Show DISCOURSE delivered at the salt lake stake conference in the tabernacle salt lake city sunday june ath 1896 by PRESIDENT GEORGE Q CANNON REPORTED BY ARTHUR mm vwe it is exceedingly interesting to me and I 1 doubt not to this entire con M on to hear president ts voice in testimony in our midst I 1 never hear him speak eak in in public without feeling that I 1 won would M d like every little boy and every little girl as well as the congregation A t to 0 be impressed with the fact lat that they aad had the opportunity of listening to the voice of a servant of god who has lived nearly ninety years I 1 think parents when they have their children at our bublic public meetings where he is and where he e addresses the peo people ae should impress upon the hinds ofa bithe children that they have the p privilege rii agege of listening to a man of god whom god has chosen to stand at the head of his church and whose life he has preserved through so many vi vicissitudes cissi almost from the beginning of the church until the present time that is as a member and as an officer in the church president woodruffs rs testimony is valuable for many reasons not on account of his age alone but because he has participated in nearly all the scenes through which the church has passed he has seen the progress of the work and has been active in spreading the truth and declaring rin the gospel to the nations of the earth he he is is the only living man today that I 1 know of who received his endowments at the hands of the prophet joseph and he is is a livin living witness to many things that are disputed by apostates and others concerning the teachings of the prophet 1 oseph joseph and that which he did before his ileath death in connection with bestowing upon the twelve apostles the authority to stand at the head of and carry on the work after he had gone he is the only man living today who was an apostle when hen the saints entered this valley and he is familiar with all the history of the church since we came here he was actively engaged with president brigham young when they came here as pioneers and helped him lay lav the foundation of this dt city y and has seed seen the growth not only of the city but of the entire state I 1 trien mention tion in this hasty manner some thing which the children ought to remembers that in years to come they may be able to relate to their children and to others that hat they heard beard the voice of a man who has been so singularly blessed and preserved of the lord and who has lived to such guch an advanced age in our midst we are living in a very remarkable time we are living in a time when events are crowding themselves one after another upon us with extreme rapidity it seems sometimes as though the time that remains is but short everything ap appears ars to be in such haste great events a are re t taking aking place and great changes are occurring and a spirit of haste seems to rest down not only upon us as a people but upon the world does this betoken the near approach of the end or what are the reasons for these things that we witness the discoveries that are made of a scientific nature are of a most wonderful character the progress that is being made by mankind is almost supernatural when we contemplate that which is is bein being done the discovery discover y of new powers of of nature their application to human wants and to human progress and that which is shadowed foreshadowed fore by the discoveries already made we cannot fail to be impressed with these wonderful developments we live in an age it may be said of miracles events and performances which are now of everyday occurrence only a few years a ago 0 w would id have been deemed impossible electra electricity ty with its wonderful powers is e effecting ff e ct ing great reat revolutions and the human mind cannot conceive of its future possibilities it is admitted by all who have givers given thought to this subject that we stand as it were upon the thresh hold of the most stupendous discoveries and applications of force and power to us who see the hand of god in everything that takes place who acknowledge his power who give to him the flo glory for fok every invention man brings to tight agg who look upon these great inventors with their ingenuity and skill as men moved upon and inspired by the lord I 1 say to us who take this view these things come w with it h peculiar significance and we can see in them that which god is doing preparatory to the winding up scene sixty six years ago he revealed a system of theology by the direct ministration of angels as well as by his own personal appearance accompanied by his son jesus christ in this manner bearing witness th atthe earth ano and the in in habitants thereof were about to enter upon an extra extraordinary era em the very fact that the father and the son came from the mansions above to introduce this work attaches to it an importance that is without example so far as we know in the history of of our race it was an evi evidence clence of the truth that this is the great dispensation of the falness of times that this is the last time in which the priesthood shall be bestowed and the power of god be manifested unto man and that the priesthood which was then bestowed had come to earth to stay until all that had been be en predicted by the mouths of the holy prophets should be fulfilled the more this system of theology thel theology logy is is examined the more its perfection appears no man can examine this system dis passionately free from prejudice and with a disposition to receive that which is true rue without being convinced that it is the most perfect the most magnificent or ga niza tion so far as the organization itself se if is is concerned and ahe most scrip tural and the most harmonious with all revealed truth that has come to man in the records of divine truth that is to td be found upon the face of the whole earth no infidel ever examined into the doctrines believed in by the latter day saints that has not been compelled to say that if the scriptures were true then the latter day saints had the gospel and that their system was the only one in christendom which was in perfect harmony with the doctrines of the bible now we are living livine in this age when these marvelous developments are taking cing place frequent allusion has been made from this stand to the extraordinary char acter of the work that has gone on through the nations in the gathering of the latter day saints from the nations of the earth one of the most marvelous oc cie currencies curren ces that has ever happened and one that ought to attract the attention 0 of the whole world one so significant that it should not be allowed to pass without serious examination because it appeals to all humanity and it has been a testimony rn ony to the different nations of the earth england with trier her millions of people has heard the tidings now for over fifty fifth years yearn upwards of fifty six years ago the emigration of the latter day saints from great britain commenced the ne newspapers 0 of f the kingdom have proclaimed to the inhabitants of the land that there was an extraordinary movement on toot foot that yearly the converts to the doc dm brines trines of the latter day saints faints were gathering alering by shiploads ship loads to a land that t they called zion and the purpose of their gathering a tk ering was to escape the judgments and the calamities which they testified fiek the lord was about to pour out upon the inhabitants of the earth so it hos has been in germany and switzerland in france t in italy in denmark sweden and nor way thousands of people have left there and the cause of their leaving has been widely circulated and made known to the inhabitants of the land in our own land this movement has been going on from the beginning it is nearly sixty six years since the latter day saints moved from the state of new york york to ohio the object of N their moving was to gather together and i to escape the judgments that were corn conj ing upon the inhabitants of the land from canada it has been the same from the pacific islands the same in fact from the remotest ends of the earth it has been the same and the inhabitants of the ewt ew earh t have been warned to a great ex tenth extents extent by this movement then the persecutions the people have endured the mannelin man nerin which they have withstood these i eions remaining solid notwithstanding g the attempts that have been made to break them up have been a standing adl verti to the nations of the earth I 1 cannot contemplate all these vents events without being profoundly impressed with the testimonies which god is giving to the inhabitants of the earth he is going to leave them without excuse king destruction ruction will not come upon them without warning they will not be abl able e to say when the i judgments of god fall upon them it il 1 had known concertin con concerning cernin these things I 1 would have hear hearkened kene but I 1 have had no warning but very few if any will be able to say this because this gospel this people and their movements have all been advertised to the ends of the earth there is no other people or system that has received such wide advertisement as we have or as the gospel has which we believe in let me ine turn to a revelation that was given sixty six years ago this coming september and previous to the gathering the latter ter day saints were then living in payette fayette seneca county new york the place ace where the church was organized it must be remembered also that at this time there were but very few in the church I 1 have heard brother parley P pratt fratt describe the situation of the church at that t me for it was about that time that he joined the church He H e explained tome the i im impression which he made upon the droplet prophet joseph and oliver cow tery dery and the other elders when he preached to them at fayette seneca county new york after his baptism parley P pratt was an associate of alexander alexamder campbell and sidney rigdon in the state of ohio he had left new york and gone to ohio and joined the reformed baptists baptis ts he was a searcher after truth a man gifted in expounding the scriptures a man who could explain the scriptures with great simplicity and power he was led by a spirit that he could not understand to leave ohio and go back jo the state of new york his native state and while on the canal the spirit of the lord for ife believed in the spirit of the lord although he had not heard anything about the revelation of the gospel in its purity manifested to him to leave leave the canal boat on which he was traveling 1 and let his wife go on to her home he stopped there and commenced preaching in the neighborhood while pre preaching achink he heard about the book of mormon and about it having been translated from golden plates and he followed this information up ian ketil til he reached fayette where he found a little litile handful of latter d day saints saint s after his bis baptism confirma iao 76 and ordination he preace preached hed to the saints joseph listened to him as well wel I 1 as the three witnesses to the book of mormon ard the few that had joined the church and brother parley told me that neither joseph nor oliver knew un til they heard him preach the amount testimony emony and evidence there was in the bible to sustain the work of god and to show that such a work would be established in the last days you who knew parley know how lucidly and clearly and forcibly he could expound the scriptures and he did on that occasion and they were delighted to h hear ear what evidences god hadlett had left on record in the bible to sustain the work that was started now they knew nothing about the gathering or that there satch a principle revealed in the bible at least I 1 do not suppose they did from what P parley tirley said to me yet here we have just about that time when there were probably not fifty members in the church this revelation given in ift which the lord says i and ye are called to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect for mine elect hear my voice and harden not their hearts Where forCk ethe the decree hath gone forth from the father that they shall be gathered in in unto one place upon the face of this land to prepare their hearts and be prepared in all things against the day when tribulation and desolation are sent forth upon the wicked for the hour is is nigh and the day soon at hand when the earth is is ripe and all the proud and they that do wickedly shall be as stubble and I 1 will burn them up saith the lord of hosts that wickedness shall not be upon the earth for the hour is is nigh and that which was spoken by mine apostles must be fulfilled for as they spoke so shall it cometo comedo pass this is one of many revelations that I 1 might read if time would permit showing that the lord through the prophet joseph has revealed with great plainness that destructions of various kinds shall take place in fulfill fulfillment ment of prophecy and that there were men living then that should not pass away until they should see these things now you have been gathered as the lord jesus christ said should be the case the decree of the father has been fulfilled in part it may be astonishing to us but when we recognize the fact that the lord gave this decree you need not wonder that your hearts burned within you after hearing the gospel with a desire to leave your native fand land and gather with the saints of god in the place which he has designated you need not wonder at it I 1 say because this was the decree of the eternal father and the object of that decree is very plainly stated to prepare their hearts and be prepared in all things against the day when tribulation and desolation are sent forth upon the wicked I 1 do not expect that the latter day saints are going to escape all these things I 1 expect that they may receive some of these scourges urges but god has taught us principles by which we may escape and if we do not escape some of us may have ourselves and our own disobedience to blame my brethren and sisters we should take these things to heart for sixty six years now god has been calling in in a most extraordinary manner upon the inhabitants of the earth to repent thousands of elders have gone forth without purse urse and scrip lifting up their voices as eest best they could testifying to the nations of the earth that god had given ahm them a message of salvation warning them of the judgments and calamities that ar are e about to to be poured out but upon the ungodly telling them that the days were nigh at hand when all the terrible predictions that have been made by the prophets concerning the last days were to be fu filled calling upon them to repent and forsake their si sins ns to beli believe eve in jesus fesus repent of their sins obtain by baptism a remission of their sins and receive the holy ghost to lead and guide them I 1 say for sixty six years we have been doing this and in the meantime the blood of prophets has been shed the th e blood of the righteous has been spilled as a testimony that is they have died bearing testimony that their words were true the saints saint have been driven from place to place lace suffering great eions engling eng ting great trials privations and hardships all in testimony of them the truth of the message that they had received from god and that they had been commanded to proclaim to the inhabitants of the earth and do you think that all this is forgotten by the lord do you think that all these revelations that have been given on this important subject have been given with no purpose if you do you deceive yourselves we should prepare ourselves for these events we should repent of our sins and turn to the lord with a full purpose of heart and put away everything that is evil from our midst that we as the |