Show DISCOURSE red at the morgan stake conference morgan sunday february 1896 by W GEORGE 0 CANNON ff BY ARTHUR WINTER I 1 am very pleased to have the ity of meeting with the latter day ats ts in this stake of zion since I 1 home I 1 have tried to recall when it II 11 I 1 was here last I 1 thin it was eteen en or fourteen years ago it was president taylor was living waw causes have contributed to pre ehlt visits here of course the twelve VA pestles visit the stakes regularly but bu t albade have felt impressed of late that the Iti Z at zat Sest presidency should also go around lj ebba visit the people as tar far as possible s reason that we have not done this i a greater extent has been president woodruffs inability to end endure urethe ahe fati ae tte of travel his health is excellent f tor for one of his age and he is able to per form a good deal of labor but hb can ot t travel ravel around as he once did I 1 fj i e however that president smith and myself elf will be able to visit the confer feces and let the people see us and we see the people because a strange con dicion of feeling has arisen among the latter rd dav saints concerning the author ic 0 of f the church we hear things rid r id concerning them that tome to me are ex edia gly painful misrepresentation abt to say calumny has been indulged 4 N a concerning the kirbt presidency of oe ae church and some of the twelve to aw 9 extent that I 1 never believed pos possible isible among the latter day saints there are causes for this with which doubt the most of you are familiar L I 1 politics ro bics tics has caus caused ed serious divisions and v in various quarters and men T uve have allowed their tongues to sa say things x which in their cooler moments and irl ithee under the influence of the spirit ica god they would shrink from I 1 do L laa know that I 1 have heard of any talk this kind being indulged in in this stake 9 but in some stakes it has been indulged into in to a ve very ry dangerous extent now I 1 desire to say to you my iq ethren and sisters that the first presidency Tresi dency of the church of jesus christ rf latter day saints have been mall y yand and as a body laboring with entire singleness gleness a of purpose and with entire devotion to the work ot of god and its in the earth it may not be improper for meas one of that council 1 make take this statement because I 1 aj am roughly bly familiar a i liar with the motives lahe e spirit and with the action of the tl presidency president wilford woodruff who holds the he keys on the earah ear it at the present time is is a man in whose praise it is I 1 hope unnecessary for me to speak those who know him know that a more innocent guileless pure lovable man never lived upon the face of the earth there may have been men with greater gifts men greater in other directions but certainly no purer man no more unassuming timing man has ever lived I 1 have been familiar with the leading men of this church from my boyhood up and with some of them as intimate as one man could be with another and I 1 speak in this manner in regard to president woodruff with entire confidence and know that that which I 1 say is borne out by the facts of his life he labors with a diligence and a zeal that I 1 sometimes think too great for one of his advanced years who know him personally must be aware and those who do not know him personally must have heard heam that he is one of the hardest working men we have ever had bad among us the lord has been with him and has revealed his mind and will to him the lord has sustained him and the lord has blessed every man and woman who has listened to his counsel dna lias has borne testimony by the blessings which he has bestowed that it was his will that the counsels of his servant wilford should be listened to and obeyed by the latter day saints of president smith and myself I 1 will not speak farther than to say that we have endeavored deavo red to the extent of our ability and of the power which god has given us to sustain our president to be one with him and to carry out as tar as we could that which the lord has revealed through him and to us as the first presidency dency we have helped bear llis his burdens and we have labored with such diligence as we could in this direction and I 1 leel feel led to say here this afternoon that we have labored with all purity and singleness ot of purpose with entire devotion and unselfishness in the cause ol of our pod cod in sustaining his work and in performing the duties that devolve upon us as the presidency of the church we have not spared ourselves in any direction to accomplish this and have sought with all tae faith and power that god has given unto us to know the mind and will of god concerning this people and anis work so that we might be able to perform the duties W of me responsible station that we hold we have not sou sought 9 ht this position president woodruff woodra you well know is not a man that had bad ambition or inspiration ot this character when I 1 was first called to be a counselor to president taylor I 1 besought him and the council with all the ener energy gy ot of I 1 my ay soul not to call me to act in that position but to call some one else for I 1 felt tha everyone of the council was more fitted for that position than L I 1 and when president woodruff called president joseph F smith to be his counselor he expressed himself in the same marner manner and besought president woodruff not to choose him or at least to select someone else in preference to himself in this spirit we have accepted the duties of our positions not for personal gratification not to give us prominence but to do that which we have felt to be the will of god and I 1 do know that god chose wilford woodruff that god chose joseph F smith and that god chose george Q cannon to be the first presidency of this church I 1 can bear testimony to that with all my heart I 1 wish to say say further in this connection that we have been as united from the beginning and up to the present hour as it would be possible for one man mah to be united with himself never a shadow of disunion has ever crossed the mind of any of the first presidency of the church we have been as united as it is is possible for men in the flesh sh to be and we have rejoiced in this because it has given us strength with the twelve apostles and with the other officers ot of the church and it has strengthened us also in our associations with the saints in teaching them and in reproving them when the lord has bas given us the spirit of reproof or warning I 1 speak of this anis from my personal standpoint I 1 have felt strong because I 1 knew that we were one in our councils in our deliberations in in our conclusions in our views concerning everything connected with the work of god and its management upon the earth I 1 desire also to say to the latter day saints that whoever arrays himself in any manner against the authority which god has placed in his church for its government no matter who it is one of the twelve apostles even or any number of them unless he repents god will withdraw his spirit and power from him and he will show the worlo world he will show the church he will show the officers odthe of the church that that which he has spoken in the past concerning the authority of the holy priesthood and the respect and honor which he requires his servants and ana people to snow to 10 it is true and must be carried out or ile he will drill withdraw his spirit and power from those who take it a different course it any of you my brethren or my sisters have indulged in the spirit ot murmuring and fact fau t finding and have allowed your tongues to give utterance to thoughts and words that were wrong and not in accordance with the spirit of the gospel let me say sav to here to day that you yott ought to repent of it with all your hearts and get down into the depths of humility and implore him for the forgiveness of that sin for it is a most deadly sin the men who hold the priesthood are but mortal men they are fallible men they are sinners no human being that ever trod this earth was free from sin excepting the son of god from the beginning throughout all the ranks of the priesthood in in every generation every human being has been a sinner and has been forced to confess before the lord that he was a sinner none is exempt in this respect there is no exception aside de from the lord jesus H himself this is true concerning the presidency of the church it is true in relation to the apostles nevertheless god has chosen these men he has singled them out they have not done it themselves but he has selected them and he has placed aced upon them the authority of the voly holy priesthood and they have become his representatives in the earth he places them as shepherds over the flock ot of christ and as watchmen upon the walls of zion and he holds them to a strict accountability for the responsibility and for oe the authority which he has given to them and in the day of the lord jesus they will have to stand and be judged for that which they have done and the manner in which they have exercised this authority if they have exercised it wrongfully and against the interests cf f his work and the salvation of his people woe unto them in the day of the lord jesus he will judge them and if worthy ot condemnation he wih condemn them but he does not give the authority to judge and condemn to man only in the regularly constituted councils of his church and those who lift their voices and their heels against the authority of the holy priesthood I 1 tell you today as a servant of god gad and I 1 wish these young men and young women to hear my testimony this day and to remember it as long as they live they will go down to hell unless they repent there are many examples in this inis church ol of a character to prove what I 1 here state oliver cowdery who received the same blessings and the same ordinations a as S the prophet joseph or bained to the lesser priesthood at the same time as joseph ordained to the Melchi sedek priesthood by the same angels who visited joseph afterwards in the kirtland temple beheld the son of god himself and received the keys oi of the gathering from moses and the gospel of Abra tiam and the promises that were made to abraham irom ehas and afterwards the keys for the curnin turning ceif of the hearts of the fathers to the chil dren and the children to the fathers from elijah this man so favored of god after all this lost the spirit ot of god through opposing the prophet josephl joseph 1 he might in one sense and doubtless did in nis bis feelings rank himself as the peer of the prophet but god had given to joseph the keys of the arit strood and the authority to preside and because oliver cowdery did not honor that priesthood and thit that authority god withdrew his holy spirit from him and he lost his standing in the church and his priesthood was taken from him and given to another as you wi I 1 find by reading the revelations god gave the same authority that oliver cowdery held to ayr hyrum um smith the brother of the prophet joseph aph and the father of brother joseph F smith here before his bis death biath oliver cowdery came back huat humdy ly penitent and was bap baptized sized into the chuich not only this man but no less than six of the twelve apostles lifted their heels against the prophet of god they murmured at him questioned his author ity told lies about him or believed lies about him and ds a result they lost their standing and others were chosen to take their places sidney rigdon whom god designated as a spokesman for the prophet joseph a man of great eloquence and of many gifts a man who was favored of the lord with that wonderful vision which is recorded in the section of the book i of doctrine and covenants who with joseph beheld the glories of the celestial the terrestrial and kinRd kingdoms oms this rian man fell why did he fall because he not only murmured against the prophet of god but he even murmured against god because of the afflictions the lord permitted to come upon him in missouri william law who was a counselor of the prophet joseph took the same course and he lost his priest hood and became one of the bit bitterest teres t enemies of the church of god there is scarcely any room to doubt but what he was guilty of contributing to the shedding of the innocent blood of the prophet and the patriarch of the church with these examples before us my brethren and sisters ought we not to be exceedingly careful how we speak and how we act in relation to the priesthood think of this authority that god has given unto the officers of this church our young men receive it as well as the older ones the authority to go into the water and baptize people for the remission mission of their sins the authority to lay he hands n ds on those thoc e who are baptized and confer upon them the holy ghost the authority to lay hands on otters ers and give them the same authority that they themselves possess the authority to bind on earth and it is bound in heaven to bind wives to husbands for time and eternity and children to parents to perform all the sealing ordinances that are necessary in order to connect I 1 one generation with another until we shall go clear back to our great father adam I 1 think ot of it its s imbor importance tance of its sacredness think of the beneficence of our god in in bestowing it upon man I 1 suppose there was only one man upon the earth who held the authority that all you elders in the congregation hold what would be our feelings toward him why we would leel feel like traversing sea and land land out our lives it necessary to get to such a man who could b by administering to us certain ordinances din ances insure to us the forgiveness of our sins and eternal glory in the pres trice of god and the lamb Is there any sc orifice sacrifice that we would think too great I 1 know with the feelings we have had concerning the gos gospel pel that we would not think any sacrifice too great to obtain this grand prize but because w we e have it here among us shall we despise it shall we think lightly of it because it is so common it if we do this god will hold us to a strict accountability think of our great father accompanied by his son jesus coming from the mansions of glory to prepare the way for the ushering in of this dispensation we can form some idea of its importance when we reflect that he sent john who held the keys of the priesthood from heaven and then sent peter tames james and john who held the keys of the Melchi sedek priesthood and continued rosend to send angels to confer all other keys that had held in the various dispensations to the time of our father adam coming in his time and season to c upon mortal man the keys that necessary for the salvation of nun man tor for tle the organizing of this dis ee in such a manner as to prepare the e 1 for the coming of the lord A 0 I 1 have not language to describe deschi t to the importance of our relationship tt tt tr e priesthood and the greatness sacredness of the priesthood which afi lord has bestowed upon us I 1 belief that in the day of the lord jesus the great causes of condemnation wat E ders of this church will be their PW peg lect elect in appreciating the im importance important the priesthood and in magnifying it atit 1 should be I 1 ask myself frequently a are M you living as you should live are attending to the duties of yourt ca Z so that the lord will accept of 3 couf VOU will there be any of the blood of generation found on your garments in id J the day ot of the lord jesus for fo r iva every one of the latter day saints as wen well at the whole human family will have tm stand before the judgment seat seal of christ s and be judged lor for the deeds done in dai tf body if we have used the talents ther opportunities the authority and die power which god has given unto V ats aright |