could be unlocked and they come forth and receive, as though in the flesh, the same blessings, exaltation and glory, according to their good wishes and good deeds. Thus has been swept from our minds every cause of doubt respecting our dead, and our hearts warmed towards them with joy unspeakable, and consequently we combine our efforts to erect such a building, such a holy house as this is. Thus we, in our hearts, witness to God the Eternal Father, that we have received indeed of a truth the testimony that he has given to us, that we believe the same to be true, and that we will, with the aid and power which he bestows upon us, devote our entire lives to the interests of his kingdom, bequeathing the same spirit and energy to our children after us, that they too may labor, with all their might, mind and strength and the ability with which God shall endow them, to carry on and extend the great work of redemption and salvation until every son and daughter of Adam shall receive the glad tidings of salvation, and shall be administered for in the holy temples which shall be prepared for that express purpose.

That God may help us to do this with all our might and strength is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Sept. 17, 1876.

It is a great privilege that the Lord has granted to the Latter-day Saints, to assemble together in peace and quietness, as we do this day, to worship him and partake of the Sacrament in commemoration of the death and sufferings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; it is a privilege which I, as an individual member of the Church, appreciate, and I desire always to do so.

When I reflect upon the many efforts which have been made to deprive us as a people of our liberties and our rights of worship, I cannot help feeling that, of all the people who live upon the face of the earth, we should be the most grateful, and should witness to our Father and God, by our devotion, that we appreciate the kindness and mercy he has manifested to us. It seems strange that in this time of religious toleration and freedom, there should be a call for such sentiment as this. In a land like ours, it might be thought that everyone would have a right to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience; but this has not been our experience. Yet the Lord has preserved us, and has defeated the machinations of the wicked—has preserved our rights and liberties, and granted to us very many privileges. Are we, as a people, sufficiently alive to the importance of these privileges? Do we live in a manner that agrees with the revelations that the Lord has given to us, to the requirements which he has made upon us? These are important questions for us to answer.

I met with the Sunday school children this morning in one of the Wards of this city, and while speaking to them I remarked, what I may remark here (taking the Bible in his hand), There are no people of whom I know anything in Christendom who believe the Bible, and are willing that their children should be taught all of its principles in their entirety, as do the Latter-day Saints. There is no principle set forth in the Scriptures that the Latter-day Saints do not incorporate in their faith and practice. I related to them a little of my experience. I remember when I was a child I read the New Testament. I inquired of my father if there were any Apostles then upon the earth, or if there were any people who had the gifts which the disciples of Jesus possessed? His reply was that he knew of the existence of no such people. I could not understand it; to my mind, as a child, there seemed to be as great a necessity for the power of God then, as there was in those earlier days. I can recall nights when I thought of the blessings which former generations enjoyed, and felt to grieve that I could not live in a generation when there were Apostles who had the power of God. I thought then I would have been willing to endure the persecution and difficulties which they had to encounter for so glorious a faith.

This is an advantage we have above every other denomination with which I am acquainted. We believe the Bible in its entirety—that God is the same today as he was yesterday, and as he ever was—that he is as willing now as ever to bestow his blessings upon man, if man will prepare himself to receive them. And if there be an absence of faith and power, and of heavenly gifts, God our eternal Father cannot be accused of partiality in withholding them from this generation.

Do we as a people sufficiently bear in mind that God requires us to live so as to receive and enjoy, to the fullest possible extent, the gifts and graces which he has to bestow upon his faithful children? I think, sometimes, we are like other people in this respect—we are very liable to grow careless, to become willing to allow the time to pass along without any particular effort on our part to improve ourselves, to increase in godliness and the power thereof. We have the human disposition to be at ease in the enjoyment of the earthly comforts by which we may be surrounded. In this respect human nature has been the same in all ages, and hence it has almost become proverbial that for a church to prosper it must be persecuted, and its members placed in constant jeopardy. But with the knowledge God has given to us this should not be the case. It should be a pleasure, a source of constant delight to us, as Latter-day Saints, to keep all the commandments of God, to seek and contend for that faith once delivered to the Saints, by which they accomplished such mighty works.

I have said that I greatly desired to live when Apostles were upon the earth. Are there not hundreds of this congregation who have felt, in various times in their lives, before they heard the sound of the everlasting Gospel, that they would traverse this earth, and undergo all manner of hardships, if they could only have the privilege to behold the face of a man of God, an Apostle of the Lord Jesus? What would they not have given to hear words of salvation from such a man, a man who had authority to teach and to administer the ordinances of the Gospel? Doubtless there are hundreds present who at various times in their lives have felt this, having grown up amid contending sects. I am satisfied that there are hundreds here who felt in their hearts that there was no sacrifice they were capable of making, which they would not have gladly made, to have had the privilege they now enjoy. They are now numbered with the Church of God, and have a knowledge of this through the power of the Holy Ghost, and the enjoyment of its gifts and blessings. And yet you talk to these men and women today, and what are their feelings? A number of them feel as zealous and warm in the work of God as they ever did. But many, doubtless, have become careless. These blessings have become common because of the ease with which they have been obtained, and indifference is the result. Yet are they not just as valuable today? Is it not just as desirable today for human beings to know that a man has authority to administer baptism, and that God will recognize the administration? Is it not a great blessing to have the reality as it was to anticipate it? Certainly it is! The authority which God has restored to the earth empowers man to go into the waters of baptism, and then baptize his fellow man for the remission of sins, God sanctioning the act. This is as great a blessing as it ever was. The fact that there are numbers of men upon the earth thus authorized, does not make the blessing more undesirable. Because there are thousands of persons now living on the earth who have received of the blessings which were to follow those that believed and obeyed the Gospel, does that in the least lessen their value? I certainly think not; they are just as desirable today, and should be valued by every human being who has any appreciation whatever of the things of God. The authority to administer in the ordinances of the house of God, to say, “Thus saith the Lord,” to counsel, instruct, warn, and reprove, is peculiar to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and in this respect we are different from all other people. While this is so, we do not exclude any others from partaking of these benefits. We also—to use a phrase already adopted—we also were Gentiles, in ignorance concerning this Gospel at one time, that is, the bulk of us were. Therefore, while we claim for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this power, we do not claim it as belonging to us and ours exclusively, but to be diffused from this Church to all the inhabitants of the earth so fast as they will receive the doctrines of Jesus Christ and have faith to obey them. And this is glad tidings of salvation to all people—glad tidings of salvation in this age of unbelief, which might be said to be an age of universal darkness and ignorance concerning Jesus Christ. There is scarcely a man to be found who knows anything about God, and who believes in the literal resurrection of the body. Even ministers, as well as members of the various denominations, are in this condition. It is a great blessing that at such a time as this there is a people upon the face of the earth who testify, in all solemnity and boldness, before God, before angels, and before men, that God has spoken from the heavens, that he has broken the silence that has reigned for ages over the world, and has once more communicated his mind and will to man; that in this age these “glad tidings” have been communicated from the heavens by the ministrations of holy angels and the voice of God himself.

Now this is the message of glad tidings which the Latter-day Saints have to bear, not to themselves and their children alone, but to all the inhabitants of the earth, and to every nation and kindred, tongue and people, that God lives, that Jesus lives, that the same powers exist as existed anciently, that the same Gospel is powerful to salvation today as it was eighteen hundred years ago, that the Holy Ghost exists, and that men can receive it by taking the course pointed out by the servants of God anciently. Who would not be gladdened by such a message, if they could believe it to be true? Would not ministers rejoice in it? Would not the people? Would not all the inhabitants of the earth rejoice and praise God, if they could believe such tidings as these? The fact that they do not believe them does not lessen their value, their truthfulness, nor their importance. There are those who do believe them, they are found in these mountains, they are Latter-day Saints, but called “Mormons” by those who do not choose to give them their proper name; and they differ from every religious sect and denomination in Christendom. Their belief is that God has revealed himself to man in the day and age in which we live, has restored the everlasting Gospel, the Holy Ghost, and the gifts and graces thereof. I do not believe there is a man in Christendom, nor in heathendom, nor upon the whole face of the earth, however wicked he might be, who would not in his secret heart be thankful if he understood and knew these things for himself; but there is that unbelief and hardness of heart, there is that power the adversary exercises over the children of men, which blinds their eyes and beclouds their understanding, making the things of God appear unreasonable to them; until it becomes fashionable for men of education to think it necessary that they should doubt the existence of God, and of Jesus Christ, and the atonement, because, forsooth, they cannot comprehend the plan of redemption in all its details. Because the resurrection cannot be understood by them, they must deny the truth of the resurrection and doubt and deny the truth of the atonement and mediation of Jesus Christ. This is fashionable in these days. Yet here is a people, and I rejoice in it, who do believe in God, who testify that they know God lives; that they know that Jesus is the Savior of the world; that they know that the Holy Ghost is poured out upon men who obey and do his will; who now testify that they know that God bestows his gifts and blessings upon man as he did in ancient days. To me it is exceedingly interesting to know that there is a people in these mountains who cherish this faith, notwithstanding their weaknesses and failings, and notwithstanding some of them turn away from the truth and become aliens to the covenants of Christ. Notwithstanding all these things, still there is a people who do have this faith; who cherish it, and who seek to teach it to their children after them.

But it is important for us that we should look well to our ways, whether we appreciate the blessings God has bestowed upon us, and put them to a proper use, or not. How can we know that Jesus is the Christ, and that he lives? How can any man know it? I have many times in my life been inquired of by intelligent men upon this point. “You say that Jesus lives, how do you know it? You say there is a resurrection of the body and that you know it. How do you know it?” It is only a few weeks ago that a gentleman of superior abilities and excellent culture, a man for whom I had formed considerable attachment, said, “I would give all the world, if I had it, to know what you say you know. You say you know God lives, you say you know that Jesus is the Savior of the world, you say there is a literal resurrection of the body. I do not know these things, I cannot find out anything about them. My reason cannot be satisfied with the principles offered to me in favor of these ideas.” And he thought I ought to be a most happy man to have such a faith. I told him that he could have it by taking the course God had pointed out. Can any of us know these things by reading the Bible, or by hearing our fathers say so? No, the information derived from such a source is only a matter of belief. The Muhammadan believes in the Koran, and that Muhammad was a true prophet, because his parents teach him so. And shall the believer in Jesus Christ, and in his atonement base his faith upon no better foundation than this? The heathen believes his doctrine and teaches it to his children. Belief alone is not sufficient. We must know, if we ever get eternal life. “To know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, is life eternal.”

What difference is there between Christians and Muhammadans upon this point? The Christians believe that Jesus is the Christ, because the Bible says so; the Muhammadans base their belief in Muhammad, because their fathers and mothers tell them he was a prophet and the Koran is true. Jesus says—“If any man will do his (the Father’s) will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” He also says, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” His Apostle Peter says—“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost.” This was the promise, and through it every minister claiming to be authorized to represent the Gospel can be tested. He who is a minister of Jesus Christ has the right and authority to make certain promises to believers, and these promises heaven will fulfill and man cannot. If a man come forward professing to be a minister of Jesus Christ, promising the believers that they should receive the Holy Ghost by complying with certain conditions, and the promise fails in its fulfillment, what evidence has such a one that the minister is sent of God? None at all. But if a man come, saying, “The Lord has sent me forth; I have been called, commissioned and ordained, and have the authority to go forth and call upon the people to repent and be baptized, and if they do so they shall receive the Holy Ghost through the laying on of hands;” if the people, after obeying the requirements, do receive the Holy Ghost, they then have a testimony that he is a man of God. This, when received and retained, is an ever living, ever present witness. It is in this way that the Latter-day Saints know that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ; they know that Jesus is the Savior of the world because they have received the promised blessings. But will the reception of one item of knowledge alone save us? No. We must grow from faith to faith, from knowledge to knowledge, cultivating and cherishing the knowledge which our Father has given us until we arrive at power and receive gifts we do not now enjoy. This is the privilege of the Latter-day Saints. It is not a knowledge based upon some past experience, but to know today, to have a living faith within, by communion with God, by having our prayers answered. This latter is one of the best and surest evidences man can have. When he is in difficulty, when in danger, he can go to God, and ask him to grant him the deliverance he needs and he receives it.

Of what value is religion, unless this blessing can be enjoyed? I care not how much piety people may affect, if they do not have their prayers answered there is not much real, live faith connected with their religion. This is a good test for us. Do we live in such close communion with God, day by day—not in the remembrances and reminiscences of the past, but living in the knowledge of today—that we can go to him asking in the name of Jesus, and receive an answer to our prayers? That is a test of fellowship with God and of Gospel truth. This ought to be the experience of everyone every day we live, not, as I say, dealing in the remembrance of past favors, not something we received when we joined the Church or during some subsequent time, but because of favors we receive and enjoy today. This is happiness which the world cannot give nor take away, that makes a man happy in the midst of his enemies. Like Daniel he may be cast among wild beasts, or like the three Hebrew children he may be thrown into a fiery furnace, still he is happy and can praise his God. Our religion cannot be laid aside, as we would our Sunday garments, and be forgotten until the following Sunday. It is a religion that enters into our everyday dealings with man, of parents with children and children with parents, we carry it in our entire lives and we exhibit it in the fruits of our lives, dealing kindly and mercifully, justly and honorably one with another, administering the words of consolation to those who are afflicted, enjoying the spirit of it when we get up in the morning and through the day, until we retire at night. This is the way to live, and for this purpose God has revealed the Gospel. Anything short of this is not true religion. The man who does not so live, does not enjoy the blessings God is willing to bestow upon him. You have tested this, you Latter-day Saints who have been members of this Church since its early rise. Were you not happy when your enemies were persecuting you, when you were driven from your homes? Were you ever more happy than when upon the plains, trusting entirely in the providence of God, traveling like Abraham did, not knowing whither you were going? And were you not happy when you came here in the midst of privations? Certainly you were. Happiness was in your hearts, and gladdened your countenances. Why? Because the peace of God was within you, it rested upon you and you rejoiced in it. For this purpose religion, as it is called, is revealed. What is religion? Does true religion make man different from what he is naturally? Yes, it can do so if his nature is defective; if he inherit bad passions, improper appetites and wrong inclinations, it enables him to subdue them. Some suppose it is sinful to be merry, to dance or to witness amusements. Young people, especially in the world, often say, “I don’t want to be religious; I’ll put it off until I get old; I want to enjoy myself.” These ideas have their origin in false traditions. There is nothing that affords real happiness except in keeping the commandments of Jesus Christ. Our holy religion incorporates every blessing man can enjoy; there is no good thing you can desire in righteousness that is not incorporated in the religion of Jesus Christ. God, who created us, knew the wants of our being, and therefore, adapted the Gospel to our natures.

It is generally thought that “Mormonism” is going to the wall because men and women leave the Church. It has often been said, let fashion be introduced and ministers be sent here, let mines be discovered, and other agencies be brought to bear, and the problem of “Mormonism” would soon then be solved. I have no doubt that many people who are called Latter-day Saints have succumbed to drunkenness, and perhaps to other vices. But does this affect the truth? Is that any evidence that “Mormonism,” or the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is to be overthrown? Not in the least. I cannot share in the gloomy apprehensions that some are disposed to indulge in respecting the future of this people. I think there never was a time when the prospects of the future of the Church were better than they are at present. I do not anticipate disaster. I expect men will fall away; this has been the case always, and as long as the adversary has power over the children of men it will continue to be so. I thank God that certain men have a disposition to leave this Church, and so draw the line between those who are serving the Lord and those who are not. I mourn that men should be so unfortunate; but when I see the work of cleansing going on it is an evidence to me that the body of the Church is healthy. We are being brought in contact with the vices of the world, and if Latter-day Saints cannot retain their faith in the midst of these things the sooner they become disfellowshipped the better for the Church. If, however, we can endure all things for the sake of the Gospel of Christ, if we can maintain the faith valiantly, in prosperity as well as in adversity, then is our faith grounded upon the rock. It would make no difference to such people if there were five thousand liquor and gambling saloons in our city, they would be unmoved and undisturbed by such things. God will have a tried and chosen people, even as gold is seven times purified; if, therefore, there be any dross about us it will be taken away. If persecution will not do it, it is very probable the Lord will use other agencies to bring about the same purpose, so that the end will be accomplished.

I bear testimony that this is the work of God. I know, as well as I know I live, that God raised up Joseph Smith and bestowed upon him knowledge and power and enabled him to organize the Church of Christ in its primitive purity, as it exists and flourishes today, in these mountains. I know also that he has bestowed the same power and authority upon his servant Brigham, and I know, too, that the people who will obey his counsels will be blessed, as they always have been, and that the anger of the Lord will be enkindled against the people unless they do obey him, because the Lord has set him to guide and to lead the people. To lead the people blindly without knowing themselves whither they are going? No, certainly not. When the President of this Church gives counsel, it is the privilege of the Latter-day Saints to know, for themselves, by the testimony of Jesus within them, that such counsel is right, and no higher testimony can be given any man than this. It is the privilege of all to know whether this is the work of God or not, according to the Savior’s promise, which leaves the world without excuse. It is a matter of great importance for a man to testify before God and angels that these things are true. If he be an impostor, then the responsibility of that man is dreadful; if his testimony be true, then those who hear and reject it assume greater responsibility. That God may help us to stand pure and unspotted before him, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.