In the completion of the Temple was centered the hope of all the devoted Latter-day Saints of those days. The leaders of the Church prayed and labored unceasingly for its completion. The spirit of apostasy in those times manifested itself most strongly in the efforts of those who sought to get away from Nauvoo, who wanted to establish in some distant place the Church anew. These dissenters argued that Nauvoo must be abandoned, and they were right in that conclusion; but Nauvoo was not to be abandoned at that time nor under their leadership. It sometimes happens in this life that greater wisdom and virtue are found in the time an event is accomplished than in the accomplishment of the event itself. The great truth of the exodus from Nauvoo was to be sought for rather in the circumstances of that exodus, than in the fact itself. That was not the first time nor was it the last time that men, anticipating the accomplishment of some divine purpose, placed themselves in front of those appointed for the accomplishment of God's will. It sometimes requires as much virtue to refrain from doing when the time has not yet arrived, as it required to do when the command was given. It is not always easy for men to wait upon the Lord, especially when they are actuated by an overweening ambition to anticipate His purposes and be the first to undertake their accomplishment. The men in those days who were opposing the completion of the Temple, were full of sophistries. They argued then, as men argue now, largely in harmony with their own selfish ends and overpowering ambitions. If their arguments could not be, to their minds, successfully answered, they must be right. To their minds it was evident that the Saints must sooner or later leave Nauvoo. Why build the Temple, they asked, and thus throw away the labor of their hands in the hour of its completion. They argued the folly of such a course, and some who were loosely anchored in their faith were led away by the sophistries contained in such arguments. With the thoughtful, it was otherwise. The Temple might be destroyed even before its completion, or they might not be permitted to enjoy, at any length, its blessings after it was finished. {231} With them that was not the question. Their highest guidance was found in the observance of God's will. He had said so; if so, enough. The spirit bore testimony long before the mind had evidence of the great truth contained in God's command. The same spirit that actuated Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, actuated His faithful followers in those trying days in Nauvoo. "Thy will be done." It is hard for men who have strong wills to yield to other wills, even though it be God's will which is at variance with their own. Men were taught then, as they were taught in ancient Israel, to wait upon the Lord.