Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in The New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, July 12, 1874.

I rejoice, today, in the opportunity which I have of meeting with my brethren and sisters, but it would give me much greater satisfaction to sit and look upon their faces, and to listen to the voice or voices of others, than to occupy the time myself. I am thankful, however, that I am in your midst, and that circumstances are so favorable with us as they are.

I expect, from all I have heard, that this past season has been one of some degree of anxiety on the part of the Latter-day Saints in the Territory of Utah. But I do not believe that your happiness has been much interfered with, if I am to judge of your feelings by my own. We have had so many things to contend with all the days that we have been asso– ciated with this work, and we made calculations when we espoused it upon the character of the opposition to be contended with, that when we meet it there is no disappointment. In this respect the Latter-day Saints differ from every other people with whom I have met. If any other people in this government were assailed as the Latter-day Saints have been, and were to have so many intolerant and sweeping measures suggested for legislation by the Congress of the United States, real estate would be of very little value, and all kinds of business would be unsettled and ruined. But I cannot perceive that values, business, or your faith in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has been in the least disturbed.

I have been questioned a good many times since I returned, as to my feelings during my absence. My reply has been that I never felt better in my life than during the past eight months. I have been absent from home a good many times, and I have traveled in a good many lands, and mingled with many people under a variety of circumstances, but I can say truly this day, that at no period in any of my travels, or under the different circumstances in which I have been placed, have I ever felt better than I have during my recent absence from home.

This may surprise some who are not acquainted with this work, and, in fact, it may excite some degree of surprise in the breasts of those who are familiar with it; but my theory is that when a man is conscious, or a people are conscious, that he or they are in the path of duty, doing that which is right in the sight of God, they should always be happy, no matter what the circumstances may be which surround them. I think that God has created us to be happy, and my belief is that he has placed happiness within the reach of all, and it is man’s own fault if he is not happy and does not enjoy himself every day of his life. This is one of my reasons for liking my religion, this system called “Mormonism,” because it bestows full happiness and joy upon its believers. They can be happy in the midst of the most adverse circumstances; they can rejoice when surrounded with enemies, and when their lives are imperiled. During my absence my feeling has been that God was with his people; I also felt that the faith of the Latter-day Saints was greatly exerted in my behalf, and that it was sustaining and strengthening me.

In some respects my position as delegate from this Territory was not an enviable one, and from the time that I reached Washington until the close of Congress there was one paper, at least, which poured out unlimited abuse upon myself and upon my constituents. Scarcely a day passed that some falsehood was not circulated or some vile slander or charge published about the people in these mountains, or about myself. Appeals of every imaginable character were made to the Congress of the United States, that is, to the House particularly, to take instant measures to expel me, and when, as these writers thought, a disposition was manifested not to comply with their demands, recourse was had to the charge of bribery—that we were spending money, and that members of Congress were paid to prevent their action upon my case. In this respect the condition of a delegate might be considered an unenviable one, but I felt a strength, I felt a power, I had an influence, or thought I had, at least, that no other member of the House of Representatives possessed. For instance, the members of the House generally were constantly harassed with the thought as to what their constituents would think of them, how they would view their action, how they would like their votes, &c., whether they would be displeased with such and such a measure, &c. Their future election, they knew, depended upon their having a popular record, and to secure this required considerable thought and ingenuity upon the part of many. I was divested of this fear, I had no thought as to what my constituents would think of me, it never cost me a single moment’s reflection, because I knew that I had the entire confidence of the people whom I represented; and I knew that whatever I did, so long as I did the best I could, I should be sustained in doing it by you and by all the people throughout these valleys, and in this respect I had a strength which no other one had. I often told members, when it was convenient and appropriate to speak in this strain, that I had the faith of the entire people, and that they were praying for me. This would amuse a good many, but I have never failed, during my absence, to convey, whenever I could, the idea that we were a people who believed in and prayed to God, and that we had faith in our prayers. One of the great lessons that we have to teach the world today is faith in God, and though a member of Congress, dealing with political questions and matters which are considered foreign to religion by the great majority of men, I have not thought that religion was like a Sunday garment, to be worn on Sunday in the meetinghouse, tabernacle, chapel or church, and to be laid aside again on Monday morning. I have never had that idea of religion, I do not have it now.

There is at the present time an almost entire absence of faith in God among men. I have been struck with this more than any other feature that I have witnessed during my absence. Converse with well meaning, intelligent men, men of good moral character, and you will be surprised at the extent of the unbelief there is in the world. There seems to be an idea that God our Eternal Father resides in some remote place so far removed from us that he takes no special cognizance of us or of our actions, that he governs the universe and the affairs of men by great natural and unalterable laws, that there are no special providences in favor of men, but that man prospers according to his wisdom, strength and talent, and that weak men and a weak people stand no chance in opposition to the strong; hence the remark was made to me, I may say, hundreds of times during my absence—“You people must conform to the ideas of the rest of the world, or you will go to the wall.” “You people must abandon your strange ideas and your peculiar views, or you will inevitably be overthrown.” On such occasions I would not fail to give the ideas that we believed in God, that we believed this was God’s work, that God had sustained and delivered us in the past, that we were still willing to trust him for the future, and that he would provide a way of escape. But while men would listen patiently and kindly to such remarks, you could see incredulity on every lineament of their countenance, a sort of pitying incredulity, as though they looked upon you as very well-meaning, but in this respect a very much mistaken person. The idea that prevails is that God or Providence is on the side of the strongest artillery, and that if we are weak and are warred against we must go down because of our weakness.

Of course, where this idea prevails there can be but little faith in God’s special providences. If this were a correct idea, there would be little use in prayer, in supplicating God, in entreating him for his blessing and his power to be bestowed upon us. But we have proved the efficacy of prayer so often ourselves, that there is no need for us as a people to be fortified upon this point, or to have arguments urged upon us. My own life is full of incidents—as is the life, doubtless, of every individual present who has faith in God—which are evidences of his interposition in answer of prayer, and my feeling is that one of the great duties devolving upon us is to teach the world that there is a God, and that he has power to save today, as much as in ancient days, those who are willing to trust him. It is this peculiar feature that makes everything connected with this work so incomprehensible to men. Those of you who have kept posted in relation to affairs, know how wonderfully matters have been arranged for our good. When I look back at the seven or eight months that are past and see what has been done, I am amazed, knowing how thorough have been the measures and the efforts to strip us of every right and to bring us into bondage. No less than eight or nine bills were introduced into Congress early in the session, for the express purpose of reaching the “Mormon” case. These bills were referred to various committees, and arguments had to be made upon them before these committees; but there was a determination on the part of a great many members to vote upon any bill, no matter what its features might be, that might be introduced into the House from a committee. You cannot judge, however, in every instance, of the private feelings of men by their votes. A great many members of Congress would rather not cast their votes against us if they could have their way; but the timidity of members upon the “Mormon” question is the strength of the enemies of the people of Utah, and they count upon that as a means of insuring the success of their schemes of villainy. They are well aware that there is a feeling of reluctance on the part of public men to place themselves on the record in favor of anything that would look like sustaining or giving countenance to what is called “Mormonism.” Our enemies counted upon this last session. In the beginning of the session they depended upon that as the means by which they would prevent me from taking my seat in the House of Representatives. Disappointed in that, they then commenced operations before the committee on elections and, as you are doubtless well aware, did everything in their power to precipitate that question upon the House. I need not rehearse to you how these attempts have been overruled. To my mind the hand of God is as plainly manifest in all these circumstances as is this light, or these objects which I see before me in the light of this day.

When the bills against Utah were introduced, they were referred, as I have said, to committees. They were principally copies of the bill that passed the Senate in the last session of the forty-second Congress, called the Frelinghuysen bill. One of these was introduced by the chairman of the Committee on Territories and was called the McKee bill. This bill was argued at great length before the Committee on Territories, and it was reported to the House.

To the astonishment of its reputed author, a point of order was raised upon it for which he was not prepared, and, before he scarcely knew it, the bill was taken out of his hands and referred to the committee of the whole and virtually defeated for that session. Of course, our enemies were not suited with that arrangement, they wanted some other bill passed, and hoping that the Poland bill would be the least objectionable and would pass the easiest, they brought that forward and urged its passage before the Judiciary Committee. A number of meetings were held, arguments were made for and against the bill, and finally, through laboring hard with prominent members of that committee a modification was obtained in one important section of the bill, namely, that referring to the selection of jurors. As the bill originally stood it possessed the same feature that all the rest did, giving to the Judge of the District Court, his clerk and the U.S. Marshal, the right to select all our jurors. This section was fought earnestly, and finally Judge Poland was induced to modify it sufficiently to have three commissioners appointed, who should have the selection of jurors. Eventually another change was made in that section, and the feature that now stands in the law as it passed was introduced giving the right to select jurors to the Probate Judge of each county and the clerk of the District Court, each to select alternately a juror from lists already prepared. I felt that this, itself, was a very great triumph, because as the bill originally stood it virtually left us, our lives, our liberties and all our property, at the mercy of three individuals who, judging by past experience in this Territory, would pack juries upon us without any scruples; and I felt that it was a great advantage to us that the infamous raid had been made upon us two years ago by the Judge of this district and those associated with him, for it gave me an opportunity of setting forth what had been done in the past when there was no law to sustain such operations, and to argue what we might expect if there were a law to sustain them.

When the Poland bill was brought before the House there seemed to be a forgetfulness on the part of its sponsor—not its author but its sponsor—Judge Poland, that there was a rule in operation requiring every bill that contemplated an appropriation from the federal treasury to be referred to the committee of the whole. He had forgotten the point that had been made on the McKee bill, and when his reputed bill was introduced that point was again made, and sustained by the Speaker. Judge Poland saw that he could not carry it over the decision of the Speaker and the decision of the best parliamentarians in the House and, to save his bill from being referred to the committee of the whole, he withdrew it. At this point a man who had been down there, very anxious to get legislation, and urging it with his might, met me on the floor of the House, and said—“Mr. Cannon, before you left Salt Lake you told me that God was on your side, and I’ll be d—d if I don’t begin to believe it.” I told him He was, and was on the point of telling him that he would be damned if he did not believe it, when we separated. For the moment, his fears being alive, I suppose he thought there was some power with us, as this was the second bill that had been so nearly killed for that session. Judge Poland succeeded afterwards in getting the privilege of reporting the bill to the House and having it there considered as in committee of the whole, and this saved the point of order.

As I have told you, the strength of our enemies did not consist in the justice or rightfulness of their cause; it did not consist in the strength of their arguments; it did not consist, in fact, in anything of this character that could be brought before members; but their principal reliance was upon the circulation of abominable falsehoods and slanders and the unreasoning prejudices which existed against the people of this Territory, which made members timid in dealing fairly with our question. A people who profess the characteristics of many of the residents of this Territory, and who have shown such willingness to suffer all things for what they consider the right, have difficulty in comprehending how men in power can be timid where principle is involved. But the power of members of Congress is very ephemeral. The tenure of office of many is frequently based upon slight grounds. Some have to struggle hard to get to Congress, and they struggle still harder to keep there. Viewed from their standpoint such reason in this wise: I follow politics as a profession; I expect to live by that profession; I reach Congress with difficulty, for my district is closely contested. I must vote in a way not to lessen my majority in my district, or to decrease my influence. There is a prejudice against the Mormons, and if I seem to favor them, my opponents would use it against me on the stump in the next campaign, even if I should succeed in getting a nomination from the convention of my party.

As you know, the Poland bill passed the House and was sent to the Senate. It was expected that it would pass the Senate almost instantaneously; that it would be referred, as a matter of form, to the Committee on the Judiciary and be instantly reported back for passage. But the members of the Judiciary Committee in the Senate, although the Frelinghuysen bill had passed during the previous Congress, were not disposed to pass this hastily through. There had been considerable said, a good many arguments made, and conversations held with Senators, and the true state of affairs, as far as possible, had been represented to them, and they had this fear—that this whole attempt at legislation was merely a pretext by which a raid could be made on the property of the “Mormons” in Utah Territory.

There were two very powerful aids that I had in Washington. One, that idea to which I have just referred, that all this was a scheme on the part of certain interested parties for the purpose of getting up a raid under cover of polygamy and “Mormonism” to rob the people of their hard-earned possessions. Many Senators and members had been to Utah and were aware of the increased value of property through the discovery of mines. They had no faith in carpetbaggers, hence there was a reluctance on the part of considerate men to lend themselves to anything like a scheme of this character.

The other great aid I had were the looks of the men who were urging legislation. All I had to do was to point to these men and ask Senators and members how they would like to have power put in the hands of such persons if they resided in Utah Territory? The argument was a conclusive one if they had the opportunity of seeing the persons who were urging legislation at that time. I do not exaggerate when I say that those who went down there to contest my seat and urge legislation were the best aids that could have been furnished me. Some have thought I ought to have had some help, but I tell you truly that they were the best helps that could be sent. I have been asked repeatedly what we paid one of them at least to be there. The first time the question was put to me I was a little surprised at it, and could not help expressing my surprise, not understanding exactly its drift. I said—“We pay him nothing, what do you mean?” “Well,” said the gentleman who asked the question, “if you do not pay him you certainly can afford to pay him to keep him here.” These were strong reasons on our side, and they contributed materially to help our cause.

When the bill, as I have said, came from the Judiciary Committee to the Senate, it came in its original form except the striking out of one section which extended the common law over this Territory. But there was a disposition to so modify the bill that it could not be used in the way that it was designed by its originators, and you know how it has been pruned. To me, as I have said respecting this other matter, so I can say concerning it, that the hand of God was very visible to me, and I felt that he was laboring on our side, and that he would help us and deliver us as he had delivered others in other times and in past ages; and the Lord did soften the hearts of men, cause them to feel favorable to us and to feel favorably disposed to our cause.

It has been said as an explanation of this, so I have understood, that we have used money at Washington to defeat legislation. I have not seen these statements myself, for I made it a point never to read books or papers which vilify this people. I really have too little time to read the works and papers which are instructive and pleasant to me, and with which I ought to be familiar, to spend one moment of time in reading abusive, lying and slanderous writings concerning this people or myself. While I was absent, there was a paper published in Washington that had almost daily, as I have remarked, articles against you and myself. I made it a point never to read one of them. I did not want to be disturbed in my feelings. “Where ignorance is bliss,” the poet says, “’tis folly to be wise.” I thought the scheme was a blackmailing one; I knew the influences which were put in operation to keep up this abuse and I was determined it should not annoy me. Whenever the use of money has been alluded to in the hearing of President Young he has stated, emphatically, that so far as he was concerned he would not spend one cent of money to preserve our rights, or to obtain extended liberties for us as a people. This has been his emphatic declaration, his expressed determination. His views on this subject have been accepted as every way correct.

I want to say to you here, today, my brethren and sisters, that not one cent of money has been spent with any man for the purpose of influencing him. I believe my word can be relied upon by this people; you have known me all my life, and when I say this you can put implicit and perfect reliance in what I say. We have had no aid of this kind, we have used no means of this character, we have had no lobbyist. That which has been done has been fairly and above board, and it has been the blessing of God upon us in answer to the united faith and prayers of this people that has produced the results that we have witnessed. I am thankful that we have been enabled to take this course and that we can trust in God and rely upon him, for he will save to the very uttermost.

I recollect writing home a letter some weeks ago, some weeks in fact before the adjournment, in which I said that so far as the sight of the eye, the hearing of the ear, and na– tural judgment were concerned men might be justified in thinking there would be legislation that would be very severe, and that I would lose my seat. And yet I can truly say that from the day of my election up to the time that I left Washington I never had a single doubt, not a shadow of a doubt as to my keeping my seat—it never cost me one moment’s thought. I knew when I left here that I would be admitted to my seat; I knew when the attempt was made to expel me that it would be unsuccessful; I knew further, that every attempt to get legislation such as was contemplated would be defeated, and if a bill did pass it would be in a comparatively mild form. Of course, having these ideas, I have felt, as I stated in the commencement of my remarks, very happy. I have had joy all the time, I have had peace all the time, and I have had good cause to be thankful to God our heavenly Father for his blessings upon me.

That I was not expelled from my seat, however, was not due to the absence of effort on the part of the person who wanted it. It was really amusing to hear the pathetic manner in which the poor creature and his confederates alluded to the technical and legal reply which I made (and which was published in this city), to his charges against me in his notice of contest for the place of delegate. He had piled charge upon charge against me, nothing being too false, vile or malignant to embody in these accusations, and because I acknowledged nothing, but threw the onus of the proof upon him, he murmured considerably. It would doubtless have been very gratifying to him to have had his case completed for him. As it was, recourse was had to the most despicable methods to obtain such evidence as was thought necessary. Spies pried into my domestic affairs, and from them and apostates cooked affidavits were obtained with which it was hoped the desired end would be achieved. If vile slanders, base falsehoods, false affidavits or atrocious attacks could have had the desired effect I would not have kept my seat in Congress. If grossly libelous newspaper articles, if shameless and indecent lectures, if frantic appeals to popular prejudice, or the secret circulation of documents signed by perjured affiants could have influenced Congress to take hasty and ill-considered action, the place of delegate from Utah might have been declared vacant. My opponents attacked me for being a “Mormon” of the most ultra and pronounced type; their great efforts were to prove that in the enunciation and practice of every feature of my religion I was bold though shrewd and not a whit behind the foremost, and because of this should not have a seat in Congress. This endorsement, if it had been worth anything, would have pleased me. But it did not always suit to give me this character. For circulation here, another plan was adopted. I was accused of not standing up to my principles. This charge was false but did not displease me, any more than the others pleased me. I am thankful to say that I have learned to view all such charges with complete indifference. Conscious of the propriety of my own course and that I had the confidence of my constituents, my enemies’ attacks gave me no concern. Indeed, I accepted them as compliments. I was quite willing to be investigated. I had tried to live so that I had no fear of a microscopic investigation of the acts of my life. At the same time I never conceded that Congress had the right to investigate my domestic affairs. I have no idea that I shall ever be convinced that it has that right.

So far as my personal treatment has been concerned, I have been treated with respect and consideration. A few individuals, a few members, have sought to do us injury; a few men can make a great disturbance on a question upon which men are so tender as this question of “Mormonism.” But by the great majority, by ninety-nine hundredths of the men with whom I have been brought in contact, as members of the House, as senators, as heads of departments, I could not ask any better treatment than I have received, I could not expect it. I have endeavored to deport myself as a gentleman in all the relations of life, to treat everybody with the consideration and respect that were due to them, and I have, in return, been treated in the same manner. I take pleasure in bearing this testimony, because one might imagine, from reports that have reached here, that I have been in a constant war and difficulty. It has been a constant war, but it has been a war that has been confined to fighting and counteracting the lies, the machinations, the slanders and the miserable schemes of those who have been plotting against us. And I wish to bear testimony to you this afternoon, that if you will put your trust in God he will never desert you. I never felt for a moment concerned about our affairs but once, and that was when I heard of the divisions in our elections here; that gave me concern. If these Latter-day Saints are only united, if they will keep the commandments of God and do his will, let me say to you that there is no power on earth or in hell that can injure us or retard the onward progress of this work. I know this as well as I know I stand here. But you be divided, you lose your faith, you array yourselves one against another, and then where is your strength? You are no better than any other people, and God will visit you with scourges and with disaster, and you will be punished and your enemies will have power over you. I hear of men being in doubt concerning their faith in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am astonished at it. It seems to me that every evidence that is necessary to convince people of the divinity of this work, people who examine it carefully and prayerfully, has been given unto us as a people.

I thought I knew something, before I left here, concerning the power of God; I thought I knew something of the providences of God our heavenly Father; but I never had such an experience in my life as I have had while I have been absent. I know that God is with this people. I know that God has chosen Brigham Young to be his servant, and to preside over his Church on the earth. I know this as well as I know that I live, and I might as well doubt my own existence, doubt the existence of the heavens above my head, or the earth on which I stand, as to doubt this, and I know that those who follow his counsel will be blessed and will be delivered, while those who reject his counsel will have to suffer therefore.

This may sound strange that a man should have this power given to him in these days, but it is consistent with the plan of salvation as revealed in ancient days. Recollect the power that Jesus gave to Peter—that he should bind on earth and it should be bound in heaven, and that he should loose on earth and it should be loosed in heaven. What great power this was to give to one man. Jesus said to him, “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

When God chooses a man to be his servant, he expects all his children to honor that man when they became acquainted with the character of his mission, and those who honor him He will honor, and they who despise him He will despise, and I know that the Latter-day Saints have prospered, it has been the experience of my entire life, from my boyhood up to this day, in obeying the counsel of God’s servant. During the days of Joseph, when the Latter-day Saints obeyed his counsel they were prospered; and since his death, for thirty years now, when they have obeyed the counsel of Brigham they have been blessed and prospered. And there is this evidence, which I consider one of the greatest evidences that we can have—whenever we do that which is required of us we have peace in our hearts, and when we oppose it we are disturbed in our spirits. I look upon this as one of the best guides to judge of the character of a spirit by which we may be assailed, or which may present itself for admission to our hearts. Whenever a spirit presents itself that produces disturbance of feeling, agitation, pain, darkness or doubt, we can know if we will judge as we should do, that it is not of God; but a spirit that produces peace, a spirit that produces joy, light and happiness, comes from God, and as a people we should be able to judge between these two classes of influences.

I said, in the commencement, that it is the privilege, in my opinion, of every man, every human being on the face of the earth to be happy, if he will seek happiness in the right direction. The heathen who lives up to the light God has given him can be a happy man. The idolater, no matter what his condition or belief, if he lives up to the light God has given him, can be happy if he will observe those laws which God has made plain unto all of us. Now, my brethren and sisters, there are lying spirits gone forth in the world who seek to deceive. The spirit of falsehood reigns today in the midst of the earth. Men delight in slander and in that which is false. You have proved this sufficiently, and if you are not careful you will be assailed by this spirit and partake of it before you are aware of it. How can you know a good spirit from a bad spirit? By the effect it produces upon your minds. I know that there are some who think that unless a man doubts he cannot acquire knowledge. This to me is great folly. I do not think it at all necessary to doubt or to hold controversies with the devil in order to acquire knowledge. I never saw a man who pursued that course who was not disturbed in his mind and darkened in his understanding. Seek for that which produces a good effect upon your minds; if we follow that it will bring us back to God. We need never be deceived by any spirit or influence, and we may always know the truth when we hear it. We have a guide within ourselves, which all of us carry, and that is the power to detect truth from error, right from wrong, good from evil, the spirit of light from the spirit of darkness. I want no spirit within me that produces any unhappy feeling. I want no spirit to enter into my heart that produces darkness and doubt. I want a spirit that produces peace and joy, and that will cause me to rejoice in the midst of my enemies and when threatened by danger; or if I have to walk that narrow and dreadful path that leads to death because of my faith, or any other terrible consequence, that I can walk it and have the Spirit of God, the spirit of peace, joy and resignation therein, without doubt or darkness assailing me. That is the spirit that we as a people should seek for. And when you are disturbed in your feelings and assailed with doubt and do not feel happy, withdraw yourselves from the world, leave the cares that press you, lay them aside, withdraw to your secret chamber, and bow yourselves down before your God and entreat him, in the name of Jesus, to give you his Spirit, and do not leave your chamber until you are, as it were, baptized in the Spirit of God and full of peace and joy, all your cares and troubles dissipated and dismissed. This is the course we should take as Latter-day Saints, and this will be far more profitable to us than anything else we can do during that period. There is nothing like communion with the Holy Spirit, there is no blessing to equal it. I have proved it abundantly during my absence, and I rejoice that I can bear this testimony to you today.

I expect it sounds strange for a man who has been occupied as I have been to talk in this strain; but there is nothing of greater importance to me, according to my understanding, than the salvation of the human family, temporally and spiritually, in the kingdom of God our heavenly Father; nothing of greater importance than teaching men and women how to live so as to be always in the enjoyment of light and wisdom and the peaceful Spirit of God our heavenly Father.

That God may bless you, that God may preserve you, that God may unite your hearts and make you one, and make you a people who shall prove to the inhabitants of the earth that God still lives and that he is unchanged, that he is the same today that he was yesterday, and that he will be the same forever, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, at the Semi-Annual Conference, October 6, 1873.

The subjects that have been dwelt upon this morning are such as must interest every one who has a desire to comprehend the principles of salvation, as believed in and practiced by the Latter-day Saints. To my mind there has been an evidence of their truth accompanying every word that has been spoken. The Spirit of God bears testimony to the things of God, and there would be no difficulty in convincing the inhabitants of the earth of the truth of the principles believed in by the Latter-day Saints, were it not for tradition and the prejudices which exist in men’s minds in relation to the truth. Let a man start out with the Bible in his hand, determined to receive the truth wherever it may be found, and commence examining the various institutions and churches that exist among men, and he would, if he believed the Bible, and were not prejudiced by tradition and education, expect to find, when he found the Church of Christ, a Church organized in every respect like that of which the New Testament gives us an account. He would expect to find Apostles and Prophets, and the ordinances of baptism, and the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost in that Church; he would expect to find the gifts of prophecy, revelation, tongues, the interpretation of tongues, healing, wisdom, the discernment of spirits, and all the gifts that existed in the Church of Christ in ancient days. He would look for just such a church as this, and if he did not find it he would conclude that that church had been withdrawn from the earth. The evidences that abound in the Scriptures all go to prove that this was the character of the Church of Christ in ancient days, and that there should be no change, for the Scriptures tell us that God is the same today, yesterday and forever, and that if men, in this day do the same things—exercising the same faith as they did in ancient days—the same blessings will follow their obedience. If we examine the Bible there is nothing to sustain the idea that there should be any change in any of these things; and when men hear it proclaimed that God has restored the everlasting Gospel, and they have a desire in their hearts to comprehend the truth, there is a spirit accompanies the testimony of the servants of God which bears witness to their spirit that these things are true. But immediately another spirit steps in, and the reflection arises in the minds of many—What will my parents, relatives or friends say? What will the world say if I believe this doctrine? There is ignominy associated with belief in these doctrines. There is shame to be encountered if I go forward and join a people so despised as these. What will men say of me? In what light, shall I be viewed? These reflections arise, and the testimony of the truth is extinguished in the hearts of many. It requires, therefore, on the part of people now, as in ancient days, great strength of mind, great moral courage, and great love of the truth, an overpowering desire to obtain salvation, and the Spirit of God to aid them, in order to enable people to receive the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence it is that so few, comparatively speaking, in every age have received the truth. It requires courage to sustain men when opposed by every kind of treachery and of violence. It required courage to enable men to go forth to the stake, to be cast into dens of wild beasts, or fiery furnaces, to be crucified, beheaded, sawn asunder, or to be exiled as was John the Revelator. It required, in ancient days, and it requires it in our days, this kind of sublime courage to enable men and women to receive the truth; and in view of all this, we can see and compre– hend the truth of the words of the Savior when he said—“Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it,” and “wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.” It has been so easy for men to reject the truth and flow with the current; it has been so easy for men to spread their sails, catch the popular breeze and glide before it; and it has been so difficult for men to stem the tide of opposition which they have always had to contend with when they have embraced the truth, that it requires on our part, brethren and sisters, devotion to the work which God has restored. Every man and woman who has entered this church, however ignorant and illiterate, and has been humble and truly repented, has received a testimony from God that this is the truth. God bestows his holy Spirit upon those who obey his Gospel as he bestows light upon the earth. There have not been a privileged few, there has been no hierarchy, there has been no monopoly of knowledge, for some exclusive set to receive while the rest would be destitute; but it has been diffused like the blessing of air—it has been to all who have believed it, and every man and woman has received a testimony for himself and herself respecting the Gospel of Jesus Christ as it has been revealed and taught in these last days. Hence you travel from one end of this Territory to the other and you find all the people bearing testimony, when called upon, that they know this is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, restored in its ancient purity and simplicity. You go to foreign lands, and they bear the same testimony everywhere. Illiterate, humble, uneducated, weak men have gone forth, and proclaimed this truth, authorized by God, and God has condescended to confirm the truth of their testimony and administrations among the people, and we are now brought together in this land. We are surrounded by peculiar circumstances, we are in a place to be tried and tested, as we never have been before. There are many tests, temptations and trials now assailing the Latter-day Saints, with which they never had to contend before. We have had mobs, expulsion from our lands, from the temple of God that we reared, and from the pleasant homes which we had created, from the graves of our friends and kindred whom we buried after they had fallen victims to the land which we had redeemed from the condition in which we found it. We have passed through these scenes and there has been but little faltering considering the circumstances we have had to contend with. Men have bravely stood all these things, and feeble women have been filled with courage and strength to pass through these privations without their faith failing them.

I hope that we shall not have such scenes to endure again. I pray that we may be delivered from the violence of our enemies, that they may not have power over us again as they have had in the past. But we must make calculations on having trials and difficulties to contend with, and having tests for our faith to be endured and passed through. We cannot expect to accomplish the work that God has laid upon us without being tested and proved. Men and women need not expect that they will attain unto the glory which God has in store for the faithful without being tested in all things. If we have a weakness, or anything about us that is not thoroughly sound, we may expect that sooner or later, that weak spot in our nature will be found, and we will be tested to the very uttermost. If we expect to sit down with Jesus and the Apostles and those who have fought the good fight of faith, and who have laid down their lives for the truth in past ages, or in our age, we must expect, like them, to be proved and tried in all things, until everything in our nature that is drossy shall be purified, and we be cleansed and made fit to sit down with them, pure and holy—their peers.

Can I then, or can you, give way to lust? Can you love the world, and the things of the world more than you do the things of God? Here is the danger that is before us as a people—it is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the lust of wealth, the fondness for worldly ease and comfort. We are being assailed by these trials. As a people we are increasing in wealth. Wealth is multiplying upon us on every hand. I know of no people, today, who are prospering as the Latter-day Saints through these valleys are. God has blessed our land, rendered it fertile, and made it most productive. He has placed us in the center of the continent. We occupy the key position, and may be termed the keystone Territory or State of the West. Wealth is pouring into our lap, and we cannot help being wealthy, that is, if we follow the course that has been indicated to us. We are as sure to be a wealthy people as that the sun shines. It is the inevitable consequence of our position, habits, union, &c.

There are more dangers in wealth than in mobocracy. There is more danger in having abundance of money, houses, lands, comforts, carriages, horses and fine raiment, than in all the mobs that ever arrayed themselves against us as a people from the beginning until we came here. We should realize this, and there is only one way that we can escape the evil consequences thereof. Wealth has ruined and corrupted every people almost that ever lived and attained unto power. It has sapped the foundation and vitality of the most powerful peoples and nations that ever existed on the face of the earth. We are human as they were; we are exposed to the same trials and temptations as they were, and we are liable to be overcome as they were; and the only safeguard for us is to hold everything that we have subject to the counsel and will of God our heavenly Father, until a different order of things shall be instituted among us as a people.

I see young men growing up, and in their growth is the love of wealth, the love of ease and worldly comfort, and the desire and greed for money. I will tell you that the man who has the greed or hunger for money within him, and does not repress it, cannot be a Latter-day Saint. A woman who has the love of finery and of earthly ease and comfort within her, and that is the paramount feeling in her heart, cannot be a Latter-day Saint. No man can be a Latter-day Saint in truth and in deed who does not hunger after righteousness and the things of God more than he does after everything else upon the face of the earth; and whenever you see or feel this money hunger, this dress hunger, this hunger for worldly ease and comfort, in yourselves or others, you may know that the love of God is being withdrawn from you or them, and sooner or later it will be extinguished, and the love of the world will grow until it becomes predominant. I do not know anything more corrupting than this greed, hunger and lust for the things of this life, or anything more degrading and debasing in its effects, except it be the love or lust for women. As a people we believe that lust for women is, next to murder, shedding innocent blood, the most deadly of all sins. Committing whoredom or adultery destroys the man who indulges in it, and next to that, in my estimation, is the love of wealth—the lusting after the things of this life; and there ought to be, and is in every rightly constituted nature, a constant warfare against this evil. We have this to contend with. We should watch it in our children and in ourselves, and we should endeavor to govern and bring all our feelings and desires into such a position that they can be controlled by the love of the truth.

God has most wisely designed, in my humble view and opinion, that, as a people, we should be called upon from time to time to make sacrifices in order that we may be weaned from the love of the things of this life, that our love may be concentrated upon Him and upon the salvation of our fellow men, for the mission that is entrusted to us is to save the inhabitants of the earth. And what a glorious field spreads out before us in this direction, when we see the thousands of poor, perishing souls who are dying for the want of the blessings that we enjoy. We build Temples, we organize emigration societies, and expend our means that we may be the instruments in the hands of God of saving and bringing salvation to the inhabitants of the earth—our brethren and our sisters.

God required Abraham to sacrifice that which was most dear to him, and he will also require at our hands that which is most dear to us. If you have wealth, and are increasing in wealth, one of the best things, under such circumstances, is to be always particular in doing that which God requires of us. He requires of us one-tenth of all that we have. Let us be liberal in this. He requires that we shall pay means for the emigration of the poor from the distant nations of the earth. Let us be liberal in this also. Then, if he requires our time and talents and all that we have, let us be willing to devote ourselves to his Work, for he blesses us with everything that our hearts desire. There is nothing we have ever desired as individuals or as a people, that has been good for us, and proper that we should have, that he has withheld from us. On the contrary, he has multiplied blessings upon us, and he will make us wealthy if we will only be devoted to him. There is no danger that we shall not become wealthy, the danger is that we shall become wealthy and not be willing to use our means to his glory and for the advancement of his kingdom. That is the danger with which we are threatened.

God bless you, my brethren and sisters, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, August 10, 1873.

A great many duties devolve upon us, of which we have to be constantly reminded. There are no people within the range of my acquaintance, to whom so much instruction has been imparted concerning the various duties devolving upon them, as to the Latter-day Saints. The best talent of the community is at their service. All the wisdom which God has given has been freely bestowed upon the people without money and without price; and, as has been remarked upon this Stand repeatedly, there is an independence about the Elders of this Church in preaching the Gospel unto the Saints and unto the world, that is not to be witnessed among the ministers of any other denomination. The reason of this is, that the ministers of the Latter-day Saints do not live upon the people, and are not dependent upon their favor for salaries to sustain them, and there is a consequent freedom in discussing measures of a monetary character, for the general good, when, under other circumstances, a delicacy might be felt.

We read in the Scriptures that Jesus Christ, in speaking with his disciples, asked them whom he, the Son of Man, was. Peter answered him that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus then said to Peter, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona; flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father, who is in heaven. And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Here was great power and authority given unto a man. It might be said that this was one-man power, Peter having the authority to bind on earth and it should be bound in heaven, to loose on earth and it should be loosed in heaven; but yet, these are the words of the Son of God unto one of his Apostles.

Now, what did this authority consist of? Can anybody tell outside the Church of Jesus Christ? Can anybody outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints understand the saying of Malachi, where he predicts that, “The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple?” Do they understand why Temples are built now, or for what purpose they were built in ancient days? Can they tell how the authority, which was conferred upon Peter, was exercised by him, or in what way it could be exercised by any man who might possess it? All these things are mysteries to the so-called Christian world, but God, in his mercy and condescension, has revealed them again, and as we frequently say to the Latter-day Saints, and not to them alone, for this is no monopoly of knowledge, God has not created a monopoly in organizing this Church, he is willing to extend this knowledge unto all the inhabitants of the earth, without money and without price. It is this which causes the Latter-day Saints to be so firmly united, and which makes them willing, if necessary, to suffer persecution when it overtakes them. It was this knowledge which bound the ancient Saints together, and which caused them to endure martyrdom gladly and joyfully in view of the blessings which they knew were in store for the faithful.

While brother George A. Smith was speaking, I could not help but think of the wonderful work that is being wrought in this generation among the children of men, in consequence of the power that has been wielded through the erection and completion of Temples and the administration of ordinances therein. Men wonder how it is that the Latter-day Saints are so united. They say this is a most wonderful phenomenon. They attribute it all to President Young. They say that he has a wonderful intellect, that he is a good organizer, that he possesses great executive ability and administrative power, and that through the gifts and endowments which he possesses, the works which we see and the union that is everywhere manifest among the Latter-day Saints are produced. But we who are connected with the Church, while we do not wish to detract in the least from the merit which is due to him as a servant of God and a faithful laborer in his cause through all the years of his life since he first became acquainted with the truth; while we do not wish to lessen the merit of these labors, or to detract in the least degree from them, we understand principle better than to give the glory to man. It is God who originated and who has preserved this work, and who has built it up, and developed in the hearts of the children of men this long dormant and long lost principle which binds them one to another as we are bound together; and there is no people on the face of the earth before whom there is so bright and glorious a prospect for this life and also for the life which is to come, as the Latter-day Saints, through the blessings of the Gospel which God has revealed.

We live in a different day to the ancients. They had before them the prospect of martyrdom and the overthrow of the work with which they were connected. But in these days God has given unto us different promises. These are the last days, and he has said that his kingdom shall triumph in the last days; it shall not be overthrown or go into the hands of another people. Our Prophets have been slain, the blood of Saints has been shed, but these scenes shall not long continue. There may be other blood shed; there may be other sacrifices offered, and other requirements of this kind made, or rather the Ad– versary may have power to effect bloody results of this character, but they will be short-lived. The days of the triumph of the wicked are numbered. They cannot prevail over this work for any length of time. It will grow and increase and spread abroad until it fills the whole earth, and we and our children after us will enjoy the earth and all the blessings thereof, according to the predictions of the holy Prophets.

The prospect, then, before us, concerning this life is a different one from that which presented itself before others who have preceded us. And the prospects for eternity are as bright and glorious as any that were ever presented to any of the children of men. We are sent here, for what purpose? To eat and drink, to clothe ourselves and to build houses, and to live and die like the beasts? Is that the object for which God has sent us here? By no means. This is a low view to take of existence. God has revealed to us, to a certain extent, the object of our existence. We are his children—the children of Deity, with deity and godlike aspirations within us. We have these aspirations in common with all his children, and it is right and proper that we should have them. Every man has a desire to rule, govern and control; some men, to gratify their ambition in this respect, have trod bloody paths and have trampled down their fellow men in their march to power, and when attained it has been of short continuance. But God has revealed to us a principle by which we can attain to dominion and power without having to do as they have done. He has revealed to us the Gospel, which tells us that if we are faithful here over a few things he will make us ruler over many.

Many men wonder how it is that we can believe in celestial marriage. We believe in it because it lies at the foundation of all future greatness. If a man rule in heaven he will rule over his own posterity. The Apostle John, said that they sang a new song in heaven—“And hast made us unto our God kings and Priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” Reign on the earth! This was the song. Over whom were they to reign? Over whom more properly than their families? The authority to seal wives to husbands for time and all eternity is the authority that is restored by the everlasting Priesthood, and this is the authority that was given to Peter, by which children can be sealed and joined to their parents for time and for all eternity until they realize the blessing that was pronounced upon Abraham, when the Lord said unto him that, as the stars of heaven were countless for multitude, or the sands on the seashore could not be numbered, so his seed should be and he should rule over them. This was the blessing which was pronounced upon him, and it is the blessing that has been pronounced upon every faithful man who has lived in a day when the Priesthood was upon the earth. Why wonder, then, at Latter-day Saints having this view, this anticipation? Why should they hesitate one moment to contribute all their means to build Temples, and to accomplish the work of God? We should be thankful all the day long for the blessings which God has bestowed upon us, and should be willing to use all our means for the accomplishment of his work upon the earth, no matter what enterprises we may be called upon to support, whether it be to build Temples, send for the poor, or any thing else.

Arizona has been mentioned. The President, in his remarks this morning, alluded to Arizona, and to the labors of our pioneering brethren in that Territory. I was very much pleased to hear what he said in relation to that. I am thankful to see that, in his remarks, there was no disposition to let up, or to say, “I am in years now, and I will lay back and take my ease and leave the burden of this work to younger men, who ought to step forward and shoulder it.” He has the spirit of the pioneer in him as much today, probably, as he ever had. I am thankful that God fills him with this zeal and strength. I believe it was a true remark, that if he had been in Arizona, there would have been good places found for settlement. I have no doubt there will be yet. But there is one thing that we must understand, that with our present surroundings, and at least while in the circumstances in which we are at present placed, good countries are not for us. The worst places in the land we can probably get, and we must develop them. If we were to find a good country, how long would it be before the wicked would want it, and seek to strip us of our possessions? If there be deserts in Arizona, thank God for the deserts. If there be a wilderness, there, thank God for the wilderness, as we thanked him for these mighty ramparts and those extensive plains which we had to cross when we came here. We thanked him for them, because a mob could not come, as they did from Carthage, and take away our Prophet and the Saints and hail them to prison and destroy them as they did then. When we came here I thanked God for the isolation of these mountains; I thanked him for the grandeur of the hills and bulwarks which he had reared around us. I thanked him for the deserts and waste places of this land: and we have all, doubtless, thanked Him many times therefore, and when we go hence to extend our borders, we must not expect to find a land of orange or lemon groves, a land where walnut trees and hard timber abound; where bees are wild and turkeys can be had for the shooting. It is vain for us to expect to settle in such a land at the present time. But if we find a little oasis in the desert where a few can settle, thank God for the oasis, and thank him for the almost interminable road that lies between that oasis and so-called civilization.

We expect there will be settlements made through all that country. The time must come when the Latter-day Saints, and when I say Latter-day Saints, I include all the honest who will yet embrace the Gospel, when the Latter-day Saints will extend throughout all North and South America, and we shall establish the rule of righteousness and good order throughout all these new countries.

The President is desirous that a hundred men, supplied with provisions sufficient to last the winter, should go down to the southern country, and bestow their labors on building the Temple at St. George. If there could not be good places found in Arizona for settlements, there was a good opportunity to stay and help to build that Temple; and it is to be regretted that the brethren, although so eager to come back, did not stay until word could have been sent that they might stop and help the people of the South. If they had done this they might have done a good work, they would have been on hand for anything further that might have been required of them. Suppose we all were to allow ourselves to be deterred from accom– plishing missions by apparent difficulties, how long would it be before the influence and prestige which ought to attend the efforts of the Elders would be lost? We have had a reputation, heretofore, of accomplishing everything of this kind that we undertook. But let us be fainthearted and we lose our influence and power both with God and man. All our labors have to be works of faith. When we are told to do a thing, we should go to work believing, as Nephi says, that God never gives a commandment unto the children of men save he prepares a way whereby they shall fulfill that commandment. He never yet sent a man to do a work without giving him power to accomplish it. We can do these things if we will. We can build up the kingdom of God on the earth, and we can train our children in the love of this work, and we can surround them by a wall that no power can surmount or break down. I am thankful that we are thus situated, although to some the prospects appear gloomy. Many of our enemies say that “Mormonism” is in its last ditch, and it will soon be overthrown. I am willing that every one should have that opinion who wishes to entertain it. If they wish to delude themselves with such ideas, all right. But I say to the Latter-day Saints, we have not yet reached the last ditch; neither shall we if we will do what we ought to do, and obey the counsel that has been given unto us during these two day’s meetings, and that is given to us every Sunday and at all our meetings. There is no power on the face of the earth that can withstand our efforts, or that can prevail against us. We have truth, unity, temperance and virtue; we have the power of God; we have the promises of the Almighty in our behalf, and there is no power that can prevail against a people who will practice the principles which are taught unto us.

But I will tell you what causes me, as an individual, to fear—when I see fifty, a hundred or two hundred persons come to meeting; when I see men who ought to be at meeting attending to their duties, going off into the country on excursions; when I hear of their doing something that will detain them from meeting, and see the meetings neglected, and the idea growing up—“Well, it is a day of rest, I am tired and weary”—as though they could not obtain rest in coming to the house of the Lord and serving him on the Lord’s day. These acts, this negligence, causes fear sometimes to come into my heart, and I expect it has the same effect on our brethren. I deplored, in my feelings, the suspension of our forenoon meetings. I think it is a bad sign. We had a School of the Prophets here, to which most of the Elders were invited, and which they attended. That had to be suspended. These meetings on the Sunday morning had to be suspended. What more will have to be suspended or withdrawn? I have thought, unless the people of this city arouse themselves, change their course and are more diligent, that it might not be long until the presiding Priesthood would be prompted to move from this city; not that the authority of the Priesthood will be withdrawn. These things are painful in the chief city of Zion, and they are not such indications as I like to witness. Yesterday there was a meeting appointed; but instead of attending it, the brethren were engaged in haying and every kind of labor. They can do this, of course, if they wish; but it does not look very well when a meeting is appointed, and the Apos– tles suspend their labors and come here to teach you, for you to stay away, thinking your employments are of such importance that you cannot spend time at meeting. Men and women who entertain this feeling and take this course ought to be ashamed of themselves! It is treating the men who preside over you with disrespect, for which, if you could realize, you would be ready to apologize.

You cannot be too careful in relation to our duties. This is a day when every one should be diligent in the performance of duties, and should attend to them strictly. You should invoke the blessing of God upon your habitation, and upon your children, that they may grow up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Every boy in this community should feel that he would rather lay down his life than sacrifice his virtue or indulge in unvirtuous actions. We have to guard against the bad examples seen around us. Mothers, teach your girls the value of virtue and chastity. Inquire into their movements, and guard them as you would the most precious jewels which God could give unto you. Fathers, talk with your sons, and fortify them against temptation. Let them flee lust, for I tell you that, as true as we live, the words of God will be fulfilled, that he that looks upon a woman to lust after her shall deny the faith unless he repents. We know that this is so. I know it, by seeing young men grow up from boyhood in this Church until the present time. I think about numbers I was acquainted with in my boyhood. Where are they? They have lost the faith. Elders have lost the faith who have taken a course of this kind. It is a damning sin, and wherever indulged in it banishes the Spirit of God. No man can retain the faith without the Holy Ghost, and no man can retain the Holy Ghost who takes a course of this kind. Be warned of these things, if you wish to hold on in the faith and to sit down with the fathers in the kingdom of God.

Then abstain from lust, and everything which would lead thereto. No matter how wild and rowdy our boys may be, and many of them are so, I do not care for such rowdiness and wildness, if it is not associated with unvirtuous actions. A man may be as nice, to all appearance, as a human being can be, so far as externals are concerned, and yet, if he lack virtue, he is like a whited sepulchre. God is not with such a man, and God will damn this generation for the course they take in relation to women. That is their crying, damning sin.

Let us guard against it. Let us watch our children. Let us prevent the ingress of crime. Let us guard our own hearts, and endeavor to secure the portals of the hearts of our children that evil suggestions, from whatever source, may never take root therein.

That God may bless and preserve us, and deliver Zion from all her enemies, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the Bowery, Logan City, Sunday Morning, June 29, 1873.

The instructions which we have had in these meetings, I look upon as most important. I think they will be attended with most excellent results to those who have heard them, and that these meetings should be attended is also exceedingly important to the Latter-day Saints. Probably there never has been a time since the organization of this Church when the Latter-day Saints needed pointed, plain, emphatic instruction more than they do today. We have reached a point in our history when an increase of power seems to be required by us as Elders and Saints in all the relationships of life, to enable us to endure and resist the trials with which we are brought in contact. For myself, I can bear testimony that I never felt as I do to– day and as I have done of late, the exceeding necessity of being alive to the work of God, and of having the spirit and power of the religion of Jesus Christ resting down upon me. I took around and see the circumstances which surround my brethren and sisters. I see the great change which has taken place within the past two or three years. These valleys, that were once so secluded and isolated, and so seldom visited by the stranger, but were almost wholly occupied by the Saints of God, have changed in many respects. We are no longer the secluded people that we were five years ago. Railroads have penetrated our valleys, so-called civilization assails us in all our settlements and cities, vice stalks through our streets, and injustice and wrong are to be found in places where justice and righteousness should reign supreme, and in many respects we have things to encounter which we never before had to contend with since our organization as a people.

We are now becoming a numerous people. Since our arrival in these valleys, thousands of children have grown from childhood to youth, and from youth to manhood and womanhood, who are unacquainted with the ways of the world, and who are unfamiliar with the temptations, trials and evils which abound in society outside of our mountain home. This numerous class of our community is now brought face to face with a new order of things. Wealth is increasing around us, and those who resisted its influence in former days, perhaps weakened by some cause, are exposed anew to its temptations, and in some instances, those thus weakened, fall victims to its power. These circumstances inspire serious reflections. No man or woman of thought can contemplate the present condition of Zion without having serious thoughts, and without feeling that if “Mormonism” and “Mormon” institutions never have been upon their trial before, they certainly are now. However, they have always been upon their trial and we, as a people, have been upon our trial too. But, the thought arises, How shall we best fortify ourselves against the encroachments of the wicked? How shall we best entrench ourselves so that wickedness shall not prevail over us, that our posterity may be preserved in the purity of the holy faith, and that through them we may be able to transmit to future generations the priceless heritage of truth which God has given unto us.

This is a question which presents itself to all our minds, and, if we do as we should, the first thought with each of us is, what course shall we pursue to enable us most efficiently to discharge the duties devolving upon us? The servants of God have pointed out, during these meetings, in exceeding great plainness, the path which lies before us. If we allow ourselves to be overcome by the love of the world, then farewell to our future—farewell to the glorious prospect afforded us in the revelations of Jesus Christ. But I entertain different thoughts, feelings and hopes concerning the future of this people. Doubtless, as in the past, there will be those who will deny the faith, rebel against the Priesthood, be overcome by the deceitfulness of riches, and who will transgress the laws of God, and fall victims to apostasy; but I feel assured, and can bear testimony this morning, that the bulk of this people will stand firm and steadfast, and maintain their integrity till Zion is fully established and redeemed upon the earth. But there is needed on our part a devotion to the principles of the Gospel. We must truly and sincerely repent of every thought and feeling that are contrary to the mind and will of God our heavenly Father. We must obey the holy Priesthood, which he has placed in our midst, at the cost of everything if it be required, and not allow any sordid or self-aggrandizing feeling to enter into our hearts or to have place therein. I cannot conceive of any man being able to attain unto celestial glory who is not willing to sacrifice everything that he has for the cause of God. If I have a piece of land, house, money, cattle, horses, carriages, or powers of mind and body, and am not willing to devote any or all of these to the rolling forth of the work of God, as they may be required by him, I cannot conceive that it will be possible for me to enter into the celestial kingdom of God our heavenly Father.

Do you understand, do you comprehend, that everything we have is required by God our Father, to be laid upon the altar? Is there anything that is nearer your heart than the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is there anything that stands between you and obedience, perfect obedience, to the will of God, as revealed unto you through the Holy Priesthood? If there is, you must get rid of it. We must humble ourselves before the Lord to that extent that we shall have a greater love of his work, a greater degree of obedience in our hearts to the Holy Priesthood than we now have for the things we so highly value. In no other way can we expect to become the people that God designs we shall be. Every day, it seems to me, the circumstances of the people make more and more apparent the necessity for a complete change in our temporal circumstances. We read in the Book of Mormon that when the ancient Nephites began to increase in means and become rich, as we are now increasing, the Spirit of God began to decrease in their midst. There were some who had property and could clothe and educate their children better than their neighbors. The wealthy could have carriages, horses and fine raiment and other comforts and advantages which their poorer brethren and sisters could not have. In consequence of these things they became divided into classes. The rich were raised up in their feelings above the poor. The poor were humble and meek and sought unto the Lord, in many instances at least. Divisions into classes prevailed, and all the attendant evils connected therewith. They became puffed up in pride, and the Lord suffered the Lamanites to come upon and scourge them, and after wars had wasted away their strength and the magnitude of the destructions which overtook them had abused them, they would begin again to feel after and to humble themselves before the Lord, and to seek for his Holy Spirit to dwell in their hearts.

We are now exposed to precisely the same influences as they were. We are increasing in wealth, and if we allow our hearts to be placed upon it, we shall have to undergo or to pass through difficulties similar in character to those which they had to endure. The Lord will not suffer us to become alienated from his work without scourging us. He will let our enemies upon us, or do something else to punish us, to bring us down and make us humble before him. He has provided a way by which we can escape all these evils, and I wish this morning, in the few remarks I may make, to call your attention to this subject, because it rests upon my mind, and seems to be the uppermost thought in my heart.

In the early days of this Church God revealed unto his people a system for them to live in accordance with. It is known by us as the Order of Enoch; and it seems to me, every day, that events are so crowding upon us as to compel us to reflect upon and to prepare our hearts to enter upon the practice of this order; and that, unless we do enter upon it, sooner or later, as God shall direct through his servant Brigham, we shall be subjected to all the disasters and evil consequences which have attended the present system of things, under which all men seem to live and labor for self only, and few, very few, think about the good of the whole.

In the Book of Mormon we read that after Jesus came, the Nephites had all things in common, or, to use the language of the book, that “they had all things in common among them, therefore they were not rich and poor,” regulated, of course, by the revelations he gave unto them. They entered upon the practice of this order, according to the account, in the thirty-sixth year of our era, that is, within two years after the appearance of Jesus. It is probable, however, from the reading, that they entered upon it immediately after the appearance of Jesus in their midst. They were then in good circumstances to enter upon it. The wicked had been killed off, and the land cleansed of their presence. Cities had been sunk, and water had risen in the place thereof. Mountains had fallen upon other cities, and great destructions had been accomplished in the land, and the remnant that were left were a comparatively pure people. For 165 years afterwards, or until 167 years after the appearance of Christ, that is, until about the year 201 of our era, the Nephites dwelt under this order. They spread abroad throughout all the land of North and South America. They dwelt in righteousness, so much so that Jesus, in speaking about them by the spirit of prophecy, said that not one soul of those generations should be lost. It was a millennium, so far as peace and truth and virtue and righteousness and brotherly kindness were concerned. Of course it was not a thousand years, but they dwelt together as one family for 167 years. No divisions, no strife, no enmity, no classification, no rich and no poor, but all partaking of the heavenly gift alike, and God has said in his revelations unto us, “If ye would be equal in heavenly things, ye must be equal in earthly things.” They were equal in earthly things, and they were equal also in heavenly things.

To read about that period, brief as is the account that is given to us, makes one almost wish that he could have lived in such a day and dwelt among such a people. The Lord foresaw and predicted through his servants the Prophets, that there would be a time in the fourth generation when the adversary would again regain his power over the hearts of the children of men, and they would be led astray and go into evil. And what was the first thing they did to prepare the way for the fulfillment of this terrible prediction? It was to reject this system or order, and begin again to classify themselves into rich and poor. They began to build churches to themselves, they began to separate themselves from their brethren, and to create distinctions of classes, and this prepared the way for the final destruction of the Nephite nation.

I doubt not, my brethren and sisters, that this will be the way in which Satan will regain his power over the hearts of the children of men at the end of the thousand years of which we read. I believe that the thousand years of millennial glory will be ushered in by the practice of this system by the Latter-day Saints. When that system is practiced the hearts of the children of men can be devoted to God to an extent that would be impossible under the present organization of affairs. Now we are tempted and tried and exposed to evils which we should know nothing about if we lived under the order I have referred to. I do not believe that, if we were to live as we now are for a thousand years, Satan could ever be bound in our midst so that he could not have power over our hearts. There must be a change in our temporal affairs, there must be a foundation laid which will knit us together and make us one. How is it with us now? If a man have a horse and he should want to sell it to his brother, he tries to get the most he possibly can for it. If he have a wagon or any other piece of property, and he wants to sell it, does he consult his brother’s interest? Perhaps he may do so, but it is not always that men do so; he gets the best price he can for that article, regardless of his brother’s welfare and benefit. There is a constant appeal to selfishness under the present system, there is a constant temptation for a man to do the best he can for himself at the expense of his fellow men, and there is no remedying it to its full extent; in fact there is a constant struggle as we are at the present time to keep down within us the desire to profit at the expense of our fellow men.

There is something unnatural in this condition of affairs, something opposed to God. Why should we be subjected to these things, and have to struggle with them continually? Many Latter-day Saints have refrained from taking hold of merchandising and other branches, because by so doing they would have exposed themselves to hazards that were very dangerous for them to encounter. There was the temptation to make immense profits out of the necessities of their brethren and sisters. Under the Order of Enoch men would not be thus tempted. Individual benefit would not then be the aim and object of men’s lives and labors. God did not create us for the purpose of striving for self alone; and when we are rightly situated; under a proper system, our desires will flow naturally along, and we will find room for the exercise of every faculty of mind and body without endangering the salvation of our souls. We can then trade and exchange, sell and buy, and enter upon business without being surrounded with these evils we now have to contend with.

God has revealed the plan, and it is a very simple one; but it will require faith on the part of the Saints to enter upon it. There are a great many evils which would be stricken out of existence were that system practiced. Why are men tempted, to be thieves? Why do they steal—take property that does not belong to them? Would they do this if society was properly constituted? No, they would not be tempted to do it. The temptations that we are exposed to are the result, in a great degree, of the false organization of society. I believe there are thousands of men in the Christian world, who are adulterers today, who would not be adulterers if they knew more and could practice the system of marriage which God has revealed. They are adulterers because of the false state of things that exists in the world. And when I speak of this practice, I might extend it to a great many more. The devil has set up every means in his power to hamper the children of men, to throw around them barriers to prevent their carrying out the will of God. And when we obey the commandments of God, we will defeat the adversary of our souls. When we carry out the purposes and the revelations which God has given and made known unto us, we gain immensely. We gain power and strength, and in a little while the adversary will be bound in our midst, so that he will not have power to tempt us, and this will be brought about by our obeying the command– ments of God and the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ. I also believe that when Satan is loosed again for a little while, when the thousand years shall be ended, it will be through mankind departing from the practice of those principles which God has revealed, and this Order of Enoch probably among the rest. He can, in no better way, obtain power over the hearts of the children of men, than by appealing to their cupidity, avarice, and low, selfish desires. This is a fruitful cause of difficulty. You can handle men better in any other way than when you come to their money, and all these temporal things they are surrounded with. I hope to see a change in this respect, I pray for it, I am willing to labor for it. I hope you will give this subject your attention, and seek by all the faith in your power to prepare yourselves for it, and to prepare your children for it, so that when it is deemed wisdom by the servants of God to enter upon this system, we shall be prepared.

There has been some allusion, which you have heard, to the setting apart of a district of land in this valley for that purpose. If I lived here I should hail such an enterprise with joy, while I might fear and tremble on my own account lest through some weakness I might not be able to bear or pass through or practice it as it should be. Nevertheless I should hail it, if I lived here, with joy, for it matters not what may become of me, it matters not what may become of any of us individually, only so far as we, individually, are concerned, if the work of God is only rolled forth, if his purposes are only consummated, and the salvation of the earth and its inhabitants is brought about. I feel that it matters not what my fate may be if this is only accomplished and God’s glory brought to pass on the earth, and the reign of righteousness and truth be ushered in.

I expect that God will do a greater work in our midst, when that shall be brought to pass, than we can yet conceive of. We have thought that the Lord God delays his coming. We have now been forty-three years organized as a Church, and sometimes we feel as if the Work of God is not making that progress which it should. There are reasons for it. It is not stopped or delayed; on the contrary, it is progressing, although probably not with the rapidity that it will progress when we get more faith, and are more perfect in our practices. I have had my thoughts attracted, in consequence of a visit which brother Brigham, Jun., and myself made to the hill Cumorah about three weeks ago, to the three Nephites who have been upon this land, and I have been greatly comforted at reading the promises of God concerning their labors and the work that should be accomplished by them among the Gentiles and among the Jews, also before the coming of the Lord Jesus. I doubt not that they are laboring today in the great cause on the earth. There are agencies laboring for the accomplishment of the purposes of God and for the fulfillment of the predictions of the holy Prophets, of which we have but little conception at the present time. We are engrossed by our own labors. You in Cache Valley have your thoughts centered on the labors that devolve upon you. We in Salt Lake and elsewhere have ours upon the work that immediately attracts our attention; and while we, or all amongst us who are faithful, shall no doubt be instrumental in the hands of God, in bringing to pass his purposes and accomplishing the work he has pre– dicted in connection with the ten tribes, the Lamanites, the Jews, and the Gentile nations, we need not think that these things depend upon us alone. There are powers engaged in preparing the earth for the events that await it and fulfilling all the great predictions concerning it, which we know nothing of, and we need not think that it depends upon us Latter-day Saints alone, and that we are the only agents in the hands of God in bringing these things to pass. The powers of heaven are engaged with us in this work.

This earth is the heritage of the children of God. It has been given to the faithful who have lived before us, as well as to us, they are watching our labors with intense anxiety, and they are laboring in their sphere for the accomplishment of the same great and glorious results. They have dwelt here, and they are singing the song mentioned by John the Revelator—“Thou hast made us Kings and Priests unto God, and we shall reign on the earth,” and the souls of them who have suffered martyrdom are crying from beneath the altar, “How long, Oh God, wilt thou not avenge our blood upon them that dwell on the earth?” They are eager for the redemption of Zion, the accomplishment of God’s purposes, and the establishment of his universal kingdom upon the face of this earth of ours. But if we do not our duty, God will take away from us that inheritance which he has promised unto us, and the crowns that we would otherwise have will be taken and given to others. We shall lose these unless we do that which God requires at our hands with perfect willingness and joy, for there is no joy that any human being experiences that approaches the joy of serving God and keeping his commandments. It is sweeter than the sweetest honey, and it is more desirable than all the joy of the earth besides. You Latter-day Saints know this by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, by the gift of the precious Spirit which you have received, that has rested down upon you by night and by day, and that has caused your hearts to be softened and your eyes to weep tears of joy for the goodness of God unto you. And yet we are indolent, and yet we think about a little property, and yet we would risk our salvation because we are afraid to do something which God requires at our hands. Oh foolish people! How shall we stand before the bar of our God and answer for the use we have made of the inestimable blessings which he has bestowed upon us? How shall we stand before that terrible bar, if we are not faithful? How can we justify ourselves for our unfaithfulness? We cannot do it, but we shall feel to shrink from the presence of our Almighty Judge when we are thus brought face to face with him.

That we may be faithful to the end, that we may love the Lord better than we love everything else on the earth, that we may devote ourselves to his service all our days, and bequeath truth as a precious legacy to our children after us, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the 13th Ward Assembly Rooms, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, March 23, 1873.

[The 11th chapter of Hebrews was read as a text.] A more comprehensive chapter than this, in its description of the effects of faith when properly exer– cised by the children of men, I think is not contained within the lids of the Bible. The entire history of God’s dealings with the children of men, so far as the Jewish record is concerned, is epitomized therein. The Apostle, in the plainest possible language, describes the leading events that had transpired up to his day among the fathers of his nation, setting forth with unmistakable clearness the power that they wielded through faith in God, in accomplishing the work that was assigned unto them; and he tells the Hebrews, in writing to them upon this subject, that it is impossible to please God without faith, for those who come unto him must believe that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

I expect that the Apostle Paul had a generation to deal with that were not dissimilar to the generation in which we live—a generation who had in their midst the Scriptures, the predictions of the holy Prophets, ministers who professed to have received the authority which they exercised in ministering to the people from a high source, and who were, in their own opinion at least, called of God, an elect people, a chosen generation, who rejoiced in the power that had been made manifest to and in behalf of their fathers, and which, to a certain extent, they had received. The Apostle, in this chapter, pointed out the power which their fathers exercised through faith, and to the mighty works that had been wrought thereby, and he endeavored to stir up within them a desire to exercise the same faith.

At the time that Paul wrote this epistle to the Hebrews, the Jews did not believe in living revelation; they did not believe that God spoke to his people by any manifestations such as their fathers had received. We are told that they garnished the sepulchres of the dead Prophets, that they reverenced the places of their birth, honored their memories, and declared that if they had lived in the days of their fathers they would not have been guilty of putting the Prophets to death. But the Son of God and his Apostles were treated by them precisely as their fathers had treated the Prophets of old.

It is a good thing for us who live in this generation that we have this record in our midst. It is an encouraging thing to read the history of the past, and to learn about the treatment that men of God received in ancient days. It is encouraging for those who contend for the same faith to know that slander, persecution, ignominy and shame, and even death itself are not evidences of the falsity of a system, or of the falsity of the doctrines taught by any individual, because we have the history of the Apostles—some of the best men that have ever trod the earth, and of Jesus, the holiest and best man that ever trod the earth, or that ever will, and we find that he and they were persecuted, hated and despised, and their names were cast out as evil, and they were slain by a generation who professed to honor God and be very righteous, and who claimed to be the descendants of the Patriarchs of old, who were called the friends of God. If this story were told to us without our knowing anything of the circumstances, we should be reluctant to believe it. It would be a difficult thing to persuade us that human beings could have been so base and degraded, and so lost to every feeling of humanity as to persecute and crucify a pure being like Jesus, who had come from the Father for the express purpose of laying down his life as an expiation for their sins. But the record is before us. We have been familiar with it from our infancy, and in the minds of those who profess to have any faith in God, there is no room to doubt it. It is most fortunate for us that this record has been preserved, for by it we are enabled to understand what kind of a generation lived in the day in which the chapter I have read in your hearing was written. They were a people who spoke highly of religion, who built synagogues and places of worship, who honored the Sabbath day, who wore long phylacteries, on which were written select passages from Scripture, who had the word of God written on their very doorposts, who prayed at the corners of the streets, who fasted, and, apparently, sought in every way to glorify God. They believed in Abraham and Moses, and in the covenants which God made with them. They believed and practiced the law which Moses had revealed unto them, and so strict were they in observing many of its principles, that they were ready on one occasion to have a woman slain for the violation of the commandment respecting adultery; and at another time their wrath was kindled against the disciples because they plucked some ears of corn on the Sabbath day to appease their hunger. They considered that act a violation of the Sabbath, and their righteous souls were shocked thereat. They were shocked even at the idea of Jesus eating with unwashed hands, and at him, who professed to be a teacher, associating with publicans and sinners. They thought it was beneath the dignity of a man of God to condescend to associate with the low and degraded. This was the kind of people that existed when Paul wrote this chapter, yet with all their professions and with all their apparent sanctity they were utterly destitute of the knowledge and power of God. They drew near to God with their lips, but their hearts were far from him. They made a great parade of their religion, but they dwelt on the glories of the past, on the evidences of God’s favor which their nation and religion had formerly received. But did they themselves possess the spirit of prophecy, and the faith which Paul describes? If they had they would have recognized Jesus when he came amongst them, and they would have gladly received him and his teachings, and would have obeyed and practiced in their lives the principles of his Gospel. But as I have said, they were utterly destitute of the Spirit of God, they were darkened in their minds, and instead of receiving Jesus and his teachings, they hounded him until they got him into their power and then they slew him, and they treated his Apostles in the same manner.

It is truly said that history repeats itself. We are familiar with this in the history of our race. When the Prophets who preceded Jesus went into the midst of the people and preached unto them the word of God, they found them believing in the Prophets who had gone before. They were willing to receive the testimony of Moses, and of some who succeeded him. Samuel, after his death, was recognized as a great Prophet by the Jews, and so were some others who were dead; but while they lived they were treated much the same as Jesus and his Apostles were treated. The wicked could not recognize the character of the men of God who labored among them, and they rejected and persecuted them, and slew many of them. This is characteristic of the human family. One of the most unreliable things connected with mankind is popular opinion. So far as God’s dealings with the children of men are concerned, and the sending of Prophets and Apostles to them, those who have been guided by popular opinion have always erred. The opinions of the great majority concerning the truth have in almost every instance been unreliable. Moses, notwithstanding the mighty miracles he performed, was not appreciated by those among whom he lived, and narrowly escaped being stoned by the people whom he led across the Red Sea. When they got into the wilderness they murmured at him, and were ready to choose others to lead them back to Egypt. It was so with Samuel. Although the nation was comparatively a righteous nation, they rejected him. They were not content with the power and authority which he exercised over them, and they wanted a king. So with other Prophets. The more wicked the generation, the harder they were to convince of the truth of the predictions that were uttered among them by the servants of God; and so much was this the case, that it became almost an infallible rule, when a majority of the people decided against a man, he was sure to be a servant of God.

It may be asked, why has this been the case? I know that men say, If God be God, and is the being that he is described to be, why has he not manifested his power in the midst of his children to such an extent that they are compelled to receive the testimony of his servants? There is a class of people who cannot understand why it is that truth cannot be made so plain to the human understanding that men cannot reject it. Infidels advance this as an evidence that there is no such thing as divine power, no such being as God, and that there is no Supreme Providence presiding over the affairs of the children of men. They say that if God be the kind of being that he is described to be in the Scriptures, it would be inconsistent with his character to withhold from the children of men such manifestations of power as would convince them beyond all controversy that the men he sends to declare his will unto them are his divinely appointed servants.

It is very plausible, taking one view of the subject, for men to imagine that this ought to be the way in which God should act; but there is one saying, written in ancient days, that is as true today as when it was written, that is, “That as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s ways higher than our ways, and God’s thoughts higher than our thoughts.” In our degradation and ignorance we cannot comprehend the purposes and plans of our heavenly Father. No man can do this. If any man were capable of doing this, he would be unfit to dwell on earth, and he might perhaps be translated, as Enoch was anciently. No man can rise to the wisdom of Deity, and comprehend the purposes and designs of him who created the earth and placed us upon it, and who regulates the movements of the universe of which we form a part; and when we try to do it, it is like a child just beginning to talk, seeking to dictate and comprehend the movements, actions and thoughts of men who are in possession of the wisdom and experience of mature age. In fact the difference is greater. Our Father and God has made it plain to us that he has placed us here on this earth in order that we may be tested and proved in the exercise of the agency that he has given us; and if, when he sends forth his Prophets, he were to manifest his power, so that all the earth would be compelled to receive their words, there would be no room then for men to exercise their agency, for they would be compelled to adopt a certain course, and to receive certain teachings and doctrines regardless of their own wishes and will. But God has sent us here, and has given to every one of us our agency, as much so as he has his. I, in my sphere, have my agency, as much as God, my Eternal Father, or as Jesus, my elder brother, has in his. I can do right or I can do wrong; I can serve God or reject him; I can keep his commandments or violate them; I can receive his Spirit or reject it. This agency God has given unto man, and hence it is that when he sends his truth, and his servants to declare it unto the people, he does it in such a way that man is left to the free exercise of his agency in receiving or rejecting them; at the same time we are assured that whoever receives that truth will also receive the convincing power of the Spirit of God to bear testimony to him that it is divine; and this is the reason why, as the Apostle says in the chapter I read to you, the ancient Saints, though they were stoned, sawn asunder, tempted, slain with the sword; though they wandered about in sheepskins and in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted and tormented, were able to endure to the end. They had received a testimony from God through obedience to his Gospel in the exercise of their agency in the right direction, and this enabled them to endure all these things cheerfully, looking forward, as Paul says Moses did when he fled from Egypt, to the recompense of reward.

In this manner the servants of God have gone forth in every age and preached the Gospel. To bring the matter down to our own day—when Joseph Smith commenced to preach the Gospel, to tell the people that God had once more spoken from the heavens, a great many said, “Where are the signs, or evidences that God has done this? Can you not show some sign or work us some miracle that shall convince us that this is true? If you will work us a miracle, if you will walk on the water, raise the dead, or do some other miraculous work, then we will believe that he has spoken to you, and that the words you testify to are true.” They wanted signs, and yet they had the Bible in their midst. The position of those to whom Joseph taught the Gospel was very similar to that of the Jews in Paul’s day, only the former were more blessed than the Jews were unto whom Jesus came. They had the Prophets and Apostles, that is, they had their words. They had the record of the Gospel as taught by Jesus and his Apostles, with the account of the miracles wrought by them; they had a form of godliness, and they thought they were on the road of salvation. But they did not believe in miracles, they did not believe that God was a God of revelation, hence they would not receive the testimony of the Prophet Joseph, but they wanted miracles to convince them. In this they made a great mistake, as many others have done in other ages of the world in relation to this matter. It is written of Jesus that he did not do many mighty works in Galilee because of the unbelief of the people; and he said it was a wicked and adulterous generation that demanded a sign, and none should be given them. When the people demanded miraculous signs of Joseph Smith to convince them of the truth of his testimony, they would not, or did not exercise their agency, but wanted some overpowering evidence to convince them.

The Lord does not operate in that way among the children of men. He sends forth his servants with the truth, and he makes this promise—he made it through Joseph Smith— If they will believe in Jesus Christ, repent of their sins, be baptized for the remission thereof by one having authority, they shall receive the Holy Ghost and a testimony from Him as to the character of the work in which they have engaged. A man who comes to God must believe that he is God, that he has power to do as he says. This is the way the ancients received their faith. The difficulty today is, that the people do not believe that God is a being of this character. You talk to those men who profess to be ministers of the Gospel, and ask them, “Do you have the gifts, powers and blessings of the Gospel as they were enjoyed by the Saints in ancient days?” and the reply will be, invariably, “That power is withdrawn, those gifts and blessings are no longer enjoyed among men. God does not reveal his will unto the children of men as he did in ancient days, and it is in vain for you to ask God for those blessings, for they will not be bestowed.” This is the teaching of the ministers in the religious world today. Is it any wonder that there is no faith among men? Is it any wonder that the blessings which Paul describes as being the fruits of faith are not realized today? Is it any wonder that men wander in darkness and error, and that the heavens are as brass over their heads? Is it any wonder that angels do not come to earth and visit men, and that the gifts and blessings of the Gospel are not enjoyed? It is no wonder to me; on the contrary, the wonder to me is that there is so much faith, or rather that there is any faith left among the children of men, and to tell the truth, my brethren and sisters, there is but very little. I can see a great change since I became old enough to comprehend anything about religion. I can see an absence of that faith which reli– gious people once had. There has been a gradual lapsing into unbelief, and infidelity and skepticism are growing among the people, and today there is very little of that old fashioned vital religion that was enjoyed previous to the revelation of the Gospel.

Among the earliest of the predictions of the Elders of this Church that I can remember, were those foretelling, as effects which should follow the declaration of the Gospel in these days, those we now see. They declared that when this Gospel was proclaimed unto the people, if they rejected it, the faith which they then enjoyed and the light they then possessed would disappear, and they would be left in darkness. I have lived to see the fulfillment of this prediction. The Apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Thessalonians, says, “For this cause God will send them strong delusions, that they may believe a lie who take not pleasure in righteousness,” &c. “For this cause”—because they rejected the truth and the testimony of God’s servants, strong delusion would be sent unto them, which would cause them to believe a lie. I have lived to see the fulfillment of that prediction. The first time I heard of modern revelation outside of this Church, I was on the Sandwich Islands. I had been from home then several years. I happened to call at the house of a friend and picked up a book. I read its preface; and I was astonished at it. I had never heard of anything of the kind outside of our Church before then. The author argued that it was right to expect that spirits would visit and make communications to men, and he went on to quote from the Bible in support of his argument. I have since seen many books of the same character, and it is now as common to believe in spiritual revelation as it was formerly uncommon. It is as rare a thing now to meet with persons who do not believe in this in some form as it was formerly to meet with those who did believe it. Up to the time of my early manhood I had never heard of anybody believing in this but Latter-day Saints. Now you will find ministers of religion—Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and men of all classes and degrees who believe in spiritual communications. But have they any organization, or any point upon which they can unite together? No, each man receives revelation to suit himself, until today there is no faith in the land and no belief in the manifestations of the power of God. The adversary has captivated the hearts of the children of men, he has fortified their minds against the truth, and is leading them to destruction.

Formerly, the great objection to the Latter-day Saints was that they believed in revelation. That was one of the great charges made against us in Jackson County, Mo. Another was, that we had a Prophet, whose words we hearkened to, and that we believed in the working of miracles. These were among the charges made against us by the mob as a reason why we should be expelled from our lands. But after a few years had elapsed, our cunning adversary began to give revelations and manifestations to the people, and he spread abroad his lying signs and wonders, and now they are far more numerous than those contained in the Bible. People everywhere can get revelation. Profane men and women—drunkards, gamblers and wicked people of every decree can get round a table and obtain revelation. What necessity is there for them to obey the Gospel? What attractions has truth for such persons? They can get all the revelation they need without having recourse to the Gospel or to its ordinances, or without being under the necessity of enduring the ignominy of being the servants of God, for it has always been considered ignominious by the world to be a servant of God since Satan had power in the earth. Can you not see how cunningly the adversary has worked, and how difficult it is under such circumstances to snatch people from the error of their ways? The truth has not been sweet or desirable to this generation, and they have rejected it. The truth has no attractions for those who do not love it for its own sake. Connected with the truth there is a love such as Jesus said his followers should have, which should induce them to cleave to it when they were persecuted, their names cast out as evil, and when they should be hated of all men for his sake. There is nothing attractive about all this to people who do not love the truth for its own sake, but they who do are willing to endure all things for the sake of the blessings that God has promised to bestow upon them.

Brethren and sisters, it is our duty as individuals and as a people to live so that we may have that faith that was once delivered to the Saints; that we may have the revelations of God in our hearts, that we may know for ourselves concerning the truth, and have each day a testimony thereof. You know that the idea is very prevalent that we are led by one man, or by a few men. It is thought that President Young leads this people according to his own ideas, and that he and his counselors and the Twelve, through some cunning craft of theirs, are able to influence them to do this or reject that, to pursue this course or avoid that. I suppose this idea will be prevalent as long as there are people who do not understand the character of this work. But it is our duty, one and all, to live so that we shall have the light of the Holy Spirit and a continual testimony within us of the truth of the work that God has established, and that we may have that faith that will enable us to endure all things. If women had their dead restored in ancient days, women ought to have faith enough in these days to realize the same blessings. But a spirit of unbelief, darkness and hardness of heart has gone forth, and it is shared to some extent by this people. The more we mingle with the world the more of this spirit we feel. It permeates the literature of the present day. You cannot take up a book that has not been written by a servant of God, that does not bear evidence of this spirit of unbelief. You cannot take up a newspaper, but something is said therein to weaken the faith of those who have any. Unbelief permeates the world at large. There are good reasons for this. The great mass of the people ridicule Jesus, the resurrection and life beyond the grave. They cannot understand why men should deny themselves and suffer as Jesus and his disciples did. The people of today cannot comprehend anything but living for today, enjoying themselves and having pleasure today, and letting tomorrow take care of itself. The idea of laying up treasures in heaven is ridiculed, even by some who call themselves Latter-day Saints. I have heard, and perhaps you have, some amongst us say, “I am satisfied with getting the best I can here, and with enjoying myself to the best advantage here, and let the fu– ture take care of itself. I do not know anything about the life to come, but I know about this, and I want my enjoyment here, and I will risk the future.”

The whole tendency of the Gospel of Jesus is to the effect that we must deny ourselves, and be willing to endure and suffer even to death itself. It is right that we should dress comfortably and according to our means; it is right that we should take care of our bodies and have suitable food. God has given us the elements of food and raiment and to build good houses. He has given us horses and cattle, and the materials to make carriages, and it is right that we should use these things. I do not believe in any religion that denies to man the use of the blessings which God has given, but I deny that God designs that we should abuse or worship these things. If you or I have wealth, we should not worship it. If you have comforts, your heart should not be set upon them. If you have pleasant homes, orchards, gardens and fields you should not worship them, but hold them as the gifts of God, and be as ready to go forth and leave them as you would to leave a barren wilderness, or as these Indians are to take up their wick-i-ups and go from place to place. As Latter-day Saints we should be ready and willing to move in any direction and to do anything that our Father and God requires of us, holding the religion that he has given us dearer than life itself. Our brethren and sisters who lived anciently aimed for the same glory that we are aiming for, and they were willing to be sawn asunder, to be stoned, to dress in sheepskins and goatskins, to dwell in dens and caves of the earth, to have their names cast out as evil, and to do all things for the righteousness of God. We are aiming for the same glory they have received, and if we attain to it we must be willing to endure all the afflictions and to make all the sacrifices they endured and made.

There is this difference between us and the work in which we are engaged, and them and the work in their day—they looked forward to the time when the kingdom of God would be withdrawn from the earth on account of the growth of unbelief and apostasy, but in our day God has promised that this kingdom shall stand forever. On that account we can rejoice. We know that our enemies’ attacks upon us will fail. They may drive us, at least they have done it, but I do not think they will again if we are faithful. They have driven and persecuted us; they have slain some of our numbers, they have cast out our names as evil; they have called us everything vile, as they did Jesus. We are of all men the most despised, so far as our characters are concerned; and yet we are known better than any other people. The adversary has spread this mist of darkness over the minds of the people until they think us capable of everything evil. But notwithstanding all this, the course of this work is onward and upward, and it will prevail. Men may combine and form plots and schemes against it, and do everything in their power to overthrow it, but they will be signally defeated every time in the future, as they have been in the past. There has never been a move against this Church, from its organization until the present time, that did not benefit it. There never has been a hostile hand stretched forth that did not add to the speed and strength of its progress. There never has been a drop of the blood of its members shed by the ungodly that has not contributed to the increase of our numbers, and that has not added to the strength of the system with which we are connected. Let your minds go back and contemplate the history of this Church, trace the course of this people from the inception of God’s work to the present time, and what has there been done against it or them that has not added to its strength and to the certainty of its perpetuity? Think of all the schemes concocted, and of all the smart men that have been engaged in fighting this work; think of all the talented men in the Church who have apostatized and have preached against the Gospel, and have written books and newspaper articles, and everything else to destroy this work. Think of it, and then think how this people have gone forth increasing in strength, numbers and everything that is calculated to make them great and mighty. God has preserved us. He has given us the supremacy of the land and to Him the glory is to be ascribed for the supremacy we still maintain. It is not because our enemies would have it so. They have fought us step by step; they have devised mischief and evil in various ways against us, but God, through His providences, has overruled all for our good, and to Him, not to man, be the glory therefor. Man is utterly incapable of accomplishing these results. There were men in ancient days as brave, fearless, honest and mighty as any who have been connected with this work, but they sank beneath the blows of their destroyers, and went down to death. Satan and his emissaries overcame them. But God has now set to his hand for the last time to build up his kingdom and to send his Gospel to the people, and he has declared that when that time arrived his work should never again be overcome.

Any man who will look at the con– dition of the people will say that if there ever was a time in the history of the world when God should speak to man it is now. The people everywhere are gone astray. Men and women are filled with extravagance and foolish notions, and they are corrupt in every sense of the word. The churches are corrupted, the people are divided, and the humble man who desires to serve God is laughed at, ridiculed and crowded to the wall, while the man who is bold in iniquity, and shrewd in taking advantage of his fellows, lords it over them. Honesty is far below par, and the virtuous are the butt and ridicule of the wicked. Mingle among men of the world and talk to them about virtue, and they will laugh at you, and if a man is known to be chaste and pure in his thoughts and actions he is ridiculed and sneered at. It is so with everything else that God values. Think of it. Where do you see meek and humble men prospered? You see bold, defiant men—those shrewd in iniquity, get all the advantages, and the man who can take advantage of his neighbor best flourishes most. Is this right? No. I should mourn for the race if I thought so, I should mourn if I thought that this condition of things would forever prevail. God promised in ancient days that in the latter days he would reveal the truth, send forth his servants and gather out his people. He has commenced the work. By the preaching of his word, he has gathered thousands of honest-hearted people who love the truth and who are willing to abide by it. He has given unto them the same spirit that he gave to his servants in ancient days. He has given them the same faith, but they do not always exercise it as they should do, they are overcome of evil; and there are some who call themselves Latter-day Saints who have almost got to believe that there is nothing particularly special in this work, God has not shown himself as they expected. Such persons will sooner or later leave the Church if they do not repent.

There is this about unbelief, brethren and sisters, it is one of the most dreadful feelings, I think, that can assail any human being. I have seen men in this condition, and I have thought while beholding them, that I got a better conception of hell than I ever did from any other exhibition. How, you may ask, shall we guard against this spirit of unbelief? I will tell you. There are some people who, when assailed by doubt, will commence a controversy with the devil, they will argue with him, and give room to him. You should never condescend to any such thing. Just tell him you have nothing to do with him, bid him to get behind you, you have set out to serve God and to keep his commandments, and you are going to do it regardless of him or any of his temptations or snares. Be firm and steadfast, and close your ears against evil influences and everything of that kind. I will tell you a rule by which you may know the Spirit of God from the spirit of evil. The Spirit of God always produces joy and satisfaction of mind. When you have that Spirit you are happy; when you have another spirit you are not happy. The spirit of doubt is the spirit of the evil one; it produces uneasiness and other feelings that interfere with happiness and peace.

It is your privilege, and it ought to be your rule, my brethren and sisters, to always have peace and joy in your hearts. When you wake in the morning and your spirits are disturbed, you may know there is some spirit or influence that is not right. You should never leave your bed chambers until you can get that calm, serene and happy influence that flows from the presence of the Spirit of God, and that is the fruit of that Spirit. So during the day you are apt to get disturbed, angry and irritated about something. You should stop, and not allow that influence to prevail or have place in your heart. “Why,” says one, “not be angry?” No, not be angry, unless righteously so at some great wrong that ought to be reproved. That is not the anger of which I speak. Some people will get angry with their wives, husband, children or friends, and will justify themselves and think they are perfectly right because they have some spirit which prompts them to say harsh things. I have known people give themselves great credit for their frankness and candor for speaking angrily and improperly. “Why,” said they, “it is better to ‘spit’ it out than to keep it in.” I think it is far better to keep it in than to let it out. If you do not speak it, nobody knows how you feel, and certainly the adversary does not get the advantage over you. You do not make a wound.

We of all people should be happy and joyful. When the clouds seem the darkest and most threatening, and as though the storm is ready to burst upon us with all its fury, we should be calm, serene and undisturbed, for if we have the faith we profess to have we know that God is in the storm; in the cloud or in the threatened danger, and that he will not let it come upon us only as far as is necessary for our good and for our salvation, and we should, even then, be calm and rejoice before God and praise him. Yes, if led like the three Hebrew children, to the fiery furnace to be cast therein, or as Dan– iel was, into the lions’ den, even then we should preserve our equanimity and our trustfulness in God. I know that some will say, “This is folly and enthusiasm,” but notwithstanding this idea I know that there is a power in the religion of Jesus Christ to sustain men even under these circumstances and they can rejoice in them. Yes, if we had to take our flight into these canyons and mountains to hide from our enemies who were hunting us in the deserts and wilds of this great interior country, we should be as happy then if we loved our religion as we are today. I know that when the Saints crossed these plains in destitution, driven by their enemies from their pleasant places, burying their dead by the wayside, I know that God bestowed peace upon them, and that they rejoiced to as great an extent as they have at any time since.

Brethren and sisters, seek for the faith once delivered to the Saints. I know that faith will grow in you, and it should grow in you and you should instill it into your children, that it may be a fixed principle with them, that we whom God has called from the nations of the earth may be the nucleus of a faith that shall be disseminated until there shall be found amongst us the faith once given to the Saints, and until a race shall spring from us who, like the mighty of ancient days, shall, through faith stop the mouths of lions, put to flight the armies of the aliens, quench the violence of fire and raise their dead to life; until the darkness that enshrouded us and our fathers shall be known no more, and we be prepared for an eternal residence in his presence. This is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the 14th Ward Assembly Rooms, Salt Lake City, Sunday Evening, Jan. 12, 1873.

The subjects that have been touched upon by Elder Taylor are the most delightful that the human mind can contemplate. It is true that men can find employment and considerable enjoyment in the acquisition of wealth, and in expending the same in the busy scenes of life, but after all, there is something unsubstantial and unreal about every– thing of this character. Decay is written upon everything that is human, death is written upon everything that we put our hands to and upon ourselves. We know that we are here but for a short time; we know that everything we possess will, like ourselves, perish and pass away; that our existence here is an ephemeral one—shortlived, therefore when we can contemplate the future and the life that is to come, and can understand anything connected with it that we can rely upon, there is something in the contemplation that lifts us above everything of a sublunary or perishable character. We are brought nearer to God, we feel that there is a spark of immortality within us, that we are indeed immortal and partakers of the Divine nature, through our inheritance as the children of God. And this is the effect that the principles of the Gospel, when properly understood, have upon mankind. They had this effect upon them in ancient days; they have this effect upon them in these days. It is on this account that men are capable of making sacrifices; and that men in ancient days could face every danger and could submit to the most ignominious tortures and death. It is knowledge concerning the future, which God has given to the Latter-day Saints, that has sustained them in their persecutions and trials in the past, and which sustains them at the present time; and it is this which has sustained thousands of other people who have not been Latter-day Saints, and who have not had a fullness of the Gospel, but only understood the principles of the Gospel to a partial extent. What is there that is calculated to fill the heart of man with greater joy than the knowledge that God has revealed the plan of salvation—a plan which not only comprehends within its scope man’s individual salvation, but the salvation of his ancestors and his posterity, and gives unto him, to a certain extent, the power to be a savior of men, to be a progenitor in the earth, as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were; to be the means in the hands of God of bringing to pass also the salvation of those who have passed away in ignorance. It has been a matter which has puzzled thousands of well-meaning, honest people who believed in God and in the Gospel as far as they knew it—to understand what disposition would be made of those who died in ignorance of the Gospel. For instance, the millions of heathen who have died without having heard the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many men, including ministers, have entertained the idea that they go to a place of punishment from which there is no escape, but that they welter there in torment throughout the endless ages of eternity. Others, more charitable, have scarcely any idea what will become of them, and they therefore do not venture an opinion respecting the subject. Others still, have an idea that this cannot be the fate of the heathen, or, if so, that God must be unjust. There is something revolting to the merciful mind in the idea that God, our Heavenly Father would condemn millions of people to endless pain because of their ignorance of some great principle or truth, which he might have communicated to them but did not. For instance, millions of people have lived in Polynesia and the islands of the Pacific for unnumbered generations—history does not tell us how many, their traditions scarcely number them—and they never heard, until quite recently, the name of Jesus Christ, never knew that he was the Son of God and the Savior of the world. They have died by millions in total ignorance of the plan of salvation as taught in the Scriptures. Millions died on this great continent before the landing of the whites on American soil—countless tribes of Indians wandered to and fro from the polar regions of the north to the equator, and from the equator to the polar regions of the south, and not one amongst them all knew anything about God, his Son Jesus Christ, or the plan of salvation. They lived and died, generation after generation, in ignorance of these important truths, and many of them were doubtless just and upright men, so far as their traditions enabled them to act and walk uprightly.

Certain religious denominations entertain the belief that these people have all been consigned to endless torment; and not only those who have inhabited this land, but those who have inhabited Polynesia and Australia, the groups of Islands in the Indian Archipelago and throughout Asia and Africa. Who can contemplate such a plan of salvation, or rather condemnation, and admire the author of it, and worship him as a just, pure and holy being? Is there any wonder when such theories are propounded and advocated by the professed ministers of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, that men have revolted at such a belief and would not exercise faith in Jesus Christ? The wonder to me is that so many have received teachings from men who, professing to be ministers of Christ, have entertained such views as these. To think that God would consign to endless torment millions of his creatures who died in ignorance, of which they might have been relieved if he had revealed his will and sent his ministers unto them!

This is not the faith of the Latter-day Saints. The Gospel that we have heard brings to us peace and joy. There is no feature in it from the contemplation of which we recoil. There is no feature connected with it that we cannot sit down and contemplate with pleasure and joy, and the more we contemplate and investigate it, the higher our admiration rises for the author of it—the great and good Creator who has revealed it. So far as I understand this plan of salvation, which is the one taught by Christ and his Apostles in ancient days, and which is left on record in the Scriptures, there is nothing connected with it but what excites my admiration and calls forth my unbounded gratitude to God for having revealed it, and for having given me the privilege of understanding it, so far as I have learned it. Instead of a Gospel filled with woe, sorrow and condemnation, it is a Gospel of peace, joy and happiness to those who received it.

We as a people, brethren and sisters, and we should always bear this in mind, do not believe that God our Heavenly Father will condemn any human being unless he has been made acquainted with the law which he has revealed; in other words, to use the expression of one of the Apostles, “Where there is no law, there is no transgression.” Unless a law is proclaimed unto men, that they may understand it, there can be no transgression of that law, and consequently no condemnation following its transgression; and if condemnation follow, there must be a knowledge of law. There must be a comprehension of a law and willful violation of it, before condemnation can come. There is no room for the exercise of pity to a person who, knowing a law, violates it. We do not have any feelings of pity to men who violate our laws when they understand them. We may regret their course, but when we know that they understood the law, and had power to live above it, and that through yielding to their weaknesses and to their propensities they have violated the law, we feel to say, “Let justice take its course, the punishment is a just one, and they must abide by it.” So it is in the Gospel—you will not be condemned for that which you do not understand, neither will any other people that ever lived—that now live—or ever will live in the future. They will be condemned according to their knowledge: every man will be judged according to the deeds done in the body. Then what shall be done with the millions who have died in ignorance? If I thought that the plan of God’s salvation was confined to this earth, and this limited space of time, I should have different ideas of God to what I have. But God is eternal, and his salvation is an eternal plan of salvation. This earth, or the elements of which it is composed, is eternal. We who live on the earth are eternal in one sense—our spirits are eternal; and the elements of which our bodies or tabernacles are created are also eternal. They can be changed, dissolved and reconstructed, recreated and reorganized, but they are eternal, and so are we, and we shall live eternally. God’s providences and God’s salvation are not confined to this space of time, which we call life; but they extend throughout eternity and when individuals die in ignorance of the Gospel they will have the opportunity of hearing that Gospel elsewhere. As has been said, “If the dead rise not at all, then why are ye baptized for the dead?” This was the remark of Paul. Peter also tells us that Jesus went to preach to the spirits in prison which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. They had been in prison for nearly 2,500 years, according to our chronology; but Jesus, having the power to preach the Gospel, went and preached to them while his body lay in the tomb. I know that this doctrine is strange to many persons. I recollect on one occasion preaching on the Sandwich Islands to a large congregation, endeavoring to prove that baptism for the remission of sins was necessary, and that, according to the words of Jesus to Nicodemus, unless a man was born of the water and of the Spirit he could in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. After I had got through, a gentleman came forward from the congregation and commenced interrogating me on the statement which I had made; and in his remarks he dwelt particularly on the case of the thief on the cross. Said he, “You have told us that no man can enter the kingdom of heaven unless he is born of the water and of the Spirit.” I told him that I had quoted the words of the Savior. He wished to know how I disposed of the repentant thief on the cross, who died at the same time that the Savior did. Said he, “You recollect that Jesus said, ‘This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise;’ but your doctrine conveys the idea that the thief did not and could not go to Paradise unless he was born of the water.” I remarked to him that I supposed our views with regard to Paradise differed. He said that he believed that Paradise was heaven—the presence of God, and that the thief went there immediately after death. I said to him, “The Scriptures tell us that he did not.” The assertion startled him, and said he, “Do you mean to say that Jesus did not go to heaven?” I replied, “Jesus certainly did not go into the presence of his Father when he died, and to prove to you that what I say is correct, I have only to refer you to the 20th chapter of John, which contains the account of Mary and Jesus, after his resurrection. Mary went to the sepulchre on the morning of the Sabbath, and she found that the stone had been rolled away and that the Savior’s body was gone. She was startled at the occurrence, and turning round she saw somebody standing beside her whom she supposed to be the gardener, and she inquired of him what had become of the body of her Lord. Instead of the gardener, it was Jesus, and he called her by name, and as soon as she heard her name she knew it was Jesus, and stepped forward to embrace him. But Jesus said, ‘Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father; and to my God and your God.’” Now, said I, “here is the testimony of Jesus himself that, on the Sabbath after his crucifixion, during which time his body had lain in the tomb, he had not yet ascended to his Father.” Said I, “Peter tells us that during this time, he had been to preach to the spirits in prison, who were disobedient in the days of Noah; and he also says—For this cause was the Gospel preached to them that are dead, that they might be judged by that Gospel, just the same as they who are living.” From this we can learn how proper was the remark of Jesus to the thief. He did not say, “Thou shalt be with me in my kingdom this day.” The thief said, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” But Jesus, who was then undergoing the pangs of death, and had not time to explain the plan of salvation to him, said, “This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.” And he no doubt was with him, and heard him explain the Gospel in its fullness, plainness and simplicity, and he had an opportunity of receiving or rejecting it.

These are the views entertained by the Latter-day Saints on this important subject. We believe that every being that ever has lived—that does live now or ever will live—will sooner or later be brought to a knowledge of the eternal plan of salvation, and that none will be con– demned to endless torment, only those who sin against the Holy Ghost, for Jesus says every sin shall be forgiven except the sin against the Holy Ghost; that shall not be forgiven in this world or the world to come. Every human being will be brought to a knowledge of the Redeemer’s grace; every human being will have truth and error placed before him or her, and will have the opportunity of embracing truth and rejecting error. God has placed us here, we are his children, and he loves us all. We cannot begin to understand the love that God our Father has for his children. He loves all that dwell on the face of the earth—the dark sons of Cain that dwell in Africa and in America, in Asia and throughout the islands of the sea, as well as those who live in Europe and America who are of the white race. All are the objects of his care. His providence is over all and his salvation is extended to all. But upon whom will condemnation rest? This is condemnation, says Jesus, that light has come into the world, and men are made to understand it and reject it. But will all be saved? Yes, every human being will be saved except those who commit the unpardonable sin. But will they all receive the same salvation? No; every man will be rewarded according to the deeds done in the body. Will those who live lives of ease and pleasure, consulting their own inclinations and gratifying them, be saved with those who endure all things for the truth’s sake? We read in the scriptures of men and women who aspired to serve God with all their mights, and to do everything that was required of them. They were they who wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, who dwelt in dens and caves of the earth. They were willing to take upon them the obloquy and shame; to be sawn asunder, to have their heads cut off, to be crucified, to be thrown into the dens of wild beasts, and to suffer anything and everything, every kind of death, for the sake of the Gospel that they had embraced, and they endured these things unflinchingly. Will they receive only the same glory as those who pass along without any affliction and suffering, and who have pleasure all their days? No, the Apostle Paul, in the chapter that has been quoted from—the 15th chapter of the 1st of Corinthians, makes it plain that there is a difference in the degrees of glory that men will receive after death. He says that there is one glory of the sun, another of the moon and another of the stars. This shows that different degrees of glory will be awarded men and women in the resurrection according to their faithfulness here. Some will receive the glory of the sun, which is called the celestial glory; others will receive a glory typified by the moon, called the terrestrial glory; and others a glory typified by the stars, which is called the telestial glory.

The Latter-day Saints, as a people, are seeking to obtain celestial glory. They want to go where the Father and Son are, and to dwell eternally in their presence. They want to receive blessings similar to those which Jesus has received. On this account they have been as willing as the former-day Saints to suffer all things for the sake of the Gospel of Christ.

Many men wonder why we left the States as and when we did, and came into this wilderness, and why we endured persecutions. This is a matter of constant wonder to those who investigate our history and who do not understand the reasons which have prompted us to cling to our religion. They say, “If you will abandon this principle or that, we will fellowship you. If you reject the Book of Mormon, that is not much, you have the Bible. If you would reject Joseph Smith as a Prophet, we would receive you. Your doctrine is not so unpalatable. If you did not have so much confidence in Brigham Young, and did not take him as your counselor in all things, there would not be anything particularly objectionable in your doctrines. You believe in the Bible, the Old and New Testaments; but there are some principles of your religion which you might as well abandon.” Some men who call themselves good friends of the Latter-day Saints reason like this. They do not seem to understand that every principle connected with the Gospel is vital to salvation, and that if we reject the Book of Mormon we reject the Bible; if we reject Joseph Smith, we reject Jesus Christ who inspired and sent him; if we reject Brigham Young as an Apostle, we might as well reject Peter, James and John and the other Apostles who lived in ancient days; and that, in fact, to reject any of these would be to reject the whole, and that to be Latter-day Saints we have to believe every principle connected with our religion, or we have to be complete apostates to the whole of it. We cannot say we will receive this and reject that principle. We cannot say, We will receive faith in Jesus Christ, repentance of sin, baptism and the laying on of hands and reject everything else. We will not gather with the people, we will not pay tithing, we will not believe in Brigham Young as an Apostle or Prophet. We cannot be Latter-day Saints and feel thus, we must either receive, or be apostate to, the whole of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are fighting for great truths, not with carnal weapons—swords, guns, or weapons of war; but we are engaged in a great and mighty spiritual contest, we are seeking to establish or rather to reestablish the principles of truth and righteousness on the earth. We are endeavoring to erect a standard of purity higher than that which now prevails and is recognized by men, and to elevate the people to that standard. That is the aim and labor of the Saints. We are misunderstood—so were Jesus and his Apostles, and the Prophets of God in ancient days. We stand in goodly company. We are arrayed, in this respect, with the noblest of earth’s sons. Our names are cast out as evil, and everything we do is misrepresented and misunderstood, but this does not change our disposition or the character of the work we are engaged in. We are resolved, notwithstanding this, to stand firm to the principles which God has revealed unto us. This is the duty of every Latter-day Saint, come life or come death, or whatever may be the consequences. If God has entrusted us with the revelations of his will, if he has taught us holy and pure doctrines, as we testify that he has, we would be recreant to God and to the duties and obligations he has placed upon us if we did not stand up and face the world in arms, if necessary, to maintain his great truths in the earth.

It is so with everything connected with our religion. There is nothing impure about it—it is God’s. There may be impurity in men, and they may fail in carrying out the doctrines which God has entrusted to them, but this does not alter the doctrines. They are true and good from beginning to end, from the first to the last that has been committed to us, and their practice among the people will exalt them. “What?” says one, “will plural marriage, that we have been taught to look upon as so de– grading, elevate people?” Yes, even that principle, much abused as it is, when it is understood by the people, will be viewed in a very different light from what it is now. And so with every other principle of the Gospel. There is nothing that we teach or practice but what is contained in the Bible, and for which we do not have the example of Prophets and Apostles, and that was not embodied in the plan of salvation revealed to the ancients. We are willing to be tested by the word of God. Not by man’s traditions and misconceptions; but we are willing to go to and be tested by that book upon which Christendom relies—the translation of the Scriptures made by King James the First, of England. If we have embraced error, we are willing to renounce it whenever it is proved to us.

There are about a hundred and twenty-five thousand people in these valleys in Utah Territory. We are but a small handful of people, and we are surrounded by the foremost civilization of the age, which is believed in and upheld by forty millions of people, who have in their possession all the agencies of the pulpit and the press—the most advanced agencies of civilization; and our barbarism, as it is called, is brought face to face with their advanced civilization. We do not shrink from the contest, but are willing to abide the issue and to submit to the results. We are not afraid of this Gospel. It is reported of President Young that he once said, It was a very poor religion that would not stand one railroad. I do not know whether he ever did make the remark, but whether he did or not, it is true. It is a poor religion that will not stand one, two, three, or half a dozen railroads, or that will not stand in the midst of the hottest persecution, and triumph when in contact with everything that can be brought against it. I would not give a fig for my religion if it would not do this, so long as its believers are not extirpated, as were the believers in the Gospel in ancient days. If they will only let us live and enjoy our natural and heaven-bestowed rights, I have no fears as to the result. It is true that the wicked could turn in and kill us off in detail, as they killed our ancient predecessors—the Apostles and followers of Christ. In that day they killed every man that professed to have revelation from God. They searched and hunted until not a man could be found among the sons of men who could say unto the people, “Thus saith the Lord,” until not a man could be found who could say that an angel had appeared to him; until not a man could be found among all the children of earth who could say, “God has revealed this to me.” If God would permit it, we might be hunted, slain and driven until all were finally extirpated from the face of the earth, and in this way, probably, our religion would not stand and endure the contest or contact with what is called a superior civilization. But so long as we are allowed to live, and to enjoy the exercise of our opinion in this great nation, whose boast it is that it is the land of untrammeled liberty, I do not fear the contest or its result, and in saying this I believe I speak the sentiments of every man and woman who belongs to the Church in this Territory. We know that we have received the truth, that it will be triumphant in the end, and that it will live through and survive all kinds of persecution that may be brought to bear against it.

But there is something that I dread more than active persecution. We have endured persecutions which have driven us from our homes. Mobs have burned our houses, destroyed our corn and wheat fields, and torn down our fences; our men have been slain, and in some instances our women ravished. We have been driven as wild beasts are driven from the habitations of men, and compelled to flee to the wilderness. We have endured this, and we know that we can endure it, and live in the midst of it, for we have been tested. But we have not yet endured prosperity, we have not yet been tested in this crucible, which is one of the severest to which a people can be subjected. We have not been tested with abundance of property and wealth lavished upon us; and here, my brethren and sisters, is the point against which we have to guard more than all others, for there is more danger today to the Zion of God in the wealth that is pouring into and increasing in the hands of the Latter-day Saints, than in all the armies that have ever been mustered against us, or all the mobs that have been formed for our overthrow, from the organization of the Church until today. There is danger not in mines alone, not in the increase of strangers in our midst, not in the seducing influences which attend the presence of some of them, but in the fact that we ourselves are growing wealthy, and that it is natural for us to become attached to wealth, and for the mind of man to be allured by it, and by the influence which it brings. There is danger in this, and I look for the same results to follow this condition of affairs that formerly followed mobocracy. The mobs came upon us, and they cleansed from among us the hypocrites and cowards, and those who could not endure. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, which brought persecutions, and called upon men to forsake houses and lands and everything that was dear to them, and to push out into the wilderness, had no attraction for the classes I have named, in the early history of the Church; and I expect that there will be attractions stronger than the Gospel to hypocrites and those weak in the faith in the present phase of our history, and that influences now operating will produce the same results as we have witnessed, that is, to cleanse the people of God. We have, therefore, at the present time, that at our doors, which menaces us with greater danger than mobs. I do not dread the results, but doubtless many, unless they are very careful, will have their hearts hardened and their eyes blinded by, and they will fall a prey to and be overcome by these evils, which the adversary is seeking to pour upon us.

It has been truly said by many, “Introduce fashions into Salt Lake, increase wealth among the people and induce them to follow fashion and be surrounded by influences that will win them from their primitive habits, then you have solved the Mormon problem.” There is great truth in this statement. I recognize it and warn you of it. I know that if we would allow ourselves to be thus influenced, there is really more danger in this than in anything else. I stand here tonight in the presence of God and before you, my brethren and sisters, and I declare that I fully believe that we shall stand this trial, as we have others. I have no fear as to the result, so far as the entire people is concerned. But as a people we had better be warned. We had better watch well our ways, look well to our hearts, keep our minds well on the principles that God has revealed, and love our religion more than anything else on the face of the earth. We must preserve our love for the principles of our faith intact and in– violate, free from every impurity. What could be offered to us that we have not got in our religion? Is it wealth? I expect to have boundless wealth and boundless dominion, if faithful to God; and I expect that every faithful man and woman in the Church will have everything that his or her heart can desire in this Gospel which God has revealed. The Prophet Isaiah, speaking of Jesus, says, To the increase of his kingdom there shall be no end. That promise is also made to us—to the increase of our kingdom there shall be no end. What did the Lord say to Abraham when he had blessed him? He told him to look upon the stars of heaven and promised that as they were countless and innumerable so should his seed be. That promise, made to Abraham, the Father of the Faithful, is couched in the words of Isaiah to Jesus. There was to be no end to the kingdom of Abraham, he was to have thrones, principalities and dominions; to be crowned not with a barren, empty crown, not a crown without a kingdom, but a real one, emblematical of endless and boundless rule, power, dominion and glory. The Lord has promised the same glory to every being who attains to the glory of the sun, who gains a fullness of glory in his celestial kingdom. They all will be heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Recollect the words—joint heirs with Jesus Christ, and as he has dominion and rule so will they. He that has been faithful over a few things shall be made ruler over many, says Jesus; and in another place he says that all who have forsaken fathers, mothers, houses or lands for my sake shall receive a hundred fold in this life, and in the life to come life everlasting. We are promised, then, a hundred fold for all we forsake in this life, and life everlasting hereafter. What was the song which John says was sung by the saved in heaven? “Thou hast made us kings and priests unto God, and we shall reign on the earth.” This is the promise made to the faithful by God, the King of kings. It is natural for man to seek to exercise rule wherever he can; and it is perfectly right when bounded and controlled by principle.

In the Gospel there is open to us room for the exercise of this feeling without any evil results following it. We can, if we choose, in this life lay a foundation for eternal riches, dominion and rule, and the possession of all blessings which God has promised to the faithful. We therefore look for a heaven of this kind. The Latter-day Saint does not look for an empty heaven, where he has got to sing continually to the thrumming of the harp. The Saints look for a tangible heaven, the same as we have here, only glorified immensely. We expect to be like God, our heavenly Father—to take part in creation, in the creation and peopling of new worlds, and in doing things similar to what God has done. This is a subject of such magnitude that I can only briefly allude to it in passing.

Do you understand, can you understand, brethren and sisters, why the ancients were willing to suffer and endure all things? They knew that God had in store for them everything that their hearts could desire; and that the joys of which they had a slight foretaste here they would receive a fullness of hereafter. If they had wives they knew they would be theirs for eternity. If they had families they knew they would be theirs for eternity. They knew that Jesus meant what he said to Peter when he said, Thou art Peter, to thee I give the keys of the kingdom, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. What ordinances were there that Peter had to perform on earth that should be bound in heaven? The Latter-day Saints understand it. God has restored the same authority to the earth, and has bestowed it upon the man who occupies the same position in the Church in this day that Peter held in his. Peter was the senior Apostle—the President of the Twelve, and he, therefore, had the right to hold the keys, and to seal a wife to her husband, and the ordinance would be bound in heaven as he bound it on the earth. The Latter-day Saints claim to have received the same authority. We believe when we marry that we marry for eternity, and that our wives and children will dwell with us in eternity. This is our faith. It was over his posterity that Abraham was to reign. What benefit would it be to him to have posterity as numerous as the sands on the seashore, or as the stars of heaven, if he did not rule over them? But embody the idea of rule and dominion, and of his being a prince over his posterity, the progenitor of a great and mighty race, over whom he should eventually reign and rule, and then we see the precious nature of the promise which the Lord made to him. The Lord gave him Canaan as an everlasting possession, yet Stephen, the martyr, when he preached his last discourse to the Jews, told them that Abraham had not had so much as a foot of it, but the time would come to which I have referred, when he and his seed would sing, “Thou hast made us kings and priests unto God, and we shall reign on the earth.” This reigning on the earth was embodied in their ideas of heaven. This is the kind of heaven to which the ancients looked, and it is the kind of heaven to which the Latter-day Saints look, and this is in consequence of the great and glorious principles which God has revealed to them. Because of this they have been willing in the past to endure what they have endured.

There is much more connected with these points than any human being can say with regard to them. They are immense in their magnitude, and cannot be grasped at once. But the more the truth which God has revealed is investigated the more beautiful it appears. I often remark, There is something beautiful to me in the idea of a people being gathered together as the Latter-day Saints have, and dwelling in love and harmony. By this, says John, you may know that you have passed from death unto life, because ye love one another. We, with all our faults, do love one another. The Latter-day Saints dwell together in unity, no matter where they come from. They come here by hundreds and thousands from foreign lands, but here they are in the midst of their friends. They may not speak the same language, and may have different habits and ways of living, but when they reach here they are at home. This is one of the results of the Gospel. It is strange, but how beautiful and Godlike, and how much it ought to fill our hearts with gratitude that we live at a time and are associated with a people who are thus blessed.

The world would give everything they possess, and there have been those who would have given their lives, to partake of the blessings that we enjoy and that are so common in our midst. I have just made a hasty trip through the length of the Territory. Before starting, I telegraphed to different points that I wanted horses at such a time. I promised no remuneration whatever, but they supposed that my business was of importance, and at the time needed the horses were at hand and men ready to accompany them. When I thanked them, they would say, “There is no need, brother Cannon, we have as much interest in this work as you have.” Wherever we went there were friends, and tables spread to give us all we wanted. Can it be done in any other country? I believe that we have made a journey that could not be made in any other country, unless in Russia, where a despot rules. He could order the people as he pleased; but this has been done by simply inquiring by telegraph, “Can you do so and so?” The response came, “Yes, anything you want.” What caused this? Was it despotism? No, it was love. Their interest in this work is as great as mine or any man’s, and it was a pleasure to them to do it. The result was that we went to St. George and returned in a little over nine days, and stayed there four, traveling seven hundred miles. It has filled me with peculiar feelings, and I have rejoiced to think that I have been associated with such a people as the Latter-day Saints. I said to them, “You know, I would do the same.” “Yes, we know that.” The majority of this people feel that they cannot do too much for this work. It is the work of God, and we feel that we cannot do too much for the salvation of our fellow men. We have shown this time and time again. To illustrate it: the Latter-day Saints have sent year after year five hundred teams clear to the Missouri River, with four yoke of cattle to the team, and over five hundred men to drive these teams, and a great number of men to guard and watch them. These teams were loaded with provisions to feed the returning emigrants for upwards of a thousand miles. This was done willingly. Men spent their entire summer, and in this country that means the entire year, for when a man and his team lose the summer, they lose the benefits of the entire year’s labor. Where can you see anything like this, except in Utah? What was it done for? To build up some man or despotism, or to gratify some impostor? No, it was because the people loved their fellow creatures—their brethren and sisters. This was missionary labor on a large scale. It was not like putting a few cents into a missionary box, and then publishing each man’s name, and the amount he contributed, in a magazine, to show the world how much he had done for the salvation of the poor heathen. There was nothing of this kind here; there were no trumpets blown on the corners, Pharisee-like, to show the amount of donations made, but quietly and unobtrusively the people of this Territory sent their young men and teams, two thousand yoke of cattle, sometimes more—twenty-five hundred—with horses and provisions and everything necessary to equip large companies and bring, a thousand miles over land to this city, men and women they had never seen, and whose names they had never heard. This is done all the time, the people paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for the emigration of their poor brethren and sisters in foreign lands. A great deal is published in foreign lands about missionary efforts. I recollect when a child how anxious my parents were that I should save a little to send the Gospel to the heathen. That was before they joined this Church. I thought it a very great thing to do as they desired. But the Latter-day Saints are doing this all the time. They send missionaries over the earth. Men leave their families and comfortable homes to preach the Gospel in foreign lands without purse and scrip. What for? For the salvation of their fellow creatures. It is the result of the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And we have to do more of it, and to feel greater interest in our fellow creatures than we do, until the time shall come when we shall love our neighbors as we do ourselves. That time must come for us as a people.

May God bless you, my brethren and sisters and friends, and pour out his Holy Spirit upon you, enlighten your minds and strengthen you in doing right, regardless of consequences, that you may be able to endure to the end, which I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered at the 42nd Semi-Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, October 8, 1872.

Since the commencement of our Conference we have heard very much valuable instruction, and testimonies which have been very cheering to the hearts of those who have heard them; and no doubt every person who has attended Conference from its commencement until the present time, and who will continue until the Conference shall terminate, will feel amply rewarded for the time spent, and will go away feeling better prepared to perform the duties which may devolve upon him or her.

There is so much to talk about connected with our circumstances and condition, that it requires a portion of the Spirit of the Lord to enable a person, in speaking, to dwell upon those points which are best adapted to our present requirements. We are not situated as any other people, that is, in many respects, and instructions adapted to our circumstances would differ probably from those which would be required by others. We have been, from the commencement, a peculiar people; our religion is in many respects at the present time a peculiar one; yet, if there be any distinctive peculiarity about the religion of the Latter-day Saints, it is that they believe and receive the Scriptures as they are, and do not attempt to put double meanings to their teachings. Our religion being peculiar, the effect of it is somewhat peculiar. The message which the Elders of this Church declare when they go forth to preach the Gospel has a different effect, upon people who listen to it, to that which is declared by any other denomination. Not because faith in Jesus Christ, repentance of sin, baptism for the remission of sins, and laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost are taught, but because, following these principles, there is declared unto the people the propriety and the necessity of gathering out from the various nations where they dwell, from the midst of their kindred and their former associates, and concentrating at the place which God, as the Elders testify, has selected as the place for his people to reside in. This is a strange doctrine, and one that is peculiar to the Latter-day Saints, and, as I have said, the effects upon the people are peculiar. No sooner do they hear the proclamation of this doctrine, and in some instances before, than there springs up in the hearts of those who have received the testimony of the Elders a desire to gather out, and be associated with the people with whom they have joined, and whose faith they have received. I suppose that among the thousands who live in this Territory, who have been gathered from the various States of this country, and from the various countries of Europe, of Asia and the islands of the sea, there is scarcely one to be found who did not, as soon as he or she embraced the Gospel, have an intense desire to gather with the people of God, and to become closely associated with them, to believe as they believed, to live as they lived, to share their trials, to partake of their prosperity or adversity, as the case might be; to receive instructions from the man whom they believed God had chosen to preside over his Church upon the earth. And the effect upon the Latter-day Saints in every land is the same in this respect. You may travel to the most inhospitable climate—to the bleak regions of the north, or to the sunny climes of the south; to the lands of sterility and barrenness, where hardship seems to be the lot of the people, where privation is one of the incidents of their existence; or to the lands of fertility, where the inhabitants acquire a livelihood with ease; in fact, no matter where you go, nor whatever the circumstances may be which surround the people, when they hear the testimony of the servants of God, and receive and act upon it, the same spirit takes possession of the people, and they gladly forsake the lands of their nativity, and the associations of life—of early life and mature age, the homes of their childhood and the graves of their ancestors, and wend their way with joy and gladness to this strange land, which God, as they verily believe and know, by the testimony of his Holy Spirit, has prepared as a resting place for them. This is the universal effect wherever the Gospel has been preached, and in this respect the Latter-day Saints are a peculiar people.

But though we have gathered together, as we have, in this country, there seems to be in the minds of a great many people a disposition to overlook the reasons which God our heavenly Father has had in view in gathering us out, and collecting us together, and making us one people. The prophecies which were recorded in ancient days, as well as those which have been given us in the day in which we live; all point forward to this great dispensation, as a time when God should do a great and mighty work in the midst of the earth, and when a great revolution should be effected and a great reformation accomplished among the children of men; when he should have a peculiar people—a people who should be gathered out from all nations, a people who should be free from the vices and the evils of all nations, a people upon whom he should place his name, and whom he should recognize as his. We are told by the Revelator John, that a time would come when the people of God should be commanded to come out of Babylon, out of confusion, when they should be gathered out from every nation, from the remotest parts of the earth, and when he should make of them a great and mighty people.

We see a partial fulfillment of this prediction in this Territory—this people are gathered from various lands, and are dwelling together in peace and in union, without litigation, animosity or strife, all harmonizing together—their interests blended in one. To my mind this is one of the most remarkable phenomena to be witnessed on the face of the earth. It strikes me as such, and although familiar with it from my childhood, I look with wonder and astonishment at the great work that has been done in gathering this people together. Visitors come here, and they are full of admiration for the great labors that have been accomplished by the Latter-day Saints in transforming this wilderness land into a fruitful field, in creating these gardens, in erecting these houses, in adorning this land with beautiful habitations and with groves, and making this soil, once so barren and sterile, teem with fertility. They admire the physical works which we have accomplished; but to my mind there is something greater than this to be admired. There are works which far surpass the work accomplished on the face of nature. When I contemplate the work that has been accomplished in gathering the people from the various nations; when I see men of various languages and, originally, of various creeds, born under various forms of government, spread throughout this land, dwelling together in peace, union and love, worshiping together in the one Tabernacle, or in the same places of worship throughout the length and breadth of this Territory, I see something which to my mind is far, far more surprising than anything wrought by our physical labors. I see a power wonderful in its effect—a power which has molded the heart’s and blended the feelings of the children of men, and created a oneness in their midst, the effects of which are witnessed all around us. God has done this, and to his name the glory must be ascribed. Man cannot do these things, he cannot thus affect and operate upon the minds of his fellow men. He may produce some effect, may accomplish some results, but that union, love and harmony which we witness among ourselves is beyond the power of man to bring about—it is the power of God which he has manifested; and for wise and great ends has this wonderful God– like power been restored, which binds the hearts of men to their fellow men, and causes them to cooperate, as they have done in this land, in accomplishing the labors which have devolved upon us.

But yet, though I can admire these things, brethren and sisters, there are many things which we have neglected to do, which devolve upon us. God has given unto us a great mission in the earth, and whether we realize it or not it is a fact. He has entrusted to us, as a people, a great and mighty work to perform. We look around us in the various nations as well as in our own nation, and we see a great many evils existing, we see these evils increasing in magnitude, and becoming more formidable and threatening every year that passes over our heads. Probably we who reside in these mountains, and have done so for a quarter of a century, can realize the evidence of these evils better than they who live in the midst of them and witness their gradual growth without noticing the great changes which have been effected. But we see extravagance, corruption, and a lack of virtue and public morality; we see the breaking down of those barriers which formerly existed, and a sapping and demoralization of public sentiment and of private morality throughout the nation of which we form a part, as well as in other nations.

Now there is laid upon us, as a people, the labor of establishing righteousness in the earth. There is laid upon us the duty of building up in purity and power a system which God has revealed unto us. Not a system of theocracy to be exclusive in its effects, not to build up a class, a priesthood that should domineer and wield unjust and oppressive power over the hearts and minds of the children of men. Our mission is to lay the foundation and to build up a system under which all the inhabitants of the land can dwell in peace and safety. But I notice a difficulty in our own midst, and that is that we yield, to a great extent, to the tendencies of the age, to the influences which surround us on every hand. We must refrain from this, we must set our faces like flint against every species of corruption, against every kind of wrong, in whatever form it may approach us. We must seek with all the energy that we have, to build up in truth and righteousness that which God has committed unto us, and establish impregnably the system of reformation with which we are entrusted. There can be no better way for us to commence than by listening to the counsels that have been given unto us in the past, and which have been the means of producing the peace, happiness and prosperity which we witness among us.

There are tendencies to be witnessed in this city, and among our own people here, that we have to guard against. We well know that, of late, there has been an increase of wealth, and of the means of acquiring luxuries and comforts. God has bestowed these upon us, and the question now is with us, Will we use these, means aright, with an eye single to his glory? Will we, with our increased prosperity, devote ourselves in the future, as we have in the past, to the building up of the kingdom of God, as our paramount duty? Not for our own aggrandizement, but for the benefit of our fellow men in every land, as well as for the benefit of those who reside in this Territory. If we do this, God will bless us. But you know what the fate of all people has been who have been similarly situated to us in the beginning. In their early days they were pure, they were not extravagant, they were simple in their tastes, habits and dress. They did not allow their minds to go out after earthly things, or to be placed upon them. But means and wealth will always increase among frugal, economical, virtuous and industrious people, for it is one of the natural consequences which follow industry and well-directed labor, and we are no exceptions to this rule. We live in a land that has been barren and sterile above all lands on this continent, and by well-directed energy and industry, by perseverance, temperance and frugality, we have been blessed, and now the fruits of our long-continued abstemiousness and industry are beginning to flow in upon us, and we are becoming wealthy. Our lands are becoming valuable, our surroundings are becoming, if not luxurious, at least comfortable, wealth is pouring into our laps, and the prospect is that ere long we will be as wealthy a community, probably, as can be found between the two oceans. This seems to be the natural tendency of events at the present time.

Now the question arises—and I deem it an important one for this Conference—it has rested on my mind, as I doubt not it has on the minds of the brethren—will we as a people devote the means that God is giving unto us, for the preservation and continuation of that system that he has revealed unto us? Or will we scatter it abroad, destroy ourselves, and spoil the future which God has in store for us? We must be a different people from every other that has preceded us, if we fulfill the predictions of the holy Priesthood, for God has said, through the mouth of his prophet Daniel, thousands of years ago, that this kingdom should not be given into the hands of another people, but it should stand forever. It should not share the fate of previous attempts of the same character, and be overthrown in consequence of the weakness of the people, and the abandonment by them of the principles of truth and righteousness. There is nothing plainer to my mind than this, that if the Latter-day Saints become luxurious and extravagant; if they love the world and forsake their former purity; if they forsake their frugality and temperance, and the principles which God has revealed unto them, and by the practice of which they are today the people that they are; we shall be overthrown as others have been overthrown. But I do not look for any such result, for I believe firmly in the prediction of Daniel, that this work, when established, shall not be given into the hands of another people, but it shall stand forever, and there will be means and agencies used and brought to bear on the minds of the people, to prevent such a catastrophe as that to which I have alluded—to prevent the downfall of the system and the overthrow of those connected with it, and to prevent the victory of that which is evil over that which is good, holy and pure.

These means have been indicated in revelations which have been given unto us. We are not living as we should live. As a people we follow the systems of our fathers in regard to the management of wealth. We follow in the footsteps of those who have preceded us. We are innovators so far as religious thought and doctrines are concerned, and we have been bold innovators. We have not hesitated to adopt great reforms, and to proclaim them, and we have sought, with all the energies God has bestowed upon us, to make them facts in the earth. We have proclaimed this doctrine of gathering, and the people have been gathered together. This is a great innovation, it is a bold step, and it has resulted in success thus far. It is not now a novelty, or a new and untried experiment, for the gathering of the people together has been going on for forty years and upwards. But it was a great innovation when introduced. It is so with other doctrines which the Elders of this Church have taught. God inspired their hearts, and they, regardless of all consequences, fearlessly proclaimed the truth which he imparted unto them. We have made a great revolution in our domestic relations, and in our social system. We have taken a bold stand, and have been fearless of the consequences, because God, as we testify, has revealed unto us a principle that should be practiced, and which we should carry out, and be the pioneers in inaugurating for the redemption of men and women, and that should check, and, in fact, effectually cure, the evils under which Christendom has groaned for centuries. The Elders of this Church did this, and have risked all the consequences, from the time the system was inaugurated until the present time. The results of this we can all see, in the purity and chastity of our community; for strange as it may seem, in no other land are the chastity and virtue of women so highly respected as in Utah. Throughout the length and breadth of this Territory public sentiment is utterly opposed to anything that would violate that chastity and virtue.

In these directions, then, we have been bold and fearless innovators. But so far as financial matters are concerned, so far as the accumulation and management of wealth are concerned, we have not followed in the path which God has marked out. Yet the time must come, and we may as well prepare our minds for it, when we shall have to take a great step in this direction, and when we shall have to follow the path indicated by God in order to escape the evils that are inevitable, and that will otherwise most assuredly come upon, and overwhelm us.

I have told you that others who have preceded us have fallen a prey to evils. The increase of wealth in every nation has been attended with fatal consequences. We have but to read the history of our race from the beginning until the present time to rest assured of that. Men have said, probably, to all of you who have been out and mingled with the world, “It is very well for you Latter-day Saints to talk about your condition now, because you are a primitive people, you are a young community, you have not been tempted and tried. Wait till you increase in wealth, and until you become familiar with the sins which surround the wealthy. Wait until you are brought in contact with luxury; wait until the spirit of reform which animated your pioneers dies out, and a generation rises up who will think more of the world, then there will be a different feeling and spirit, and you will not be persecuted, hated or despised. You will become more popular, because the world will become familiarized with your ideas. Then ‘Mormonism’ and the Latter-day Saints will become like every other people that have preceded them—overcome by the luxuries of the world, and by the love of riches.” Have you not heard remarks of this kind time and time again? Doubtless they have been made to you or in your hearing.

Now, how shall we avert these evils? It is very well to say that God has established this kingdom; it is very well to say that this is his Church. Did he never have a Church or kingdom on the earth before? Did he never have a people on the earth before? Why, most certainly he did. He had churches before this; he had people before he chose the Latter-day Saints. He had communities that he owned and recognized before we were organized. Yet they went the way of all the earth, and the Church of God disappeared from the midst of the inhabitants of the earth. Luxury, corruption, vice, extravagance, the love of wealth and the allurements of sin prevailed in all the earth, and the devil—his satanic majesty—held high carnival throughout the earth because of the influence and power of these things over the hearts of the children of men. It is true that God established his work before; we know it to be true; and because he has established it in our day, we need not think that he is going to preserve it without using means to do so. He has revealed, and will continue to reveal, law, and that law must be obeyed by us, or we cannot be preserved. The time must come when we must obey that which has been revealed to us as the Order of Enoch, when there shall be no rich and no poor among the Latter-day Saints; when wealth will not be a temptation; when every man will love his neighbor as he does himself; when every man and woman will labor for the good of all as much as for self. That day must come, and we may as well prepare our hearts for it, brethren, for as wealth increases I see more and more a necessity for the institution of such an order. As wealth increases, luxury and extravagance have more power over us. The necessity for such an order is very great, and God, undoubtedly, in his own time and way, will inspire his servant to introduce it among the people. I do not wish to foreshadow when it will be done, or what the circumstances will be that will call it forth, for this is not my province; but I feel led to talk upon it, and to prepare my own heart, and to seek, with all the faith and influence I have, to prepare the hearts of my brethren and sisters for the introduction of this order. It will doubtless be a time of trial, and will be attended with many things that will test our feelings; but when we view the great results that will follow its introduction and its perfect establishment upon the earth, we should be filled with thanksgiving and praise that God has devised a scheme of this kind. You can see already the effects of the partial introduction of something akin to it in cooperation. We have had that established in our midst, and what are its effects? We witness a gradual diffusion of means throughout the community, greatly benefiting all its members. One of the effects of this which we witness is that wealth does not increase so rapidly in the hands of the few, and that the poor are not kept in poverty so much.

Before cooperation started, you doubtless saw and deplored the increase of wealth in some few hands. There was rapidly growing in our midst a class of monetary men composing an aristocracy of wealth. Our community was menaced by serious dangers through this, because if a community is separated into two classes, one poor and the other rich, their interests are diverse. Poverty and wealth do not work together well—one lords it over the other; one becomes the prey of the other. This is apt to be the case in all societies, in ours as well as others; probably not to so great an extent, but still it was sufficiently serious to menace us as a people with danger. God inspired his servant to counsel the people to enter into cooperation, and it has now been practiced for some years in our midst with the best results. Those who have put in a little means have had that more than doubled since Z. C. M. I. started—three years last March. And so it is with cooperative herds, cooperative factories, and cooperative institutions of all kinds which have been established in our midst, and all the people can partake of the benefits of this system. You can see the effect of cooperation on the people. But this is only a limited system, it does not extend as far as needed, although it required faith to enter into this; yet it will require more to enter upon the other of which I have spoken.

While upon cooperation, let me here say that we can witness the good effects of this to the Church, and we shall feel them in days to come. President Young, the other day, paid into the cooperative establishment—Zion’s Cooperative Mercantile Institution—a hundred thousand dollars tithing—the tithing of his own personal means—and it is now where it will yield profits for the benefit of the whole Church. Now, if this amount had been used to pay the hands on the public works and those laboring for the Church, how long do you think it would have lasted? It would very soon have been used up. But I have admired the wisdom, and have felt thankful that there was a sum placed where it could be used for the benefit of the work, and at the same time yield a handsome return for the investment. I do not think it will take more than three years, if the Cooperative Institution prospers as well in the future as in the past, for this sum to double itself in the shape of dividends. I refer to this in passing, because it is a testimony today, after three and a half years have elapsed, to the wisdom that prompted the establishment of this institution; but notwithstanding this you are aware that many cried out against it, and denounced it as very unwise, and likely to end disastrously, and several apostatized through its inauguration because they wanted all the profits themselves, and were unwilling the people should have any. But we have the facts before us. The people who entered into it have been blessed exceedingly, and they will continue to be so if they persevere.

But I have said that this is only a stepping stone to something beyond that is more perfect, and that will result in the diffusion of the blessings of God to a greater extent among us. In other lands you see the people divided into classes. You see beggars in the street, and men and women who are short of food, dwelling in hovels and in the poorest of tenements. At the same time, others revel in luxury, they have everything they need, and more than they need to satisfy all their wants. Every philanthropist who contemplates this, does so with sadness, and measure after measure has been devised to remedy this state of things. Our community is not a prey to these evils. Beggary and want are unknown in this Territory; at the same time we have no very rich men among us. Like other new communities we are more on an equality than we would be if we were older, and if we were to become an old community under the system which prevailed before cooperation was established, then it is very probable that some of the class distinctions to be seen in other communities would be seen in ours. It is to avoid this that God has revealed that which I have alluded to, and his design is to bring to pass a better condition of affairs, by making men equal in earthly things. He has given this earth to all his children; and he has given to us air, light, water and soil; he has given to us the animals that are upon the earth, and all the elements by which it is surrounded. They are not given to one or to some, to the exclusion of others; not to one class, or to one nation to the exclusion of other classes or other nations. But he has given them to his children in all nations alike. Man, however, abuses the agency that God has given him, and he transgresses his laws by oppressing his fellow men. There is selfishness in the rich, and there is covetousness in the poor. There is a clashing of interests, and there is not that feeling among men which we are told the Gospel should bring—a feeling to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. This does not exist on the earth now, it is reserved for God to restore it. We pray that God’s will may be done on earth as it is in heaven, and when it shall, then the order which exists in heaven will be practiced and enjoyed by men on the earth. I do not expect when we get to heaven, that we shall see some riding in their chariots, enjoying every luxury, and crowned with crowns of glory, while the rest are in poverty.

I have spoken longer than I intended, but there are some few thoughts on my mind to which I will allude in this connection before I sit down, and that is, brethren and sisters, that we should, to the extent of our ability, foster these institutions that have been established among us. We should do all that we can to sustain ourselves—sustain our own factories, do all in our power to maintain these things that we have established, and seek with all our energy to foster them. We have factories here that can make as good cloth as any of their size, probably, in the nation. They ought to be sustained by us. Brother Erastus Snow related an incident a day or two ago in relation to their operations at St. George. They received quite a quantity of cloth from the factory of President Young. He told the storekeeper at St. George not to say anything about where it was manufactured. At the same time they received a consignment of eastern manufactured goods. They were put side by side on the shelves of the store and sold to the people. There were very few—some two or three persons—who knew that any of these goods were manufactured in the Territory. They sold very readily to the people, who said they were the best goods they had bought. They wore them, and they wore well. Several lots were received from the President’s factory, and sold in the same way, the people remaining in ignorance a good while as to the place of their manufacture, and imagining that they were brought from the east. There is an idea prevailing among many of us that something manufactured abroad is better than that manufactured at home. President George A. Smith, Elder Woodruff and myself, on our recent visit to California, examined the Oregon and California goods. We went through a woollen factory there, where very excellent goods were made. We saw some blankets and some other things which were manufactured there, which cannot be surpassed. I recollected that I had heard parties here, who had purchased Oregon cloth, praise it very highly; but in examining that class of goods in California, I found that the cloth manufactured in this Territory compared very favorably with it, and had they been put side by side, bolt by bolt, it would have been very difficult to tell which was Utah and which was Oregon manufacture. Indeed if there was any preference I was inclined to give it to our own cloth.

We have factories that can make straw hats, straw bonnets and every thing of this kind. We have good tanners’ and shoe shops, and harness shops. We have a great many manufactories in our Territory that should be fostered by us as a people. We should guard against luxury and extravagance, and use that which is manufactured at home.

That God may bless us, that he may pour out his Holy Spirit upon this Conference; upon those who speak and those who hear, 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. 8, 1872.

“Moreover he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of the Lord.

“And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance the firstfruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly.

“And concerning the children of Israel and Judah, that dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of holy things which were consecrated unto the Lord their God, and laid them by heaps.

“In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month.

“And when Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed the Lord, and his people Israel.

“Then Hezekiah questioned with the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps.

“And Azariah, the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him, and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty: for the Lord hath blessed His people; and that which is left is this great store.”

I have read this portion of Scripture, it having suggested itself to my mind in view of our condition, and the circumstances which surround us as a people. The law of tithing is of very ancient origin. How early it was observed by the people of God is not clearly set forth in the Scriptures, but we have an account of its observance as early as the days of Abraham and Melchizedek. We have also, anterior to that, an account given us in the Scriptures of the bringing forward of offerings by Cain and Abel, one bringing the firstfruits of the earth, and the other the firstfruits of his flocks, as offerings unto the Lord their God. From the days of Abraham down to the days of Jesus the law of tithing was observed by the people of God. It was made a perpetual ordinance; in fact, the Lord promised unto Aaron and his children that it should be an ordinance forever. And there is this remarkable fact connected with this law—whenever it was strictly observed, the blessings of God rested upon the people, and when it was neglected the anger of God was kindled against them; and a careful perusal of the Bible reveals to us that neglect on the part of the children of Israel to pay tithing was one of the most fruitful causes of unbelief, darkness of mind, departure from the ways of God, and falling into idolatrous practices.

I may be asked, why was this the case? Had the Lord need of the fruits of the earth? Had he need of the cattle? Had he need of the firstborn children? Had he need of a tenth of their gold and silver? Was there any necessity for these things to be devoted to him because of any want on his part? Of course not. The fruits of the earth are his, the cattle on a thousand hills are his and the gold and silver are his, he created them, and he can cover or uncover them at his will. The heaven of heavens is his dwelling place, and he has no need of a temple built with hands; yet in the economy of heaven, in the dealings of God with his children, he reveals unto them laws, ordinances and institutions which he requires them to observe, and which, when observed, bring blessings, but a disregard of which brings down his anger and indignation upon them. There is nothing plainer in Scripture than this.

God commands his children to believe in him, and to render obedience to his laws; he commands them to call upon his Son Jesus Christ, or rather, to call upon him in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. He commands them to pray unto him; he commands them to repent of their sins and to be baptized for their remission, to have hands laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and to observe other ordinances that he has revealed. What for? Does prayer to him advance him? Does belief in him contribute particularly to his happiness? Does repentance of sin on the part of the creature add anything particularly to God’s glory? Does baptism for the remission of sins have any saving effect upon him? Does the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost have the effect to increase his light, knowledge, wisdom or power? We all recognize the fact that these commandments are given for man’s benefit, to increase his happiness, and to prepare him for salvation and exaltation in God’s kingdom. So also with the law of tithing: it does not, when obeyed by man, add to God’s comfort, contribute to his wealth, increase his happiness, or furnish him with that of which he would be destitute if it were not obeyed; but it is given to man and he is required to obey it that he may receive the reward, and that be may acknowledge by this act—by this payment of the tenth of his increase—that all he obtains is the gift, and comes from the beneficent hand of God, and that he is dependent upon God. Hence Abraham, after returning from the conquest of the kings, when he was met by Melchizedek, paid to him the tithes of all, acknowledging by this act the divinity of the law, and the necessity of obedience thereunto. So strict was the Lord upon this point in his dealings with the children of Israel in the wilderness, that he gave very strict commandment unto Moses and Aaron, and to those who presided over and officiated among the people that they were to be very careful to collect, and the people were to be very careful to pay their tithing.

One object of enforcing this law among Israel in ancient days was to sustain the service of the house of God. The tribe of Levi was selected from amongst all the other tribes—as the Lord’s peculiar inheritance. In the division of the land of Canaan among the different tribes, the tribe of Levi was left without an inheritance. The eleven tribes had their portions of Canaan set apart to them under the direction of the servant of God, but the tribe of Levi had no inheritance given unto them. They were told by the Lord that they were his inheritance, and that which they should have as an inheritance should be the tenth of the product of all Israel: the tenth of the labor, the tenth of the cattle, the tenth of the gold and silver, the tenth of the fruits of the earth, and of everything that was produced in the land. And so strict was this law, that when an animal passed under the rod, to use the expression of Scripture, and thereby became a proper animal to be devoted to the service of God, though it were a choice animal, and one which the owner of it desired to retain, the law provided that it could not be retained: it was devoted to the Lord, and was holy on that account. And if the owner of it were to substitute another animal instead of it, they both became holy unto the Lord, and both became tithing animals and had to be dedicated unto him, so strict was the Lord in enforcing this law of tithing upon Israel. I often think of the practice which prevails among us in this respect, how differently we act to what ancient Israel did, and how it would pinch some of us if the law of tithing were enforced among us as strictly as it was among them. Not only was this the law of tithing, as I have rehearsed it, with regard to substitution; but if a man wanted to redeem that which was devoted for tithing, a certain valuation was put upon it, and in addition to this valuation a certain sum of money had to be paid before it could be redeemed. In other words tithing had to be paid in kind, and if a man wanted to redeem his tithing he had to pay not only the money valuation of it, but an additional sum besides, before the redemption could be effected.

You can readily see, with a little reflection, the object the Lord had in being thus strict with his people: it was to prevent violations of that law, and to enforce the strictness in observing it which was necessary to secure the promised blessings.

I have said that a tenth of all the produce of Israel went to the tribe of Levi; the Levites also had to pay a tenth of that which they received, and that tenth was given to the priests, those who ministered in the priesthood in the midst of the people, so that there was in Israel a standing ministry—a tribe chosen from all the tribes of Israel, whose office it was to minister in the things of God, having been called specially by God to this service.

You doubtless recollect that the Lord also required his children—the people of Israel—to set apart the firstborn male in every family to be his. They had been redeemed in Egypt, or rather they had been saved from the scourge which fell upon all the families of Egypt. When God plead with Pharaoh, through Moses, to let the people go, destruction fell on all the households of Egypt, the firstborn in every one being slain. But among the children of Israel the firstborn were spared, and the Lord claimed them as his; but it was inconvenient for them to be used in the service of the Lord and he, therefore, after Israel had left Egypt, commanded that all their firstborn should be numbered; and after all of a cer– tain age had been numbered, he commanded that the tribe of Levi should be numbered, and upon numbering them it was found that the firstborn of Israel outnumbered the Levites by two hundred and seventy-three, if I remember aright. The Lord had already stated that it was his intention to take the tribe of Levi instead of the firstborn of Israel, and when it was found that the firstborn outnumbered the Levites by two hundred and seventy-three he commanded that they should be redeemed, and that the redemption money should be handed over to the tribe of Levi.

These were very singular laws and ordinances, but God had a design in view in enforcing them. Everything he does is dictated by infinite wisdom, and when the people strictly complied with these laws and ordinances I have mentioned the Lord blessed them in all things, so much so that it became a proverb in the midst of Israel—“Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of thy increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses burst forth with new wine.” When the people honored the Lord with their substance his blessings rested upon them and they were prospered. The palmer worm, blight, grasshopper and other evils which afflicted the land under some circumstances, were removed far from them. Their trees did not cast their fruit untimely, and they produced in abundance, and Israel prospered and waxed fat in the land. They spread abroad on the right hand and on the left, and the land teemed with fertility. There were times when Israel neglected this law, when they fell into idolatry, became careless and indifferent concerning the requirements of the Lord; when the tribe of Levi forsook the service of God and became idolaters; when the priests quit the service of Jehovah, and the temples became desecrated and filled with rubbish. It was during one of these periods that Hezekiah came to the throne of his father Ahaz, who had allowed the ordinances of God to fall into disuse. He put aside the service of God and instituted in its stead idolatrous service. Tithing had been neglected, and when Hezekiah came to the throne, his heart being set in him to do right, he commenced to cleanse the temple, and to restore the ordinances of the house of God, and the ministers who had been set apart to this service he called back to its performance, and the people brought in their cattle, wine, oil, honey, and in fact a tithe of all their substance as well as freewill offerings unto the Lord; and when the king looked upon it, we are told, in the words which I have read, that he blessed the Lord and his people Israel, and upon inquiry of the chief priest he was told that, “since the people began to bring in the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty, for the Lord hath blessed his people.” The Lord blessed them because they had complied with his requirements, and they were prospered. The land prospered under their cultivation, and it yielded its strength in abundance.

In connection with this I would like to read to you, my brethren and sisters, the remarks of Malachi. You are doubtless familiar with them, but they are words which can be read and pondered on time and time again, without any loss of interest in the subject. Says Malachi—

“Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

“Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

“Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there will not be room enough to receive them.

“And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

“And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.”

We see here portrayed, in the most graphic and striking language, the blessings that God promised unto his people Israel when they observed this law, which he had given them in the beginning; and we can also understand from the statements of Malachi, the curses that would descend upon Israel if they did not observe this law. “Ye are cursed with a curse,” says he, “for ye have robbed me, even this whole people.” Strange language for God to use to his people, it may be thought, that they should be accused of robbery, that he should look upon them as thieves, as appropriating that which was not theirs, because they did not render unto him that which he had commanded them. They had refused their tithes, they had withheld their offerings, and consequently they were cursed. “But,” says he, “bring in your tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house and prove me now, herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it,” etc. What great promises are herein conveyed to God’s people!

I have drawn your attention to this law, my brethren and sisters, to show you what it was in the days of Israel, when God communicated his mind and will unto His people. I wish to impress upon you this fact, which you can all realize and understand for yourselves if you will read, that when Israel served God, and were strict in observing this law, he blessed and prospered them, and his favor was shown towards them; but when they neglected this law, his anger and indignation were kindled against them, and one of the most fruitful causes of disaster to Israel was their neglect in this particular. There were two things connected with Israel’s disasters: one was neglecting to observe the laws of God, prominent among which was the law of tithing; and the other was their intermarriages with the heathen nations—those who were idolaters. This proved the destruction of the wisest king that ever reigned in Israel. It proved the destruction of the nation itself, for it brought disaster and ruin upon it.

There is something connected with the law of tithing that, when men do not have faith in God, appeals to their selfishness; and for a people to be wholehearted in its observance, they need faith in God. When Israel began to decline in faith in God, their selfishness increased, and their determination became stronger and stronger to grasp everything within their reach and to retain everything they gained possession of; and as this feeling grew, tithing and freewill offerings were withheld from the house of God, and in consequence of this the blessing of God was also withheld. There is a passage in the book of Amos on this subject, which shows the Lord pleading with Israel, to bring them back to the consideration of this law, as well as others that he had given them. The Lord says through the Prophet Amos—

“And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.

“So two or three cities wandered into one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.

“I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.”

These are the calamities which God sent upon Israel with the intention to have them return to him; but notwithstanding they were poured out and pestilence visited the land, the people hardened their hearts against him, broke his laws and violated his ordinances, and his anger was enkindled against them, and they were driven out from the face of the land.

This law of tithing has been revealed to the Latter-day Saints. If I remember aright, the last revelation in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, given as a revelation, is one in which this people are commanded to observe this law of tithing forever. With the restoration of the Gospel in its fullness and purity there has also been restored this law, and I am thankful to God for its revelation. I am thankful for the restoration of every principle of truth, of every law that pertains unto salvation, for they are all for the benefit of the human family; and as long as the Latter-day Saints have observed this law they have been blessed; and we know by our own experience with grasshoppers—the Lord’s great army—how easily he could collect his dues from ancient Israel if they robbed him by neglecting or refusing to pay their tithes.

When men have come to this desert land and have seen the changes that have been wrought in such a brief space of time, they have wondered what has been the reason of it. The promise of God has been given to this people as it was to ancient Israel upon this point, and when the Latter-day Saints have observed the law of tithing they have been favored of God, and his Spirit has rested upon them, and not only upon them but also upon the land, and where it was once so barren, unfruitful and forbidding that it looked as though no human being could live by cultivating it, it has been converted into a fruitful field. Men say, “What wonderful results water has produced!” “What a great system this irrigation is which you practice!” True, it is a wonderful system, it is productive of wonderful results; but to my way of thinking, or according to my views, these results are due to the blessing of God on the labors of the Latter-day Saints, because they have honored him by observing the law of tithing. We have looked upon this land as the Lord’s, and have viewed ourselves as his tenants. He could not come down here in person and receive from us the firstfruits of the soil, or take our cattle, our gold and silver, or any of our manufactures. Hence there must be somebody to do it for him. In ancient days the children of Levi acted in this capacity: they received the tithes and offerings, but in these last days, there being none of the descendents of Aaron that we know of in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to act in this capacity, we have been under the necessity of choosing other men to hold the authority which his seed would hold if they were here in our midst, and they have been set apart for the purpose of looking after temporal things, and to take or collect the tithing, and see that it is properly managed and appropriated to the uses for which it is designed.

I know how quickly men, in looking at “Mormonism,” come to the conclusion that it is a system by which a certain class will be benefited and built up. I have heard men say that the “Mormon” Elders had a pretty good thing of it; that Brigham Young, as President of the Church, had a very nice arrangement, and that those who were leaders in the Church had every reason for desiring to retain their position, imagining, of course—though I do not know why such an imagination should be prompted unless it was because they judged us as they judged one another—that all the means that is devoted by the people for the payment of tithing is appropriated by President Young and those associated with him in conducting the affairs of the Church.

Now I would not, as a speculation, endure for one month, that which President Young has to pass through—the care, responsibility, obloquy, and the weight that rests upon him continually, for the sake of the tithing alone, if I could have it all. He would not, no other man who is connected with this people would. Why do they endure that which they pass through? Because, by the revelations of God, they know that God has established his Church once more in its fullness upon the earth, because they know that angels have come from heaven to earth, because they know that the holy priesthood has been again bestowed upon man, with the authority to administer in the ordinances of God’s house, as in ancient days; and because this work is established by the commandment of God, and they are called by his command to labor in it. But there is one advantage which this unbelieving generation have over those which have preceded us, and I think, in view of the selfishness which prevails today in the midst of mankind, it is a wise provision. If there had been a tribe set apart in this generation to receive the tithing, I do not know but what the people, universally almost, would have rebelled against it. If there had been a privileged class to receive the tithing, the unbelief and selfishness of man would have prompted them to find great fault with it. But there is this peculiarity about the work in these days—not only do the people pay their tithing, but the ministers of life and salvation pay theirs—if they do not they should do, and I believe they do—as punctually as the humblest member of the Church, from President Young down—his Counselors, the Quorum of the Twelve, the Bishops of the Church, every faithful man pays his tithing, the highest in the Church as well as he whose name is scarcely known beyond the narrow circle in which he moves; and, instead of the tithing going to sustain a class, as it did in ancient days the tribe of Levi, or the priests, it goes to build up the work of God—to erect temples and in various other ways. Thousands and thousands of dollars have been spent in sustaining the poor, and there is no class of men sustained in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by the tithing. There is this difference between ministers in this Church and ministers in other churches; ministers in this church have to labor for their own support; but in other churches they are supported wholly by the people. On this account—in Massachusetts, if I remember aright—ministers are not allowed to be elected to the legislature; they are regarded as men unfit for the practical duties of life. Men who devote themselves exclusively to the service of their churches go into their studies, read and fix up their sermons, and, on the Sabbath day, they deliver their written, prepared discourses to their congregations, and they are the most impractical men connected with their churches. The ministry of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is in direct and striking contrast with this. The leaders of this Church are the most practical men in it. The President of this Church is the most practical man connected with the body. His Counselors, the Twelve Apostles and the leading Elders and Bishops are all distinguished for being practical men—men perfectly capable of doing everything connected with a life in these mountains—men who are able to sustain themselves and to help to sustain others. Our theory is that a man who cannot sustain himself and also teach others how to sustain themselves is unfit for a leading position, and he becomes a drone in the great hive. On that account we compel or require every minister in this Church to sustain himself. Jesus said that he who is greatest among you let him be the servant of all, and we have carried this into effect—the servant of the whole people is the President of the Church. The man who is the greatest servant in a settlement is the President of the settlement, or the Bishop of a ward. He lives for the people, his time is devoted to their service, looking after their interests, that is, if he does right and magnifies his calling. Is there a helpless man in a ward? He becomes the object of the Bishop’s solicitude and care. Is there a family in indigence? Then they are the wards of the Bishop, and he looks after them, and visits them or sees that his teachers do, and that their wants are supplied. By this means the ministry in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is an active one, carrying the blessings of spiritual and temporal salvation into the midst of the people.

It has been by the labors of such men that this community has been founded, and this once barren desert changed into a fruitful field and made to blossom as the rose. Through the labors of the Apostles, Elders and Bishops of this Church, settlements have been extended to the remotest bounds of the Territory, north, south, east and west. They have been the pioneers in all great labors, not saying to the people, “Give us of your wealth and substance, we want to be sustained in idleness, that we may rule over you;” but on the contrary they have said, “Come, brethren, let us go and accomplish this labor that God has laid upon us.” They have been the pioneers in all these labors—these Apostles, Presidents, Bishops, Dignitaries, these men who are supposed to fatten on the labors of the people. Instead of doing that, they have been the creators of the wealth that the people now enjoy; they have been the fathers of the people, the people have been the objects of their paternal care from the beginning until today. I would not give a fig for a leading man who would not act in this capacity; he is worth nothing, and deserves no place in the midst of the people of God. Men to save their fellow men and to be ministers of Jesus Christ must have the spirit of Jesus. His spirit was one of self sacrifice, one that prompted him to go forth and save the people, not to be a burden upon them, not to crush them. That is priestcraft; and wherever that system prevails a system of despicable priestcraft prevails, and God is angry with it and with those who practice it.

I have said that I thank God for the revelation of this principle. I do, for this reason—it appeals directly to man’s selfishness. It makes men sacrifice their selfish feelings, and causes them to show faith in God. If a man has not faith in God he is not very likely to pay tithing, or make many offerings. To use a common expression, he looks after “number one,” and self-interest rules him. Such a man is an unworthy member of the Church of Christ. But when every man pays his tithing and witnesses unto God that that law is honorable in his sight, what is the result? Is anybody impoverished by it? No. Are we as Latter-day Saints any poorer because of the tithing we have paid? Not one cent. When that tithing is properly appropriated it is expended in works which add to the wealth of the entire community. It contributes to the erection of public edifices; it adorns those edifices, and creates a fund that is exclusively devoted to the work of God, and that helps to build up and to make the community prosperous and respectable in the earth. It is a mighty engine, or would be if properly wielded, in establishing righteousness and truth in the earth, for let me say, brethren and sisters, that a warfare has been commenced in the earth, and it has been waged for a long series of years, speaking according to the length of a man’s life; and that warfare or contest is for this earth, and it is between God and Satan.

Men wonder why it is that the “Mormon” community, with their good qualities, their love of temperance and good order, and whose members conduct themselves with such propriety, are so hated. It has been frequently remarked to our Elders—“You are a pretty good man, I would not take you to be a ‘Mormon,’ I would think you are a man of too much intelligence to be a Latter-day Saint,” as though, to be a member of this Church a man must be an ignoramus, stupid blockhead, knave or fool in the estimation of those not of our faith. God has not chosen that kind of a people, he has chosen intelligent people, and he will give them greater intelligence. But, the reason we are hated is this—and it is the same reason that Jesus and his Apostles were hated—we have the truth, because we have received the revelations of God, and because, in singleness of purpose, we are endeavoring to build up the kingdom of God. Let any other people do what we have done and they would be lauded to the skies. Let any other man do what our leader has done and his fame, as a benefactor of his race, would be worldwide. But our labors are only an additional reason for hating us and for warring against us. It is, as I have said, because there is a warfare in the world, and it will not end until God is victorious and the earth is redeemed from sin.

I will revert now to the contrast there is between our desert land and the lands from which we came. Our people were organized in the State of New York—a most fruitful State. From New York they moved to Ohio, another most fruitful State. From Ohio they moved to Missouri, the garden, it might be said, of the United States; and from Missouri to Illinois—all rich and productive States. What is the result of our removals? We came to a land that was a barren, uninviting desert, and what are the remarks of visitors who come here now from the lands we formerly lived in? They wonder how it is that our fruit trees are so healthy, and that our land is so inviting. I honestly believe, if the people of the United States would observe this law of tithing, devoting a tenth of their substance to the service of the Most High, that instead of this land being in many respects so superior, the fertility which formerly prevailed there would be restored. And when the day shall come, as come it will, when we shall go back—and we expect to go back to Jackson County, Missouri, and to lay the foundation of a temple, and to build a great city to be called the center stake of Zion, as much as we expect to see the sun rise tomorrow; I say when that day shall come it will be found that that country will have its old fertility restored, and that all the lands that the people of God will occupy will be healthy and fruitful; and the land of any people who will honor God by obeying this law of tithing will be made fruitful to them, God will bless their industry, and they will rejoice and prosper therein.

There are many things connected with this subject that might be touched upon. One thing I will mention before I sit down, and that is the growing tendency among this people to look after their own interests and to neglect the interests of the work of God. This remark has often been made to us: “When you Latter-day Saints increase in wealth, are surrounded by the fashions of the world, and the waves of civilization surge against your walls of barbarism, all your peculiarities will recede and melt away, and you will become like other people. Your plural system will disappear, for no man can sustain half a dozen wives if they are fashionable women, and no more than one.” I have heard this time and time again; and it is true that young men in the east will not marry because of the expense, they do not want to take a wife because they cannot sustain her according to the requirements of modern society. Now, there is a good deal of truth in this statement. If I thought we would become subject to the follies that now prevail I would have fears concerning the work of God and its perpetuity on the earth. If I thought that this people would lust after wealth, and that they would allow their feelings and their hearts to become set on the accumulation of money, and that they would think more of that than they do of God and his work, I would fear for its perpetuity. But God has said this work shall stand forever, and that it shall not be given into the hands of another people, and on that account I do not entertain any fears as to the result. But there are individuals in this community who have given way to these feelings about tithing. When men are poor, it is noticed that they are punctual in paying it, but when they increase in wealth it is less so. For instance, when a man has ten thousand dollars it looks a big pile to give one thousand as tithing. If a man’s tithing amounted to no more than five, ten, twenty, or even a hundred dollars, says he, “I can give that, but a thousand is a great amount,” and when called upon to give a thousand, no, I will not say “called upon,” the difficulty is we are not called upon enough, there has been neglect in calling upon us; but when it comes to this, why a thousand dollars looks like a very large sum, and the party whose duty it is to pay it is apt to hesitate and feel reluctance, and he perhaps says, “I can invest this thousand dollars in such and such a way, and it will produce so much interest, and I will pay it then;” and he allows himself to be satisfied with this course.

There is this remarkable fact connected with tithing in our midst. You are all familiar with the apostasy of some of our leading merchants—men who dealt in merchandise and who, for years, by their exorbitant prices literally fleeced the people of their means. This was before the construction of the railroads. Well, it was predicted years before, that sooner or later they would deny the faith and leave the Church. It was easily understood that no man could remain in the Church, if it was a pure Church, and practice a system of extortion on his brethren, and the prediction was made, and strange as it may seem—though it is not strange to those who understand the working of these things—it was fulfilled to the very letter, and those men did deny the faith, and they are now opponents of that work which they once testified they knew to be true; and an examination of the tithing records would show this remarkable fact—that some of them did not pay their tithing as they should have done. Those who have prospered most are they who paid their tithing honestly. And I have noticed it, as an individual, that when men close up their hearts in this direction, and neglect their tithing, and their offerings on fast days for the benefit of the poor, they lose their faith. This is one evidence of the loss of faith and confidence in the work.

I will tell you how I feel now, if I were to be tempted in this direction, I would say, “Mr. Devil, I have no lot or part with you. I will pay my tithing, and if you say anything I will double it.” I know that there is a blessing attending this. I know God prospers those who are strict and punctual in attending to this. I know he blesses those who feed the poor, clothe the naked and attend to the wants of their indigent brethren and sisters. I should deplore the increase of wealth in our midst if it created class distinctions, if it should create a feeling that, “I am better than thou, because I wear a finer coat, dwell in a better house, ride in a finer carriage and have finer horses, or because my children are better schooled and better dressed than yours.” I should deplore the increase of wealth among us if such results were witnessed. I should expect the anger of God would be kindled against us, and that we should be scourged as a people until we repented in deep humility before him.

God has bestowed upon us the earth and the elements in and around it, and he has given us them for our good. There is no sin in taking the wool from the sheep’s back and spinning and manufacturing it into fine broadcloth. There is no sin in planting mulberry trees and feeding silkworms and making fine dresses and ribbons with the silk which they produce. There is no sin in spinning the flax and making fine linen of it. There is no sin in taking the dyes that abound in nature and dying these silks and other fabrics in the most beautiful manner. There is no sin in digging gold and ornamenting our service with it, and in covering our tables in the Lord’s house therewith. There is no sin in taking silver and making furniture for the Lord’s house. There is no sin in making fine carriages, and in paint– ing and fitting them up in the most exquisite manner. There is no sin in having a noble race of horses, or a fine breed of cattle. There is no sin in building houses and decorating them, having fine furniture, carpets, mirrors, baths, heating apparatus and every appliance and convenience of modern civilization therein. There is no sin in all this, or in any blessing God has given us, but there is sin in abusing these things. There is sin in being lifted up in pride because God has bestowed them upon us. There is sin in thinking, “I am better than another man who is created out of the dust of the earth, as I am; who is a child of God, as I am; who came from God, as I did, and who will go to God as I hope to do.” Brethren and sisters, there is no sin in having what I have named. We may have fine houses, fine gardens or orchards, glorious temples, a fine land, and we may make our homes heavenly places, and fit for angels to visit, and there is nothing wrong in all this, neither in adorning the bodies God has given unto us, if our hearts are humble before him, and we glorify him in our lives. But this is the great difficulty and has been from the beginning. When wealth multiplies the people get lifted up in the pride of their hearts, and they look down on their poor brethren and despise them, because they are better educated, have better manners, and speak better language—in a word, because they have advantages which their poor brethren and sisters have not. There is sin in this, and God is angry with a people who take this course. He wants us to be equal in earthly things, as we are in heavenly. He wants no poor among his people; he does not want the cry of the oppressed to ascend from the midst of the Latter-day Saints, and God forbid that it ever should! God forbid that the cry of any should ever ascend from the midst of the Latter-day Saints because of oppression or because of the lack of any blessing necessary for comfort! God wants us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and impart our substance for their support. But he does not want the poor to envy the rich. That is just as great a sin on their part as for the rich to oppress them. They must not envy the rich; they must not look on their brethren and sisters and envy them that which they have. That is sinful, that is wrong, and the man or woman who indulges in it, indulges in a wrong spirit. God wants us to build each other up in righteousness. He wants us to love one another and to seek one another’s benefit. This is the spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He has revealed it unto us, and we must cultivate it.

I look upon this law of tithing as an equitable law: it comes alike upon the rich and the poor. The poor person who pays his ten dollars tithing gives as much in proportion as the richest man in the community. The rich gives no more than a tenth, and the poorest gives no less. We are all alike, then, in this respect when we observe this law of tithing; and it should be strictly observed by us, if we want the blessings of God to rest upon us.

I have thought, I do not know how truly, that of late there has been a disposition among the Latter-day Saints to be penurious in this respect. It has seemed to me that with the increase of God’s blessings around us, a disposition has been manifest to be stingy, to withhold our substance, and to tie up the hands of those who have the great work to perform. We want to build this temple, and other temples in other parts of our land. We want to fill the land with temples—houses that shall be dedicated to the Most High God. At the present time people in St. George and other settlements in that region—from 350 to 400 miles from this city who wish to be married according to the order and ordinances that we believe in and view as necessary, have to make this long journey one way, and the same the other, making 700 or 800 miles travel, to have the ordinances of God’s house solemnized as we believe they ought to be. What a labor this is! This has to be obviated.

We are building a temple in Salt Lake City; but this is only one. There will be doubtless a temple built in St. George, and probably others in the north, east, west, and throughout the land. Do you think the tithing is all going to be spent in Salt Lake City? Do you think that the remote settlements are all going to contribute of their strength and their increase to build up this city alone? No, this would not be right: this would be filling the heart and letting the extremities suffer. The extremities must be sustained. Tithing must be devoted to the building of temples and places of worship, so that the Latter-day Saints in every section of the Territory may go and attend to the ordinances for the living and the dead. We have a mighty work to do in this connection. God has revealed this law, and, as I have said, it is a law that works alike upon all. It is not oppressive on any class, but it is distributed equally upon all classes. Let us observe it, and all the laws of God, that we may become a blessed people; that we may increase in wealth, and use that wealth to the glory of God; that there may be neither pauperism, want, nor ignorance throughout our entire land, and that the grateful prayers of a blessed and happy people may ascend from every habitation throughout all these valleys unto the Lord of hosts, praising his holy name for the numerous blessings which he has bestowed upon us, for the peace, good order, union and every other blessing we have received from him.

That this may be the case 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 July 14, 1872.

I will read a portion of the 3rd chapter of St. John—

“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?”

In listening this morning to the remarks of Elder Schonfeldt, on the everlasting Gospel as preached by the Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he stated in substance that none could receive salvation outside this Church, and outside the Priesthood which God had restored to the Church. He did not explain—had not time, probably, or his mind was carried away on some other points, how, or why it is that salvation can only be obtained in the way that God, our heavenly Father, has prescribed. Many, doubtless, who listen to the Elders of this Church, when speaking upon the principles of life and salvation, have come to the conclusion, when they have not thoroughly understood the principles and the system as they are set forth, that we are an exceedingly exclusive and uncharitable people for believing that only a very few out of the large mass of human beings who have peopled the earth will be saved, while the great majority—those who are outside the pale of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—will go down to an endless hell.

The reason, probably, that these ideas are entertained by many who have heard our Elders preach, is because they have drawn deductions from the preaching they have heard, imagining that our views of the sayings of the Scriptures corresponded with theirs, and that it necessarily followed that all who failed to render obedience to the ordinances of the Gospel, as we preach them, would go down to that endless hell in which so many of the sects believe. But any person entertaining such ideas does us, or rather the Gospel that we preach, great injustice. We believe that God, our heavenly Father, is a God of perfect justice, a God of mercy, a God filled with long-suffering and tender compassion towards all the works of his hands. We could not, with our views respecting the character of God, believe as our friends imagine with regard to the destiny of those who die outside of this Church, for that would be incompatible with and contrary to all that we understand concerning the character of our God—the God who is revealed in the Bible, and the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We believe, as Jesus said, that “this is condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.” This is the condemnation under which mankind will suffer—the condemnation will follow the rejection of light by those to whom it may be sent in every nation and age of the world; in other words, we believe that where there is no law, there is no transgression—where men and women have not had the Gospel, or the principles of salvation, communicated unto them, they cannot be held accountable for disobeying the same. It is a truth that has been enforced by all who have understood the Gospel, that those to whom the Gospel is revealed, must obey it, or condemnation follows. Condemnation did not fall upon the inhabitants of the antediluvian world until Noah had taught unto them the will of God. Noah, commanded of God, went forth as a preacher, of right– eousness, declaring to the people the judgments that were about to come upon them; and God so inspired, directed and strengthened him that he was enabled to warn the people to such an extent that they were left without excuse, so much so that God felt justified in sending the flood upon the earth.

This has been the course the Almighty has pursued in every age when his judgments have been poured out upon the people—he has sent Prophets to warn them and to tell them how they might escape the calamities threatened. This was so with the Jews, unto whom the Son of God came. He proclaimed the Gospel unto them, and warned them of coming judgments, and he sent his disciples through all Jewry, doing the same. You all remember the Savior’s pathetic lament over Jerusalem, when he said he would have gathered her people as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wing, but they would not receive him as a messenger of salvation, as the heir and Son of God, empowered to impart unto them principles, obedience to which would have secured them life here and hereafter. He also pronounced a woe upon many cities of that land, and said that if the mighty works which had been done in them had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, their people would have repented. But the Jews hardened their hearts, and not only rejected his testimony, but they shed his blood, and invoked condemnation on their own heads for doing so. History tells us that the judgments which Christ and his Apostles had declared did descend upon the Jewish nation. Jerusalem was taken, the temple thrown down, and the people carried into captivity, and the desolation and dreadful woes that had been predicted by the Son of God were all fulfilled upon that generation of Jews.

In these instances we see that God sent messengers to warn the people before his judgments were poured out upon them; and we also learn that when the Gospel is proclaimed by those having authority, if the people reject it they are held to a strict accountability therefore, and condemnation inevitably follows—there is no escape from it, but it falls in all its severity upon those who reject the message of life and salvation when proclaimed by those having authority to proclaim it. A perusal of this book (the Bible) will convince all who believe in it, that it is a most dangerous thing, and attended with the most terrible consequences, to reject the message that God gives to his authorized servants to proclaim to their fellow creatures. There is no instance of which we read, from the beginning of the book to the close thereof, where judgments did not fall upon a people if they did not repent of their sins and obey the message sent unto them by God. When I say repent, I mean a complete forsaking of sin, and turning from it truly and sincerely; in no other way can mankind escape the judgments and calamities threatened, and of which they are warned.

In the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ there were certain conditions revealed. Mankind were required to obey a certain form of doctrine declared unto them, and when they did obey they received the blessings. But I have often thought when traveling abroad in the nations, how different it is in our day from what it was anciently. In our day we see countless numbers of elegant spires pointing to heaven, and legions of men preaching what they call the Gospel, but the wickedness of the people is unchecked. Anciently, when God sent his authorized servants to proclaim his Gospel to the people, salvation, on the one hand, followed obedience, or, on the other, condemnation followed rejection. And these effects did not linger, they were not deferred for centuries, but if the people did not repent after hearing the message of the servants of God, great calamities quickly followed. They could not listen to the authorized servants of God for any length of time, and harden their hearts against their testimony and warnings, without speedy judgment following. This was the case from the days of Noah to the days of John the Revelator, and it will be the case in every generation when the Gospel of the Son of God, in its purity and fullness, is proclaimed to the people, and when God has a Church and Priesthood upon the earth which he recognizes. He is the King of the earth, he is the Creator of all its inhabitants, and when he calls upon the people, and requires them to do anything, they must promptly comply, or suffer the terrible consequences of their disobedience.

In the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as I have already remarked, there are certain conditions with which the people are expected to comply; if they do they receive the blessings, if they do not they receive condemnation. Jesus and his Apostles taught that it was essential that mankind should believe in him as the Son of God—as the only name given under heaven by which men could be saved. All mankind were therefore required to believe and to have faith in him, and to approach the Father in his name. That was the first condition of the Gospel as taught by Jesus and his Apostles.

The next condition was repentance. All who had committed sin and were guilty of wrong of any kind, were required to repent of that wrong and to live pure and holy lives. They were not only required to be sorry—to have compunctions of conscience for the commission of evil, but they were required to forsake it entirely and to become new creatures. If they had been dishonest, untruthful, unvirtuous, profane; if they had taken advantage of their neighbor, borne false witness against him, or encroached upon his rights; if, in fact, they had done anything contrary to the dictates of the Holy Spirit, or of their consciences when enlightened by that Spirit, they were required to repent of and forsake the same.

The third condition of the Gospel was, that parties who had believed in Jesus, and had repented of their sins, should take some step for the remission of them. Now the penalty of the sin that our father Adam committed was death—“In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” was the proclamation of the Creator; and when Adam sinned he paid the penalty and died, and entailed death upon every generation of his posterity, and that sleep of death would have been eternal had it not been for the death of the Son of God. He came as the Redeemer of the world, he died for the sin that had been committed by Adam, he atoned for it, and thus ensured to all the family of man redemption from the grave or a resurrection of their mortal bodies. But he gave unto his disciples a commandment that they should preach remission of sins, and that they should administer an ordinance by which all obedient believers could obtain remission of sins, and that ordinance was baptism. “Not the putting away,” as the Apostle Paul says, “of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God.” They were required to submit to this ordinance. Jesus taught it, and he, himself, although admittedly a pure being, set the example of obedience to it. When John was baptizing in the river Jordan, Jesus went to him and requested baptism at his hand. John remonstrated with him, saying, “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?” But Jesus said, “Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness,” and he went down into the water and was baptized by John, and the first evidence that we have in the Scriptures of his recognition by the Father was on that occasion, for after he had been baptized the Holy Spirit descended upon him, and a voice was heard bearing testimony to the assembled multitude that Jesus was the beloved Son of the Father. He therefore set the example himself, so that it could not be said, though sinless, that he had not complied with the ordinance which he required all the inhabitants of the earth to submit to, and which the disciples administered to all repentant believers.

This prepared them for another ordinance which, we find in the Scriptures, was administered to all who had complied with the conditions of the Gospel which I have named—namely, the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. I have been told repeatedly that this ordinance was to be administered only to those who were intended for the ministry—it was not designed for the members of the Church called laymen. A careful perusal of the Scriptures, however, does not sustain this idea; but on the contrary, it very clearly sustains the idea that this ordinance had to be administered to every one who joined the Church, and that without it the Holy Ghost was not bestowed as a gift. To prove that this is correct, you have only to read the 8th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, where you will find an account of the labors of Philip in the city of Samaria. It seems that Philip had power and authority to preach the Gospel and to baptize men and women, but not to administer all the ordinances. I have the idea that he had the same authority as John the Baptist—the authority to baptize, but not to confer the Holy Ghost. We find that when John was preaching, he said that there would one come after him, whose shoes he was not worthy to bear, who would baptize them with the Holy Ghost and with fire. John baptized with water, but he did not confer any further gift or blessing—he had not the authority so to do. Philip seemed to have the same authority, for the sacred writer says that when the Apostles of Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Gospel at the hands of Philip, they sent unto them two Apostles, for as yet, although the Samaritans had been baptized with water, the Holy Ghost had not descended upon any of them; and we are told that when the Apostles came unto them, they prayed with them, and laid their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost. Nothing is said about the hands of the Apostles being laid upon those only who were intended for the ministry, but the ordinance was administered to all who had received baptism at the hands of Philip, without distinction of sex or station.

Another instance in support of this view we find in the 19th of the Acts. We read there that when Paul was passing through the upper coasts he came to Ephesus and he found there certain disciples who said they had been baptized unto John’s baptism, but when he asked them if they had received the Holy Ghost they said they had not so much as heard of it. Then, we are informed, they were baptized in the name of the Lord, and when Paul, who had the necessary authority, had laid his hands upon them they received the Holy Ghost, and spake with tongues and prophesied. Many other proofs on this point might be adduced, but these are sufficient. From what has been said we learn that the first principle of the Gospel is belief in Jesus Christ; the second principle is repentance of sin, and the third, baptism for the remission of sins.

“Ah!” says one, “Cannot I come to the foot of the cross and, through the atoning blood of Jesus, have my sins washed away without baptism?” I doubt not that hundreds, in various nations and generations, who have been in ignorance of the true Gospel, and far removed from those who had authority to administer its ordinances, have had their sins blotted out. God has looked in mercy upon them, and on account of their sincerity has witnessed unto them that he accepted the broken spirits and contrite hearts which they offered unto him. I cannot doubt this; but wherever the Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached in its fullness, none can obtain the remission of sins only in the way that God has pointed out, and that is by baptism by one having the authority from God to administer that ordinance.

Supposing that I, with the views which I have of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, were today outside of the church of God, and I were to say, “I will not be baptized for the remissions of sins. My father or my grandfather was a good Methodist, or a good Presbyterian or Baptist, or a good sectarian of some other denomination, and he told me that he had experienced a change of heart and I believe that he had his sins washed away through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, and on this account I will not submit to the ordinance of baptism which is preached to me as necessary to salvation, but I will seek for the remission of my sins the way my father or grandfather did,” how do you think it would be with me? Should I obtain the remission of my sins at the hands of God? There would be no remission of sins for such an individual in this life. Light has come into the world, God has revealed to men the true principle by which remission of sins can be obtained, namely, baptism, and when that is taught to them and they refuse to obey it, condemnation follows, and the blessings will be withheld which were granted in days when, in ignorance, men taught the Lord in faith and humility and with broken and contrite spirits.

We now come to the fourth and last initiatory principle of the Gospel of Jesus Christ—the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. “Is it not possible,” says one, “for a man to receive the Holy Ghost without being baptized for the remission of sins, and having hands laid upon him?” Says the reader of Scripture, “I recollect that Cornelius, the history of whose conversion is contained in the 10th chapter of the Acts, received the Holy Ghost, and yet he was not baptized; and if he did, is it not possible for others to do the same?” Let those who think so read the history very carefully, and they will find that in bestowing the Holy Ghost upon Cornelius without baptism, God had a purpose in view. Cornelius was the first Gentile unto whom the Gospel was preached. The prevalent belief among the disciples, and one which they, being Jews, had inherited through the traditions of their fathers, was that the Gentiles were not to have the privilege of enjoying the blessings of the Gospel, they were not for them, and the disciples were not disposed to administer its ordinances to them. You recollect what Peter said when the Holy Ghost descended upon Cornelius—this uncircumcised man—and his house, whom they had supposed were without the pale of the Gospel—“Who can forbid water, seeing that they have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?” Peter cited this bestowal of the Holy Ghost upon Cornelius and his house, as a proof that the ordinance of baptism should be administered to them, and to all believing repentant Gentiles as well as to the house of Israel. This, in connection with the vision which Peter had, you recollect it, wherein he saw a sheet let down from heaven, containing all manner of beasts, clean and unclean, he being commanded to arise, kill and eat thereof, had dispossessed his mind of the prejudice which he had entertained, in common with his fellow believers, that the Gospel was for the Jews only. And when he saw Cornelius and his house thus blessed, he inquired of his brethren what there was to prevent the ordinance of baptism being administered to them, and they were baptized by Peter.

Cornelius did not say, as many, doubtless, would say today, “We have received the Holy Ghost, and having obtained this evidence of our acceptance with God, what is the use of our being baptized? Is it likely that God would have given us the Holy Ghost if he had not forgiven our sins?” These inquiries, I think, would be made by hundreds in our day under such circumstances. But not so with Cornelius: he had heard the Gospel preached to him by Peter, and though he had received the Holy Ghost, he believed it was still neces– sary for him to be baptized in water for the remission of his sins, and he complied with that ordinance, and then doubtless the hands of the servants of God were laid upon him to confirm him a member of the Church and to seal upon him the blessing of the Holy Ghost, that he might be led and guided by it into all truth.

This, my brethren and sisters, is the only plan of salvation taught in the Scriptures. There is no other way given by which men can be saved. It is the way that Jesus trod, the way that his Apostles walked in, it is the doctrine they taught, and when it is taught by those having authority from God to teach it, the Holy Ghost will follow the administration of these ordinances. The ancient gifts and blessings will be bestowed, and men will be led into all truth, the power of God will be with them, and they will know God for themselves, for he is the same God now that he was yesterday, the same in the year 1872 that he was in the year 33, or fifteen or eighteen hundred years before the birth of Christ, and if we obey the same form of doctrine obeyed by those who lived anciently, and it is administered by those who hold authority from God, the gifts and powers will most assuredly follow, for God loves his children now as much as he loved them in any past age of the world.

Says Jesus, when speaking to Nicodemus, in the words I have quoted, “Except a man he born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” This puzzled Nicodemus, he could not understand it, and he asked the Savior another question, to which Jesus answered, “Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Now, my brethren and sisters, how can a man be born of water? We know a birth to be a passage from one element into another; hence if he be born of the water he must be completely immersed therein, and pass from that element into another. The same with the birth of the Spirit—he or she who is born of it must be completely enveloped in it. Jesus says a man cannot see the kingdom of God unless he is born again, and he further says, a man cannot enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of the water and of the Spirit, not only of the Spirit, but also of the water.

What does this birth of the water and of the Spirit consist of? Of that which I have been endeavoring to describe to you—baptism for the remission of sins, being buried with Christ by baptism, whereby we are resurrected, as it were, from the dead, in the likeness of his burial and resurrection, entombed in the water, and being born of, or coming forth from the bosom of the water; and then receiving the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, which is the birth of the Spirit. And let me say unto you, as Brother Schonfeldt said this morning, that unless a man does obey this form of doctrine he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

This is strong language, and men may say it is uncharitable. I cannot help that. These words are the words of the Savior—the Son of God. They are the words of truth and righteousness, they cannot fail. I have not the right to say that a man can enter into the kingdom of God by any other means than this; on the contrary, I must affirm and reaffirm, and I must bear testimony to the words of Jesus, when he says, “Except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

The inquiry then arises in the mind, What is to become of the millions who have died without ever hearing the name of Christ? Says one, “What is to become of my ancestors and ancestresses who have not been born of the water and of the Spirit?” I know how this inquiry enters the hearts of men and women, and when they become acquainted with this Gospel, how strongly it appeals to their affections. They think, then, of beloved relatives and friends who have died without a knowledge of the Gospel, and they would do a great deal for their salvation; in fact it would embitter all their lives to think that they could not be saved. Could we be happy, my brethren and sisters, in thinking that we had received a form of doctrine which would exalt us into the presence of God and the Lamb, there to bask forever in happiness and bliss so great that the Apostle says, “Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive?” Do you think we could be happy in the contemplation and assurance of such a future, if no means were provided whereby our parents and relatives, who had died in ignorance of the Gospel, could be made partakers of the same blessing and glory, but because they had not had the privilege of being born of the water and of the Spirit they must be consigned to endless perdition? I could not be happy under such circumstances. I would rather, it seems to me, have much less happiness and have them share it with me, than to be eternally separated, and them condemned to that never-ending hell about which the sectarian world preach so much. But we are happy in the knowledge that this is no part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That teaches that all will be judged according to the law that has been taught unto them. As I have already said, I again repeat, “This is condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.” “Where there is no law,” the Apostle says, “there is no transgression.” Men cannot be held accountable for that which they never knew. God will never consign his creatures to a never-ending misery for not obeying the Gospel of his Son, when they never had it taught unto them, and it is as great a fallacy, and as great a libel on our God, as ever was propagated about any being to make such an assertion. To say that these heathen, who roamed over these mountains and through these valleys, before we came here, who never heard the name of Jesus Christ, and countless myriads of heathen in other lands who have died in ignorance of the Gospel, will be consigned to eternal damnation, to a never-ending hell, there to welter in and to suffer unspeakable and indescribable misery throughout the countless ages of eternity, because they did not obey the Gospel they never heard, is one of the greatest libels on the character of our God that ever was enunciated by man. I do not believe in such a God; he is not the God of the Bible; he is not the God I worship. I worship a God of mercy and of love, whose heart is full of compassion. The Bible teaches that God is love, and I cannot conceive that a God would be possessed of the attributes of love and mercy who would take such a course with his own ignorant offspring. No, there is something different from this taught in the Gospel. We are taught there that God’s salvation is not confined to this brief space which we call time, but that, as he is eternal, so are his mercy, love and compassion eternal towards his creatures. I have not time this afternoon to explain our views on this point. Suffice it to say that, in the Scriptures is found, plainly written, the plan of salvation which God has devised.

Who are they who are under condemnation, and who need fear at the prospect of the same? Men and women who, living in the day when the Gospel is preached in its fullness and purity, hear it and reject it. Against such the anger of God is enkindled, and they are in a far worse condition than those who die and never hear it. Says Jesus, “It would be better for a man to have a millstone tied to his neck, and for him to be thrown into the depths of the sea,” than to do such and such things; and in another place he says, “It would be better for a man never to be born.” Why? Because light having been presented to him, and truth proclaimed in his hearing, he rejects the same.

The Latter-day Saints, I hold, will be held to stricter accountability than any other people on the face of the earth. Men wonder why we have suffered and been persecuted so much in the past. I think it was partly because of our hardness of heart. Not that the men who persecuted us were justified in so doing. They were tested and tried, the Lord left them their agency and they brought themselves under condemnation because of their conduct. But we never had anything descend upon us as a persecution or scourge that has not been intended for our good; and we are held to a stricter accountability than any other people because we have the Gospel taught unto us. The thousands who live throughout these valleys testify that they have received the Holy Ghost; they testify that they received it in the lands where they embraced the Gospel; they say that this love which they have for one another, and the disposition they have to dwell together in peace and unity are the fruits of this Holy Spirit that they have received. They testify that the Lord has revealed unto them that this is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I do not know but there are thousands here today who, if they had time and opportunity, would arise and testify that this is the truth, and that God has taught it unto them, and they know it by the power of the Holy Ghost. When a people reach this condition they are held to stricter accountability than they are who have not this knowledge. On this account we must walk circumspectly, with the fear of God before our eyes. We must be a pure people or we will be scourged; we must be a holy people, or God’s anger will be kindled against us. We must not be guilty of dishonesty or take advantage one of another; we must not bear false witness; we must not neglect our duties one to another or towards God, for we cannot do these things with impunity, for God’s anger will be kindled against us; and in proportion to the light which men have will they be judged, and God will reward them according to the deeds done in the body. An enlightened American will be held to stricter accountability than an ignorant Indian; and the man who has heard the sound of the everlasting Gospel and the testimony of the servants of God is held to stricter accountability than he who has never heard them.

I said that time would not permit me to dwell on points connected with the salvation of the ignorant dead; but there is a way provided in the Gospel of the Son of God by which even they can have its ordinances administered unto them. I will just refer to one passage, which you can read at your leisure. In the 15th chapter of the first of Corinthians, Paul, in reasoning upon the resurrection of the dead, says, among other things, “Else what shall they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why then are they baptized for the dead?” This is a little key given to a very important principle. Paul evidently understood a principle by which vicarious baptism could be performed, that is, one person could be baptized for another, the same as Jesus made a vicarious offering for us. He died on the cross for us—he was our Savior. Paul, substantiating the idea that there is a resurrection, referred to this ordinance, which seemed to exist in the Church and to be understood by the Saints in ancient days. There would have been no need to be baptized for the dead if the dead rise not at all. This is the gist of his argument; and there are other passages which go to prove that the Gospel of Jesus is all sufficient to reach and save those who have died without hearing and obeying it. Peter says, referring to Jesus, “He went to preach to the spirits in prison who were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah.” I will give you another passage to show that he did not go direct to his Father after his death on the cross. You Latter-day Saints understand, or ought to understand, that he did not go immediately to his Father, as many suppose, because, after his resurrection, when Mary had been seeking for the body of her Lord, and supposed that somebody had stolen it, she saw a personage in the garden who she imagined was the gardener. She went to him and asked who had taken away the body of her Lord. This personage spoke to her, calling her by name. She immediately recognized the Lord Jesus, and in her eagerness, anxiety and love she rushed forward as if to grasp him. But he forbade her, told her not to do so, saying, “Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.” This was on the Sunday, after his body had lain in the tomb from the preceding Friday—the third day, and he said he had not yet ascended to his Father. This is explained by Peter, in the passage I have already quoted, wherein the Apostle says, “By which also he went to preach to the spirits in prison, who were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah.” There is another passage in Peter, which goes to prove the same thing, but I will not touch upon it. I have said sufficient to relieve, or it ought to relieve, us Latter-day Saints from any fears for those who have died in ignorance of the Gospel. But we can say, truly, that salvation can only be obtained in the way God has prescribed—by obeying the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ; and this is the way that he marked and the way we must walk in to obtain it.

That God may help us to be faithful and to cleave to the truth all our days, regardless of all consequences, and eventually save us in his kingdom, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, December 3rd, 1871.

I will read a portion of the 3rd chapter of Peter’s first epistle, commencing at the 18th verse:

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

In the first chapter of this epistle the same subject is continued. The apostle says:

Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations.

When I was called upon to speak, these passages suggested themselves to my mind. Whether the Spirit will lead me to dwell upon them at length I do not know, but there are important principles embodied in these verses which I have read in your hearing, principles which, when rightly understood, change the belief of men in relation to the future, that is, the belief of those who receive the commonly accepted creeds of Christianity. For some reason or other, there is an idea prevalent in the Christian world that mankind, when they lay down their mortal lives, are consigned to a condition or place of happiness or pain, there to remain throughout the endless ages of eternity. There may be a few who do not entertain this belief, but it is the general belief of most of the sects which comprise Christendom. There is an idea prevalent that if men do not receive what may be termed a conversion, or change of heart, if they do not obtain a remission of sins through the blood of Jesus, and they die in this condition, their doom is irrevocably fixed, and that they are consigned to eternal, never-ending misery. I believe that I do not misstate the belief, in this respect, of some of the most prominent sects that comprise the Christian world, so-called. I have conversed with ministers of various denominations in relation to the future of the heathen—those who die without a knowledge of the name of Jesus, and of his character as the Redeemer and Savior of the world. I have asked them what they thought the condition of the heathen would be, and where any definite answer was made, the feelings of such persons would lean to the idea that they would be consigned to hell with others, either no definite idea was entertained, or, being more tender in their feelings, the answer would be, they did not know what their future condition would be.

There is an expression of the Savior’s to Nicodemus, which I think I will read; it is found in the 3rd chapter of John’s Gospel. There was a man of the Pharisees, John writes, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Now here is a definite doctrine laid down by the Savior, that unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God, and unless he is born of the water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God; he cannot even see the kingdom without the new birth, and he cannot enter that kingdom without being born of the water and of the Spirit. This doctrine is exceedingly positive, it leaves no room for doubt; there is no chance to evade the fact of this doctrine if there is to be any reliance placed upon the words of Jesus. Then, we are forced to the belief that no man can enter into the kingdom of God unless he is born of the water and of the Spirit.

Well, taking these passages into consideration, a large class of people have come to the conclusion that unless a man is born again, or, as they term it, experience a change of heart, he is consigned to endless misery; and there are those who believe that all the heathen who have died in ignorance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are thus punished, and, in fact, there are those who profess to have faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world, who believe that in hell, that place of torment from which they declare there is no escape, there are infants by scores, and hundreds and thousands, and I may say by millions, enduring inconceivable and endless torment because they have died before receiving the ordinances which they consider necessary to salvation.

I do not thus understand the Scriptures, I do not thus understand the plan of salvation; I do not thus view the character and dealings of God our heavenly Father with his creatures. One of the most prominent attributes which we ascribe to our Father in heaven is mercy. The Scriptures de– clare most emphatically that he is a God of mercy, and a God of love. Can we, even in our degraded condition; consider a being endowed in the least degree with the attributes of love and mercy, or even of justice, who would consign millions of his creatures to endless torment because they do not believe and obey a doctrine which they never heard? Why such an idea is unworthy of intelligent beings. Suppose that any of us who have families should pass a law or prescribe a rule for their government, and at the time it is passed or prescribed, a portion of our children are not within hearing, and while still in ignorance of it, they unconsciously violate it, and because of this the father punishes them. What would you say of such a father? Would you not say that he was unjust, harsh and cruel? Why, certainly this would be our verdict, if we pronounced any, we could not pronounce otherwise. We would be compelled to come to the conclusion that the father who would act in this manner would neither be kind, just or wise. And shall it be said of our heavenly Father, who is the fountain of love, mercy and justice, that he will act with less justice than man, and that he will punish, curse and consign to eternal misery, his children, because they have failed to obey the laws he has never made known to them? Certainly not; and it is on account of these doctrines, which have been propounded and circulated so widely in Christendom, that skeptics are numbered by hundreds of thousands and it may be said by millions. The feelings of the people recoil, humanity revolts at such monstrous doctrines, and the growth of skepticism and infidelity may be traced to the fact that such hideous principles are advocated by those professing to be servants of the living God and the ministers of Jesus Christ. But do the Scriptures, the words of eternal life, as recorded in the Bible, inculcate such ideas? Certainly not. There is in the plan of salvation, which God our heavenly Father has revealed, perfect love, mercy and justice, and every other attribute which pertains to the character of Deity are perfectly illustrated in the plan of salvation which he has revealed for man’s guidance.

The words of Jesus which I have read to you, contain an immutable truth: that except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God. It is an immutable truth that, except a man be born of the water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. These words proceeded from the mouth of Jesus, the Son of God, the author of our salvation, the founder of our religion.

He was perfectly acquainted with the laws necessary to be obeyed in order to effect an entrance into his Father’s kingdom; and being thus acquainted, he had the right as well as the knowledge necessary to advance and proclaim this doctrine to the children of men.

While we are upon the subject we may as well make a few remarks upon the nature of this new birth of which Jesus speaks. As I have told you, and as you well know, there is a large class in Christendom who believe that this new birth consists of what they term a change of heart; if the heart undergoes a change they say the creature is born again. Now, I do not so understand the Scriptures, I do not think that the change of heart thus referred to, is the new birth to which the Savior refers; on the contrary, it says here in great plainness, that they must be born of the water as well as of the Spirit. Not for the putting away the filth of the flesh, as I read to you in the passage from Peter, but for the answer of a good conscience towards God. Jesus, as you will recollect, on the occasion when John the Baptist, as he was called, was baptizing in Jordan, went and offered himself to John as a candidate for baptism. John, having received a testimony from the Father that Jesus was his beloved son in whom He was well pleased; knowing also that he, himself, was the forerunner of Jesus spoken of by the Prophets, declined to baptize him, saying, in effect, it is better for me to submit to thee than thee to submit to me. Jesus replied, Suffer it to be so now, to fulfil all righteousness. Then John took Jesus and baptized him.

Here we have an example on the part of our Savior of obedience to a certain ordinance. Some say that in this ordinance Jesus had water poured upon him, others say he was sprinkled, and a great many of the popular pictures represent him standing in the Jordan with his arms folded across his breast and John the Baptist pouring water on his head; but a careful perusal of the writings of those who have described this event will leave but one conclusion on the unprejudiced mind, and that is that Jesus went down into the water and was baptized by John, and came up out of the water; and that if pouring or sprinkling had been the method of administering the ordinance of baptism, there would have been no necessity for John and the people of Jerusalem and the regions round about, to have gone the distance that intervened between the river Jordan and Jerusalem to attend to it, and in fact there are other passages in the Scriptures which go to prove that immersion was the method of baptism, and that John so administered the ordinance. In one passage of Scripture it is said that John was baptizing at a place near Enon, because there was much water there, showing that an abundance of water was necessary for its correct administration. This was the ordinance that Jesus submitted to. He was the Son of God, the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world; He was spotless and sinless in the sight of his Father, yet, he considered it necessary to attend to this ordinance that he might fulfil all righteousness; and it is a remarkable fact that we have no account in the Scriptures of Jesus acting in his ministry until he had attended to this ordinance.

This, as I understand the Scriptures, and as the Latter-day Saints testify, was the new birth. He went down into one element, was buried in that element, and, emerging therefrom, was born again, in other words was born of the water. Can you imagine a new birth more perfectly represented than by this act which I have described, performed by John upon Jesus? After this birth of the water had taken place, the birth of the Spirit followed, for as soon as he came up out of the water, the Holy Ghost, in the likeness of a dove, descended upon him, and a voice was heard from heaven testifying that he was the beloved son in whom the Father was well pleased. Jesus was enveloped in that spiritual element, and was born of the Spirit as he had been born of the water. Thus, in his own case, he illustrated, by his obedience and humility to the will of his Father, the doctrine which he taught to Nicodemus, and which he declared was necessary to prepare not only him but all the children of men to enter into the kingdom of God. Paul, also, in one place, speaks of being buried with Christ in baptism in the likeness of his burial, in the likeness also of his resurrection; the burial in the liquid grave being symbolical of the death and burial of the Son of God, and the coming forth therefrom of his resurrection.

This doctrine is clearly laid down in the Scriptures. You will find it if you trace the preaching and the labors of the Apostles and the men who were immediately connected with the Lord in his ministrations to the people. You will find that in every instance where the records are complete, these ordinances were attended to—the people, if they believed in Jesus Christ and repented of their sins, were baptized, in order that they might be born of the water; and after attending to this ordinance, they were then baptized of the Spirit, or, in other words, had hands laid upon them for the gift of the Holy Ghost. They were enveloped in and born of that Spirit, and became legal heirs of and entitled to an entrance into the kingdom of God. There is not an instance of any other kind found on record in the Scriptures. We often quote the teachings of Peter, himself, on the Day of Pentecost, to prove this, and in passing along I may as well briefly allude to it.

On the Day of Pentecost, after the Jews had been convinced of the fact that Jesus the Nazarene, who had been crucified as a malefactor, was indeed the very Messiah of whom the Prophets had spoken; when they were convinced of this and also of the fact that the men who stood and preached in their midst, and through whom they had seen the power of God manifested, were his Apostles, they cried: “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” They felt that they were sinners; probably, for aught we know, they had consented in their feelings to the death of this holy being, and they gave vent to their anxiety in the expression I have already quoted. Now it is to be presumed that on that occasion Peter declared the Gospel in its fulness and purity, as it existed in the mind of God, and as it had been revealed to him by Jesus. We cannot presume that he taught something he was not warranted in teaching, something that was not the Gospel, for the occasion was one of the most important, probably, that the Church witnessed in that generation. It was, as far as we know, the first proclamation of the Gospel after the death of Jesus, and it was certainly the first time the power of God was manifested to such a wonderful extent. Peter, then, standing up, inspired not only with the greatness of the occasion, but with the sublimity of the manifestations that had been poured out by God, by the fact that he, for the first time, was declaring the Gospel in the ears of the assembled Jews at Jerusalem who had crucified Jesus, also by the spirit and power of his great office, we cannot doubt that he declared the Gospel in simplicity and plainness, and he said, in reply to their very important question, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, for the remission of your sins, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost.

Now here were the two births of which I have spoken. They already believed that Jesus was the Christ, and they were told to repent, and be baptized for the remission of their sins; not, I repeat again, for the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but for the remission of their sins, that they might be born of the water, that they might become suitable candidates to receive the Holy Spirit. Peter continued: “And ye shall receive the Holy Ghost, for the 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.” And they went and were baptized, and we are told that three thousand were added to the Church on that occasion. This is only an example of what the Apostles afterwards taught. I do not intend, this afternoon, to quote the numerous instances that occur in the Scriptures where this doctrine was taught, where it was obeyed by those unto whom it was taught, and the blessings that followed obedience; but I call attention to the fact that this doctrine was set forth by the Apostles even as Jesus taught it and even as Jesus obeyed it, and that they administered the ordinances as the Lord had taught them.

It may be said, How is it possible for the millions that exist on the face of the earth to obey this doctrine? This question is very frequently asked us, because the Latter-day Saints dwell very considerably upon this part of the Gospel, and upon the necessity of these ordinances being obeyed. The question, very naturally, immediately rises in the minds of men, if it be necessary that all men and women should be born of the water and of the Spirit, then what is to become of the millions who have died and have not had the opportunity? I recollect, on one occasion, when quite a youth, speaking upon this principle of baptism, and dwelling, at some length, upon the necessity of people yielding obedience to it. After I had got through, a gentleman walked up to me, and said he had been very much interested in my remarks, but one difficulty had suggested itself to his mind, and he would like to have me explain. Said he, you doubtless recollect when Jesus was crucified there were two thieves with him, one of whom upbraided and railed at him. This called forth a rebuke from the other thief, who, turning to Jesus, said, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” Jesus replied in this wise: “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Now, said the gentleman, “if your doctrine be correct, that a man must be born of the water and of the Spirit before he can enter the kingdom of God, I would like to know how that thief entered that kingdom.” Well, looking at this from his standpoint, it was a very plausible question, and it looked as though his position was incontrovertible. But did Jesus enter into the kingdom of God when he was crucified? Did he, when he was crucified, enter upon the glory he afterwards attained unto, and did the thief accompany him? I know that many Christian ministers, so-called, believe this, I know they teach it. In reading the newspapers I frequently see accounts of the execution of vile criminals, whose entire lives have been spent in the commission of revolting crimes. Christian ministers, so-called, attend these criminals while incarcerated in jail, and to the gallows; they pray with them and endeavor to awaken them to a sense of their lost condition, and frequently they are successful, for many influences are brought to bear on the minds of malefactors at such times and their hearts are softened at the near prospect of death. Then, when these ministers accompany them to the scaffold they will pray with them there, and they assure them that through the merits and death of Jesus they will be ushered into the kingdom of heaven as soon as they are executed. This is the invariable assurance given to criminals who will listen to them, by ministers of this description. They believe that the thief on the cross was ushered into the immediate presence of God, there to dwell eternally in peace and felicity. This was the view entertained by this gentleman I have mentioned.

If you will turn and read the account of the resurrection of Jesus, you will find an explanation of this that probably many have not thought of. You recollect that after the death of Jesus, and after he had been placed in the sepulchre, there was great anxiety on the part of the Apostles and those who had been familiar with Jesus, as to his body. They looked for his resurrection, they expected him to come forth, but they were filled with doubt and anxiety, for they had the idea that he would return king of Israel, that the set time had come for the establishment of God’s kingdom on the earth never more to be thrown down. Among others who were very anxious about this, was Mary, one of the women who had attended upon Jesus. She went to the sepulchre and found that the body of her Lord and Master had been taken away, and she could not find it. She turned around, full of grief and anxiety about him whom she loved, and saw a personage standing beside her, whom she supposed to be the gardener, and she inquired of him what they had done with the body of her Lord. It was Jesus to whom she addressed herself, but she did not recognize him at first, and failed to do so until he uttered her name. When he said, “Mary,” then she recognized his voice and person, and, as was very natural under the circumstances, in the excess of her joy, she rushed forward to clasp him; but he stepped back, and forbade her in those remarkable words: “Touch me not, Mary, for I have not yet ascended to my father; but go to my disciples, and tell them that I ascend to my Father and to their Father, to my God and to their God.” This was the third day after his crucifixion, and during this time he had not ascended to his Father, and he did not want to be touched, he did not want mortal hands put upon him. When I quoted this to this gentleman, said he, “Where was he then, during this period? If he did not ascend to his Father, and if the paradise to which the thief went with him, was not heaven, then where was he?” I then quoted to him the words I first read this afternoon, “If Christ also has once suffered for sin, etc.”

Here Peter gives the explanation, and it is as plain and unmistakable as language can make it. Jesus died on the cross, he was crucified and put to death in the flesh, as the Apostles say, and after being put to death he went and preached to the spirits which were in prison, spirits which were disobedient in the days of Noah, having rejected Noah’s testimony, and they had been incarcerated in prison for some twenty-five hundred years. He was engaged in this labor while his body lay in the tomb, and hence, when Mary saw him after his resurrection, and attempted to embrace him, he said, “Touch me not, Mary, for I have not yet ascended to my Father, etc.”

Now by this I do not mean to infer that after his crucifixion, when his spirit had left his body, he got outside the presence of his Father, for the presence, power and eyes of God are everywhere; but he did not ascend to his immediate personal presence until after his body was resurrected from the tomb. And in further confirmation of the view which I am endeavoring to set forth to you, the Apostle Peter, continuing this subject, as I read to you from the 4th chapter of his first epistle, says, “For for this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit.” “Ah,” says one, “dead in sin!” Who told you so? What right has any man to put such an interpretation on the Scriptures? The declaration here is as plain as language can make it, “Gospel was preached also to them that are dead,” &c., confirming what the Apostle had said in the previous chapter, that Jesus was engaged in preaching the Gospel to the spirits in prison while, as I have said, his body slumbered in the tomb.

Now do you see and comprehend anything of the long-suffering and mercy of God unto the millions who have been born and died on our earth in ignorance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Do you comprehend the great plan of salvation, or a portion of that great plan which God our heavenly Father has devised for the redemption of all his children? Shall we say that God’s work is confined to this short probation of ours, that his labor for the salvation of his children and the plan that he has devised are confined to this brief space that we call time, or shall we say that God’s plan of salvation extends over all his creatures and throughout all his creations, and that if men don’t have opportunities here of understanding it, they will have that opportunity hereafter? This is set forth in these chapters with great plainness, and so as to leave no doubt upon the minds of those who are disposed to accept the Scriptures as they read. Of course, where men have traditions and preconceived views and ideas concerning these matters they are likely to cling to them and reject the truth. They would rather believe that nine-tenths of the human family would be consigned to endless torment than accept the idea that God is a God of mercy, and that the plan of salvation which he has devised is all-sufficient and extends to all grades, conditions and circumstances, in which his creatures are found.

This doctrine was revealed to the Latter-day Saints through the Prophet Joseph Smith. We were as ignorant of it and of the meaning of these passages as anybody else previous to the establishment of this Church. Among other doctrines that were taught to the Prophet Joseph, was this which I have endeavored to set forth briefly before you. I have not dwelt upon it at length, but it was taught in great plainness to the Prophet, and he taught it to the people. The Prophet Malachi, you recollect, predicts that before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes, the Lord will send Elijah, the Prophet, and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, lest the Lord come and smite the earth with a curse. You can read this in Malachi; and when the Latter-day Saints heard this Gospel, and became acquainted with the fact that it was necessary for men and women to be baptized for the remission of their sins, their hearts immediately yearned for their ancestors. I have heard hundreds of persons who have joined this Church say, “Oh, that my father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, children, grandfather or grandmother had heard this doctrine as the Elders teach it! How gladly they would have embraced it! How their hearts would have warmed towards this Gospel! They lived in anticipation of some such doctrine as this; they were not satisfied with the creeds of men, or with Christianity as taught. They wanted the gifts, graces and blessings of the Gospel. Oh, that they could have lived and heard the teachings that we now hear, that God has revealed from the heavens, the ancient and pure Gospel, with the Holy Ghost and the gifts thereof! Oh, how their hearts would have been gladdened to have heard these glad tidings! Thus were the hearts of the children turned towards the fathers, and I doubt not the hearts of the fathers were turned towards the children.

There was an anxiety among the people in this church for many years, in relation to what would become of their ancestors and the world at large who were not acquainted with the Gospel, until the Lord condescended to give a revelation in which this doctrine was explained. By turning to the first epistle to the Corinthians, you will find there that the Apostle Paul, in reasoning upon the resurrection, advanced an idea which is not generally understood. In the 15th chapter and 29th verse of that epistle the Apostle uses this language: “Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?”

Now, among other arguments which he brought forth to convince the Corinthians that there was such a thing as a resurrection he appeals to the fact that there was such a doctrine as baptism for the dead in the Church and practiced by the former-day Saints, and to enforce the doctrine he uses the words I have read, one of the most powerful arguments that he could adduce in favor of the resurrection. How useless it would be for men and women to be baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all; but the dead do rise, and the Saints are baptized for them. I might paraphrase his words and reason upon them in this way. The dead are baptized, for we are baptized for them, and they do rise or else all our labor would be in vain in going forth and being baptized for them. Now, here is a doctrine that has been hidden. True, it is only a slight allusion, but it is sufficient to show that there was in the ancient Church such a doctrine believed in and practiced by the Saints of God.

“Oh,” but says one, “how can the dead be born of the water and the Spirit; suppose that Jesus went and preached to the spirits in prison, and among the rest to the thief who was on the cross when he got to paradise, as you explain the Gospel, how could he, in the spirit world, be born of the water and of the Spirit?” A very serious question, but here is the explanation: those who are alive in the flesh can go forth and be baptized for them. “What! Be baptized for the dead? And will that stand?” I would ask those who object to this, how is it that the death of Jesus, the Son of God, affects our salvation? He acts for us vicariously; by his vicarious atonement he redeems us from the effects of the transgression of our first parents. As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. Death came into the world by Adam. Adam did not die to redeem the world, but Jesus came forward, vicariously, as the Savior of the world, and died to redeem us from Adam’s sin. Through his death Adam’s sin is atoned for. In like manner, Malachi says, in speaking of the Prophet Elijah coming before the great and terrible day of the Lord: “The hearts of the fathers shall be turned to the children.” What for? Because the children can act vicariously for them; “and the hearts of the children shall be turned to the fathers,” because the children will feel after their fathers; they will search for their genealogies, and learn of their ancestors, and they will go forth and perform ordinances in the flesh for their dead, which the dead cannot perform for themselves, and act vicariously for them, and so fulfil the saying of the Prophet Obadiah, where he says, “There shall be saviors in the last days on Mount Zion.” They shall stand as ministers of salvation. There shall be saviors in the last days, acting in a lesser capacity, it is true, but still somewhat in the capacity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for their dead. Not atoning for the original sin, not shedding their blood, but, going forth and being baptized for them and receiving the ordinances of salvation in their behalf.

I know that this doctrine is new, and to many startling; it comes in contact with all their prejudices. But I would ask the Christian world how mankind are to be saved? Can you substitute anything better than this? How are the millions of heathens who have died in ignorance of the name of Jesus to be saved? How are our ancestors to be saved, who, living and dying in the long night of darkness which prevailed through Christendom, never had the privilege of hearing the Gospel in its fulness? “Oh,” says one, “saved by the goodness of God.” Yes, but how shall we elude the words of Jesus where he says, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God;” and “Except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God?” It is very easy for men in their traditions to say; “Well, our way suits us, because we have been accustomed to it.” But if we accept these traditions as binding, how shall we set aside the words of him who spoke as never man spake, of him who was without guile and whose words were truth and holiness? How shall we set them aside? We cannot, and rather than attempt to do so I would accept them as true and divine, and practice them, even though it required the sacrifice of my traditions and prejudices. To my mind there is something godlike in the Gospel of salvation. I can see beauty, and the power of God in it. I understand from this that there is a plan of salvation capable of saving all men; that though there is a space between death and the resurrection, during that space the spirits of those who died without the Gospel can be preached to, and can receive the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, though they died in ignorance of it.

A great many have wondered how it is that the Latter-day Saints are so anxious to have temples built. We built a temple in Kirtland, and after we had built it we were compelled to leave it and flee to Missouri. We laid the foundations of two in Missouri, one in Jackson County, the other in Caldwell County. That in Caldwell was not laid until after we were driven from there. A revelation was given through Joseph Smith, I think on the 11th of July, 1838, that on the succeeding 26th of April, the foundation stone of the temple should be laid in Far West; and the Twelve Apostles should take their departure from that cornerstone, and cross the ocean to preach the Gospel in Europe. Now, said the mob, “There being a date fixed to this revelation, if Joseph Smith never was a false prophet before, we will make him one now,” and they turned and drove the Latter-day Saints from Missouri, and made it worth a man’s life to go back there, if he was a Mormon. They drove everyone out of Missouri, under a ban of extermination, in the winter previous to the time set for the fulfillment of this revelation. That was in the winter of 1838-9; and there were but very few left, and they were in peril of their lives all the time. Joseph, Hyrum and several of the leading Elders were in prison, and it seemed as though the words of Joseph would fall to the ground that time, at any rate. President Young was then President of the Twelve Apostles; he with others had to flee to Quincy, and he proposed to his fellow Apostles that they should go up to Missouri, to fulfil that reve– lation. Father Joseph Smith, father of the Prophet, thought that the Lord would take the will for the deed, and it would not be necessary. He felt as though there would be great danger in the undertaking, and that the brethrens’ lives would be in peril. A good many of the other Elders felt the same, but the Spirit rested upon President Young and his brother Apostles, and they determined to go, and they did go, and, according to the revelation, they laid the cornerstone in the town of Far West. They laid it in the midst of their enemies; they sang their songs, ordained two of the Twelve, and if I recollect right, two of the Seventies, and then shook hands with the Saints there, bade them adieu, and took their departure for Europe, thus fulfilling the word of God given nearly a year previously through the Prophet Joseph, and which the enemies of the Kingdom of God said should never be fulfilled.

That foundation stone was laid, and the Saints, as I said, fled into Illinois, and there laid the foundation of a temple at Nauvoo, Illinois, the finest building then in the western country, and the admiration of everybody. The Saints erected it in the midst of poverty, destitution, sickness, death, and, I may say, with the sword or rifle in one hand and the trowel in the other, their enemies surrounding them on every hand. They had slain Joseph and Hyrum, and attempted to destroy others of the servants of God, and they were continually burning and destroying the houses and property of the Saints, and were determined to expel them from the State. But in the midst of these tribulations the Saints continued their labors until that temple was roofed in, and until within its walls they could attend to the ordinances for the living and the dead.

Again they were driven, and again they took up their line of march, and they came out to this desert country, and again we laid the foundation of another temple, a few hundred yards from this building; and this winter we have laid the foundation of another at St. George, in the southern part of this Territory. The masons and laborers are down there endeavoring to push it forward to completion as fast as possible.

Why is it that we are so anxious to build temples? It is that we may attend to ordinances necessary for the salvation of the living and the dead, that we may be baptized for our ancestors who died without having the privilege of hearing and obeying the Gospel. We not only believe that we should be baptized for them, but we also believe that where our fathers and mothers have died, having been married only according to the practice of the world, they should be married for time and eternity; and, in the temples erected by the Saints to the name of the Most High, we shall act for them in this respect also. We believe, not only, that we should be married for time and eternity, but that they should be also. We believe in the eternal nature of the marriage relation, that man and woman are destined, as husband and wife, to dwell together eternally. We believe that we are organized as we are, with all these affections, with all this love for each other, for a definite purpose, something far more lasting than to be extinguished when death shall overtake us. We believe that when a man and woman are united as husband and wife, and they love each other, their hearts and feelings are one, that that love is as enduring as eternity itself, and that when death overtakes them it will neither extinguish nor cool that love, but that it will brighten and kindle it to a purer flame, and that it will endure through eternity; and that if we have offspring they will be with us and our mutual associations will be one of the chief joys of the heaven to which we are hastening. If I have loving wives and children, who could contribute to our happiness so much as we could to each others’, they to mine, I to theirs? Shall we be separated and I be no more to them and they no more to me than strangers? How unnatural the thought! God has restored the everlasting priesthood, by which ties can be formed, consecrated and consummated, which shall be as enduring as we ourselves are enduring, that is, as our spiritual nature; and husbands and wives will be united together, and they and their children will dwell and associate together eternally, and this, as I have said, will constitute one of the chief joys of heaven; and we look forward to it with delightful anticipations.

Brother Woodruff, in his remarks this morning, spoke of the blessing that the Lord promised Abraham, that as the sands on the seashore, or the stars that bespangle the firmament are innumerable, so should his seed be. How is this to be effected? Why, by the eternal union of the sexes, by the eternal union of Abraham with those who were his family in his life. Strange as this doctrine may seem, it is nevertheless amply sustained by these divine Scriptures in which Christendom all profess to believe.

Now we rear Temples in order that we may be baptized in the fonts which will be in those Temples, for our dead, in order that we may go forward and act vicariously for them in the ordinance of baptism and in the laying on of hands for the Holy Ghost, and then in other ordinances, which shall prepare them to dwell with us and us with them eternally in the presence of God.

If you read the 20th chapter of Revelation, you will see that the Lord revealed to John that there shall be a thousand years’ rest, a millennium, or millennial era, when the earth shall rest from wickedness, and when knowledge shall cover it as waters cover the deep, and when one man shall not have to say to another, “Know ye the Lord?” but when, according to the words of the Prophet, “all shall know him, from the least even unto the greatest;” when God’s will shall be written in the hearts of the children of men, and they will understand his law. The Prophets have spoken of such a day, and in the chapter to which I have alluded, the 20th of Revelation, the Lord speaks of it in plainness to his servant John the Revelator, setting forth that there shall be a thousand years’ rest on the earth, during which Christ shall reign in the midst of his Saints, and when there shall be nothing to hurt or destroy in all the holy mountain of the Lord; when the lamb will lie down with the lion, the cow with the bear, and when the whole animal creation will dwell together in peace, when swords shall be beaten into ploughshares, spears into pruninghooks, and when the nations shall learn war no more, men shall plant and eat the fruit thereof, build and inhabit, and when none shall deprive them of the fruits of their labors.

I quote these passages as they occur to my mind. You are all familiar with them. They will be fulfilled, and there will be a thousand years’ rest, during which period Satan will be bound, and when the seed of the righteous will increase and cover the land. In that glorious period everything on the face of the earth will be beautiful; disease and crime, and all the evils that attend our present state of existence will be banished; and during that period, as God has revealed, the occupation of his people will be to lay a foundation for the redemption of the dead, the unnumbered millions who lived and died on the earth without hearing and obeying the plan of salvation.

We believe, further, that every man who dies belonging to this Church, and having the right to officiate in the Priesthood, will be engaged, while awaiting the resurrection of his body, in a work similar to that in which Jesus was engaged, namely, preaching the Gospel to those who are ignorant of it. He will proclaim the plan of salvation to those in the spirit world who have died in ignorance of the name of Jesus and of the character of his redemption. For, let me tell you, there is no name under heaven whereby men can be saved, except the name of Jesus Christ, and if the dead ever are saved, it must be through the name of Jesus and through the redemption he has worked out. This is the gospel and the plan of salvation as we believe it.

Men say that the Latter-day Saints are exclusive and uncharitable; but they know nothing of the doctrines that we believe in. Our hearts swell with exceeding desire for the salvation of our fellow creatures: we want all saved. We would, if we had arms sufficiently long, enclose them all, and shed around them the halo of love. We desire and yearn for their salvation; we pray for it, and we expect to spend our days, both here and hereafter, in accomplishing it. It is the chief labor that occupies our attention, and we expect to rear temples in which we can attend to the ordinances necessary to work it out. There are men already who spend the chief portion of their time in attending to these ordinances, forgetful of their worldly interests, devoting themselves almost exclusively to these labors, and we expect to save all that will accept the plan of salvation. I say we, I mean God and the authority that he has established and restored to the earth.

Can you wonder that we believe in plural marriage when we have these views? Now, for instance, there is a man who has had a wife, and children by that wife. She has died, and he has married again, and had a family by the second wife. In some instances she has died, and he has married a third time. Now we believe that that man, if he be a good man, will be entitled to these wives in the resurrection. There may be men of this class here today, men who have lost their first wives, by whom they have had children, and who have made their little home a heaven, lavishing upon them all the wealth of their affection; and that woman having passed away, they have taken another wife, and she has been equally true. She has done the best she could. Now in the resurrection which wife shall he put away? Shall he say to the first wife, “I have a second wife, I do not want you to live with me.” Or shall he say to the second wife, “Here is the wife of my youth; the one who engaged my heart’s first affections, and I love her and you must go.” “Oh,” says one, “there will be no wives there, and no necessity of a man saying such things either to first or second wife.” You see the dilemma in which the belief of Christendom forces them. They are compelled by their traditions to reject the idea of the marital relation, and of husband and wife dwelling together for eternity. What is their view? Why, as I have heard it, and I have gleaned it from the best of them, the idea they have of the heaven to which mankind are hasten– ing is that of being clothed in white raiment and with harp in hand, singing praises to God and the Lamb eternally. This is very good employment no doubt, but to think of our being so employed forever and ever does not satisfy the enquiring mind. I could not be happy, as I am now constituted, you could not, without active employment—a field for the exercise of every faculty of mind and body that God has given you. I do not wonder at men dreading death when they have such ideas of heaven and future happiness. My idea of heaven pictures to me a condition of society as much superior to this as heaven is to earth. I picture to myself a state of society that shall be free from every sin, where the adversary can have no entrance, where there will be no gloom, sorrow, pain or death, and where I shall associate with those whom I have loved; whose lives have been spent with me in endeavoring to do good; with the wife or wives and children I have had here, living with them eternally in the presence of God. And as it was said of Jesus: “To the increase of his seed there shall be no end,” so do I hope, after I leave here, the blessing sealed upon Father Abraham, of whose seed I am, that as there should be no end to his increase, there shall be none to mine.

It is this I labor for and look forward to. Heaven looks bright to me; death is robbed of its terror—it has no sting, and, like one of old, I can say, “O grave, where is thy victory: Oh, death, where is thy sting!” There is no sting in death, there is no victory in the grave, for we all expect, who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to be resurrected in glory, with every faculty of body and mind enhanced, purified, enlarged, until we shall be like our Father and God. This is the heaven which we are looking for, and to which I pray we may all attain, in the name of Jesus, Amen.