The Deseret Weekly.
REMARKS
By President George Q. Cannon, and
President Wilford Woodruff, at
the Sixty-first Semi-Annual Con-
ference of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, , immediately following
the adoption by the General As-
sembly of the Manifesto issued
by President Wilford Woodruff
in relation to Plural Marriages.
President George Q. Cannon.
On the 19th of January, 1841, the
Lord gave His servant Joseph Smith
a revelation, the 49th paragraph of
which I will read:
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, that
when I give a commandment to any
of the sons of men, to do a work unto
my name, and those sons of men go
with all their might, and with all they
have, to perform that work, and cease
not their diligence, and their enemies
come upon them, and hinder them
from performing that work; behold,
it behoveth me to require that work
no more at the hands of those sons of
men, but to accept of their offerings." [Doctrine and Covenants 124:49]
The Lord says other things con-
nected with this, which I do not
think it necessary to read, but the
whole revelation is profitable, and
can be read by those who desire to
do so.
It is on this basis that President
Woodruff has felt himself justified
in issuing this manifesto.
I suppose it would not be justice
to this Conference not to say some-
thing upon this subject; and yet
everyone knows how delicate a sub-
ject it is, and how difficult it is to
approach it without saying some-
thing that may offend somebody.
So far as I am concerned, I
can say that of the men in
this Church who have en-
deavored to maintain this principle
of plural marriage, I am one.
In public and in private I have
avowed my belief in it. I have de-
fended it everywhere and under all
circumstances, and when it was
necessary have said that I consid-
ered the command was binding and
imperative upon me.
But a change has taken place. We
have, in the first place, endeavored
to show that the law which affected
this feature of our religion was un-
constitutional. We believed for years
that the law of July 1, 1862, was in
direct conflict with the first amend-
ment to the Constitution, which
says that "Congress shall make no
law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof." We rested upon
that, and for years continued the
practice of plural marriage, believing
that law against it to be an unconsti-
tutional one, and that we had the
right, under the Constitution, to
carry out this principle practically
in our lives. So confident was I in
relation to this view that in conver-
sations with President Grant, and
with his Attorney General, ex-
Senator Williams, of Oregon, I said
to them that if my case were not
barred by the statute of limitations
I would be willing to have
it made a test case, in order that
the law might be tested. We were
sustained in this view not only by
our own interpretation of the
amendment to the Constitution, but
also by some of the best legal minds
in the country, who took exactly the
same view that we did—that this
law was an interference with relig-
ious rights, and that so long as our
practices did not interfere with the
happiness and peace of society, or
of others, we had the right to carry
out this principle. In fact, it is
within six or eight months that, in
conversation with two United
States Senators, each conversation
being separate from the other, both
of them expressed themselves,
though not in the same language,
to this effect: "Mr. Cannon, if this
feature that you practice had not
been associated with religion, it
might have been tolerated; but you
have associated it with religion and
it has aroused the religious senti-
ment of the nation, and that senti
ment cannot be resisted. So far as
the practice itself is concerned, if
you had not made it a part of
your faith and an institution
sanctioned by religion, it might
have gone unnoticed." I do
not give the exact language; but
these are the ideas that they con-
veyed to me. Now, we were very
confident that this law was an un-
constitutional one. President Dan-
iel H. Wells will remember how he
and I tried to get a case to test the
constitutionality of the law during
the lifetime of President Brigham
Young. We wanted to get Brother
Erastus Snow. It is the last thing
that we should have thought of to
put a man like he was in the gap
if we had not been firmly convinced
that the law was unconstitutional
and would be declared so by the
United States Supreme Court. We
telegraphed to Brother Erastus in
the south, thinking that his case
would not by barred by the statute
of limitations. He replied to us
concerning it, and we found that it
was barred. Brother A. M. Musser
proposed himself, if I remember
aright, to be a test case; but there
was a defect in his case. We want-
ed this case, whenever it was pre-
sented, to be presented fairly, that
there should be no evasion about it,
but that it should be a case that
could be tested fairly before the courts
of the country. Finally, Brother
George Reynolds was selected.
I said to myself, when I learned the
result, "it is the last time that I will
ever have anything to do with a test
case again which will involve the
liberty of anybody." I was promised
when he was sentenced, by one
high in authority and who had the
right to make the promise, that he
should be released, when the cir-
cumstances were told to him; for
they were laid fairly before him,
and he was told that the evidence
had been furnished by Brother Rey-
nolds himself, and that everything
had been done to make it a test
case; the government had been
aided in the securing of witnesses,
and no difficulty thrown in the
way. Afterwards, on the second
trial, I believe Brother Reynolds'
lawyers got frightened, and there was
something occurred then that gave it
a different appearance. But when the
facts were related, as I stated, to one
high in authority, he promised me
that George Reynolds should be par-
doned. There were those, however,
in this city who were deter-
mined that he should not escape
imprisonment, and the prose-
cuting attorney wrote a letter
which changed the mind of this
high official, as he afterward told
me, and he declined to carry out
that which I had received as a pro-
mise. But even then there were
circumstances connected with this
decision that made us reluctant to
accept it.
Since that time the history of
proceedings is before you and before
the world. We have felt as though
this command of God was of such
importance to us, involving so many
serious consequences, that we should
do all in our power to have the
world know the position that we
occupied. There may be men among
us who believed they would be
damned if they did not obey this,
accepting it as a direct command
from God. Therefore, you can un-
derstand how tenaciously we have
protested, and how vigorously we
have endeavored, as far as we
could, to make public our views
upon this subject.
I suppose there are two classes
here today in this congregation—
one class who feel to sorrow to the
bottom of their hearts because of the
necessity of this action that we have
now taken; another class who will
say: "Did I not tell you so?" "Did I
not tell you it would come to this?"
"Did I not say to you that you
ought to take advantage of and
comply with this years ago, instead
of enduring that which you have
suffered since that time?" There
may be men here today who pride
themselves on their foresight, and
who take credit to themselves be-
cause they foresaw, as they allege,
that which we have done today, and
would lead others to believe that if
their counsel had been adopted, if
the views that they presented had
been accepted by the people, it
might have saved very serious con-
sequences to us all and left us in a
better position than that which we
occupy today. But I, for one, differ
entirely with this view. I belive
that it was necessary that we should
witness unto God, the Eternal
Father, unto the heavens and unto
the earth, that this was really a
principle dear to us—dearer, it might
be said, in some respects, than life
itself. We could not have done this
had we submitted at the time that
those of whom I speak suggested
submission. We could not have left
our own nation without excuse. It
might have said, "Had we known
all that you tell us now concerning
this, we should have had very dif
ferent views about this feature of
your religion than we did have."
But now, after the occurrences of
the past six years have been wit-
nessed by this entire nation and by
the world, and by God the Eternal
Father and the heavenly hosts, no
one can plead as an excuse that
they have been ignorant of our be-
lief and the dearness of this prin-
ciple to us. Upwards of thirteen
hundred men have been incar-
cerated in prison, going there for
various terms from one or three
months up to years. They have
gone there willingly, as martyrs to
this principle, making a protest that
the heavens and the earth should
bear record of, that they were con-
scientious in espousing this princi-
ple, and that it was not for sensual
indulgence, because if sensual in-
dulgence had been the object we
could have obtained it without such
sacrifices as were involved in obe-
dience to this law—without going to
prison, without sustaining wives
and children, without the oblo-
quy that has been heaped
upon us because of this action
of ours. If licentious motives had
prompted us, we could have secured
the results in a cheaper way and in
a way more in consonance with uni-
versal custom throughout our own
land and all Christendom. But the
sacrifices that we have made in this
respect bear testimony to the heavens
and to the earth that we have been
sincere and conscientious in all that
we have done, and that we have not
been prompted by a desire to use
women for lustful purposes, but to
save them, to make them honorable,
and to leave no margin of women
in our society to become a prey to
lust, so that every woman in our land
should have the opportunity of be-
coming a virtuous wife and an
honored mother, loved and respected
by her offspring and by all her as-
sociates.
If no other result has attended
what may be termed our obstinacy,
these results are, at least, upon
record, and they never can be
blotted out. The imprisonment of
these men, the sufferings—the un-
told, unwritten, yea, the unmen-
tionable, it may be said, sufferings—
of wives and children, they are re-
corded in heaven and are known to
men upon the earth, and they form
a chapter that will never be blotted
out.
Latter-day Saints, there has been
nothing lost in the five years that
have just passed. We have lost no
credit. There has been no honor sac-
rificed. We can look God in the face
—that is, if we are permitted to do so,
so far as this is concerned, we can; we
can look the holy angels in the face;
we can look mankind in the face,
without a blush, or without feeling
that we have done anything un-
worthy of our manhood or of our pro-
fessions and the faith that God has
given unto us. This all of us can
do; and if no other result has
followed what may be called our
obstinacy, than these which I now
describe they are grand enough to
pay us for all that we have gone
through.
But the time has come when, in
the providence of God, it seemed
necessary that something should be
done to meet the requirements of
the country, to meet the demands
that have been made upon us, and
to save the people. President
Woodruff and others of us have
been appealed to hundreds of times,
I might say; I can say for
myself, that I have been appealed to
many scores of times to get out
something, and to announce some-
thing. Some of our leading brethren
have said: "Inasmuch as we have
ceased to give permission for plural
marriages to be solemnized, why
cannot we have the benefit of that?
Why cannot we tell the world it, so
as to have the benefit of it? Our
enemies are alleging constantly that
we still practise this in secret, and
that we are dishonest and guilty of
evasion. Now, if we have really
put a stop to granting permissions to
men to take more wives than one,
why should not the world know it
and we have the advantage of it?"
These remarks have been made to
us repeatedly. But at no time has
the Spirit seemed to indicate that
this should be done. We have wait-
ed for the Lord to move in the
matter; and on the 24th of Septem-
ber, President Woodruff made up
his mind that he would write some-
thing, and he had the spirit
of it. He had prayed about
it and had besought God repeatedly
to show him what to do. At that
time the Spirit came upon him, and
the document that has been read in
your hearing was the result. I know
that it was right, much as it has
gone against the grain with me in
many respects, because many of
you know the contest we have had
upon this point. But when God
speaks, and when God makes known
His mind and will, I hope
that I and all Latter-day
Saints will bow in submission to it.
When that document was prepared
it was submitted. But, as is said in
this motion that has been made,
President Woodruff is the only man
upon the earth who holds the keys of
the sealing power. These Apostles all
around me have all the same author-
ity that he has. We are all or-
dained with the same ordination.
We all have had the same keys and
the same powers bestowed upon us.
But there is an order in the Church
of God, and that order is that there is
only one man at a time on the earth
who holds the keys of sealing, and
that man is the President of the
Church, now Wilford Woodruff.
Therefore, he signed that docu-
ment himself. Some have wondered
and said, "Why didn't his Coun-
selors sign? Why didn't others
sign?" Well, I give you the reason
—because he is the only man on the
earth that has this right, and
he exercised it, and he did
this with the approval of all of us to
whom the matter was submitted,
after he had made up his mind, and
we sustained it; for we had made it
a subject of prayer also, that God
would direct us.
There never was a time in this
Church when I believe the leading
men of this Church have en-
deavored to live nearer to God, be-
cause they have seen the path in
which we walked environed with
difficulties, beset with all manner
of snares, and we have had the
responsibility resting upon us of
your salvation, to a certain ex-
tent. God has chosen us, not we
ourselves, to be the shepherds of
His flock. We have not sought this
responsibility. You know Wilford
Woodruff too well to believe that he
would seek such an office as
he now fills. I trust you know
the rest of us sufficiently to
believe the same concerning
us. I have shrunk from
the Apostleship. I have shrunk
from being a member of the First
Presidency. I felt that if I could
get my salvation in any other
way, I prayed God that He would
give it to me, after He revealed to
me that I would be an Apostle, when
I was comparatively a child; and I
have had that feeling ever since.
These Apostles, all of them, feel the
responsibility which rests upon
them as leaders of the people, God
having made us, in His providence,
your shepherds. We feel that the
flock is in our charge, and if any
harm befall this flock through us,
we will have to answer for it in the
day of the Lord Jesus; we shall
have to stand and render an account
of that which has been entrusted to
us; and if we are faithless, and care-
less, and do not live so as to have the
word of God continually with us
and know His mind and will, then
our condemnation will be sure and
certain, and we cannot escape it.
But you are our witnesses as to
whether God is with us or
not, as well as the Holy Ghost.
You have received, and it is
your privilege to receive, the
testimony of Jesus Christ as to
whether these men who stand at
your head are the servants of God,
whom God has chosen, and through
whom God gives instructions to His
people. You know it, because the
testimony of the Spirit is with you,
and the Spirit of God burns in your
bosoms when you hear the word of
God declared by these servants, and
there is a testimony living in your
hearts concerning it.
Now, realizing the full responsi-
bility of this, this action has been
taken. Will it try many of the
Saints? Perhaps it will; and per-
haps it will try those who have not
obeyed this law as much as any
others in the Church. But all that
we can say to you is that which we
repeatedly say to you—go unto
God yourselves, if you are tried over
this and cannot see its purpose; go
to your secret chambers and ask God
and plead with Him, in the name of
Jesus, to give you a testimony as
He has given it to us, and I promise
you that you will not come away
empty, nor dissatisfied; you will
have a testimony, and light will be
poured out upon you, and you will
see things that perhaps you cannot
see and understand at the present
time.
I pray God to bless all of you, my
brethren and sisters; to fill you with
His Holy Spirit; to keep you in the
path of exaltation which He has
marked out for us; to be with us on
the right hand and on the left in
our future as He has been in the
past.
Before I sit down I wish to call
attention to one remarkable thing,
and it may be an evidence to you
that the devil is not pleased with
what we have done. It is seldom I
have seen so many lies, and such
flagrant, outrageous lies told about
the Latter day Saints as I have
quite recently. I have not time to
read the papers, but I have hap-
pened to pick up two or three papers
and glance at them, and the most
infernal (pardon me for using that
expression) lies ever framed are told.
It seems as though the devil is mad
every way. "Now," says he, "they
are going to take advantage of this,
and I am determined they shall
have no benefit of it; I will fill the
earth with lies concerning them,
and neutralize this declaration of
President Woodruff's." And you
will see in all the papers everything
that can be said to neutralize the
effect of this. To me it is pretty
good evidence that the devil is not
pleased with what we are doing.
When we kept silence concerning
this, then we were a very mean and
bad people; and now that we have
broken the silence and made public
our position, why, we are wicked
in other directions, and no credence
can be attached to anything that we
say. You may know by this that
his satanic majesty is not pleased
with our action. I hope he never
will be.
President Wilford Woodruff
I want to say to all Israel that the
step which I have taken in issuing
this manifesto has not been done
without earnest prayer before the
Lord. I am about to go into the
spirit world, like other men of my
age. I expect to meet the face of
my Heavenly Father—the Father
of my spirit; I expect to meet the
face of Joseph Smith, of Brigham
Young, of John Taylor, and of the
Apostles, and for me to have taken
a stand in anything which is not
pleasing in the sight of God, or be-
fore the heavens, I would rather
have gone out and been shot. My
life is no better than other men's.
I am not ignorant of the feelings
that have been engendered through
the course I have pursued. But I
have done my duty, and the nation
of which we form a part must be
responsible for that which has been
done in relation to this principle.
The Lord has required at our
hands many things that we have not
done, many things that we were
prevented from doing. The Lord
required us to build a Temple in
Jackson County. We were pre-
vented by violence from doing
it. He required us to build a
Temple in Far West, which
we have not been able to do.
A great many things have been re-
quired of us, and we have not been
able to do them, because of those
that surrounded us in the world.
This people are in the hands of God.
This work is in the hands of God,
and He will take care of it. Brother
George Q. Cannon told us about the
lies that are abroad. It is a time
when there have been more lies
told about Mormonism than almost
any other subject ever presented to
the human family. I often think
of what Lorenzo Dow said with re-
gard to the doctrine of election.
Says he: "It is like this: You can,
and you can't; you will, and
you won't; you shall, and you
shan't; you'll be damned if
you do, and you'll be damned
if you don't." That is about the
condition we as Latter-day Saints
are in. If we were to undertake to
please the world, and that was our
object, we might as well give up the
ship; we might have given it up in
the beginning. But the Lord has
called us to labor in the vineyard;
and when our nation passes laws, as
they have done, in regard to this
principle which we have presented
to the Conference, it is not wisdom
for us to make war upon sixty-five
millions of people. It is not wisdom
for us to go forth and carry out this
principle against the laws of the na-
tion and receive the consequences.
That is in the hands of God, and
He will govern and control it. The
Church of Christ is here; the Zion
of God is here, in fulfilment of these
revelations of God that are con-
tained in these holy records in
which the whole Christian world
profess to believe. The Bible could
never have been fulfilled had it not
been for the raising up of a prophet
in the last days. The revelations of
St. John could never have been
fulfilled if the angel of God
had not flown through the
midst of heaven, "having the
everlasting Gospel to preach
to them that dwell on the earth,
and to every nation, and kindred,
and tongue, and people, saying with
a loud voice, Fear God, and give
glory to Him; for the hour of His
judgment is come." [Revelation 14:6-7] Was that angel
going to visit New York, Philadel-
phia, Boston, and the world, and
call the people together and preach
to them? Not at all. But the Lord
raised up a Prophet. The angel of
God delivered that Gospel to that
Prophet. That Prophet organized a
Church; and all that He has prom-
ised in this code of revelations (the
Book of Doctrine and Covenants)
has been fulfilled as fast as time
would admit. That which is not
yet fulfilled will be.
Brethren and sisters, it is our duty
to be true to God and to be faithful.
Make your prayers known unto the
Lord. The Lord has told us what
He will do concerning many things.
He will fulfill His word. Let us be
careful and wise, and let us be satis-
fied with the dealings of God with
us. If we do our duty to one an-
other, to our country and to the
Church of Christ, we will be justi-
fied when we go into the spirit
world. It is not the first
time that the world has sought to
hinder the fulfillment of revelation
and prophecy. The Jewish nation
and other nations rose up and slew
the Son of God and every Apostle
but one that bore the Priesthood in
that day and generation. They
could not establish the kingdom;
the world was against them. When
the Apostles asked Jesus whether
He would at that time restore again
the kingdom to Israel, He replied:
"It is not for you to know the times
or the seasons, which the Father
hath put in his own power." [Acts 1:7] He
did not say it would be established
then; but He taught them to pray:
"Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name. Thy king-
dom come. Thy will be done on
earth, as it is in heaven." [Matthew 6:9-10] It is a
long time since that prayer was
offered, and it has not been fulfilled
until the present generation. The
Lord is preparing a people to receive
His kingdom and His Church, and
to build up His work. That, breth-
ren and sisters, is our labor.
I want the prayers of the Latter-
day Saints. I thank God that I
have seen with my eyes this day
that this people have been ready to
vote to sustain me in an action that
I know, in one sense, has pained
their hearts. Brother George Q.
Cannon has laid before you our
position. The Lord has given us
commandments concerning many
things, and we have carried them
out as far as we could; but when
we cannot do it, we are justified.
The Lord does not require at our
hands things that we cannot do.
This is all I want to say to the
Latter-day Saints upon this subject.
But go before the Lord and ask Him
for light and truth, and to give us
such blessings as we stand in need
of. Let your prayers ascend into
the ears of the God of Sabaoth, and
they will be heard and answered
upon your heads, and upon the
heads of the world. Our nation is
in the hands of God. He holds
their destiny. He holds the desti-
nies of all men. I will say to the
Latter-day Saints, as an Elder in
Israel and as an Apostle of the Lord
Jesus Christ, we are approaching
some of the most tremendous judg-
ments God ever poured out upon
the world. You watch the signs of
the times, the signs of the coming
of the Son of Man. They are be-
ginning to be made manifest both
in heaven and on earth. As has
been told you by the Apostles, Christ
will not come until these things
come to pass. Jerusalem has got to
be rebuilt. The Temple has got to be
built. Judah has got to be gathered,
and the House of Israel. And the
gentiles will go forth to battle
against Judah and Jerusalem before
the coming of the Son of Man.
These things have been revealed by
the prophets; they will have their
fulfilment. We are approaching these
things. All that the Latter-day
Saints have to do is to be quiet, care-
ful and wise before the Lord, watch
the signs of the times, and be true
and faithful; and when you get
through you will understand many
things that you do not today. This
work has been raised up by the
power of Almighty God. These El-
ders of Israel were called from the
various occupations of life to preach
as they were moved upon by the
Holy Ghost. They were not learned
men; they were the weak things of
this world, whom God chose to con-
found the wise, "and things which
are not, to bring to nought things
that are." [1 Corinthians 1:28] We are here on that
principle. Others will be gathered
on that principle. Zion will be
redeemed, Zion will arise, and
the glory of God will rest
upon her, and all that Isaiah and
the other prophets have spoken con-
cerning her will come to pass. We
are in the last dispensation and
fulness of time. It is a great day,
and the eyes of all the heavens are
over us, and the eyes of God Him-
self and all the patriarchs and pro-
phets. They are watching over you
with feelings of deep interest, for
your welfare; and our prophets who
were slain and sealed their testimony
with their blood, are mingling with
the Gods, pleading for their brethren.
Therefore, let us be faithful, and
leave events in the hands of God,
and He will take care of us if we do
our duty.
I pray God that He will bless these
Apostles, Prophets and Patriarchs,
these Seventies, High Priests and
Elders of Israel, and these Latter-
day Saints, who have entered into
covenant with our God. You have
a great future before you. You have
kept the commandments of God, so
far as you have had the opportunity,
and by receiving the Gospel of
Christ and being faithful
your reward is before you.
Your history is written and is be-
fore you. I will say that this nation,
and all nations, together with presi-
dents, kings, emperors, judges, and
all men, righteous and wicked, have
got to go into the spirit world
and stand before the bar of God.
They have got to give an account of
the deeds done in the body. There-
fore, we are safe as long as we do
our duty. No matter what trials or
tribulations we may be called to
pass through, the hand of God will
be with us and will sustain us. I
ask my Heavenly Father to pour
out His Spirit upon me, as His
servant, that in my advanced age,
and during the few days I have to
spend here in the flesh, I may be
led by inspiration of the Al-
mighty. I say to Israel, the Lord
will never permit me nor any other
man who stands as the President of
this Church, to lead you astray.
It is not in the programme. It is
not in the mind of God. If I were
to attempt that, the Lord would
remove me out of my place, and so
He will any other man who at-
tempts to lead the children of men
astray from the oracles of God and
from their duty. [Doctrine & Covenants OD 1:10] God bless you.
Amen.