In arising to address you, my brethren and sisters, this evening, I
desire an interest in your faith and prayers, that I may be led to
speak upon those points of doctrine or of principles, that are adapted
to our wants and to the circumstances which surround us.
It is a great responsibility to arise as a teacher to a great people
like those who have assembled within this house this evening,
especially to speak in the name of the Lord, and I do not
believe that any man should do this unless he can have the assistance
of that spirit which God has promised to bestow upon His servants.
We who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
believe in God; not a God who lived a few thousand years ago, but a
God who lives today; a God who has a voice with which to speak
today, and who has arms and a head, and bodily as well as spiritual
powers, who can communicate His mind and His will unto His children,
with the same facility in the days in which we live as He did in the
days of the Savior and His disciples, or in the days of the prophets.
If there is any feature characteristic of the present age that is more
notable than another, it is the decay of faith in God. It is a
characteristic of our age and time, and it is one that is increasingly
manifesting itself among what are termed the Christian nations. I have
myself frequently—especially of late years—been struck with the
contrast between the present unbelief and the faith concerning God,
which existed in the days when I first went out to preach the Gospel,
or in the days of my youth. Skepticism is increasing on every hand,
and if it were not for this Church, and the faith that is cherished by
the Latter-day Saints, and which they are endeavoring to instill into
the minds of their children, and of all unto whom they have access,
there would be no Church of which I have any knowledge that, as a
church, believes in God our Eternal Father, as he is described in the
Scriptures—a God who can hear and answer—literally answer—the prayers
of those who address Him in faith. The idea has become very prevalent
of late years, in the so-called Chris tian world, that God does not
interfere by any special providence in behalf of any people or of any
individual; that He governs the universe and the earth upon which we
stand, and the inhabitants of which we form a part, by grand and
universal laws, and that those laws are never overruled. In other
words, that there is no special interposition of providence in behalf
of individuals or of peoples, but that the Lord rules by those grand
laws which are applicable to all, and which all have to submit to,
and that He does not concern Himself to listen unto the appeals of
individuals in behalf of themselves, or of those in whom they are
interested, or to have any special providence extended unto nations;
and it is this feature of belief that causes mankind who are familiar
with us, to entertain such ideas respecting our future as they
frequently indulge in. You will often hear it said—I have heard it
stated I may say hundreds of times when I have spoken to friends who
are not of our faith, concerning the interposition of providence in
our behalf; and the faith that we had respecting the deliverances that
would be wrought out for us—I have been told that God is on the side
of the strongest battalions, that God is on the side of the heaviest
artillery; that God is on the side of the greatest numbers; and I have
often provoked smiles of incredulity by the simple statement of our
faith in God, and our hopes and anticipations concerning the care that
He had had over us, the deliverances which He has wrought out for us,
and the promises that He had made unto us concerning the future.
Upon this point and in this respect we differ, as I have remarked,
from every people with whom I am acquainted—in this feature of our religion, this implicit trust in a God who can hear and who
can answer prayer, in a God who is not on the side of the greatest
numbers, unless the greatest numbers are in the right; in a God whose
power is not exerted in behalf of the strongest battalions, nor of the
heaviest artillery, unless the strongest battalions and the heaviest
artillery are in the right. We believe, as it has sometimes been
stated, that God and one man are a great majority, and that when He
purposes to accomplish a certain work, all the powers of earth and the
powers of hell combined cannot prevent the accomplishment of that
work; that there is no power that can by any possibility defeat His
purposes; and that He will interpose by the exercise of His Almighty
power in behalf of the individual, in behalf of the community, or in
behalf of the nation concerning whom He has spoken, and who are
seeking to do his will. We have proved this, at least to our own
satisfaction. The history of the people is full of illustrations of
the most remarkable character establishing this truth, so far as we
are concerned, beyond all controversy; and I am happy to say that this
faith is increasing instead of decreasing among the Latter-day Saints.
I am happy in this knowledge. In my associations with our people in
various places, I find that there is a steady growth of faith in that
God whom we worship, and in His power to save and to deliver us, and
in his power to bless us and to grant unto us the righteous desires of
our hearts. This does not necessarily require a suspension of law. It
was no suspension of law on the part of our Savior, that caused Him to
gather from the elements the bread and the fishes necessary to feed
the multitude. It was no suspension of law that caused Him to open the
eyes of the blind, or to cause the sick to be healed. It was no
suspension of law that caused Him to ascend in the sight of His
disciples after His resurrection when He visited them. I know that
miracles are said to be a suspension of law; but instead of their
being a suspension of law, they are due to a knowledge of a higher
law, to a comprehension of greater laws, by the knowledge of which,
what are called miracles are wrought. To a person who never saw the
effect of electricity, if he were in this Tabernacle and were to see
these lights kindled instantaneously by the touch of electricity—a
person who did not understand the laws of electricity, would say, "Why
this is miraculous." Or to an ignorant person, a person who knew
nothing of the law of electricity, it would seem marvelous that one
standing at the end of a wire, stretched under the ocean could, by
touching that wire, communicate a distance of nearly 3,000 miles, and
could talk to a person at the other end of the wire. Had this been
mentioned in the days of our forefathers, they would have declared it
was an impossibility. Such power would have been miraculous in their
eyes, and they would have said that such a thing was contrary to all
known laws concerning the transmission of sound and thought; but to us
who understand this law—or if we do not understand it, who see the
operations of electricity; who know that we can go to the telegraph
office and send a message to Europe from this city, and get a reply
within a few hours; in fact, receive it here at a time of the day
earlier than it was transmitted from there, which is frequently done.
We, who witness this, no longer look upon it as a miracle, or as a
suspension of law, or a violation of the laws which govern the
transmission of sound or thought. We accept it because we have become
familiar with it. And so, if we understood the law by which Jesus
operated when He fed the multitude, it would be as simple to us as the
law of electricity is today. If we understood the law by which the
sick were healed, and sight restored to the blind, or by which He
counteracted the laws of gravitation, and ascended in the sight of His
disciples into heaven—if we understood these laws, they would be
simple to us, as all laws are when they are understood.
There is no suspension of law on the part of our Father when He
interposes in behalf of His children. He has ministering spirits who
minister unto those, as the Apostle tells us, who shall be heirs of
salvation. Jesus conveys the idea very beautifully, when He says, that
not one hair of our heads falls to the ground unnoticed. This was the
kind of faith which He taught His disciples, and it is the kind of
faith that was believed in by the ancients, by those who wrote the
Bible, by those who wrote the Book of Mormon, and it is the faith that
is transmitted to us, which God is endeavoring to establish in the
hearts of the children of men, to bring them nearer to Him, and enable
them to partake of that power which He is willing to bestow upon men,
if they will follow after Him.
As I have said, the history of this Church is full of instances of
this character. When we started out from the State of Illinois, and
crossed the Mississippi when it was frozen over, the leading men of
this Church, sending their wagons on with the few goods they had, they
launched forth into a wilderness, not knowing where they were going.
Moses and the children of Israel, when they left Egypt, had a more
definite idea of their destination than the Latter-day Saints had,
when they left Illinois; because the children of Israel knew that the
promises which had been made to their father Abraham, concerning
Canaan, (and which was the residence of the heads of their tribes)
must be fulfilled. The traditions of the people led them to look back
to Canaan, as the land which they would eventually inherit. But there
were no such traditions for us to lean upon. Before the people
stretched an uninhabited wilderness, two thousand miles in extent,
concerning which but little was known, but the people had no
hesitation. God had spoken by the mouth of His servant Joseph Smith,
the Prophet, concerning the Latter-day Saints, that they should be in
the Rocky Mountains, and should become a numerous people, a great
people. The Twelve Apostles who then presided over the Church, were
led by the Spirit of God to organize the people into companies, and to
encourage them to look forward to a journey in the wilderness to a
land to which God would lead us, and that when we should find it, we
should know it was the land that He designed for us. There were
inviting places in Iowa, for Iowa was then comparatively uninhabited.
We followed Indian trails with our wagons, for there was no regular
wagon road. We built bridges across the streams of Iowa—that is,
streams that were not fordable—over which to take our wagons and
cattle. The whole country was a waste. The Latter-day Saints might,
had they chosen, have settled there, but the voice of the Spirit was
not to settle there. We crossed the Missouri River, remained during
the winter upon its banks, and then in the spring the pioneers
launched out through what is now the State of Nebraska, which was then
Indian Territory. The fertility of those plains did not tempt them to
make that their abiding place, but they pressed on, not a man in the
company knowing where they were going, not a man in the company who
had ever trod the ground before, or who knew anything, by practical
experience, of the character of the region upon which they were
entering.
Now, this was faith in God. It is easy to say, after it has been
demonstrated that settlements could be made in these mountains—that
crops could be raised—it is easy to say that this was not much of an
undertaking. I am reminded of a story told of Columbus. After he had
made the discovery of America, and returned to Spain, upon one
occasion, while at a banquet with a number of Spanish grandees,
someone made light of the discovery he had made, of the voyage that he had
undertaken, and the result of it. He picked up an egg that was lying
near, and asked which of them could make that egg stand on end. They
all tried it, but failed; they could not make the egg stand on end. He
thereupon took the egg, knocked it on the table, and flattened it, and
made the egg stand. "Gentlemen," said he, "it is easy to make an egg
stand on end when you know how to do it." It is easy to discover a
land after it has been discovered. It is easy to talk about the
settlement of these valleys, and that which has been done here; after
the work has been accomplished and the problem has been solved; after
it has been demonstrated beyond all possible doubt that this country
is habitable, that these valleys will produce crops to sustain human
life, and that these streams that flow from the mountains can be used
for the irrigating of these lands, and used successfully. But there
was a time when there was a doubt concerning this. When the pioneers
reached this valley, there was no doubt in the mind of the man who led
the people, whatever there might be in the minds of others. His mind
was clear, and the whole people felt that he had the right from God,
as His servant, to designate the spot. They had faith to believe that
God would sustain them in doing what they were told, and they planted
themselves on this spot, having faith in God, believing that He would
hear them, believing that He had heard them, believing that he would
still continue to protect them, and fulfill all His promises which He
had made, and they proved then, if they had not proved before, that
God the Eternal Father is a God nigh at hand and not afar off. And
when the crickets came down, as they did in 1848, in myriads from the
mountains, blackening the whole face of the valley, sweeping off
during one night fields of grain that were as promising as fields
could be, and leaving them as bare as the palm of a man's hand, even
then their faith did not fail: they still had confidence that that God
who had led them thus far would still continue to preserve them, and
would supply their wants; and when it seemed as though their faith had
been tried to the very uttermost, when the last point had been
reached, God interposed by a very natural means. He did not come down
Himself, that is in our sight, for us to see Him visibly; His angels
did not come for us to see them visibly; but He sent the gulls who
came by thousands, and devoured those crickets, leaving them in heaps
along the edges of the water ditches. Having eaten their fill, they
then vomited, and having eaten again, vomited again, and thus
continued the work of devouring, until every field was clear of those
destructive insects. Now, an unbeliever might not have seen the hand
of God in this, but the hearts of the Latter-day Saints did see His
hand, and profound gratitude was aroused. Prayers of thanksgiving
ascended unto the God of heaven for His interposition in our behalf.
The people felt that their God was still near to them, that He still
heard and answered their prayers, and granted unto them the desires of
their hearts.
And thus it has been from that day until the present time.
Notwithstanding the many measures that have been taken against us as a
people, the many plots that have seemed so promising to those who
framed them concerning the destruction of the Latter-day Saints; when
it has seemed that destruction was inevitable, that no power could
save us, God has interposed by His wonderful power and we have
escaped, and today, notwithstanding these many efforts, we are a free
people in the mountains, having the privilege, that God said we should
have, of worshipping Him, and enjoying peace and prosperity, if we
would but continue to put our trust in him and keep His commandments;
so that today, throughout all these valleys, from one end to the
other, there is a people found who, notwithstanding all the threats
that are fulminated, all the projects that are started, all the
efforts that are made to destroy us as a religious organization, to
break down our liberties, to rob us of those rights which are dear to
every man who has been born free—notwithstanding these threats, a
reign of peace and undisturbed quiet prevails throughout all these
valleys, in the breasts, in the houses, in the family circles, of all
the Latter-day Saints from one end of this land to the other. A
grander exhibition of faith, a more sublime exhibition of confidence
in God cannot be witnessed anywhere upon the face of the earth, than
is afforded by the example of the Latter-day Saints. They do bear
witness unto the heavens, unto God the Eternal Father, unto holy
angels, and unto all men, that whatever unbelief may prevail
elsewhere, whatever the feelings of skepticism may be in other lands,
and among other peoples, they at least have, unwaveringly and
undoubtingly, relied upon His glorious promises, and are willing to
trust him to the very uttermost, believing that He is indeed a God who
is, as I have said, near at hand and not afar off. In fact, outside of
this people you can scarcely find a man or a woman who has any clear
conception concerning God Himself. You ask members of churches, "What
is your God like? Who is the Being whom you worship?" —and the reply,
doubtless, of many, would be, "great is the mystery of godliness. That
is something we do not comprehend." It is a forbidden topic, almost.
You ask ministers of religion concerning the character and form of
God, and how few there are who will attempt to make any sort of a
reasonable answer. They have no idea, scarcely. Do they believe Him to
be a personal being? I have scarcely ever found a professing Christian
who did believe this. They say God is a spirit. True enough. But has
God no powers? Is God a diffused substance, filling all creation? That
is the idea that many have. And you get the professed Christian and
the professed infidel, and let each of them talk about God, and they
are as near together as it is possible to be. The infidel who
has no faith in God, believes in nature. The Christian, who professes
to believe in God, if he attempts to define his God, will describe him
something as an infidel would the creative power.
But what is the truth concerning God? Let us hear what Moses says—
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of
the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he
him; male and female created he them."
What could be plainer than this! "God created man in his own image, in
the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."
Again Moses says:
"This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God
created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
"Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their
name Adam, in the day when they were created."
Yet with this Bible in their hands, you will scarcely find a professed
Christian who believes this statement of Moses, that God created man
in his own image, notwithstanding the fact that Paul in two or three
places in his epistles, actually says that Jesus is the express image
of his Father's person. He wrote so to the Galatians. He wrote so to
the Hebrews. He told them that Jesus Christ was the express image of
God his Father. And we have the fact recorded, that Abraham talked
with God, and that Abraham plead with God. You remember the occasion
when three personages came down and visited Abraham. Abraham it is
said, talked with the Lord, and plead with Him concerning the
destruction which was about to come upon Sodom. He plead that if there
should be fifty righteous men found in Sodom, would He spare the city?
He plead that if there should be but forty-five, or forty, or thirty,
or twenty, and finally he came down to ten—that if ten righteous men
were found, would He spare the city? and He promised He would. He
talked with Him as one man talketh with another. Again, we have the
record of Moses in Exodus, where he tells us that the seventy Elders
of Israel ate and drank in the presence of the God of Israel. We have
the statement also that the two tables of stones which contained the
law and the testimony, were written by the finger of God, by his own
finger. And when Moses plead with Him that He might see His person,
He told him that he should see His back parts; but His face should
not be seen. He gave that promise to Moses, and Moses saw His person.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whom we worship as God, was a man
like unto us, so much so that his divinity was not recognized through
any external signs by the Jews. There was nothing about his person
that they could discover that would make Him a God, the creator of the
heavens and the earth, any more than the Sandwich Islanders could
discover in the person of Captain Cook, who discovered their Islands.
They believed him to be a god when he first came in their midst; but
he showed signs of mortal fear, by which they knew he was not a god,
and they slew him. The Jews tested, as they thought most thoroughly,
the divinity of Jesus. When they hung Him upon the cross, they
said mockingly, "If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross."
They assumed that they would believe and accept Him as the Son of God,
if He would come down from the cross. He was in all respects a man, so
far as the outward appearance was concerned; His exterior was that of
a man; but, nevertheless, He was a God. He was the first begotten Son
of the Eternal Father, who sits enthroned in glory and majesty,
surrounded by burning fire. He was the Son of that Being, and was the
express image of His person, like Him, having a head, having the
senses that men have, having all the bodily features that we have, and
His Father was precisely like Him, or He, in other words, was
precisely like His Father. There is nothing more plainly conveyed and
taught than this in the Scriptures of divine truth, the Bible, and yet
men professing to teach godliness and to teach God, endeavor to
destroy that feeling and that faith in the minds of the people.
When such misconceptions as these exist in the minds of the children
of men, of course there cannot be correct faith exercised; men who do
not know to whom to go, on whom to call, or to whom to pray. "This is
eternal life," says Jesus, "that they might know thee the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent." That was eternal life—to
know Him, to comprehend Him, to understand the Being that gave us
life, that created us. Therefore, when a man understands this he goes
to God with perfect confidence. He asks God as he would his earthly
father for that which he desires.
My brethren and sisters, it is a glorious truth that has been taught
to us, that we are literally the chil dren of God, that we are his
literal descendants, as Jesus was literally descended from Him, and
that He is our Father as much as our earthly parent is our father, and
we can go to Him with a feeling of nearness, knowing this,
understanding it by the revelations which God has given to us.
I would like to read to you a little to refresh your minds and to show
you how this faith which had been so long lost to the earth was
restored; for the memory of it—the memory of what God was like, had
died out of the human mind. Hundreds of years had elapsed since any
man had seen God. All that was known, therefore, respecting Him, His
personality and His attributes, was that which was written in the
Bible; but through the spiritualizing that had taken place, through
the attachment of double meanings to the plain word of God, it caused
the truth to fade away from men's minds. There was no man upon the
earth of whom we have any knowledge, who could tell any thing about
God, or about an angel. As I remarked here a few Sundays ago, the
general idea that prevailed in regard to angels was, that they were
half fowl, that they were men or women with feathered wings growing
out of their backs. I know that there are creatures referred to in the
Scriptures, who have wings, but they are not men, they are not angels,
such as come and minister unto the human family. Yet you will see in
all the pictorial representations of angels in our family Bibles
beings dressed somewhat like a woman, with features resembling those
of a woman, and with feathered wings growing out on their backs. These
ideas became common, and still prevail throughout Christian nations.
Now, as I have said, the true con ception of God, like the true
conception of angels, had vanished from the minds of the children of
men. But Joseph Smith, prompted by the Spirit of God, chosen, as I
fully believe, as the old prophets were, from before the beginning of
the world, to lay the foundation of this great latter-day work, was
moved upon to inquire of God. I will read a little of what is said
concerning this:
"While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the
contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the
Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any
of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth unto men liberally
and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. Never did any passage
of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at
this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every
feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that
if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not
know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never
know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood
the same passage so differently as to destroy all confidence in
settling the question by an appeal to the Bible. At length I came to
the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or
else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came
to the determination to "ask of God," concluding that if He gave wisdom
to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid,
I might venture. So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask
of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the
morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of 1820. It was
the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst
all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.
"After I had retired into the place where I had previously designed to
go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down
and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely
done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which
entirely overcame me, and had such astonishing influence over me as to
bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered
around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to
sudden destruction. But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to
deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me,
and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and
abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the
power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such a
marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this
moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head,
above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it
fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from
the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two
Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing
above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said,
pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!
"My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all
the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No
sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to
speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light,
which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never
entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join. I
was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong;
and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an
abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: "they
draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me,
they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of
godliness, but they deny the power thereof."
"He again forbade me to join with any of them; and many other things
did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time. When I came to
myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up into
heaven."
Here is the testimony of one who actually saw the Father and the Son.
They were as described by all who have seen them—literal personages,
personages with tabernacles, the Son being the express image of the
Father. John the Revelator, also saw one that was like unto the Son of
Man. He describes his person. You remember that he fell down and
worshipped an angel upon one occasion, thinking it was the Lord, and
the angel forbade him doing so, telling him that he must not worship
him, that he was one of his fellowservants, the prophets. John,
however, had a correct conception of the great truth that the Son was
in the exact image of His Father.
Now, not only have we this testimony, but we have the testimony of
others concerning this matter. Doubtless you will remember, my
brethren and sisters, what is said respecting this in the vision that
has come to us. It was a vision that was seen by Joseph Smith and
Sidney Rigdon. To them was revealed the eventual fate of the various
inhabitants of the earth, the various glories and kingdoms which our
Father and God has in reserve for His children. Now, say they:
"And while we meditated upon these things, the Lord touched the eyes
of our understandings and they were opened, and the glory of the Lord
shone round about.
"And we beheld the glory of the Son, on the right hand of the Father,
and received of his fulness;
"And saw the holy angels, and them who are sanctified before his
throne, worshiping God, and the Lamb, who worship him forever and
ever.
"And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him,
this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That He
lives!
"For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice
bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—
"That by him, and through him, and of him the worlds are and were
created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters
unto God."
These two men of our day (fifty-two years ago last February) beheld
the Son of God—Jesus, the Only Begotten—and they saw Him at the right
hand of the Father, occupying the position that has always been
assigned to Him, and in the express image of His Father's person, as
He is described by all who have seen Him. After this, Joseph Smith and
Oliver Cowdery both saw the Savior, and both testified as to His
person. This was on April 3rd, 1836, after the completion of
the Kirtland Temple.
"The veil was taken from our minds," say they, "and the eyes of our
understanding were opened.
"We saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit, before us;
and under his feet was a paved work of pure gold, in color like amber.
"His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like
the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun;
and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even
the voice of Jehovah, saying:
"I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was
slain; I am your advocate with the Father."
Oliver Cowdery, as well as Joseph Smith, saw this vision; they beheld
this glorious personage, even the Son of God, when He accepted the
Kirtland Temple after its dedication. These witnesses are also
supplemented by hundreds of others who have beheld in vision and
otherwise, glorious personages in these last days. There are men alive
who have beheld the Son of God, who have heard His voice, and who have
been ministered unto by Him in this our day and generation. In the
face of these testimonies, which cannot be impeached successfully, is
it any wonder that faith grows in the hearts of the people of God, the
Latter-day Saints? That notwithstanding the growth of skepticism
outside of this Church, faith continues to manifest itself and find
lodgment in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints? But just as faith
grows among the Latter-day Saints, as a natural consequence faith will
decrease in the hearts of those who reject this testimony con cerning
the truth. This was the crime, the great sin, at least, of the Jewish
nation. Light came into the world, but men chose darkness rather than
light; therefore the light that was in them became darkness. The
Jewish nation became abandoned to hardness of heart and unbelief. They
were left to be a prey to that spirit of unbelief which they
encouraged, until they rejected God, until they rejected the Son of
God, with all His divinity, with His great miracles, with His mighty
power, with His pure and spotless life—they rejected Him, they slew
Him, and the light that was in them became darkness. He bestowed
remarkable power upon those who received His word and they increased
in faith; but those unto whom they preached, those who heard their
testimony and rejected it, became a prey to that other influence, the
power of darkness, the power of Satan, and they shed the blood of
innocence, and I am sorry to say that this is the case at the present
time with our own nation. The blood of righteous men has been cruelly,
inhumanly shed upon this free soil. This man who beheld these visions;
this man, the first for hundreds of years who described, who could
describe the personage of God, who could say that he beheld Him, who
arose as a mighty witness in the midst of this generation to say of a
truth that God lived, that Jesus lived; this man was cruelly,
treacherously and inhumanly murdered; and murdered, too, under the
pledged honor of one of the sovereign States of this our nation; the
Governor of the State himself, pledging his own honor and the honor of
the State that he (Joseph Smith) should be protected, but he was
cruelly slain like the prophets who had gone before, who had borne a similar testimony. He sealed his testimony with his blood,
declaring to the very last that that which he had testified of was the
truth, willing to die if it were necessary, to seal his testimony and
render it so unimpeachable that it never could be questioned from that
time forward. This man was thus slain, and who is there that has been
punished for it? No more than the murderers of the Prophets were
punished in ancient days, no more than the murderers of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ were punished, no more has it been the case in
this instance. No, his blood still stains the soil, still cries, with
the blood of all the martyrs, unto God in heaven for vengeance on his
guilty murderers. And the testimony that he bore has been borne by
others, and in like manner others have shared that fate. Our reverend
President, who sits tonight in this place, his blood stains the same
soil. He himself narrowly escaped the same fate. In the providence of
God he was spared for a wise purpose, and has lived among us until
this day—a living martyr, a living witness of the cruelty of man
towards those who testify that God lives.
My brethren and sisters, the faith that we have received has cost the
best blood of this century. The faith that we have received cost the
blood of the Son of God when He taught it to men upon the earth. The
faith that we have received cost the blood of Isaiah, of Jeremiah, and
of others of the prophets who were slain for the truths that they
declared. It has always been a costly sacrifice, this teaching of the
truth unto the human family. The adversary has been determined that a
knowledge of God shall not spread among the people if he can prevent
it. He killed Jesus, he killed every one of His apostles that he
could, until throughout the wide earth there was no man who could
stand up and say to the people, "Thus saith the Lord," or who could
stand up in the authority of the Priesthood of the Son of God and say,
"I am God's servant, and this is God's will, God having revealed it to
me." They stopped the mouths of all such. They closed them in death.
No one was left that they could reach. Then, when the heavens became
as brass over the heads of the children of men, a church arose having
a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, until today,
throughout Christendom, men who profess to be ministers of Jesus
Christ, do not know anything about Him, have no communication with
Him. A king with ambassadors here, and these ambassadors receive no
communication from the court which authorizes them. What nonsense!
Whoever heard of such a thing? Is there anything in this book (the
Bible) which hints at such a thing? Who ever heard of a servant of God
having no knowledge of him, no revelation from him? There is no such
thing in this book. It is reserved for men in the nineteenth century,
and preceding centuries, to arise and make such claims as these, and
who can believe them?
Now, God has restored the everlasting Gospel to the earth. He has told
the children of men that if they will come unto Him and obey His
commandments, they shall receive a testimony of the truth of this
work, as in times of old, through the gift and power of the Holy
Ghost. They do not need to depend on Joseph Smith if he were here, or
Oliver Cowdery, or Sidney Rigdon. Others have been administered to.
Others have received the Holy Ghost. This is the privilege of
every human being who will keep the commandments of the Almighty. It
is not the privilege of all to see the Father at present, or to see
the Son. Our faith is not strong enough, but it is growing. But it is
the privilege of every human being to receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost, if he or she will obey the commandments of God. This is a
privilege that is universal. It is like the air that we breathe. It is
like the light that illumines our eyes. So with the gift of the Holy
Ghost. It is given to every soul that will bow in submission to the
will of God, keep his commandments, and have the ordinances
administered by one whom God recognizes as his servant. It is this, my
brethren and sisters, that is the glorious feature of the work in
which we are engaged. It is this that should stimulate us, and fill us
with faith. Let men do as they please concerning this work of our God,
God has made promises concerning it. His word cannot fail. He hears
and answers the prayers of His children. He is near at hand and not
far off, and He will interpose by His wonderful providence, invisible
to those who do not see His hand and do not have His Spirit, but
visible to those who are enlightened by his Spirit, so that they can
see and acknowledge the manifestations of God in their behalf. And
thus are we led, and thus we shall be led until, emerging from this
darkness, emerging from this unbelief, we shall be ushered into the
fullness of the glory of our God, and dwell with him eternally, if we
are faithful to the covenants which we have made, which I ask may be
the case in the name of Jesus, Amen.
- George Q. Cannon