| Show DISCOURSE by y elder GEORGE Q canyon CANNON delivered at the aind senit senti annual conference salt sait lale talle cefi city 44 october 8 1872 REPORTED BY DAVID W evana hince since the commencement of our conference we have heard very much valuable instruction and testimonies which have been boen very cheering to the hearts of those who have beard them and no doubt every person who has haa attended conference fr from ora its commencement until tle the present time and who will continue until the conference shall terminate will feel amply rewarded for the time spent and will go away feell seeli feeling nig rig better prepared to perform the duties which may devolve upon him or her there is so much to talk about connected with our circumstances and condition that it requires a portion of the spirit of the lord to enable a person in speaking to dwell upon those points which are best adapted to our present resent requirements we are not situated as any other people that adl is ton in many respects and instructions adapted d to our circumstances would differ probably from those which would be required by others we have been from the commencement men cement a peculiar people our religion is iu in many respects at the present time a peculiar one yet if there ther e be any distinctive tive peculiarity about the religion of the latter day Sain Is that they believe and receive the scriptures as they are and do not attempt to put double meanings to their teachings our religion being peculiar the emmeck effect of it is somewhat pc peculiar pecullar culiar cullar the message which the elders of this church declare when they go forth to preach the gospel has a differ different erlb eril effect upon people who listen to it to that which is declared by any other denomination not because faith in jesus christ repentance of sin baptism tor lor the remission of sins and laying on of hands bands for the reception of the holy ghost are taught but bat because following these principles there is declared unto the people the propriety and the necessity of gathering out from the various nations wa where ere they dwell from the midst of their kindred and their former associates and concentrating a at the place which god as the elders testify has ii elected selected as the place for his people to reside in this is a strange doctrine and one that is peculiar to the estten day saints and as I 1 have said the effects upon pie are peculiar no sooner do they bear the proclamation of this doc doctrine and in some instances before than there springs up in the hearts of those who have received the testimony of the elders a desire to gather out and be associated with the people with whom they have joined and whose faith they have received I 1 suppose that among the thousands who live in this territory who have been gathered from the various states of this coun country tryg and stud from the various countries of europe of asia and the islands of the sea there is scarcely one to be found who did not as soon as he or she embraced the gospel have an intense desire to gather with the leople of god and to become closely associated with them to believe as they believed to live as they lived to share their trials to partake of their prosperity or adversity as the case might be to receive instructions from the man whom they believed god had chosen to preside over his church upon the earth and the effect upon the latter day saints baines in every land is the same in this respect you may travel to the most inhospitable climate to the bleak regions of the north or to the sunny climes of the south to the lands of sterility and barrenness where hardship seems to be the lot of the people where privation is one of the incidents of their existence or to the lands of fertility where the inhabitants acquire a livelihood with ease in fact no matter where you go nor whatever the circumstances may be which surround the people when they hear bear the testimony of the servants of god and receive and act upon it the same spirit takes possession of the people and land they gladly forsake the lands ot of nativity and the associations of life of early life and mature age the homes of their childhood and the graveson grave graves of their ancestors and wend weed their way with joy and gladness to this strange land which god as they verily believe and know by the testimony of his holy spirit has prepared as a rest ing place tor for them this is the universal effect wherever the gospel has been preached and in ia this respect the latter day saints are a peculiar people but though we have gathered together as we have in this thin country there thero seems to be in the minds of a great many people a disposition to overlook the reasons which god our heavenly father has bas had in vie view w in gathering us ua out and collecting us together and making us ua one people the prophecies which were recorded in ancient dalsas days as well as those which have been given us in the day in which we live all point forward to this great dispensation as a time when god should do a great land mighty work iu in the midst of the earth and when a great revolution should bo be effected and a great reformation accomplished among the children of men when he should have a peculiar people a people who should be ga gathered hered out from all nations a people w who ho should be free from the vices and the evils of all nations a people upon whom he ha should place his name and whom he be should recognize as his weare we are told by the revelator rev Bev elator john that a time would come when the people of god should be commanded to come out of babylon out ot confusion when they should be gathered out from every nation from the remotest parts of the earth and when he should make of them a great and mighty people we see a partial fulfillment of this pre pren diction in this territory this people are gathered from various lands and are dwelling together in peace and in union without litigation animosity or strife all harmonizing together their interests blended in one to my mind this uns is one of the most remarkable phenomena to be witnessed on the face of the earth it strikes me as such and although familiar with it from my ruy childhood I 1 look with wonder and astonishment at the great work that has been done in gathering this people eople together visitors come here any and they are full of admiration for the great labors that have lave been accomplished by the lat ter day saints in this wilderness land into n fruitful fifeld in these gardens in erecting homem holes hous houf cem sem in adorning this land with babits lions and aud with groves and making aking ili iti this soil goll once so 0 o barren and sterile teem with fertility they ad admire in lre ire the physical works which we have accomplished but to my mind there is something wre gre grealer greater than this to be admired there are works which far surpass the work accomplished on the face lace of nature when I 1 contemplate the work that has been accomplished in gath geth ering oring the people from the various nations when I 1 see men of various languages and originally of various creeds born under various forms of government spread throughout this land laud dwelling to together her in peace union and love worshipping wor shipping ilet flit p ing together in the one tabernacle or in the same places of worship throughout the length and breadth of this territory I 1 see something which to my mind is far far more surprising than anything wrought by our physical labors I 1 bee see a power wonderful in its effect a power which has the hearts and blended the feelings of the children of men and created a oneness in their midst the effects of which are witnessed all around us god has done this and to his name the glory must be ascribed mau uan cannot do these things he cannot thus affect and operate upon the minds of his fellowmen fei fel lie he may produce some effect may accomplish some results but that union love iove and harmony which wo we witness among ourselves is beyond the power of man to bring about it is the power of god which he has manifested and for wise and great ends has this wonderful godlike power been re stored which binds the hearts of men to their fel and causes them to cooperate as they have done in this land in accomplishing the labors which have devolved upon us ican lean admire these things brethren and sisters there are many things which we have neglected to do which devolve upon us god has given unto us a great i aaion in the earth and whether we realize it or not it is a fact he has entrusted to us as a people a great and mighty work to perform we look around us in the various nations as well as in our own nation and we see a great greg many evils existing we bee see these evils increasing in magnitude and becoming more formidable and threatening e very every year that passes over our heads probably we who reside in these mountains and have done so for a quarter of century can realize the evidence of these evils better than they thay who live in the midst of them and witness their gradual growth without noticing the great changes which have been effected but we see extravagance corruption and a lack of virtue and public morality we see soe the breaking down of those barriers which formerly existed and a sapping and demoralization of public sentiment and or of private morality throughout the nation of which we forma form a part as well as in other nations now there is laid epou us as a people the labor of establishing righteousness i in the earth there is laid upon us the duty of building vp up in purity and power a system which god has revealed unto us not a system of theocracy to be exclusive in its effects not to build up a class a priesthood that should domineer and wield unjust and oppressive power over the hearts heart and minds of the children of men oar mission is to lay the foundation and to build up a system under which all the inhabitants of the tho land can cau dwell I 1 in peace and safety but I 1 notice a difficulty in our own midst and that is that we a great extent to the tendencies of the age to the influences which bur surround round us on every hand we must refrain from this we must bet set our laces like flint against every species of corruption against every kind of wrong in whatever form lorm it may approach us we must yeek seek ek with ad ail the energy that we have to build up iu in truth and righteousness that which god has committed unto usand establish impregnably the system of reformation with which we are entrusted there can la uko no better belter way for us to commence than by 11 to the counsels that have been bega givon unto us in the past and which unab lieve been the me mean ansof of producing tha ngaere hap and aud prosperity which we witness among us baere are tendencies to be witnessed in this city and among our own people here that we have to guard against we well weli well weli know that of late there haa has been an in in crease of wealth and of the means of orao ac giring quiring luxuries and comforts god bas hab bestowed these upon us and the question tion now is with us will we use these means aright with an eye single to his glory will we with our increased prosperity devote ourselves in the future as aa we have in thoa the post past to the building up ol of the kingdom of god as our paramount dut duts not for our own aggrandizement bat for the benefit of our fel fei in every lend as well as for the benefit of those who reside in this territory if we do this god will bless us but you know what the fate of all ail people has been who have been similarly situated to us in the beginning in their early days they were pure they were not extravagant they were simple in their tastes habits and dress dresa they did not RL ar low their minds to go out after earthly things or to be placed upon them but bat means and wealth will always increase among frugal economical virtuous and industrious people for it la one of the nat ural consequences which follow industry and well weli directed labor and we are no exceptions cep tiong to this rule we live in a land that has been barren and sterile above all lands on toils 4 continent and by well direct ed ead energy and industry by perseverance temperance and frugality we havo have been essed blessed bJ and now cow the fruits of our long continued abstemiousness and I 1 industry U are beginning to flow in upon us an and d we are becoming wealthy our lands land a are becoming valuable our gur surroundings are be coming if not lu luxurious mu rious at least comfortable for table wealth Is pouring into our laps and the prospect is that ere long we will be as wealthy a community probably as can be found between the two oceans ocean this seems to be the natural tendency of events at the present time now the question arises and I 1 deem it an important one for this conference it has rested on my mind as I 1 doubt not it has on the minds of the brethren will we as a people devote the means m eans that god is giving unto us for the preservation and continua tion of that that he be has revealed unto us or will tv uve ive e scatter it abroad destroy ourselves our sees bees becs and spoil the future which god ha in store fortia for fon us we must be a different people every other that has preceded us if we fulfill the predictions of the holy priesthood for god has baid said through the mouth of his prophet daniel thou thousands binds rinds of years ago th that it this kingdom should not be given inlo into the hands of another people but it should stand for ever it should not share the fate late of pre pro attempts of the bame game character and be overthrown in consequence of the weakness of the people and the abandonment by them of the principles of truth and righteousness there is nothing plain or er to my mind than this that if the lat ter day saints become luxurious and extravagant trava gant if they love the world and for sake their former purity if they forsake their frugality and temperance and the principles which god has bas revealed unto them and by the practice ot of which they are today to day the people that they are aro we shall be overthrown as others have been overthrown but I 1 do not look for any such result for I 1 believe firmly in the pre pro diction of daniel that this work wark when established shall not be given into the bands of another people but it shall stand for ever and there will be means and agencies used and brought to bear on the minds of the people to prevent such a catastrophe as that to which I 1 have alluded to prevent the downfall of the system and the over throw of those connected with it and to prevent the victory of that which is evil over that which la Is good holy and pure puro these means have been indicated in revelations ve vo which have been given unto Us ua we are not I 1 living IV I 1 u as aa w we a should live As follow a people we follow the t mya hya telus tetus of our fathers in regard to the tho management of wealth we follow in the footsteps of those who have preceded us we are innovators nova tors sho bho far as religious thought and religious doctrines are concerned and we have been bold innovators we have not hesitated to adopt great reforms and to proclaim them and we have sought with all the energies god has bestowed upon us to make them facts in the earth we have proclaimed this doctrine of gathering and the people have been gathered together this is a great innovation it is a bo bold d step to and it has resulted in success thus fart fant far fan it t is not now a novelty or a new now and untried experiment for the gathering of the people together has been going on for forty years and upwards bat it 16 was it a great innovation ti when introduced it is so flo with other doctrines which the elders of this church have taught god inspired their ilem heal ts and they regardless |
