George Q. Cannon

“ What a wonderful power that men by delusion—for it is said to be a delusion—can accomplish such great works without the aid of truth and light and intelligence! Let any number of intelligent men with all the advantages that they may possess attempt to do what the ignorant, unlearned Latter-day Saints have done; let any body of men in christendom go to and attempt to establish such an organization as we witness in Utah Territory, and what will be the result? ”

“ In these days when there are so many materialists, as they are called, when the senses of men are appealed to, to convince them of supernatural power, it seems to me that this is about one of the weakest evidences that could be brought forward to establish the divinity of the work. If men were to work miracles before me, to convince me of the truth of any system, I could not be convinced by any such evidence. My mind is of such a character that I could not accept miracles as evidence of the divinity of the system with which the men were connected who worked these wonderful powers. ”

“ Jesus said no greater prophet had been born of woman. Yet did no miracles, but he was attended by great power. One reason why he was called the greatest prophet ever born of woman was that he had the privilege of baptizing the Son of God, a privilege that no other human being had, and it was so great a privilege that doubtless it distinguished him above all the prophets that had preceded him or that followed him. ”

“ Lies do not hurt us. I do not think they cause us to sleep any the less. They do not cause us to enjoy any the less our pleasant homes, our fruit, or these beautiful streams that come from the mountains. We have learned that we can live and be lied about. We will continue to live and increase.
Now, my brethren and sisters, I am exceedingly thankful myself that God has revealed the truth, and that he has commanded his people to gather out of Babylon, that they may be free from the corruption that exists therein. ”

“ Take the best and most enlightened, the most powerful church that contains the greatest purity and the greatest truth—let them attempt to do anything like what has been done by these unlearned, illiterate, ignorant "impostors," as they are called, and see what the result will be. Let the Catholics, the Episcopalians, the Presbyterians, the Baptists, the Methodists, or any other denomination, or let any combination of scientific men attempt anything of the kind, and see what the result will be. ”

“ We get the idea occasionally that we are a very good people; individually we get lifted up by vanity and pride; we forget who we are. Why, in the sight of our God, in the sight of his purity we can imagine how impure we are, and how far we are from being what we should be. Let us, therefore, go unto him and call upon him in the name of Jesus for his blessing. ”

“ But in these days, in conformity as I firmly believe, and as the most of you doubtless believe—in conformity with the prediction that I have read, the prediction of Isaiah, and in conformity with the prediction of the Apostle John, when he said there should be another voice calling upon the people to come out from Babylon—in conformity with these predictions these things have been accomplished. Now if I were to ask you, could I or could any other man induce you by any human reasoning to have done this unless you yourselves had been moved upon? ”

“ It has been a cement that all the persecution, all the tribulation and all kinds of trial could not dissolve or break; and the extraordinary feature of it all is, as I have said, that this people who are thus bound together are not a people of one township, not a people of one nation, not a people of one language, but they are as diverse as it is possible to get the human family to be. It would not be so strange if all were Americans, or all eastern men, born in New England, brought up with the traditions of New England ”

“ Here are people of almost every nationality known to Christendom, people speaking almost every variety of language—that is, the language of every Christian nation—not trained alike, not educated in the same schools, not brought up in the same religion, with varied traditions, and varied knowledge, yet they are drawn from the various nations of the earth, into one place impelled by one common impulse ”

“ I am thankful there is a prospect for myself and my children in this respect; for when I look at society as it exists, its hollowness, I confess if I had no hope only in that to be found in such society, I would have no desire for life, and I certainly would not care about having a a family. ”

“ Who is it asks where a man or woman came from? Here are Danish, French, German, Italian, English, American—northern, southern, eastern and western men—all living together as brothers, full of love for each other; none of that rancorous feeling that exists between nationalities is to be witnessed in Utah Territory. This entire people can be moved by a hair when it is in the right direction. ”

“ The Latter-day Saints are distinct from all other denominations which claim to be Christian in this respect: That they claim that if they obey the same form of doctrine that was taught by the servants of God anciently, and have the ordinances administered by those having authority from heaven, that the same results will follow, that the same gifts, the same blessings, the same supernatural manifestations will attend the believers in those doctrines to-day that attended believers in ancient days. ”

“ You know that no body of men could have convinced you by their human power to have done what you have done, and no human power could have blended the people into one, as they are throughout all these valleys. ”

“ And they differ as to the methods of immersion and the preparatory steps to be taken before being immersed, and before being sprinkled, and so with almost every cardinal doctrine of the Christian religion. There being this diversity, a man with the Bible in his hand going forth in the midst of the Christian sects with an anxious desire to know which is of God, would be puzzled beyond expression to find out which of the various churches laying claim to being divine, and to being the authentic church of Christ, was the true church. ”

“ For fifty years the Elders of this Church have been preaching the Gospel. We have traversed the whole of the United States and the Canadas, and nearly all the nations of Europe, and this people have been gathered out from these nations, and there is no failure connected with the labor. Men have apostatized, as we see; they have denied the faith; men and women have left the Church, and they have used all their influence against the Church, yet the work is still onward, and every hour has brought acquisitions from abroad. ”

“ I suppose that when these declarations have been made thousands of persons have said—"If this be true, and if the supernatural gifts that Jesus promised unto his disciples follow the preaching of your Gospel, or that which you call 'Mormonism,' then why cannot you give us a sign, that we may see for ourselves and be convinced that it is divine?" This is a very easy way of appealing to the Elders and, as many believe, of cutting them off from any further statement respecting their claims until they show a sign. ”

“ The men whom I associate with, why you might as well try to bend a bar of steel as to bend them; they will not bend, and yet they can be led by a hair. But they must know that what they are advised to do is right. Here are men and women who have sacrificed their all, who have been willing to give up their homes, who have had their homes burned over their heads, their cattle shot down, every piece of property taken from them, and then were driven out ruthlessly and cruelly by mobs. Yet they endured all rather than forsake their religion ”

“ Wherever Latter-day Saints have control good government prevails, honesty prevails; you do not find people heavily taxed; you do not find officers consuming all the taxes for their salaries. No; you will find peace, good order and honesty. ”

“ Men may never have beheld each other's faces and yet they will love one another, and it is a love that is greater than the love of woman. It exceeds any sexual love that can be conceived of, and it is this love that has bound the people together. ”

“ If we visit the settlements in Idaho, and converse with the people who live in these settlements, and travel from there through Utah, down into Arizona, and converse with the people in their settlements and ask them the motive that prompted them to come to this land—why are you here? ”

“ But as I have said, there are evidences connected with the Church of God at all times which are greater than those manifestations to which I have alluded which are called supernatural and which men seem to greatly desire to behold. ”

“ Let anybody try to drive this people, and it will be found that they will die in their tracks before they will be driven. There is no more independent people lives upon the face of the earth than the Latter-day Saints in this mountains. ”

“ Wherever the Elders have gone to preach this Gospel they have found men and women who were willing to receive the truth and rejoice in it, and to cast their lot with the people of God and to endure all the consequences attached thereto. Now, until there can be something of a similar character to this accomplished, I think that men ought to be careful about charging the Latter-day Saints with being impostors, and this work as being the work of imposture ”

“ Some of you are eastern people, some southern, some western, some from the middle States, some from the various countries of Europe, some from far-off Australia and New Zealand, and some even from Africa and from the East Indies—you ask these people why did you come here? What motive had you in view when you came to Utah to settle? and the universal reply would be from every adult member of this Church, "I came here because I believed it was the will of God I should do so. ”

“ I pray God that we may continue to develop in this direction; that we may humble ourselves before God and call upon him in mighty prayer to aid us in our endeavors; that when we are disposed to be lifted up in pride that we will go to God and ask him to show us our true condition. ”

“ But we see in these mountains from north to south, extending some 600 or perhaps 800 miles north and south, a string of settlements built up by people of various nations who have not come to this land because of the desirableness of the land; who have not come to Utah because it is rich in minerals, who have not come to Utah because it abounds in agricultural resources; who have not come to Utah because it is a healthy climate, or because of some advantages of this character. ”

“ We know there is a condition of society at the present time on the earth, which corresponds exactly with that which the Apostle John predicts, and which I read. You read it at your leisure and you will find that everything in modern society is represented in the 18th chapter of John's Revelation. ”

“ Apostle ate a man for breakfast every morning; that he was never satisfied unless he breakfasted upon somebody not of his faith. I do not think that to look at the Apostles and the leading men that they would give anybody such an idea. They do not look very savage nor very ferocious. ”

“ I believe that if it were to be told to the inhabitants of the earth that a man that was nigh unto death was about to be administered to by "Mormon" Elders, and that he would be raised up from that bed of sickness, that people would flock by thousands to witness that manifestation. ”

“ Yes, all manner of lies are circulated concerning us. I have heard men say that when they came to Salt Lake they were actually afraid of their lives because of the falsehoods that had been sent abroad. ”

“ There have been a number of predictions made concerning the gathering together of people from various nations and from the midst of various peoples, Isaiah and Micah, two ancient prophets, have left on record their plain predictions concerning certain events that should take place in the last days connected with the gathering of people together. ”

“ Joseph Smith was a shrewd man, a man of wonderful magnetic power, as also was Brigham Young." But Joseph Smith and Brigham Young are dead. Yet it is said that the leaders are shrewd men still, and that they control and influence the people. ”