SUMMARY AND FINAL APPEAL.

Liverpool, December 13, 1847.

Reverend and Dear Sir,—Having given you an epitomised view of the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in a short series of Thirteen Letters, I now make this SUMMARY AND FINAL APPEAL to you, and to all persons to whom the foregoing Letters may come.

Before parting with you, I will endeavour to obviate some objections that might be supposed to arise, and give some further confirmatory proof of the truths that have been advanced.

You may be ready to inquire with great earnestness, can it possibly be that the religious world have been so grossly mistaken and actually deluded for so many centuries? can so many divines of celebrated learning and devotion have been all this time in error? Is it possible that that illiterate young man, Joseph Smith, should be the first, after the lapse of so many ages, to break the spell of darkness, and pierce the clouds of error, and let in the sunshine of eternal truth upon the whole world? Is it possible that he whom we have been accustomed to regard as the blackest impostor—about whose moral character there hang so many shades of suspicion? can he be, in very deed, a true prophet of God?

I do not wonder at your inquiries; but I do marvel that any good man should have a lingering doubt. Your inquiries and objections I will briefly answer.—Why should not the religious world be mistaken? do not the great mass of the human family profess to be religious? are not the millions of China and Asia religious? Here is nearly one half of the human family ardently devoted to their religion—they are sincerely devoted to their religion—the multitudes of their pagodas, and the great expense and sacrifice attending their worship, prove incontestibly their sincerity; and the long antiquity of their religion has rendered it venerable as yours.

You readily say, that the myriads of Asia are deceived and mistaken. But may they not retort upon you and say—how is it that we, whose religion is so ancient and so universally believed, should be (all of us) in such gross error? Now, may not the reply that would fit them be applicable to the advocates of modern christianity? They are all the children of Adam as much as you, and as much the offspring of our common parent. Their rulers and divines are as respectable among their own countrymen as yours are among your countrymen. It is no worse for modern christendom to be in error than for paganism. Paganism can boast of more learning and oratory, and of more universal, enduring, and mighty governments than modern christianity! Paganism can boast of more union and stability than modern christianity. But I am no advocate of either paganism or modern christianity. I believe that the whole world lieth in darkness, in consequence of transgressing the laws of God. Modern christianity has had a fair trial for success. Kings and potentates with vast and populous dominions, have been arrayed on its side. Eighteen hundred years have testified to its ragged and crippled march. The sovereigns of Europe and rulers of America are on its side. But what a haggard picture of union does the theatre of modern Christianity present! A garment of as many colours as the various religious creeds of modern christianity, would constitute a phenomenon fit to be carried about as a curiosity.

In Catholic countries there is the largest share of unity of creeds. In Protestant countries every city, town, and village presents the picture of religious collision and jargon. Now, these contending parts must necessarily be wrong, for God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. And if the constituent parts are wrong, the aggregate must also be wrong. But whether the balance of wisdom and virtue lies with Christians or Pagans, one thing is certain, that no man, by searching, can find out God or know the Almighty unto perfection! The world by wisdom know not God. No man can ever know God unless God reveals himself to him. Those whom God selects to communicate revelations to men are not the wise and mighty, but rather such as are accounted weak, and foolish, and unholy. This is the description of men that God generally chooses to do his work on the earth. Again, it is said that the doctrines of the Latter-day Saints may be good enough, but their characters are too reprehensible. Testimony from many reliable sources is against them; and we have seen with our own eyes a want of that fervent piety that ought to distinguish a people entrusted with the ordinances and gifts of salvation.—This, I think, is the most weighty and popular objection that is urged by the opposers of the Latter-day Saints:—if they were a respectable people, their doctrines could better be endured. Now I propose to consider this objection, and canvass it thoroughly, in order that no man shall ever raise the same objection again, with any hope of success; but before I try their character, let us inquire what is the proper standard or rule by which character is to be tested.

Some people consider that no man can have a good character who is not religious,—this is a common opinion among religious people. An infidel, say they, is odious, and feels no responsibility; and no one is religious unless his faith harmonizes with their own religious creed. In some countries, what would be accounted moral and virtuous, would in others be stamped as immoral, unvirtuous, and sacrilegious. Another, more plausible, says, "let all men do as they would be done by," and then their characters will be good. This, however, is a very vague rule indeed; for instance, the Emperor Charles Fifth of Germany, says: "If I were as great a heretic as Martin Luther or John Calvin, I ought to be banished, or even put to death." Thus the Emperor conscientiously carries out the rule, and orders the famous Reformer (heretic) to be put to death. The above rule, unaccompanied by the spirit of revelation, is often defective and made the pretext for deeds of blood-guiltiness. What, then, is the true and infallible standard of character? I answer, it is revealed in the Gospel. God is the only good being and standard of goodness; such as comply with his revealed will are good, and do good, and there is no iniquity in them.

Compliance with the divine will is the only true standard of character. To this test, then, let us bring the character of the Latter-day Saints, and that of their opposers. What is the faith of each? Let us inquire. According to their faith, so will be their works or their character. Says James, I will show my faith by my works. You may not only know a man's faith by his works, but his works are also known by his faith. If his faith is bad, his works will be also bad; and if his works are bad, his character is bad.

It was the faith of Christ to receive the revelations of God his father unto obedience in all things. This faith led him to work the works of God, which were healing the sick, prophecying, casting out devils, speaking in tongues, and doing many miracles, and revealing the will of his Father. But the pious Jews, chief priests, &c., had another sort of faith: they believed in the God of Abraham and Moses, but believed that the age of miracles was past, and they forbid to prophecy and speak with tongues. Their faith was, that there was no further need of new revelation, and that the canon of Scripture was full. They believed that the Sanhedrim established by Moses was sufficient for the perfection and government of the Church, without apostles, and prophets, and various gifts. Their faith was not the faith of God, nor of immediate revelation (although they said they believed in old revelations); neither was it the faith of miracles, and prophecyings, and tongues, and healing.

What, then, was the faith of those pious men that sent their missionaries over sea and land, and preached eloquently, and wept copiously over the pathetic doctrines of Abraham and Moses? Why, to be plain, sir, it was the faith of devils; and their anti-revelation doctrines were the doctrines of devils. Their works were of the devil, because their faith was opposed to immediate revelation, and their character was like their works—bad and abominable in the eyes of God, and saints, and holy angels; and yet these same pious Jews claim that they were the only true Christians! What a pity (thought they) that this arch impostor should succeed in misleading and deluding so many followers. It was due to his wickedness that he got killed, and it was a pity that his doctrines did not die with him. Doubtless some Solomon Spaulding story was current to prove that he was born of a harlot, and her husband, like another Judge Hale, was ready to swear that he was not the father of the child.

Now, sir, from the foregoing thirteen Letters, you will see plainly what is the acknowledged faith of the Latter-day Saints. It is precisely the same with the faith of the ancient apostles and prophets. They have proved before the face of mankind, and in the sight of angels, that they believe the doctrines set forth in these Letters and in the Scriptures, by persecutions, banishment, loss of goods, houses, and lands; yea, even of life itself; for they are a spectacle unto all men, and their characters are good in the sight of God, and angels, and saints, because they keep the commandments and ordinances of God, even unto death—not counting their lives dear unto them, in order that they may be found in the same faith for which apostles and prophets have contended earnestly and bled freely.

Their character is that of compliance with the revealed will of God, the only true standard of character. They have preached the word to the nations of the earth, under privations, and abuses, and perils hitherto unknown, since the days of the apostles. It is no vanity to say, there is none like them in all the earth. They fear God and work righteousness.

If any class of people were ever entitled to a good character, it is the Latter-day Saints. They have earned a title to it by conformity to the only true rule and standard of character that was ever revealed to man, viz., compliance with the doctrines and ordinances of heaven. On this platform, sir, I am willing to try the character of Latter-day Saints before any tribunal of impartial justice; and it is on this platform alone that all men must be tried, who have ever heard the gospel of Christ. When the Saints and their opposers are brought before this tribunal of high heaven, think you not that our accusers will not be filled with shame at their groundless accusations? This people, during the last seventeen years (since 1830) have endured the fatigue and expense of emigrating from their former homes; built cities, and towns, and farms, and been robbed of them. Many of them have journeyed, making their own bridges and roads, traversing prairies and mountains, and some have emigrated by ships around the greater half of the globe. They have preached the gospel to many nations, and brought some hundreds of thousands into obedience to it. In doing this, they have been unaided by any missionary funds or salary—been compelled all the time to face an incessant and pitiless storm of scandal and vituperation. The pulpit, and the bar, and the medical faculty have poured out upon them their grape and canister shot, and caused their combustible shells to burst thick around their pathway; still they survive, and the truth floats over every ocean, and converts to their standard are multiplying beyond the aggregate increase of long venerated denominations. What but the power of God could have secured these great and blessed results in the very teeth of boasting christendom? Pure, eternal, and almighty truth has done it.

Why should you marvel at the success of this religion, seeing it is based on the same principles as the religion of all the prophets ever since the foundation of the world. The Bible recognises no other religion than that of prophets and supernatural faith, and miracles, and immediate revelation. It is not possible to point out a single pious man or woman, whose name or piety is recorded within the lids of the Bible, that did not profess the same religion—the same gifts of supernatural faith, prophecyings, healings, tongues, that Latter-day Saints profess. Ancient saints believed in a similar administration by angels—ancient saints knew nothing of any religion that did not embrace immediate intercourse with God and angels, or that did not communicate the gifts of healing, tongues, and prophecyings. They knew, indeed, what it was to smart under the lash of false religions; but the ancient saints regarded no man as pious or acceptable to God, who did not profess to believe in the ministration of angels, and the immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost. John, and Jesus, and the apostles, laid the axe at the root of all religions but their own; and they believed fully and heartily in these and such like things. And the great bone of contention between them and their pious adversaries was mainly about the gifts and blessings of a supernatural order;—the latter making a mock of tongues, and despising prophecyings, and miracles, as being needless in that day and age of the world;—the former maintaining that the faith of Daniel, Sampson, and Noah, were as necessary to salvation as they ever had been in the early age of the world. Indeed, if you will look through the whole Bible, you will find that every man of Bible piety believed in prophets, and angels, and visions, and miracles; and any one who did not believe as they did were accounted rebels, or hypocrites, and excommunicated accordingly.

I know, indeed, that out of the lids of the Bible, you may find pious creeds, that set aside all further revelation, and the further ministration of angels, and prophets, and represent the supernatural faith of Moses and Elijah as no longer needed; but no such representation can be drawn from any part of the contents of the Bible. Men of supposed splendid piety can be found in modern churches, who know nothing of the gift of the Holy Ghost in prophecying and tongues, or healing, and who never dreamed of having the ministration of an angel; and would sneer at the whole system of prophets and angels, and present miracles. And what I ask of them is, that they will abandon all pretext of Bible authority for such piety. The Bible recognises no such piety, neither does it entertain any fellowship for it; but down to the day when the last revelation was uttered, it never breathed an intimation that the faith of miracles would cease, or the gifts of healing, except through transgression; but the ancient faith of Abraham and Moses was strenuously contended for, till the last man sealed his testimony with his blood.

The advocates of old revelations, and old prophets, and former day miracles, were very numerous in Paul's day; but they hated new revelation and the power of the Mosaic and Samsonic faith as they did poison.

The doctrine of constant revelation in the true Church, left them as barren of Bible piety as the fallen angels. Go back to whatever part of the history of Bible piety you will, you will never be able to glean up anything in the shape or likeness of modern piety; but you will pick up the hot indignation of apostles and prophets against all such pretended piety. The Bible wages an uncompromising war against modern piety that wears the mask of friendship for ancient revelations and miracles, while it resists the same faith and power in its own day. It is no new thing to have revelation and miracles cease: they were discontinued in consequence of transgression in several different periods of the world. Previous to the days of John the Baptist, and before the days of Moses and Abraham, revelation had ceased. These men were raised up as so many new revelators, in order to overthrow the false and discordant religions, and establish the knowledge of the true God on the earth. As soon as prophets have ceased to reveal the will of God, people have turned into jangling about creeds. The old revelations have been distorted and pulled all to tatters; manuscripts have been picked up; and uninspired men, with all pomposity and pedantry, have set themselves to adjudicate and determine what was genuine, and what was spurious revelation. You might as well set blind men without a telescope to examine the propriety of the local relationship of the starry bodies in the heavens. Alas! the eager folly of biblical researches! Send one, as well, in the darkness of midnight to search a hay-mow for a cambric needle! as though the Almighty could not hide himself from the gaze of transgressors, and withhold the key of knowledge from those that "despise prophecyings." But I turn from the vain and sickening labours of the erudite religionist. His pathway is a mazy labyrinth—the further he goes, the more inextricable his difficulties! The cost of his wearisome and fruitless labours overpowers the remnant of his veracity, and he seeks an inglorious reward for his labours in decoying others, as foolish as himself, into the same learned labyrinths of error. He tells what this man has said, and that man has written; but from God, the fountain of all truth, he has obtained no intelligence—he has heard nothing. Having felt a little of the mesh cords of this entanglement, in pity I turn away.

The faith of visions, miracles, angels, revelations, and prophets, is the only religion of the Bible. With what contempt would Abraham look upon the religion that immediately preceded the days of Moses? With what indignation would Moses and Elijah look upon the religion that immediately preceded John, and denied any further revelation!

How abhorrent to apostles must be the conduct of those who, having persecuted and slain the defenders of the faith of miracles, then turned round and said, "We need no more such faith,—miracles are done away." Their posterity approve their sayings, and teach the same theology. Blush, O, thou foul prince of darkness, at the consummate folly and credulity of thy followers! What would the revelator John say, to a grave assembly or synod of divines, that should meet together in solemn council to devise means how to check the doctrine of new revelation and miracles? After showing them that he was identified with the self same obnoxious advocates of such a doctrine, and that his banishment, and the martyrdom of his fellow apostles, had sprung from the same spirit of anti-revelation and anti-miracles, that now convenes this grave council of bishops; with mingled pity and indignation he concludes a most touching remonstrance against their unhallowed opposition to prophets, by pointing the assembly to the tragic scenes of Calvary, where anti-revelation had matured a full cup. When men come to the knowledge of God through the principles of immediate revelation, and the power of the Holy Ghost, nothing can separate them from the love of God but their own transgressions; neither sword, nor famine, nor peril, nor principalities, nor powers, can separate them from the gospel. They know in whom they believe. Who could convince Jacob of the fallacy of visions, after what he experienced at Bethel? Who could dissuade Peter from the faith of miracles, after witnessing the lame man healed at the gate of the temple? Would David or his mighty men doubt the power of God, after a single individual had lifted up his spear and slew eight hundred at one time? Would mobbing and imprisonment force Sampson to abandon his supposed delusion, after he had put to flight an army of thousands? No; vain hope of all the adversaries to miracles!

How long shall men wage a war of scandal, extermination, and massacre against the advocates of miracles? Yet the nineteenth century—blush to hear the undeniable charge!—yea, the christendom of the nineteenth century has espoused the old persecutor's warfare, as keenly as the persecutors of Stephen, Daniel, and Moses. Are they so forgetful of all sacred and profane history as not to know that they are fighting the battles of Cain, Esau, Jannes and Jambes, Judas and Herod, over again. The former persecutors fought against new revelations, and latter persecutors do the same—the former Saints were called lying, blasphemous impostors, and the Latter-day Saints are called the same. There always was an attempt to crush former saints by scandalizing their character, robbing and slaying them—the same luckless attempt is again renewed in the nineteenth century.

Almost anything can be tolerated sooner than the admission that the God of miracles and angels reigns again on the earth. Bible saints never lived in any other age than an age of miracles, visions, and angels. They knew that true saints never would live in any other age. They knew that the gospel could not be communicated to any people of any age without revelation; for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. A gospel without revelation is no gospel. A gospel without the gifts and power of the Holy Ghost, and the ministry of angels, is no gospel. There cannot be found the first instance of a true minister of God, throughout the whole record of inspiration, who did not possess the gift of inspiration and the spirit of prophecy. No man can say that Jesus is the Christ, but by the Holy Ghost; and the Holy Ghost leads every man, who is loyal to his dictates, into all truth sooner or later. The deep things of God, and the keys of divine power, are available to him. By obedience he is sure to reach the measure of the power and wisdom attained by Christ himself—the manifold wisdom of GOD, even, is to be possessed and shown forth by the Church.

Bible saints were always familiar with the ministration of angels. And it is only such as are wholly unlike Bible saints who are not familiar with the ministration of angels. Those who are unlike Bible saints have always, in all ages, denied the ministry of angels, and gift of prophecy and healing, in their own day. And it is a certain test and evidence, that a man is not born of the spirit when he denies these things; for no man that has the Spirit of God can speak lightly of God; but he will extol his power for himself, and not for another. Men that have not the Spirit of God may tell what great things faith wrought in former ages, but can tell nothing from their own experience of the same power. It is, indeed, a marvellous thing, that men should affect to regard "Bible piety" as a standard or copy, which all are bound to imitate, and at the same time adopt an inferior rule of piety that discards and abrogates all the more conspicuous and powerful features of primitive piety! How they can have the temerity and effrontery to impose upon community a system of religion, that is the counterpart of Bible piety, I am at a loss to conceive. A gospel without immediate and accompanying revelation! Who ever heard such a thing, except from transgressors sitting in the region and shadow of death? No Bible saint ever saw such a thing in his day. Neither Abel or Enoch, Abraham or Moses, David or Peter, ever saw such a gospel in their day. The only gospel that these men ever knew of or fellowshipped, was a gospel distinguished by revelations, visions, and angels. Such a gospel rejoiced their hearts, because it was the power of God, and wisdom of God. It nerved the arm of Sampson, so that scores and hundreds of men could no more stand before his might than before a volcanic eruption, or an avalanche from the mountain. It gave elasticity to David, so that he could leap a wall, or rush through a troop. It struck with blindness the mobbers of Sodom; opened prison gates to Peter; cursed Elymas with blindness; enabled men to walk unsinged through the fiery burning of the furnace, heated sevenfold hotter than usual! This, sir, is the gospel, and the only gospel. It exhibits the power of God and the wisdom and might of God. Any other gospel is a curse to men, and a stink in the nose of God. Angels have once tried to preach another gospel; and what has been the result of their efforts? They have been hurled down and are even now reserved in chains under darkness, to the judgment of the great day; and those who first began to preach modern christianity have doubtless shared a doom scarcely less awful.

The first step stone to modern christianity was laid on the smoking ruins of primitive christianity. The christian enemies to new revelations and miracles, actually waded through the blood of apostles and prophets, in order to establish the system of anti-revelation. And did their descendants and abettors realise the bloody and accursed origin of that system that wars against new regulations and prophets, and angels, many of them would shudder at their blind zeal and self-righteousness! God winks at the conduct of the latter, because they know not what they do; but He commands all men every where to repent, else He will hold them guilty of all the blood that has been shed from the days of righteous Abel till now. God is my witness that I speak the truth in Christ Jesus and lie not.

The history of modern christianity, from the day when the first martyr fell under its bloody hatred, is a history of contention, persecution, and massacre, that causes all heaven to weep. Rivers of blood have flowed in its wake. Crimination and re-crimination from the pulpit and the press, have agitated the people, from the throne down to the otherwise peaceful cottage. The battle field has been soaked with the blood of its victims, and it is difficult to tell whether Catholic or Protestant domination can count the most victims, except as one may have held a longer and stronger ascendency than the other. The first two or three centuries were bloody beyond description. All denominations recoil at the history of their pedigree during this early and bloody period. The links in the chain of supposed apostolic succession are so bloody, that even the "dark ages" cannot conceal their crimson hue. The period when this famous chain of succession has not been coloured with human gore, is short. The records of the suffering Waldenses, in the valleys of Piedmont, will always tell a tale of wo, at which humanity must blush. The history of the protestant reformation in Germany and England, including the massacre of sixty thousand protestants in France, at one time, is a serious comment on the pseudo apostolic line of priesthood. But when protestantism came into power, under Henry and Elizabeth, it proved to a demonstration that the protestants had the same priesthood handed down through seas of human gore; excommunicating, torturing and killing catholic heretics in like manner as the catholics had previously done to others.[A]

[Footnote A 1. It was death to make a new Catholic priest within the kingdom. 2. It was death for a Catholic priest to come into the kingdom from abroad. 3. It was death to harbour a Catholic priest coming from abroad. 4. It was death to confess to such a priest. 5. It was death for any priest to say mass. 6. It was death for any one to hear mass. 7. It was death for any one to deny or not to swear, if called on, that this woman (Elizabeth) was the head of the church of Christ. 8. It was an offence punishable by heavy fine not to go to the Protestant church, £250, equal to £3,250 of present English money.—Penal Statutes passed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.]

The United States of America were first settled by fugitives from the intolerance and bigoted persecution of the mother country; and it now becomes no wonder that after all this tragic drama of inhuman and brutal outrages for near eighteen hundred years, that the children of them that slew the prophets, should deny the need of any further revelation, and also of any more apostles and miracles! But, sir, the Heavens are more compassionate. The Heavens feel the need to give further revelation, lest the whole earth be speedily destroyed through the abomination of this mother of harlots and her numerous progeny.

There are thousands of honest hearted people that deserve a better destiny than to be made the deluded prey and spoil of such abominations, under the flattering name of christianity. It is to such these letters are designed to be a benefit. It is in vain for Protestants to charge the bloody axe of persecution against the Catholics, or for one sect of Protestants to charge and vilify another sect. Knox and Calvin were relentless, if not actually murderous enemies of the Catholics: and there is scarcely a consequential Protestant sect in England, or the United States of America, that has not proven out their shameful and bloody pedigree by acts of banishment, hanging, confiscation of property, or proscription of cast.

These charges against the christianity that has sprung up since the days of revelation, are capable of the most undeniable proof. It is no marvel that intelligent and high-minded men in every country have become so sceptical towards the prevailing religions of the day. The scepticism of France was a misnomer; it was not in reality a warfare against the true Bible, but against the horrid impositions supposed to be deducible from the Bible. If the Bible had been fairly represented by the true church, France would never have waged such a bloody war against it as it did in the days of its revolution. The illuminati of France had sense enough to detect the fooleries and impositions of priestcraft, and the nonsensical notion of a God without body or parts, and in their misguided rage they mistook the Bible to be the source of these false religions.

The foregoing is only a cursory hint of the bloody character of modern christianity, from the time when it slew the apostles who held the keys of revelation, and has ever since denied the need of any further revelation; for a hundred volumes of the size of the Bible, would not suffice to detail each instance where men and women have been whipped, hung, ripped open, or gibbeted, or burnt, or their ears bored, and their faces branded with hot irons. The massacres of France, half-murdered Ireland, Germany, and England, if written in detail, would make an imposing library. Fortunate for humanity's sake, that no one religious power has any greater predominance than it has; else the want of religious checks and balances would even now be as fatal to the minority as the exhalations of the Upas. Yet, after all this, christianity claims to be tolerant and catholic; and her bishops, enthroned in a salary of more than £27,000 sterling per annum, claim a regular succession from St. Peter. They might better have said from the murderers of St. Peter. Oh, shame on the cry of apostolic succession! What a transformation Peter must have undergone by this chain of succession! His gifts of discernment and healing gone! The spirit of prophecy and tongues have left him! The power to open prison doors, and of converse with angels, have left him impotent as other men! Marvellous falling off of every thing but salaries and pomp and persecution! Many suppose that Christ's Church must have been perpetuated on the earth, because it is said that the gates of hell should not prevail against it. Strange and fallacious argument for the continuance of the Church! Can it be supposed for a moment, that the Church is prevailed against, because it is removed from the earth? Jesus was removed from this life and gave up the ghost, but was he therefore prevailed against? Did he not triumph over death, and ascend up on high, and lead captivity captive? Did he not thereby acquire the possession of all things in heaven and upon earth?

It should not be supposed, that because all the saints were put to death, or became extinct from the earth, that they have any less dominion over wicked men and fallen angels; on the other hand, by removal they increase in power and glory, and have authority increased upon their heads. The generations of the wicked have been prevailed against, ever since the Church left the earth. The curses that have followed the Jewish and Gentile enemies of the Church, from the days of the primitive Church till now, are perfectly visible to any but such as have eyes and see not, and ears and hear not. The Jews and Gentiles are like two inebriates, each sees clearly how very drunk the other is, but discovers not his own intoxicated and besotted condition. The Gentiles say that the Jews, through transgression, have lost the Urim and Thummin, and Ephod and Teraphim, and been proscribed and banished, and thousands killed and scattered, as a bye word and proverb, among all nations. On the other hand, the Gentiles have lost the gifts and blessings of the Spirit, with all the holy order of apostles and prophets; and wiping the slush from their bloody hands, say they have no need of them.

Alas, sir, when shall the veil that covers all nations (both Jews and Gentiles) be removed, and self-righteous religionists confess that their sins have separated, between them and their God, and hid his face from them? When will the sectarian priesthood that now arrogantly say, we are rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing, have humility enough to confess that they are blind, and naked, and destitute of all things, seeing that they are without the gifts of the Spirit, and the key of knowledge (revelation) and the authority of the priesthood.

I know it is very difficult to convince sectarians that they are not a pious people. Why, say they, do we not manifest much more fervency of spirit, and studied sacredness of deportment, and punctilious exactness, in observing the Sabbath than Latter-day Saints? Do we not show to all men great self-abasement in confessing our sins to be like crimson and scarlet, and our iniquities to be like mountains in magnitude. Are we not scrupulously guarded against all levity and trifling conversation? Are not our preachers very grave, and apparently devoted and holy in their bearing? Do not their frequent sighs and insuppressible groans, as their spirits are weighed down under the conviction of the worth of souls, and the vast responsibility of the Lord's watchmen, indicate profound piety? Do they not fast often and pray much? Are they not orthodox and evangelical, insisting much upon the new birth and a radical change of heart? How can it be that a people of this description are not pious and exceedingly holy? The preachers speak, and even walk in measured carefulness and peculiarity of manner, so that a preacher is generally known by his walk, and dialect, and sober, grave countenance.

Now, sir, when I have conceded most liberally to the above, what does it all prove? Why, sir, one act of obedience to God is better than the most rigid conformity to all the precepts of men. The more devoted and sincere people are in error, so much more agreeable to the prince of darkness. What a meagre atonement does a demure countenance, and sanctimonious sighs and groans, and self-loathings make, for transgressing the law of God, and changing an ordinance. Take, for instance, the ordinance of laying on of hands for healing the sick. Had this ordinance been perpetuated in the Church, millions upon millions of the human family might have been saved from premature death. Through this ordinance, Jesus Christ has said, "they shall recover." Through the sceptical abandonment of this ordinance countless millions have not lived out half of their days. How much compensation does it afford to the countless victims of disobedience, for men to assume a grave long face, and strive to elongate the name of God by gracious sounds, as though the name of God was too short without being stretched for such holy lips.

Take another ordinance, viz., the gift of the Holy Ghost, by laying on hands. What a flimsy and miserable equivalent for the absence of the Comforter, and spirit of prophecy and revelation, are seminaries of learning, and a multitude of oblations, and prayers, and frequent fasting! It is too much, sir, like the drunken boy, who, having broken his master's bottle, boastingly claimed credit for saving the cork!

Neglect of the weighty matters of laws and ordinances are to be atoned for, by pious breathings in private journals for posthumous publication; and by elaborate sermons and comments, they make plain things profoundly obscure; and every year increases the necessity of additional learning, in order to disentangle the profound knottiness of theological disquisitions and exegetical comments. The very religious opposers of Jesus Christ, whose hands were accessory to his death, had a most fervent and devout spirit, and were eminently pious; but the doctrine of new revelations, and the gifts of healing, tongues, and prophecyings, disturbed the equanimity of their devout hearts, and their rage rose to the pitch of desperation and blood-guiltiness.

No matter how much men confess, and pray, and sacrifice,—no matter how sincere and conscientious they are in error, if their religion does not lead them to keep the commands and ordinances of the true and living God, their worship is vain and their faith is vain. Except they hearken to the law of God and the testimony of God, there is no light in them. Sincerity is nothing without obedience; both wicked men and devils are sincere in many things which God abhors. A man coming to the forks of four roads might pray months and years to be guided in choice of the right road, but if he would not believe the testimony of the Lord's servant who should tell him the only true road, he would still remain in doubt and fear.

Well, says a very strenuous objector, now to end all controversy, just show us one real genuine miracle, and I will thereupon believe, and be baptized, and for ever after hold my peace. Aye, indeed! a very common sentiment, but a strange one coming from the lips of a professed believer in the Bible. He that is no hypocrite, but a true believer in the Bible, has the explicit promise of God's own word, that miraculous signs shall follow them that believe. Now, if they do not follow believers, then God is a liar, and no longer worthy of confidence; but if God is true, and the signs do not follow, then your faith is vain, and will not save from damnation. But, says the objector, miracles were anciently wrought to prove the divine mission of the servants of God. Now prove to me that you are a servant of God, by the attestation of an indisputable miracle, for in apostolic days, even wicked men said, a notable miracle hath been done, and we cannot deny it. Yes, very true, and other wicked men have testified to the same in these days, and sometimes they would deny it, and alternately confess it, according to the spirit that was upon them. Saul, the king, could tell the truth about David at one time, and at another deny it—at one time worship the youthful supplanter, and at another thirst for his blood. Miracles may sometimes have been the occasion of leading persons to believe the word of God, but their prominent design was never in any age of the world to introduce new revelation.

Moses was a believer before God spoke to him in the burning bush. John the Baptist, who introduced the christian dispensation, and was the harbinger of Christ, probably never saw any miracle, except at the descent of the dove, at the baptism of Jesus. "John wrought no miracle." Joseph Smith was a believer before the angel which John and the other prophets spoke of, ever visited him. Miracles may confirm the faith of such believers as have the Holy Ghost confirmed upon them, whereby they are able to distinguish between true and false miracles. To others they often prove a snare and a trap.

While miracles confirmed the Hebrews in the faith of God, miracles also confirmed the Egyptians in the faith of satan. Many who witnessed the miracles of Jesus were as keen for mobocracy and murder as the bloodiest. This parade about miracles, being designed to introduce christianity, and confirm and attest all genuine revelation, is a humbug that has always been started whenever a new revelation was given to man. The pious Jews insisted constantly that the disciples should prove their authority by miracles. It was about the first and last thing that they ever said to Jesus: WORK A MIRACLE! come down from the cross and we will believe. He told them, in language of the keenest rebuke, that they should not be seeking after "signs." He told them that it indicated a wicked and adulterous spirit to ask him to give them miraculous signs. The devil and devout Jews fairly made game of Christ and his disciples, because when they were asked to do miracles they refused. But still the devil, and many ministers and churches, continued to demand signs and miracles, and stormed and raged greatly because these men would never work miracles in a way to satisfy them.

These sagacious and pious adversaries of Jesus were always able to detect some flaw—some cunning artifice or trick of the devil—in whatever Christ or the apostles did (as they said). Now modern divines and churches, taking up this old cudgel against the saints, have even asked Latter-day Saints to drink a cup of poison. Drink it, says one—now drink it, or we will not believe you are sent of God. Aye, now we know you are not sent of God to preach! Forgetting that the first sign-seeker once said, if you are the Son of God, "cast thyself down from this pinnacle, for it is written, that he shall give his angels charge concerning thee."

Now, sir, if irony were admissible on a subject of this nature, I would tauntingly add—how satan did trap this impostor! He drove him into an extremity for pretending to work miracles; didn't he? But I forbear; let him that hath ears to hear, hear what the Spirit saith unto the sign-seekers!

It may seem marvellous to some if I should say that satan can work signs and wonders far surpassing the greatest knowledge of men. The power of satan has probably never been fully exhibited to men on the earth. The grand adversary of heaven and earth has not warred against even the throne of the Eternal God, without acquiring some acquaintance with those powers and keys of knowledge with which he has been baffled by the Almighty from the beginning. If believers had to contend only with flesh and blood, or mere men in mortal flesh, they might rejoice in the hope of a far more speedy victory; but, on the other hand, they have to contend against principalities and powers of a supernatural order. Spirits as much superior in power and cunning to the worst men in the flesh, as the full grown man is to the slender child. Men have acquired some knowledge of the laws that govern fire, air, and water; and some imperfect knowledge of the laws that govern minds, or the spirits of men; but the knowledge of fallen angels and outcast spirits, is sufficient to astonish and confound the wisest of men that are not inspired with the wisdom of God. The satanic powers have always excited the greatest wonders contemporaneous with the wonders wrought by the servants of God. In the days of Moses, and also of Jesus Christ, men were inspired by satan with more than mere human powers; and in this last dispensation, wicked men that yield themselves to become the willing instruments of unrighteousness to the devil, will again acquire skill in cunning and deceivable arts, whereby they will bring down fire from heaven, and confound all those who know not the laws and powers of spirits, and the extensive influence that the prince of the power of the air has over the natural elements. Men who do not need power from God to cast out devils, will find themselves made fast in his chains, beyond the power of extricating themselves. But while the saints have not power of themselves to detect the lying wonders of satan, and withstand them—yet, through faith, and the keys and gifts of revelation from God, they will be able to stand and overcome; and the power of God will be greater than the cunning of the devil. But sign-seekers and the enemy of new revelations will be arraigned under the banner of the father of lies, and believe a lie that they may be damned. Jesus found foul spirits and devils so thick, in his days, that he had occasion frequently to cast them out of persons, and also to empower others to cast out devils. Some instances are recorded where many of these fallen spirits took possession of a single person at one and the same time. No less than seven occupied one female. Now modern christianity must be highly favoured, if they are so much better than primitive saints, that they can escape the annoyance of these multiplied and troublesome spirits.

How is it, sir, that devils do not trouble modern churches, as they did the primitive saints? Are they done away too? Miracles and devils done away! The canon of the scriptures closed! miracles and devils ceased! Happy christianity; thy warfare has ceased,—thy troubles are ended! Blessed rest! Joyful reign of righteousness! As many ways to heaven now, as there are eyelets in a seive! Oh, brother, blush for thy theology, and for the doleful conclusions to which thy creeds have brought thee!

The reign of Satan, for near eighteen hundred years, has almost effaced every relic of Bible truth from the earth. Every thing that is valuable and powerful in the ancient system of prophets is done away, and the devil himself is supposed, by many, to be merely the evil passions of men. But, sir, the devil is not dead nor done away. But the gospel of apostles will rouse him up again; and knowing that his time is short, he will show his spite again on those bodies from which he shall be expelled by the apostolic priesthood, in choking, tearing, and casting them down to the ground. And who shall be able to stand, when deceptive miracles, and lying wonders far greater than have ever been known since the foundation of the world, shall be practised, and deceive many?

Now, sir, before I close this appeal, suffer me to allude to the intolerant and cruel persecution of the Saints, in Illinois. The nineteenth century, and the great republic of the United States of North America, must have the pages of its history blackened with the record of a persecution that classes with the bloody acts of Nero and Caligula. From fifteen to twenty thousand citizens of the United States were forced in an illegal, violent, and inhuman manner to forsake their homes and possessions in the state of Illinois, the greater part of them during the inclemency of the winter of 1846. A large and populous city of eleven thousand and thirty-five souls of men, women, and children, has been compulsorily evacuated, under the dread of inevitable massacre if they persisted to occupy their firesides and homes.

Continued acts of house-burning and mid-day assassinations, and midnight murder, and large gatherings of armed and lawless forces, with heavy pieces of artillery necessitated this numerous people to leave their flourishing city, merchandise, and farms, in the most inclement period of the year, for the purpose of self preservation.

This glaring act of expatriation, robbery, arson, and assassination, was not done in a corner. It did not occur among the barbarous and half civilized portions of the globe. It did not transpire in the dominions of the Ottoman, where the Coran and Islamism must father such inhuman deeds. It was not done in the jungles of Africa, where kidnapping and inhuman enslavement of men have called forth the repudiating censure of all nations. It was not done by clannish wandering Arabs, whose hands are proverbially against every man as a profession. Neither was it done in Papal dominions, or under the despotic sway of the sublime Porte or the autocrat of Russia.

Neither did the red men of the wilderness spring from their thicket with a warwhoop, and tomahook, and scalping knife, to perpetrate this bloody outrage! But hold still, modern christianity! The inquisitor of blood is in pursuit of thee, even to the gates of thy stronghold. Thou canst not cover thy hiding place with the screen of papacy, for she was not there. Thou canst not say that the autocrat of the Greek religion, with iron despotism cast these men into prison for teaching the Bible. Neither was it the sword of the Mussulman propogating his religion. There was no Mahometanism in Illinois. Neither canst thou charge it upon the Monarchical Institutions of Europe or established Episcopacy. "Thou art the man." Free Republican Christianity; you did it! In thy youthful beauty, the rising pride and envy of nations; thou didst it! Thy priests and laymen rose from their devout knees, and lighted the fagot and torch of the incendiary.—The sick man and (gravis) mother begged for God's sake, and for humanity's sake, you would spare their humble cottages which their brawny hands had reared in the midst of loneliness, want, and insalubrity of climate. Yet their cries were unheeded. Thev had but one alternative, either to be thrust out upon miasmatic ground, or remain and burn with their habitations. The man that persisted to watch his stack of grain against the incendiary, was shot dead in the act. Durfee's blood crimsons the skirts of republican christianity in Illinois. Where were the rulers and governors? Did they hear of it? Oh! it's nobody but Mormons! Where was the legislature of Illinois when the Smiths were shot in prison, in the sight of all Carthage, by hundreds in a painted gang? The governor threatening to destroy the city in person if they did not keep the peace, and deliver the Smiths for trial? What did the supreme legislature, delegates from more than four hundred thousand people of Illinois, in fresh review of these scenes of assassination, do? They repealed the city charter of Nauvoo. The mob made one gap in the law by assassination, and the state government following the example, threw down the whole enclosure that guarded the rights and privileges of thousands by repealing the charter. Where were the Illinois priests of modern christianity at that time? A distinguished clergyman of the city of Quincy, in their defence, said to the writer, we (the clergy) had nothing to do with those scenes in Hancock. Aye, indeed! neither had the pharisaic priests any thing to do with the robbed and wounded man, but the good Samaritan picked him up and carried him to an inn, and paid his bill. But Jesus Christ had to do with making an eternal record of the difference between the conduct of the good Samaritan, and the hypocrite of high priestly profession. Even a priest commanded the mob force in the final attack upon the city that expelled the remnant of Saints that were too poor to get away sooner. This remnant were left shelterless and sick, famishing upon the west bank of the Mississippi, where the quails of heaven actually fed them as they lay upon their couches, and in their wagons, in the sight of both friends and foes. Hear it! thou stronghold of modern christianity! Say not what great things you would do if you were not trammelled by the despotic shackles of monarchical government! A puritan christianity planted the tree of liberty on the solitary soil of America, from choice seed of her own selection. After being long nursed and watered by her numerous and learned priesthood. These are the full grown fruits of it; kidnapping, robbery, rapine, arson, and murder.—Systematic efforts were made, more than once, to prevent the influx of provisions into Nauvoo, in order that famine in a land of plenty, might coerce the inhabitants to flee their city, in building which they had sweat and toiled, and many had died. Time and again, steam boats were hailed and searched, in order to stop barrels of flour from going to Nauvoo, that had been purchased by our citizens in a time of scarcity at St. Louis. And provisions and other necessaries, had actually to be freighted for Madison and other river towns, in order to escape detection. Teams loaded with pork from inland counties were arrested, and turned to other markets, as though it were an acknowledged siege for the purpose of causing starvation. I know these things to be true, and my blood warms with mingled pity and indignation at the recollection of scenes of which I have been an eye witness.

At this time, and in this day of revivals, where were the ten thousands of priests that officiate at the altar? Where were the innumerable converts to modern christianity? What part did they all take towards regulating public opinion and preventing human slaughter? The sons and daughters of the puritans were there in affliction for the gospel's sake; and no less than two venerable pensioners, Hatch and Hinsdale, that fought in the revolutionary struggle for American Independence, were there, and were driven from their country for maintaining the right of conscience.

Now, who ever heard in all America of a priest pleading publically against these outrages, and importuning the throne of God in behalf of these suffering sons and daughters of God? Modern American christianity must redouble her gracious sanctimonious looks, in order to cover up this horrid indifference to lawless violence and suffering humanity.

The statesman that fears not God, nor regards man, may have some semblance of apology for his indifference; but American churches have none. But, where were the statesmen that make high professions of patriotism, and sensitive regard for the national honor of the United States? Could no disgrace accrue to the nation, when twenty thousand peaceable industrious citizens were violently robbed of millions of property without a shadow of requital? What security can foreign emigrants have for colonizing on the western lands, if whole cities and towns may be depopulated at a single blast of the popular caprice with impunity? What regard can American statesmen be supposed to entertain for the sacred and inalienable rights of the people, while no man ever opened his mouth either in the halls of Congress or of state legislatures against the most palpable and gross infractions of the constitution that ever transpired since the existence of the United States government.

The constitution guarantees to every man the right to worship God according to the dictates of conscience, and without molestation. It promises the right of property and the defence and protection of peaceable and unoffending citizens; but millions of property have been illegally plundered, and thousands of patriotic and worthy citizens have been deprived of the liberty of common citizens, and forced into the wilds of the mountains in the most inhuman manner. Had any foreign nation committed a small part of this damage upon their commercial interests, would not the national executive have demanded redress for spoliations, even at the mouth of the canon?

But I would not have you think, sir, by these remarks, that I entertain any acrimonious feelings towards my country. No; far from it. I love my native land, though cruelly exiled from it, because it is in that land that liberty is destined to flourish above all lands. That land has been set apart in the councils of eternity, and dedicated as the nursery of virtue and religious liberty. That is emphatically a land of promise. Its very soil is hallowed above all others, for the literal production of truth. There the blessings promised to Joseph are to be first displayed and enjoyed. There the ensign is to be first lifted up to all nations; and all nations, or the upright of all nations, are to flow together there. Every description of product and variety of climate is there. Notwithstanding the degeneracy and corruption of the civilized portions of that land, there is more toleration in the government and constitution, and more facilities for the introduction and spread of gospel truth in that land, than any other under the whole heaven. It is the very place, and probably the only place on this planet, where the true and eternal kingdom of God could get a footing, and survive the blasts of persecution, and the rage of fallen and apostate spirits of men and devils. Hitherto the Saints of God have been slaughtered, or compelled, like the city of Enoch, to forsake the earth.

But the Book of Mormon, and the angelic message to the young man Joseph, have dug the grave of apostacy, and laid the axe at the root of false religions. The earth is destined to enjoy a reign of righteousness, and a happy period of rest. Truth must and will prevail, and the kingdom of our God will be established in the mountains of Israel, just where all the prophets that have spoken of it, have seen it rise and flourish, never more to be thrown down.

When thousands that now compose the Church, and who have proved before the American people that the cords of their union cannot be sundered by the hottest thunderbolts of persecution, are assembled in the remote, extensive, and fertile valley of the almost unknown mountain, they will be for ever invincible. With their peaceable and inoffensive habits, which have characterised their movements from the beginning, no people will ever be likely to assail them again, till their numbers and strength will be too forbidding. The accessions to this people have never been so great as during the last six months. The certainty that this people will survive all opposition, and triumph over every obstacle, was never so palpably manifest as at this very moment. Famine and war, pestilence, bankruptcy, treachery, and distrust, are causing panic and fear among the nations. Those who love peace and retirement, and abhor contention, crime, and revolution, must seek an asylum among the Saints, for it cannot be found elsewhere on the earth. The Lord God himself will stir up the nations to anger and strife, and thrash them as with a flail, and sift them as with a sieve. And the honest in heart will flee to the Lord's hiding place, in ships and in companies, even as clouds and as doves to their windows.

While the unity of great and powerful nations is undergoing a rapid conversion into fractional weakness, the strength of Israel is accumulating and augmenting beyond all former precedent. The materials of which this body of people is composed are not like the heterogenous masses that constitute other nations; but they are select and chosen ones out of every nation whose views—religious, political, social, and pecuniary—are previously all cast in the mould of unity; like the materials of Solomon's temple, they are all fitted for their place and destination before they are brought together. The ten millions of Mexico could not stand even before the ten thousand of the United States; because the latter were united and subject to orderly discipline; while the former were distracted and divided. The hosts of Israel have never yet offered the first forcible resistance to the violent and lawless assaults of their enemies; yet the principles of self-defence are alike compatible with their feelings and their faith, and by no means obnoxious to the practice of Abraham, Joshua, or David, or even Jesus Christ.

When governments become too weak or perverse to protect their subjects, it then becomes the divine and inalienable right of all men to protect themselves by all lawful and just means. Whatever lessons of forbearance and non-resistance Jesus Christ might have left on record, suited to particular circumstances, there is a predominance of scriptural instructions in favour of self-defence, and innumerable examples to prove that the "Lord is a man of war." Time would fail to make mention of Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Sampson, David, and Barek. The prayer of Sampson was, that he might destroy his enemies; and God not only heard his prayer, but gave him strength to fulfil his request: out of an opposing army, God even commissioned one of his angels (not so holy a personage as some modern Christians) to kill one hundred and eighty-five thousand in one night! Indeed! say you; could God do such a bloody deed? Surely; and he that causelessly strikes the second cheek will be repaid, for "the day of vengeance is in his (God's) heart;" but those who proudly say, that they have no further need of revelation, will find that day to come upon them unawares, even as a "thief in the night."

Sir, Zion is from henceforth and for ever invincible—she has run the gauntlet and is safe. After being submerged in a series of sufferings for seventeen years, she now stands purified, tried, and made white; "she has passed the baptismal ordeal of suffering, and power is given unto her to withstand and overcome;" she has put on her beautiful garments, and the mighty God of Jacob is her strength; the keys of power are given unto her, and the angels of God camp around about her; she is entrenched in the munition of rocks, even the everlasting hills; by her the ensign of truth and liberty is lifted up to all nations; the pure and wise of all nations may safely rally around her standard, and go up to the house of the God of Jacob and learn his ways. God called his Son out of Egypt after persecutors had shot out the arrows of their wrath in vain. If God's people have been able to stand under persecutions while in the midst of their enemies, much more may they expect to abide when separated by the distance of months' journeyings, and by lofty mountains covered with perpetual snow. The mightiest nations already heave with convulsive throes, and travail in great pain; they have enough to do without wasting their blood, and treasure, and unprovoked wrath upon the Saints; and God will soften the hearts of the nations for the good of his people, from time to time, until their palaces and towers will be the admiration and delight of all the ends of the earth. The nucleus of the mightiest nation that ever flourished on the earth is planted; the rapidly rising greatness of this people will constitute one of the greatest wonders of the age; all the elements of a great and mighty people have been clearly demonstrated to belong to this people. Union, it is said, is strength; this has already become proverbially a distinguishing feature of the Saints. Driven, and scattered, and robbed in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois, they have readily re-assembled and re-united. Knowledge is said to be power; knowledge has been acquired in the practical school of experience; they are almost universally familiar with the undisguised operations of the hearts of their fellow men. No people ever had the same opportunity to learn the diversified motives that govern the minds of men and women; no people, as a body, ever had the acquaintance with the laws, government, and religion, and usages of civilized and barbarous nations, which has been enjoyed by the Latter-day Saints. No people of modern ages ever had their ingenuity and physical ability so extensively taxed in order for self-support, and the acquisition of knowledge, and propagation and defence of the truth. The moral virtues of forbearance, long-suffering, fortitude, love to enemies, and self-command under fiery temptations, have been stretched to their utmost tension; indeed, they are a tried people—the word of the Lord has tried them. They have kept the commandments of God, and are not found wanting.

This, sir, is Zion, the care of angels, and the delight of the Holy One of Israel! Those who love righteousness and retirement from the din of war, and from the plague, and assassin, and incendiary, will seek her peaceful gates, out of every nation under the whole heaven. None can injure this people or war against them with impunity, for the Lord is their shield and defence. When ancient Israel entered the land of Canaan, it is said that the Lord caused the fear of them and the dread of them, to rest upon all the nations round about. The same God now, will again cause all nations to dread the opposition of the people of the Saints of the Most High.

Sir, it need not be disguised that the armies of heaven are leagued with the Saints in the covenant of everlasting union. You are not ignorant of God's judgments at the Red Sea, or of the destruction of the companies of fifties, and of his interposition in behalf of Israel in the valley of Gibeon. Neither is his arm shortened now, that he cannot save; His wonders have been multiplied on every hand in this day, according to the observation of thousands who are ready to attest that the blind have been made to see, the deaf to hear, and the palsied have been made sound, and many blasphemous opposers have been visited with as swift and utter destruction as Ananias and Sapphira.

Now, sir, what more shall I say, in order to convince you and all honest men, that God has set up his kingdom against which no power can possibly prevail?

You kindly acknowledge that my testimony is credible; all my numerous acquaintance must concur with you in this acknowledgement. I have told you the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, and as I expect to meet it at the final bar of righteous retribution. My sufferings and expatriation for the gospel's sake, are the seal of my testimony in Christ. I have literally sacrificed wife, and houses, and lands, for the truths which I have inculcated in this volume. My motherless children are now in the wilderness in their solitary cabin, surrounded with savage tribes, and subject to privations that make a father's heart to bleed. Better men of whom the world is not worthy have suffered even more in the same cause. I know this to be the true gospel revealed from the heavens for the salvation of this generation; and all those whom it does not save through faith, it will damn through unbelief. If you have read these truths carefully, your final destiny will hang on the decision you may make—it is to you the voice of God, and the warning of the servant of God. Wait not for an angel of God to speak in your ear, or for one to come from the dead; if you hear not the servant of God, neither will you be persuaded though one rose from the dead. Not only your own salvation, but the interests of your family and your kindred will probably be seriously affected by the decision you now make.

When the devout Jews, with reckless obstinacy, said, his blood be upon us and upon our children, you know what afterward ensued down to this day. With the knowledge which this gospel communicates, you cannot be a neutral. The blood and sufferings not only of the Saints of the nineteenth century, but also of all others from the days of righteous Abel till now, will be chargeable to you if you obey not this gospel; if you reject this gospel, your children's children, to the latest generation, will for ever bewail the choice you may make. You stand in some measure as the representative of your posterity, therefore ponder well the decision you may make. I know that you are surrounded by a knot of priests, distinguished for the wisdom of schools and seminaries; and the obstinate creeds and usages of modern christianity hold over you a threatening rod of proscription and slaughter; but except you have courage to escape, and sufficient love of truth to induce you to peril even all things for the gospel, your die is cast, and your doom is with the lost and damned for ever.

I do not expect to coerce you by motives of fear, but I know that judgments will and do follow this gospel; and knowing the terror of the Lord, I persuade—I dare not say less; I would say more if the power of utterance were given me. All is not right with you; you acknowledge that you do not understand the prophets and the apocalypse; also that modern christianity is weak, divided, and contentious—not having the power and order of ancient prophets and apostles. Pause and consider well before you reject the only light that can save this generation! Your old friend and acquaintance asks you to pause. The deplorable prospect of your kindred for generations to come, who may be involved in the consequences of your rebellion, require you to pause; the interests of the denomination that look to you for spiritual guidance, require you to consider well the decision you may make. I know that you are in a strait place; Paul was once in a similar condition; but the sterling integrity of his heart saved him. He burst off the shackles of false religions, and overleaped the religious usages of ages, and received counsel and baptism at the hands of the most despised people that ever lived.

But enough, perhaps, has been said; what I say to you, I say unto all men—rulers and subjects, priests and people! I have set before you life and death. If you reject the gospel, I am innocent of your blood; if you receive it, glory, and honour, and immortality await you. The apostolic fathers and the angels of God watch to record your decision. With sentiments of high respect, I subscribe myself,

Your humble servant,

ORSON SPENCER.