Discourse 1884-06-29
In the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, ,
1884.
REPORTED BY JOHN IRVINE
MISSIONARY LABORS REVIEWED—TESTIMONY GAINED—PREDICTIONS
FULFILLED—CONDITION OF THE WORLD—PROSPECTS OF THE SWISS
AND GERMAN MISSION—CLASS OF MEN SELECTED BY THE LORD
FOR HIS WORK—RESTORATION OF THE GOSPEL—THE PRIESTHOOD
NECESSARY—HOW IT WAS RESTORED—ANCIENT PROPHECIES
CONCERNING THE LATTER-DAY WORK—WHY THE SAINTS ARE
HATED—PERSECUTION PREDICTED—POLITICAL ASPECT—REVELATION
NECESSARY—DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE HOLY GHOST AND THE
SPIRIT GIVEN TO EVERY MAN—TRUE EDUCATION—HOW JOSEPH
SMITH AND ORSON PRATT OBTAINED THEIRS—HOW ABRAHAM AND
MOSES WERE TAUGHT—ACTION OF CONGRESS CONSIDERED.
Elder John Q. Cannon said: My
brethren and sisters and friends,
it is with feelings which I am utterly
unable to express that I stand before
you this afternoon—feelings on the
one hand of gratitude to my Heav-
enly Father, that after an absence of
nearly three years from this city I
am again permitted to meet with my
brethren and sisters in this place,
and with feelings on the other hand
of intense timidity in standing be-
fore so large an audience. But I
rely, my brethren and sisters, upon
your faith and prayers during the
few moments that I may stand before
you, and I rely, furthermore, upon
the promise which our Lord gave,
when He said, "Where two or three
have gathered together in my name,
there I am in the midst of them." [Matthew 18:20]
I am satisfied, on my own part, that
we, this afternoon have assembled
ourselves in the name of the Lord,
and I am consequently satisfied that
His Spirit will be with us inasmuch
as we seek for the same, inasmuch
as we rid ourselves of every feeling
of worldliness and come together
with pure hearts to partake of the
emblems of the death and suffering
of our Lord, and to become in-
structed in the plan which He has
laid down for our salvation.
It four days since I returned from
a mission, and in six weeks it will
have been three years since I left
this city, in obedience to a call made
upon me by the authorities of the
Church. On the 9th of August,
1881, I left this city on a mission to
Great Britain, in company with
eleven other missionaries, who were
destined for Scandinavia. We
