George Q. Cannon

“ To be untrue to my God, to be untrue to the revelations of my God; to be untrue to the convictions of my nature; to be untrue to the women—wives—whom I have covenanted for time and all eternity to love, to revere and to protect, and to my children, children borne to me by those women —to be untrue to these, or to endure all the consequences that man may inflict upon me for disobeying laws which are framed against my religion. ”

“ I can truthfully say I do not believe that there ever was a time when threats were made against us, when greater peace and less fear rested down upon the servants of God than at the present time. I look at our President—I always did watch the captain of the ship with peculiar interest, when on the ocean surrounded by icebergs, or when in the midst of great storms, as I have been a few times, I watched his eye and his demeanor, and I fancied, and I think very correctly, that I could form a good idea of our peril by watching him. ”

“ The peace of heaven, the peace of Almighty God, has descended upon this people, and it has rested upon them in their congregations, in their social associations. God has given unto us this precious blessing. It is beyond price. How thankful we ought to be, that amidst all these murderous threats that have been made against us, He has given unto us this feeling which has deprived us of all fear. ”

“ The acts of men are converted to the glory of God, and fight as they may, contend as they may, resist this work as they may, this work, the foundation of which God has laid, they can do naught against it. On the contrary, everything they do contributes to its establishment; contributes to prove its divine authenticity, to show that there is an overruling power greater than that of man, even the power of the Most High God, and that he causes the nations of the earth and the powers of the earth to praise him, to add to his glory and to the accomplishment of his purposes. ”

“ God is teaching us many lessons. He is teaching us to put our trust in him. He is teaching us that "sufficient for the day is the evil thereof." Why should we borrow trouble for to-morrow, as long as we enjoy to-day, as long as we have peace today, so long as we have the presence of the Holy Ghost to-day, let the morrow take thought for the things of itself. Let us enjoy this day in peace. Let us lay down this night in peace, putting our trust in God for the morrow. ”

“ The powers of darkness will gather around us and everything will look so threatening, so black and so impenetrable, that except to those who look at these things with the eye of faith, it will seem almost impossible for us to escape. ”

“ And I am glad too that every man and every woman that ever were open to the charge of having engaged at any time in plural marriage are in the same condition; that the rule has been so rigidly made and so sweeping in its character, as to include all who have lived in plural marriage. It is an honorable distinction to belong to a class whose only offence is that they married women, or married men, instead of living together in violation of God's law. If there are any who think they did not act honorably in thus living, let them ask forgiveness. ”

“ I believe that glory will be added to the name of our God by our fortitude and our endurance, and by our maintaining the right. No great principles, like those to which we are wedded; no great work like that in which we are engaged, can be established in the earth, in the present condition of mankind at least, without great sacrifice on the part of those connected with it. We need not expect anything else than this. The Lord, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, in early revelations, told to the church: You are laying the foundation of a great work ”

“ A part only of the predictions of the Prophet have been fulfilled concerning this latter-day work. We have been told from the beginning that opposition to this, the work of God, should not be confined to one nation, but that it should extend to other nations, and that they who array themselves against us, as others have done in the past, will continue to do so until the whole earth shall be warned and its inhabitants be left without excuse; and the kingdom of God be established in power and in great glory upon the earth. ”

“ Men may die, men may be slain, men may fall on the right hand and on the left, but the column will still press forward, it will still march onward gathering in from every land and from every nation the honest, the meek, the lowly, and those who love righteousness and who desire to serve our God. ”

“ Look where you will, travel where you will, mingle with people where you may, you behold nothing like this; and thus, God is bearing witness to the inhabitants of the earth that he is able to fulfill his promises, to protect his people, and to pour out upon them that precious and heavenly gift that is beyond all price, and they dwell in it and they enjoy it—their wives and their children enjoy it; and there is no fear in the hearts of any faithful man, or woman or child within the confines of our land or in any of the adjacent territories where our people dwell. ”

“ We are like the man who, moved with pity, took the frozen snake and put it into his bosom to restore its life, and in a little while, after the warmth of his bosom revived the frozen reptile, it stung him and killed him. We have nourished in our bosom the viper that is doing us more injury to-day than anything else. If we had listened to counsel, if we had obeyed the commandments of God ”

“ God in the beginning made a promise to us, which has been oft repeated, that notwithstanding all our enemies should do against us, we should have peace, peace should reign in our hearts and in our habitations, peace should be in our land and brood over us as a people. ”

“ We are to-day precisely in the same position that other servants of God have been in, who have been required by men's laws to do things which their conscience and all their reason, and the good spirit within them revolted against. ”

“ Read the closing verses of the 45th section of the Doctrine and Covenants and see what God has said concerning Zion, and the promises that are therein embodied respecting us as a people; that when other nations should be at war—when neighbor should rise against neighbor, when every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor must needs flee to Zion for safety, in Zion there should be peace. ”

“ How remarkable it is, is it not, that we should have received so many blessings through men born in the Green Mountain State, and that our chief enemies, apparently stirred up by the adversary to destroy the work which their fellow-citizens, men born upon the same soil, were the means, in the hands of God, of establishing—that they, Vermonters also, should be stirred up to seek for its destruction. ”

“ Now, as I have said, it is one of the most extraordinary features connected with this work of our God, that when it seemed as though the whole power of the nation was combining from every part of the land, execrations loading the air against the "Mormons" of Utah Territory, petitions coming up by thousands, popular prejudice appealing to popular prejudice and entreating the use of bayonets, of cannon and musketry to destroy us, and when it seemed as though Congress was in such a mood that it was ready to pass any law or to frame any enactment to accomplish those ends ”

“ There is a wise desire of the Lord our God in permitting these tests to our faith, to see whether in the midst of gloomy and threatening surroundings we shall falter, shall shrink and become timid and be overcome, or whether in the midst of this gloom, in the midst of these forbidding appearances, our faith will still be strong in our God, and in the promises, the precious promises, which He has made to us. ”

“ Men are more disposed to compromise principle who have great monied interests at stake. In fact, it is a characteristic of human nature that, as a class, this class is a compromising class; their temptation is to yield principle, to yield ground ”

“ I hope there never will enter the minds of the Latter-day Saints, a feeling of that kind, or division of feeling upon this point. I believe there are very excellent, very worthy, very true and very faithful Latter-day Saints of both sexes who have not entered into the practice of plural marriage; and it is not for me to cast reflections upon any of my brethren or sisters about not having obeyed that principle, unless there has been positive disobedience. ”

“ We assemble together in the capacity of a conference for the purpose of being taught concerning our duties as Latter-day Saints, as members of the Church of Christ, and it is of the utmost importance that when we thus meet, that we should have the presence and assistance of the Spirit of God. ”

“ We have laid down in peace, we have slept in peace, we have risen in peace, we have gone out in peace, we have come in in peace, we have prayed in our families in peace, we have gone forth to our labors in peace, we have returned therefrom in peace, we have met together in our assemblies in peace. ”

“ He knows exactly our circumstances; and he knows exactly how much we can bear; and when we have to pass through deep waters he will be near us; when we have to pass through the fire, he will be on our right and on our left hand. He will not forsake us in our hour of distress and tribulation, but he will be nearer to us then, if possible, than at any other time in our lives. ”

“ And there are hundreds in the same position, hundreds of men, hundreds of women. And is there any law of man, is there any penalty that man can inflict that compares with the penalty that God will inflict upon those that will disobey His commandments? ”

“ But this people are like children; the servants of God entreat them and talk to them, but how quickly they forget! They imagine that the counsels they receive are prompted by some spirit that is not exactly the Spirit of God. ”

“ He does not design that there shall be classes among us, one class lifted up above another, one class separated from the rest of the people, with diverse interests; interests that are not strictly in accord with those of the masses of the people. ”

“ If they have done something they are ashamed of they can sue for amnesty. While those who have done nothing that they are ashamed of, or that the whole world should not know of, are relieved from the unenviable task of seeking forgiveness. ”

“ If God saves this people, as I firmly believe he will, it will be through those men and through those women whom men have placed under a ban; whom men have said shall have no power because of the laws that are enacted against them. ”

“ A great many of our brethren and sisters have thought, and may still think, that we are likely to see very hard times, as the result of the attacks now being made upon us. The hearts of some may almost fail them in looking forward to the future, anticipating that there will be such intense hatred and such active exertions made against us that it will be very difficult for us to sustain ourselves. ”

“ No doubt we shall have all we can endure. No doubt the Lord will require us to pass through and endure ordeals that will test our faith to the uttermost, and it will seem at times as though we were about to be overwhelmed. ”

“ Now, brethren and sisters, let us go from this Conference in calmness, pursuing our various occupations, and endeavoring to profit by the teachings that we have had in the past. If this people could only have carried into effect the teachings they have had from the servants of God from the beginning, how different would our position be today! Elders have worn themselves out. ”

“ These things must be, in order to accomplish the work of God, in order that every man may be judged according to his works, and in order that this nation, as a nation, may be held to a strict accountability for its acts, or the acts of its representatives. ”

“ Presidents, Apostles, and Prophets have worn themselves out and have gone to their graves, laboring with this people, and teaching them words of life and salvation, words that it would have been to their eternal interest to have listened to and to have obeyed. ”

“ God designs in the organization of his kingdom on the earth to prevent this. If it is not prevented, then the Zion of God is not established. Is any one injured by its prevention? No. The time must come when the talent of men of business shall be used for the benefit of this whole people, just as the talent of President Taylor, just as the talent of President Joseph F. Smith and that of President Wilford Woodruff, and that of the Twelve Apostles, and that of the leading Elders of this Church ”

“ But we will find that we have to come to it. I believe that God will throw us in circumstances that will compel us to come to the position that He has designed we shall occupy, however reluctant we may be about it. ”