George Q. Cannon

“ The rest over 20 years of age all perished in the wilderness, they not having faith sufficient to receive the promises and to gain the end that they started out for when they left Egypt. A new generation grew up during the 40 years of travel in the wilderness—a generation that had to a great extent forgotten the traditions of Egypt, that had forgotten the idolatry of Egypt and the evil practices of Egypt, and then when this was brought about, God led them unto the promised land, and He made of them a nation, a peculiar people. ”

“ But, my brethren and sisters, I sometimes feel that it is with us as it was with our fathers whom God led out of Egypt, for we are the descendants of that people. Like our fathers we shall have to undergo the same ordeals—that is, ordeals that shall have for their object the accomplishment of the same ends, and I do not believe that He will allow a generation of people to grow up and witness the accomplishment of all that He has spoken concerning Zion who are not perfectly willing to do that which He requires at their hands. ”

“ For we live not for ourselves alone, but we live for our posterity. We hope to be faithful so as to gain the favor of God, that our posterity after us will be remembered in the days of trial and in the days of tribulation and of calamity that are to come upon the earth, a desire that every faithful man connected with this Church must have if he understands the promises and blessings of God. His desire must be that, so long as the earth shall stand, so long as time shall endure, he will never be destitute in any generation of a man who will bear the Holy Priesthood ”

“ I believe that the man who does that grieves the spirit of God, whether he does it on a large scale or on a small scale. I believe that such a man, unless he repents, will not live to reap the blessings and benefits that God will bestow upon those who labor for the building up of Zion. I believe he will perish just as our fathers perished in the wilderness, and will not live to enjoy the blessings God has in store for the faithful. ”

“ I believe the old generation will pass away. I believe that like our fathers the bodies of the Saints of God will be laid by the wayside in the various places where they live if they do not exercise faith to receive the blessings that God designs to bestow upon us as a people, and that He will raise up a generation as He did in the case of our fathers, which shall have the necessary faith, which shall be divorced from the old order of things sufficiently to go forward and accomplish the mind and will of God concerning Zion. ”

“ It is for this that the spirit of gathering has been poured out upon the inhabitants of the earth who have received the Gospel, which has impelled them to do as we have done, to gather together as we are gathered together at this time in these valleys, and it is for this that all that you witness connected with this work, the power that is manifested, the deliverances that have been wrought out—it is for this that these have all been accomplished. God has chosen this people and has given unto them a mission. ”

“ No man who has any of the spirit of God within him, and comprehends the nature of God's work, will have that spirit. But there is a great difference, remember, between hostility to those who are not of our faith, and our sustaining and upholding and taking them in our arms and caressing them and bestowing favors upon them that should only be bestowed upon the household of faith. ”

“ WE are becoming a great people—that is, compared with what we have been—not very great compared with the world; but, nevertheless, we are increasing very rapidly; the rising generation is very numerous; and it requires exceeding diligence and watchfulness on the part of those who have the people in charge as shepherds to see that the means of instruction and counsel are in proportion to the growth of the people. ”

“ For instance, if there were two stores in this town, one occupied by a man who is not of our faith, and another occupied by a man who is of our faith, a man whose whole interests were identified with Zion, whose whole thought was to build up Zion and to advance the cause thereof on the earth, would I be an enemy of the man not of us because I did not patronize him, but patronized and sustained the man who is of us? ”

“ It is very necessary that as a people we should have with us the spirit of revelation from God, and not only should we have it ourselves, but it is also necessary that we should be taught by those whom God has called to preside over His Church and to lead in the affairs thereof. ”

“ To build up Zion should be the thought of every heart—to labor to establish the cause of God in the earth, to be a compact people. But we have violated this counsel, until to-day, in some places, it is questionable who shall rule—the Latter-day Saints or those opposed to them. Now, you all know that the policy of this organization which God ha [s] given us is not one that is hostile to strangers. ”

“ It will be this: that there is no evil to-day that menaces Zion that we feel it difficult to cope with, that threatens the supremacy of our rule in this land to which God has led us, that is not traceable to ourselves and that does not have its origin in the reluctance of the people to comprehend and to obey the counsel which God has given through His servants ever since we came to these valleys. ”

“ I know that there are many, very many in this Church, who have sought with all the faith and diligence of which they are capable to love the Lord, to love Zion, and to do everything they could to build it up in the earth. ”

“ I know it is a sweet thing for us to be able to supply our families' wants, and when they ask to have it in our power to give; but there is something higher, something nobler, something better than this, and that is the favor of our God. We should labor so as to have this, and at the same time if we do, we may rest assured that all the rest will be added to us. He will not leave us destitute. He will not deprive us of the blessings of the earth. On the contrary he will impart those blessings to us, and not only to us but to our children after us. ”

“ We have been told with the greatest plainness, the mind and will of God concerning us and the objects that He has had in view in gathering us out and placing us in the position which we occupy. But, like the Israelites of old, the flesh pots of Egypt have been sweet to us ”

“ Keep every commandment of God, and stand before the Lord blameless, so that you will not be condemned, and if you will do so He will lead you and all of us back into His celestial presence and crown us with glory, immortality and endless lives, which I pray may be our happy lot, in the name of Jesus Christ. ”

“ That embodies in these few words the policy that we should observe. It is not my business; God has not required it of me that I should build up anything that is opposed to Zion, but on the contrary that I should always keep in my thoughts and be influenced by it in my actions that which will advance the cause of Zion, and that which will not retard it or operate against it in any manner. We have erred in this direction in the past. There is a class of people among us who have thought more of money than they have about Zion. ”

“ It has influenced us in our actions. It has governed us in our policy, and it has been the great labor of the leaders of this Church to endeavor to uproot this accursed lust that has been in the hearts of those who are called Latter-day Saints for that which they have been commanded to forsake. ”

“ He wished to separate them entirely from all the nations of the earth by whom they had been surrounded, and to make them a peculiar people, a people who would look upon Him as their law-giver, and who should look to Him for all the instructions and counsels and directions that they needed; but because of their rebellious, and their unwillingness to be thus submissive, He caused every man over 20 years of age who left Egypt, to die in the wilderness except two. ”

“ If this were not the case we should soon have a generation of young men and young women ignorant of the principles of life and salvation, and of the policy and polity of the work of God that He has established on the earth. ”

“ They will be fulfilled if we place ourselves in a position to merit their fulfillment, or to bring them about. If Zion fails to come up to the requirements which God has made of us, then the fulfillment of these glorious promises will undoubtedly be deferred. ”

“ They have not married strange women as did many of the Israelites, as did Solomon the wise king, which God gave to Israel. He married strange wives, and through these marriages he was led away into idolatry in his old age, and the anger of God was brought upon him and his house because of this. ”

“ They have bought and sold, they have traded, they have done that which seemed right in their eyes, that would promote their own personal benefits regardless of the effect it would have upon the public, and I believe that that is a sin in the sight of God with the light and knowledge that we have. ”

“ They have imagined that because we are not hostile we must therefore be very loving, and they do not see the line of demarcation which God has drawn and which He wishes us to observe. There is a line and that line ought to be observed by us. Joseph said in the beginning that it was the duty of the Elders of this Church to labor constantly to build up Zion and not to build up that which is opposed to Zion. ”