George Q. Cannon

“ The feeling has grown upon me, and is growing upon me every day, that as a people we do not live up to our privileges. We do not have the knowledge of the things of God that we should have. There is not that amount of revelation enjoyed by us which there should be. The gifts of the spirit are not manifest to the extent they should be. Is there revelation? Yes, I know that and can testify of it. Are there gifts, are there blessings enjoyed by the people? Yes, I am convinced of it. Are there manifestations of the goodness and the power of God among this people? ”

“ Should we find fault with our condition and our circumstances? Certainly not, if we are living the religion which God has revealed to us. Should there be any quarrelling or fault-finding? No; because where the Spirit of God exists there is no disposition of this character. There is a manifestation to suffer wrong rather than to do wrong; not to revile, not to prosecute, not to assail back when we are assailed. If a brother comes up to me, he is in a bad temper, he says something that is annoying, and I lose my temper and reply in the same spirit, do I do right? ”

“ Is it right that we should take care of ourselves as a people and as individuals? Certainly. Is it right that we should be prudent, that we should take care of those gifts and blessings which God has given unto us, that we should husband our resources, that we should be economical, and not extravagant? ”

“ We have been stripped of our property, reduced to the last extremity for food and for other necessary comforts, and yet God has multiplied upon us these blessings when he has sent us food, and we have had abundance. But the happiness of a people does not consist in the abundance of worldly things, that is, the abundance of food or of raiment, or of houses, carriages, horses, and costly apparel. It is true that if we are relieved from the pressure of want, if we have the wherewith to supply our necessities, we feel better, we feel a relief that we do not feel when ground down by poverty. ”

“ It is for the members of the Church also to so live that when they are taught and counseled, when instruction is given unto them, that they shall be able to know whether that instruction and counsel be from God or not. This is the privilege of every individual, and there is no person, however humble, who is a member of the Church, who should be destitute of this spirit of which I speak, this light and this intelligence. God our Eternal Father is the Father of us all. ”

“ If you go to the Lord with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, he will show to you all your faults, and all your weaknesses, he will bring plainly before you wherein you have come short in doing his will, and when you see yourself in the light of that spirit instead of being filled with pride, you will feel to abase yourselves and bring yourselves down in the very dust of humility; your own unworthiness will be so plain before you, that if pride should come into your heart at any time, you will almost be shocked at it, and you will feel to put it away from you. ”

“ At the same time, trials are necessary; we must be tested, and when we emerge from these trials we will feel better and stronger. Has the Lord forgotten Zion? Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can you mothers forget your nursing babies? ”

“ People may say we have not the gifts; but the Lord will not leave us; he has not left us; he will make of this people a great nation; and there is no power upon the face of the earth that can arrest the progress of "Mormonism," as it is called by the world, but which is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It will grow, increase and spread abroad as the Prophet Daniel saw it, until it fills the whole earth. ”

“ There is a great deal of inequality among us as a people, not so great as described by the writer in the book of Alma, but still there is a great deal of inequality among us, a great deal of pride and more disunion than there should be. This people are not united as they should be. There are many things existing among us that should be uprooted and not have an existence in our midst. And what is the reason that these things exist? The reason is to be found in our neglect of the principles we have espoused. The Lord requires all his people in these days to bring unto him a sacrifice. ”

“ Classifications arose in society which had their origin not in virtue, not in holiness, not in purity, not in any superiority arising from intelligence, but because some were richer than others, some could dress better than others, some could have better surroundings than others, doubtless dwelt in finer houses, better furnished, and they were better clad, and had probably finer and nicer food. Distinctions of this kind grew up not out of the Gospel, but out of the violation of the principles of the Gospel. ”

“ There is a still, small voice in the heart of every human being. There is an influence comes with every son and daughter of Adam that is born into the world. What! Outside of the Latter-day Saints? Certainly, I told you in the beginning that we are all the children of God. There is an influence born with every person that to a certain extent is a spirit of revelation. Hence you will frequently find it the case—probably some of you adults have experienced it, when you joined the Church, that this influence told you what proved to be true. ”

“ Wherever the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is taught, it produces, as I have said, this sense of equality, it makes the man who may know and understand the things of God feel that he is no better than his fellow man, and the woman who understands the things of God feel that she is no better than her sister. ”

“ God knoweth our hearts and his all-piercing eye can penetrate the inmost recesses of our hearts, and every thought, every secret is known to him, and he can, through the aid of his holy Spirit, impart to each one that portion of strength, of comfort, of light which each soul may need to strengthen it on its onward journey in the path which God our Father has marked out for us to pursue, and unless a meeting of this kind is attended, with these effects, to me it is exceedingly unsatisfactory. ”

“ We profess to serve God. We profess to have received from him blessings as the result of our obedience to his commandments. We profess to live by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God, and we believe that this is a time when God speaks in various ways to his children, manifesting his mind and will to them, and that it is not with us as with other people who are dependent upon that which is written, dependant upon the Bible for the food and nutriment necessary to strengthen them. We depend upon the revelations of God to us. ”

“ If there is one desire that I have as an individual greater than ano-ther, it is that I may so live as to have the blessing, and next that you, this Church, this people, may so live as to have the same. I would not have those gifts unless somebody else had them, for I have learned in my life that when one man is blessed more than his fellows, temptation comes in, prides comes in, and the adversary is apt to suggest to him that he is so much better than his fellowmen. ”

“ As God is the father of us all, we trace our descent from him, our children trace their descent from him, they are as much his children as we are his children, and I often think in my association with my own children that I would just as soon hurt the feelings of a grown person as I would one of my children. ”

“ Therefore, in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ, if we are not saved we cannot look up and charge God with having done anything to prevent us, we will have no one to blame but ourselves, and that will be our hell. ”

“ I am speaking now of something which is not an abstract theory, that cannot be carried out; I am speaking of that which can be carried out, which every one of us can carry out, and of results which can be accomplished in the midst of this people. ”

“ Yes, I must, or else I am not carrying out the principles of my religion. Well, but suppose a person tells falsehoods concerning me, assails me and reviles me, must I submit to this? Yes. Why? Because the requirements of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ are that we should do so, that we should not quarrel, that we should suffer evil and wrong and pray for the person who does these things to us. This is a hard lesson I know. Some men would think their children cowards unless they would fight when they were struck. ”

“ Certainly not; there is plenty of room for the exercising of all the spirit we have in coping with the difficulties we have in life without exercising it in that manner, without expending it in senseless quarrels. ”

“ The young people are growing up and they do not want more wives than one. Why, it is as much as they can do to keep one. The girls want fine millinery, fine dresses, fine furniture. What is the use of resorting to unjust legislation when these things are going on? When they get rid of their polygamy they will be a good people." I have sometimes thought that in the providence of God he suffers such things. At the same time it is operating upon our own people. Our young men are led on to smoke, to drink, and to do wrong. ”

“ I have in my mind now many instances where men of wealth —comparatively wealthy at least—have joined this Church, and it seemed as though there was a succession of events after they joined the Church, to deprive them of all they had, to test their faith apparently, but to show them that God did not give men means for the purpose of placing their affections upon them, and then, after they were stripped, he has, in many instances, begun to bless them again, and allowed them to have means in greater abundance than ever they had before. ”

“ But it is dim within us because of the generations of unbelief and wickedness of heart which have existed. We have inherited a great amount of unbelief from our fathers; it has come down to us. The heavens have been as brass over the heads of the people, and there has been a spirit of unbelief which has excluded the revelations of Jesus and the manifestations of the Spirit of God.
Fifty years ago this Church was organized. There are men and women who have been fifty years in the Church, some who have been forty years, a great many thirty years, a still greater number twenty years. ”

“ I have had sufficient experience in my life to know that for a man to impart profitable instruction unto his fellow creatures in the capacity of a teacher of the things of God, he must have the aid of the Spirit of God. ”

“ We have to be brought in contact with the world, and we have to show the world that there is something connected with our religion which is enduring. Yet all these things have been a source of strength to us. ”

“ I have proved to my entire satisfaction, that God is willing to reveal Himself to His servants under all circumstances, to make his mind and will plain to them, and I have had to live in that way while I have been gone. ”

“ The relationship which exists between us and him is not confined to a small portion of the human family, but it is the same with all of us; every individual who is within the walls of this house to-night, occupies I may say precisely the same relationship to our Father in one sense. Not that all have the same responsibility, not that all are required to perform the same duties; but all occupy the same position of children, and our Father in heaven is our father, the Being whom we worship. ”

“ The Spirit of God with its monitions would say to us, "If you pursue that path there is danger, you may lose your life, you may meet with some accident." Mothers would have the teachings of the spirit respecting their children, and how to take care of them, and fathers also respecting their families. ”

“ Supposing here are a good many young men that belong to this Church, some of whom are very eager for knowledge—reading books, studying, going to the University, imagining that is the most direct and easy way to obtain it, and at the same time these same young men, members of the Church, drinking their tea and coffee and smoking their cigarettes. Does it not seem like a great inconsistency for men and women to do these things? ”

“ Now, if we live as we should, there is no event of any importance that could occur but we would have some intimation respecting it; we would be prepared for it, we would be prepared for every public event that affected us, every private event, everything of this character that could occur to us that would affect us in the least degree would be known by us at the very time. ”

“ The Lord has stretched forth his hand to accomplish his purposes, and it will not be withdrawn until all is fulfilled. We shall not be destitute of the voice of revelation. We may do a great many things contrary to the mind and will of God, for which he will chastise us and scourge us, if necessary ”

“ And yet there is much room for improvement in these things.
There is one thing above all others which strikes me with astonishment when I think about it among our people. A great many years ago, the Lord gave what is called the "Word of Wisdom" to us as a people. It is a thing I very rarely allude to. I never drank tea or coffee in my life, I never drank liquor, I never used tobacco, and I have endeavored to keep the Word of Wisdom. ”

“ Our enemies have been trying to get legislation against us. But some say, "what is the use of legislating against the Mormons? If you will only let them alone, it will come all right. The Catholics, the Episcopalians, the Methodists, the Baptists, the infidels, have their meeting houses, school houses, and newspapers, and have brothels, gambling houses, drinking saloons, and milliner's shops, and you cannot imagine what a great work these things are doing among the Mormons! ”

“ There was a time when we were driven by mobs, and our faith was tried in various ways. It is necessary that there should still be trials to test the faith of this people. There are no mobs now, we do not have our houses burnt down now, or our cattle shot down. ”

“ The Lord had revealed it to him, and described many things which have not yet occurred. Is not this precious?—to have the word of the Lord, to know we are led by the inspiration of the Almighty. It is one of the greatest blessings that a people can enjoy. Ever since the Church was organized, we have been led by revelation. And who has been misled by it? People have always prospered who have listened to the voice of the Shepherd. ”