It was a hundred years ago that Stephen A. Douglas came to Nauvoo to visit the Prophet Joseph. He had previously been employed as counsel in some litigation in which the Prophet was involved, and was a very warm friend of his. As he surveyed that lovely city, Nauvoo (in 1843 it was the largest city in Illinois, with a population upwards of twenty thousand people) he saw the orderliness, the magnetic power that the Prophet seemed to have with his people, and he is said to have remarked that if he could command the leadership that the Prophet Joseph had, he would lead a group of people to the Northwest and give up his political career. He was then in the House of Representatives in Washington.

There is one thing, however, that Douglas seems to have overlooked. We sang today "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief." The Prophet Joseph was in prison. Everything that he possessed, apparently, was in the hands of his enemies, but there was something that was still within his own soul—there was something that he still possessed that Stephen A. Douglas had not recognized. He could, in the face of his enemy, in the face of persecution conscious of martyrdom—he could still sing with Brother Taylor, at least in his heart, that lovely hymn, a hymn of charity, a hymn of kindness, a hymn of forgiveness, even of his enemy. That was something that Stephen A. Douglas didn't detect. Stephen A. Douglas didn't detect, either, that same attitude of spirit that the Prophet Joseph had, when in Liberty Jail there came to him through the revelation of Almighty God that marvelous prayer in which he instructed the Priesthood, an injunction that stands for you and me today:

No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;

By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—

Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy;

That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death  D&C 121:41-44

Then in instruction to his people—and mind you he was in prison, in a dingy, dirty, prison, restrained as far as the physical part of him was concerned; everything taken away from him, in the bigness of his soul he said:

Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.

The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever  D&C 121:45-46

It was this, my brethren, it was this attribute that was manifest in Carthage Jail that Stephen A. Douglas never felt. He saw only, but he did not feel. That is one reason why today it is recognized by people around us that there is a bigness in the coming together, as we do here on these occasions of the general conference, but those who do not know as we know do not sense the bigness of this thing. They do not know what it is that impels men to come hundreds of miles in answer to a call such as this. They do not know what it is that impels men in our outlying stakes to give their all, almost, for the benefit of their brethren, to help build up their social life, their physical life, and, above all, their spiritual life. These are the things that men do not realize when they come in our midst. These are the things that men did not realize when they came to Nauvoo, in the days of the Prophet Joseph. They saw merely the external, not the internal; but there is a power here that you and I feel, and we are grateful to God tonight for it, for the testimony that God has given us of the divinity of this work, and I rejoice with you in it with all my heart, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.