26. Conferences of the Church.--There are two general {355} conferences of the church each year, one convening on the 6th of April, and the other on the 6th of October. Conferences are convened every three months in all the stakes of Zion; and in the respective wards once a year. The chief purposes of holding these conferences, aside from the giving of instructions by the general authorities, who are usually present, is to sustain by vote the officers of the church. The principle of common consent operating in the church government has already been explained; [142] and it only remains to say that the means by which this "common" consent is expressed--voting to sustain those proposed for the several offices--virtually amounts to an election. The elective principle in government or in societies, is not only carried out by direct means; it may be carried out by indirect means. It is just as much a fact under the form of popular acceptance as of popular choice.[143] It is in the form of popular acceptance that the elective principle exists in the church. 27. Reflections.--If a good system for the organization and administration of authority, and an equally good system for the security of liberty is the test of a good plan of government, then this ecclesiastical government we have described must be recognized as of the very highest order. It is elaborate in organization, but simple in its operations. There is in it a most excellent assemblage of means to transmit the will of the central power into all departments of the society; and, on the other hand, an equally efficient assemblage of means for transmitting the response of the society to the central organized power. And as the whole government exists by the common consent of the church members, and elections by popular acceptance are frequent, the liberties of the people composing the church are secured. Where these facts exist, the highest order of government must result. And we may say, in conclusion, {356} that the formation of a free ecclesiastical government on so extensive a scale is one of the most interesting problems of humanity. "It requires such refined prudence [to form such a government], such comprehensive knowledge, and such perspicacious sagacity, united with such almost illimitable powers of combination, that it is nearly in vain to hope for qualities so rare to be congregated in a solitary mind." [144] Indeed it is in vain to hope for these powers in an uninspired mind. It is a task too difficult for mere human ingenuity. And when it is remembered that Joseph Smith's knowledge of government and history in his early life was exceedingly limited; and that this system of church government was given piece-meal--as will be seen by its gradual development as portrayed in this work [145]--it is absurd to accredit it to a boy's native ingenuity. It was not a system marked out in theory and then organized. On the contrary, line was given upon line, precept upon precept.