George Q. Cannon

“ Yes, when that Order is universally established there will no longer be any temptation to steal, defraud one's neighbor or to commit any wrongs of this kind, for it is said, and truly, that the love of money is the root of all evil. The Order of which I speak will correct these evils because there will be a treasury in the midst of the people, from which those who are worthy can get that which they need to sustain them in their stewardship, and into which all who have a surplus will pour their wealth until it will become the common property of the church ”

“ It has been frequently remarked to me by men out of our faith, when conversing upon our principles and the success which has attended their proclamation: "Mr. Cannon, as long as the Latter-day Saints are poor you will do very well; as long as you are persecuted you will stand; but you will be like other people when wealth increases in your midst—when you grow up into classes and some are wealthy and some are poor, and your Church becomes popular, you will be very likely to fall into the same evils and errors that have characterized other churches." ”

“ And so it will be with the principles pertaining to the "Order of Enoch"—we shall take step after step, progressing from one point to another until we have reached the point that God, our Heavenly Father, has designed us to attain to.
When we look abroad among the nations of the earth we see a great many evils in existence—evils that have existed for many centuries; in fact, they have existed from the earliest ages of which we have any account until the present time, in every nation and among all people. Our own nation is a case in point. ”

“ It will have a tendency to stop stealing and to cure the evils under which mankind have groaned from the beginning until now. In the Gospel of Jesus Christ there is a remedy for every evil that exists among men. Here is the "social problem," that troubles the minds of all nations to-day. The cities of Christendom are crowded with prostitutes; their young men are destroyed in the dawn of their days by the terrible crime of prostitution. How shall these fearful evils be cured? Has there been sufficient wisdom found among men to do it? ”

“ I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens and built the earth as a very handy work, and all things therein are mine, and it is my purpose to provide for my Saints, for all things are mine; but it must needs be done in mine own way, and behold, this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my Saints, that the poor shall be exalted in that the rich are made low; for the earth is full and there is enough and to spare. ”

“ It has already produced greater union, and it will produce still greater union than anything that has been witnessed among us; and if we carry it out in the spirit in which it has been taught to us it will produce immense results. The Lord will bless us; He will increase our means and pour into the laps of this people everything necessary for their greatness in the earth. For be it known unto you and to all people that God designs to make of the Latter-day Saints the head; He intends to place in their hands and keeping the wealth of the world. ”

“ As a people the Latter-day Saints are like their fellows in many respects. We are very progressive in theory, but our theories are far ahead of our practice. The teachings of the elders are of that character that years of practice on the part of the people is required before they come up to them in their every-day life. It is so with mankind generally. They can comprehend the theory and realize the importance of practically observing certain principles long before they are sufficiently advanced to carry them out in everyday life. ”

“ This is the equality meant in the revelations, and until we attain to this equality we cannot be equal in spiritual things, and the blessings of God cannot be bestowed upon us until we attain to this as they otherwise would. As a people we are expecting the day to come when Jesus will descend in the clouds of Heaven; but before this day comes we must be prepared to receive him. The organization of society that exists in the heavens must exist on the earth; the same condition of society, so far as it is applicable to mortal beings, must exist here. ”

“ It has been seen by thinking men that there is something radically wrong in the organization of society in this respect, but they have not known how to remedy the evils. It is so in the religious world. Religionists have to mourn and deplore the divisions that exist among the so-called followers of Christ; and reformers have risen one after another endeavoring to bring about greater union and to develop a greater amount of love, but with what success let the history of the various sects of Christendom answer. ”

“ And so it is in relation to the social organization of society. It requires the wisdom of Almighty God to correct the evils under which mankind groan. Men may labor and devise schemes, expend means and do all that is possible for human beings, not directed by the Spirit and power of God, to do, and after they have done it all they are compelled to confess that they are weak and fallible, and incapable of accomplishing that which they have aimed at. ”

“ The evils that have flourished so long in what is called the Old World have been transplanted to this land. If Western men travel through the Eastern States they are struck with the great distinction of classes that exist there. There is an aristocracy of wealth fast growing up there; and at the same time there is another class in degradation and poverty, utterly unable to obtain the blessings and comforts of life. ”

“ But with God to aid them, with His wisdom to guide and His Spirit to direct, and His blessings to smile upon them they can accomplish all that is necessary to redeem and save the human family, both in a physical and spiritual point of view. God has chosen His people, the Latter-day Saints, to solve these knotty problems that have troubled the brains and affected the children of men for so many centuries. ”

“ The more wealth we have the greater is our power, because the President of this Church can control this people, therefore the people have power, and when our wealth shall be controlled by the President of this Church, we shall have greater power in the earth than we have to-day. But will that power be used for hurtful purposes? No; it will be used for beneficial ends, for the amelioration of the condition of the human family, for the practical inauguration of these great and glorious principles which God has revealed ”

“ The man who is energetic and faithful will receive the reward of his faithfulness. If he has a large surplus of means he has more to put into the Treasury to help to forward that kingdom he loves, and he is credited with it. ”

“ In the day of the Lord Jesus we are told He will say to him, "Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many," and such individuals will receive a reward in proportion to their faithfulness. ”

“ It is not the design of God that we should fall a prey to the evils that have existed and that have worked out such misery and ruin among other people. It is God's design to save and redeem us from the evils that others have endured. ”

“ Yea, I prepared all things and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves; therefore if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made and impart not his portion, according to the law of my Gospel, unto the poor and the needy, he shall with the wicked lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment. ”

“ It is overwhelming them and sweeping them off like a flood throughout the length and breadth of the land, until physicians say that half the diseases that prevail among mankind in Christendom are directly traceable to this devouring evil. ”

“ But if they hide up their talent in a napkin and bury it in the ground, that which was given to, them will be taken from them. They who use their talents righteously and faithfully will have them increased, but the unfaithful will be deprived of that which he seems to have. ”

“ It is essentially necessary that we should receive them now, for upon the reception and proper carrying out of this Order hinges the prosperity, development and triumph of the kingdom of God on the earth; and unless we as a people arrive at such a standard of faith and perfection as to practically carry them out, we are assured, on the best of authority, that we cannot be permitted to go back and build up the Centre Stake and fully accomplish the redemption of Zion. ”

“ And this shall be the voice and common consent of the Order—that any man among you say unto the treasurer, I have need of this to help me in my stewardship; if it be five talents, or if it be ten talents, or twenty, or fifty, or an hundred, the treasurer shall give unto him the sum which he requires, to help him in his stewardship, until he be found a transgressor, and it is manifest before the Council of the Order plainly, that he is an unfaithful and an unwise steward ”

“ They are split up into innumerable parties, and the effort of every reformer has only resulted in the increase of religious sects. He has been unable, and his inability has been confessed by himself, to unite the Christian world and bring about that oneness which characterized the followers of Christ in the early days of Christianity. ”

“ We can realize then, the importance of adopting and carrying out the principles that will prepare us for that great work.
It is not to be expected that we shall attain to perfection in the carrying out of such principles at once. ”

“ But before blessings of this description can be poured upon us we must be prepared to receive and use them aright. Suppose these things were to be poured upon us in our present condition, what would be the result? Every one can answer this question for himself. Each one knows his or her own heart, and the feelings by which it is animated. We know that if the whole people were to be made rich it would be an exceedingly difficult matter to control them ”