I pray God to bless you, and to pour out his spirit upon my brethren of the quorum of the Twelve, that we may walk in the light and be guided aright in all our ministra- tions. And I tell you again, God will not disappoint you; this king- dom will never go backward, neither will it ever be given into the hands of another people; but it will rest upon the shoulders of our sons and daughters when Christ comes in the clouds of heaven. We have no time to throw away, or spend in the fool- ish things of the flesh; what time is at our disposal should be used in building up the Zion of God, and in preparing ourselves and our families for the things that await us.

Oh, I wish many times that the veil was lifted from off the faces of the Lat- ter-day Saints; I wish we could see and know the things of God as they do who are laboring for the salvation of the human family who are in the spirit world; for if this were so, this whole people, with very few, if any, exceptions, would lose all interest in the riches of the world, and instead thereof their whole desires and la- bors would be directed to redeem their dead, to perform faithfully the work and mission given us on earth; so that when we ourselves should pass behind the veil and meet with Joseph and the ancient apostles, and others who are watching over us and who are deeply interested in our labors, we might feel satisfied in having done our duty.

This is how I feel, this is my faith. I read the Bible, the Book of Mor- mon and the Book of Covenants, and I look for everything contained in them to be fulfilled. We are making history day by day, and we are fulfilling the events which the old prophets saw, and which they predicted would transpire in the latter days. Isaiah, when he saw in vision this people in the mountains, exclaims: "Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into sing- ing, O mountains; for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy on his afflicted. "But Zion said, The Lord hath for- saken me, and my Lord hath for- gotten me. "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she could not have com- passion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee." In the own due time of the Lord all things spoken by the prophets will be literally fulfilled.

I will say, do not, my brethren, allow the spirit of conten- tion and dissension to creep in among you. I am ashamed of some of our people who, instead of using their powers and influence in endeavoring to unite the people, go to work and stir up strife, and the result is that in some of our cities an opposition ticket is gotten up, and our own peo- ple in these places divide one against the other. I say, shame on the elder or man holding the priesthood, the authority delegated to him by high heaven, who will do this thing; the heavens are displeased with such a man, and unless he repents he will certainly be found numbered with those who are arrayed against God and his kingdom in the earth. We have the whole world against us, besides many evil spirits to contend with, and we certainly should not divide one against another.