One thing has been made very obvious to my mind during this Conference and that is the assurance and confidence expressed by every speaker, in God and his work, which nothing of an earthly nature could impart; although simple to the believer, this may be a mystery to those who do not comprehend the Gospel of Jesus. A certain truth in Scripture has been fully exemplified in the experience and teachings of those who have addressed us, namely: "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself; he that believeth not, God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son." This is as true to-day as it was eighteen hundred years ago. Hence our young men, who have embraced and have gone forth to preach the principles of eternal truth contained in the Gospel, seek unto the Lord their God for wisdom, guidance and instruction, as you have heard them relate during this Conference; and the spirit of revelation has rested upon them so that they not only understood their own position and relationship to God and the holy Priesthood as Elders in Israel, but they understood also, to a certain degree, the position of the people of the world among whom they travelled, the position of the Church and Kingdom of God which they represented, their own relationship to it, and the fulfilment of all the promises of God relating to his people. This unbounded, fearless confidence is not created in men by what are called natural causes, for the confidence which exists and is common among men ebbs and flows, as prosperity or adversity affects their varied interests.
Here are comparatively a few people in the valleys of Utah who are talking of seeing a kingdom set up, not only in these mountains but which shall rule over the whole earth, that like a little stone hewn out of the mountains without hands, shall become a great nation and fill the whole earth. They look for this with an unwavering, unshaken confidence. They had confidence in this when they were driven from Kirtland, in Ohio; when they were driven from Jackson county, in Missouri; and from Nauvoo, in Illinois and they had as much confidence in it when they were struggling here for a very existence, and did not know where the next mouthful of bread should come from. Their confidence did not fail them when armies came up against them to destroy them, and the power and influence of the United States were arrayed against them. There is a certain unchanging, fixed principle in the bosoms of the Elders of Israel that God is at the helm, and that no power, no reverses, no influence that can be brought to bear against the kingdom of God will withstand its onward progress, but its course is onward until the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ, and he shall reign with universal empire, and the kingdoms, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heavens will be given to the Saints of the Most High God. It is impossible to make the Saints swerve in the least from this feeling. It is in them a principle of life, vitality and revelation. The Hon Ben. McCullough, one of the Peace Commissioners, on being told by President Young "that we were in the hands of the Lord and he would take care of us," replied "that he believed in powder and ball more than in the interference of God." President Young informed him "that there was a God in Israel, who would take care of this His people," and said, "we ask no odds of your power, your powder and ball, or your armies." What has become of the men that composed that army? The majority of them have gone to their own place, and those that have not are on their way there.