The Lord bestows His blessings upon the children of men according to
their faith and diligence. It is true that there are a great many
blessings which they receive and enjoy independent of their conduct,
to a very great extent. They have this life, the use of their reason,
the blessings of air and earth, and the elements which are
incorporated or connected with the earth; the sun warms them with its
rays, and the showers of heaven revive them. Many of these blessings
descend on the children of men in numerous instances regardless of
their conduct, and apparently independent of their actions. But there
are blessings which mankind cannot receive, only through obedience to
the commandments of God, our heavenly Father; there are privileges and
gifts which cannot be enjoyed, only through the diligence of those
upon whom they are bestowed. The gifts that pertain to the gospel of Jesus
Christ can only be obtained by obedience to the truth; and can only be
retained by a faithful adherence to the commandments of God; and in
order that these may be multiplied upon the people, they must be
appreciated by those upon whom they are bestowed. When our hearts are
filled with thanksgiving, gratitude, and praise to God, we are in a
fit condition to receive additional blessings, and to have more of the
outpouring of His Holy Spirit. When we see the deliverances that He
vouchsafes to us, and appreciate those deliverances, we are in a fit
condition to receive additional strength, power, and salvation,
because we acknowledge His hand in all the blessings we receive, and
in all the circumstances which surround us.
The things of God are not discerned by those who are not spiritually
minded; for the Holy Spirit reveals the things of God to those upon
whom it is bestowed. Men in the world at present, place the greatest
dependence on the evidence which their outward senses afford them. If
they can see, hear, taste, or handle anything with which they may come
in contact, they place more value upon that external evidence than
upon any internal evidence. Hence, when the elders go forth to preach
the gospel to the nations, there is almost a constant demand, made by
those to whom they are sent, for the evidence of miracles. They wish
to hear the elders speak in tongues, or prophesy; they want to see the
sight of the blind restored, the sick healed, the dead raised, or some
miraculous manifestation of power, in order that their outward senses
may be gratified. Many attach a great deal of importance to the
evidence which they receive in this manner; and to this class of
persons the things of God are to a very great extent
incomprehensible, because the evidence which they look for they do not
often receive; or if they do, it comes in such a form that it is not
entirely reliable to them. The man or the woman who is convinced of
the truth of the gospel by seeing the ears of the deaf unstopped, or
the tongue of the dumb unloosed, or by dreams or visions, as a general
thing, requires a continuation of these manifestations from that time
forward to keep them in the faith of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This
our experience confirms. There is another class who obey the truth
because it is the truth, and receive the testimony of the Spirit
without any particular manifestations, but in whose hearts the Spirit
of God continues to burn and increase, imparting to them all its gifts
and filling them with joy and peace unspeakable. They retain their
faith in the work of God, and as days, weeks, months, and years pass
over their heads, their faith and confidence increase.
No doubt there are many saints present this afternoon who have seen
illustrations of this kind. They probably can allow their minds to
refer to their early experience in the Church, in the branches to
which they belonged when they embraced the gospel. Probably there were
many of their companions who embraced the gospel at about the same
time they did, who received great manifestations, and whose minds
never seemed to be content with what they would term the small things
of the gospel; but they were constantly reaching after visions and
dreams, and extraordinary manifestations of the power of God; and, in
nine cases out of ten, with the desire of consuming those
manifestations on their own lusts, to have some wonderful testimony to
bear, to be a little ahead of, and to excel their brethren and sisters
in the things of God. Probably many present can recollect instances of
this kind, and have watched the course of such individuals until they
have lost the faith and have gone out of the Church. On the other hand
there are men and women who were not favored in these respects, and,
in consequence, probably felt that they had committed some sin almost
unpardonable in the sight of Heaven; yet through their humility and
the constant exercise of faith they have continued to increase in
wisdom and strength, and in all the gifts of the Spirit necessary for
the perfecting of the Saints; and today they can look back through
their whole career in the Church, and can see that God has given them
the best possible kind of evidence to enable them to retain their
standing in the Church. There are probably thousands of people, at the
present time, among the nations of the earth, who would say, that if
they could see the sick healed, or the blind restored to sight, see a
person who was on the verge of the grave snatched from the grasp of
death and restored to perfect health, or hear a man speak in tongues
or interpret a language of which he was entirely ignorant, they would
be perfectly willing to embrace the gospel and become Latter-day
Saints for the rest of their lives. I have no doubt there are men in
our midst who would say that if they could have evidence of this kind
they would be Latter-day Saints; and in making such a statement they
would imagine they were perfectly safe, and that it would be
consistent with God's plan for them to expect such evidence.
Experience in this work has proved that this is not the best kind of
evidence, but that there is a kind which is of a higher order, and
which is calculated to preserve those who receive it from all
the snares and temptations of the adversary with which they may be
assailed. God, our heavenly Father, has promised the Holy Ghost, with
all its gifts to those who receive His gospel. He has said that those
who go forth in humility and meekness, forsaking their sins and truly
repenting, shall receive for themselves a knowledge of the principles
which they have embraced; that they shall receive the Comforter, who
will take of the things of God and show them to them; and the history
of this entire people has proved that such is the case, and that the
Spirit of God, with its accompanying gifts, is abundantly poured out
upon those who live so as to receive them.
The gospel of Jesus Christ claims our obedience, whether we receive
the gifts of the Spirit or not. The Lord in His mercy has promised to
us these gifts; but when He makes demand on His children, it is not
for them to stand still and make conditions with Him about the
principles they are going to receive; and those who do so commit sin
in the very outset. They grieve the Spirit of God by manifesting such
a want of confidence; whereas, those who go forth in humility,
trusting in God, and who receive the truth because God has revealed
it, and because it is sweet unto them, have no cause to mourn that He
has not bestowed upon them all that He has promised. But, on the
contrary, their souls are filled to overflowing with the outpourings
of the Spirit of God, and with the gifts of that Spirit which are
bestowed upon them. This has ever been the case; it is so today, and
it will be so as long as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints exists in purity on the earth, or there is a man left on the
earth to administer in the ordinances of the holy priesthood of the
Son of God.
The great difficulty with mankind is that they have arranged in their
own minds plans for the salvation of the human race. You can scarcely
meet with a man in the world—although he may acknowledge that God has
not spoken to the children of men for nearly 1,800 years, and that he
never saw a divinely inspired servant of God, one who had the right to
exercise the priesthood of the Son of God as the ancient servants of
God did—but has a plan arranged in his own mind respecting the course
which he thinks God should take in saving His children. Begin to talk
with them, and the traditions they have received from their fathers,
preachers, or schoolmasters immediately rise up, and if what you state
comes in contact with those traditions, no matter how pure, heavenly,
and attractive it may otherwise be, they will reject it. This is the
rock on which the nations of the earth are making shipwreck, because,
instead of receiving the truth when presented to them in humility and
meekness like little children, they feel to dictate, and prescribe the
laws and requirements of the gospel, and the manner in which it should
be preached. Wherever this spirit exists, there is no room for the
meek and lowly spirit of Jesus to have place; another spirit has
possession and controls them.
How many men are there who come from afar and see Zion being built up,
and see the work of God progressing on this land, who recognize the
features that the prophets have said should characterize and attend on
Zion and the work of God in the last days? Why, it is as much as the
Latter-day Saints can do who come from the nations of the earth, to
recognize in the work of God now progressing in this
Territory, the Zion of God. They have their traditions and
preconceived notions and ideas respecting the work of God, and what it
should be; and when they come here and see the work in actual
operation, many of them fail to recognize it and fail to see the power
of God manifested. Why is this? It is because of those preconceived
notions; it is because they have marked out and adopted a plan in
their own minds upon which they expect Zion to be built up, and to
which they expect Zion to conform. This is much more the case with
those who have no knowledge of the truth, and who have not received
the Spirit of God through baptism, the laying on of hands, and
obedience to the other ordinances of the house of God. But if they
were to come here dispossessed of prejudice and tradition, and were to
look at the work of God as it is now progressing through this land,
they would be enabled to appreciate it, and to acknowledge that there
is a power and a spirit manifested among this people that does not
belong to men and women under ordinary circumstances. Who does
comprehend the work which the Lord is accomplishing with such
rapidity? Why there is not a Latter-day Saint within the sound of my
voice, no matter how young, humble, ignorant, or void of understanding
he or she may be, who knows anything about the Spirit or the things of
God, but can see divinity and the power of God manifested in every
move made, and in all that has been done in connection with this work,
from the beginning of their experience to the present time. They see
God and recognize His hand in this work; and they also understand that
man could not bestow upon them the blessings of peace and joy that
they have in the Holy Ghost. Though a man may be very learned in the
ancient and modern sciences, may have traveled extensively, may
understand the various phases of human nature, and be thoroughly
acquainted with the history of our race so far as it has been handed
down to us, yet, if he have not the Spirit of God, his knowledge fades
away if placed alongside that of the otherwise ignorant Saint, for it
is found insufficient to reveal to him that this is the work of God.
He looks at it from a worldly standpoint and he sees neither God nor
divinity in it; neither can he recognize any exhibition of God's power
in this work, and in his mind it is all delusion. But that so-called
ignorant man or woman who stands beside him, who may not know
one-fiftieth part of that which he knows respecting the earth, its
inhabitants, and its sciences, recognizes God in it all. He knows that
is the Zion of God; his faith is based on the rock of ages; he knows
and can bear testimony that this is the work of God, and he can see
the hand of God in it all. The power of God is in his soul; he is in
communion with God; and the gifts of the Spirit are manifested in and
through him; and he rejoices in this knowledge which the man of the
world has no comprehension of.
This is the difference, my brethren and sisters, between seeing the
things of God from a natural or worldly standpoint, and seeing them
from the standpoint God has established for us. Is this peculiar to
the work of God in the last days? No; it is a peculiarity which has
characterized all ages and dispensations when God has had a people on
the earth. In the days of Jesus, who discovered divinity in him? Who
saw in the humble son of a carpenter the lineaments of his divine
origin, and recognized the Deity there? Why, a few humble fishermen, ignorant, illiterate men, who, as we learn from the "Acts
of the Apostles," could not speak their mother tongue grammatically.
But did the high priests or the learned among the Jews, or those who
had been educated in the schools, comprehend it? Though it was an age
of enlightenment, so called, they could not recognize God in Jesus,
nor divinity in the work which he performed; neither could they
recognize any of the power of the apostleship in his Apostles. Who did
see it? Why those who bowed in submission to the plan which God
revealed through His son Jesus Christ; they comprehended these things,
and were able to distinguish between the man of God and the man of the
world; they were able to distinguish between the truth of heaven when
it came pure and unadulterated from the throne of Jehovah, and the
systems of men proclaimed on every hand. Hence, for men spiritually
unenlightened to be unable to comprehend the things of God is not
peculiar to the dispensation in which we live, but it has been so in
every age when God made known His will to the children of men. Such
individuals may come in contact with the greatest of Heaven's children
and may associate with them day by day, and yet through not having
that Spirit they will fail to recognize their nobility of character,
and that they are divinely inspired. Some of the members, even, of
Jesus' own family, as we learn from the sacred record, ridiculed him;
they could not recognize that their own brother, the son of their
mother, was the Son of God, who was to die for the sins of the world;
although they had been brought up with Jesus from childhood, they
failed to recognize it for the very reason that Joseph Smith, and
Brigham Young, and every prophet and apostle that ever lived on the
face of the earth have not been recognized by many of their
associates. If their minds had been enlightened by the Spirit of God
they would have recognized the men of God, and could have comprehended
the things of God and the plan of salvation; they could have seen God
in it all; every feature would have beamed with the godhead and with
the divinity; they would have recognized it as an emanation from
heaven and would have sustained the Son of God as the being he
professed to be, and which he was; and his Apostles would have had no
occasion to have gone about as they did—persecuted and hated, and
afterwards cruelly killed for the testimony of Jesus which they bore
to mankind. Noah would not have had such a difficult work in trying to
convince the inhabitants of the earth in his day of the message God
had given to him, neither would all the prophets from his day down
have had the difficulty they had. No man with his natural wisdom can
comprehend the things of God; man never did do it and never can do it.
Priests may study all the arts and sciences, and finally graduate at a
theological college; and after they have passed through it all they
have no more conception of God and the things of God, than if such a
Being had never existed. A man filled with the power of God might go
to them, and they would not understand him; if he told them the most
precious things ever uttered by mortal lips, they would not comprehend
it, and would be far more likely to reject him than not, because they
are imbued with prejudices and preconceived ideas respecting God and
His works.
There was a necessity therefore for Jesus to say, that they should
receive His kingdom as little children. There is this necessity, my
brethren and sisters, today, on our part, that we should so
receive the kingdom of God. What did any of us know respecting the
truth until the Prophet revealed it? What do we know today? Why a
great many of us think we know a great many things. It is an
exceedingly difficult thing for a Bishop to teach us, or for an
Apostle to impress our minds with the truth he is filled with, or for
President Young and his counselors to convey to our minds and have us
comprehend the truth which God has revealed to them. Why is this? It
is because we are filled with our traditions and preconceived notions
as to what is right and what is wrong. We relinquish and part with
those notions and traditions very slowly; we cannot cast them aside
apparently without great effort, and it requires the work of years to
emancipate us from this thralldom. But there is, nevertheless, a great
necessity that we should exert ourselves to the utmost of our ability
in this labor. We should seek to have our minds spread out and expand
so that when the things of God are told to us we can adopt them, and
throw aside everything that comes in contact with them. There is a
great work before us, and the progress that the Church has made during
the last thirty-seven years, only enables us to see a little glimmer
of the immensity that stretches out before us. The distance between us
and the celestial kingdom of our God is inconceivably great to us at
the present time; our minds cannot grasp the distance we have to
traverse before we reach the presence of God and are prepared to dwell
with Him eternally. By the Spirit of God we can comprehend some little
of it; we can comprehend the distance we have yet to travel by
thinking of the distance we have traveled.
We have come out of, and tra velled from Babylon, according to the
command of God, that we may become a people directly opposite to
everything existing in Babylon. This was the proclamation made to us;
and the object of the proclamation was that we might be emancipated
completely from the things of the world, that we might be prepared to
dwell with God eternally in the heavens.
Now, think of the distance there is between us and the people of
Babylon today. The distance we have traveled is scarcely perceptible
to some; and on some points we are so near that we can reach and shake
hands with them, we have made so little progress. Yet there is nothing
truer than this, that before we are prepared to dwell in the presence
of God we must be directly opposite to them in almost every respect.
Morality is taught and moral truths are enforced among them; but aside
from the theory, everything is rotten and corrupt from the base to the
topmost stone. God has said so, and we have had some little experience
in it ourselves; and so far as we have gone we can say that such is
the case. Society has to be differently organized under the rule of
the Church of God. We have already made a great stride in this
respect. The one great institution which God has revealed has done
more to emancipate us, and create a difference between us and the
world than anything I can conceive of; that is the order of marriage.
It creates a complete distinctness between us and the people of the
world. We can see how much we are progressing in this direction, and
they who are living their religion are making rapid progress. There
was a necessity for the revelation of this principle in order that the
people of God might be entirely distinct from the people of Babylon.
As long as we lived under those old institutions which are so
full of rottenness and corruption, we were liable all the time to
become assimilated to the world. But God has laid the foundation of
that great distinction which must eventuate in the complete triumph of
truth and the establishment of His kingdom on the earth. He has laid
the foundation where the foundation of all governments begins—in the
family; and it will go on and increase until it permeates every
institution and organization, making us entirely different and
distinct from the people of the world. You can allow your minds to
stretch out if you like to their utmost capacity and they will not
begin to comprehend the difference that will be created through the
operation of those principles which God has already revealed. Like the
pebble that is dropped in the mill pond, every circle goes on
increasing and widening until it covers the whole pond. So it is with
the truth which God has revealed; it will spread until the
institutions of the kingdom of God will revolutionize everything that
exists on the earth.
We have this work before us, it belongs to us; it does not belong to
the First Presidency alone, or to the Twelve alone, or to the Bishops
of wards, or to the Presidents of the settlements or stakes of Zion;
but it belongs to every man, woman, and child who has a standing in
this Church. God has laid it upon us all individually and
collectively, and He expects it at our hands. It is true that the work
of God will go forth from triumph to triumph until complete victory
shall crown the efforts of the servants of God. But we are the members
of this Church, and it is for us to say whether we will be diligent,
or whether we will fall back and allow our places to be filled by
others more diligent and more capable of comprehending the greatness
of the work, and the greatness and facilities that God has given to
us, than we are; whether we will combat with and contend against the
evils that everywhere exist, govern our houses in righteousness, and
bring up our children in the fear of God, or whether we will neglect
these things, and suffer the glorious opportunities God has given us
to pass by unimproved, to be improved by others more zealous,
diligent, and wise in their generation than we are. There is no
individual in Zion but can do a great deal of good if they will only
allow their minds to expand, and will seek out opportunities to
accomplish the work of God. They can correct and prepare themselves to
carry on the work of God, and, in doing so, they will help to prepare
somebody else; for no one can carry on the work of perfection without
being a benefit to all with whom they associate.
We talk about going back to build up the Center Stake of Zion; it is
the burden of our daily prayers. The aspirations of thousands of the
people ascend in the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth in behalf of the
redemption of Zion, and that the purposes of God may be forwarded, and
that the time may soon come when the Center Stake of Zion shall be
built up and the people be prepared to go back and inhabit that land.
Why do we wish this? Because we anticipate when that day shall come
that we will be that much nearer the day of triumph, the day when
Jesus will come and reign among his Saints. We are, as it were, in a
school where we are to be taught of God, and prepared for the great
events that are coming on the earth. We do not wish to leave this
land, because it is not fertile, or because it is not a favored land.
We appreciate the home that God has given us here, so fruitful in
blessings to the Saints; but we look forward to that land with
indescribable feelings, because it is the place where God has said His
City shall be built. It is the land where Adam, the Ancient of Days,
will gather his posterity again, and where the blessings of God will
descend upon them. It is the land for which the wise and learned have
traveled and sought in vain. Asia has been ransacked in endeavoring
to locate the Garden of Eden. Men have supposed that because the Ark
rested on Ararat that the flood commenced there, or rather that it was
from thence the Ark started to sail. But God in His revelations has
informed us that it was on this choice land of Joseph where Adam was
placed and the Garden of Eden was laid out. The spot has been
designated, and we look forward with peculiar feelings to repossessing
that land. We expect when that day shall come that we will be a very
different people to what we are today. We will be prepared to commune
with heavenly beings; at any rate, the preparation will be going on
very rapidly for Jesus to be revealed. We expect that a society will
be organized there that will be a pattern of heavenly society, that
when Jesus and the heavenly beings who come with him are revealed in
the clouds of heaven, their feelings will not be shocked by the
change, for a society will be organized on the earth whose members
will be prepared through the revelations of God to meet and associate
with them, if not on terms of perfect equality, at least with some
degree of equality.
How much preparation have we made for this? We have made considerable
progress in some directions. Since the days of Joseph the authority of
the holy priesthood has increased. Bishops who are doing their duty
have more authority in their wards than Bro. Joseph had formerly in
the whole Church. The people understand the requirements made of them
and carry them out understandingly and intelligently. This is very
good, but a great change has still to be made; we have much more
progress to make.
Our enemies are complaining of this one-man power; they want to
concoct some plan that will destroy the power of the holy priesthood.
They have stated that if anything should happen to Bro. Brigham that
this kingdom would fall to pieces. They delude themselves with the
same ideas that the wicked did before the death of Joseph. They think
we are a severely oppressed people, and they would like to emancipate
us from the thralldom we endure. Do they know anything about us? No. We
are free, and we are living lives of happiness and contentment. We
never were so happy in our lives before as we are today if we are
faithful. Our wives never felt so free in their lives as they do
today. What, not when their husbands had only one wife? No, not even
then; and the assertion can be sustained that there are no women on
the earth so thoroughly and completely free as the women among the
Latter-day Saints. You who can doubt this can let your minds refer to
the condition of society in other places. See the bondage in which
women are placed, and the lives of sorrow they have to drag through,
until, worn out, they drop into their graves—the grave being the only
refuge from the troubles with which they are oppressed. That is not
the case with us, we are a free people, although our enemies say we
are oppressed.
We may imagine in our present state of knowledge, that when we reach
the point to which I am endeavoring to direct the minds of the people, we shall not feel so well as we do today. I tell you
we shall feel far better, for the greater the progress the more
freedom we shall enjoy. Though every being in heaven obeys the behests
of Jehovah implicitly, we will all admit that they are far happier
than we are on the earth. We have to progress till we reach that state
when all our labors will be under the dictation, guidance, and
direction of those whom God has appointed to preside over us. And as
we approximate to this condition, they will increase in wisdom and
ability to direct, so that harmony will be maintained. As the people
increase in obedience God will pour out wisdom on His servants
commensurate with that obedience.
It has been said that we are very willing to go on missions when we
are told, and in regard to our spiritual labors we are very willing to
be directed. In these respects there is no people so easily managed
and directed as we are. That obedience which characterizes us in
spiritual things will have to be manifested in temporal things. Many
of the people think "I know more about this matter than my bishop
does," when some temporal matter is agitated. That feeling is running
through the minds of numbers of the people; and while this is the case
your bishops will probably not be as wise as they might be; they have
not your faith to sustain them. But when the time comes that you have
implicit faith and confidence in God, and in those whom He appoints to
preside over you, in things temporal as well as spiritual, your
bishops will have all the wisdom needed to give you the counsel you
require.
This time must come; and not only must it be the case with the
brethren but it must be so with their families also, for, as I said,
family government is the foundation of all government. Show me a
community where children are brought up in holiness and purity, and
trained in the fear and knowledge of God, and I can prophesy future
greatness and prosperity for that people. If I see a family where the
children are obedient to their parents, and listen to their voices as
to the voice of an angel; and where wives are obedient to their
husbands, meeting their wishes and seeking to gratify them in
everything in the Lord, I know there is greatness before that family.
So with this entire people. If our children be trained in the fear of
God, if within their minds are instilled the principles of truth,
righteousness, faith, and godliness, we may dismiss all fears
respecting the future growth, development, and prosperity of our
Father's kingdom on the earth. When we see our children growing up in
unbelief and hardness of heart, then have we cause to fear and
tremble. Every one of you, my sisters, can do a great deal towards
building up this kingdom. A great glory is bestowed on woman, for she
is permitted to bring forth the souls of men. You have the opportunity
of training children who shall bear the holy priesthood, and go forth
and magnify it in the midst of the earth. It is a glorious mission
which God has assigned to his daughters, and they should be
correspondingly proud of it, and should realize its importance and
seek to be missionaries in their own families, training up their
children in the fear of God. It is an established fact, or at least it
is so regarded in the world, that scarcely any great man ever had a
poor weak-minded mother. If you read of the great men of antiquity, or
of modern times, you will find that in almost every instance they have
had great mothers, who have molded and fashioned the plastic
minds of their sons according to their own notions of greatness, and
sent them forth to battle with the circumstances of life, like gods
almost. Great interests are in the hands of mothers. God has reposed
in them great power; if they wield that power for good it will be
productive of peace and happiness and exaltation to them. They will be
blessed in seeing the greatness of their posterity. Their hearts will
be gratified in having a posterity who will rise up and called them
blessed.
It is something glorious to contemplate, but how few there are who
realize the great blessings God has bestowed upon them. God has
blessed us with these privileges so that we can lay, in our own
households, the foundation for the future greatness of the kingdom of
God, by instilling into the minds of our children those lessons and
precepts of godliness which will make them mighty in days to come, and
will prepare them when they reach manhood, to bear off the work of God
and magnify the truth by being exemplars of the gospel of Jesus Christ
among the nations of the earth.
God bless you, brethren and sisters; and may He enable us all to be
faithful to the truth and to comprehend the greatness of the age in
which we live, for Christ's sake. Amen.
- George Q. Cannon