George Q. Cannon

“ When we think of His origin, His glorious origin, the Creator of heaven and earth, a Being that had reigned in glory and power, coming down here and being clothed with mortality, and suffering as He suffered, enduring that which He endured, and dying the ignominious death which he did—when we think of Him and His life, we should be reconciled to pass through and submit patiently to every trial that the Lord our God may see fit to call us to meet. ”

“ We must be lovers of peace. We must be men who shall seek to establish the pure principles of righteousness in the earth, and to continually cultivate and carry out practically the spirit that Jesus endeavored to inculcate. You know how He felt when He was upon the cross. He said; "Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do." We also must have that same spirit. We have been accused, I know, and very freely accused, of indulging in a different feeling, and having sentiments of revenge and a disposition, if we had the power, to wreak vengeance upon those who are opposed to us. ”

“ It shows unto us most clearly, my brethren and sisters, that there is no room for revenge in the heart of a true Latter-day Saint. God designs that we shall be a peaceful people, a people who shall love and cultivate peace, a people who shall seek by every means in their power to avert war and to avert bloodshed, to proclaim peace, and to entreat people for peace; and God has said to us most emphatically that He would fight our battles, that He would defend us against our enemies. He does not intend that the Latter-day Saints shall be a people shedding blood. ”

“ But the duty which devolves upon us as a people is to patiently labor in disseminating the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the nations of the earth. It is our duty to carry these principles to every nation, to every kindred, to every tongue, to every people upon the face of the whole earth; not to the United States alone, not to Europe alone, but to Asia, Africa, and the islands of the sea, throughout our own continent, through these Southern nations, and everywhere, in fact, where the children of men reside ”

“ It is not more than it has cost others; and if we would enter into the glory which God has attained unto, if we would sit down with Him and His Apostles, and with the faithful of all ages, we should be willing to endure that which they have endured. God calls us to pass through these things, and to endure them for the sake of the truth. There is this consolation, however connected with the work with which we are identified—that God has made promises unto us that it shall never be given into the hands of another people. ”

“ We have been taught to believe that the time will come when constitutional government will be overthrown upon this land, and that it will be the province of the Latter-day Saints to uphold those principles which God inspired the founders of this government to embody in the Constitution; and it seems to be fast approaching. When assassination can be justified, assassination of men peaceably worshipping their God, offending no one, committing no violation of law or of good order ”

“ If, therefore, we as Latter-day Saints are exposed to opposition and hostility,—having our names cast out as evil, and men thinking that they are doing God's service in killing us,—it is no more than men have endured in past generations for the truth, for that which is now recognized as the purest and most heavenly truth. ”

“ It would be an incredible thing if we had not seen it and known it, that men and women are persecuted in our day and in our time and in our nation for religion's sake. To make such a statement a few years ago—half a century ago or a little over—would have been to have raised incredulity; men could not. have conceived of the possibility of a church, however ignorant, however misinformed, however untrue its doctrines might be, being persecuted and its votaries slain because it taught false doctrines. ”

“ The espousal and propagation of the truth has cost precious blood, and it is not being established in the earth now any more than at any previous time, without great sacrifices on the part of those who are its devotees. God will test us as a people. He will prove us, He will give us the most ample opportunity of showing our faith in Him, and our confidence in the truth that He has revealed. It should be worth everything that we have. We cannot make too great sacrifices for it. ”

“ Therefore, I repeat, that of all people now living upon the face of the earth we are most urgently required by our God to be lovers and cultivators of peace, and to seek not for that revenge which gratifies human passion, which is not of God, and which is opposed to the Gospel of Jesus, and to the sentiments that Jesus invariably inculcated and endeavored to enforce upon His disciples. ”

“ In every age when truth has been revealed, it has had hostility to contend with. No great principle has ever been established among the children of men without costly sacrifices. The religion of our Lord and Savior was established at the cost of precious and it may be said inestimable blood and lives, and it has been the characteristic of truth in every age to be hated and to be opposed. ”

“ Therefore our path of safety is the path which God has pointed out for us; not to be a revengeful people not to be a recriminating people, not to be an abusive people, but to be a meek people, a forbearing people, bearing patiently, but of course not sitting down idly and supinely, and permitting contumely to be heaped upon us without, exerting the powers God has given us to dissipate falsehoods. ”

“ Truth that has been established has been revered, or men have thought that they revered it, and in looking back to the acts of their ancestors, or of other people, they have said to themselves: "If we had lived in the days of our fathers we should not have killed the prophets and those that were sent unto us." ”

“ We are a temple-building people. God has given unto us a mission of this kind, to build temples in which we shall perform the ordinances of life and salvation, and it seems to be meet in His providence that we should refrain from everything that would unfit us for the discharge of this high and holy calling. ”

“ Looking at affairs naturally, however, it would seem as though it was presumptuous in a people like us to entertain such hopes. How often have we been told that in a very little while the opposition to this work would be of such a character that it would completely overwhelm it, and that it was useless for us to attempt to stem the tide of opposition or outlive the storm of persecution that has been raised against us. ”

“ We are not strong in numbers. We are not strong in wealth. We are not strong in worldly things. We have not these advantages to aid and sustain us. If we are sustained we must be sustained by the overruling providence and power, of God our Eternal Father, and not by any earthly power. ”

“ God did not permit David, a man after His own heart, to build the temple at Jerusalem, because he was a man of war, but He gave unto His peaceful son Solomon, who was a peaceful ruler and had no occasion to fight—He gave unto him the privilege of building His holy temple. ”

“ But there is a wonderful power in truth, wonderful power in the principles of life and salvation, and when God is on the side of a people, no matter now feeble they may be, they are bound in the course of time, to be victorious. Already great results have been accomplished by he preaching of the truth It is not the Latter-day Saints alone who feel the effects of truth; other people feel its effects who may not espouse it openly. ”

“ How many times would we have been stirred up to indignation, if we had allowed human feelings to prevail, at the abominable falsehoods which have been circulated in our midst, fabricated by men whose only object has been to bring down vengeance upon this people, to excite the ruling powers against us ”

“ How easy it would have been for us if we had followed the influences that seem natural to human beings under such circumstances, to have avenged ourselves upon them. But had we done so we should have forfeited the protecting care of our Father and our God. When we attempt to do this, we put ourselves outside of the pale of His protection. ”

“ It is a labor devolving upon us as a people: and though it may cost many precious lives to do this, the obligation rests upon us nevertheless, and we cannot be freed from it only by the discharge of the duty. ”

“ My mind, while Brother Teasdale has been speaking, has rested upon a revelation which God gave through Joseph Smith, in the early days of this Church, in which He described to the Church the spirit which they should have concerning offences that should be extended to them, or wrongs that should be perpetrated upon them as a people. We are called to occupy a very different position from that of any other people. ”

“ We can rely upon Him with the utmost assurance that we shall not be deceived; but that in the direst extremity, in the darkest hour, in the midst of the deepest trials and afflictions, His arm will be extended in our behalf, and His providence be exerted to save and to deliver us. We can rest assured of this. Therefore, however dark the prospects may be, however gloomy, let us remember that He who sits on high knows our condition, and that He can deliver us. He will interpose at the very moment when it is needed and rescue us from every evil, and He will defeat and bring to naught ”

“ And it is by this principle, following this policy, adopting this peaceful, godlike course, that this people have been preserved and blessed up to the present time. It is a spirit which we should cultivate, cultivate it in all our associations, in our intercourse with one another, in our intercourse with the world, and even with those who are most embittered against us. It is not for us to revile against the reviler ”

“ But if we did so we should falsify ourselves and the doctrines that we teach. We should deprive ourselves of the Spirit and blessings of God. We should occupy a position antagonistic to that which He has commanded us to occupy. ”

“ The proclamation of the principles of life and salvation by the Latter-day Saints has caused thousands of persons to recognize error, many errors that they formerly believed in, and to take different and higher views, and this will continue to be the case. ”

“ It would be inconceivable for the Son of God, or for His Apostles, or for any of His disciples, to go forth with the sword, or with any other weapon of destruction, destroying those who did not believe as they believed. In fact, such has never been the case. It is not the method that true men take. ”