I look upon this Conference as one of the most important, in many
respects, that we have ever had the privilege of participating in,
for, to my view, there are more interesting and important events
connected with the work of God at the present time than have ever been
developed before in our history. We are undergoing a great change, a
great revolution is in progress in our midst—a revolution
foreshadowed by the predictions of both the ancient and modern
prophets, but which we, as yet, have scarcely been prepared for.
Nearly 37 years ago the Prophet Joseph, or rather the Lord, through
him, gave revelations upon the Order of Enoch. Those revelations were
taught to the people in plainness so far as they went. They were
simple and easily understood; but they embodied within themselves what
might have been termed new principles, and indicated a new course of
action and a new organization of society. I say new, because they were
new so far as this generation is concerned. The principles taught by
those revelations were as old as eternity; and the Order sought to be
introduced by their means was called the "Order of Enoch," in
consequence of its having been revealed to and practiced by Enoch; and
through its practice he and his people were prepared for translation
and, as we read in the Scriptures, were taken from the earth.
The Lord inspired the Prophet Joseph Smith to once more communicate
these principles unto the children of men; but, as I have remarked,
the people were not prepared to carry them out. They, to some extent,
could see and understand their beauty and consistency, but in the
practical part they were deficient. As a people the Latter-day Saints
are like their fellows in many respects. We are very progressive in
theory, but our theories are far ahead of our practice. The teachings
of the elders are of that character that years of practice on the part
of the people is required before they come up to them in their
everyday life. It is so with mankind generally. They can comprehend
the theory and realize the importance of practically observing certain
prin ciples long before they are sufficiently advanced to carry them
out in everyday life. But we may say, without boasting, that as a
people we excel the world in carrying out in our lives the principles
that we teach.
Those principles to which I have been referring were received and
admired by the people, but it required faith, knowledge and experience
to enable them to carry them out. For years they have remained in the
Book of Doctrine and Covenants to be read by the curious or by those
who had a desire to search after the principles of life and salvation;
but, not being a part of our practice in our lives, they have been
practically a dead letter.
I speak, now, generally; of course, there have been exceptions in
regard to this, as there have been with regard to the "Word of
Wisdom." There have been men and women who have endeavored to carry
out the latter strictly and truthfully so far as their knowledge
extended. And so with the principles contained in the revelations
touching the "Order of Enoch" —there have, doubtless, been men in the
Church who have lived in accordance with them so far as it was
practicable under the circumstances; but the entire people have not
carried them out. But though thirty-six or thirty-seven years have
elapsed since these principles were first revealed, they have never
been lost sight of by the President and those associated with him. It
has been their aim from the day they were given until today, the 6th
of April, 1869, to bring the Latter-day Saints to such a, condition of
union, faith and knowledge that they would receive these principles
and carry them out in their lives.
The labors of the elders to accomplish this have been incessant; they
have ever felt to impress them upon the minds of the Saints,
but more particularly within the last four or five years. It is
essentially necessary that we should receive them now, for upon the
reception and proper carrying out of this Order hinges the prosperity,
development and triumph of the kingdom of God on the earth; and unless
we as a people arrive at such a standard of faith and perfection as to
practically carry them out, we are assured, on the best of authority,
that we cannot be permitted to go back and build up the Center Stake
and fully accomplish the redemption of Zion. The consequences involved
in not being able to accomplish that are familiar to the minds of
those who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ, especially if
they are old members. One of the greatest calamities that could be
thought of by us as a congregation, or a Church, today, would be to
learn from the Lord through His servants that we should not be
permitted to go back to build up the Center Stake of Zion. The edict
pronounced by the prophet Moses when he told Israel that not one who
had arrived at the age of twenty-one years should ever enter the
"Promised Land," had not a greater effect upon Israel than the
prohibition I have just referred to would have upon the Latter-day
Saints. We can realize then, the importance of adopting and carrying
out the principles that will prepare us for that great work.
It is not to be expected that we shall attain to perfection in the
carrying out of such principles at once. That is not the way we have
progressed in the past; our progress has been gradual. It has been
from principle to principle, from knowledge to knowledge, one step
after another until we have reached the point for which we have aimed.
And so it will be with the principles pertaining to the "Order of
Enoch" —we shall take step after step, progressing from one point to
another until we have reached the point that God, our Heavenly Father,
has designed us to attain to.
When we look abroad among the nations of the earth we see a great many
evils in existence—evils that have existed for many centuries; in
fact, they have existed from the earliest ages of which we have any
account until the present time, in every nation and among all people.
Our own nation is a case in point. When the foundations of the
Government were laid, and liberty proclaimed throughout the length and
breadth of the land, it was anticipated that this nation would grow to
a pitch of glory and attain to a greatness and power that no other
nation on the face of the earth had ever attained. Everything was
favorable to this: a free Government had been established; a continent
of almost illimitable extent spread itself before the people, and all
that was necessary to develop its boundless resources was population,
and industry on the part of that population. But little over ninety
years have elapsed since the foundations of our Government were laid,
and in that time we have grown to be a great people; but that which
has been enacted in other nations has been reenacted here. The evils
that have flourished so long in what is called the Old World have been
transplanted to this land. If Western men travel through the Eastern
States they are struck with the great distinction of classes that
exist there. There is an aristocracy of wealth fast growing up there;
and at the same time there is another class in degradation and
poverty, utterly unable to obtain the blessings and comforts of life.
This is owing to various causes, the chief of which is the incorrect
organization of society. It is so in Europe and in Asia, and,
in fact, wherever wealth abounds.
Many men have risen from time to time, who have seen and deplored
these evils, and they have sought with all the wisdom and knowledge
they possessed to correct them. Doubtless many of the Latter-day
Saints recollect an instance of this kind at Nauvoo. After the Saints
evacuated that place, a community of Socialists, called Icarians,
whose leader was Mr. Cabet, came to Nauvoo and settled there. There
were the houses, gardens, farms and orchards of the Latter-day Saints;
the country was a healthy one when compared with what it was when
first settled by the Saints. Many philanthropic men in France were
interested in this experiment, and were anxious to have it succeed.
They forwarded their means with considerable liberality to sustain the
settlement; but, despite their efforts and exertions, it fell to
pieces. Yet the object they had in view was a good one, and the means
they used were effective, so far as they went. But there was a lack of
cohesive power in the system; there was a lack of union, and a lack of
wisdom in the management of the affair. They sought to ameliorate the
condition of mankind and to diffuse the blessings of life equally
among the people, so that hunger, poverty and wretchedness and the
dreadful consequences which follow in their train might be removed
from the midst of mankind and a better order of things established.
But with all the advantages of which I have spoken, their attempt was
a signal failure: the society was broken up and today has no
existence.
This is a case in point with which many of you are familiar. Similar
experiments, having the same ends in view, have been tried at other
places at various times, but like results have attended them.
It has been seen by thinking men that there is something radically
wrong in the organization of society in this respect, but they have
not known how to remedy the evils. It is so in the religious world.
Religionists have to mourn and deplore the divisions that exist among
the so-called followers of Christ; and reformers have risen one after
another endeavoring to bring about greater union and to develop a
greater amount of love, but with what success let the history of the
various sects of Christendom answer. They are split up into
innumerable parties, and the effort of every reformer has only
resulted in the increase of religious sects. He has been unable, and
his inability has been confessed by himself, to unite the Christian
world and bring about that oneness which characterized the followers
of Christ in the early days of Christianity. It required the Lord our
God to stretch forth His arm to bring this to pass. It required the
revelation of the Gospel in its purity from the heavens; it required
the restoration of the holy Priesthood to the earth in the plentitude
of its power to bring it about; and as soon as the Priesthood was
restored, as soon as the Gospel was given again in purity to man, and
the Church of Christ was again organized, then the object for which
these reformers labored in vain began to be accomplished—oneness began
to prevail, union began to manifest itself, love was diffused, the
Holy Ghost was bestowed, its gifts were enjoyed, and men and women
from various nations and from the midst of various churches were
gathered together in one as we are here today. It required the
wisdom, power and Spirit of the Almighty to restore this condition of things for which many men had so long labored in vain.
And so it is in relation to the social organization of society. It
requires the wisdom of Almighty God to correct the evils under which
mankind groan. Men may labor and devise schemes, expend means and do
all that is possible for human beings, not directed by the Spirit and
power of God, to do, and after they have done it all they are
compelled to confess that they are weak and fallible, and incapable of
accomplishing that which they have aimed at. But with God to aid them,
with His wisdom to guide and His Spirit to direct, and His blessings
to smile upon them they can accomplish all that is necessary to redeem
and save the human family, both in a physical and spiritual point of
view. God has chosen His people, the Latter-day Saints, to solve these
knotty problems that have troubled the brains and affected the
children of men for so many centuries.
The Lord has said that, "if ye are not equal in earthly things, ye
cannot be in obtaining heavenly things." He has revealed a plan by
which this equality can be brought about. Yet, He does not design to
make us of equal height; He does not design that we should all have
the same colored hair or eyes, or that we should dress exactly alike.
This is not the meaning of the word "equality," as it is used in
the revelation; but it means to have an equal claim on the blessings
of our Heavenly Father—on the properties of the Lord's treasury, and
the influences and gifts of His Holy Spirit. This is the equality
meant in the revelations, and until we attain to this equality we
cannot be equal in spiritual things, and the blessings of God cannot
be bestowed upon us until we attain to this as they otherwise would.
As a people we are expecting the day to come when Jesus will descend
in the clouds of Heaven; but before this day comes we must be prepared
to receive him. The organization of society that exists in the heavens
must exist on the earth; the same condition of society, so far as it
is applicable to mortal beings, must exist here. And for this purpose
God has revealed this Order; for this purpose He is bringing us into
our present condition.
A great many of the Latter-day Saints scarcely understand the
persistency with which the Presidency of the Church has labored to
bring about the oneness of the people in temporal things; and this
cooperative movement is an important step in this direction and is
designed to prepare them for the ushering in of this Order to which I
have been alluding. It has already produced greater union, and it will
produce still greater union than anything that has been witnessed
among us; and if we carry it out in the spirit in which it has been
taught to us it will produce immense results. The Lord will bless us;
He will increase our means and pour into the laps of this people
everything necessary for their greatness in the earth. For be it known
unto you and to all people than God designs to make of the Latter-day
Saints the head; He intends to place in their hands and keeping the
wealth of the world. But before blessings of this description can be
poured upon us we must be prepared to receive and use them aright.
Suppose these things were to be poured upon us in our present
condition, what would be the result? Everyone can answer this
question for himself. Each one knows his or her own heart, and the
feelings by which it is animated. We know that if the whole people
were to be made rich it would be an exceedingly difficult matter to
control them; even with the little means we have today it is
one of the most difficult things to control the people in regard to
the disposition and correct use of that means.
In a revelation given on this subject in the year 1834, the Lord says—
"I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens, and built the earth, my very
handiwork; and all things therein are mine. And it is my purpose to
provide for my saints, for all things are mine. But it must needs be
done in mine own way; and behold this is the way that I, the Lord,
have decreed to provide for my saints, that the poor shall be exalted,
in that the rich are made low. For the earth is full, and there is
enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto
the children of men to be agents unto themselves. Therefore, if any man
shall take of the abundance which I have made, and impart not his
portion, according to the law of my gospel, unto the poor and the
needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in hell, being in
torment."
In another revelation on the same subject given in 1832, the Lord
says—
"For Zion must increase in beauty, and holiness; her borders must be
enlarged; her stakes must be strengthened; yea, verily I say unto
you, Zion must arise and put on her beautiful garments. Therefore, I
give unto you this commandment, that ye bind yourselves by this
covenant, and it shall be done according to the laws of the Lord.
Behold, here is wisdom also in me for your good. And you are to be
equal, or in other words, you are to have equal claims on the
properties, for the benefit of managing the concerns of your
stewardships, every man according to his wants and his needs, inasmuch
as his wants are just—And all this for the benefit of the church of
the living God, that every man may improve upon his talent, that every
man may gain other talents, yea, even an hundred fold, to be cast into
the Lord's storehouse, to become the common property of the whole
church—Every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all
things with an eye single to the glory of God.
"This order I have appointed to be an everlasting order unto you, and
unto your successors, inasmuch as you sin not. And the soul that sins
against this covenant, and hardeneth his heart against it, shall be
dealt with according to the laws of my church, and shall be delivered
over to the buffetings of Satan until the day of redemption."
While I am reading I will read another extract, that you may get the
idea more fully in your mind. After speaking of the treasury that
shall be appointed, in which shall be preserved the sacred things in
the treasury for sacred and holy purposes, which shall be called the
treasury of the Lord, the Lord continues—
"And again, there shall be another treasury prepared, and a treasurer
appointed to keep the treasury, and a seal shall be placed upon it;
And all moneys that you receive in your stewardships, by improving
upon the properties which I have appointed unto you, in houses, or in
lands, or in cattle, or in all things save it be the holy and sacred
writings, which I have reserved unto myself for holy and sacred
purposes, shall be cast into the treasury as fast as you receive the
moneys, by hundreds, or by fifties, or by twenties, or by tens, or by
fives. Or in other words, if any man among you obtain five dollars
let him cast them into the treasury; or if he obtain ten, or twenty,
or fifty or an hundred, let him do likewise; And let not any among
you say that it is his own; for it shall not be called his, nor any
part of it. And there shall not any part of it be used, or
taken out of the treasury, only by the voice and common consent of the
order. And this shall be the voice and common consent of the
order—that any man among you say unto the treasurer: I have need of
this to help me in my stewardship—If it be five dollars, or if it be
ten dollars, or twenty, or fifty, or an hundred, the treasurer shall
give unto him the sum which he requires, to help him in his
stewardship—Until he be found a transgressor, and it is manifest
before the council of the order plainly that he is an unfaithful and
an unwise steward. But so long as he is in full fellowship, and is
faithful and wise in his stewardship, this shall be his token unto
the treasurer that the treasurer shall not withhold."
From these extracts which I have read in your hearing you can form an
idea of the Order which God, our Heavenly Father, intends to establish
among us as soon as we are willing to enter upon it. It is not the
design of God that we should fall a prey to the evils that have
existed and that have worked out such misery and ruin among other
people. It is God's design to save and redeem us from the evils that
others have endured. It has been frequently remarked to me by men out
of our faith, when conversing upon our principles and the success
which has attended their proclamation: "Mr. Cannon, as long as the
Latter-day Saints are poor you will do very well; as long as you are
persecuted you will stand; but you will be like other people when
wealth increases in your midst—when you grow up into classes and some
are wealthy and some are poor, and your Church becomes popular, you
will be very likely to fall into the same evils and errors that have
characterized other churches." If God did not preside over this
Church, such expectations and predictions would doubtless be
fulfilled. But God presides; it is His Church, and He has provided
remedies for every one of these evils, by which the Church can be
preserved, and by which wealth can be increased in the midst of the
Latter-day Saints and yet not work out the injurious results that we
see elsewhere where it abounds. God has provided a way to prevent
this, and that way is to be found in the revelations that were given
unto us upwards of thirty-six years ago, and we can read and
understand them.
"Well," says one, "if such an Order as this you speak of be
established, will not the careless and indolent enjoy a share in the
blessings of those who are industrious? And will it not weaken the
hands of the energetic?" Not in the least. The man who is energetic
and faithful will receive the reward of his faithfulness. If he has a
large surplus of means he has more to put into the Treasury to help to
forward that kingdom he loves, and he is credited with it. In the day
of the Lord Jesus we are told He will say to him, "Thou hast been
faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many," and
such individuals will receive a reward in proportion to their
faithfulness. But if they hide up their talent in a napkin and bury it
in the ground, that which was given to them will be taken from them.
They who use their talents righteously and faithfully will have them
increased, but the unfaithful will be deprived of that which he seems
to have.
This Order will not have the effect that some anticipate, but it will
be a blessing to all who are engaged in it. There will not be any
temptation to seek for wealth for the sake of aggrandizing one's self
or to place one's heart upon riches, as there is now. This
temptation will be removed. I shall be able to love my neighbor. Why?
Because if I make off him in a trade I know that whatever I make goes
into the treasury and becomes the property of the whole Church,
therefore what inducement would there be to soil my soul and bring a
blot on my character by taking advantage of my neighbor when it is not
going to specially benefit me?
I look upon this principle as one of the greatest principles to save
people from avaricious and sordid feelings that God has ever revealed.
It will have a tendency to check dishonesty and remove want. It will
have a tendency to stop stealing and to cure the evils under which
mankind have groaned from the beginning until now. In the Gospel of
Jesus Christ there is a remedy for every evil that exists among men.
Here is the "social problem," that troubles the minds of all nations
today. The cities of Christendom are crowded with prostitutes; their
young men are destroyed in the dawn of their days by the terrible
crime of prostitution. How shall these fearful evils be cured? Has
there been sufficient wisdom found among men to do it? No; they have
confessed their utter inability to cope with it. It is overwhelming
them and sweeping them off like a flood throughout the length and
breadth of the land, until physicians say that half the diseases that
prevail among mankind in Christendom are directly traceable to this
devouring evil. What is to correct it? I answer, the Lord, through His
people—the Latter-day Saints—is revealing the remedy. You travel
throughout the Territory of Utah, from Bear Lake in the north to St.
George in the south, and what do you see? You see a people free from
secret diseases, you see a people free from the dreadful curse of
prostitution. Our young men and maidens grow up in all the vigor of
health and there is nothing to sap that vigor and lead them to a
premature grave. Then what is to correct these evils in the world? The
plan which God has revealed. It will bring about a pure condition of
things. If it were universally adopted the "social evil" would be
removed, and prostitution would soon cease to exist on the face of the
earth.
Will this plan—this glorious Order which God has revealed—correct the
other evils with which the world is afflicted? Yes, when that Order is
universally established there will no longer be any temptation to
steal, defraud one's neighbor or to commit any wrongs of this kind,
for it is said, and truly, that the love of money is the root of all
evil. The Order of which I speak will correct these evils because
there will be a treasury in the midst of the people, from which those
who are worthy can get that which they need to sustain them in their
stewardship, and into which all who have a surplus will pour their
wealth until it will become the common property of the church; and the
church under this organization which God has revealed will become a
great and mighty power in the midst of the earth.
We have great power now, though not numerically strong; we are not a
very great people so far as numbers are concerned, but we are strong
because we are united. The more wealth we have the greater is our
power, because the President of this Church can control this people,
therefore the people have power, and when our wealth shall be
controlled by the President of this Church, we shall have greater
power in the earth than we have today. But will that power be used for hurtful purposes? No; it will be used for beneficial ends,
for the amelioration of the condition of the human family, for the
practical inauguration of these great and glorious principles which
God has revealed; and it is to bring you to this condition that the
elders are laboring as they are; it is to bring you to this oneness
that they labor as they do continually—that they travel and preach to
and exhort the Saints all the day long to listen to the counsels of
God.
Although it has been deferred a good while it will yet be accomplished
and fulfilled and the people brought to a condition that is desired.
Much more might be said on this subject; but I am intruding on your
time. May God bless you, my brethren and sisters, and prepare us, as a
people, to receive the revelations of His will, which are true and
perfect and intended to elevate and exalt us, and to bring us back
into His presence, there to be crowned with glory and immortality:
which I pray may be the case with us all in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
- George Q. Cannon