George Q. Cannon

“ 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. ”

“ 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 religious people once had. There has been a gradual lapsing into unbelief, and infidelity and scepticism 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 can not understand why it is that truth can not be made so plain to the human understanding that men can not reject 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. ”

“ 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? ”

“ You can not 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 can not 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 can not understand why men should deny themselves and suffer as Jesus and his disciples did. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 to-day 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." ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 apostacy, but in our day God has promised that this kingdom shall stand for ever. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In our degradation and ignorance we can not 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is thought that President Young leads this people according to his own ideas, and that he and his counsellors 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. ”