George Q. Cannon

“ Where is vice to be found in our cities? Nowhere. It finds no favor with us. We cherish virtue, the virtues of humanity, every thing that is God-like, and we frown down everything that is vicious and unholy. ”

“ He will throw around us His arm of power, and when the worst comes to the worst He will interpose in our behalf in a miraculous manner to free us and place us upon a sure foundation. In fact, it is all miraculous. The existence of this people is a miracle. The growth of this people is a miracle. ”

“ Men have looked upon this system and said, "What crafty leaders, what astute leadership; you have got a very cunning lot of men as Mormon leaders"—giving the glory to men, as though men could preserve the people in this matter, ignoring the God of heaven, denying His power, and asserting that God had done nothing, but that it is all attributable to the management of the leaders in holding the people together, as though it had all been done by the strength of their impostures. ”

“ The great duty that devolves upon us, my brethren and sisters, is to live that religion which we profess. I confess to you to-day that if I am ever assailed with fears or with doubts respecting the result of the machinations of the wicked against us, and of legislation hostile to us; if I am ever troubled, I say, with any doubts or fears, they have their origin in myself, my own inability, or, perhaps, the inability of my brethren and sisters, and their carelessness in carrying out the commands of God. ”

“ So it is with these measures. The more they are driven the tighter it brings the people together, solidifies them, makes them one, and it gives them a consciousness of strength; because when they emerge from these trials victorious they feel better able to cope with greater difficulties and greater oppression when they are brought to bear upon them. And they are necessary, as I have said, for our development. But let us have ease, let us prosper in worldly things, let the world smile upon us and bid us welcome and treat us as they treat those whom they love ”

“ From the habitations of the Saints throughout these valleys the prayer of faith has ascended unto the God of heaven imploring Him to protect and preserve the people in their innocence—notwithstanding the malignant falsehoods that have been circulated against them—imploring Him to defend them, and to save them from the hands of those who would destroy them. ”

“ A people possessed of their qualities must, in the very nature of things, accomplish mighty results. A people united, a people believing in one doctrine, a people temperate and frugal, virtuous, industrious and enterprising, possessing every quality of greatness, they must, in the very nature of things, if they are true to themselves and to their religion, achieve distinction in the earth, and God designs it for us. ”

“ If we do our duty, certainly not. If we live our religion, certainly not. It will fall harmless at our feet. There is no law that can be devised by human wisdom that can reach this case—that is, as those who devise such measures desire. It is an impossibility. No mobocratic scheme ever injured us. When the Governor of the State of Missouri issued his exterminating order against the Latter-day Saints, declaring that if they did not leave the State they should be exterminated, he thought, doubtless, that he was dealing this system a deadly blow. ”

“ If we were vicious the world would not war against us. It is not against vice that the war is being made. Man may say so, but God knows it is not so. Our enemies know that it is not so. They know that it is not vice in us that provokes this warfare. ”

“ I well remember the time—and doubtless very many of you here to-day also remember it—when it was thought that if we increased to any extent, and the people got beyond the influence of their leaders, who are supposed to be so astute and cunning as to manage them and all their affairs, that what is called Mormonism would soon dissolve, and either fall a prey to internal dissensions or break to pieces through some other cause. ”

“ It is very interesting to hear respecting the people in distant settlements, their faith, their growth, and their development in things spiritual and temporal. It is very encouraging to hear that the Latter-day Saints in distant places, far removed from this city, are alive to their duties, and to the performance of those obligations which rest upon them. ”

“ We must cleanse ourselves from every thing that is offensive in His sight. We must live the religion that we profess—make it practically a part of our every day lives. This is incumbent upon us individually as well as collectively. A religion of profession amounts to nothing. A religion to be used only on Sundays is valueless. We want a religion that will go with us into our fields, into our workshops, into our habitations, and into our every day dealings one with another. This is the kind of religion we want, and this, I am happy to say, is the kind of religion we have got. ”

“ If we should be unfaithful, if we should neglect to serve our God with that faithfulness and zeal which He requires of us, then we may expect to be scourged, we may expect to have difficulty and trouble, we may expect that those who oppose us will gain, as they at least think, victories over us. God will use them to whip us into line to bring us to a sense of our duties, to stir us up to diligence and faithfulness in keeping His commandments. ”

“ To-day we are disproving most effectually that remark that has become so trite among men, that God, or Providence, is on the side of the strongest artillery, and upon the side of the greatest numbers. ”

“ We would that all men would listen unto His voice and be entreated of Him. We would that all men would seek unto Him and obtain for themselves this knowledge He is so willing to bestow. Our persecutions would be joyous to us—if they may be called persecutions—if such results as these could be wrought out, or would be the results that, would attend these persecutions. While Brother Brigham was speaking about persecution, the thought passed through my mind that that which we term persecution is only the discipline necessary for our development. ”

“ Our case illustrates most perfectly that when God is upon the side of a people—they may be feeble, they may be poor, they may be despised and be exceedingly unpopular—they will most assuredly gain triumphs and victories over all who oppose them. ”

“ What is there connected with it to make us tremble or to weaken us in the least degree if we are possessed of the knowledge which God has restored, that He lives, that He is the same to-day that He was 1800 years ago, that He was in the days of the Prophets and Patriarchs—the same kind, beneficent, merciful, all-powerful Being? ”

“ The time will come, but it will be when Satan is bound, when the Kingdom of God will prevail on the earth, and peace, righteousness and truth will have sway; but until that time we may expect to have troubled seas, tempests, times of trial and difficulty, to test us and train us, and to fit and prepare the earth, as we have been told this afternoon for the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are only testing our strength in these things. ”

“ The prediction was made 52 years ago by Joseph Smith, that the time would come when those that would not take up their sword to fight against their neighbor in this blessed land, (the most favored of any land under the heavens, so favored in government, so favored in climate, so favored in every element of wealth, and in all its surroundings) they would be compelled to come here for protection, for we will be the only people that will be at peace on the continent. ”

“ There is a great destiny in store for this people, and they never can attain unto it unless they pass through just such scenes as they have passed through in the past, and such scenes as they doubtless will have to pass through of a more trying character in the future. ”

“ We have been told from the beginning that the time would come when not only would the people of a county be opposed to us, but the people of a state would oppose us; and as we increased opposition would increase, until the Government of the United States would pronounce against us. ”

“ If we had our way there would not be an adulterer in these mountains. If we had our way there would not be a seducer in these mountains. Every woman would either be a virtuous maiden or a married woman, or a widow. We would take care of family virtue, preserve it as we would life; for it is more precious than life itself, and should be valued as such, and every man that would do anything to degrade a woman ought to be and will be damned. If we had our way there would be no drunkenness in all these mountains, no lying in these mountains ”

“ It has had the effect of causing us to spread until throughout these mountain valleys the Latter-day Saints are numbered by thousands. Every measure that. has been taken against us since then, designed for our overthrow, has only taught us our strength. It has compelled us to go to the fountain of all strength, to God our Eternal Father. Feeling our own inability, our own in, capacity, our own weakness, we have been compelled to go to a higher power. We have invoked the heavens. ”

“ This is the discipline that is necessary to purify us, to prepare us in every respect for the fulfilling of that high destiny that awaits us. For just as sure as God lives, so sure will the people called Latter-day Saints become a great and mighty power in the earth. ”

“ No, it is not because we are vicious; it is not because we love vice; it is not because we are the most corrupt and depraved of mankind that we have enemies Why, the drunkard, the gambler, the whoremonger, the villains of various dyes, who fight against us, would welcome us if we were like them. ”

“ That is more to be dreaded than persecution. Prosperity is far more to be dreaded under circumstances such as we are placed in—what I mean by prosperity, I mean worldly prosperity, worldly sympathy, worldly favor ”

“ When we were driven out by violence, by bloodshed, from the State of Illinois, and compelled to launch forth into the wilderness, for a while it was thought that we were certainly placed in a position where we should be ruined. ”

“ It is just as necessary that we should have these things to contend with as that we live. I do not dread their effects nearly as much as I do something else. Hostile legislation and opposition of this character have but one tendency as a rule, that is, to drive us closer together, to make the cause a common one, to cause us to feel united. ”

“ Mormonism, as it is termed, has been upon its trial from the beginning. The inhabitants of the earth are testing it, and we who are connected with it are obtaining knowledge concerning its adaptability to meet all the wants and requirements of all circumstances in which we may be placed. ”

“ The warfare will go on as it has done in the past, only with this difference: that in our age and to us God has made promises, that this kingdom, that is, the Holy Priest, hood that He has restored to the earth and the authority that He once had among men ”

“ Little do they think that by such actions as these they are strengthening the faith of the Latter-day Saints, because they see in these actions that they are fulfilling the words of a man whom they believe to be a Prophet of God. ”

“ It is all contrary to what are called natural causes, and therefore miraculous, contrary to the laws that pass current among men respecting peoples, communities and individuals, such as we are, and such as all are. ”

“ The Elders of this Church from the beginning have testified unto the world that if men and women would receive the doctrines of which they were the bearers, in the spirit in which they were taught, they should have a testimony for themselves respecting their truth, and that by means of that testimony they would be enabled to stand and bear up against all pressure and all assaults that might be made or brought to bear upon them. ”