The effort we have made, and are now making, at reformation, can
never prove a failure upon any ground, unless it be that we have not
moral courage enough, as the disciples of Christ—have not sufficient
integrity to the great principles of the gospel, to which we have
pledged ourselves, to maintain them against the mighty torrent of
opposition from the various ranks of bigotry, prejudice, and partyism,
together with the combined influence of unbelief and sin. The position
we occupy can never fail. While the holy prophets live and speak in
their writing; while the preaching of the apostles, their lives,
miracles and martyrdoms, live in the memory of men; while Jesus lives,
and the throne of the Almighty, upon which he sits, stands unmoved,
the position we occupy can not fail. The gospel will live and he who
believes it shall never die. The men who believe the gospel, who love
it, and hold on to it—keep the faith, press it to their hearts, love
and reverence him who gave it, will live co-existent with the years
of God. They will never fail; their lives, in this mortal state, will
fail; but they, at the same moment, will triumph. They are not in any
doubt and uncertainty, in calling upon their fellow man to return to
the faith as it was at the beginning. They have no fears that they are
wrong, or that they can possibly be mistaken in making the best effort
in their power to determine precisely what the ancient faith was,
separating it from everything else, and maintaining it before the
world. They know they are right in this. In one word, they believe the
gospel, maintain and defend it, and nothing else. It is the system they
believe, maintain and defend and nothing else. They may not understand
everything contained in it, as others who have other systems, do
not understand everything in their system; but the system itself we
know to be right, infallibly right and that we are infallibly right
in maintaining it; not because we understand everything contained
in it; but because we know the author of it, and know him to be
divine—infallible. We know him, love him and regard him; therefore we
know that what proceeds from him is infallible, and love it and regard
it.