| Show DISCOURSE delivered at the box elder stake conference brigham city su sunday aday october 1895 by poES PRESIDENT IDENT GEORGE Q CANNON REPORTED BY ARTHUR WINTER As soon as I 1 learned that the quarterly conference of this stake of zion was to be held today and tomorrow a desire sprang up in in my heart to come to this conference I 1 was not invited to do so bot bit I 1 felt to volunteer and I 1 am glad that I 1 am here today I 1 trust that while we are in meeting today and while the conference shall last the spirit of god W spay may reign and that its influence influent ce may fill 1 all our hearts by its enlightening power that darkness may have no place within 1 taj a but that light may pervade our souls sad and we thereby be able to see and f understand 1 stand the principles of salvation bad anil our own hoviin condition we are an a s tate state of probation s and we are constantly in danger and it ii re quires ies the he guidance and the sustaining power wa of our god to preserve us from the e many snares and traps that satan spreads reads for the feet of the children of mn f have been qu quite ite i impressed with tb remarks that I 1 have listened to this M morning mg a and pd I 1 have b been een impress impressed ed also with aith the condition of the latter day saints I 1 have been away some little on ihbe since the general conference and have not mingled with the saints and it jute seemed to me that the latter day stand in a perilous position satan appears to be doing all ail in his power to lead away and destroy this people CO I 1 bep and there are agencies at work which if not guarded against will be the means me ans of bringing many souls down to spiritual death I 1 cannot recall many times when satan seemed to be so and to have as much power as at sent ent in our midst I 1 speak this with n hanft w degree ot of caution but I 1 think I 1 correct in saying it I 1 do not know ZI H ever saw a time when it required r v y adaler a r ealer ae r faith and care upon the part of the members embers ai ot of the church of christ to yia so as not to grieve the spirit of GW nor to go astray than at the present t 16 bitte it is apparent that the powers of aness are being exerted to sap the of the faith of the people I 1 the IM power of satan from the begin ali of tone time until the present has been against the priesthood of the soo SM ot of cod every effort ot of his has tfx ft fey the destruction of that priest boo agthe dorthe weakening of its influence te has abnot not only sought to weaken the of the servants of god but he hm baa sought to take their lives hence said concerning him that he was a murderer and a liar from the beginning that has been dispirit hi his spirit it 13 is by agencies such as these that he has sought to retard and to destroy the work of god in the earth he has never sought to use any other weapons to any extent it is true as you have probably heard that satan would be willing to tell nineteen truths in order to have one lie believed be deved associated with them but this only shows his cunning and the determined character of his opposition to the work of god and it is a remarkable fact that the spirit of satan when received by men produces exactly the same effects upon them and they manifest the same disposition to a greater or less extent that the savior said he satan had bad to lie and to murder they lie to begin with until they destroy the character of the servants of god and create in the human mind a feeling that their destruction is necessary an and d proper it was in this manner that satan succeeded in murdering the lord jesus he told such lies and caused them to be circulated concerning jesus that that generation of jews thought themselves justified in putting him to an ignominious death they were so confident of the justice of their action that they said his blood be on us and on our children they were willing to assume all the responsibility of that dreadful deed and to invoke the con sequences upon the heads of their pos tenay after them because of the character that had been given to the son of god this being the case with our lord and savior jesus whose life of faultless purity stood out before all mankind how much more is it likely to be the case with those who follow him and who bear his name Is it any wonder that prophets arid apostles and saints of god have been martyred marty red no satan has been engaged in this always he is ii i s an enemy to god he is a rebel he rebelled in the beginning and endeavored to destroy the plans of jehovah he suc succeeded ceede d in lead leading one third of the hosts ol of heaven through his craft and sophistry making them believe that the father was mistaken and that he ought to have adopted the plan of lucifer from that day when he was thrust out of the presence of god until the present it has been woe unto the inhabitants of the earth because he has come down among us to endeavor to make successful these wicked pi plans a ns which he framed in the heavens before the world was peopled by the children of god from the days of cain until the present whenever men have given way to that spirit of the evil one they have been filled with a lying spirit they have seemed to tell lies with pleasure and to take delight in cu cucuiat culat ing them then after doing this they have seemed to wish to destroy those whom they have told lies about this warfare has been waged now for many thousand years against the priesthood of the son ot of god and the lord has at times taken it from the earth because of the wickedness of his children and has not continued it upon the earth lest by bv so doing his own purposes should be defeated it would lead eventually to very serious and dreadful consequences if the priesthood were continued among men and they continued to fight against it from generation to generation and it if the lord were to force it so to speak upon the people he leaves us to exercise our agency and when men have combined and exercised their agency as it has been at various times to destroy the servants of god then mankind have had bad to take the consequences the men who have borne the priesthood have been kil killed lied and the lord ha has taken the priesthood to himself until the set time should come tor for it to be again restored it has been restored in our dav through the visitation ol of god himself with his son jesus and through the sending of john the baptist who suffered death by violence to gratify a lewd woman atter after him came peter james and john two of whom had also been s slain lai n for t the h e word of god they came from the heavens to bring once more to the earth the Melchi sedek priesthood of which they were bearers and of which peter held the keys while he was upon theearta the earth and again the war commenced again lies began to be circulated without limit every evil fabrication that the human mind could conceive was circulated and has beep been from that day until the present time light has been made to appear dark truth as erroneous righteousness as iniquity until men and women have become so thoroughly warped in their minds through the steady circulation of falsehood that they cannot discern truth from error light from darkness a man of god from a man of satan in this way satan has sought to pervert the whole human family and he has found willing agents in tiis hiis generation just as he did in preceding generations until the blood of prophets and men of god has flown freely freel v in our day and the earth has drunk the blood of the righteous nor to this dav are their characters fully vindicated the world to a certain e extent X upholds and justifies the shedding of the blood of joseph smith the man whom god chose out of the whole human family to be the instrument in his flis hands to found his church those who slew him bini justified the cruel and andi inhuman massacre because of the blackness of the character which they had given him and the dangerous nature of hb bis intentions and designs and to this day his memory is not vindicated his life stands blackened by the lies that satan succeeded in disseminating throughout the earth now we know that joseph smith was a man of god we know that he was a pure man we know that his character was white and there was no blackness attached to him yet this man whose life was filled with labors for the benefit and salvation of his fellow men this man who endured everything that humin human nature could endure to save his fellow man was stricken down in this manner by the power of satan and he is only a type of hundreds of others who have been slain for the testimony of jesus not all slain by violence but all martyred marty mirty red for the truth because of the cruelty of the wicked the pathway of this church can be known by the graves of the men women and children who have fallen victims to the violence of the wicked in this territory also many many souls have gone down to death because of the inhumanity of men to the latter day saints now my brethren and sisters satan is not dead I 1 do not know whether you have got the idea up here that he no longer lives if you have let me advertise this morning that he still lives let me tell lell you that he has lost none of his animosity nor his murderous inclinations and his lying tendencies they are just as strong within him today and within those who will listen to him and be influenced by his bis spirit we deceive ourselves it we imagine for one moment that he has changed in the least degree in his hatred towards the work of god or in his determination to use every means in his power to thwart the purposes of our god and his son jesus while brother brigham young was talking I 1 thought I 1 would turn to a passage or two that suggested themselves to my mind you doubtless remember that there was a great change wrought among the Nep hites by the sign that had been predicted by the prophets particularly by samuel the Lam mite concerning the birth of christ whereas just before the birth of the savior they had bad set a day for the des truc tion of those who believed in the coming of the savior when that great sign was given their hearts were changed and the historian makes this record and it came to bass pass that thus passed away the ninety nicety and fifth year also and the people began to forget those signs and wonders which they had heard and began to be less and less astonished at a signor a wonder awender from heaven insomuch that they began to be hard in their hearts and blind in their minds and began to disbelieve all which they had heard and seen imagining up some vain thing in their hearts that it was iv wrought rought by men and by the power of the devil to lead away and deceive the hearts of the are people and thus did satan get possession of the hearts of the people again insomuch that he did blind their eyes and lead them away to believe that the doctrine ol of christ wai wa a foolish and a vain thing and it came to pass that the people began to wax strong strona in wickedness and abominations and they did not believe that there should be any more signs or wonders givenans give nand satan did go 90 about leading away the hearts of the people tempting them and causing them that they should do great wickedness in the land A 4 little later on another record of th the osame urne character is given I 1 bat it came to pass in the twenty and ninth yer year there bogan began to be some among the people and some were were lifted up unto pride and because of their exceeding great riches yea even unto great persecutions for there were many merchants in the land and also many lawyers and many officers and the people began to be distinguished by ranks according to their riches and their chances for learning yea some were ignorant because of their poverty and others did receive great learning because of their riches some were lifted up in pride and others were exceeding humble some did return railing for railing while others would receive railing and persecution and au all manner of afflictions and would not turn and revile again but were humble and penitent before god I 1 and thus there became a great inequality in in all the land insomuch that the church began to be broken up yea insomuch that in the thirtieth year the church was broken up in all the land save it were among a few of the Lama who w ere converted unto the true faith and they would not depart from it for they were airm and steadfast and immovable willing with all diligence to keep the commandments of the lord then the historian tells us now the cause of this iniquity of the people was this satan had great power unto the stirring up of the people to do all manner 0 of iniquity and to the puffing them up with pride tempting them to seek for power and authority and riches and the vain things of the world and thus satan did lead away the hearts of the people to do all manner of iniquity therefore they had not enjoyed peace but a few years brethren and sisters satan is the same today that he was then and when he fills the children of men with a love for the things of the world with a love of office a greed lor for power beware of it beware ot of it latter day saints for I 1 tell you as a h servant of god those who do so if they do not take care will be led down to destruction this lying spirit of which I 1 have spoken is now among this people all manner of lies are being told about the authorities of the church president woodruff president smith myself and some of the twelve apostles are lied about until we are made to appear very wicked and even lit here re abominable falsehoods are ciraula ed concerning us if that spirit were to be widely indulged in it might lead to the shedding of our blood just as it led to the shedding of the blood of others that have preceded us now I 1 want to say to you that these accusations are false I 1 bear that testimony to you today for myself and the first presidency have not done the evil things which many accuse them of doing our conduct has been neither wicked nor dishonorable as some have alleged it has been we have not sought to unite church and state we have not sought to interfere with the liberties of our brethren or ot of any other persons we have done nothing of this kind in any form and those who say we have tell that which is untrue I 1 want to warn you my brethren and sisters about this lying spirit that has gone out it is dangerous those who indulge in it and those who believe these things if they are not cartful careful will lose the faith and the spirit of god will withdraw itself from them tor for a lying spirit and the spirit of god cannot dwell to together ether in the same breast men who tell lies men who circulate lies and men who who believe lies cannot have the spirit of god reigning in their hearts we should therefore be very careful about these thin things gig newspapers magazines and books which contain lies and which slander and defame ithe work and people ot of god I 1 will ill not read I 1 do not want to read falsehood I 1 do not want my children to read falsehood I 1 have heard people say many times us hear what they say about us they read works filled with lations of the work of god did id ever read such a work with without rut spirit of god being grieved within y I 1 never did when I 1 was quite you made up my mind that I 1 would not low my mind to be contaminated reading that which I 1 knew to be fa fal hood I 1 would not read anything that kind hind I 1 knew the truth god to revealed it and I 1 was in possession of i I 1 knew the character of the tarl god and I 1 would not read nor listen listed anything derogatory to the servants god or to the work of god I 1 have done this through my life and v gods help I 1 will not do it and as fats far I 1 have power I 1 will not have it in family I 1 try to teach my children keep aloof from it the case of a strong eloquent tf whom I 1 knew |
