Although
President George Q. Cannon is better known today than some others that I have
written chapters about, such as George F. Richards and Melvin J. Ballard,
memory of him within the Church has still largely faded. (These chapters are all
found in my forthcoming book, I Know He lives: How 13 Special Witnesses
came to Know Jesus Christ.)
One current
project now underway, and supposedly nearing completion, that will help to
broaden knowledge of who he was and what he did, is the publication of the
diaries of George Q. Cannon by the Church Historian’s Press of the Church
History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This
project, which has been underway for years, is finally nearing the online
posting of the most interesting portions of his life: when he became a member
of the First Presidency of the Church. I have drawn on these diaries, where
appropriate, for information for Cannon’s chapter in my book, I Know He Lives: How 13 Special Witnesses
came to Know Jesus Christ. The problem is that my book has had to go
forward with printing and binding (in order to be released in September of 2017),
before the final installments of the diaries have been made available to the
public.
For over a
century, President Cannon’s diaries remained in the First Presidency’s vault,
where they received little to no attention and became an item spoken of (by a
few) in hushed tones, with regret that they were not available for study. Then
not too many years ago, they were transferred to the custody of the Church
History Department, which also received permission to publish them in
cooperation with President Cannon’s descendants. (For further information, see here and
here.)
I am informed that the publication team hopes to finish making all of the
diaries available online by the end of July. This means that if there is
anything in the diaries that Cannon wrote about his special witness, beyond
what I have already found and included in my chapter, it will not be able to be
included in time. Perhaps I can write an update someday, if such is necessary,
on another blog on Cannon for this website.
It is
anticipated by myself and many others, that because of the extraordinary
features of the diaries, and Cannon’s position as a member of the First
Presidency, that the diaries will contain excellent historical detail, some of
which may not be very well known now, but will be made clearer as the diaries
are posted. For an example of some diary material that has already deepened our
historical perspective, see here,
for entries dealing at length with the question of reorganizing the First
Presidency in President John Taylor’s day, after the death of President Brigham
Young.
The chapter
in my book, however, deals largely with President Cannon’s special witness of
Jesus Christ, as obligated by his calling as an Apostle. President Cannon is
one among many who declared that he had seen and conversed with the resurrected
Jesus, as one man speaks with another. He also declared that he had seen God
the father and had heard the voice of the spirit personage of the Holy Ghost
talking to him—much like the experience of the Book of Mormon Prophet Nephi
speaking with the Spirit of the Lord (whom most church authorities agree was
the personage of the Holy Ghost; see 1 Nephi 11:11). There
are several documented sources which corroborate President Cannon’s testimony,
declared with matter-of-fact clarity, surety, and power. He had seen and heard
and he knew whereof he spoke.
The most trying
times of President Cannon’s life were his missions to the Gold Fields of
California (Sutter’s Mill), the Hawaiian (then Sandwich) Islands and to
Washington as a lobbyist for the Church trying to allay anti-Mormon sentiment
in Congress as a delegate from Utah Territory. Also his tenure as a member of
the First Presidency, when his financial decisions contributed to the
indebtedness of the Church and caused some of his apostolic associates to feel
resentment over his “borrow to invest” policies. It was during these severely
trying times of his life that Elder/President Cannon sought the Lord with the
most pure and fervent faith, and that some observers/historians feel was when
the Lord Jesus chose to appear and visit with him, strengthening him in his ordeals.
Many believe at least one instance occurred while he served his mission in
Hawaii.
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