George Q. Cannon

“ The best government becomes the worst government when the people become corrupt, when bribery in high places rules, when political parties condescend to purchase votes. The power of a government is weakened when Senators, Representatives, and Presidents get their places by the use of money. Woe to a nation when this becomes the case. ”

“ When people take up pistols and use violence they give to the world the best proof that their religion is not of God. But that is the way we have been treated. For believing in the true Gospel we must be mobbed, we must have our houses burned, we must be driven from our homes, our children and aged people must die by the way side, our track being marked with the graves of them that fall, all because we have a religion that happens to differ from the religion of others. It is curious that men will do such things in the name of religion! ”

“ I wish to say for the encouragement of the Latter-day Saints, because I have sometimes thought there was a feeling of discouragement creeping over some of the people, that some were letting down bars and yielding to the influences around them and almost giving up in despair, feeling that all that had been spoken concerning our future is very doubtful or not likely to be fulfilled—I therefore wish to say for the encouragement of the people today that the time will come, as sure as God lives, that all that has been said concerning us will be fulfilled. ”

“ I pray that the blessing of God may rest upon us. I pray God to fill us with the Holy Spirit, to inspire our hearts with pure desires, that we may serve him to the best of our ability and knowledge, which may God grant in the name of Jesus. ”

“ If I thought for one moment that we should not have power in the future as we have had in the past to maintain righteousness and a righteous rule and good order in this country, I should feel exceedingly discouraged. ”

“ It is my right to believe there is a God, and if another man chooses to believe there is not then that is his business. Shall I quarrel with a man because I think my religion is better than his? Not at all. If my religion is better than his, why I will show it in my life and not descend to ridicule and violence. ”

“ We should not be Saints in name alone, but in deed and in truth, striving to make our lives an exemplification of the principles we profess, and then if men revile us and cast out our names as evil we can leave our case in the hands of God. ”

“ It is an evidence, an infallible evidence, of truth to have persecution accompany it. It is not that every one who is reviled and who is persecuted possesses the truth. This does not always follow. But there never was a prophet of whom we have any account, raised up in the midst of the children of men to proclaim unto them divine truths, who did not receive in his life and experience these very things of which Jesus has spoken. ”

“ In the providence of God I recognize all these things as likely to accomplish much good for us. I myself feel it is important that we as a people should be trained; that we should learn those lessons that are necessary to enable us to temperately and properly exercise power when we gain it; and I have hoped that, by submitting to these things, by enduring them—as we have had to do for many years—a lesson would be taught us that neither we nor our posterity should ever forget ”

“ When the adversary has succeeded in overpowering the truth, in slaying the servants of God, in shedding the blood of innocence, and the extirpation of the power and authority which God had bestowed upon man has been accomplished, then there has been a lull, there has been a cessation of that violence which has attended the proclamation of the truth. ”

“ This is just as true as that God lives and that there is evil to combat, or that Satan has power over the hearts of the children of men. Satan knows very well that his time is short. He knows very well that if the truth is proclaimed and believed in and practised by mankind his kingdom is overthrown, that his power will soon cease. Hence it is that he has aroused in every age and at all times the children of men to rage against the truth.
Whether the Latter-day Saints preach the truth or not it is for those who hear them and examine their doctrines to decide ”

“ For among no other people upon this continent is chastity respected as it is among the Latter-day Saints. Where will you find these qualities fail in being successful? They are always successful in private life. If you want a man to succeed, if you want your son to succeed, you say to him, "my son, be truthful, be honest, be industrious, be frugal, be chaste, avoid drunkenness, avoid wicked society, avoid taking the name of God in vain, govern your speech, be temperate in all things, and you will succeed." ”

“ No, it required the Declaration of Independence framed by men inspired of God; the Constitution of the United States framed and adopted by men whom he had raised up; it required a people who had fought for their liberty, religious and civil, and who by his divine blessing had succeeded in gaining it and in establishing a free form of government. It required such a republican government as we have, to permit this people called Latter-day Saints to be organized, to grow and increase and become a mighty power. ”

“ Is there any thing incompatible with true republicanism in the growth of such a people organized as the Latter-day Saints are? Let me say that the men and women who live in accordance with the Gospel are the best people in the world. They make the best members of society and live above all earthly law, that is constitutional law. ”

“ We must cease our backbiting, our strife, our fault finding, our evil speaking, bearing false witness and all other practices of this kind, and live as Latter-day Saints should who are worthy of the name, then we will be the best citizens of the country, the best citizens that can be found, citizens of whom people will be proud—that is all good and honest people—and whom God will bless. ”

“ Not the right to do wrong, not the right to practise iniquity, not the right to trample upon his neighbour, to intrude upon his rights, but the right to do that which may seem good in his own eyes, so long as he should not thereby interfere with the rights of others; the right to worship God as he pleases, to call upon him in any form that may be acceptable to him or his conscience, to believe in God, or not to believe him if he choose, so long as the belief, practice and rights of his neighbour shall not be interrupted. ”

“ Stephen, the martyr, when he was being stoned at Jerusalem, said to the Jews: "Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One"—scarcely a prophet that had ever lived among them who had not suffered persecution. Even Moses himself, the great law-giver, the great deliverer of the Hebrew nation, who had led them out by the exhibition of mighty power, several times during his career came very near being stoned to death, or killed by the people. ”

“ There is disunion and animosity and the fires of sectional hatred burn fiercely. They may smoulder at times. They may not always appear on the surface. But let the breeze blow and quicken them into life and how fierce the flame burns. ”

“ There are many such committed that are almost unbearable, men feel as if they could not submit to them; but as I understand it, it is far better for us to submit to these things patiently, and without retaliating, and leave the Lord to deal with them, than to indulge in the other spirit and the other feeling.
There is a great anxiety in the minds of many of the Latter-day Saints respecting the future. How long must we submit to such wrongs as we many times have to endure? is a question that arises very frequently in the minds of the people. ”

“ Some laws are constitutional, and some laws are unconstitutional, but a man who believes in and practices the Gospel of Jesus Christ will live so far above every constitutional law that he will never violate it. ”

“ Man may deride and say there is no God, and say that it is all humbug. But I know for myself that God lives. I know that when I pray to him he hears and answers my prayers. If I pray to him in secret and he rewards and gives me the desires of my heart, supposing all the rest of the world should say that God does not live, does that alter my position, or detract from any of the blessings I enjoy? ”

“ This American continent is the choicest land upon the face of the whole earth. God kept it hidden until the 15th century that it might not to be overrun by the people of Europe or of the rest of the world. ”

“ The training that we have had from our childhood upward, in the society of the world, has been that a man who submits to an outrage quietly is unworthy of the name of man; that the man who submits to be called a liar, or to rebukes, or to abuse quietly, is unworthy of the name of man. ”

“ I do not look for any such thing; but I look for the time to come when this people throughout these mountains shall have the power they ought to have—the power to elect their own officers, enact their own laws and to enforce them; when the majority of the people shall have the right to say what shall be the rule in this land, a right that has been denied us up to the present time. ”

“ We have raised a standard which is much higher than we have attained unto. It is an elevated standard, but there is this to be said for the people, if their standard is high they are struggling to attain to it. If not done to so great an extent as we ought to do, still it can be said we are struggling to be truthful, honest and temperate, and we deplore intemperance, profanity, litigation and strife, enmity and hard feelings. ”

“ There are two powers; there is God and there is Belial; or in other words, there is the Spirit of God and there is the spirit of Satan. These two powers, or forces, have been in existence since man was expelled from the garden of Eden. Satan has opposed God. He has contended against goodness and purity. Each of these influences has been operating upon the hearts of the children of men. ”

“ Just as sure as the Lord lives the day will come when there will be consternation not only in foreign nations but in our own nation. The people of this Republic are actually treading upon a volcano and they do not know how soon the fires may burst forth how soon the governmental fabric of this nation, the most glorious the sun has ever shone upon, the best that man without the priesthood has had upon the earth, shall tumble. ”

“ I say there is a hope for a people who have a standard of this kind, and especially so when they have men in their midst—as I thank God we have —who are not afraid to tell the people when they do wrong, to tell them their faults to their faces and say unpleasant things to them. There is one thing about the leading men of this Church they do not depend upon the people for their support. It is not necessary for them to tickle their ears by fine speeches and pleasant things. They can say rough things, unpleasant truths, because they are independent ”

“ Whenever a preacher is popular in the midst of a wicked generation, or a man is popular who professes to be a minister of truth, you may set it down as a certain fact that that man does not preach the truth as it exists in Christ. ”

“ We can call upon him and ask his blessing, and then what difference does it make what the wicked think or say about us? None in the least. We do not live for the opinion of the wicked; but if we live as we should do, if we live for God and pursue a straightforward course, and then if our enemies malign us, God will be our friend; he will deliver us and it will be all right with us in the end. ”

“ A people such as this, with all their faults—and our faults are numerous—but possessing such qualities as are being developed among us, must rise to the surface and become a governing people. Where in the race of life, as you witness it among private individuals, do the qualities that characterize the Latter-day Saints fail to win success? ”

“ His people are to be peacemakers. His people are to leave the results with him; to submit to these things quietly, uncomplainingly, that is, so far as outward manifestations are concerned; to pray unto him, to leave it with him. He has given unto his people a law upon this subject. If our enemies come upon us, or our families, once, we are to bear it patiently and revile not, neither seek revenge, and we shall be rewarded. If our enemies come upon us the second and third times, we are to bear it patiently, as on the former occasion, and great rewards are promised. ”

“ What is the remark respecting the election of United States Senators in many of the States? It is that a man cannot get that position except he be wealthy What does that mean? Every one can draw his own conclusion. ”

“ Why is this right denied us? Partly because of the fears of people who live in our midst—their imaginary fears, or their pretended fears. There is a class of people in these valleys, particularly in this city and the country round about, who are using every influence in their power to prevent the Latter-day Saints having the power that citizens of the United States have elsewhere. They say that if we get this power and this authority it will be impossible for them to live here, that they will have to leave the land ”

“ I expect the day will come when this people, if they will be true to themselves and the principles which we have espoused, will have power to control affairs throughout these mountains. Shall we do this by violence? ”

“ The law of 1862, against plural marriage may be enforced with rigor, and everything be done that can be by those who are determined to check the growth and development of this people, and yet there is a power connected with them that cannot be unless the people themselves be extirpated. ”