There have been a great many excellent remarks made to us since we
assembled ourselves together to celebrate the anniversary of the
organization of the Church, remarks which, if treasured up in our
hearts and practiced in our lives, cannot fail to make us a much
better people than we are today. It should be clear to the mind of
every Latter-day Saint that there is an extreme necessity for us to be
united. It is to our union alone, imperfect though it may have been,
that we may attribute our suc cess in the past, under the blessing of
God. If we have any name or prestige in the earth, if there is
anything attached to the name of Latter-day Saint or "Mormonism" that
conveys the idea of power to the minds of the people, it has its
origin in our union, obedience, concentration of effort, and our
oneness of action, and the more this oneness increases the more marked
and distinct we will be among the nations of the earth. What is it
that has made us the people we are today? It is obedience to
the counsels which God has revealed through His servants. If there is
anything on the earth that will continue to add distinction and power
to us, and elevate us and make us strong and mighty, it is an increase
of this obedience which has already given us this distinction.
I have thought considerably since we have been together of the
counsels which have been given to us, and of the action of the people
in the past. There was a time when every Latter-day Saint who had the
spirit of his religion felt as though he wished to devote himself and
all that he had to the upbuilding of the Kingdom of God. This feeling
doubtless predominates today, but it has been partially buried up and
covered by other feelings—the love of gain, the desire to acquire
property, and feelings akin to these. There was a law revealed to
us—the law of consecration—through obedience to which every man
expected to hold all that he possessed subject to the dictation of the
servants of God. It is right that we should recollect this law, and
continually seek to carry it out. We should feel that we are placed as
stewards over the property God has placed in our hands, and that all
we have is subject primarily to the counsels of God's servant, and
that before we take any step of importance it is our duty to seek
counsel from him who has the right to counsel. Imagine the power there
would be in this Territory, and it would be felt throughout the
nations of the earth, if this entire people, from Bear Lake Valley in
the north to the settlements on the Muddy in the south, were thus
united, holding themselves and all the wealth that God has so
bountifully bestowed upon them, subject to the counsel that God has
placed in His Church. What would be the effect of this? If you will
allow your minds to expand you may be able to contemplate to some
small extent the great results that would follow such a concentration
of action on the part of this people. Is it the will of God that it
should be so? It is.
The Lord has placed a man at our head upon whom He has bestowed great
wisdom. There has never been a time when he has lacked the wisdom
necessary to guide all the affairs of the Kingdom of God. Joseph of
old had wisdom given to him by which he was enabled to save Egypt. God
has given to us a leader who has wisdom equal to any emergency, and if
we will be obedient to his counsels we shall realize as great
salvation as was wrought out by Joseph for those with whom he was
associated. Herein we possess advantages not possessed by other
people; we have revelation to guide us, we have the word of the Lord
in our midst; we are not dependent upon man's wisdom, nor upon human
plans, but we have the wisdom of eternity manifested through the
servants of God to guide us. We have the opportunity of building up
the Kingdom of God and of carrying out the designs of heaven according
to His plan; and if we will do so we shall fulfil the word of the Lord
given anciently, when speaking of and comparing his people with the
people of the world. Said he, "My servants shall eat, and you shall be
hungry; my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty; my servants
shall rejoice, but you shall be ashamed; my servants shall sing with
gladness of heart, but you shall sorrow with sadness of heart and howl
with vexation of spirit. And ye shall leave your name as a curse to my
chosen: for the Lord God shall slay thee, and call His servants by
another name."
It seems as though the day had come when God will slay the
wicked, and when He will call His people by another name. How will
these words of the ancient prophets be fulfilled? By our listening to
the counsel of him whom he has placed to preside over us, and being
guided in wisdom in all things. When we do this we will be a mighty
and a powerful people, and President Young will be what he ought to be
today, the head of this people, the mouthpiece of God in our midst;
and when his counsel is given it will be listened to by all Israel; no
one will disobey from one end of the land to the other. How much good
could be accomplished if this were the case! What mighty labors could
be achieved if this people were in this condition today. What hinders
it being so? Nothing but the disposition within us to be careless and
indifferent to the principles taught us.
This condition of things will be brought about, and it might be more
rapidly than it is if the people would be obedient and diligent in
carrying out the counsels given to them. All within the sound of my
voice, probably, have heard that Israel, in the days of Moses, were
commanded to sprinkle their doorposts with the blood of a lamb, that
they might escape destruction; now if we had been told that Israel
were destroyed because they paid no regard to this instruction, who
among us would not have said, How foolish Israel must have been to
have suffered destruction rather than do such a simple thing as this!
Yet what has God said to us in these days with regard to the Word of
Wisdom? He has said that "all saints who remember to keep and do these
sayings, and walk in obedience to the commandments, shall receive
health to their navel and marrow to their bones; And shall find wisdom and
great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures; And they shall run
and not be weary, and walk and not faint. And I, the Lord, give them a
promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children
of Israel, and not slay them." Here is a promise that the Lord has
given to us on condition that we obey this requirement, or rather
this counsel. It is wise counsel; we have proved its wisdom. What has
disobedience to this counsel done for this people? It has made us in
many respects, to a certain extent, subject to our enemies. How many
called Latter-day Saints, through disobedience to the Word of Wisdom,
have been led away to California and other places where they could
obtain these things which they thought so necessary to their comfort,
but which God had counseled them to forsake? A great many have been
led away through this; and every time we disobey this counsel we bring
ourselves more completely under bondage to our own appetites and to
the enemies of the Kingdom of God.
As a people we should arise, and with one effort say we will follow
the example, in this respect, of him who leads us. Does President
Young drink tea, or coffee, or liquor, or chew tobacco? No; his life
is exemplary, and we should copy after it. There is no man among us
more exemplary in these things than he is; and it is a shame to us, as
a people, if we do not follow his wise example. The Lord is bearing
testimony to us through His Spirit, that we should carry these things
into effect; and I trust that the people from one end of the Territory
to the other, will manifest by their future course that they will
observe the counsel that has been given at this Conference, and thus
seek to be one with the President. There is no need to disguise the
fact that he is anxious to have us subject to him in these
matters. He is anxious that his power should be felt through the
length and breadth of this Territory sufficiently to control and
govern the people for good. Why? Because he knows that God has
revealed principles by which they can be led back into His presence if
they will only be obedient to His counsel.
Short sermons are the order, and I will not lengthen out my remarks.
My prayer is, my brethren and sisters, that God will enable everyone
of us to see these things aright, and to understand the obligations
resting upon us; and that union may pervade the bosoms of the Saints
from the lowest to the highest, from the least in the land to the
Presidency of the Church, which may God grant for Christ's sake. Amen.
- George Q. Cannon