George Q. Cannon

“ On every hand there are the most persistent efforts made to check the growth of the Kingdom of God, and not only that, but to destroy this religion, the religion of Jesus Christ, and to throw obstacles in the pathway of its progress; and to actually deprive members of this Church of every right that men and women value—every political right, every civil right—to place us in bondage, and to make it odious in the eyes of mankind to be Latter-day Saints, or to have any faith in the religion that God has revealed to us, and of which we are so proud, and for which we are, as a rule, so thankful. ”

“ Is it any wonder that the blessings which Paul describes as being the fruits of faith are not realized to-day? 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. ”

“ Ah! what a pleasure it is for a man when away from home to know, "I shall soon return to the bosom of my wife, and my little children will climb upon my knee and lisp the child's welcome at my return." And he hastens from afar to the embraces of that wife. And then what an almost infinity of joy it is on the part of the woman, whose husband is far away, to know that he is coming. ”

“ Even before the great tribunal of our nation, Congress, the contest is going on; for attempts are constantly being made to wrest from us our liberties, as citizens; and we are standing our ground as best we can, pleading for our rights, pleading for liberty of conscience, pleading for that freedom which belongs to the country, which God has guaranteed through the Constitution; not for ourselves alone, but for every creed, for every member of the human family. We do not want liberty for ourselves alone; we desire every man to have it: liberty for Ingersoll, and all who believe as he does ”

“ Most wonderfully has God thus far fulfilled every word that has been spoken by the mouth of His inspired Prophet! And shall we who witness the remarkable fulfillment of this prophecy—shall we to-day shrink from the issue that is presented to us? Shall we in view of all that God has said to us concerning the past, and all which he has predicted concerning the future? Shall we falter? Shall we tremble or grow weak in our knees? Shall we become palsied in our efforts and let go of that great work of our God which is entrusted to us? ”

“ 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 can not see the Kingdom of God;" and "Except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit he can not enter into the Kingdom of God?" ”

“ Take away from us as a people the principle of union, and you take away from us the salt that makes us the savor that we are today. And it is of the utmost importance for us as a people, that we should keep this constantly in view. It is against this and against that authority which makes us a united people, that the whole of the attack against us is directed. It is the revelations of Jesus Christ, through that Priesthood coming unto us, giving testimony unto us by the Holy Ghost, that has brought us unto this union, unto this oneness that is so characteristic of this Church. ”

“ We have gone from continent to continent, from land to land, from island to island, wherever there was a door open, to preach the Gospel. We have forsaken home, forsaken wives and children, and all the endearments of home, everything that men love and hold sacred, even to the sacrificing of our lives for the salvation of our fellow men—gone without purse or scrip, gone forth in the midst of shame and ignominy, in the face of persecution of the most cruel and sometimes of the most dreadful character. ”

“ Have we had societies organized to aid us? Have we had popularity with or popular support from the nation? No, we have had nothing of the kind. We have stood alone, with none to aid, sustain, or comfort but God. Instead of aid from our fellow-creatures we have had persecution; instead of comfort we have had reviling; instead of words of encouragement, we have, as it were, had deep damnation poured out upon our heads. We have had adverse circumstances to contend with, but we have also had that which is better than all the world can bestow—the aid of heaven, divine concurrence ”

“ I felt overpowered, and I have felt so each time I have entered the building. It is a holy place, and all those who come here should be holy; they should examine themselves, and finding themselves guilty of wrong, they should make up their minds in the strength and power of God to put it away. I do not think that any person who has any of the love of the truth, the love of righteousness, or the fear of God abiding in his heart, can enter this building without being impressed with the sacredness of the spirit which reigns here, and that seems to pervade even the atmosphere we breathe. ”

“ Shall I, who have witnessed the visions of eternity, and beheld the glories of the mansions of bliss, and the regions and misery of the damned, shall I turn to be a Judas? Shall I, who have heard the voice of God, and communed with angels, and spake, as moved by the Holy Ghost, for the renewal of the everlasting covenant and for the gathering of Israel in the last days, shall I worm myself into a political hypocrite? ”

“ And is it not better to know and feel as we do respecting a future, to feel that there is a future before us that is bright and glorious, than it is to have our mind a blank in regard to a future, to be without hope, looking as it were into a horizon that is darkened by the densest clouds, which are impenetrable to our gaze and beyond which we can not see? ”

“ Did you ever taste anything that equals the taste of the Spirit of God—the sweetness, the heavenly joy and the peace which it brings to the soul? You who have partaken of it know that there is nothing so sweet. ”

“ Is there a false principle extant? It is our bounden duty to seek its eradication. Is there tyranny in the world, tyranny of the body, tyranny of the mind, physical or mental tyranny? It devolves upon us as Latter-day Saints to overthrow it. Are there social problems to be solved? Who shall solve them? Who can do so? Remove the Latter-day Saints from the field, and who can solve these problems which are pressing themselves upon the attention of all thinking people? The whole earth is full of violence, wrong, oppression, misgovernment, and a thousand other evils which I cannot now enumerate. ”

“ How many are there who are dissatisfied with what God is doing at present, and are looking for some one to appear in the future who shall exhibit convincing and overwhelming manifestations of power? How many are there at the present time who are neglecting the precious and inestimable gift of revelation which God has bestowed upon his people, because it does not come to them in the way to suit their preconceived notions and ideas—or who are not suited with the way the Church has been and is led, because there is not that wonderful degree of power exhibited which they imagine should be? ”

“ He is the God whom we worship. When we call upon him, though he may be remote from us, dwelling in his holy habitation in the midst of the eternities, the very thoughts of our hearts, the very conceptions of our minds, the feeble whisperings of our voices, they ascend to him, are carried to him, his ear comprehends them; his bowels of compassion are moved towards us his children, his all-piercing eye penetrates eternity, and the glance of his vision reaches us.
There is not a single thought of our hearts which he does not comprehend; there is nothing connected with us he does not know. ”

“ Can you imagine, then, for one moment that we can attain unto that glory unless we, like them, are willing to endure all things for the sake of the Gospel?
Now, the world thinks this is a very strange practice for a religion; they wonder at it; they cannot understand it. Yet, let any man look abroad in the earth and see the flood-tide of corruption, the evils under which mankind groan in the various nations of Christendom, as also the division and strife that exist in all religious matters. Marriage and morals rightfully belong to religion and are part of it. ”

“ They do not need to depend on Joseph Smith if he were here, or Oliver Cowdery, or Sidney Rigdon. Others have been administered to. Others have received the Holy Ghost. This is the privilege of every human being who will keep the commandments of the Almighty. It is not the privilege of all to see the Father at present, or to see the Son. Our faith is not strong enough, but it is growing. But it is the privilege of every human being to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, if he or she will obey the commandments of God. This is a privilege that is universal. It is like the air that we breathe. ”

“ I would rather be destitute of those things that men place so high a value upon and be sure that I had the blessing of my God, be sure that I would secure, by continuing faithful, exaltation in His kingdom, than to have all the wealth that this world can furnish. I would rather have the peace of God in my heart; I would rather have the blessing of God and His Holy Spirit resting upon me than to have a thousand things, however grand they might be, bestowed upon me and be destitute of the favor of our God. ”

“ But, on the other hand, where is the right of woman to protection? A whole soul for a whole soul! A whole body for a whole body, and a whole life for a whole life! Just like the shells of the bivalve; they correspond with each other! Just like the two wings of a bird, male and female. So precisely this great idea of reciprocity, mutual affection and reciprocal love is developed in this idea of monogamous marriage. ”

“ No man can look upon the organization of this Church and examine it in its details without being wonderfully impressed—if he be a man who does not give glory to God—with the ability of the man who framed it; but if he be disposed to give glory to God, he cannot examine it without praising God in his heart for giving so wonderful and so simple an organization on the earth for a church. But though this is the case, who is there that gives any glory to Joseph Smith? Who is there that gives any glory to Brigham Young? ”

“ I call all men, from Maine to the Rocky Mountains, and from Mexico to British America, whose hearts thrill with horror to behold the rights of free men trampled under foot, to come to the deliverance of this people from the cruel hand of oppression, cruelty, anarchy and misrule to which they have long been made subject. Come, all ye lovers of liberty, break the oppressor's rod, loose the iron grasp of mobocracy, and bring to condign punishment all those who trample under foot the glorious principles of our Constitution and the people's rights [Drawing his sword and presenting it to heaven.] ”

“ 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. ”

“ I have a right to be a fanatic if I wish to be, as long as my fanaticism does not interfere with the rights of my fellow man. That is a barrier beyond which my fanaticism should not be allowed to go.
It is refreshing to see a people who not only believe in God, but who are willing to show their belief by suffering for his cause—to leave their friends, to leave their homes, to suffer exile, persecution, privations, hardships, and even death for the sake of God, for the sake of religion, for the sake of principle. What would life be if it were not for such people and for such characters? ”

“ The Elders, the Saints, the people old and young believed it with all their hearts. The hatred of mobs, the burning of houses, the destruction of property, the expulsion from homes never weakened their confidence in the truth of these predictions, and their eventual fulfillment. That feeling had been implanted there by the Almighty; the Spirit of God had borne testimony to it in their hearts, and they never doubted it. Hated by a township, they foresaw the time when they would be hated by a county; hated by a county, they foresaw the time when they would be hated by a State ”

“ There is nothing that will excite love in a man's heart so much as to see a wife as willing, even in her advanced years, to sacrifice her own comfort for his sake as she was when they were first married; and I am sure it must have the same effect upon a woman—to have the husband, when her charms are fading and she is growing old, and perhaps not so attractive as she was—to have the husband tender and kind and loving, not forgetting her good qualities, nor what she has done. ”

“ It is to be feared that, in the course of a century, some gifted man like Paul, some splendid orator, who will be able by his eloquence to attract crowds of the thousands who are ever ready to hear, and be carried away by the sounding brass and tinkling cymbal of sparkling oratory, may command a hearing, may succeed in breathing a new life into this modern Mahometanism, and make the name of the martyred Joseph ring as loud, and stir the souls of men as much, as the mighty name of Christ itself. ”

“ Every aspiration, every noble thought, every pure desire, everything that is good and holy and pure, elevating, ennobling and godlike comes from our Father, the God of the universe, the Father of all the children of men. ”

“ Joseph had learned by most glorious and satisfactory experience that it was possible for man to approach and know God for himself. He taught his fellows that this is the true foundation of the gospel of salvation; that it is every human being's privilege to lift his eyes to God, to obtain revelation and every good gift from Him through obedience to His laws. Who can measure the great blossoming of human character which has already appeared, and the rich fruitage which the coming generations will yet yield through the enforcement of this grand truth? ”

“ In the month of June when Joseph returned to Kirtland from Missouri he met and gave the hand of fellowship to Brigham Young, who had journeyed to Kirtland to hear the voice of the Prophet of God. A most memorable meeting was this of these two men whose names and fame were to become so indissolubly united! Of all the men of their generation they were to be the most loved and hated, their words and deeds were to be heralded to every corner of the earth, and, beyond those of all their contemporaries, were to make the deepest impress upon the world. ”

“ We do not contend that we have the least right, under the Constitution and laws of the country, to expel them by force. But we would indeed be blind, if we did not foresee that the first blow that is struck, at this moment of deep excitement, must and will speedily involve every individual in a war, bearing ruin, woe and desolation in its course. It matters but little how, where, or by whom, the war may begin, when the work of destruction commences, we must all be borne onward by the storm, or crushed beneath its fury. ”

“ In the United States the people are the government, and their united voice is the only sovereign that should rule, the only power that should be obeyed, and the only gentlemen that should be honored at home and abroad, on the land and on the sea. Wherefore, were I the president of the United States by the voice of a virtuous people, I would honor the old paths of the venerated fathers of freedom. ”