Prophet Statesmen, George Q. Cannon
There is that terrible tradition, that has such strong hold of all our minds, that the Priesthood of God and the religion of Jesus Christ have nothing to do particularly with temporal matters. It is a tradition almost as old as Christianity. It has come down to us for generations and centuries and is fully interwoven in the hearts, minds and feelings of the children of men, and it is an exceedingly difficult thing to get them to comprehend that temporal things and spiritual things are alike in the sight of God, that there is no line of demarcation between the two, that the religion of Jesus Christ applies to one as much as another and comprehends within its scope temporal equally with spiritual matters.
George Q. Cannon, 1879, Gospel Truth 1:350. George Q. Cannon (1827-1901) was an early member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and served in the First Presidency under four successive presidents of the church: Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Lorenzo Snow. He was the church’s chief political strategist, and was dubbed “the Mormon premier” and “the Mormon Richelieu” by the press. He was also five-time Territorial Delegate from Utah.
