George Q. Cannon

“ 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. ”

“ If I value my life more than I do the will of God; if I value my wives or children more, or my earthly substance more than I do the will of God, then I am not in the condition to receive exaltation and glory. I will tell you what I think about these things, and the manner in which I view the life which is to come. If there is anything that stands between me and the will of God which would prevent me from doing that will perfectly as He requires of me, if there is anything which I love more than God, I am not in a condition to receive that glory. ”

“ I do not have any other view than this of the character of the salvation and exaltation that God has promised unto us; and I therefore do not expect that any man will ever enter into the Celestial kingdom of our God, until he is tested and proved in all things. Some men think they can slip around—I have heard such men talk—they think they are going to get into the celestial kingdom without obeying the law of celestial marriage. I do not have any such ideas about exaltation; and yet I am perfectly satisfied there are men who will be counted worthy of that glory who never had a wife ”

“ The wisdom of the wise has perished in the presence of the Gospel declared by the Elders of this Church, and we, as a people, have been gathered out as a standing protest against the folly of the creeds of men, and as a standing protest against that which is called the wisdom of man. And the Lord has shown by the building up of this Church that he is able to do his own work in his own way. And he chooses his own instruments, through whom to accomplish it; and when we shall have finished our work, none of us will be able to take any glory to ourselves ”

“ Yes, all becoming gods. For this is the power of God; it is the power by which God presides over the universe, and fills the universe with power, and which we pray unto Him to bestow upon us. This being the case, do you think that we are going to attain unto these things without we show ourselves perfect before the Lord? Do you expect that God will save you and me and exalt us, and give unto us this inestimable, this indescribable glory, if we are full of sin, if we yield to temptation, and are not tested and are not tried in all these things? Do you imagine that God will do all this for us ”

“ You read books which are written by men who are not of this Church, and you many times find in them sentiments which you cannot help but admire; they are charming and they are true; you feel when you are reading them, that there is a great deal of truth in their doctrines, and then they are set forth so convincingly. If you visit their churches, doubtless, you will find men who are able to deliver sentiments of this character to the people. You take such a man as Henry Ward Beecher; he is noted for his eloquence and the good sense which characterizes many of his discourses. ”

“ Another point connected with our religion, which is trying to some people, is their fondness of carrying out their own will in relation to temporal affairs. "I want to manage my own affairs in my own way; I want to do that which is pleasing to me." Is there a vein of selfishness running through our nature upon these points? I think myself that that must be entirely conquered before we can receive that glory to which I have alluded. If I have property, it is my duty to take care of it ”

“ You cannot tell the interest felt in eternity for you, my brethren and sisters, by those of our dead who have gone before us. Their hearts yearn after us, their constant desire being that we may be faithful and maintain our integrity and be prepared to bring salvation to them, and redeem them by going forth and obeying every ordinance which God has established in the Church for the salvation of the living and the dead. You cannot be made perfect without them, neither can they be made perfect without you. ”

“ We have young men who die before they have had the opportunity to obey that law, and they will, doubtless, receive also, inasmuch as they were worthy; for the Lord, in His infinite wisdom and knowledge, understanding the worth of all men, will mete out to them accordingly, But if we live in the flesh, you may depend upon it we shall be tried in all things. If I have an appetite, if I have a passion, if I have an inclination which is in conflict with the law of God, if I do not subdue it and bring it into complete subjection to His law, I do not see how I can enter into celestial glory. ”

“ All the books in the world could not have brought about such a condition of things as we witness in our midst and experience in our hearts. We might have read all the books which have been written by the learned of the world, if it were possible to do so, and then taken the Bible which is said to be the word of God, and read that, and we might have heard all of the wise men talk about these things, and about the wisdom and the sublimity of knowledge and the attractiveness of truth, and everything of this character, and what would it have amounted to? ”

“ It is a great privilege we have to take of our means and to put it in the Temples which we are building. It is a great privilege in this great latter-day dispensation which God has given us, a peculiar privilege; but when we are digging and delving and struggling with poverty and get our minds filled with darkness and unbelief, we forget it all and think our lot is hard, and the Priesthood is making hard requirements. When you are asked to pay Tithing, it is said that some want to know what is done with the Tithing. ”

“ Honey to the natural taste is not to be compared to the sweetness of the Holy Spirit to the spirit of man. God has spread out this feast before us, and invites us to partake of it, to fill ourselves until we are perfectly satisfied. ”

“ These men, although ignorant and unlearned, and not capable of teaching by their own wisdom, have been the means of bringing salvation to hundreds and thousands of souls, and of bringing them into the Church of Christ, and into a condition where they could receive the Holy Ghost.
This is the difference between this Church and the churches of men. It is not that they do not believe in good moral sentiments, and are not capable of teaching them; it is not that they are ignorant, for they have a great deal of what is called worldly wisdom ”

“ I think that He is a perfect and holy being, and that the words of Jesus which he spoke unto his disciples are intended for us: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." We, as a people and as individuals, should seek to attain to that perfection, to be as perfect in our sphere as God our Eternal Father is in His; and we cannot attain to that exaltation and glory which He has promised unto us, unless we are thus perfect. ”

“ A man who has the spirit of God given unto him through obedience to the Gospel, and who is ordained to minister in the things of God, even if he can scarcely read, as I have said, goes forth among the people accompanied by the power of God, and searches out the honest in heart. He does not use flowery words, he does not deliver great swelling discourses; but he preaches the truth in simplicity, in meekness, he tells people what to do to be saved, and he has the authority from the Lord to administer the ordinances of salvation to the people ”

“ You have come forth in these last days to be instruments in His hands of bringing souls to a knowledge of the truth as his in Christ Jesus. In the Temples that shall be built, you will have the opportunity of standing therein, as saviors, upon Mount Zion. That is your calling; and it is your privilege to be saviors on Mount Zion. God is giving you the means and ability in order that you may have it in your power to accomplish these things—to build Temples. It is a great labor devolving upon us. God sent the Gospel to you and gathered you out from the nations of the earth by His wonderful power ”

“ He was a faithful man in the Church, a man of zeal, a man of integrity, a man who did all in his power to magnify his holy Priesthood, and he died when upon a foreign mission before he had one wife. The Lord will judge that man, as he will all others, according to his works and the desires of his heart, because had he lived, and had had the opportunity, I am fully satisfied he would have obeyed that law. I do not doubt that he will receive exaltation in the presence of God. ”

“ From Father Adam down to him, all being linked together by the sealing ordinances which God has restored, and the powers of which will be exercised in the Temples of God, all being united together as brethren and sisters, for we are all begotten of God. We are related to each other; we may not have the same blood in our veins now, but it will be found when we trace it back, that we are of the same family; hence it is that we love one another as we do, at least, that is one reason for it. ”

“ When God speaks all must submit to it. It may not be pleasant to us; it may come in conflict with our traditions; it may not be that which will suit us if we had the choosing. There are a great many things which would not suit us if we had the choosing, according to our natural feelings, for these are often far from correct. But whatever feelings we may have which may be the result of tradition and false education, we must get rid of and be willing to do that which God requires at our hands. ”

“ We profess as a people, to be led by revelation, and I hope our professions are not in vain; in fact I know they are not. I know that this people, called Latter-day Saints, do have revelations, that they have the word of God given unto them as they need it, according to their faith and their diligence and their good desires before the Lord. And those who speak unto the Latter-day Saints are different in this respect from every other class of ministers that I know anything about. ”

“ God has chosen us from the various nations for this purpose. There are men in this Church from almost every race of men, and if representatives from all the races are not now, they will be in. God scattered the seed of Israel through all of the nations of the earth, so that in the great gathering of the last days He might be able to get representatives of all the families of men. And we are chosen for this purpose. The seed has been scattered among the nations; and when the descend, ants of Israel here, heard the sound of the Gospel, it was indeed the glad tidings of salvation to them. ”

“ Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precepts of men; therefore behold, I proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder, for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. ”

“ A change takes place; they become new creatures in Christ Jesus. They put away the old man and his deeds, and they become new; they receive of the Spirit which unites them together and makes them one; and all those beautiful thoughts, and those glorious truths, and those delightful moral sentiments which they hear and have heard outside this Church, they can understand and they can see which is true and which is untrue ”

“ You look for instance—I do not know that it would be wrong for me to allude to the Twelve—you look to them, you see the way they have labored, in going here and there according to the directions of the servants of God who have presided over them; they have not stopped to inquire whether or not it would suit their worldly circumstances to take such a mission or to do such a work; they have never stopped to consider a moment whether their individual interests would be affected by their going; they have always been ready and on hand to go at call, and has not the Lord blessed them? ”

“ It is for us, being in the flesh, to perform this work, and to educate our children the same way, that our young men and young women may feel that in laboring to build up Zion they are establishing the work of God, and, at the same time, laying a foundation for their own exaltation, in His presence, and for those of their ancestry and posterity. ”

“ Instead of being oppressed in our feelings, and permitting ourselves to believe that these things are hard upon us, that it is hard to pay our Tithing, or to make donations, or to do this or that which may be required of us, we ought to feel it is a pleasure and honor and a great privilege to be counted worthy to have the opportunity to do this. There are men in this Church who have felt that they could traverse the earth to get to see a servant of God who could baptize them. ”

“ When you have helped the Elders, have you not felt a blessing come from God, and rest down upon you which has more than satisfied you? Certainly you have, and those who have been at home who have been liberal in parting with their means to assist in forwarding the interests of this work, have you not been blessed? ”

“ I hope that you will endeavor to so live that your prayers will avail with God, and so as to have a conscience void of offense before God and man. Why should we not have a heavenly influence dwelling upon us? ”

“ We see what it all amounts to in the world. They have texts, they have knowledge, they have wisdom, they have schools, they have colleges, they have access to all human knowledge there is, ancient and modern, and what does it amount to? ”

“ But when the Saints get their minds engrossed with the cares of the world, they forget the blessings which God has bestowed upon them, and what he designs to do with them, and things which they ought not to think about come up in their minds. I look upon our condition as one of peculiar blessedness. I think all of us should be thankful that we are counted worthy to be members of this Church. To be a member of this Church is a great thing. ”

“ The Lord has told us from the beginning, in all which has been spoken to us by his servants, and by that which has been written in the revelations, that he will bless those who are liberal in sustaining and supporting His work, that His blessings will rest down upon those who manifest faith. ”