It is pleasant to enjoy an opportunity of coming together as we do from time to time to listen to the words of eternal truth as they flow from the lips of the servants of God, and especially as they have been communicated unto us during the Conference that is past. We have all of us been very much interested and edified, and the only thing for us to do now is to seek to improve by those teachings that we have received, that they may not be lost upon us; but against the time that another Conference comes round, let us be able to feel that we have very much progressed in the things of God. The work of God is one of continued progress; it has been from the time of its commencement until the present. Although we improve we have not always been enabled to discover the hand of God in regard to his dealings with the human family; yet, at the present time, there is nothing more clear, visible and easy to comprehend. Some years ago we used to preach about the ushering in of the kingdom of God upon the earth; we used to talk about God having revealed himself from the heavens, and that he had restored a pure religion as it had existed in ancient days with Apostles, Prophets, Teachers, Evangelists, gifts, healings and administering angels, and the power of the Holy Ghost through the Priesthood; we felt happy and rejoiced in the things communicated unto us, and which we gladly made known to others; we rejoiced to be participators in those things that God has revealed for the salvation of fallen man. We, at the same time, had our minds inspired by the Spirit of God, and the Elders that made known unto us things that would transpire. in the latter days told us of judgments to come upon the wicked, and of salvation to be extended to the righteous; that God had undertaken to manage the affairs of his people and of the world, and that he would bless his followers inasmuch as they would walk in obedience to his laws and his precepts, not only with the blessings of this world but with salvation in the celestial kingdom of God. We can now see that at that time we beheld only in part the glory of the latter day beginning to dawn, and as the vision of our mind began to be enlarged and expanded we were enabled to look forward into the future, and we now rejoice in the bright prospect that is being developed from time to time. In the beginning of this work our minds were, and even now are contracted more or less, but yet we have a more general view of the events that have been spoken of concerning the last days. These events that were foretold by the Prophets and Seers of past ages are now transpiring upon the earth, and, as the last ten, fifteen or twenty years have passed, those events have rolled along with accelerated speed, and we have seen the visible hand of God. The persecutions that we have endured from time to time have shown us the feeling and spirit of the religious world, but out of all these tribulations the Almighty has delivered us, and notwithstanding the opposition that we have had to combat, he has now brought us to a position that we can command some respect in this and other nations of the earth, for the people not only look upon us as a religious community, but as a great people politically, occupying a desirable position upon this continent. It is true when we have the Spirit upon us we look forward to the time when we shall have the literal kingdom of God established, and when we shall exercise rule and dominion, and when we shall increase, and so continue until the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ. These feelings occupied our breast in our infancy, in the Church, but some ideas of the reality of the vast unborn future were more or less confused; it was very difficult for us to have just conceptions of God's dealings with us and with the nations of the earth. It was thought by many that when Joseph Smith offered himself as a candidate for President of the United States that it was dangerous and foolish policy, and, in fact, it was quite difficult for many to bring their feelings up to that point.
We have been struggling against the powers of darkness, so far as religion is concerned, from the year 1830, as we have increased in numbers we have, naturally assumed a social and political status, and have been obliged to organize a government, and make laws in accordance with those of that nation with which we are associated; we are now struggling, and expect to have to struggle for our religious, social and political rights.