Every means that it has been possible to use to prevent the Latter-day
Saints having peace, and to prevent them enjoying in peace and
gladness their religion and the blessings thereof, have been used by
our enemies with the utmost care and the utmost determination from the
beginning it may be said, but especially during the last 25 years. If
our enemies could have their way, those who bear the Priesthood would
have no voice in the instruction or direction of the people. Already,
as you know, a determined effort has been made to strip us who bear
the Priesthood, and who have been forward in keeping the commandments
of God, of influence, the influence which has been justly earned
during long and faithful service for the benefit of the people, and
that attends the exercise of civil and political power. Our enemies
thought that this would be a most excellent way of putting us under
ban, and judging by the effect that it would have by the operations of
such plans among themselves, they fondly hoped that success would
attend their efforts, and that the influence of the men, whose fault
in their eyes is that they bear the Priesthood, would immediately
begin to wane and eventually be broken. This is the disposition of our
enemies, who have placed all who have been most forward, as I have
said, in keeping the commandments of God in a position where they
could not vote, and where they could not hold office, and in this
manner making them a proscribed class. They supposed that the young
men of the community would rise up and take possession of the offices,
throw aside the influence of the older and more experienced people,
and inaugurate a new policy in the midst of the Saints. In this manner
they hoped that they would redeem, to use their own phraseology—Utah,
and that a new order of things would be instituted in the
land. This was a very cunningly devised plan, and among other people
might have been successful, but among the Saints of God, so far, it has
proved utterly futile, and in fact has disappointed and it may be said
disgusted the authors of the plan themselves. They have felt disgusted
with their own efforts. There have not been wanting, however, some few
persons who would have liked to join hands with our enemies in this
plan. Such persons would not have been averse to having the men who
founded this commonwealth, and who principally helped to make it that
which it is today—the admiration of all unprejudiced people—relegated
to the background, and a younger class, who would affiliate with our
declared enemies, take possession of the reins of government in this
Territory, and manage affairs, so that they would be more in accord
with the general sentiments, as it is said, of the nation. This
feeling has been confined to very few, and has not exhibited itself to
any extent.
Notwithstanding every effort which has been made, I am happy to say
that we today are still the free people we were. The leading men of
the community have not lost their influence among the Latter-day
Saints. The Saints as a body have stood firm in their determination to
be guided by the counsel which God has had to give, and it is very
delightful to see the feeling which there is among the Latter-day
Saints in all the settlements that we visit, to see the union and the
love that prevail, and the disposition to hearken unto the will of God
as it is manifested by His Holy Spirit from time to time, through
those whom He has chosen to lead and guide His people. There will be
wanting no end of effort, however, to accomplish the ends which our
enemies seek for. There is a great hatred among the children of
men—and they do not themselves know why they have this hatred, but
there is a great and undying hatred among the children of men against
the Priesthood of the Son of God, a jealousy of the power that
Priesthood wields, and in our Territory they are constantly seeking by
every means within their reach to weaken the influence of the
Priesthood, especially among the rising generation. It has been
expressed—and frequently expressed—that they would rather see our
young men drink, chew and smoke tobacco, gamble and commit whoredoms,
and do everything of this kind, in preference to seeing them obedient
to the counsels of God, through those whom He has chosen to lead the
people. They would rather see this, because, as I have said, they do
not know the spirit which animates them. They are not conscious that
they are more or less the instruments of a secret and invisible power
which operates upon them; that there are influences at work in their
minds and around about them which they cannot see, but of which they
are the mere tools, so to speak. This power—the power of darkness—is
invisible to them. They do not understand this, but, they blindly
fight against the power of God, and seek in every way to undermine the
influence of the Priesthood of the Son of God. If they could get you
to rebel against the Priesthood they would be suited. It would please
them immensely if the Latter-day Saints would rise in rebellion
against the God of Israel and against the authority that He has placed
in His Church.
The struggle that is now going on, so far as this class is concerned,
is to destroy the influence of the Priesthood. Our effort is
to have the Latter-day Saints throughout all these valleys listen to
the counsels of the Priesthood, to be obedient to the Priesthood. The
issue is a plain one between us and them. They say they wish you to
throw off what they call the yoke of the Priesthood. We say on the
contrary it is not a yoke, it is not burdensome, it is a beneficent
rule, it is a rule that is pregnant with blessings to the people, and
that will bring great rewards to them if they will be obedient to it.
This is our statement, and we appeal to the Latter-day Saints as
witnesses in our behalf to sustain it. We know, and you know, every
Latter-day Saint knows, that God in restoring the everlasting Gospel
and the everlasting Priesthood to the earth has brought with them
every blessing which man can in reason desire. We have been pleased
from the beginning to listen to the Priesthood. Who that is old
enough, that can recollect his baptism or her baptism, or their first
association with the Church, and their first enjoyment of the truth,
whose hearts do not burn today at the recollection of the feeling
they had of the sweet and heavenly influence that came to them when
they first became acquainted with the everlasting Gospel as preached
by the Elders. There was, as it were, a new life opened before them,
even the gates of heaven seemed to be opened to them, and they saw the
Kingdom of God as they never had seen it, and never had understood it.
Truths that they had read carelessly and indifferently, without
comprehending them, came to their minds with an assurance, and with a
strength and force and power that they never had comprehended
previously. And has it not been a source of blessing from that day to
the present to the faithful Latter-day Saint? Has not the Gospel come
laden with benefits, laden with blessings, fraught with everything
that would make men and women happy? Has it not brought peace to us,
and joy to our souls? Has it not opened up the future in a light that
we never beheld until the Gospel revealed it?
Mankind, at the reestablishment of the Church of Christ, knew nothing
about the future. All was dark and gloomy. Death was indeed a leap in
the dark to the great majority of mankind. But when the Gospel came it
revealed the future. It revealed to us why we were here, and the
design God had in view concerning us. Men and women look forward to
it, or contemplate it, when brought face to face with it, with
resignation and with a degree of joy, because they know they are going
to a reward that is assured to them. And so with everything connected
with the future. The prospects of the future are made bright and
glorious through the revelations of the Gospel, and it has brought, as
I have said, peace to our hearts, peace to our habitations, it has
made life enjoyable to us. It is most delightful to contemplate
existence in the light of the Gospel, and the associations that we
have here now through the Gospel, and through the exercise of the
power and authority of the Priesthood.
So it is with everything connected with our lives. Let us glance at
our temporal prosperity. Our enemies talk about what others would do
for us, if they had the opportunity. But what have they done? Look at
our cities, towns and villages; examine the manner in which the
local government of this Territory has been conducted, the light
taxation and every thing in fact connected with our material
progress, and to whom is the credit due for the blessings we enjoy? Is
this credit due to those who are seeking to destroy the influence and
power of the Priesthood? Certainly not. This settlement of Hyde Park,
the settlement of Smithfield, every settlement in fact in this valley
has been founded under the auspices or direction of men of
experience, whom our enemies denounce, because they hold the Holy
Priesthood of the Son of God. If we are lightly taxed, if we are out
of debt, if our country is prosperous, it is due directly to the
counsels of these men, whose chief offense in the eyes of our enemies
is that they are God's servants, whom He has chosen, and to whom He
has given wisdom, to direct and manage affairs.
The prosperity which has attended our people is remarkable, more
especially when we consider the yearly influx of poor people. I
remember when I was in Europe, the four years I was there, upwards of
13,000 Saints were emigrated, the most of them coming directly to
Utah. At present we have an emigration of 2,000 to 2,500 per annum,
coming into this Territory from abroad—poor people. Why, there is
not another population in the country of our numbers that could absorb
so many people as our community does, without there being pauperism
all over the land. But there is no pauperism. God has blessed the
people in their fields, in their flocks, and in all their labors. They
have been greatly prospered, and they will continue to prosper if they
continue to listen to the voice of inspiration and hearken to the
counsels of the Priesthood of the Son of God.
[The above was delivered in Hyde Park, Saturday afternoon, August 23,
1884.]
- George Q. Cannon