A number of excellent remarks have been made today in our hearing by
the brethren who have spoken, to the truth of which, the Spirit of God
accompanying them has borne record in our hearts. The Elders testify
to the truth of the principles that we have embraced, and to speak
upon them is as delightful a treat as we can have. There is nothing
more delightful to the human mind, properly constituted, than to
listen to the words of life and salvation spoken under the inspiration
of the Holy Ghost; they are sweeter than the sweetest honey, and more
satisfying than the best and most nutritious food; because they fill
our spirits with joy and gladness, and we feel benefited, and
refreshed, and strengthened by them, and then we occupy a closer
relationship to our Father and God than before hearing his word. These
are my feelings today, and they always have been whenever I have
attended a meeting where the Spirit of God has prevailed.
A remark was made today which called up some reflections in my mind
respecting us as a people. The speaker said that we were called
illiterate and uneducated, and that we were despised because of our
ignorance—because of the class of society from which the mass of us
have been gathered. This, doubtless, is the feeling that is
entertained in many parts respecting the Latter-day Saints. The remark
brought into my mind a number of reflections respecting the position
that Jesus occupied, that Jesus who is at the present time
acknowledged, by all Christians at least, to be the greatest Being
that ever trod the footstool of the Almighty. I thought of his lowly
position, humble and obscure birth, and the surroundings he was
brought up under; how he must have been despised by those who knew him
when they heard the declarations which he made respecting his
relationship to God our Father in heaven, and when they saw the men
who had been appointed by him to proclaim the Gospel of salvation to
the people, and also those associated with him. But now, as I have
already stated, there is no doubt in the minds of those who profess to
be Christians, that this same Jesus is the Son of God, the Creator of
the world; that by him and through him all things were and are
created, and that unto him we owe the salvation we have all received,
and which we will eventually receive when we attain to the fulness of
the glory promised unto us. It is not always they who are called from
the humblest classes who are the most illiterate in the true sense of
the word; at least, it is not the case with us as a people, nor with
any people who have ever been called to the knowledge of the
Gospel, or upon whom he has bestowed the power to administer the laws
of salvation.
I reflect with great pleasure upon the prospects before us, and upon
the past history of our people, and the wisdom God has given unto his
servants, and to this people, to establish his truth, and to proclaim
it unto the inhabitants of the earth, to accomplish his purposes in
building up the kingdom he has so long promised he would establish in
the latter times no more to be thrown down. When we see how God made
choice of his servant Joseph, and brought him from obscurity and from
the midst of ignorance, and bestowed upon him the wisdom of eternity,
how he trained him in that knowledge which is necessary, both temporal
and spiritual, to enable him to organize this great people—I call us a
great people, not because of our numbers, but because of our
prospects, our power, and our organization—He gave him wisdom
necessary to organize His kingdom upon permanent principles, that it
might grow like a seed planted in good ground—small in the beginning,
but germinating and growing until it becomes a great and mighty tree.
It was by means of the wisdom God gave unto Joseph Smith that he was
enabled to organize the kingdom of God upon the earth out of the
contending, conflicting elements in Babylon, upon principles that will
cause it to increase until it shall spread over the whole earth. He
not only gave this wisdom to his prophet Joseph, but he has also given
it to his prophet Brigham, whom he has endowed with power and wisdom
to take hold of His work where Joseph left it when he passed beyond
the veil, and carrying it forward until, in the eyes of all observing
and thinking men, it is the greatest wonder of the present age.
It is a wonder that when all nations of the earth are full of
contention, strife, and disunion, when they are warring in deadly
strife one against another, when they have not the power to cement
themselves together, that there has been one man in the midst of the
nations who has had such controlling influence that people have been
gathered together from every nation, creed, and church, speaking a
great variety of languages—men and women trained under different
influences, circumstances, and habits. It is a wonder to see them
collected as this people are today, to see them united and dwelling
in peace, to see them governed by the slightest whisper of him God has
appointed to preside, to see every obstruction moved from the path of
the onward progress of the kingdom of God; not only this, but to see
this wisdom developing itself through all the ramifications of that
kingdom, to see it filling the breasts of those occupying the various
offices in the Church—to see Bishops, Bishops' Counselors, Presidents
and Presidents' Counselors, Apostles, High Priests, Seventies,
Elders, Priests, Teachers, and Deacons filling the various offices
assigned unto them to perform; though the same knowledge fills them to
a less extent, still that spirit and that power are increasing in them
which give promise unto them that the organization with which they are
connected will become greats and mighty, and overwhelming in the midst
of the earth.
We are called uneducated, illiterate, but there is a wisdom which is
being developed in the midst of this people, and they are being
trained in those principles that will make them great and mighty
before God and man. We can see this now, but, with the eye of faith,
we can see much more in the future, when the nations will seek for
that wisdom which is alone in the possession of this people—a
wisdom that will save them from the calamities and the evils that are
coming upon them. It is not far distant. It will not be very long
before men will seek to be taught of this people the principles that
pertain to this and the next world. Though they now pretend to despise
them, that knowledge is, nevertheless, in the midst of this people
alone. They understand the principles that will save men—not only men
individually, but as nations and communities, from the evils with
which they are threatened here and hereafter. They have been obtained
by us in the same manner in which they were obtained by Jesus Christ,
by Peter, and by those associated with him; they have been obtained by
the knowledge, and light, and intelligence of heaven, bestowed on men
in answer to prayer and faith properly exercised. There is something
very delightful and consoling in the reflection that men and women, no
matter how ignorant, if they become acquainted with the principles of
the Gospel, will become wise unto salvation, and be elevated and be
developed, and continue to increase in everything that is great and
desirable before God and man. We see this promise, which the Gospel
holds out to us, being fulfilled.
We talk about the glory which is in store for us, and well we may talk
about it, because we have, to a certain extent, had a foretaste on the
earth of those promises, the fulness of which we shall enjoy in that
world to which we are all hastening. We can see the effects of the
Gospel upon the minds of the people, and upon our own minds; we see
the people being morally developed in everything that will make them
mighty before God. I know that the Lord, for a wise purpose, has
called the noblest spirits that he had around him to come forth in
this dispensation. He called them to come in humble circumstances,
that they might receive the experience necessary to try and prove them
in all things, that they might descend below all things, and gradually
begin to ascend above all things; there was a wise design in this, and
we see it carried out at the present time.
I take great delight in these things; it is a great pleasure to
reflect upon this Work; for, view it which way you will, look at it
from any standpoint, there is something attractive and lovely
connected with it. We can all have this enjoyment, there is no defect
or flaw in the system; there is nothing about it, if we had the power,
that we could improve or make better. That is a great consolation to
us; it is not the work of man, a cunningly devised fable man has
constructed. It is not made to suit our peculiar tastes and views, but
it is eternal; it has always existed, and it accords with our being,
and with the laws of our being, because the plan of salvation emanated
from the same eternal source that we emanated from, and everything
connected with us and this system is in perfect harmony. There is
nothing conflicting between the perfect laws of our nature and the
laws of God, revealed in the Gospel. It is this that makes it so
beautiful, that causes it to have such an elevating effect upon us;
and we have to live in agreement with it, in order to eventually be
exalted in the presence of our Father and God; which, may God grant,
may be our happy lot, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
- George Q. Cannon