"It is very natural that they felt discouraged and that some wavered in their course, but the great majority were inclined to continue with unfaltering zeal in the work, because they knew for themselves that the true gospel had been restored, and that they were engaged in the work of God. And here let me remark that the strength of the Church consists in the personal knowledge and testimony of the members. The Spirit of God fills each member with unfaltering faith, and he builds his superstructure of religious belief on personal knowledge, imparted to him, by the power of the Spirit, through revelation. This testimony remains as long as the person lives uprightly and honorably before the Lord, doing nothing to grieve it away. Instead of scattering and abandoning the Church, leaving it to die, as was expected and desired by its enemies, and which would doubtless have been the case if it had not been divinely established, the people gathered strength and, through the assistance of God, and the leadership of Apostle Brigham Young, forsook their homes in their beloved Nauvoo, crossed the trackless plains, scaled the mountains, and in the midst of a desolate wilderness founded a commonwealth which has attracted the attention and the admiration of the whole world." "How did Brigham Young come to be the leader of the people?" asked Mr. Sutherland. "He was the president of the Twelve Apostles, the quorum next in authority to the First Presidency, upon whom naturally rested the keys of the kingdom, upon whom, in fact, was conferred the power or authority that the prophet had received from on high. Sidney Rigdon and others sought the honor of leading the Church, but the Lord, through the manifestations of His Spirit, chose Brigham Young for the place, as president of the Twelve Apostles, the people sustaining him by their vote, at a meeting held in the grove near the temple at Nauvoo, on the 8th of August, 1844. He was afterwards, December, 1847, chosen president of the whole Church. He felt the power of his calling, and made preparations for the great exodus of the people to the West, which had been considered during the lifetime of the prophet, but which was now made absolutely necessary by the persecution of the enemies of the Church. In 1845, anti-Mormon delegates from nine counties of Illinois met, at Carthage, and demanded the removal of the Saints. The Council of Apostles agreed to their demands, knowing full well that there was no alternative between exodus or extermination by massacre. In February, 1846, the exodus began by the Saints crossing the Mississippi River, the remnant following on September 17th of the same year, and the movement triumphantly continued, with interruptions, under severest difficulties and hardships, until the pioneers, on July 24th, 1847, entered the valley of the Great Salt Lake. Something of the hardships which they endured, and of the magnitude of their undertaking, the historians have graphically pictured.