The speaker read the 18th chapter of the Revelation of St. John, and
said: This chapter which I have read in your hearing, contains a
series of important predictions concerning Babylon. It is found four
chapters after another prediction concerning the restoration of the
Gospel. The sixth verse of the 14th chapter of the same book says:
"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the
everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to
every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud
voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment
is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and
the fountains of waters." The next verse says—"And there followed
another angel saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city,
because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication." We would infer from this that one consequence of the
preaching of the Gospel, or the declaration of it by this angel that
should fly through the midst of heaven, would be the downfall of
Babylon. We are not left in doubt, as Latter-day Saints, respecting
the application of this name Babylon. Commentators have been puzzled
to explain what this meant, or to what city or people it
applied, but in the records that have come to us this is made so plain
that I suppose there is no Latter-day Saint who entertains any doubt
respecting this matter. One consequence which should follow the
preaching of the Gospel, as I have said, should be the downfall of
Babylon; but in the first verses that I have read it appears there
should be a cry go forth before Babylon should fall. "And I heard
another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye
be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."
There should be, it appears from these passages that I have read in
your hearing, several events connected with the preaching of the
declaration of the Gospel by this angel that should fly through the
midst of heaven—there should be a cry go forth among the people to
come out of Babylon, out of this system which had made all nations
drunk with her fornications, and no doubt this would be done in a
manner that would be so remarkable that all the inhabitants of the
earth would have the testimony concerning it.
There have been a number of predictions made concerning the gathering
together of people from various nations and from the midst of various
peoples, Isaiah and Micah, two ancient prophets, have left on record
their plain predictions concerning certain events that should take
place in the last days connected with the gathering of people
together. Their predictions concerning these events are among the most
remarkable that are contained in their books, and as Latter-day Saints
we fully believe these events are taking place and have been taking
place for a great many years. Isaiah, in speaking about this matter,
uses very much the same language as Micah. He says in the 2nd chapter,
commencing at the 2nd verse: "And it shall come to pass in the last
days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the
top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills; and all
nations shall flow unto it. And many shall go and say, Come ye, and
let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of
Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his
paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the
Lord from Jerusalem."
Now this is a remarkable prediction concerning the gathering together
of the people in the last days. I have often thought in connection
with this latter-day work that one of the most remarkable features of
the divinity of the work is to be found in the gathering together of
the people called Latter-day Saints. As we firmly believe, the
prediction that I read concerning the coming of the angel with the
everlasting gospel has been fulfilled in the establishment of this
Church. The Elders of this Church have testified of this for many
years, in fact since its first organization—that it was necessary for
the everlasting gospel to be restored in its primitive simplicity and
purity from heaven, there being no Church in existence upon the earth
that possessed it, and, therefore, God the Eternal Father, in
fulfillment of his designs and the predictions of the Holy Prophets,
condescended to send angels from heaven to restore the primitive
Gospel with its accompanying gifts and powers from heaven.
The Elders of this Church have often been questioned as to the
necessity of such a revelation; for the Gospel, as they believe, was
in existence upon the earth. "Why," it, has been asked, "do
you mean to say that we do not have the Gospel? that we do not have
churches organized by the will of heaven? that the Christian religion
as believed and practiced by us is not divine?" These queries have
often been propounded to the Elders of this Church when they have
testified that God has restored through the ministration of holy
angels the everlasting gospel in its original purity. There has been
but one answer to these queries; that if the Church of Christ existed
in its original purity upon the earth, then which out of the numerous
sects was that Church? How shall we distinguish it? Hundreds of sects
exist upon the earth that profess to be the Church of Christ. The
ministers of these various sects claim that they are the ministers of
Jesus Christ, yet in many instances contend concerning doctrine,
concerning methods of Salvation, concerning ordinances concerning many
matters that in the mind of the great majority are deemed essential
unto salvation. For instance, there are Christian churches today
which believe in at least three forms of baptism. Now Paul has
expressly declared that there is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.
Yet, as I have said, there are churches which are considered orthodox
in christendom, that have three different forms of baptism. One
believes in sprinkling, another in pouring, and another in immersion.
And they differ as to the methods of immersion and the preparatory
steps to be taken before being immersed, and before being sprinkled,
and so with almost every cardinal doctrine of the Christian religion.
There being this diversity, a man with the Bible in his hand going
forth in the midst of the Christian sects with an anxious desire to
know which is of God, would be puzzled beyond expression to find out
which of the various churches laying claim to being divine, and to
being the authentic church of Christ, was the true church. He, if he
could not obtain knowledge from God, or some communication that would
satisfy his mind, would be compelled to give up in despair, or to
content himself with the idea that he would join that which suited him
best and risk the consequences, hoping that he would fall into the
hands of a merciful God. It is on this account that the Elders of this
Church have constantly testified that there was a necessity for divine
revelation; that in these days, God being the same yesterday, today
and forever, those who sought unto Him to obtain knowledge from Him in
the proper way, could obtain that knowledge, and could receive some
communication that would satisfy them as to the course which they
should take.
The Church of Christ—which is called the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints—has been organized as we testify according to the
original pattern, with Apostles and Prophets, with Evangelists, with
Pastors and Teachers, and the various officers that were contained in
the ancient church, having all the essential features of the primitive
church. But not this alone. The Gospel as taught is claimed to be the
same Gospel in every particular as was preached by the Savior while
upon the earth, and committed by him to his Apostles to declare unto
all nations; the same doctrine, the same ordinances, the same gifts
and the same blessings. The Latter-day Saints are distinct from all
other denominations which claim to be Christian in this respect: that
they claim that if they obey the same form of doctrine that
was taught by the servants of God anciently, and have the ordinances
administered by those having authority from heaven, that the same
results will follow, that the same gifts, the same blessings, the same
supernatural manifestations will attend the believers in those
doctrines today that attended believers in ancient days. Numerous
testimonies have been borne that these have been the results. In every
land where the Elders of this Church have gone to preach the Gospel,
hundreds have embraced it, and after having embraced it have testified
that they have received the gifts as promised by the Savior, and as
promised also by those who have gone forth to declare this Gospel. I
suppose that when these declarations have been made thousands of
persons have said—"If this be true, and if the supernatural gifts that
Jesus promised unto his disciples follow the preaching of your Gospel,
or that which you call 'Mormonism,' then why cannot you give us a
sign, that we may see for ourselves and be convinced that it is
divine?" This is a very easy way of appealing to the Elders and, as
many believe, of cutting them off from any further statement
respecting their claims until they show a sign. But those who ask this
forget that Jesus himself gave no signs to convince unbelievers. When
applied to himself to give a sign, he said it was a wicked and an
adulterous generation that sought for a sign, and no sign should be
given them. And on one occasion, when he visited a certain place, it
is recorded of him that he did no miracle because of the unbelief of
the people. Now it would seem that if signs had to be given to
convince the people that would have been the best place Jesus could
have labored, a place where unbelief was most prevalent, and when he
himself was appealed to. But he refused to do so. He did not come for
the purpose of giving men signs. They were told in the Scriptures that
"these signs shall follow them that believe," they should not come to
convince men and to make them believe. Now in this respect the
Latter-day Saints have had considerable experience. We know very well
that the Lord has not given signs for any such purpose, and yet I
suppose in this congregation, were liberty given to speak and to bear
testimony, there are hundreds and perhaps thousands under the shade of
this roof who would testify that they have seen the mighty power of
God follow the administration of the ordinances of this Church. But I
think myself that God has given unto us greater evidences and more
convincing than the working of miracles. In these days when there are
so many materialists, as they are called, when the senses of men are
appealed to, to convince them of supernatural power, it seems to me
that this is about one of the weakest evidences that could be brought
forward to establish the divinity of the work. If men were to work
miracles before me, to convince me of the truth of any system, I could
not be convinced by any such evidence. My mind is of such a character
that I could not accept miracles as evidence of the divinity of the
system with which the men were connected who worked these wonderful
powers. In fact we are told in the Scriptures, that the day would come
when miracles should be wrought by false prophets, and men would be
deceived by false evidence of this character. It is an easy thing to
deceive the senses, we see it every time our theater is
occupied by a magician—we see things done that hoodwink our senses.
Our eyes are deceived, our ears are deceived; all our senses are
deceived by shrewd, cunning men, by men who are expert in manipulating
various articles, and if they were to set themselves up as the
apostles of some system, and declare that these were the evidences of
the divinity of that system, and we should believe this sort of
evidence, we might be converted to error. All those who are familiar
with the Bible know the experience of Moses before Pharaoh. There was
scarcely a miracle that Moses wrought that the magicians of the king
did not imitate, and every miracle that was wrought only tended to
harden the heart of the king, and make him determined that he would
not let the children of Israel go, so that we see that miracles in and
of themselves are no evidence of the divinity of any system, nor of
the power and the authority from God of the men who work them.
But did the Lord ever have a people upon the earth at any time whom he
called his own who did not have power from God? If there ever was such
a people the Bible has failed to give us any account of them. From the
days of Adam down to the days of John the Revelator—a portion of whose
writing I have read this afternoon—he made manifest his power unto his
servants, and through his servants unto the inhabitants of the earth.
He has communicated his mind and His will in great plainness whenever
he had a people upon the earth; there is not a single exception. John
the Baptist, it is said was a mighty prophet. Jesus said no greater
prophet had been born of woman. Yet did no miracles, but he was
attended by great power. One reason why he was called the greatest
prophet ever born of woman was that he had the privilege of baptizing
the Son of God, a privilege that no other human being had, and it was
so great a privilege that doubtless it distinguished him above all the
prophets that had preceded him or that followed him. But he had
revelation from God, though he did no miracle, yet he was a prophet.
He was filled with the spirit of prophecy and of revelation, and he
declared in great plainness to the people who lived in Judea, that the
coming of the Messiah was near at hand, and when he baptized him, he
bore testimony that he was the veritable Son of God, the Messiah, and
he was greatly endowed by the Almighty, as were all his servants of
whom we have any account in the Scriptures. But as I have said, there
are evidences connected with the Church of God at all times which are
greater than those manifestations to which I have alluded which are
called supernatural and which men seem to greatly desire to behold. I
believe that if it were to be told to the inhabitants of the earth
that a man that was nigh unto death was about to be administered to by
"Mormon" Elders, and that he would be raised up from that bed of
sickness, that people would flock by thousands to witness that
manifestation. And if God would consent to do such a thing, do you
think they would believe any more in the divinity of the work of God
or in the mission of the men who had thus administered than they did
before? I do not believe that men can be convinced as they should be
convinced by such manifestations. It has been a matter of remark among
those who have had experience in this Church, that where men have been
brought into the Church by such manifestations, it has
required a constant succession of them to keep them in the Church;
their faith has had to be constantly strengthened by witnessing some
such manifestations; but where they have been convinced by the
outpouring of the spirit of God, where their judgment has been
convinced, where they have examined for themselves and become
satisfied by the testimony of Jesus in answer to their prayers and to
their faithful seeking unto the Lord for knowledge—where this has been
the case they have been more likely to stand, more likely to endure
persecution and trial than those who have been convinced through some
supernatural manifestation of the character to which I have alluded.
Now, this Apostle, whose writings I have read, has borne testimony
that a cry should go forth after the declaration of the everlasting
gospel to all the inhabitants of the earth to come out of Babylon. It
is a very remarkable fact connected with the preaching of this Gospel,
that wherever it has been preached, in every land to which the Elders
of the Church have gone, though nothing was said unto the people for
years after the Church was organized, concerning the doctrine which
had been revealed to the Church, that is, the doctrine of
gathering—though nothing had been said concerning that doctrine, the
spirit of gathering together took possession of the converts of this
Church. There are thousands of people throughout this Territory, who,
before they received this Gospel, never expected to leave the land of
their birth. Some born in the Eastern States, some in the Middle
States, some in the Southern States, some in the Western States, some
in Canada and in Europe, and in various parts of the earth—they had
not the remotest idea in their minds before they heard the preaching
of the "Mormon" Elders that they would ever leave their homes; they
never thought of it, it never entered into their minds. And yet it is
a very remarkable thing that when they heard the Gospel and became
convinced by its truth, directly afterwards, or simultaneously with
the hearing of it they were seized with an intense desire to leave the
land of their nativity, break up their old associations, and gather
with the people of God. I look upon this as one of the most remarkable
phenomena that has ever been witnessed. There is nothing we read of in
either sacred or profane history that approaches this work in being
remarkable. It is true that Moses led the children of Israel out of
the land of Egypt. But they were one people, they were only sojourning
in the land of Egypt. The traditions which had come down to them from
their fathers were that they should leave that land and go back to the
land which God had promised to their great ancestor Abraham. When
Moses came to them he came to fulfil preconceived ideas; he came to
carry out traditions that had come down to them and which were sacred
in their memories; they were looking for some such event as the
leading of them forth from bondage in Egypt to the land of Canaan. On
this account, therefore, it is not a parallel case. But we see in
these mountains from north to south, extending some 600 or perhaps 800
miles north and south, a string of settlements built up by people of
various nations who have not come to this land because of the
desirableness of the land; who have not come to Utah because it is
rich in minerals, who have not come to Utah because it
abounds in agricultural resources; who have not come to Utah because
it is a healthy climate, or because of some advantages of this
character. If we visit the settlements in Idaho, and converse with the
people who live in these settlements, and travel from there through
Utah, down into Arizona, and converse with the people in their
settlements and ask them the motive that prompted them to come to this
land—why are you here? Why did you leave your former homes? Some of
you are eastern people, some southern, some western, some from the
middle States, some from the various countries of Europe, some from
far-off Australia and New Zealand, and some even from Africa and from
the East Indies—you ask these people why did you come here? What
motive had you in view when you came to Utah to settle? And the
universal reply would be from every adult member of this Church, "I
came here because I believed it was the will of God I should do so. I
was prompted by a feeling I could not resist to leave my former home,
to dissolve my connection with my kindred, to break my old
associations and to travel and cast my lot with the Latter-day
Saints." This would be the universal response if the people were
interrogated upon this point. Some have left pleasant homes, which
before hearing and obeying the Gospel they never expected to leave, it
was a matter they had not contemplated. Now to my mind, my brethren
and sisters, this is one of the most remarkable features of this work
to see a people moved, upon as this people have been in various lands,
all taking up their line of march and gathering together into one
place. As I have said, we fail to see anything in his tory that
corresponds with it. In the days of the Apostles, such a doctrine was
not taught. The Apostles built up branches of the Church in various
places where they could get opportunity. They baptized the people and
organized them and left them, and they were overcome in time. There
was no gathering place. It was so in previous ages. But in these days,
in conformity as I firmly believe, and as the most of you doubtless
believe—in conformity with the prediction that I have read, the
prediction of Isaiah, and in conformity with the prediction of the
Apostle John, when he said there should be another voice calling upon
the people to come out from Babylon—in conformity with these
predictions these things have been accomplished. Now if I were to ask
you, could I or could any other man induce you by any human reasoning
to have done this unless you yourselves had been moved upon? I know
very well what your response would be. You would say that it would be
impossible for any human influence to have operated upon your minds to
have brought this about. You are witnesses in this respect of the
power of God upon you. You know whether it was the inducements held
out by the Elders; you know whether it was the preaching of the
Elders, whether it was the arguments of the Elders, or whether it was
any other influence of this character that operated upon your mind in
this matter. If the thousands that are numbered in this Church had the
opportunity of testifying, they would say, "I was moved upon by a
power that I could not resist. I had enjoyed the society of my
friends, I had intended to live with them all my life before I heard
this Gospel; but when I heard it a greater love sprang up in my heart, than I had ever before known. The love of kindred became
feeble as compared with it. I felt as though I could not be happy away
from the society of those who believe as I believe and who had
embraced the same truths that I had embraced. I therefore dissolved my
connection with my kindred. I bade them farewell, and I went forth a
stranger to cast my lot among a strange people whom I had learned to
love because I had received the same spirit that they possessed." And
we all know—every one who has had any experience in this Church—how
strong that feeling is. Why, to keep the Latter-day Saints from
gathering together you would have to put them in dungeons, you would
have to deprive them of their liberty. The most powerful magnet never
attracted towards it a substance for which it had affinity with any
greater influence than this Gospel has attracted the people who
comprise the Church. I look upon it as I have said, as one of the most
remarkable phenomena connected with the latter days that we behold
anywhere among the human family at the present time. It is a most
wonderful spectacle. Here are people of almost every nationality known
to Christendom, people speaking almost every variety of language—that
is, the language of every Christian nation—not trained alike, not
educated in the same schools, not brought up in the same religion,
with varied traditions, and varied knowledge, yet they are drawn from
the various nations of the earth, into one place impelled by one
common impulse; for it is not the least remarkable fact connected with
this that those who come from every land seem to possess the same
influence. I have had the opportunity myself, at least on one
occasion, of seeing nine different nationalities leaving Europe on
board one ship. They sang songs composed of the same truths in their
various languages, all bore the same testimony, all were moved upon by
the same influence, and all dwelt together as if they were of one
family. Now, it might be supposed that people coming from various
nations would be hard to control, would be quarreling, would have
feelings of national jealousy, and that strife and contention would
grow up amongst them. But the contrary is the case. Someone may say
that this is brought about by the influence of the "Mormon" leaders;
"You 'Mormons,'" says one, "have shrewd leaders;
Joseph Smith was a
shrewd man, a man of wonderful magnetic power, as also was Brigham
Young." But Joseph Smith and Brigham Young are dead. Yet it is said
that the leaders are shrewd men still, and that they control and
influence the people. What a wonderful thing! What a wonderful power
that men by delusion—for it is said to be a delusion—can accomplish
such great works without the aid of truth and light and intelligence!
Let any number of intelligent men with all the advantages that they
may possess attempt to do what the ignorant, unlearned Latter-day
Saints have done; let any body of men in Christendom go to and attempt
to establish such an organization as we witness in Utah Territory, and
what will be the result? If any doubt this let them try it. Let any
sect try it. Take the best and most enlightened, the most powerful
church that contains the greatest purity and the greatest truth—let
them attempt to do anything like what has been done by these
unlearned, illiterate, ignorant "impostors," as they are
called, and see what the result will be. Let the Catholics, the
Episcopalians, the Presbyterians, the Baptists, the Methodists, or any
other denomination, or let any combination of scientific men attempt
anything of the kind, and see what the result will be. For fifty years
the Elders of this Church have been preaching the Gospel. We have
traversed the whole of the United States and the Canadas, and nearly
all the nations of Europe, and this people have been gathered out from
these nations, and there is no failure connected with the labor. Men
have apostatized, as we see; they have denied the faith; men and women
have left the Church, and they have used all their influence against
the Church, yet the work is still onward, and every hour has brought
acquisitions from abroad. Wherever the Elders have gone to preach this
Gospel they have found men and women who were willing to receive the
truth and rejoice in it, and to cast their lot with the people of God
and to endure all the consequences attached thereto. Now, until there
can be something of a similar character to this accomplished, I think
that men ought to be careful about charging the Latter-day Saints with
being impostors, and this work as being the work of imposture; unless
there is found something that is parallel to it, unless there is a
power exhibited by somebody else that is equivalent to it, or at least
will bear comparison with it, I think men and women should be modest
in their statement that it is all a delusion and humbug. You, my
brethren and sisters, know very well it is no such thing. You know
that no body of men could have convinced you by their human power to
have done what you have done, and no human power could have blended
the people into one, as they are throughout all these valleys.
There is one thing that distinguishes the Latter-day Saints from every
other people that I know anything about—and I have traveled
considerably—and that is, they love one another. It is not in name, it
is not a profession of love, but they fire a people that love another
so strongly that they are willing to die for each other if it is
necessary, and it is that deep and abiding love that binds them in
union. Travel among the "Mormons" wherever you will, north or south,
east or west, at home or abroad, in the United States or in foreign
lands, this love is a distinguishing characteristic of the people, you
behold it everywhere. Men may never have beheld each other's faces and
yet they will love one another, and it is a love that is greater than
the love of woman. It exceeds any sexual love that can be conceived
of, and it is this love that has bound the people together. It has
been a cement that all the persecution, all the tribulation and all
kinds of trial could not dissolve or break; and the extraordinary
feature of it all is, as I have said, that this people who are thus
bound together are not a people of one township, not a people of one
nation, not a people of one language, but they are as diverse as it is
possible to get the human family to be. It would not be so strange if
all were Americans, or all eastern men, born in New England, brought
up with the traditions of New England; it would not be so strange if
all were men of the middle States, or of the northern States or of the
western States. But who is there that asks among the "Mormons" or
Latter-day Saints as to a man's nationality? Who is it asks where a
man or woman came from? Here are Danish, French, German,
Italian, English, American—northern, southern, eastern and western
men—all living together as brothers, full of love for each other; none
of that rancorous feeling that exists between nationalities is to be
witnessed in Utah Territory. This entire people can be moved by a hair
when it is in the right direction. Men say it is priestly influence,
and it is something that should be broken to pieces. It is dangerous,
they say, to America. Why it is all folly. Let anybody try to drive
this people, and it will be found that they will die in their tracks
before they will be driven. There is no more independent people lives
upon the face of the earth than the Latter-day Saints in this
mountains. A more determined and unyielding people I never met with.
The men whom I associate with, why you might as well try to bend a bar
of steel as to bend them; they will not bend, and yet they can be led
by a hair. But they must know that what they are advised to do is
right. Here are men and women who have sacrificed their all, who have
been willing to give up their homes, who have had their homes burned
over their heads, their cattle shot down, every piece of property
taken from them, and then were driven out ruthlessly and cruelly by
mobs. Yet they endured all rather than forsake their religion; they
could not be driven—that is, they could not be driven into apostasy;
no, they would have died before they would have yielded. If there is
one characteristic, one peculiarity that the Latter-day Saints are
noted for more than another it is for their unyielding tenacity to
principle, and any man that would drive them in any capacity, be he
Priest, Elder, Apostle or President, would find that he had undertaken
a job that he could not carry out.
What is it, then, that makes this people united? It is the outpouring,
as I testify, of the Spirit of God. Others will say it is something
else, but I say it is the Spirit of God, and these are the fruits of
that spirit as borne testimony to by ancient Prophets and Apostles.
They said it would be so, Jesus prayed in the last great prayer that
he offered unto his Father that his disciples might be one even as he
and his Father were one. This was the great distinguishing character
of his Church; and we learn from the Scripture record that they were
one in heart and one in feeling. They would suffer persecution, they
would go to prison, they would suffer death, for the sake of their
religion. The Latter-day Saints have exhibited the same qualities.
They have been patient, long-suffering, forbearing, and averse to
quarrels and litigation. There is no disposition to go to law and
quarrel with one another, and yet every man is tenacious of his
rights. The people who have embraced this Gospel have had to think for
themselves. It is no light matter to become a "Mormon." It involves
serious consequences. Our people may be ignorant in certain
directions, but they are not ignorant about the Gospel and about the
Bible. They understand the Bible and know upon what their faith is
based, and they have clear conceptions of duty and personal rights,
and yet in this Territory there is little or no litigation among the
Latter-day Saints. Who ever hears of "Mormons" going to law with one
another? It is a rare thing. They have a way of settling their
differences as brothers and sisters should and as all christian men
and women should.
What is going to be the result of all this? Why, this work
will go on. This work which the world call "Mormonism," but which I
call the Church and Kingdom of God, will roll forth. It will draw to
itself everything that is honest and pure. Despised today, looked
upon today with contempt, it will evince qualities in the eyes of the
world that will yet wield a power in the earth. As I have often said a
people who are frugal, temperate, industrious, peaceable, united, who
do not blaspheme, who do not commit outrages, but attend to their own
business, must make their mark in the world. They must live in
the struggle for existence. They will live; the qualities that they
possess cannot die, they cannot be extinguished very readily.
Wherever Latter-day Saints have control good government prevails,
honesty prevails; you do not find people heavily taxed; you do not
find officers consuming all the taxes for their salaries. No; you will
find peace, good order and honesty. We are lied about! Yes, all manner
of lies are circulated concerning us. I have heard men say that when
they came to Salt Lake they were actually afraid of their lives
because of the falsehoods that had been sent abroad. Why, from some of
the stories that have been circulated one would think that a "Mormon"
Apostle ate a man for breakfast every morning; that he was never
satisfied unless he breakfasted upon somebody not of his faith. I do
not think that to look at the Apostles and the leading men that they
would give anybody such an idea. They do not look very savage nor very
ferocious. Yet, these lies are being told and circulated, and they
have their effect upon certain classes. But like all the lies in the
past, we shall outlive them. It would be amusing to read all the lies
that have been used in days past and gone. But there is a new batch in
process of incubation all the time, and when the old ones get stale
the new ones come forth adapted to the change of the case. Yet
notwithstanding all this we continue to live. Lies do not hurt us. I
do not think they cause us to sleep any the less. They do not cause us
to enjoy any the less our pleasant homes, our fruit, or these
beautiful streams that come from the mountains. We have learned that
we can live and be lied about. We will continue to live and increase.
Now, my brethren and sisters, I am exceedingly thankful myself that
God has revealed the truth, and that he has commanded his people to
gather out of Babylon, that they may be free from the corruption that
exists therein. We know there is a condition of society at the present
time on the earth, which corresponds exactly with that which the
Apostle John predicts, and which I read. You read it at your leisure
and you will find that everything in modern society is represented in
the 18th chapter of John's Revelation. Now, God has commanded his
people to come out of Babylon. We are trying to do it. We are trying to
establish a new order of society, not to tear down the old, but to
establish a new order that will grow and increase, and be better than
the old one. Everything connected with this people has for its design
the renovation of the earth from the evils which exist at the present
day. I am thankful there is a prospect for myself and my children in
this respect; for when I look at society as it exists, its hollowness,
I confess if I had no hope only in that to be found in such society, I
would have no desire for life, and I certainly would not care
about having a family. But when I think of the society that the
Latter-day Saints are trying to establish, every man having his
rights, every woman enjoying her rights, I have hope for myself and
for my children. I believe that they can live and not be preyed upon.
I think with pleasure about the future, the union and the love that I
hope will continue to grow and increase among the people. There is a
desire to feel after and help each other, to care for somebody else
besides ourselves. I notice a disposition of this kind, and I think in
many breasts it is growing and increasing.
I pray God that we may continue to develop in this direction; that we
may humble ourselves before God and call upon him in mighty prayer to
aid us in our endeavors; that when we are disposed to be lifted up in
pride that we will go to God and ask him to show us our true
condition. We get the idea occasionally that we are a very good
people; individually we get lifted up by vanity and pride; we forget
who we are. Why, in the sight of our God, in the sight of his purity
we can imagine how impure we are, and how far we are from being what
we should be. Let us, therefore, go unto him and call upon him in the
name of Jesus for his blessing. We believe in God. We believe that he
is today, as he was in ancient days; a God who hears and answers
prayer; who is well able to hear and answer the prayers of his
children today as he was 1,800 years ago. Let us go to him and implore
his blessing upon us, upon our children, upon the honest in heart in
all the earth who desire to serve God. May God bless you in the name
of Jesus. Amen.
- George Q. Cannon