Show t DISCOURSE delivered pe livered at the conference of the utah stake of zion sunday april 17 1898 by PRESIDENT GROAGE 0 CANNON siwill j will read a portion of the chaper of the book of ether and ether was a prophet of the erd wherefore ether came forth in ithe the days clays of and began to unto the people tor for he could oot be restrained because of the spirit af att the lord which was in him for he did cry from the orning jn 4 even ven until the going down of the sun exhorting the people to believe in god anto repentance lest they should be destroyed saying unto them that by health all buringa are fulfilled wherefore whoso choso bell belle eveth voth in an god f might with surety hope for a better ii orld yea even a place at the right t hand of god which hope cometh of makesh keth an an anchor br to the souls of inen w which would make them sure and steadfast tead fast always abounding in good f works being led to glory god and it come to pass that tha ether tEther did 1 prophesy great and aad marvellous marcellous marv ellous things f the people which they dil did not be her bove because they sawn saw them not and now I 1 moroni would speak somewhat concerning these things I 1 shew unto the world that faith at 7 e fc things which axe are hoped forand tor and not net geen been wherefore dispute not because ye rf bwee not for ye receive no witness until anul after ater the trial of your faith 4 1 f for 1 it was by faith that christ 1 hewed himself unto our fathers after j fite ae h had ad risen fro from m the doad dad and he wed not himself unto them until after fter r they had faith in him fore it must needs be that mat some hath bath faith im for re he himself not unto w S world T but because bebau of the faith of men he s A acas in shew chewn n himself unto the world and the name of the vather and a way that thereby others be parta partakers par takers kess of the he heavenly satt that they might hope ton fon abose waga which jbv have biot seen afi wherefore ye re rjay may ilso also have kope hope and A d he be partakers par takers of 0 the gift it if ye will i lit I 1 h have ave faith s se hold it was by baith ath that they of 0 tf were called after the holy order of asod wherefore by falth aith was the ladof law of hooes given but in the gift of his bin jJ tota hath bath god prepared a more waccel cel 4 featt way anil and it is in by aith that it bath j neen n fulfill fulfilled id v por hor it there be no faith among bab ht idren of men god caido no miracle mirable ong them wherefore re he chewed H wil tl after their faith genhold bow etwas it was the aach of alma lAA dAm that the prison to ao pied ible to the earth hold it WAS the tuh of and ij that Abat wrought thea abe change hamge upon the that they ahey were baptized YC with the holy ghost behold eh old bibb of aman and his brethren which wrought so great a miracle among the Lama yea and even all they who wrought miracles wrought them by faith even those who were before christ and also them who were after and it was by faith that the three disciples obtained a promise that they should hot taste of death and they obtained not the promise until after their faith alth and neither at any time hath bath any wrought miracles until after their faith wherefore they first believed in the son of god and there were many whose faith was so excel exceeding ding strong even before christ came who could not be kept from within the vall but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith and they were glad arid and behold we have seen in this record that one of these was the brother ot of jared for so great was his faith in god that when god put forth his finger he could not hide hicle it from the sight of the brother of jared because of his word which he had spoken unto him which word he had obtained by faith and after tle the brother of jared had beheld the finger of the lord because of the promise which the brother of 0 jared had obtained by faith the lord could not withhold anything from his sight wherefore fOre he chewed him all things for he be could no longer be kept without the vall and it Is by faith that my fathers have obtained obtain eI the promise that these theme things should come unto their brethren through the gentiles therefore the lord hath commanded nw me yea even jesus christ there Is much of similar import to this in the alth chapter of hebrews written by paul in which he sets forth very clearly the power of god d that was man manifested infested from time to time among the children of men through the power of faith it it a good thing to have our minds r refreshed by reading 12 the he word of god upon this principle bee because ause if there to Is any people upon the face of the earth that have bave need of fath or an any Y people that have ha seen the fruits 0 of f faith we lare are that people for god gad has shown hla HIS power to us through the exercise of our falth faith in him bm we have met together this afternoon and I 1 have hae no doubt hat in the hearts of all present there Is a desire that that which shall be said shall be 0 of f profit to them people do not gabbei together tog ether as you have some coining from afar without a purpose and with outa desire to be instructed I 1 tru trust r L therefore that in all our hearts there will be an exercise ot faith in the lord L to t this h Is end that we may be instructed instruct d and bene fitted like my brethren I 1 have been greatly gratified at this conference I 1 ha have felt that this ought to be the danine lot of a new era in this stake of men 1 I 1 believe that the union of the people has been greatly promoted by their efforts to complete this tabernacle I 1 feel eel that the faith which has been manifested by the people in contributing of their substance and of their labor to the accomplishment of this great work will have a widespread and beneficial effect upon the people it has been my experience and observation that whenever the latter day saints are called upon to perform a work and they go to with their energy their might and with the spirit of union to accomplish that work the effects upon their character axe are of a beneficial nature natum it results in great good to the and to the people in thinking about this my mind has been led to contemplate the effect that it will have and also the principle of falth faith which has been exemplified by the saints in this great work for I 1 suppose it has e 8 been a very great work to you in tu anis 5 stake it is by faith that you have done this and what you have dove done illustrates to a very great extent the principle of faith our people have hafe been urged from the beginning to have faith in bod and in his power and as I 1 havi have alid the take lessons that we have been taught have been of a character to leave an undying impress upon us that should not be obliterated by anything that may occur if I 1 t had power I 1 would like to make a still deeper impression upon our minds concerning this princ principle itle and to show to the latter day faints au that god intends that we shall be a people of great aith faltha a people of such faith that we shall carry to a successful termination any labor or duty that he may require at our hands I 1 would like if I 1 can to draw the attention of this congregation to that which ww has been accomplished by we this people through the exercise of faith 1 aneed need not bring this down to An individual cases because everyone here who has had any experience in this church has seen sean the effects of faith in his or laer her own life I 1 think there are very few in im tuo tola f whole audience who could not if called upon bear a testimony to illustrate the tUe principle upon which iam speaking this church has bas been built udby up by faith through this principle we have performed performs 4 d most extraordinary works the history of the people from thebe ginning furnishes a continued exemplification fi of what men and women ean do when they have bave faith in god andin his power jesus said bald all things are am possible to him that bell eveith eveth we were told yesterday by brother gramit nepal going to at the ot of the lord through his father to obtain possession of the bross plates brothers manifested a want awant awa nt of lafty in the iha mission their father had assigned bothem to them aad uttered this remarkable expression the ithe i lord no oom umito arito the children childr enof of anh save re he shall prepare a way for thefts i that they anay accomplish the which i f he nomman commandeur command dath eUi thear 11 i that illustrates hobt beautifully ittie ale of faith it seemed an impossible thing to laman and lemuel because they knew the character of laban that he was utterly unscrupulous and would not hesitate to do anything and therefore they had no faith that they could accomplish what their father desired on the contrary nepal believed that whatever god required at the hands of men he would prepare the way if they but had faith and exerted themselves for it to be accomplished shed the history of that mission is full of encouragement and conveys a lesson of great importance to all who will read it and enter eater into the spirit of that which was done nephi was determined ter mined to accomplish that which his father and the lord had required at his hands though the first attempt was to a certain extent a fa failure that did not discourage ds courage him he did not say it to is impossible we cannot accomplish it he did not yield to that feeling but he continued his effort until he accomplished the business that was entrusted to him the history of the latter day saints contains numerous illustrations of this principle in the great works that have been accomplished by the servants of god the prophet joseph smiths whole life is full of these he was full of faith he believed that whatever the lord required at his hands he could do and he never hesitated it was so with many others in the church it has been so with the entire people I 1 need only ref refer er you to the coming coining of the people to this land A great many said it was impossible that the people would perish in the wilderness that chat they must have many things they did not have in order to accomplish that work but there were those who did not have that fear they did not stop to ask themselves whether they had the means with which to make the lourney journey but they started out believing that god would help them and would open the way before them and in every instance where they had this faith they accomplished that which they were aiming tor for how often has it been in the history of the people that those who had faith after receiving the gospel in their native land and who believed that god would open their way and were willing to trust him to the very uttermost were able in this manner to emir emi grate to the land which god had designated as a place of gathering tor for his pe people maple many of this congregation no doubt if they were callied called upon could relate how wonderfully god had opened their way in this respect the elders who are sent out as missionaries sion aries also have the opportunity of proving broving the correctness of this principle and they can testify to the pow power er of god manifested in their behalf because of their determination on to fo do that which god called them to do I 1 could relate instance after instance grom from my myown own experience where I 1 have been told that it was no use for me to attempt to do a certain thing because it could not be done and yet by being determined and having unyielding falth faith tn god I 1 have been able to accomplish it I 1 suppose the lives of all of us who have had experience in this church especially in missionary work abound with illustrations of this kind one little incident occurs to my mind I 1 had translated the book of mormon into the hawaiian language we had purchased a press type and paper to be ben to the sandwich islands and they arrived there after I 1 had returned home brother parley P pratt who was laboring in san francisco had bad these sent seat up to san francisco with the expectation of pu publishing punishing a paper there he requested the first presidency that I 1 might return and aid in the publication of this paper and also alao to publish the translation which I 1 had made of at the book of mormon I 1 was called and sent after my arrival in san francisco I 1 found that brother pratt had started home I 1 followed him he had made his arrangements however to go and he told me that I 1 must take hold of the work and he set me apart to preside in california well I 1 was but young and I 1 looked younger than I 1 really was and the saints in san francisco sald said it is no use one of the leading men to me if you have got a thousand dollars you can open an office here they said everything almost to discourage me I 1 said the lord has sent me here I 1 am going to publish a paper here I 1 am going to publish the book of mormon here 11 I 1 need not rehearse to you the particulars of how the lord opened the way for many weeks we lived on bread and water shortly atter afterward ter ward I 1 having opened an office and commenced the publication of the book the officers of the branch and conference asked me if I 1 would not attend a meeting that they were going to hold I 1 supposed that they seeing how destitute we were myself and the two elders who were with me and my wife were going to do something to assist us but instead of that they notified me that they would not be responsible for any debt of my contracting tr ting they saw I 1 was goding ahead butt but they did not want me to deceive myself with the idea that I 1 could fall back on them and expect them to pay any debts that I 1 might contract you can an imagine what effect that would have on any of you it stirred me up a good deal and I 1 prophesied to them for I 1 had the spirit of prophesy and told them to get out of my way and not impede my work they told me to shut up the office I 1 said to them 1 I am sent here to do a work and with gods help I 1 will do it and it if you do not want to help in this the lord will raise up others that will and he did in a very short time I 1 was waa able to send to president young nearly two thousand dollars in cash tithing money was offered me by the thousands to assist me in my work I 1 did not avada myself of the offer because I 1 knew if I 1 did I 1 would not be able to return it for a while but I 1 published the book of mormon and sent senit 2500 2600 copies to the sandwich islands and I 1 published a paper and did so till the buchanan wax war broke us up no doubt many of the elders have experienced similar instances to this where when they made up their minds that it was the will of god that certain things should be done and they went to with their might to do it the lord has opened the way before them and given them success this principle as I 1 have said is illustrated lust rated in the completion of this utah stake there is EL a determination min mi nation stion adopted by the presidency of this stake that they are going to finish this tab tabernacle ernle and the determination and faith which they manifest cause the results that we witness today so it is in everything connected with the church men pay their tithing and when they do it in faath god blesses that tithing when they contribute to the work of god he blesses their contributions and he brings means to them in ways that are imperceptible to them but they see the results god wants us to be a people that will have faith in him and not be governed by the feelings that actuated our fathers who judged by the sight ot or the eye and did not think anything could be accomplished except in a na tural way such as they had been ac customer cua cus tomed to the lord intends to emancipate this people from those ideas if they will |