Show discourses ered by president wilford wood NJ and apostle george Q jannon gannon na at a priesthood meeting held in prove 1 sunday evening march arc 1889 forted fOR TED BY ARTHUR WINTER antle george 1 Q l cannon L body ody of men such as have as the here this evening holding priesthood of the son of god it if they were ere united in all their tights and feelings and actions bould d be the an irresistible power upon earth because there are great the Q made to those who bear tooly priesthood in one of the the which the he lord sa gave to 1110 phet about bout tu joseph josep in speaking the ie reasons why the elders they beav riot have ave more power and why did beirold 0 nofa ot have the vail rent and t e lord he is he aba ath as said bj b t were e nut not sufficiently hum hayw fee ere troubled with jealous feet ions they had too enany any imper bleton biew of character or acter to have these a p bestowed upon them it is kable fact probably familiar to many who are here that there is danger of people having blessings bestowed upon them beyond their capacity to bear them that is if they are ar not sufficiently humble and perfect and if great blessings are bestowed upon them they might instead of proving beneficial be an injury to them therefore the lord does not bestow upon those whom he loves blessings for which they are unprepared and which would cause their overthrow but metes out his favors suited to their condition I 1 believe that if angels were to minister unto some men probably the great bulk of men it would prove their overthrow for the reason that they are not fitted to receive those blessings how often has it been the case in branches of the church that men and women who have received the gifts of the spirit have been almost overthrown because of the goodness of god to them they were lifted up in pride and considered themselves favorites of heaven and superior to others who were not so highly gifted the result in some cases has haa been apostasy it might have been thought that a man like oliver cowdery who had in company with the prophet joseph been ministered unto by john the baptist and by peter james and john and moses and blab and who had beheld the son of god himself would never have apostatized never lost the faith but it is a lamentable fact that he left the church and became a castaway though before he died he was again baptized and received the priesthood this shows that it is not gifts it is not the abundance of blessings and manifestations manifestation s th that a t will save men they must be saved by their own coji conduct duct added to the grace gme of god the salvation and the atonement which jesus has provided oliver cowdery attained to a great height he was the second elder in the church of christ but he fell and how great was the fall faill he fell to a depth that he could not possibly have reached had it not been for the gifts he had received the favors that heaven had bestowed upon him so it is with us the greater the blessings that wo we receive the greater is sour our danger and the greater should be our humility the more favor we receive from heaven the more we should be humble before the lord and before our brethren not be lifted up not be filled with pride not imagining that because the lord has blessed us in some peculiar way we are am especial favorites of heaven such a feeling is destructive to whoever indulges in it the lord in speaking to moroni who deplored his own weakness and expressed the fear that the gentiles would mock at his words because of their weakness said to him if men will come unto me I 1 will show unto them their weaknesses 11 then he makes another peculiar remark he says that he gives men weaknesses in order that they may be humble and if we go to the lord and seek unto him to show us our faults and our imperfections the sight of our own characters in the light of the holy spirit will cause us to shrink before the presence of our lord and feel that we are as the dust of the earth instead of feeling proud and lifted up and that we are better than our neighbors or our brethren the opposite feeling will take possession of us and we will feel that we are utterly unworthy of the goodness and blessings which god has bestowed upon this is the spirit which eve every ry servant t of god should have if he does not have it he is not in the path of blessing because as I 1 have said if the lord loves him he will not blew bless him beyond that which he is able to bear but if he be in the line of bles blessing he will not be proud he ifil ill act look upon himself as aa the embodiment of pedee perfection 0 ott the chwe contrary pat tary he be will look upon himself himsel fas p low ane and Steak bowks and helpless and dependent for all that he has vio the goodnew goodness and mercy of our father if an offices officer of the e church has this spirit he W will M not feel to find much fault with his brethren he will not hitik flows flaw in their characters he will not look at them with a magnifying glass to see the defects that they have he win ba b looking more inore at h himself and he will have the spirit of charity and if he has haa the spirit of charity he will feel kindly disposed to his fel low servants it is exceedingly painful to me to hear of divisions in branches and wards of the church and between men bearing the priesthood who ought to have an influence with the saints sainte it is a strong amstrong evidence that there is some one not living as he should do and not having the spirit of his office and calling it is a good time now for us to indulge in some self examination let us bring ourselves to the light let us examine our own characters let us seek unto the lord with earnestness to give unto us ua th the spirit espirit of repentance that wherein we have done wrong to anyone or sinned against the lord or been careless and indifferent in regard to our duties I 1 we will repent of this and seek to te overcome it andrut and put it away far from us let us unite our families let us set them an example of union praying wt with ta them thau exercising faith in their behalf and striving diligently to get weir their hearts mellowed and softened by the influence of the spirit of god if we each do this and induce our neighbors ors to do likewise there will bea be a great change in all the stokes stakes of zion the adversary will not then have the power over us tha that he has hao hads had and md the mord lord wig lift from frer A us our burdens and affliction and he will temper and control them for our salvation yesterday I 1 spoke at a priesthood meeting in the salt lake stake of zion and I 1 ro remarked marked in that I 1 hai sometimes thought that there were some of our people who indulged ta in thaddea the idea that there was was not the same power con on necked with the ruling priesthood of the church that there should be ae that thore there was something deficient alej that the priesthood did not have the revelation and the power to guide the people aud and to make known the mind and will of god that it should have I 1 suppose that some have had this idea though whether it to is extensively ten entertained or bot 1 I cannot say but I 1 wish to say to you my brethren that the Priest priesthood bood which the biord bestowed upon u po n his prophet joseph Is the hikly priest hood bood that any man can receive what I 1 mean by that it mu must come to ua in that direct channel and it cannot be received through any other eb channel annel there have been men who have professed to have had the ministration of angels and to have received revelations and to b have ave authority to lead the church and to give revelations tp the church having been caged to do this as they have claimed outside of the priesthood given to the prophet joseph smith I 1 wish to impress upon the minds of my hr ethren that au all such pretensions you may know for yourselves are alse no man can no man ever will receive this priesthood of which we are the bearers unless he roce receives ives it through the channels which god has appointed our father in heaven sent his servant john the baptist from the realms of glory to lay his hands on two chosen aasen vessels joseph smith jun and oliver cowdery they were ordained to the priesthood he afterwards sent three heavenly messengers peter james and john who held the keys of the former dispensation under the son of god and they bestowed the apostleship and the keys of this dispensation upon joseph smith jun and in conjunction with him upon oliver cowdery the falness of the priesthood wea was then bestowed subsequently other heavenly messengers who had acted in various dispensations came and ministered unto the prophet joseph and revealed unto and be sawed upon him the keys which they belgo boseo elias elijah and others came in their various times and deaso seasons us and andi restored to the earth these keys and this authority joseph smith ordained other men to hold this authority or caused them to be ordained in this way the authority that be had bad received was given to oti others liers the same fame keys the same power the same the same ame PrIest priesthood bood that he held were bestowed upon other men and they occupied precisely the same relationship lation ship to the lord and to people in one sense that he didi did they did not receive the authority to hold the keys keya but they thay held the same priesthood he ordained the thea twelve apostles before his depar ture to the same authority that he had did these men all have the authority to reveal the mind and will of the lord to the church no 10 only in the matter of teach teaching Ift if you will read in the sixty eighth section of the book of doctrine and covenants you will find what the lord has said aard concerning his J elders speaking about bouttie the elders going forth and laboring in the ministry he says and behold and lo 10 this thia is an eni sample unto RU all those who were ordained unto the priesthood whose mission is appointed unto them to go 90 sf forth and this Is the unto them that they shall speak as they are moved upon by the holy ghost and whatsoever thoy shall speak when moved upon by the soly holy ghosts ghost shall be scripture shall be the will of the lord shall be the mind of th the lord shall be the word of the lords lord shall be the voice of the lord and the power of god unto salvation behold this is the promise of ther lord unto you 0 yo ye my servants this promise is made to the elders they can go forth and speak by the power of the HOW holy ghost and when they do speak thus it is revelation to the peoples people it Is scripture it is the voice of the lord it is the word of the lord it is the power of the lord etc but j of course the elders eldera have to be careful to speak by the influence of the holy gh ghost 08 t if they do not s di i that which they speak is not the word of the lord oliver conderi Cow cowdery deri as I 1 have said had authority frota from 1 the lord the same as joseph had he had the apostleship but did dia k he have the right because he had g the apostleship to give revelation to the church I 1 will say here however lord in a previous revelation gives given through joseph to oliver cowdery said wherefore it behovets beho veth me that he aj 1 joseph smith should be ordained f you oliver Cowd cowdery try mine apostle that was also the command which was given when they r t the priesthood t joseph ordained oliver and olive ordained joseph so also when they received the 1 t joseph ordained oliver and oliv ordained joseph although both ha been ordained by the angels but notwithstanding oliver heldi hela we this authority another reve bAO teAl says and if thou oliver led qt at any time by the comforter to speak or teach or at AM all times baw of t commandment BOMman dment unto the Ch charch thou do it that is he could speak or teach at all times by way of commandment into buyatt the church that was within the province of his priesthood and calling now listen bit thou thon ahalt not write by way of but by wisdom 99 oliver cowdery had no right to write revelations to the church or 9 ave vella in writing the word of god gehad We had the right to pen words of and instruction he had the right to teach and speak under the inspiration Pi ration of the holy ghost but there here was only one man who had the right to write revelations and mand ments to the church and hatt was joseph for says the lord and thou shall not command him abo 0 o to is at thy head and at the head of the church por or I 1 have given him the keys of tny the mysteries and the revelations chieh are sealed until I 1 shall appoint to them another in his stead tf Theve therefore fore so long as joseph lived 0 no o other man however great his auty th city had the right to give com written comm command nd to the church when oe he departed the right fen fell upon graam young and although he be as no 1110 more of an apostle than his fellow bow apostles he had a different calling g it was his calling to pre sioe blu over the church it was his hiff g to be the mouthpiece of the amm to the people when he passed y it fell to another and when he died it fall felto to another hr who is in our ti st today president wilford woodruff he has this right and ubi otiler inan aan thought though there may bd laaby apostles there is only one malat time the he who me on ml earth eara can daod h wd tile the ays and who can exercise authority as the president of te e atch in giving voice to the wand will of god ln rev ons to the church 14 w to return to the idea that I 1 RW bobot wa out with suppose any num had hirt wl mun men should pretend Pre teni that they been visited by holy messen beasen ws and had received manifesta tom frona god can you for a amo mo imagine that god would give in 14 any ot Ut hority except pl it were given has haa the III line channel or fannel which he t he aped and through which fear priesthood rit hood has already come ame anyo ite think thit that the lord y tend his holy angels from mid eato td lay y hands upon joseph alwer er ai chosen osen vessels for this na 11 estare the hood as he did and won anen allow some side persons to receive it in some surreptitious and illegal latiner ma tiner I 1 speak about this because the idea has haa entered into my mind for somo some reason that there are doubts and uncertainty in the minds of some concerning these matters and there is a fear perhaps through un unbelief bellef that the lof lord d has withdrawn in some manner manner a portion of His power and has withheld some of his blessings from the priesthood of the son of god which exists knour in our midst I 1 say to you and andi 1 I bear testimony to it that all the keys all the authority all the power and all the spirit that were necessary to build up zion were be bestowed upon the prophet joseph anday and by him conferred upon his fellow servants and are in existence is and held and exercised at the present time by the apostles of this church but some have got the idea that there is something lacking some absence of power which some great prophet a prophet greater than anybody we have ever ever had will have to restore such ideas un unsettle kettle people in their mind sand swid faith arid add produce dissatisfaction is and discontent I 1 am looking for great manifestations of the power of god but I 1 am ain not looking I 1 never have been for any great and wonderful efful thing of this kind to occur prophets will undoubtedly cont continue hibe to arise aase we shall have men with various gifts the prophet joseph was succeeded bythe by the prophet brigham I 1 remarked today was one of the mightiest tiek prophets that ever lived of courso course 1 there therb is h a dil difference ference in men mens menis is gifts giffi very fa few men have ever lived on the earth who have been gifted like the prophet josph joseph we would not make any comparison between any apostle and the |