Testimony of the Restored Gospel

I am very much gratified with the opportunity afforded me of addressing you for a few minutes this afternoon, and I trust that while I shall attempt this that I may have an interest in your faith, that such things as may be suggested to my mind may be of mutual benefit to us. The Gospel, with which we have become identified, is the power of God unto salvation to every man and woman who render themselves strictly obedient to its requirements ; and I want to bear my testimony to the truth of that gospel, as revealed in this day and age of the world in which we live. Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, inspired to do that which he accomplished in his day, and this gospel as restored through the Prophet has come to the earth never more to be taken from it, or given to another people, but is destined to accomplish that which God has designed should be brought about for the redemption of His children. ¶

I remember the Prophet Joseph Smith very well, though but a small boy at the time of his martyrdom ; but I was impressed as a lad that he was a Prophet, a man superior to his fellows, and that God had raised him up to accomplish a great work. I have been acquainted with the other leaders of the Church, President Young, President Taylor, President Woodruff, President Snow, and President Smith. I bear testimony to their integrity to the truth and to the influence they have had upon the world, gathering many people from various nations where the gospel message greeted their ears, and caused them to come to these peaceful valleys, where they have the privilege of worshiping God according to the dictates of their conscience, and have not been made afraid. When these glad tidings reached the ears of our fathers in the lands of their nativity, they rendered obedience to the requirements of the gospel. It did not require a manifestation of any great mysterious power to convert them to the gospel, yet they faithfully adhered to the principles thereof, believing that they were principles that God had revealed. No matter how dark the day, or how lowering the clouds seemed to be that hung over the people, and, discouraging the conditions ' by which they were surrounded, they were unfaltering in their fealty to God and the principles that they had espoused. Driven from their homes, they sought refuge in some other part of the country, not knowing where they were going. They were always cheerful, making camp fires, sitting by them, and singing the songs of Zion, apparently as happy as it was possible for people to be, though deprived of everything they had possessed on the earth. ¶

I was talking the other day with some of those people who have recently been driven from Mexico. They said "A person cannot realize the feeling that possessed us in being forced from our homes, with nothing but what we stood up in, not having time to take our clothing or anything but the few things that were necessary for our immediate use. Nobody could understand our feeling, unless they had passed through a' similar experience." I can truly sympathize with them, because I remember the time when the people were driven from their homes' in Nauvoo, when the end apparently had come, everything seemed dark. They did not have friends that they could go to after being driven from their peaceful homes in Illinois, but thev crossed the Mississippi river, and journeyed in the wilderness, not knowing where they were going: ¶

but they were cheerful, and the Lord guided them, and brought them to these mountains. I 'remember very well the distressing conditions of the people. I remember the power of the Lord being manifest in many instances in their deliverance. I remember coming to Winter Quarters and remaining there, and that many of the people scattered from there into the surrounding regions to work and obtain outfits to enable them to come on to the valleys of the mountains ; and others went on to locate an abiding place for the people. ¶

I remember when we entered these mountains, the forbidding aspect, the dreary appearance of the country and the conditions by which we were surrounded. We come here today and see the contrast. This sight that we behold today, the people surrounded by the comforts and conveniences that the Lord has conferred upon them, and the peace and quiet that surround them, are sufficient to convince the most skeptical of God's power having been manifest in behalf of the people. Settlements . have sprung up east and west, north and south, until the then Territory and now the State of Utah, is filled almost to its capacity, and the people have had to find place in the adjacent states, and are becoming a mighty people in the midst of this nation, of which we form a part. If we continue faithful, obedient to the requirements of the gospel, living in conformity thereto, God will continue to manifest his power, and the people will prosper, and increase in a knowledge of the truth. ¶

I heard a man a short time ago predict the conditions which are coming upon our sons and daughters. He said: "Mr. Cannon, in associating with your young people, I find that they are not taking to religion, they are drifting into infidelity, and they have not the confidence in the leaders of the Church that you older men have had." I replied, "It may appear to you that way, but I am satisfied that these young men and young women, who now appear inactive in regard to spiritual affairs, if conditions should require it, you would find them as strong and as willing to defend the principles of eternal truth as their fathers ever were. The faith of the gospel is in their hearts, but, in our ordinary moving about, there is nothing connected with the gospel that requires us to wear a long face or appear sanctimonious." We believe that God is our Father, that His Son Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of the world, and that through Him and by Him, and through obedience to the requirements that He has made of us, we will gain eternal lives in His presence. Every principle that is true, or that is calculated in its nature to raise mankind in the scale of human intelligence, is a part of the gospel, no matter where it comes from. When we approach the Lord in prayer, as has been done on this occasion, we go to him in faith, nothing doubting, because we know that He is our Father and will hear our petition. As we embrace the gospel, and conform strictly to it, God gives us a knowledge regarding its divinity, and we increase in faith until we have become thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the work of the Lord, and it only requires the occasion to make us stand forth firmly and valiantly in its defense. ¶

I rejoice in this great work. I rejoice in it from the fact that it is applicable to every condition in which man may be found. The gospel requires the same degree of obedience from the man that is found in a palace as of the man who is found in a cottage. All men must render strict obedience to the requirements of the gospel. As the fruits of the spirit are manifest in man's life, he grows in intelligence, and in understanding of the things that pertain to God and godliness, and he becomes convinced and confirmed so that nothing can turn him from the truth, or rob him of the testimony of the spirit that is within him. You know sometimes people feel that in order for them to become converted to the gospel, it is necessary for them to have some kind of a miraculous manifestation ; but the genuine Latter-day Saint will learn the truth by obedience, the conviction thus comes to them, and they realize that they are accepted of God. ¶

Ask a man the question how he knows the gospel to be true. Ask him, "Did you ever see an angel?" "No." "Did you ever see any one raised from the dead? You speak of the resurrection of the dead ; have you ever seen anybody that was resurrected?" "No." "How do you know that this gospel is true? What demonstration have you had to satisfy you?" I never have had any miraculous manifestation, but I will tell you what I have had : I have endeavored to render myself obedient to the requirements of the gospel, and as I have done so the Spirit of God has testified to me of its divine authenticity. Any principle that has been revealed from the earliest times until the present, as I have tried to render myself obedient to its requirements, God has given me a testimony regarding it, and my heart and my soul have been satisfied. The hope that is firmly implanted in my heart becomes brighter and stronger as I proceed to render obedience to the requirements made by the gospel through the servants of God. ¶

When we receive the gospel, we are not satisfied to sit down and say in our hearts we have received it, and we are satisfied ; but we begin to desire to extend this knowledge that we have received to our fellows, and we begin to see what we can do to improve the condition of mankind. When the spirit of the work comes upon us we are not satisfied to look just alone to the interests of the living, and to bear testimony to them of the divine truths that we have received, but we also desire the eternal welfare of our progenitors, and we endeavor to see what can be done in their interest, to ameliorate their condition. At the time that the Lord commanded His servants to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, He said, "he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." So, we believe that those who did not render this obedience in their lifetime, and died without having the opportunity of obeying, that it is necessary for them to have the ordinance of baptism performed in their behalf, vicariously. As we become possessed of the genealogical data that will enable us to do so, we go into the houses that the Lord has caused to be erected, and we seek to perform the work that is necessary for the redemption of our kindred dead. The matter forces itself upon our understandings that we without our dead "can not be made perfect," nor can our dead be made perfect without us, so we find that there is something good that we may do, every day that we live in the earth. ¶

A man said to me: "How is it that I have been identified with this Church so long and I have never been called upon to do anything?" "Well," I said, "the only reason that I can give is that you were never there when there was something to do." A person that is always ready and willing can easily find plenty to do, every day. No man is justified in sitting down and idling away his time, simply because he is not asked to go and do something. He can engage in no grander work than in the interest of his dead. He can go to the temple and be baptized for them ; then he can receive other blessings on their behalf. He can place in the hands of his dead kindred keys, and power, and authority by which they may have the privilege of entering into celestial glory, and enjoying that which the Lord has to bestow upon the faithful. He can impart to them authority and power without which they never can pass to their exaltation. ¶

There are plenty of people drifting about the country, and the streets, that the man who bears the holy Priesthood has ample opportunity to bear his testimony to, who have not yet found the path to eternal life. Thus we have no surplus time, of spare time, and there is no occasion for any one to say that he has not been asked to do anything, or to ask the question, "How is it that I have never been asked to do anything?" The servants of the Lord should not have to ask people to do their duty, the people should be ready and willing. ¶

It is my desire to bear , my testimony to the people. I know, as I know that God lives, that this is the work of God. I know that the work that is done in our temples for the redemption of the dead is essential ; and I know, furthermore, that those who go to the temple and do the work as far as they have genealogical data that will enable them to do it, the Lord will open the way for them to receive further information. The greater the amount of work they do the greater their desires will be to do it, and more information will be placed in their hands to enable them to continue the great work for the redemption of the dead. ¶

May God bless us, pour out His holy Spirit upon us, and enable us to be diligent in carrying out and assisting to accomplish His purposes in the earth, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. ¶