George Q. Cannon

“ If there is any feature characteristic of the present age that is more notable than another, it is the decay of faith in God. It is a characteristic of our age and time, and it is one that is increasingly manifesting itself among what are termed the Christian nations. I have myself frequently—especially of late years—been struck with the contrast between the present unbelief and the faith concerning God, which existed in the days when I first went out to preach the Gospel, or in the days of my youth. ”

“ They were left to be a prey to that spirit of unbelief which they encouraged, until they rejected God, until they rejected the Son of God, with all His divinity, with His great miracles, with His mighty power, with His pure and spotless life—they rejected Him, they slew Him, and the light that was in them became darkness. ”

“ There is nothing more plainly conveyed and taught than this in the Scriptures of divine truth, the Bible, and yet men professing to teach godliness and to teach God, endeavor to destroy that feeling and that faith in the minds of the people.
When such misconceptions as these exist in the minds of the children of men, of course there cannot be correct faith exercised; men who do not know to whom to go, on whom to call, or to whom to pray. "This is eternal life," says Jesus, "that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent." ”

“ The history of the people is full of illustrations of the most remarkable character establishing this truth, so far as we are concerned beyond all controversy; and I am happy to say that this faith is increasing instead of decreasing among the Latter-day Saints. I am happy in this knowledge. In my associations with our people in various places, I find that there is a steady growth of faith in that God whom we worship, and in His power to save and to deliver us, and in his power to bless us and to grant unto us the righteous desires of our hearts. ”

“ We accept it because we have become familiar with it. And so, if we understood the law by which Jesus operated when He fed the multitude, it would be as simple to us as the law of electricity is today. If we understood the law by which the sick were healed, and sight restored to the blind, or by which He counteracted the laws of gravitation, and ascended in the sight of His disciples into heaven—if we understood these laws, they would be simple to us, as all laws are when they are understood.
There is no suspension of law on the part of our Father when He interposes in behalf of His children. ”

“ Who is the Being whom you worship?"—and the reply, doubtless, of many, would be, "great is the mystery of godliness. That is something we do not comprehend." It is a forbidden topic, almost. You ask ministers of religion concerning the character and form of God, and how few there are who will attempt to make any sort of a reasonable answer. They have no idea, scarcely. Do they believe Him to be a personal being? I have scarcely ever found a professing Christian who did believe this. They say God is a spirit. True enough. But has God no powers? Is God a diffused substance, filling all creation? ”

“ It is like the light that illumines our eyes. So with the gift of the Holy Ghost. It is given to every soul that will bow in submission to the will of God, keep his commandments, and have the ordinances administered by one whom God recognizes as his servant. ”

“ The idea has become very prevalent of late years, in the so-called Christian world, that God does not interfere by any special providence in behalf of any people or of any individual; that He governs the universe and the earth upon which we stand, and the inhabitants of which we form a part, by grand and universal laws, and that those laws are never over-ruled. In other words, that there is no special interposition of providence in behalf of individuals or of peoples, but that the Lord rules by those grand laws which are applicable. ”

“ We who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, believe in God; not a God who lived a few thousand years ago, but a God who lives to-day; a God who has a voice with which to speak to-day, and who has arms and a head, and bodily as well as spiritual powers, who can communicate His mind and His will unto His children, with the same facility in the days in which we live as He did in the days of the Savior and His disciples, or in the days of the prophets. ”

“ It has always been a costly sacrifice, this teaching of the truth unto the human family. The adversary has been determined that a knowledge of God shall not spread among the people if he can prevent it. He killed Jesus, he killed every one of His apostles that he could, until throughout the wide earth there was no man who could stand up and say to the people, "Thus saith the Lord," or who could stand up in the authority of the Priesthood of the Son of God and say, "I am God's servant, and this is God's will, God having revealed it to me." ”

“ In the providence of God he was spared for a wise purpose, and has lived among us until this day—a living martyr, a living witness of the cruelty of man towards those who testify that God lives.
My brethren and sisters, the faith that we have received has cost the best blood of this century. The faith that we have received cost the blood of the Son of God when He taught it to men upon the earth. The faith that we have received cost the blood of Isaiah, of Jeremiah, and of others of the prophets who were slain for the truths that they declared. ”

“ They do bear witness unto the heavens, unto God the Eternal Father, unto holy angels, and unto all men, that whatever unbelief may prevail elsewhere, whatever the feelings of skepticism may be in other lands, and among other peoples, they at least have, unwaveringly and un-doubtingly, relied upon His glorious promises, and are willing to trust him to the very uttermost, believing that He is indeed a God who is, as I have said, near at hand and not afar off. ”

“ It is this that should stimulate us, and fill us with faith. Let men do as they please concerning this work of our God, God has made promises concerning it. His word cannot fail. He hears and answers the prayers of His children. He is near at hand and not far off, and He will interpose by His wonderful providence, invisible to those who do not see His hand and do not have His Spirit, but visible to those who are enlightened by his Spirit, so that they can see and acknowledge the manifestations of God in their behalf. ”

“ Upon this point and in this respect we differ, as I have remarked, from every people with whom I am acquainted—in this feature of our religion, this implicit trust in a God who can hear and who can answer prayer, in a God who is not on the side of the greatest numbers, unless the greatest numbers are in the right; in a God whose power is not exerted in behalf of the strongest battalions, nor of the heaviest artillery, unless the strongest battalions and the heaviest artillery are in the right. ”

“ When the pioneers reached this valley, there was no doubt in the mind of the man who led the people, whatever there might be in the minds of others. His mind was clear, and the whole people felt that he had the right from God, as His servant, to designate the spot. ”

“ There was no man upon the earth of whom we have any knowledge, who could tell any thing about God, or about an angel. As I remarked here a few Sundays ago, the general idea that prevailed in regard to angels was, that they were half fowl, that they were men or women with feathered wings growing out of their backs. ”

“ Or to an ignorant person, a person who knew nothing of the law of electricity, it would seem marvelous that one standing at the end of a wire, stretched under the ocean could, by touching that wire, communicate a distance of nearly 3,000 miles, and could talk to a person at the other end of the wire. ”

“ Then, when the heavens became as brass over the heads of the children of men, a church arose having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, until to-day, throughout Christendom, men who profess to be ministers of Jesus Christ, do not know anything about Him, have no communication with Him. ”

“ And you get the professed Christian and the professed infidel, and let each of them talk about God, and they are as near together as it is possible to be. The infidel who has no faith in God, believes in nature. The Christian, who professes to believe in God, if he attempts to define his God, will describe him something as an infidel would the creative power. ”

“ Here is the testimony of one who actually saw the Father and the Son. They were as described by all who have seen them—literal personages, personages with tabernacles, the Son being the express image of the Father. John the Revelator, also saw one that was like unto the Son of Man. He describes his person. You remember that he fell down and worshipped an angel upon one occasion, thinking it was the Lord, and the angel forbade him doing so, telling him that he must not worship him, that he was one of his fellow-servants, the prophets. ”

“ It is easy to discover a land after it has been discovered. It is easy to talk about the settlement of these valleys, and that which has been done here; after the work has been accomplished and the problem has been solved; after it has been demonstrated beyond all possible doubt that this country is habitable, that these valleys will produce crops to sustain human life and that these streams that flow from the mountains can be used for the irrigating of these lands, and used successfully. ”

“ Yet with this Bible in their hands, you will scarcely find a professed Christian who believes this statement of Moses, that God created man in his own image, notwithstanding the fact that Paul in two or three places in his epistles, actually says that Jesus is the express image of his Father's person. ”

“ Notwithstanding the many measures that have been taken against us as a people, the many plots that have seemed so promising to those who framed them concerning the destruction of the Latter-day Saints ”

“ While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties, caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth unto men liberally and upbraideth not ”