{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_45846/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_45846","id":"gutenberg_45846","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45846","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- Doctrines","Latter Day Saint churches -- Doctrines","Latter Day Saints"],"text":"LETTERS\n\nEXHIBITING THE MOST\n\nPROMINENT DOCTRINES\n\nOF THE\n\nCHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.\n\n\n\nBY ORSON SPENCER, A.B.,\n\n_President of the Church of Jesus Christ of L.D.S., in Europe_.\n\nIN REPLY\n\nTO THE REV. WILLIAM CROWELL, A.M.,\n\n_Boston, Massachusetts_, U.S.A.\n\n\n\n\"THE WISE SHALL UNDERSTAND.\"--Daniel.\n\n\n\nLIVERPOOL: PUBLISHED BY ORSON SPENCER,\n\n39, TORBOCK STREET.\n\n1848.\n\n\n\nLIVERPOOL: PRINTED BY R. JAMES, SOUTH CASTLE STREET.\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\nTHE AUTHOR'S PREFACE\n\nLETTER FROM THE REV. W. CROWEL A. M.\n\nLETTER I.\n\nGENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS\n\nLETTER II.\n\nIMMEDIATE REVELATION\n\nLETTER III.\n\nON FAITH\n\nLETTER IV.\n\nON WATER BAPTISM\n\nLETTER V.\n\nTHE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST\n\nLETTER VI.\n\nAPOSTACY FROM THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH\n\nLETTER VII.\n\nTHE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF AN APOSTOLIC CHURCH\n\nLETTER VIII.\n\nTHE TRUE AND LIVING GOD\n\nLETTER IX.\n\nTHE PRIESTHOOD\n\nLETTER X.\n\nON GATHERING\n\nLETTER XI.\n\nTHE LATTER-DAY JUDGMENTS\n\nLETTER XII.\n\nON THE RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS\n\nLETTER XIII.\n\nMISCELLANEOUS REMARKS ON RESTITUTION\n\nLETTER XIV.\n\nSUMMARY AND FINAL APPEAL\n\nFAREWELL ADDRESS\n\nNIGHT OF MARTYRDOM\n\nDEATH OF THE AUTHOR'S WIFE\n\nLINES, ON READING THE AUTHOR'S FIRST LETTER IN THE SERIES, BY MISS E.\nR. SNOW\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\nThe Author has, for some time, felt desirous to see the most prominent\nsubjects of the faith of Latter-day Saints brought before the public in\ncontinuous order, in one volume.\n\nThis series of Letters was called forth by the letter of inquiry\nprefixed, from the pen of the Rev. William Crowel. This gentleman was\nat the time, and still is (for ought I know) Editor of \"_The Christian\nWatchman_,\" Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.--a leading paper of the\nBaptist denomination in the United States.\n\nThe Editor was also a clergyman of high repute for learning and piety\nin that denomination of people, and missionary elect to a foreign\nland. From the elevated standing of this gentleman, and the nature of\nhis inquiries being such as have come from many other distinguished\nacquaintance, relative to the author's change of views, it seemed\nwisdom, after consultation with the Prophet and Patriarch (since\nmartyred), to publish a brief reply to his minute and interesting\ninquiries.\n\nThe author was extensively known in the New England and Middle States,\nas a Preacher of the Baptist denomination. Reference for his character\nis given to his Excellency George N. Briggs, Governor of the State of\nMassachusetts, by whom he was once invited to take the pastoral charge\nof the church where his Excellency resided, and of which he was a\nmember; also to G. Read, Esq., Connecticut, and Eliphalet Nott, D.D.,\nL.L.D., President of Union College, New York, under whose Presidency he\ngraduated in 1824; and also to N. Kendrick D.D., President of Hamilton\nLiterary and Theological College, from whence the author graduated in\n1829. The records of both these institutions will show that the author\nheld the FIRST grade of honourable distinction at the time he left them.\n\nThese references are not given from vanity, but from the fact that\nalmost every man's character is traduced and villified, the moment he\nembraces the _faith_ once delivered to the Saints.\n\nThe present volume constitutes the third re-print, several thousand\ncopies having been exhausted in a tract form, the present edition, in\nbook form, was repeatedly inquired after.\n\nThe edition has been got out in the midst of multiplied engagements.\nTruth in studied brevity has been aimed at, without seeking the least\nembellishment of diction.\n\nIf there has, in part of the volume, been the appearance of severity\ntowards the religions of modern Christianity, it has been prompted\nsolely by the impulse of truth, in order to demolish error, before the\nDestroyer of the Gentiles should expose iniquity with irretrievable\nloss to its victims.\n\nScripture references have been studiously omitted, believing that\nhonest minds would readily find ample support from the scriptures\nfor all that is contained in this little volume. It is, therefore,\ncommended to the faith and cordial reception of all who desire the\nsalvation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in sincerity and truth.\n\nORSON SPENCER.\n\n_Liverpool, January_ 1, 1848.\n\n\n\nLETTER FROM THE REV. WILLIAM CROWELL, A. M. TO ORSON SPENCER, A. B.\n\n_Boston, October_ 21, 1842.\n\nMY DEAR SIR,--On the confidence of an old acquaintance and kindly\nintercourse, I have long wished to address a friendly line to you;\nfor, I am sure, you have not forgotten the pleasant, though brief,\ninterviews which we enjoyed at Middlefield. Since I saw you there,\na great change has taken place, as I have been led to believe, in\nyour religious views, and a corresponding one in your relations and\ncircumstances; still, I trust, that you have not forgotten the claims\nof friendship and acquaintance.\n\nI need not tell you how much I became interested in your family--so\nyoung and so full of promise--nor of the strong confidence which I\nreposed in your piety and conscientious regard for the will of God. I\nwould not allow myself to believe that you would profess what you did\nnot sincerely believe, nor that you would believe without good reasons;\nstill the change in your views excited in me no little surprise. I\nhave, therefore, been desirous to receive from yourself an account\nof your views, and the reasons of your change. I am also desirous to\nobtain from one in whom I can confide--one who is acquainted with\nthe facts--and one who is not prejudiced against it at the outset,\nsome account of the faith which you have embraced; of the personal\ncharacter, doctrines, claims, and influence of him who is called the\nleader--I mean Joseph Smith.\n\nDoes he claim to be inspired? Is he a man of prayer? a man of pure\nlife? a man of peace? Where is he now? Does he appear at the head of\nhis troops as a military commander? What is the nature of the worship\namong you, and wherein does it differ from that of religious people\nwith whom you have been acquainted elsewhere?\n\nHow many inhabitants has the city of Nauvoo? What is their condition,\noccupations, and general character? What are the dimensions of\nthe Temple, now in course of erection? Do the Mormons suffer much\npersecution? if so, from whom? Are the children instructed in learning\nand religion? It would give me great pleasure to learn, also, how you\nare employed? whether your family are with you? and also your present\nviews of truth and duty, and in what respects they differ from the\nviews which you formerly entertained.\n\nExcuse the number and minuteness of these inquiries. I take an interest\nin all that affects the welfare of my fellow-men, and especially in\nwhat is so important as their religious views and hopes. I am aware\nthat the people, and the views which you have adopted as your own,\nare peculiarly liable to misrepresentation; but from you I may expect\nsomething more impartial. Now, if you do not find the task too great\na tax upon your time, I should be much gratified in receiving as full\nand as speedy an answer to the queries above proposed, with any other\ninformation in your possession, as may be convenient to yourself.\n\nIt may be gratifying to you, to learn that a powerful revival of\nreligion has been enjoyed in Middlefield, within a few weeks past,--an\naccount of which, Mr. Bestor, the present pastor, has sent to me for\npublication in _The Christian Watchman,_ a copy of which I send you. I\nvisited the town in the summer, and found your old friends well. I also\nattended a minister's meeting at Brother Bestor's, and enjoyed a very\npleasant interview. Several of the brethren spoke of you in terms of\nkindness.\n\nMy best wishes attend you. Present my regards to Mrs. Spencer, and\n\nBelieve me,\n\nVery truly yours,\n\nWILLIAM CROWELL.\n\nP. S.--You will understand that I ask for information for my private\nbenefit and satisfaction. I do not ask for anything to be published,\nunless you see fit to give it for that purpose. I wish you to write as\nan old friend.\n\nW. C.\n\n\n\nLETTERS IN REPLY BY ORSON SPENCER, A. B.\n\n\n\nLETTER I.\n\nGENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.\n\n_Nauvoo November_ 17, 1842.\n\nMy Dear Sir,--I received yours of the 21st ult. about a week since, but\nmany engagements have prevented a more early reply.\n\nYour inquiries were interesting and important, and I only regret that\nI have not more time and room to answer them as their importance and\nminuteness demand.\n\nI am not at all surprised that my old friends should wonder at my\nchange of views; even to this day it is marvellous in my own eyes,\nhow I should be separated from my brethren to this (Mormon) faith. I\ngreatly desire to see my Baptist brethren face to face, that I may tell\nthem all things pertaining to my views and this work; but, at present,\nthe care of my wife and six children, with the labours of a civil\noffice, forbids this privilege.\n\nA sheet of paper is a poor conductor of a marvellous and controverted\nsystem of theology; but receive this sheet as containing only some\nbroken hints upon which I hope to amplify in some better manner\nhereafter. You have expressed confidence in my former conscientious\nregard for the will of God. I thank you for this, because the virtues\nof many good men have been disallowed upon some supposed forfeiture of\npublic esteem. I thank God that you, and many of the churches where I\nonce laboured, are more liberal.\n\nYou, more than common men, know that it is in accordance with all past\nhistory, that men's true characters suffer imprisonment, scourging,\nand death, as soon as they become innovators or seceders from\nlong-established and venerated systems. Many have suffered martyrdom\nfor literary and also religious improvements, to whom after ages have\ndone better justice. \"Which of the prophets have not your fathers\npersecuted, and slain them which told before of the coming of the Just\nOne?\"\n\nIt was the misfortune of many of the former prophets, that they were\nraised up at a period of the world when apostacy and corruption\nrendered their efforts indispensable, although such efforts proved\nunacceptable to those who were in fault. Ancient prophets, you know,\ndid not merely reiterate what their predecessors had taught, but\nspoke hidden wisdom, even things that had been kept secret for many\ngenerations; because the spirit by which they were moved had knowledge\nof all truth, and could disclose and reveal as it seemed wisdom in God.\n\nThe spirits that were disobedient, while once the long-suffering of God\nwaited in the days of Noah, doubtless despised the prophet that taught\na universal deluge. But Noah had a special revelation of a deluge,\nalthough the religious people of his day counted him an enthusiast. The\nrevelation given to Moses to _gather_ an opprest people to a particular\nplace, was equally one side of, and out of the usual course of former\nrevelations. John came to the literal followers of Abraham and Moses;\nbut he escaped not persecution and death, because he breathed an\nuncharitable and exclusive spirit towards the existing sects of the\nday. Still he was a revelator and seer approved of God.\n\nAnd is it a thing incredible with you, brother, that before the great\nsabbatic era, world's rest, or millennium, God should raise up a\nprophet to prepare the people for that event, and the second coming of\nJesus Christ? Would it be disagreeable to those who love the unity\nof Saints, or improbable or unscriptural to expect such a prophet to\nbe possessed with the key of knowledge, or endowed, like Peter, with\nthe _stone_ of revelation? If the many hundred religious sects of this\nage should hereafter harmonize into one faith and brotherhood, without\nthe aid of special revelations, it would constitute an unparalleled\nphenomenon. Should they become a bride fit to receive Jesus Christ\nat his coming, it could not be according to Paul's gospel. For six\nthousand years, apostles and prophets have constituted an essential\npart of the spiritual edifice in which God dwells. Paul says it is by\nthem the church is perfected and brought to unity of faith.\n\nI know that you and I have been taught from our childhood, that the\nchurch can be perfected without prophets; but where, I ask, is the\nfirst scripture to support this view?\n\nAs you kindly say, I have always been accustomed to offer a reason for\nmy faith; but be assured I was confounded and made dumb, when asked\nwhy I taught another gospel than what Paul did--why I taught that\nrevelation was ended, when Paul did not--or why I taught that prophets\nwere not needed, when no inspired teacher ever taught such a doctrine.\nError may become venerable by age, and respectable from the number of\nits votaries, but neither age nor popularity can ever make it truth.\n\nYou give me credit for a conscientious regard for the will of God.\nIt was _this_ that gave me the victory where many others, I fear,\nare vanquished. The spirit of God wrought mightily in me, commending\nthe ancient gospel to my conscience. I contemplated it with peaceful\nserenity and joy in believing. Visions and dreams began to illuminate,\noccasionally, my slumbering moments; but when I allowed my selfish\npropensities to speak, I cursed Mormonism in my heart, and regretted\nbeing in possession of as much light and knowledge as had flowed into\nmy mind from that source. When I preached or conversed according to\nmy best convictions, peace reigned in my heart, and truth enlarged\nmy understanding. Conviction and reverence for the truth, at such\ntimes seemed to reign in the hearts of those that heard me; at times,\nhowever, some were ready to gnash their teeth, for the truth that they\nwould not receive and could not resist.\n\nI counted the cost, to myself and family, of embracing such views,\nuntil I could read it like the child his alphabet, either upward or\ndownward. The expense I viewed through unavoidable tears, both in\npublic and private, by night and by day; I said, however, the Lord He\nis God, I _can_, I _will_ embrace the truth.\n\nWhen I considered the weakness of the human mind, and its liability\nto be deceived, I re-examined and held converse with the most able\nopposers to Mormonism, in a meek and teachable spirit; but the ease\nwith which many, wearing a high profession of piety, turned aside\nthe force of palpable truth, or leaned on tradition or inextricable\ndifficulties, that they could not solve into harmony with their\nprofessions, was very far from dissuading me from my new views. What\ncould I do? Truth had taken possession of my mind--plain, simple, Bible\ntruth. It might be asked if I could not expel it from my door; yes, I\n_could_ do it; but how would that harmonize with a sincere profession\nto preach and practice the truth, by way of example to others? It was\na crisis I never shall--I never can forget. I remember it as an exodus\nfrom parents, kindred, denomination, and temporal support. Has any\none ever passed such a crisis, they will say, at least, be careful of\nBrother Spencer's character and feelings.\n\nLittle as I supposed that I cared about popularity, competence, or\nthe fellowship of those who were sincerely in error, when I came to\nbe stretched upon the altar of sacrifice, and the unsheathed blade\nthat was to exscind from all these hung over me with perpendicular\nexactness; then, then, brother, I cried unto the Lord to strengthen me\nto pass through the scene with his approbation.\n\nWhile I was inquiring to know what the Lord would have me to do, many\nbrethren of different denominations warned and exhorted me faithfully;\nbut their warnings consisted very much in a lively exhibition of evils\nto be endured, if I persisted; or, in other words, they appealed to my\nselfish nature. But I knew too well that truth should not be abandoned\nthrough the force of such appeals, however eloquently urged. Some\nwith whom I conversed, gave glowing descriptions of the obnoxious\ncharacter of Joseph Smith, and of the contradictory and unscriptural\njargon of the Book of Mormon, but it was their misfortune usually to be\ndeplorably ignorant of the true character of either.\n\nOf the truth of this statement many instances might be furnished, if\nthe limits of my sheet would allow. My own solicitude to know the\ncharacter of Mr. Smith, in order to judge of the doctrines propagated\nby him, was not so great as that of some others. My aversion to the\nworship of man, is both educational and religious; but I said boldly,\nconcerning Mr. Smith, that whoever had arranged and harmonized such\na system of irresistible truth, has borne good fruit. Some suggested\nthat it would be wisdom to make a personal acquaintance with Mr.\nSmith, previous to embracing his doctrines; but to me the obligation\nto receive the truths of heaven seemed absolute, whatever might be the\ncharacter of Mr. Smith.\n\nI read diligently the Book of Mormon from beginning to end, in close\nconnexion with the comments of Origen Bachelor, Laroy Sunderland,\nand Dr. Hulburt, together with newspapers and some private letters\nobtained from the surviving friends of Mr. Spaulding, the supposed\nauthor of that book. I arose from its perusal with a strong conviction\non my mind, that its pages were graced with the pen of inspiration. I\nwas surprised that so little fault could be found with a book of such\nmagnitude, treating, as it did, of such diversified subjects, through\na period of so many generations. It appeared to me, that no enemy to\ntruth or godliness would ever take the least interest in publishing the\ncontents of such a book; such appeared to me to be its godly bearing,\nsound morality, and harmony with ancient scriptures, that the enemy of\nall righteousness might as well proclaim the dissolution of his own\nkingdom, as to spread the contents of such a volume among men; and\nfrom that time to this, every effort made by its enemies to demolish,\nhas only shown how invincible a fortress defends it. If no greater\nbreach can be made upon it, than has hitherto been made by those\nwho have attacked it with the greatest animosity and diligence, its\noverthrow may be considered a forlorn hope. On this subject I only ask\nthe friends of pure religion to read the Book of Mormon with the same\nunprejudiced, prayerful, and teachable spirit that they would recommend\nunbelievers in the ancient scriptures to read those sacred records. I\nhave not spoken of the external evidence of the truth of the Book of\nMormon, which is now worthy of much consideration; but the internal\nevidence, I think, will satisfy every honest mind. As you enquire after\nthe reasons that operated to change my mind to the present faith, I\nonly remark that \"Steven's Travels\" had some influence, as an external\nevidence of the truth of the Book of Mormon.\n\nMy present view, after which you also enquire, is, that the evidence,\nboth internal and external, have been multiplied. It may have caused\nsurprise and wonder to many of my respected and distinguished friends\nin New England, how I could ever renounce a respectable standing in the\nchurches and in the ministry, to adhere to a people so odious in every\none's mouth, and so revolting to every one's natural liking; the answer\nin part is this:--As soon as I discovered an identity in the doctrines\nof the Latter-day Saints and the Ancient Saints, I enquired whether\nthe treatment bestowed upon each was also similar. I immediately\nbegan to dig deep to find the foundation and corner-stone of the\ntrue church; I looked at the demeanour and character of those who\nsurrounded the Ancient Saints. The result of my observation seemed to\nbe, that even Jesus Christ had many objectionable points of character\nto those who observed him. Those who were reputedly most conversant\nwith Abraham, Moses, and other prophets of the Lord, pronounced him\nunfit for the respect and confidence of a pious community; and why\ndid such men find so many objectionable points in the character and\nconduct of Jesus Christ? for substantially the same reasons that men\nof high intelligence and devotion find fault with Joseph Smith and his\ndoctrines. Those who bore down with heavy opposition to Jesus Christ\nwere honourable men, whose genealogy took in the worthiest ancestry;\nthey were the orthodox expositors of revealed truth. Those who now\noppose Joseph Smith (a person ordained and sent forth by Jesus Christ),\noccupy the same high and respectable standing, and manifest a similar\nbearing towards the reputed impostor of the present day. The ancient\nworthies were the repositories of learning, and so are the modern\nworthies. The ancients taught many things according to truth and\ngodliness, and verily believed they were substantially right in faith\nand practice; this is also true of modern religious teachers.\n\nBut, in reply to my own question, why the ancient religionists opposed\nJesus Christ? I answer; in the first place, they mistook his true\ncharacter and conduct; in the second place, they were palpably ignorant\nof the wisdom and godliness of many things in the character and conduct\nof Jesus Christ; they considered that there was absolutely a wide\ndifference in the views and conduct of Jesus Christ and themselves.\nThe same is true of many distinguished opposers to Joseph Smith; they\nconsider that there is an irreconcilable difference between themselves\nand Mr. Smith; and Mr. Smith, of course, is in the wrong, and they are\nin the right.\n\nNow let us consider, first, wherein the ancients mistook the character\nof Jesus Christ, and modern opposers to Mr. Smith do the same of him.\nThe true character of Jesus Christ was very imperfectly known to those\nwho opposed him in his own time. Many impostors that had preceded, had\nguarded the public mind against a repetition of further abuse. He was\neyed with dark suspicion wherever he went. It may well be supposed,\nthat sage precaution against him was vehemently urged, lest through his\ngreat subtlety he might mislead even some that were respectable. And\nwhat could he do to disabuse the public mind? Prejudice and calumny\noutrun and prepared a thorny reception for him in all places; and so\nthick and dark was the fog and cloud of misapprehension and falsehood\nthat followed him, that dark suspicions and foul inferences would\nobtrude upon the minds even of the honest, to weaken their convictions\nin his behalf, and shake their conclusions. The tale of calumny never\nlost in sharpness and effect by time or distance.\n\nThose who had not the privilege of a personal acquaintance with Jesus,\nmight be supposed to have no interest in favouring a personage whose\npretensions, if countenanced, would disturb their quietude, and impugn\ntheir motives, and threaten the prosperity of a system that they\nsupposed as old as the days of Abraham, and teachings as orthodox as\nthe sayings of Moses. But whatever was said or done by Jesus that\ncould possibly be construed by prejudiced minds to his disadvantage,\nthese things were heeded with readiness, and published in the social\ncircle, and riveted by the butt of ridicule upon every mind; and those\nwho loved to laugh at the expense of the innocent, could furnish stock\nfor the purpose, by retailing tales about the supposed impostor, that\nhad their origin in misapprehension and falsehood; but they were well\nreceived and cheered by those who affected grave reverence for the\nSupreme Deity, while they could trample with scorn (unconsciously) upon\nthe _brightness of His glory in the person of His Son_.\n\nNow let me ask if the character and conduct of Mr. Smith is not equally\nmisunderstood by modern religionists. Mr. Smith only claims to be a\nprophet, raised up to usher in the last dispensation, while Jesus\nChrist was more obnoxious in proportion to the superior magnitude of\nhis claims as the Son of God. How difficult it is for persons, in the\npresent age, to form a correct estimate of the true character and views\nof Mr. Smith. The public mind is always forestalled concerning him. It\nis taken to be sound orthodoxy that there is no more need of prophets\nor revelations; the canon of scripture is full; consequently the man\nthat will claim to be a prophet, or revelator, and seer, must be a base\nimpostor and knave. With this educational prejudice, sanctioned by the\nbest men for a thousand years past, and riveted by solemn vows to abide\nin orthodoxy, they see as though they saw not, and hear as though they\nheard not.\n\nIf excellent things are taught by Mr. Smith, it is considered by\nprejudiced minds as a good bait employed to cover a well-barbed hook;\nby many he is considered _more_ detestable and dangerous, because, say\nthey, if he did not mix so much good with his system, he would not be\nso dangerous and so likely to deceive.\n\nAgain, can the people of this country obtain a correct knowledge of\nthe prophet through the religious prints? I apprehend they never will.\nThose who control the religious prints, conceive they know in the\npremises, that God has not raised up such a prophet, therefore they\nwill not tarnish the columns of their periodicals by publishing any\nthing favourable to him. While they feel bound to withhold whatever\nmight commend the prophet to the favourable regards of impartial men,\nthey feel solemnly constrained to advertise the public of all rising\nheresies. Thus while our supposed heresies are published from very\nquestionable data, our real virtues are buried in oblivion. We do not\nmurmur; if Jesus, the master, could not be known in his true character,\nbut said with mingled pity and forgiveness, they know not what they do,\nwe cannot expect better treatment from those who know but little of us,\nwhile they say much to our disadvantage.\n\nPaul did the Ancient Saints much harm, and wasted them greatly,\nbeing ignorant of their true character, and unbelieving as to their\ndoctrines. It is certain that Latter-day Saints have received much\nharm from those who are ignorant of their character, and unbelieving\nas to their doctrines. Religious editors, generally, know very little\nof us, except what they have learned from our enemies. Jesus Christ\nwas entirely stript of his reputation by his enemies, and was put to\ndeath by learned, yet ignorant, zealots, who were too self-wise to be\ntaught by one whom they knew to be an impostor in the start; but those\nmen were mistaken in the character of our Lord; and so are our enemies\nmistaken in the character and views of the modern prophet.\n\nMy own personal observation teaches that it is a very difficult matter\nto instil into the minds of sectarian churches, a true knowledge of the\nfaith and practice of Latter-day Saints. Though one should go among\nthem that was once highly esteemed by them, they are alarmed at his\napproach, and his virtues are conceived to render him more deserving\nof a repulse. His influence, say they, may be formidable; we must not\nbid him God speed, consequently he is not asked to pray in the family\nor public meeting. If he can, by great effort, get an opportunity to\npreach, it is not thought advisable for any body to go and hear him,\nlest they should be led away by his errors.\n\nThus you see, brother, how difficult in former and latter days to bring\nthe true faith to the knowledge of men, through prejudice. They have\nprejudged a matter of which they are almost wholly ignorant. This same\nnotion of treating new matters has veiled the sun in darkness, and\nhung the Prince of Life in agonies. How long shall this treatment of\nthe Saints be persisted in? How long shall prophets be persecuted and\nslain, without being fully known, and the servants of God be excluded\nfrom an impartial hearing, when they seek to publish good tidings--even\nsalvation to the inhabitants of the earth?\n\nNow let me ask my former friends in the eastern churches, with whom\nI once held sweet intercourse, how it is possible for the Latter-day\nSaints to introduce their views among the sectarian churches and the\nworld, with any more favourable reception than the Ancient Saints\nhad in introducing theirs? Prejudice and persecution faced them down\nalways, and so it is in these days. It is certainly a mistaken idea\nto suppose that people are much better now than they were anciently,\nwhen the true gospel was misunderstood, and its promoters sincerely\naccounted disturbers, and heretics worthy of exemplary punishment.\nBut, say the wise and great men among the sectarian churches, \"we\ndo understand the true gospel, and have already embraced it, and it\nis only error and heresy we oppose; and the weight of our contempt\nand ridicule is hurled at impostors and knaves, who palm off gross\ndeceptions upon the public, and lead captive ignorant zealots by\npretended revelations and spurious miracles.\" But do they not know that\nsubstantially the same charge was brought against Jesus Christ and the\nprimitive disciples. Let it be proved that we are what our enemies\ncall us; let us file our respective pleas and come to a speedy and\nimpartial trial. To this our opposers will not consent; they intend to\nemploy all the advantage of education and prejudice to exclude us from\na hearing--so did the opposers of the Ancient Saints: but I solemnly\nask whether it has ever been necessary, in any moral enterprise, for\nthose who have the truth on their side, especially gospel truth, to\ndefend that truth by foreclosing discussion, and shunning public\ninvestigation, and then carry on their depredations by the use of such\nsmall arms as ridicule and preconceived objections, that need only be\nbrought to light to be dissipated like fog in the meridian sun?\n\nDo temperance lecturers, bible and education agents, and other\nmoral reformers find it necessary to carry on their enterprises by\nsuch means? Do they seek to avoid an open and frank discussion with\nthe intemperate portions of the community? Do they avoid a manly\ninvestigation because the intemperate portions of the community\ncombine, in their life and conduct, beastly sottishness, unprovoked\nabuse to wives and children, a prodigal waste of competence and ample\nfortunes, and the overthrow of intellect, and the dissolution of all\nmoral ties? No, by no means! They seek the broad day light of public\ndiscussion, because they know the truth and power of that side of the\ncause which they have espoused. They know that intemperance cannot\nsurvive the impartial observation of good men. All we ask is that the\nword of God may have free course. We wish that it may come distinctly\nto the knowledge of men, that they may sit in impartial judgment upon\nit.\n\nBy the _word_ of God, we mean not only what was revealed for the\nancients especially, but also what is _now_ revealed for this\ngeneration. Oh! says the objector, he wants the word of Joseph Smith to\nhave a free circulation, and this we oppose, because it is blasphemous\nand preposterous. Yes, we want the word of God by Joseph Smith, to be\nknown and read of all men, because it is written not with ink, but by\nthe spirit of the living God. What were Peter, Elijah, or Moses, but\nearthen vessels, by whom God communicated his own knowledge, power,\nand glory? Does not the word by Joseph commend itself to every man's\nconscience where it is heard with due candour? I have never seen that\nperson who had read the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Doctrine and\nCovenants entirely through, with an earnest desire to know whether it\nwas of God or not, who could raise any worthy objection against them.\nA few isolated portions of these books are often selected out and made\nto speak some other besides their true meaning, and thereby a dislike\nfor these books is created; consequently, some refuse to read them at\nall, while some others read only to confirm their prepossessions and\nprejudices; and superficial inquirers hear with credulity that such a\nminister, editor, or professor of some College, has published an expos\u00e8\nor refutation of Mormonism, that will inflict a fatal wound upon\nthis glaring and blasphemous heresy.\n\nNow it is well known that the novelties of this age are so many and\nso various, that no man has time to examine into them all; and many\nconsider that a hint from a pious editor, or distinguished reviewer\nagainst Mormonism, is sufficient apology for them not to examine\nit. Now under these considerations, it is easy to divine that the\ndoctrines of the Latter-day Saints must travel through obstacles and\ndifficulties of the greatest magnitude; and I am ready, dear brother,\nto mourn over the prospect, because many bad men, and some good men,\nwill fight against the faith, not knowing what they do. My bosom heaves\nwith the deeper concern, because I know this to be the true gospel,\nand that it will prevail, even though the foe should be so great and\npowerful as the Lord's enemies were in the days of Noah. Pardon my\nassurance when I say that those beautiful systems, called benevolent\noperations, must come to nought; not because they are not honestly\ndesigned for some good effect, but because they are a mixture of human\ndevice with the wisdom of God, or the gospel perverted. I know, too,\nthat these beautiful systems, together with the various orders of\nsectarianism, cannot well be vanquished without a desperate struggle\nensue. Sectarianism is old and venerable, and having undergone many\ncostly repairs, without much substantial improvement, it never can be\ndemolished without violent resistance. There is an air of sacredness\naround it that will stimulate its votaries insensibly; and when they\nare assailed by the strong hand of Bible truth, rather than see their\nfortress taken by the illiterate followers of the despised prophet,\nwill summon to their aid the worst passions, and push matters to the\ngreatest extremities. These remarks are amply supported by the history\nof the past, both in respect to Former and Latter-day Saints.\n\nSee the ancient Jew of our Lord's day--his piety was scrupulously\nexact--he knew the worth of his religion by the pains and expense it\nhad cost him. Every thing had with great trouble been fashioned into\na system of sacredness. They had been striving hard for a beautiful\nsystem of perfection that would commend them to God, and mourned that\nany of Abraham's children should teach that there was no resurrection,\n&c., and not harmonize with them in bearing heavy burdens in order\nto save men's souls. And when an obscure personage sprung up, and\nbroke over their rules of piety, and mingled with the profane without\nceremonious washing, and was seen to drink wine, probably, and eat with\nthe boisterous and odious classes, without pretending to wash away\nthe contagion that accrued, and to travel on the Sabbath day, and to\npluck ears of corn without any signs of confession, and to heap harsh\nsounding and heavy anathemas upon the most intelligent and devoted men\nof the age, and claim to be a prophet, while he ignorantly conversed\nwith an adulterous woman. All this, the scrupulous Jew could not,\nand would not, bear; and his anger was heightened to madness when he\nfound that many adhered to the new teacher, and occasionally a person\nof wealth and standing was won over to the impostor by his artifice\nand jugglery. And as the influence of this odious personage spread,\nespecially among the common people, who had not sufficient sagacity to\ndetect his fraudulent tricks; and as the orthodoxy and piety of the\nchildren of Abraham and Moses began to be suspected, and suspicion\neven preached in synagogues that were too holy for such pollution, the\ndevoted children of Abraham became exasperated. If we let him alone,\nsay they, all men will believe on him. Fearful to use the rod and\npower, by reason of the Romans, to the utmost rigour, they, at first,\nsought to render him obnoxious to Caesar; but as measures successively\nfailed, they thirsted for his blood until their pious malice was\nglutted in his expiring agonies. Then thought they, every body may know\nthat his miracles are all a humbug, because he could not save himself.\n\nNow, brother, I ask you to stop and make a full pause by way of\nreflection. How do devoted sectarians entertain the Latter-day Saints?\nNot surely by a candid exposure of our errors, coupled with a patient\neffort to reclaim us. \"By no means,\" said a highly respectable\ndeaconess, \"Brother Spencer, I would rather have heard that you were\ndead.\" She knew in the general that I had embraced Mormonism; but of\nthe true character of Mormonism she was grossly ignorant; and she was\nactually driven into fits when she found I defended the doctrines of\nLatter-day Saints. Look at the conduct of devoted sectarians towards\nthe Latter-day Saints, and mark the resemblance to that of ancient Jews\nto former Saints. The same proscriptive spirit reigns now as then,--\nthe same spirit that dictated expulsion from the synagogue then, now\ncloses the doors of meetinghouses against us,--the same spirit that\nclosed men's ears against the burning eloquence of Stephen then,\ncounsels men not to hear or go nigh Mormon preachers now.\n\nYou ask \"If the Latter-day Saints are persecuted; if so, by whom are\nthey persecuted?\" The answer is a painful one, because it inculpates\nthose who were bound to us by many tender ties. As a people we have\nbeen truly persecuted from the beginning.\n\nFrom the moment we embrace this doctrine, in most cases we are\nvirtually banished from friends, and rank, and station, and business.\nSays the venerated father, \"if you have embraced that doctrine, my son,\nI never want to see your face any more.\" Says the partner in trade, \"if\nyou are a Mormon, we must dissolve partnership forthwith.\" If such an\none occupying an important office of profit and honour does not give\nup his Mormonism, we will sue him at the law, and calumniate him, and\nembarrass him until he is ousted and broken up, and obliged to leave\nour village. We are separated from men's company, while the licentious,\nand profane, and intemperate are suffered to dwell in peace; while our\nopposers cherish to their bosom the rankest infidels, they repulse _us_\nwith disdain; though none can point out ought wherein we differ from\nthe ancient apostles and prophets. Almost daily my eyes behold those\nwho have suffered too much to mention; but I would rather refer you to\nprinted documents, than to attempt a description of the sufferings of\nour people in Missouri. From forty to sixty of our brethren suffered\ndeath, by violent hands, in Missouri, and as many more, in consequence\nof the abuse and privations to which they were exposed by an infuriated\nand bloodthirsty mob; and the disappointment, privation, and homeless\ncondition of survivors was very great. Many widows and orphans knew not\nwhat to do, having just begun to live in a comfortable and thriving\nmanner. They had almost forgotten their first sorrow of parting from\nearly friends and possessions, when lo! the hideous mob came upon them;\nat one blow their homes were made desolate; in some instances father\nand son were no more; their sufferings in planting themselves anew in\nthis State, without means or friends, though I have often heard them\ntold, I will not attempt to rehearse.\n\nPerhaps some will say, we understand the Mormons were in fault in\nthat matter, and brought merited sufferings upon themselves by their\nmisconduct. The same has always been understood to be true of all\npersecuted Saints. The greater part of people probably thought Stephen\ndeserved the punishment that terminated his life. The same might be\nsaid of John the Baptist, who meddled with the matrimonial concerns\nof those who did not acknowledge his ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The\nprophet Elijah was designated to death because he troubled Israel.\nDaniel refused lawful obedience to the established governor of the\nrealm. In short, persecutors in every age, have always had a plausible\npretext for their doings, in the popular estimation of their own day\nand age.\n\nYou ask, \"By whom we are persecuted?\" In reply I could mention as\ninstigators of mobs, the names of a Baptist missionary, a Methodist\nand Presbyterian minister. You may also be apprised that ex-Governor\nBoggs, of Missouri, made affidavit that Joseph Smith was accessory to\nan attempt to murder him; and that Governor Carlin, of Illinois, in\nthe face of superabundant testimony and law, gave a warrant to arrest\nhim (Joseph Smith) on that affidavit. A heavy reward has been offered\nfor his apprehension, and bold menaces are occasionally hung over our\nheads, that we, as a people, shall be driven from the State. These\nthings have a tendency to check our prosperity. In one instance some\nof our brethren were kidnapped by Missourians from this State, and put\nto shame and scourging. The malignant and vexatious lawsuits to which\nour people have been subject, are exceedingly numerous; and owing to\nour impoverished condition, rendered sometimes distressing. But none\nof these things move us, because we know that if they have hated the\nmaster, they will also hate the disciples. Such as are born of the bond\nwoman, will persecute them that are born of the free woman. But it\nseems like a discouraging effort, to attempt to convince our opposers\nthat we are persecuted, because editors and other philanthropic men are\nreluctant to tell to the public our side of the matter. They themselves\nwould thereby become suspected of espousing our cause. Men are so\nsensitive on the subject of our religion, that whoever speaks peaceably\nof it, perils his influence and reputation; but hireling editors and\npriests will speak and publish against us.\n\nYou ask me to give an account of the faith which I have embraced. I\nbelieve that Jesus Christ is God, co-eternal with God the Father; and\nthat such as have the knowledge of the gospel and believe upon him,\nwill be saved; and such as believe not, will be damned. I believe the\nOld and New Testaments to be the word of God. I believe that every\nperson should be born, not only of the spirit, but also of the water,\nin order to enter into the kingdom of God. There are three that bear\nwitness on earth, as there are three that bear record in heaven--the\nspirit, the water, and the blood, bear concurrent testimony to our\nobedience on earth; for the want of any one, or all of these witnesses\non earth, in our favour, there will be no registry of our perfect\nacceptance in heaven. Hence the baptism for the dead. The righteous\ndead have a merciful provision made for them in the testimony of the\nthree witnesses on earth, which secures a record of their perfect\nacceptance in heaven, without which they cannot attain to the highest\nglory. I believe in the resurrection of the dead, the righteous to life\neternal, and the wicked to shame and everlasting contempt. I believe\nthat repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, are\namong the elementary and cardinal truths of the gospel.\n\nIn some, and, indeed, many respects do we differ from sectarian\ndenominations. We believe that God is a being that has both body and\nparts, and also passions; also in the existence of the gifts in the\ntrue church spoken of in St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians.\n\nI believe that every church, in gospel order, has a priesthood,\nconsisting of prophets, apostles, elders, &c., and that the knowledge\nand power of a priesthood, ordained of God, as the ancient priesthood\nwas, is indispensably necessary to the prosperity of the church. I do\nnot believe that the canon of sacred scripture was closed with the\nrevelation of John, but believe that wherever God has a true church,\nthere he makes frequent revelations of his will: and as God takes\ncognizance of all things, both temporal and spiritual, his revelations\nwill pertain to all things whereby his glory may be promoted, and\nthe temporal and spiritual well-being of his people advanced. Any\npeople that are destitute of the teachings of prophets and apostles,\nwhich come by immediate revelation, will soon fall into divisions and\nstrifes, and depart from the truth as it is in Jesus.\n\nYou wish to know, \"What is the personal character and influence,\ndoctrines and claims of him who is called the leader, Joseph Smith?\"\nJoseph Smith, when the great designs of heaven were first made known\nto him, was not far from the age of seventeen; from that time to this\nhe has had much said about him, both of a favourable and unfavourable\nnature. I shall only speak of his character as I believe it to be from\nan intimate acquaintance of more than one year, and from an intimate\nacquaintance with those who have been with him many years. No man is\nmore narrowly watched by friends and enemies than Mr. Joseph Smith;\nconsequently, if he were as good a man as any prophet that has preceded\nhim, he would have as violent enemies as others have had. But I hasten\nto give my own opinion.\n\nI firmly avow, in the presence of God, that I believe Mr. Joseph Smith\nto be an upright man, that seeks the glory of God in such a manner\nas is well pleasing to the Most High God. Naturally he is kind and\nobliging; pitiful and courteous; as far from dissimulation as any man;\nfrank and loquacious to all men, friends or foes. He seems to employ\nno studied effort to guard himself against misrepresentation, but\noften leaves himself exposed to misconstructions by those who watch\nfor faults. He is remarkably cheerful for one who has seen well-tried\nfriends martyred around him, and felt the inflictions of calumny--the\nvexation of lawsuits--the treachery of intimates--and multiplied\nviolent attempts upon his person and life, together with the cares\nof much business. His influence, after which you inquire, is very\ngreat. His friends are as ardently attached to him as his enemies are\nviolently opposed. Free toleration is given to all opposing religions,\nbut wherever he is accredited as a prophet of the living God, there\nyou will perceive his influence must be great. That lurking fear and\nsuspicion that he may become a dictator or despot, gradually gives\nplace to confidence and fondness, as believers become acquainted with\nhim.\n\nIn doctrine, Mr. Smith is eminently scriptural. I have never known him\nto deny or depreciate a single truth of the Old and New Testaments,\nbut I have always known him to explain and defend them in a masterly\nmanner. Being anointed of God, for the purpose of teaching and\nperfecting the church, it is needful that he should know how to set\nin order the things that are wanting, and to bring forth things new\nand old, as a scribe well instructed. This office and apostleship he\nappears to magnify; at his touch the ancient prophets spring into life,\nand the beauty and power of their revelations are made to commend\nthemselves with thrilling interest to all that hear.\n\nYou inquire, \"Does he claim to be inspired?\" Certainly he does claim to\nbe inspired. He often speaks in the name of the Lord, which would be\nrank hypocrisy and mockery, if he were not inspired to do it. It seems\nvery difficult for those who stand at the distance of many generations\nfrom the true prophets, to realize what prophets are, and what ought\nto be expected from them. I do not chide them for their ignorance\nand folly, however, because I have nothing to boast of, previous\nto embracing the faith of the Latter-day Saints. I understand that\nprophets may speak as they are moved by the Holy Ghost at one time,\nwhile they may be very far from being moved by the Holy Ghost as they\nspeak at another. They may be endowed with power to perform miracles\nand mighty deeds at one time, while they have no authority, and there\nis no suitableness in doing the same at another time.\n\nYou ask, \"Is he a man of prayer, of a pure life, of peace? Does he\nappear at the head of his troops as a military commander?\" These\nquestions I answer, according to the best knowledge I have, in the\naffirmative. As a people, we perform military duty as the laws of the\nState of Illinois enjoin and require. The legion answers the purpose\nto keep the lawless and mobocratic at a respectful distance; and the\nmore \"earthquake and storm\" our enemies raise about the Nauvoo Legion,\nand a military chieftain like the ancient Mahomet, the greater fear and\ndread of us will be conveyed to the minds of the lawless, who watch for\nprey, and spoil, and booty. I can assure you, that neither Mr. Smith,\nnor any other intelligent Latter-day Saint, ever intends to make one\nconvert by the sword; neither are we such tee-total peacemakers, that\nany savage banditti of lawless depredators could waste our property,\nviolate virtue, and shed innocent blood, without experiencing from us a\nfirm defence of law, of right, and innocence. We are to this day very\nsensitive to a repetition of past wrongs that we still smart under. The\nLord our God, who was once called (by a man after his own heart) \"a\nman of war,\" we trust will be our defence and strong tower in the day\nof battle, if our country should ever call us to scenes of carnage and\nblood.\n\nYou ask, \"What is the nature of the worship among you, and wherein\ndoes it differ from that of religious people with whom you have been\nacquainted elsewhere?\" On the sabbath some person usually preaches a\nsermon after prayer and singing, and, perhaps, reading some scripture.\nWe have, also, frequent prayer meetings, in which all that are so\ndisposed may join. The gifts are variously exercised, sometimes in the\nway of prophecy, or in tongues; sometimes in discerning of spirits, or\ninterpretation of tongues. The ordinance of baptism, together with the\nimposition of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, is administered\nas occasion may require. Thus you will perceive that our worship\ndiffers from what we both have been accustomed to in times that are\npast.--Anxious seats and inquiry meetings, &c., are not in use at\nall with us; although converts to our faith have swelled our numbers\ngreatly in every year that is past, yet we are very far from employing\nany blustering effort to convert men. The spirit of God attends the\ntruth with sufficient power to save the upright; while those that hold\nthe truth in unrighteousness, and contend with it, are beyond the\nlegitimate exercise of divine power to save, and are led captive by the\ndevil at his will.\n\nOur worship differs from that of other religious people, inasmuch as\nwe have the knowledge of God, and the true doctrine and order of his\nkingdom, beyond all perplexing doubt and diversity of opinion. It is\nutterly impossible for intelligent and devoted sectarian clergy to lead\ntheir hearers into any considerable knowledge of God, for this very\npotent reason, that they neither know much of him themselves, nor,\nindeed, have they the means of knowing him. For this they are not at\nall culpable; but the fact is, nevertheless, incontrovertible.\n\nI do not now speak to please men, nor to mortify them, but I know it to\nbe true, my brother, and therefore speak it boldly. Are you offended?\nWill you stop here and throw down my letter with contempt, as though an\nignorant upstart had abused you? If I write plainly, it is with deep\nand painful emotions. While writing I can hardly suppress a flood of\ntears. I know the dilemma in which many of my religious brethren are\nplaced, and the extreme difficulty of approaching them; but whether\nthey hear or forbear, I must tell them that it is out of their power to\nattain to any considerable knowledge of the true and living God. But,\nsay they, have we not got the good old Bible, which makes men wise unto\nsalvation? You have, indeed, those venerable truths which have many\nages since made men wise unto salvation; and those truths will teach\nyou, if you take heed to them, that the Gentiles have been broken off\nfrom the covenant favour of God as the Jews were. But these scriptures\ncannot impart to you the gifts of the Holy Ghost; they cannot ordain\nand qualify you to teach and preach the gospel, and administer the\nordinances; they cannot give you promises and revelations that are\nexpressly for _you_.\n\nWhen the apostle Paul was in danger of being shipwrecked with his crew\n(see Acts of Apostles), it would have been poor consolation to him\nto read the ancient history of Jonah's shipwreck, and pray over the\nsubject in order to know how the voyage would result to him; but how\nmuch greater his consolation, and how much more certain his knowledge,\nwhen God ministers to him by visions and angels, and promises both him\nand the crew preservation. Philip wanted no better assurance of his\nduty to go to Gaza, than for an angel of God to tell him to go; but if\nhe had pored over ancient revelations, with prayerful anxiety, in order\nto know the same, it would have been a poor guide. The New Testament\nSaints did not lean upon Old Testament revelations for the knowledge of\npresent duties, or for aid in their present contingencies; they looked\ndirectly to God for present fresh instruction and aid--they obtained\nwhat they looked for.\n\nThe ancient Jews (contemporary with Christ), that leaned on the\nvenerated sayings of Abraham and Moses, and other old prophets, abode\nin darkness, and became the prey of foul spirits, while the advocates\nof present revelations were mighty through God, in signs and wonders,\nand marvellous deeds.\n\nNow, let the religious people of this day depend exclusively upon the\nancient scriptures, rejecting present revelations, and they will be\nfilled with ignorance, and the spirit of unrighteousness will possess\nthem; and they cannot act with that certainty and power that those can,\nwho know for themselves by immediate revelation. But I have said it is\nimpossible for them to know much of the true God: the careful observer\nknows, that what one sect or denomination teaches for doctrine, another\nwill controvert and deny. There is not that power in the doctrine of\nany one sect that gives them much ascendancy over any other sect. The\ndoctrines of all sects, though adverse to each other, are about equally\nweighty and plausible; no one gets any considerable ascendancy; if\nthere appears to be light in one sect over another sect, it shows an\nequal amount of an opposite character.\n\nIt is an acknowledged duty of parents, in this church, to teach their\nchildren the elementary principles of religion, training them up in\nthe way they should go. You ask if they are instructed in learning.\nAs a people we aim most diligently to give our children learning. Our\npersecutions, oppressions, and poverty have operated greatly to the\ndisadvantage of our children; still we have a chartered University,\nthat promises much benefit to us; and common schools are extensively\nmultiplying throughout the city.\n\nThe present population of the city is from ten to twelve thousand. You\nask, \"What is their condition, occupation, and general character?\" The\ncondition of the people is as prosperous as circumstances will permit.\nMany of them, like Jacob of old, have left a good patrimony at home\nthat they are not benefitted from, by reason of their being every where\nspoken against; but though they had nothing but their staff in hand,\nand a little bundle upon their back when they came, they have now in\nmany instances a comfortable cottage, a flourishing garden, and a good\ncow. There are many instances of families being subject to privations,\nbeyond what they were accustomed to in early days; and there are some\ninstances of deep penury, through sickness, persecution, and other\nuncontrollable causes; and there are also instances of wealth; but\nbe assured, sir, there is not a more contented and cheerful people\nto be found. Families will consent to let father and brother go out\npreaching, when their daily bread is barely supplied for a few months.\n\nBelieving as we do, that these are the last days, and that signal\nmatters await this generation; and that the harvest must be gathered\nsoon, if at all, you must not marvel if we do not all at once become\nrich, and build large houses, and enclose productive farms. If riches\nwere our object, we might readily gratify the most ambitious grasp.\nWe possess every facility for being rich, but we long to behold the\nbeauty of the Lord, and inquire in his holy temple. The place of his\nsanctuary, which we greatly desire to beautify, is a site of surpassing\nnatural beauty. Upon it stands the incomplete structure of a temple;\nin dimensions, a little over one hundred and twenty-eight feet long,\nby eighty-eight feet wide, to be elevated in height a little under\nsixty feet; the walls are made of a well-wrought handsome stone. The\ninhabitants are very industrious, being occupied in agriculture and the\nvarious mechanical arts.\n\nOur people are mostly the working class of the community, from the\nUnited States, and Great Britain and her Provinces. They are a very\nintelligent people, especially so far as common sense and a general\nknowledge of men and things are concerned.\n\nOur Elders are versed in religious polemics, from discussions in the\npulpit, stage, bar-room, canal, and steam-boat, of the fireside and\nhighway side: and, perhaps, you are not aware that many, very many, are\nfrom the most enlightened portion of New England; men that have been\nrocked in the cradle of orthodoxy and liberty; accustomed to fatigue,\nprivation, and opposition; and knowing that their religion has more\nlight and truth, and the power of the Holy Ghost to support it, than\nany other that has existed since the days of the apostles, they are\nprepared to endure all things with the assurance that their reward is\ngreat in heaven.\n\nYou wish to know the general character of the people. There is probably\nless profanity, drunkenness, lewdness, theft, fighting, gambling, and\ntavern-haunting, than in any other city of the same magnitude.\n\nBut I must close my answer to your many and minute inquiries, having\nalready protracted them beyond my original design. Your letter contains\nmany important inquiries, similar indeed to what I have received from\nother distinguished friends from different parts of the Union. You will\naccept my apology for not answering at an earlier date; and though I\ndesign this epistle to be a general answer to all similar inquiries,\nyet shall hereafter readily reciprocate all private communications in\nthe usual method of friendship and affection.\n\nMost sincerely and truly yours,\n\nORSON SPENCER.\n\n\n\nLETTER II.\n\nIMMEDIATE REVELATION.\n\n_Liverpool, May_ 15, 1847.\n\nReverend Sir,--Agreeable to promise made in my first answer to your\nletter, I now resume my pen to inform you, in a series of letters, of\nthe distinguishing tenets of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day\nSaints, according to the faith which I myself do entertain, with all\nsobriety and integrity of heart, before God and all good men. I had\nhoped, however, that more leisure would have favoured me, not only that\nI might more minutely and perspicuously maintain the primitive faith,\nbut also do it in such conciseness and embellishment of diction, as\nboth to please and enlighten.\n\nThe first subject to which I will invite your attention will be that\nof IMMEDIATE REVELATION. It shall be my direct aim to show in this\nletter, that no person ever did partake of the gospel of salvation, or\never will partake of it, without the spirit of _revelation_ dwelling\nin his breast. This is the first and also the last round in the ladder\nthat leads to the perfect knowledge of God. Without the same spirit\nof revelation that dwelt in the breasts of prophets, patriarchs, and\napostles in ancient time, no man can _begin_ to know God, neither can\nany man or set of men make any _progress_ in the knowledge of God, when\nthat spirit is withdrawn from him.\n\nA word from the mouth of the Great Arbitrator of all controversy ought\nto suffice. HE, THE GREAT GOD AND JUDGE OF ALL, has said that \"no man\nknoweth the Father but the Son, and no man knoweth the Son but he to\nwhom the Son revealeth him.\" Words cannot bear a plainer import. If any\nman knows Jesus Christ, it is by _revelation_, and in no other way can\nhe be known. Will you say that apostles and prophets know him in this\nway; while others _may_ know him without themselves being gifted with\nthe spirit of revelation? Absurd! Others must know him by revelation\nas much as apostles and prophets. If they have not the spirit of\nrevelation, they cannot judge what is a genuine and infallible\nrevelation when it proceeds from the pen of apostles, or even the\nlips of angels, or of God himself; for the things of the Spirit are\ncorrectly judged only by those who have the same spirit; hence all men\nmust not only be born of the _spirit_, but likewise be baptized into\none and the same spirit.\n\nThis spirit is the Spirit of God, and nothing less; and the Spirit\nof God is the spirit of revelation, because it is expressly declared\nthat the spirit takes of the things of God, and shows them unto men:\neven the deep things of God are searched out and dispensed to men\nfor their comfort and the illumination of their minds. Hence Jesus\ndeclared that he would send them another \"comforter,\" even the spirit\nof truth; and the office of this spirit of truth was to \"lead into all\ntruth.\" By this means we perceive that the universal store-house of\nall truth is thrown open and rendered available to such as have been\nproperly baptized into the spirit, as their occasion may demand. Even\nthe apostles were forbid to go out and preach until they were endowed\nwith the gift of the Holy Ghost. After they should receive this gift,\nit would then become their duty to impart it unto all others freely, by\nthe imposition of hands, who should obey the gospel. Males and females\nwere to partake of it, and see in vision things to come, and have\ntheir remembrance of things past quickened into vivid and unambiguous\nrecollection.\n\nIt was this spirit of revelation that gave to the primitive church\nthe power of godliness; for it was simply the Holy Spirit of God that\nrendered the gospel the power of God unto salvation to them that\nbelieved; for therein was the righteousness of God _revealed_ from\nfaith to faith. The gospel never took any effect upon men's hearts,\nunless the Spirit of God attended it. Whenever God takes away from the\nchurch the spirit of revelation, he thereby takes away the light of the\nchurch--the good spirit of the church, and the _truth_ and integrity of\nthe church, and the comfort of the church, and also the power of it. It\nbecomes like the branch without sap, or the pale mortal corpse without\nthe living spirit.\n\nA church that is built upon the principle of revelation by the Holy\nSpirit can never be prevailed against while that spirit continues\nwith it. It then becomes the power of God personified. Mere men and\nwomen--servants and handmaidens--attended by the Holy Spirit of God,\nknow about men and things, and matters and events, even as God knows;\nbecause they have precisely the same spirit that God has. Things that\nnever entered the heart of man to conceive, and things that the tongue\ncould never utter, are revealed by the Spirit of God. As bodily eyes\nare to the corporal organization (causing all that wide difference that\nexists between him that sees and one that is wholly blind) so are the\neyes of intelligence which the Spirit imparts to a believer, whereby\nhe comprehends the different spirits of men from time to time, and\nsees events in the future as though they were actually and presently\nat hand. The daughters of Philip can speak prophetically, with as\nmuch unerring certainty as God himself, according to the measure of\nthe spirit given them, because they have His Spirit, and consequently\na given measure of intelligence. And the scope of this increase of\nintelligence is expanded or diminished as God pleases to suit the\noccasion.\n\nWhen there is occasion to prophecy, or speak with new tongues, or\ninterpret, or rebuke diseases and cast out evil spirits--His Spirit is\ngiven. And it could be given as well to a beast as to a man for the\nsame purpose, and the same effect would follow. The beast of Balaam,\nwhen inspired of God, rose immediately above his legitimate sphere of\naction, and spoke with a man's voice, forbidding the madness of the\nprophet. The same spirit by which he spoke, would have enabled the dumb\nass to rebuke disease, cast out devils, or speak a variety of tongues.\nBut God might withdraw that spirit, and he would then be only a dumb\nass, fit only to bear burdens, &c. Men are but little more competent\nto heal the sick, cast out devils, and discern spirits, or know the\nthings of God or eternity, and make preparations for the future,\nthan the beasts, without the Spirit of God. When God wants to punish\na generation or generations, he does it effectually by withholding\nHis Spirit. The world travels in pain, and groans in bondage, and\noppression, and cruelty, and strife, and bloodshed, and in ignorance,\nsuperstition, and zeal without knowledge, when God shuts out the light\nof revelation. The revelations given to the primitive age, bear about\nthe same relation of benefit to the people of this age, that the gift\nof food and manna, to those starving in former ages, bears towards the\nsupply of such as are in want now. Jesus Christ winds up his sermon on\nthe mount, by calling him a WISE man that hears and obeys the voice of\nrevelation, and _he_ shall never \"fall.\" At the same time he calls him\nthat hears and obeys not the voice of revelation a FOOL, and such a man\nwill _fall_, and his fall will be great.\n\nWe cannot be in any doubt what is meant by the expression \"hearing\"\nChrist, or \"these sayings of mine.\" Jesus says to such servants as he\nsends out to preach, (and none but such as are sent by revelation can\npreach), he that heareth YOU heareth ME. But while they cannot hear\nwithout a preacher, neither can they hear _with_ a preacher, except\nthe Father draw them; or, in other words, except they have the Spirit\nof God, which is a spirit of _revelation_. How could Peter know Jesus,\nwhen he heard his conversation and preaching? Jesus testifies that, by\nthe wisdom of flesh and blood, Peter did _not_ know him, but by the\nspirit of revelation from God out of heaven; and in order to end all\ncontroversy throughout all ages, he declares that not only Peter, but\nNO OTHER MAN, ever _did_ or ever _can_ know God, only as he is revealed\nto him from heaven; and that man is \"blessed\" that has the spirit of\nrevelation to know the only true God and Jesus Christ. That man is\naccounted as a thief and a robber that would know God or Jesus without\nthe spirit of revelation.\n\nThe Spirit of God was sent into the world for the express purpose of\nacquainting men with Jesus Christ. By this spirit it was an easy matter\nfor men to know Jesus Christ, though he was everywhere spoken against,\nand the whole country teemed with lies, and the great mass of people,\nreputedly good as well as bad, thought that he ought to be _stoned,\nmobbed, and crucified_: still it was easy to know him by the spirit\nof revelation, and it was impossible to know him without that spirit.\nThus, dear sir, it is easy for you, and all my former associates in\nthe sectarian ministry, to know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the\nLord, sent to prune the Lord's vineyard for the last time.\n\nSays the scripture, \"no man, speaking by the Spirit of God, can call\nJesus accursed,\" although he \"hung upon a tree.\" And I add, sir, with\nperfect assurance, that no man can call Joseph Smith \"accursed,\" or an\n\"impostor,\" while speaking by the Spirit of God; for the Spirit of God\nwill never dictate any one to speak against the servant of God; but the\nspirit of the world and of Satan, _will_ stir up men to speak against\nprophets and saints, and persecute and assassinate them. The scripture\nalso says, that no man can call Jesus Lord, but by the HOLY GHOST.\nThus, reverend sir, you perceive that NO MAN, in former ages or latter\nages, can call Jesus Lord, but by revelation from the HOLY GHOST. It is\nby the person and agency of the HOLY GHOST only, that Jesus promises\nto be with his preachers always unto the end of the world, in order to\nreveal the truth unto honest hearers, and show them who are prophets\nand true ministers of Christ, and also what is true doctrine. The HOLY\nGHOST will always attend a true minister of God, and reveal to his\nhumble honest hearers, his mission and authority beyond all reasonable\ndoubt.\n\nNow, sir, let me say, distinctly, that the testimony of any number of\nmen, or of all men together, is no proof either _for_ or _against_ the\nauthority, doctrine, or mission of a prophet or true minister of God.\nFor if no _one_ man can know a minister of God without revelation, then\nno large body of men can know him; and surely they cannot testify of\nwhat they do not KNOW. No matter what is said against Joseph Smith, or\nwho, or how many, say it, or however _credible_ the witnesses, they are\nnot competent to testify, because they have not the gift of revelation.\nThis position, sir, is invincible, because it is fortified by the voice\nof eternal truth, even the word of God, which you profess publicly to\nbelieve, and preach, and print. Flesh and blood cannot reveal spiritual\nthings, but our Father in heaven. The things of the spirit require\nthe same spirit to discern them. He that is spiritual can judge all\nthings, while he that has not the spirit of revelation cannot judge any\nspiritual matters correctly, of any name or nature.\n\nNow, my dear friend, I close this second epistle, praying that God\nwill give you the spirit of understanding, which I assure you He will\ndo, inasmuch as you are humble and contrite, and seek it with all your\nheart.\n\nYour obedient servant,\n\nORSON SPENCER.\n\n\n\nLETTER III.\n\nON FAITH.\n\n_Liverpool, June_ 1, 1847.\n\nReverend and Dear Sir,--The next subject to which I will invite your\ncareful consideration, is that of FAITH.\n\nDo not be surprised that I should attempt the investigation of a\nsubject so common-place, with the view of imparting any new or useful\ninstruction. The numerous elaborate treatises that have heretofore been\nbestowed upon this subject, have, I boldly aver, been like Goliath's\narmour against David--massive and imposing, but, at the same time,\nalike inapplicable and ineffectual to the case at issue.\n\nIn order that you may be apprised of my position, without needless\ncircumlocution, I here distinctly observe, that there neither is, nor\never was, any gospel or saving faith, in former or latter days, but\nthe faith of miracles, or the faith of _immediate revelation_. Can any\nman know God without faith? Certainly not. The gospel of Christ is the\npower of God unto salvation. To whom? To the unbelieving? No! but to\nthem that have _faith_. The gospel of Christ is, then, brought only\nto such as have faith. But what faith are they to have in order to\nreceive it? The answer, is the faith of immediate revelation, or of the\nsupernatural agency of the Holy Spirit.\n\nNow, sir, I ask you to listen a moment, and hear what the voice of\nGod says to you and me on this subject. The righteousness of God is\n_revealed_ from FAITH to FAITH. Here, it is conceived, my position\nis invincibly fortified beyond the power of rational conquest. God's\nrighteous will is _revealed_ to FAITH. It is written, \"The just shall\nlive by faith.\" By what faith shall the just live? Surely, nothing less\nthan the faith of immediate revelation. The fact that God's will was\n_revealed_ to the faith of the Saints anciently, does not supersede the\nnecessity of his will being _revealed_ to your faith and to my faith\nnow.\n\nThe ancients could not _believe_ for us; or, in other words, their\nfaith could not be a substitute for our faith. \"He that believeth not,\"\nfor himself, \"shall be damned.\" Neither could a revelation to them be\nnecessarily a _revelation_ to us. A revelation to Noah to build an\nark, is not suited to Abraham, or Peter, or Francis Wayland, or Dr.\nChalmers. No man, in this day, can know that God ever revealed himself\nto Noah, or Abraham, unless it is now revealed to him from heaven;\nand he cannot know that it is revealed from heaven to him now, unless\nhe has faith unto himself before God; and this faith which he must\nexercise for himself, is the faith of _revelation_, or the faith of\nmiracles.\n\nWhat ailed the Judaic churches in Christ's day? They certainly believed\non Moses and Abraham, and made habitual sacrifices in support of\ntheir faith. Paul was a bright example of sincerity and fidelity in\nsupport of the Judaic faith. He verily thought that he ought to do many\nthings contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. But was the faith\nof Paul, and of the Judaic church generally, the faith of immediate\nrevelation or the faith of miracles? By no means. Paul originally,\nand his associates in the ministry, believed the Mosaic scriptures\nfrom tradition and education, and not from immediate revelation. They,\nindeed, believed that Abraham, and Moses, and Samuel, and Noah, had\nthe faith of miracles, and enjoyed _immediate revelation_, and the\nspirit of prophecy, &c. They believed that such an high order of faith\nas prevailed in the Mosaic and prophetic days was no longer necessary.\n(But, afterwards, Paul concedes that one in his own state was one in\nignorance and unbelief.)\n\nHence the spirit of prophecy, spoken of by Joel, as poured out in the\napostolic day, was, in their estimation uncalled for. They supposed\nthe canon of scripture was sufficiently full, when the prophet Malachi\nfinished his testimony, and closed up the age of miracles! Men may\nsincerely believe the Bible, as many of the sects do believe it,\nwithout having it revealed from heaven that the Bible is true, and it\nwill never save them. They may believe the Bible even without knowing\nGod; for the simple reason, that no man can know God without God\nreveals himself to him. This was the condition of the Judaic church.\nMany of them sincerely believed the Mosaic writings, but detested and\nrejected the principle of immediate revelation, by which alone they\ncould know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he had sent. If\nthey had believed heartily in the doctrine of immediate revelation to\nall believers, in all ages, they would have known Jesus Christ to be\nthe Messiah, as well as Moses, or Abraham, who saw his day, and was\nglad. On the same principle, dear sir. Christian denominations, in this\nday, believe the apostolic scriptures sincerely, and do many things\naccordingly; but rejecting the principle of immediate revelation to\nthem-ward, they neither know Jesus Christ nor his prophet Joseph, nor\nthe power of God, as it is revealed from faith to faith in our day.\n\nWe, sir, contend for the faith of miracles in our own day; but you and\nyour associates contend against it. The disciples of Jesus contended\nfor it, in their day; but the professed followers of Moses and Abraham\ncontended against it. Now, sir, to which of these sides do you belong?\nCan you find that any people, who ever contended against the faith of\nimmediate revelation and miracles, such as was maintained by Samuel,\nAbraham, Barak, Daniel, and Noah, ever prospered. Is there a single\ninstance in scripture, from Genesis to Revelations, where God manifests\nany fellowship for any faith short of a faith of miracles and immediate\nrevelation? If an inferior kind of faith has been got up since the New\nTestament age, is it not well to inquire from whence it has sprung, and\nwhat is the scriptural basis of its support? If such an inferior faith\nis not _revealed_ from heaven, it must certainly be from beneath, and,\nconsequently earthly, and sensual, and devilish. If it springs from\nthe precepts of men, and not from the direct and positive revelation\nof God, it ought surely to be abandoned and forsaken at once. When\nmen believe the Old and New Testament scriptures from tradition, and\nthe lips of a ministry that is not sent out and called by immediate\nrevelation from heaven, their faith is dead; and all such as float in\nthis broad stream of traditionary faith, are not and cannot be built up\nas lively stones to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God.\n\nHence, sir, the concession of Mr. C. G. Finney, and Nettleton, and of\nyour own Mr. Knapp, all great Revivalists, and talented and devout\nmen, that the \"sectarian churches need to be converted over again.\"\nAnd I am constrained to add, without any inviduous feelings, that such\nteachers themselves need to be converted from a traditionary faith into\nthe same faith with the ancient worthies spoken of in the eleventh\nchapter to the Hebrews. They themselves cannot _know_ God without that\nsame ancient faith that secured to its possessors revelation from God,\nand the power of working miracles, &c. God has never called men to\ntestify to the truth of the Old and New Testament, unless the truth\nhas been revealed to them _personally_ from the heavens. When it is\nthus revealed, they will obey like the ancient saints, and the power of\ngodliness will follow their faith, \"even healing the sick, casting out\ndevils, and speaking with new tongues.\"\n\nYou, sir, will surely admit, that the faith of the ancients was\nfar superior to modern traditionary faith, and was attended with\na power which this latter faith cannot, in its very nature, ever\nattain to. By the ancient faith, or faith of immediate revelation,\nmen wrought righteousness, subdued kingdoms, stopped the mouths of\nlions, and quenched the violence of fire--stayed the sun in the\nfirmament--sealed up the heavens as brass for the space of three years\nand a half, or opened the windows thereof for the rain to descend in\nshowers or torrents, even to a universal deluge. Surely it will be\nno disparagement to such exalted names as yours, and that of my old\nacquaintance President Barnas Sears, and my former instructor President\nE. Knott, to turn, like Paul, to the banner and standard of such a\nfaith. By such a faith they are prepared to work the works of God; and\neither in time or eternity, to work even far greater works than Jesus\never wrought on the earth, as his own word declares; for, sir, this\nkind of faith shall abide beyond the veil; for God himself made the\nworld by faith, and the spirits of the just work by faith, and obtain\nrevelation from God, and minister the same to militant believers on\nearth, from the faith of the sanctified in light, to the faith of the\nmilitant here below. \"The righteousness of God is revealed from faith\nto faith.\" Surely we may count all things but loss for the excellency\nof the _knowledge_ of Christ Jesus our Lord; for he that gets the\nknowledge of Christ by revelation to himself, and keeps it, shall never\nfall.\n\nDo you not preach, sir, the ancient faith spoken of in the eleventh\nchapter of Hebrews, for modern believers to imitate? Or is the\nmiraculous faith of the ancients to be pourtrayed to men in this day,\nonly as a beautiful picture to be admired by spectators, and not copied\nand imitated as a doctrine of modern practice? If there is such a thing\nas _common_ faith, in distinction from the supernatural and miraculous\nfaith, named in the eleventh of Hebrews, what part of the scriptures\nteach it? Please to name the chapter and verse; and when you have\npointed out to me the specific scriptures that teach a faith inferior\nto that of prophecying or working miracles, &c., please to tell me\nwherein lies the power of such a faith? If it cannot reveal any thing\nto the children of men, how can it increase the sum of knowledge with\nany reasonable prospect of filling the earth with knowledge, as the\nwaters cover the bed of the great deep? If it cannot forecast events\nbeyond the mere common prescience of human minds, how can the wise man\nforesee the evil in time to hide himself? Is it not passing strange,\nsir, that from Adam to Noah, and from Noah to Abraham, and from\nAbraham to David, and from David to Malachi, and from John the Baptist\nto John the Revelator, the miraculous faith should be tenaciously\nand rigorously contended for; while since that day, men, professing\ngodliness, not only contend for an inferior faith, but contend against\nthe antiquated faith that was sustained for more than four thousand\nyears, giving to God a great and glorious name for all his wonderful\nworks and mighty deeds.\n\nWhy do the modern clergy commend the faith that put to flight the\narmies of the aliens--quenched the violence of fire--and staggered\nnot at promises that required supernatural agency to fulfil, if we\nare not to imitate and practice such faith? Why so much time and\nlabour exhausted in order to define and extol a faith that belonged\nexclusively to past ages; and if the scriptures speak of no other\nfaith that is pleasing to God, would it not be better that mankind\nbe informed more explicitly what is the nature and effect of that\ncommon and inferior faith of which the Bible illustrations are so\ninapplicable? Seeing that the Bible illustrations of faith pertain to\nexamples of a supernatural order, will you please to give us those that\nare of a natural and common order, suited to our age, that is, and,\nof a right, ought to be free from supernatural and miraculous deeds,\nsigns, wonders, and prophecyings? In so doing, and publishing the same\nthrough your widely-circulated paper, you may rest assured that it\nshall have prompt insertion in the STAR, and greatly oblige.\n\nYour humble and obedient servant,\n\nORSON SPENCER.\n\n\n\nLETTER IV.\n\nON WATER BAPTISM.\n\n_Liverpool, June_ 14, 1847.\n\nReverend and Dear Sir,--You, sir, need no argument to convince you that\nWATER BAPTISM is the first ordinance, after faith and repentance, that\ninitiates the believer into the kingdom of God.\n\nThe kingdom of God is to be established upon the earth, according to\nthe pattern of the heavenly order, which is the first principle taught\nin the memorable prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ, which prayer will be\npertinent to all believers on earth, until the object of the prayer is\nfully achieved and the kingdoms of this world have universally become\nthe kingdom of God. And if we were to search the kingdom of God from\none end to the other, and from side to side, we should not find a\nsingle adult believer in the whole heaven, who had not been _baptized_\nwith water.\n\nDo you ask why I make such a bold declaration, and how I know this\nseemingly exclusive and uncharitable truth? I know it, sir, by the\nvoice of God from the heavens, and this voice is to you as well as me,\nif you will receive it. Do not you believe the scripture that saith,\n\"except a man be born of the WATER and of the spirit, he cannot enter\ninto the kingdom of God?\" I know that you believe this scripture, and\nam persuaded that your ingenuous mind will not seek to pervert it from\nits plain and obvious import.\n\nWhatever an over-jealous mind may fear concerning the state of the\npenitent thief on the cross, and of devout and upright men that have\nlived and died in every age of the world, still let God's word be\naccounted true, and every man that gainsays it be esteemed a liar!\nNo man ever puts on the uniform of Christ's followers, such as is\nworn by subjects of the kingdom of Christ, until he is \"baptized into\nChrist\" for \"_remission of sins_.\" Hereby he \"puts on Christ,\" When\nan ambassador of Christ finds a man or woman that heartily repents\nof his or her rebellion against the laws of Christ, he baptizes him\nunto repentance for \"remission of sins.\" By the ordinance of baptism,\nthe rebellious subject virtually says, I hereby signify to all men my\nrepentance; and the lawful administrator as virtually says, on the part\nof Jesus Christ, whose Ambassador I am, (being called by revelation,\nand being authorized to act in his name and for him), I pronounce this\nperson's sins _remitted_, according to his genuine repentance and faith\nin Christ.\n\nNow, sir, what objection can there be for a man sent from God to remit\nsins by baptism, in the name and by the authority of the King of\nheaven? If Christ has power on earth to forgive and remit sins, may He\nnot send forgiveness and remission by another, even by whom he will?\nAnd will not such a remission and forgiveness of sins be as valid as\nthough He administered the ordinance of baptism himself? Undoubtedly\nit will be indisputably valid. And what ordinance is so beautifully\nsignificant as that which expresses both the penitence of the subject\nand the cordial acceptance of the Ruler and Lord?\n\nHas not Jesus Christ a right to remit sins by baptism unto repentance?\nWho shall say that the penitent believer's sins are not remitted by\nbaptism? Who shall lay any sins to his charge? Is it not God that\njustifies? Has not Christ died? Has he not a right to say who are fit\nsubjects for baptism? Has he not a right to say by what ordinance sins\nshall be remitted? He has never said that repentance and faith shall\nsecure remission of sins to any one without baptism. It is not in the\npower of any man or angel to find a license in the Bible to receive a\nperson into the kingdom of God without baptism. Jesus Christ has never\ngiven any license, but, on the other hand. He has explicitly said, in\nthe most unequivocal language possible, that NO MAN can \"enter the\nkingdom\" without water baptism, or being \"born of the water.\"\n\nDo you ask, if I call baptism a saving ordinance? I reply, that\nrepentance and faith will not save any body in the kingdom of God\nwithout baptism. Some men, whose crimes are unpardonable in this\nworld, may, and doubtless do, repent and believe; but they cannot be\nbaptized for the remission of sins, nor forgiven \"until the times of\nrefreshing come from the presence of the Lord in the restitution of all\nthings.\" Righteous Noah was \"_saved_ by water;\" and the apostle Peter,\nrehearsing the fact, says that baptism _saved_ believers in his day in\n_like_ manner.\n\nYou, sir, must be perfectly aware that Jesus Christ has said, by the\nmouth of his servant John, that BAPTISM constitutes no less importance\nof character than one of the THREE GREAT WITNESESS of adoption and\ncitizenship into the kingdom of God on the earth--the SPIRIT, the\nWATER, and the BLOOD. These three bear witness on the earth and agree\nin one. One of these THREE performs the double office of bearing\nwitness on the earth, and also of bearing record in heaven. Three\nwitnesses appear to be requisite in order to prove our title good\nto a place in the kingdom of God; and the testimony of these THREE,\nand nothing less, is recorded in heaven by the Father, Son, and Holy\nGhost. Who will dare to say that the THREE in heaven will accept of the\ntestimony of the two witnesses on earth, when God has explicitly said\nthat he requires the testimony of THREE, and nothing less?\n\nDo we forget that all men are to be judged out of the books? And\nif the books show the absence of one WITNESS, and the consequent\n_disagreement_ of the three before named, can that person that is thus\ndeficient of testimony, stand acquitted from the books out of which he\nis judged? By no means! The THREE witnesses will agree in one; and when\nthey agree, the Spirit will bear the testimony of the Water and the\nBlood to the recording angel, and these united with his own seal, will\nbe placed on record until the books are brought forward for judging the\nnations of the earth.\n\nFurthermore, no man can ever be born of the Spirit until he has first\nbeen born of the water. The Holy Ghost will never condescend to become\nthe covenant-guide and instructor, and holy comforter of any one,\nuntil he has been baptized or born of water. Have ye received the Holy\nGhost _since_ ye were baptized? Peter told penitent believers that\nthey might receive the Holy Ghost _after_ they were baptized; so said\nJohn the Baptist to those he baptized. If, in a single instance, the\nHoly Ghost was given before baptism, still it was no part of Christ's\ninstructions to his apostles ever to confer the Holy Ghost until\n_after_ baptism--and then it was to be done by the laying on of hands.\n\nMen may receive a measure of the Spirit of God before baptism (even\nas a child has in embryo the germ of life before parturition); but no\none has a large measure of the Spirit, nor has any covenant claim to\nthe Spirit, or, in other words, can be born of the Spirit, until he\nhas been baptized in water. \"Jesus came by water,\" and was baptized\nin water for the remission of the original sin of the world. He knew\nthat baptism for remission of sin was necessary as an example, and also\nthat by his \"_obedience_ many might be made _righteous_\" even as by the\n\"_offence_ of one, many were made _sinners_.\" Jesus needed not only the\ntestimony of water-baptism, but also, _after_ baptism, the testimony\nof the other witness--the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost was a personage\ninferior in office to himself, but still the Holy Ghost was conferred\nupon him, while coming out of the water, in \"the form of a dove.\"\n\nThe third witness to adoption is the \"Cup of Blessing, or Sacramental\nCup of Wine,\" which, if men \"drink not, they have no life in them.\"\nNow, sir, let us abide strictly by the \"law and the testimony,\" even\nas Jesus our pattern has done, and consider nothing unessential which\nour lawgiver has both enjoined and exemplified for obedience and\nsalvation. Who is prepared to say that the faithful will not take the\ncup of blessing, even in the heavens, and drink wine in our heavenly\nFather's kingdom? Who can say that the river of life that proceeds\nfrom the throne of God in the celestial city, shall not be employed to\nperpetuate the remembrance of baptismal water of adoption, and even\nperpetuate sinless purity, like the leaves of healing that grow on the\nbanks of the crystal stream?\n\nIs it a thing incredible with you, sir, that God should remit sins\nthrough baptism? It is with difficulty that I can persuade myself that\nyou are so distrustful of the power or wisdom of God! You read and\nexpound the scriptures from Sabbath to Sabbath. You certainly believe\nthat Naaman's leprosy was washed away by water-baptism in Jordan; you\nalso must believe that men were healed of mortal diseases, by simply\nlooking at a brazen serpent lifted up in the wilderness. Do you not\nbelieve that the walls of Jericho fell down under the simple blast of\nthe rams' horns? and that the simple touch of the hem of a garment,\nor of handkerchiefs, was attended with healing virtue to them that\nbelieved?\n\nWhy were the learned and devout Judaic churches surprised that Peter\nshould proclaim to thousands--\"be baptized for the _remission_ of your\nsins?\" and, on another occasion, even _command_ Cornelius, as pious and\ndevout a believer as yourself, to be baptized in order that he might\nbe \"_saved_\"--telling the churches in a general circular epistle, that\nbaptism would _save_ them as much as water _saved_ Noah? Why should\nthose same churches withdraw fellowship from Paul because he believed\nAnnanias, saying to him, \"arise and be baptized and wash away thy\nsins,\" even as your church have disfellowshipped me, because I believe\nas Paul did, and obey the same gospel which he preached, with all its\nmiraculous gifts, blessings, and priesthood? The secret and solution of\nthe whole surprise of the Judaic and modern churches are, that _both_\noverlook the efficacious _simplicity_ of Christ's ordinances, and know\nnot the \"power of God,\" by which a mere look, touch, baptismal rite, or\nthe imposition of a hand, may secure blessings rich as heaven--power as\ngreat as Gabriel's--knowledge as high as the throne of God--and life\nand felicity as endless as eternity!\n\nGreatly blessed, sir, is that man commissioned immediately from the\nheavens to administer baptism unto repentance for _remission_ of sins;\nand blessed are they who receive remission of sins from the hands of\nthose who act in \"Christ's stead.\" Hence the grateful acknowledgements\nof David, repeated by Paul--\"Blessed are they whose iniquities are\nforgiven, whose sins are covered.\" Men who obey the gospel are as well\nsatisfied that their sins are forgiven through baptism, as you, sir,\nwould be satisfied of the validity and legality of a deed, signed and\nsealed by his excellency the chief magistrate of your State. They\nrejoice in the same, without ambiguity or fear of being deceived. The\nspirit of bondage and fear (which is in sectarian churches) does no\nlonger wither up their hope, and blight the joy of their acceptance\nwith God.\n\nThe heavens, that before seem clouded with dismal forebodings and\ndoubtful omens, that kept the excellent Dr. Payson even, on a\ntumultuous sea of mental storms and calms, is now clear and tranquil\nall the day and all the year. They rejoice in the Lord ever more;\nand they know of a truth, that by keeping the commandments of\nGod, their peace is like the gentle and ever-onward current of a\nriver. Driven from \"city to city, and from one nation to another\npeople;\" and \"every where spoken against,\" belied, robbed, and\narraigned before \"magistrates\" for thefts, treason, blasphemy, &c.,\nthey are distressed indeed, but not with mental doubts and fears.\nNo; far from it; they are borne down with expulsion from place to\nplace--burning their houses--despoiling their goods under shadow of\nlegal prosecution--whippings--priestly and editorial calumnies! These\nthings, sir, distress their bodies, and cause cold, and nakedness, and\nhunger, and an uncertain dwelling place; but do not by any means impair\ntheir peace in believing, or their joy in the Holy Ghost. None of these\nthings move them.\n\nYours,\n\nORSON SPENCER.\n\n\n\nLETTER V.\n\nTHE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST.\n\n_Liverpool, June_ 29, 1842.\n\nReverend and Dear Sir,--The subject of my fifth letter is one of\nsurpassing importance. It is, sir, the \"GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST,\" by the\nlaying on of hands.\n\nThe magnitude of the subject warrants me to say, in few words, what\nbelongs to it, without those copious scripture references which you\ncan look after at your leisure. If you will honestly listen to my\ndescription of the office-work of the Holy Ghost, you will clearly\nperceive, that, since the time Jesus left the earth, it is more\nextensive and important than even the work of the other personages of\nthe Godhead.\n\nThe Holy Ghost performs the double office of a WITNESS on earth and a\nRECORDER in heaven. Being an unembodied personage, he can move among\nmen without the danger of being mobbed and killed, as was not the case\nwith Jesus Christ. He takes up the work of man's redemption, just where\nJesus Christ left it, and has a distinct part to act until the second\ncoming of Christ, that in due time He also may obtain glory with the\nFather, even as Jesus does--yea, a fulness of the Godhead by himself.\n\nAccording to promise he came on the day of Pentecost, either with a\nretinue of sanctified spirits, or in the simple unity and grandeur of\nhis own potent agency, and filled the house. He then disbursed among\nthe disciples a variety of tongues--gifts for men which the Conqueror\nhad promised. With the keys of revelation, peculiar to his office, he\nunlocked their understanding (with perfect impunity to himself) and\nbore witness that Jesus was Christ. His testimony not only confirmed\nthe disciples, who had been previously baptized, beyond the shadow of\nall further doubt, but convinced some thousands of the sin of unbelief.\n\nHe immediately informed Peter, to whom Christ had promised to send the\nkeys of the presidency over the church by the Holy Ghost (for he could\ndo nothing till the Holy Ghost should bring them), that He, the Holy\nGhost, would ever be an attendant upon penitent believers that should\nbe \"baptized for remission of sins,\" whenever his minister should lay\non hands. He authorized him to make a solemn standing PROMISE to this\neffect, viz.: that the Holy Ghost's presence as a WITNESS to truth,\nshould invariably follow the imposition of hands. But he also gave\nhim to understand, that none should lay on hands or preach but such\nas should be called by revelation, even as was Aaron. He assured him\nthat he would henceforth abide with the church, and enable obedient\nbelievers to work certain miraculous signs, such as healing the sick,\ncasting out devils, nullifying the properties of poison wickedly\nadministered, and speaking with new tongues--and these and other\nconfirmations of the truth should invariably attend the true church\nto the end of the world, or as long as true believers continued on\nthe earth; and if these miraculous signs did not follow believers,\nthey might know that they were rejected of God, as reprobate silver is\nrejected of men.\n\nThe Holy Ghost further informed him, that He was the LIVING WITNESS\non earth, in connexion with the WATER and the BLOOD, and sealed up\nthe testimony of all the witnesses concerning all believers on earth,\nand then took them to heaven and recorded them in the BOOKS, by the\nmutual agreement of the Father and the Son, against a time of awards\nand punishments. He also informed him that he always obtained a perfect\nknowledge of Jesus Christ's mind touching all church transactions\non earth, and faithfully communicated the same to chosen men and\nbelievers, according to their capacity to receive and use such\nknowledge; and should continue to act in this Office of enlightening\nand comforting the church, \"until they all come to the unity of the\nfaith and the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ,\" which\nhe possessed before he left the earth. And he would also communicate\nChrist's mind concerning the destinies of nations, and the judgments,\nfamines, and pestilences, &c., with which Jesus Christ would visit the\nearth.\n\nThe Holy Ghost would also reveal the deep purposes of God, not only\nconcerning the future glory of the Church, but also concerning\nindividuals that lived before the foundations of the world, and what\nwould be their state in worlds that are future. And even all things\nthat Jesus Christ knew concerning the interest, salvation, and endless\nfelicity and glory of the church--and the misery and final undoing of\nsuch as obey not God, the Holy Ghost would communicate in visions,\ndreams, and revelations. Thus the earth would be filled with knowledge,\nand Christ would again return here with all the departed saints, and\nliterally bring down a celestial city of splendid mansions--even the\nNew Jerusalem--and God would once more dwell with men in peace.\n\nLet it be understood, that not only apostles, but all obedient\nbelievers in the primitive age had the gift of the Holy Ghost, and,\nconsequently, the \"spirit of prophecy.\" \"He that hath the testimony\nof Jesus hath the spirit of prophecy.\" How do men have the testimony\nof Jesus? I answer, through the agency of the Holy Ghost. Let it\nbe understood, and marked with INDELIBLE EMPHASIS, that the HOLY\nSPIRIT is the GREAT WITNESS on earth--that He, the spirit of truth,\nhas transmitted the mind of Jesus to believers in visions, dreams,\nprophecyings, &c. For this purpose Jesus sent the SPIRIT into the\nworld, that he might reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of\njudgment.\n\nThe Spirit, though unimbodied, now acts in all the authority,\ninfluence, and power that Jesus himself would do if He were on the\nearth in very person. But He acts upon and through the body of Christ,\nwhich is the church; through the Spirit's possession of the church,\nit displays the \"MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD.\" Whatever varied and abundant\nwisdom Jesus himself possessed, the true Church ever has in a measure,\nand is destined to have, even to perfect fulness--\"the fulness of his\nstature.\"\n\nBut how is the true Church to show forth all the omniscience and\npotency of Jesus? I answer, sir, by the Spirit of God that is in the\nChurch, by \"the laying on of hands.\" By this spirit it is signified\nto Paul what shall befall him at Jerusalem; and also that the true\nChurch shall cease from off the earth, with all its miraculous gifts\nand blessings, before the second coming of Christ. By the same spirit,\nJohn saw that an angel would again come in the midst of heaven to\nrestore the original primitive gospel to the earth. By the same spirit\nZachariah heard and saw the angel that should bring it, speak to a\n\"young man.\" Isaiah saw the young man take a \"sealed book from the\nearth,\" that should be a \"marvellous work and wonder,\" confounding the\n\"wisdom of the wise.\" By this spirit the camp of Israel saw and heard\nseventy elders prophecy the very hour and moment that hands were laid\nupon them. Paul saw and heard more than twelve disciples speak \"with\ntongues and prophecy,\" as soon as the \"Holy Ghost\" was conferred by\n\"laying on of hands.\"\n\nNo sooner had Annanias laid his hands on Saul, than the Holy Ghost,\never faithful to his \"promise,\" filled the person of Saul, and opened\nhis eyes. The same spirit signified to Philip a mission to Gaza, and\nafter he had baptized the Ethiopian, caught him away with power. By\nit also, Sampson stretched forth an arm of omnipotence and slew a\nthousand men; and at another time overthrew a large and capacious\nbuilding, being filled with people, besides containing three thousand\nmen and women upon the roof. And by the same spirit, in this day, the\nblind have been made to see, the lame to walk, and the deaf to hear,\nand hundreds of persecuted famishing Saints, on the banks of the\nMississippi, have been miraculously fed by quails, as ancient Israel\nwere fed in the wilderness.\n\nNow, sir, can you tell me why sin and blasphemy against the Holy\nSpirit constituted a more heinous and unpardonable offence than sin\nagainst the \"Son of Man?\" Surely there is an importance attached to the\noffice-work of this DIVINE AND MARVELLOUS WITNESS on the earth that\ndeserves attention. If there is no forgiveness of such an offence, it\nbecomes all men, not only to hear before they judge, but also to judge\n\"righteous judgment.\" Jesus Christ has told us that He placed in His\nChurch apostles and prophets, with gifts of miracles, tongues, &c.\nThese gifts were the gifts of the spirit; and you will not deny that\nthe Spirit of God, so far as the New Testament speaks of Him, was a\nspirit of almighty power, as displayed in numerous gifts and ways.\n\nNow, sir, what has become of this miraculous and almighty spirit? Has\nhe ceased wholly from the earth? If so, then the WATER and the BLOOD\nare the only witnesses now left on the earth. But perhaps you will say\nthat the same spirit still remains, without exercising his miraculous\ngifts and powers, (seeing they are not now necessary.) Shall we then\nunderstand that this Almighty Spirit is still on the earth, and in the\ndiversified and conflicting churches, and comparatively silent and\ninefficient, withholding from these churches (which are by supposition\nthe BODY of Christ), his majestic displays of supernatural power in\nprophecies, healings, tongues; causing the dumb ass to speak with man's\nvoice, causing powerful armies to flee before the pursuit of one man;\nand yet the world is perishing for lack of knowledge, and christianity\nlosing ground every day? Might we not as soon think the spirit has\ngrown old to dotage, or lost his first love, or been beguiled into\nother pursuits of less importance? Surely He never wrought so lazily,\nor in such imbecility and indifference in any other age, when true\nbelievers or prophets were on the earth? Strange, indeed, sir, that he\nshould drop off so suddenly his royal robes of prophetic, miraculous\ngrandeur and power, to become the silent and inefficient inmate of\nmore than six hundred clashing, contentious churches, that are yearly\nsubdividing into minute fragments, to the confusion of all common sense\nthroughout boasting christendom! What a falling off of the spirit's\npower, and of the spirit's light and unity! Will the Holy and Eternal\nSpirit of God endorse such a powerless distracted state of things,\nas being in any way connected with His presence on the earth, or\nin any way the result of His doings? No, sir, by no means. For the\nhonour of this illustrious personage, let us never ascribe to HIM such\na powerless distracted organization of heterogenous ignorance and\nimbecility, as modern christianity presents in contrast with ancient\nchristianity. The heavens may well blush with shame at this modern\npicture, purporting to be the kingdom of God on the earth. If it is\nthe kingdom of God, how shorn of its miraculous strength! How are the\nprophets and seers covered!! How dim that fine gold that once shown\nresplendent with the celestial lustre of prophetic visions!!! Then men\nspoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and the sick were healed,\nand he that lied to them was paralyzed in instantaneous death, at times.\n\nOrators \"boast,\" as it is written of them in these \"perilous times,\"\nof the spread of christianity. Christianity spreading! Where is the\nevidence of its increase of power or knowledge? Where the least signs\nof approximation to \"unity of faith,\" and the \"full stature measure of\nChrist\" in \"manifold wisdom and power?\" Where the ornamental beauty\nand symmetry of the Bride that is preparing for the marriage feast of\nthe Lamb? How many ten thousand years must elapse before it can be said\nof christianity, \"the Bride hath made herself ready!\" \"clear as the\nsun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners.\" Surely,\nsince her prophets have lost their power \"to quench the violence of\nfire, and subdue kingdoms, and stop the mouths of lions,\" and her\nservants and handmaids to see visions, &c., the beauty of the Bride has\nfailed--her breasts have diminished--her face is wrinkled--her eyes are\ndim and cannot see afar off; she is no longer a chaste virgin espoused\nto one husband--but she has as many husbands as sects, and yet none of\nthose with whom she is now living can be called her husband.\n\nNow, sir, will the Spirit join with such a _Bride_, and say to Jesus\nthe Great Bridegroom, \"come!\" the Bride hath made herself ready! No,\nsir, the Spirit of God will say, I never knew you; depart from me, you\npusillanimous, benighted, powerless, contentious christianity. \"Thou\nAholibah and Aholibamah, thy lewdness is in all high places;\" \"thou\nhast played the harlot with many lovers--yea, thou hast even hired\nlovers\" (with human inventions), instead of commanding admiration by\nthe grace of thy \"seers,\" and the \"visions of thy handmaids,\" and the\n\"healing power of thine elders.\" Thou shalt be burned with fire.\n\nIn humble assurance of your willingness to see the unsheathed\nglittering sword of truth, I have the pleasure to subscribe myself.\n\nYour humble servant,\n\nFor Christ's sake,\n\nORSON SPENCER.\n\n\n\nLETTER VI.\n\nAPOSTACY FROM THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH.\n\n_Liverpool, July_ 12, 1847.\n\nReverend and Dear Sir,--The subject of my sixth letter is APOSTACY FROM\nTHE PRIMITIVE CHURCH.\n\nIf modern christianity is only an enlargement of the system of early\napostacy from the true Apostolic Church of Christ, it certainly\ndeserves the most serious consideration. It shall be my direct object\nin this epistle to show, that modern christianity possesses such a\nfaint resemblance to that system of faith established by Jesus Christ\nand his apostles, that it cannot be called a likeness, or a copy, or\neven an imitation.\n\nStartle not, reverend sir, if I unhesitatingly declare that a\ncounterfeit bill of currency, that should have no more resemblance\nto a true emission from the bank, than modern christianity does to\nthe ancient religion, would never be likely to do much harm. Modern\nchristianity is the very opposite extreme and counterpart of the\nancient order of \"apostles and prophets.\" If you will read patiently, I\nwill show clearly the proof of my position.\n\nIn the Primitive Church, the Holy Ghost, after Jesus left the earth,\ncame and took possession, and constituted the grand main-spring,\nlife, light, and power of it. And the apostle Peter (of indisputable\nauthority) declares, in the Second of Acts, that the _promised gift_\nof the Holy Ghost SHOULD CONTINUE even to \"all the Lord our God should\ncall.\"\n\nBut this wonderful agent is not known in modern christianity. His\npowerful agency, as foretold by Joel in prophecy, in tongues and\ninterpretation, in discerning of spirits and in healing, is not now\nrecognised as being any part of the present christianity. That Spirit\nthat was to make amends for the departure and absence of Jesus, by\nacquainting believers with all truth--past, present, and future--that\nthey might be comforted with knowledge and light, such as could not\nbe obtained from books, whether inspired or uninspired, was the great\n_sine qua non_ or essential thing in ancient christianity; but in\nmodern christianity, the fruits of such a spirit would be sneered at,\neven by divines! What! exclaims one, prophecy in these days! speak in\ntongues now! heal the sick now! have visions of future things, and\neven heavenly things like unto the ancients! The exclaimant stands\naghast with astonishment, as a perfect stranger to the most obvious and\nconspicuous principles of ancient christianity.\n\nModern christianity professes to derive all its light, and its various\nclashing creeds, from the Old and New Testament. If modern christianity\nis, indeed, the offspring of the Bible, it is a prodigy with many\nhundred heads; but ancient christianity drew its light from the ROCK of\nimmediate revelation, and previous scriptures were only confirmatory of\nthe Spirit's testimony. Illiterate fishermen, like Peter, traditionated\nby a corrupt priesthood, could know next to nothing of the written\nmanuscripts of the Bible. What he learnt was not from flesh and blood,\nbut from the spirit of revelation; and let it be always in your\nmind, sir, that Christ has said, that on \"THIS ROCK\" of _immediate\nrevelation_ \"He will build His church.\"\n\nA christianity contained exclusively in a small volume like the Bible,\nis an insult to the capacious revelations of the Eternal Spirit of\nGod, that even searches the deep things of God--a mere drop compared\nwith the mighty ocean! The full biography of Jesus Christ contained in\nthe New Testament? Nonsense! Preposterous mockery! You certainly are\nnot ignorant of the last verse in John's gospel--\"_The world itself\ncould not contain the account, if written, of the acts and doings_ of\nJesus Christ.\" But shall the knowledge of Christ be buried in oblivion\nbecause his acts and sayings cannot be written? No, by no means; God\nforbid! What saith the scriptures? the all-wise \"Spirit shall bring\n_all things_ to your remembrance, even the deep things of God--things\nthat the tongue cannot utter nor the heart conceive.\"\n\nWithout the Holy Spirit of revelation, to take of the things of Jesus\nand convey them to the knowledge of men, I boldly aver that NO man\ncan harmonize a consistent system from the Old and New Testament, or\nfind eternal life. Every man must be born of that spirit which gives\nrevelation and knowledge of Christ, or he can never see the kingdom\nof God. But a prominent feature in the creed of modern christianity\nis, that there is no further need of revelation, consequently the\ndistinct office-work of the Spirit, to bring to mind unwritten acts\nand doctrines of Christ, and harmonize those which are written and\nscattered promiscuously through the Bible, is abrogated and deemed\nsuperfluous by modern christianity!\n\nO thou benighted advocate of modern christianity, how long shall thy\neye be veiled in reading the New Testament, and thine heart be too\ngross to perceive the beauty, and comfort, and power of that blessed\nSpirit that gave life and salvation to ancient christianity? Hast thou\nlost all admiration for the Spirit's miraculous gifts, power, and\nblessing? settled down under reconciliation to a load of doubts and\nfears, hoping that death will remove thy tormenting burden? Vain hope!\nNo longer then do despite to that Eternal Spirit of revelation that\nis freely promised to all that will honestly receive it. If Gentile\nchristians are ashamed of the Jew, because a veil was before their eyes\nin reading the Old Testament, has not the Jew equal cause to be ashamed\nof the Gentile, that has so soon turned away from the primitive path of\nthe Spirit's gifts of visions, prophecies, healings, &c., and thereby\nbeen \"cut off for not continuing in His goodness,\" according to the\nwarning threat of Jehovah against Gentiles.\n\nWhere, sir, are the splendid gifts of apostles and prophets,\nevangelists, pastors and teachers, that Christ gave to men and set in\nhis church, forever to continue in the ministry, edifying \"the BODY of\nChrist till we all come to the unity of faith,\" and to such a knowledge\nof God, and fulness of power and wisdom as dwelt even in Jesus? They\nare nowhere to be found in modern christianity! Modern christianity has\nthe effrontery and shamelessness even to say that she does not need\nthem; consequently she says that she does not need \"to come to unity of\nfaith,\" and to that full and potent knowledge of God that Jesus in the\nflesh possessed, and had decreed that all Saints should possess and be\nlike their \"elder brother.\"\n\nNot one of these great and precious gifts are retained. The bare\nname of evangelists and pastors is retained in modern christianity,\nwithout the shadow of the power and prophetic knowledge of the Holy\nGhost, with which these officers were _obliged_ to be endued in the\nprimitive church. She admits, indeed, the form of the office, \"denying\nthe power.\" She says, indeed, that she can come to \"unity of faith,\"\n&c., without apostles, and without the help of the good old-fashioned\nAlmighty Holy Ghost.\n\nBut how long a time does she want to run for this prize of \"unity\nof faith, &c.?\" She has been running for the stakes nearly EIGHTEEN\nHUNDRED YEARS, and is further from the goal than when we started. When\nshe started, \"false apostles and deceitful workers\" were her champions.\nIn order to win the prize, these shed the blood of true apostles, and\nthe blood of saints was found in their garments. And when her followers\nfound that she had only the form or name of apostles and prophets\nwithout the power, she said, we have no further need of apostles, they\nhave done their work and miracles have ceased. Oh, thou blood-guilty,\n\"lying,\" Gentile christianity! thy lineage takes hold of the mother of\nabominations, clothed in scarlet! How great will be the severity of\nGod's judgments upon all that are accessory to modern christianity,\nexcept they repent and obey the gospel!\n\nShe has also changed the ordinances. Where is now the ordinance of\nanointing with oil? Where the ordinance of imposition of hands? The\nhealing of the sick is given up to medical men, whose reliance is on\nanything but the _power_ and established ordinance of God. Is it not\nwritten for the benefit of the sick, that they should call for the\n_elders_ of the church, whose duty it is to \"anoint the sick with oil\nand lay on hands and they _shall recover_?\" Now the consequence of\nchanging this _one ordinance_ of the Bible to the medical nostrums of\nmen, is the literal death of thousands, who change the ordinance and\ncontribute to make this whole earth the _burying ground_ of nations.\n\nSir, may I not significantly ask, will the priests of the day return\nunto the Lord and teach his \"law and his testimony,\" or will they with\nhearts of stone see the inhabitants of the earth perish under the curse\nof \"trusting in _medical_ man and making flesh an arm?\"\n\nThe prophet Isaiah says, the consequence of changing the ordinances\nis, to make the earth empty and desolate! But this is not the only\nordinance that is changed. By laying on hands for the gift of the Holy\nSpirit, the authority to prophecy, speak with new tongues, and cast out\ndevils, is conferred. Now, unless boasting christianity has secured\npeace and fellowship with the devil, it is of much importance to know\nhow to cast him out. Unless they have wisdom and power, and the spirit\nof prophecy, to supersede the need of the Holy Spirit, it is very\nessential to observe the ordinances by which, alone, it is conferred.\n\nBut it is certain, that if the Holy Spirit, in all its supernatural\noffice-work of miraculous omnipotence and wisdom, does not come and\nreign on the earth, then the kingdom of God will never come on the\nearth as it exists in heaven. But the scriptures assure us that\nthe kingdom of God will break in pieces all other kingdoms, and be\nestablished on earth, even as it is in heaven, and the palace of God\n(tabernacle) be in the midst of the human family.\n\nThe Holy Ghost is the grand agent by which the different orders of\npriesthood, have all their authority, wisdom, and power, to teach and\nadminister the laws and ordinances of heaven to men on earth. The\n\"MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD\" flows through these orders of priesthood from\nheaven to earth. But modern christianity has abolished these orders of\npriesthood, as no longer necessary; consequently, the communications\nfrom heaven to earth have been stopped for nearly _eighteen hundred\nyears_; and from _this cause_, our race has witnessed the most\nappalling picture of the progress of crime and wretchedness, that\nhas ever pervaded the earth since the dawn of creation. No man has\nsufficient knowledge of figures to enumerate THE MILLIONS that have\nbeen slain in war, since the Gentiles were cut off for unbelief. The\npestilence has never slumbered since man rejected the healing ordinance\nof God, for the aid of physicians that are of no value. Famine has\nlocked hands with pestilence, causing _rot_, and _blast_, and _mildew_\nto lead many to fear that God had repented himself of the \"promised\nseed time and harvest.\"\n\nThe social virtues that ought to be and ever would be, under the\nreign of God, like salubrious breezes of heaven, have become like the\nantagonistic and forked teeth of a _picking cylinder_, that turned\never so much, will still be _picking_ either in the offensive or\ndefensive. The number of the oppressed is becoming so fearfully great\nand vast, that the captors know not where to find either room or\nkeepers for their prisoners. The yoke of intolerance must have fresh\niron fastenings of unheard of tenacity and rigour. The oppressor feels\nthe danger of an awful outbreak from desperation that can be smothered\nno longer. The elements of revolution and self-destruction, are sown\ndeep in every government, and in every religious and social system that\nhas not for its basis _truth, immediately and continually revealed from\nheaven_!\n\nNow, all this direful state of things is because that men have\n\"forsaken God, the fountain of living waters, and hewn them out\ncisterns that can hold no water.\" \"From the crown of the head to\nthe soles of the feet,\" modern christianity, whether Protestant or\nCatholic, \"is full of wounds and bruises, and putrifying sores.\"\n\nThe prophets and apostles foresaw the Gentile apostacy that would\nspread over the earth, under the plausible name of christianity,\nobliterating the knowledge of God, and \"denying the power of God, and\nchanging his laws and ordinances,\" till \"gross darkness should cover\nthe people.\" They saw the \"mystery of iniquity\" working, and boldly\nforetold the \"_falling away_\"--the exaltation of the man of sin,--the\nremoval of the priesthood and light of truth from the seven churches\nof Asia,--the refusal to \"teach all things that Jesus commanded,\"--the\nirresistible fact, that men would not \"_endure sound doctrines_,\" but\nwould multiply discrepant teachers to suit \"_itching ears_,\"--the\nintroduction of \"_damnable heresies_,\" and the \"_doctrines of devils_,\"\nand the church becoming like a blood-guilty \"_harlot_,\" that had\nexterminated the whole order of apostles, and prophets, and spiritual\ngifts, and even denied the need of any such order of gifts and ministry\nas existed in the primitive church!\n\nThe first doctrine of the devil in the garden was that it was not\nnecessary to obey God concerning a particular tree of the garden;\nand the same doctrine of _devils_ has, _by inches and by piece-meal_\nremoved and broken every command of Christ, and put bishops and doctors\nin the seats of apostles and prophets, and the ordinance of sprinkling\ninfants, in place of baptism; virtually saying, \"that God doth know,\"\nthat without the aid of apostles and the gift of the Spirit by laying\non of hands, you can know truth _enough_; and without baptism \"_for\nremission of sins_,\" you can be forgiven through prayer at the altar.\n\nPermit me, sir, in the conclusion to remind you of the reproof given\nby an inspired wise man. \"_Say not thou what is the cause that the\nformer days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely\nconcerning this_.\" The true and only rational revealed cause why\nmodern christianity is so weak, contentious, discrepant, and so\nunlike the majestic, almighty christianity of apostolic days, is,\nbecause _apostate uninspired men_ \"HAVE TRANSGRESSED the LAWS, CHANGED\nthe ORDINANCES, and BROKEN the EVERLASTING COVENANT.\" Therefore,\n_the \"earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof.\"_ \"Gentile\"\nchristianity will yet be compelled to come from the \"_ends of the earth\nand say, surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things\nwherein there is no profit_.\"\n\n_And God has said, sir, because \"your_ (Gentile) _fathers have\nforsaken him and have not kept his law,\" \"therefore,\" says God,\n\"behold, I will this once cause them to know mine hand and my might,\nand they shall know that my name is the Lord.\" The land shall be\nutterly emptied and utterly spoiled; for the Lord hath spoken this\nword, the earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth\nand fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The\nearth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they\nhave transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, and broken the\neverlasting covenant. Therefore, hath the curse devoured the earth, and\nthey that dwell therein are desolate; therefore, the inhabitants of the\nearth are burned, and few men left.\"_\n\nIn view of these things, dear sir, my fervent prayer is, that you\nand all my brethren in the sectarian ministry will, from this day\nforth, stay their hand and voice from upholding modern _boasting_\nchristianity--that is a \"stink\" in the nose of Jehovah--that is\n_depopulating the earth and abrogating the laws, and ordinances of\nGod_, and sin no more, and thereby follow the humble example of\n\nYour obedient servant,\n\nORSON SPENCER.\n\n\n\nLETTER VII.\n\nTHE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF AN APOSTOLIC CHURCH.\n\n_Liverpool, August_ 28, 1847.\n\nReverend and Dear Sir,--The next subject in the order of my promise,\ncontained in my first letter to you, is, THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF AN\nAPOSTOLIC CHURCH, after the similitude and power of the primitive\nchurch. Such an occurrence as this, truly demands proof of a palpable\nand satisfactory order, which, by the help of God, I will proceed to\ngive you.\n\nThe beloved apostle John, who survived many of his fellow-labourers\nin the gospel, and saw many damnable heresies coming into the church,\nand making havoc of all the faithful, and even the seven most faithful\nchurches in all the earth probably, right under his own faithful\nsupervision, yielding to APOSTACY, and going over to Satan. This\napostle, dear sir, in his solitary grief, was shewn, by revelation\nfrom God, the RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TRUE CHURCH, with such wrath\nand vengeance following its wake, as should make an utter end of\nwickedness, give the righteous a thousand years rest, cleanse the earth\nby blood and burning, and bind the devil until the \"little season.\"\n\nNow mark, sir, the emphatic words of this apostle before he left the\nearth, concerning what he saw would come in the last days. Hear now\nwith a fixed ear, and an unbiassed determined purpose to believe, and\nabide the declaration of your own apostle John. Now to the momentous\nwords that cheered the few banished persecuted Saints, that survived\nthe bloody hand of Gentile apostacy. Says he:--\"_I saw another angel\nflying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to\npreach to all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people; saying, Fear God\nand give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come_.\"\n\nThere is no obscurity about this language. It is quite as intelligible\nand free from ambiguity as the language that predicted the marvellous\nmanner of the coming of Christ, which, however, men would not\nunderstand, through prejudice. \"Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear\na son,\" &c.\n\nNow, sir, is it at all incredible that an angel should come to men?\nOr is it incredible that he should come soaring, or \"_flying_ in the\nmidst of heaven to earth?\" You certainly believe, that Jesus Christ and\nElijah soared from the earth up through the air, or visible heavens.\nIs it not also credible, that God should employ an angel to carry a\nmessage to the nations? And as God ministered the law by angels to one\nman, Moses, for a whole nation, even so the angel that John saw, would\nminister his gospel message to some _particular_ man, and that man\nshould bear it to the nations of the earth.\n\nNow, to what man might we expect an angel would bring such a message of\nvast importance? A great and wise man, or obscure and ignorant, or an\nold or young man? If we look at the past, we shall find that John was a\nboisterous fellow, from the wilderness, that had no fellowship for any\nexisting religion whatever. He struck the axe deep at the root of every\nreligious organization, notwithstanding there were, probably, some good\nmen in every sect, but they were in error. This man, sir, was first and\nchief pioneer to the Lord of life.\n\nAnd who comes next to receive a message for all nations, and hold\nthe keys of revelation for all nations? Now, reverend sir, fix the\neye of your mind steadily upon him. And who is he? An honest, hardy,\nilliterate, bold, rough fisherman, that perhaps never saw the inside\nof a gentleman's drawing-room. Here, sir, is the wisdom of God and\nconfusion for man. But to return. Who is the man, to whom the angel\nshall give the gospel message of all nations, in the last days,\naccording to the vision of John, the revelator? Let God, the Holy One\nof all the earth, speak in this matter, and let all the ends of the\nearth believe HIS holy word.\n\nThe Lord God of all flesh, sir, by the mouth of his servant Zechariah,\ntells us precisely what kind of man this angel would speak to, and give\nthe gospel, in the last dispensation. Speaking of the two great events\n(the building of Zion and Jerusalem, in the last days), Zechariah, with\nhis ear open to the revelation of the same great event as John's was,\nsays he heard the mandate of the Almighty to the angel, saying, \"Go and\nspeak to that _young_ man.\"\n\nHere we have it, sir, in the language and testimony of God himself, by\nthe mouths of his two servants, John, the revelator, and Zechariah.\nJohn saw, after much inquiry before God about the restoration of the\ngospel to the earth, in clear vision, the angel in his downward flight\nthrough the heavens to earth, and also heard him proclaim his errand,\nand the message of joy and wo to the nations of the last days. The\nother servant of God, Zechariah, like John, equally intent to know\nwhether the true gospel ever would triumph in all the earth, and\nwickedness come to an end, had the happiness to see the angel, at the\nend of his downward flight, place his feet upon the earth, and witness\nthe finger of God raised, and pointing the angel to a _young_ man,\nsaying, \"Go speak to that _young_ man.\"\n\nNow, sir, that you may be convinced beyond controversy, I will beg your\nattention to the marvellous coincidence between the matter of fact, as\nrelated by a guileless _young_ man, and the declaration of John and\nZechariah; but first, you must readily admit, that according to the\ntestimony of two prophets of God, an angel must come down through the\nmidst of heaven to earth, in _some_ period of the last days, subsequent\nto the lifetime of John, with such a gospel as was not on the earth;\nand that angel must communicate his gospel message to some certain\n_young_ man which the finger of God should point out to the angel.\n\nNow, was the young man Joseph _the_ man, or look we for another? His\ntestimony concerning the angel that he saw, and the message that he\nreceived, if you will read it, coincides perfectly with what the two\nprophets had long since declared should take place. He was, indeed, an\nilliterate and obscure youth of seventeen, of humble parentage, from\nthe mountains of Vermont; but was he any less fit to receive such a\nmessage than any other youth, because he was illiterate or poor, or\nobscure, or rough and vulgar? This simple country youth told a tale\nof what he had seen and heard, in the face of all the broad blazing\nscience and christianity of the nineteenth century; but was he any\nless likely to be _the_ youth that the prophets saw and spoke of on\nthat account? Was it a marvellous tale that he told? so likewise was\nthe tale that the Virgin Mary told about her _offspring as begotten\nof God_ the Father. Did the message that Joseph received, lead him to\ndisfellowship all the religious systems of the day, as incompatible\nwith the primitive pattern? so did Jesus, with the religions of his\nday. But lest some lingering doubt should remain upon your mind,\nwhether the young man Joseph was the identical youth spoken of by\nthe prophets just named, you shall have other proofs until reason is\nsatisfied.\n\nThe prophet Daniel being greatly beloved of God, and of great faith,\nsaw this scene of the visitation of the angel to the _young_ man,\nand the laying of the corner-stone of a millennial kingdom, and the\ntime of its organization, and calculated the same, to a day, as will\nbe developed in due time. Job wished that his words, or revelations\nand history, were written with a pen of iron (the engraver's tool)\nand laid in a rock. Now many of the prophets that lived and suffered\non the American continent, and settled that continent about the time\nof the destruction of Jerusalem under Zedekiah, also wished _their_\nwords written and laid in rock or stone. By great faith they obtained\npermission to have their records and prophecies laid up in _stone_,\nbeing neatly engraved with a pen of iron, on plates of the most\nenduring metal. Daniel saw this _stone_ that contained the records, and\nspoke of it. Now this stone, containing the words of these prophets of\nthat \"_other fold_\" spoken of by Christ, had been buried about fourteen\nhundred years previous to its discovery, probably to a considerable\ndepth in the earth, in what was then called the mountain of Cumorah.\nDaniel's language is very remarkable in regard to the manner in which\nthis _stone_, with its contents, and connexion with the angelic\nmessage, should come forth \"_out_ of the mountain _without hands_.\" The\nstone probably, in consequence of the wear of the elements upon the\nearth under the guidance of God, was gradually resurrected from the\ndepths of its burial, until it was literally _out_ of the mountain, and\nvisible without the aid of hands.\n\nOh! how marvellous, literal, and exact the fulfilment of Daniel's\nprophecy! THE MOUNTAIN! THE VISIBILITY OF THE LONG BURIED STONE WITHOUT\nHANDS! The contents of this stone, long harped upon by commentators,\njoined with the whole of the angelic message foreseen by John and\nZechariah, were to lay the foundation of a kingdom that should extend\nover the whole earth, and break in pieces all others, and never be\nthrown down. Daniel not only saw the stone, and mountain, and _young_\nman, and the whole beginning of this latter-day work, and calculated\nthe precise year and day of the month when the kingdom (not the coming\nof Christ) should be set up; but he describes the small and weak\ngovernments into which the four great universal governments should be\ndivided and subdivided. The governments that should exist on the earth\nwhen this stone should be brought to light, would be, in comparison\nwith the four universal and potent governments of previous ages, as the\nnumerously divided toes of a man's feet in magnitude to his body.\n\nWhen Jesus Christ came to organize the kingdom, the Romish government\nwas universal, and all the world were required to be taxed for its\nsupport; consequently Daniel did not speak of _his_ organization, which\nall the apostles saw and declared would be overcome. But he saw that\nthe kingdom which Christ would never take from the earth would be set\nup, when the image of great kingdoms would be reduced to the simile of\nmere toes, or petty kingdoms, just such as exist all over the earth\nnow--weak and small, and huddled together as thick as some of the\nsupernumerary toes of the feet of some ancient prodigies.\n\nThe kingdoms of this world, just precisely like the religions of this\nworld, are small, very numerous and contentious--all the present\ngovernments of the earth being based on mixed, heterogenous, and\ndiscordant principles, will readily crumble, like dry clay, before\nthe march of truth, until the dust thereof is carried away, and these\nkingdoms and diversified religions are known only in the past. You,\nsir, know very well whether the signs of the times fully indicate the\ntottering state, and general disruption of all the governments of\nthe earth. But before I close this part of my subject, I will still\nmultiply the testimony of the prophets even further upon it.\n\nOmitting Ezekiel, I will next introduce the testimony of Isaiah. This\nprophet has probably said more on the re-establishment of the church\nin the last days, and the surpassing glory of it than any other, and\ndeserves rather to be read as a whole than suffer mutilation from a\nsingle extract or two. How any man can read Isaiah's testimony and\nnot see that an extraordinary scene, just like the one I have been\ndescribing, was in full vision before him, it is difficult to explain,\nexcept their hearts are waxed gross and dull to perceive, and the veil\nremains untaken away in reading the Old Testament prophecies.\n\nInstead of citing passages of scripture verbatim, I will here name\ntopics, which Isaiah distinctly exhibited, bearing directly upon the\nsubject at issue. First, he speaks unequivocally of an extraordinary\nBOOK, and says it would be a \"_sealed_ book,\" that neither the learned\nor unlearned could read. Second, in the context, he gives a cutting\nrebuke, because there is no prophet or seer to read it; and administers\na most withering reproof to the religious world, that draw near to Him\nwith their lips, and honour Him with their mouths only; and for lack of\nthe spirit of _revelation and prophecy_, resort to their own ingenuity\nof teaching the fear of the Lord by human precepts. Third, he says, the\n\"_vision_\" of all is become as a BOOK that is sealed which cannot be\nread. How is this, sir, that the prophecies and revelations of _all_\nare locked up in a book, that neither learned nor unlearned can read,\nand the men that uttered them, prophets and seers, are covered--shut\nout from the knowledge of mankind?\n\nThe visions of the Old and New Testament are so plainly legible in many\nbooks, that he who runs may read. Those who had these latter visions,\ninstead of being covered or unknown, are well known, and preached every\nSabbath day. Don't shrink from this issue, sir, but meet it like one\nwho feels his destiny to be suspended on a correct faith in revealed\ntruth. What mysterious collection of visions, arranged into the form\nof a BOOK, that no uninspired man can read, IS THIS? It must be the\nvisions of _some_ prophets and seers, that have lived and prophesied\nto _some_ people, that have now faded from the knowledge of men.\nMankind is ignorant of them. And when the BOOK, that contains their\n_records_ is found (taken out of the earth, as I shall show by Isaiah's\ntestimony), no man can read it or is the wiser for it (unless God\nreveals it).\n\nNow, sir, as you are a teacher, professing to be sent from God, I again\nask, whose visions are all these, so curiously wrapped up in a BOOK,\nand sealed too, and kept hid from the knowledge of mankind? You will\nnot deny that the prophet saw a _book_, containing important records\nof some certain unknown prophets and seers. But if you believe the\nprophet, as I know you do, and humbly acknowledge, that you cannot tell\nwhat this mysterious BOOK of RECORDS means; then, by the spirit and\nblessing of God, I will further endeavour to show that it is the same\nthat the angel announced to the young man Joseph.\n\nThis mysterious BOOK of records was found in that identical _stone_,\nspoken of by Daniel the prophet. The prophets and seers, whose records\nconstitute that book, lived among a mighty nation on the American\ncontinent, whose history is as important as that of other continents in\nits place.\n\nAnother topic dwelt upon by Isaiah is, that \"truth\" (plainly alluding\nto this book of inspired records) should \"_speak out of the ground_,\nand thy speech shall be low _out of the dust_, and thy voice shall be\nas of one that hath a familiar spirit _out of the ground_, and thy\nspeech shall whisper _out of the dust_.\"\n\nIs it a marvellous thing that this wonderful book of the visions of all\nthe American seers should be so skilfully entombed in _stone_, and then\nburied in the earth? Where should they have deposited it, so that it\ncould have answered the purpose intended, so well as in the ground? How\ncould the STONE, containing it, ever have been CUT OUT OF THE MOUNTAIN\nWITHOUT HANDS, if it had never been put _into the mountain_? Isaiah\nsays, the people should be besieged and brought _low_ (nearly all were\nslain), but by the records of their seers should, after a long time,\nspeak _out_ of the ground, and their records should be as the voice\nof a familiar spirit. Who, sir, that has read them does not clearly\nperceive that they speak familiarly of things past, present, and to\ncome? So truly do these records speak of what shall transpire, after\nthe BOOK has been shewn to them, that many have slanderously said, that\nit was written by an eye witness of the things spoken of. It speaks\nalso of the ruins of cities--of antiquities since discovered on the\nAmerican continent, by travellers and antiquarians, that have excited\nthe curiosity and wonder of the world.\n\nThis Book of Mormon, is one of the most unexceptionable and\nGod-honouring books that was ever published to the world. An uninspired\nman might as well attempt to originally compose the Old and New\nTestament, as it. Its language (the best butt of cavaliers) is said\nnot to harmonize with the philological rules of the nineteenth\ncentury. One word in reply. Peter and John were illiterate men, who\nspoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and their language was\naccredited to unlearned men by their hearers. Now, if redundant and\nungrammatical language may be the medium through which the Holy Ghost\ncommunicates by men in speaking, may it not with equal propriety be\nemployed in _writing_, by a similar class of men? It is not denied,\nthat there is something wonderful about all this matter. The prophet\nIsaiah considered it wonderful, when he calls it a \"marvellous work:\na marvellous work and a wonder.\" \"The wisdom of their wise men shall\nperish, and the understanding of their prudent shall be hid.\" All the\nlearned commentaries of divines, as this gospel advances, shall be\nburied in oblivion, as so much rubbish.\n\nGod declares, by the same prophet, that he has seen the wickedness of\nthe wicked, and the oppression of the poor and upright, until he rises\nup to \"_do his work, his strange work_, and bring to pass his act,\nhis strange act.\" He warns men against making a mock of this strange\nand marvellous work, lest their \"bands be made strong,\" for he has\n\"_decreed a consumption upon the whole earth_.\" This is what John also\nsays;--\"The hour of His judgment\" is measurably simultaneous with the\nproclamation of the gospel. Habakkuk, the prophet, told men to wait\nfor this same vision of American prophets, written on tables (tabular\nplates), which would be a long time before it made its appearance; but\nit would \"surely come,\" because God had promised these seers that a\nremnant of their seed, on that continent, should be saved. No pen can\ndescribe the joy and exultation that they must have felt in obtaining\nsuch a promise, or the bliss now experienced by them in the fulfilment\nof it. But for the fulfilment of this promise, none of them or their\nrighteous contemporaries would ever have been made perfect.\n\nOh! how great the goodness and mercy of God to every nation, without\nrespect of persons! How great, too, the indebtedness of this generation\nto Almighty God for that most precious \"_stone_\" of prophetic records,\nthat reveals at once the history of the American continent--a continent\nof otherwise unfathomable antiquities and wonders--a land that\nembowels the bones of a numerous and mighty race of people, with all\ntheir implements of husbandry and of art! Where, also, are the ruins of\nsplendid cities, the former glory of which might surpass even gigantic\nLondon! Within that stone, too, was written with a pen of iron, as\ninfallibly as the marks on Belshazzar's palace, the future destiny of\nthe American people.\n\nIn conclusion, do you ask if the Apostolic Church is again\nre-established, where is it? I reply, it is in the mountains where\nthe Lord's House is to be built in the last days. Driven by the cruel\nhand of persecution to the very place where the Lord has declared He\nwill \"_hide_ them till the indignation be overpast.\" Do you also ask\nwhat kind of organization this Church has? The answer is, the same\nas that of the Apostolic Church in the days of Peter, consisting of\nApostles, Prophets, Evangelists, &c.; with the gifts of healing,\ntongues, interpretation, casting out devils, prophesyings, &c. Do\nyou ask who has seen any of these miraculous fruits of this Church?\nI answer a _hundred thousand_ living witnesses are ready to testify\nthat the \"signs\" which Christ said \"shall follow them that believe,\"\n_do_, in very deed, follow believers in _this_ Church. Do you say,\nare they credible witnesses? They were generally accounted credible\npersons, until they believed and obeyed this gospel. Do their lives\nshow that they do sincerely believe and love the apostolic gospel which\nthey profess? Nothing as yet, has been able to separate them from it;\nneither home nor country, nor the inheritances of their fathers, nor\npenury or reproach, or evil report, or cold, or nakedness, and no\ncertain dwelling-place for years!\n\nI now close this simple and unembellished statement of truth, being\nwritten in a state of convalescence from severe sickness, hoping a\nportion of your inquiries will have been satisfactorily answered,\n\nYour friend and servant,\n\nORSON SPENCER.\n\n\n\nLETTER VIII.\n\nTHE TRUE AND LIVING GOD.\n\n_Liverpool, September_ 13, 1847.\n\nReverend and Dear Sir,--In this epistle I shall endeavour to set before\nyou a description of the person, abode, and character of THE TRUE AND\nLIVING GOD. In so doing I trust it will not be imputed to arrogance if\nI borrow my apology from the language of St. Paul:--\"As I passed by I\nbeheld an altar with this inscription, 'To the Unknown God.' Whom ye\nignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.\"\n\nThe people of Paul's day had for several generations been unaccustomed\nto receive revelations from the true God, believing, generally, that\nrevelations from God had ceased with Malachi. They supposed that\nthe canon of scripture was complete long before their time, and\nthey considered that the great law-giver, Moses, had established an\nimmutable code of laws and government, suited to the condition of\npeople of all ages and circumstances whatever, to the end of time; and\nthe Jews, to this very day, entertain the same opinion.\n\nLabouring under this most blighting and soul-darkening opinion for\nseveral centuries, without the light of any new revelation, and\nwithout the aid of that immediate inspiration which attended Moses\nand the prophets, their foolish hearts became darkened as a necessary\nconsequence. Inflated with pride, and a false but sincere reverence for\nthe scriptures of a previous age, they became a conspicuous and warning\nexample to this generation of ignorance, not only of the scriptures,\nwhich they carefully memorized, but also of all the essential\nattributes of the person, character, and doctrine of God.\n\nNow, sir, during the long period of sixteen or eighteen hundred years,\nin which the light of immediate revelation has not shone, the religious\nworld have fallen into similar and even far greater darkness. The true\nand living God is not known as I shall proceed to show.\n\nThe religious world have an abundance of zeal for God, and diligence in\nspreading the scriptures and their missionaries over the face of the\nearth; but, alas! the God they profess to worship is an unknown God,\nand this ignorance of God is the legitimate consequence of not having\nimmediate revelation from him, during a _long_ period of near eighteen\nhundred years; and unaided by the spirit of inspiration, the ancient\nscriptures have become a dark and obscure book--their import has been\nwarmly debated by a thousand learned disputants, without any prospect\nof approximation to unity.\n\nA very general conviction concerning the character of God now is, that\nHe is a Being without body, or parts, or passions. A greater absurdity\ncannot be furnished in all the annals of heathenism. Even images of\nwood, and brass, and stone, are scarcely more remote from the picture\nof the true God, than the theory of a passionless, matterless God--an\ninconceivable sort of chaotic being, that is without form, or void,\nor dwelling place! a being whose circumference is everywhere, and his\ncentre nowhere!\n\nAnother theory concerning God, that is entertained by Jewish Rabbies,\nthough of an opposite character, is not much more extravagant than the\ncommon orthodox theory, viz, the Rabbies suppose that God is a Being of\nsome \"_millions of miles in length_.\"\n\nAgain, the popular notion of modern Jews, as expressed in a recent\nnumber of the _Jewish Chronicle_, is, that the Almighty God is a\nBeing of such infinite _dimension_, that He cannot _condense_ himself\nsufficiently to speak to men, or be tangible or visible by mortals.\nAccordingly, when he gives revelation to men, He creates a fictitious\nor imaginary messenger, through whom he communicates his will, and this\nmessenger has no real existence in the eye of God, and _only_ in the\nmomentary perception of the person addressed.--(See _Millennial Star_\nNo. 15, also _Jewish Chronicle_.)\n\nFrom the foregoing it may be seen how grossly ignorant both Jews and\nChristians are of the person of God, the Creator and Saviour of the\nworld! All this, too, in an age of the world boasting of blazing light!\nof a millennial dawn! of the unparalleled march of improvement! but,\nalas! the very God and Father of us all, who ought to be _truly_ known\nin order to be rightly worshipped, is regarded as the most insensible\n(a God without \"_passion_\" must be insensible), and irrational, and\nunattractive as to form, of all beings that can be conceived of; and\nthe most surprising feature in all modern theology in an age of sanity\nis, that this notion concerning the person of God, is deducible from\nthe scriptures of the Old and New Testament.\n\nThe New Testament tells us most unequivocally what kind of person God\nhas, and whether he is a Being having both passion and physical form.\nIt tells whether he can be so \"_condensed_\" as to speak to men, and\nbe seen of them, and talk to them face to face, as a man talks to his\nfellow man. The New Testament declares that in Jesus Christ dwelt the\n\"FULNESS OF THE GODHEAD, BODILY.\"\n\nNow, if the Godhead dwelt in the body of Christ, then it is certain\nthat God is not without a _body_. But He has a body; and what is His\nbody like unto? The New Testament tells us what His body is like. It\nis so nearly and exactly like unto the body of Christ, that there is\nno difference. Paul says, that Christ was the \"_express image of his\nperson_.\" It is then beyond all dispute that the body and person of\nJesus Christ and the Father are alike. Language cannot express the\nsimilitude of the Father and the Son in plainer or stronger terms.\nThen, if we can show from the New Testament what kind of body or\nperson Jesus Christ had, we can also tell what kind of body the Father\nhas, because they are alike. One is the express image of the other.\nIf one has a fleshy material body, the other has the same. If one\nresembles in stature the seed of the woman, the other also wears the\nsame resemblance. If one can be so \"_condensed_\" as to speak and walk,\nand feel and act like a man, the other can do the same. If one wearing\na body of flesh and bones, in all points like unto his brethren,\nis capable of holding all power in heaven and earth, and also of\ndisplaying the brightness of celestial glory, the other can do the same\nin a similar body of flesh and bones.\n\nWell, now, what kind of body or person had Jesus Christ, which\nlooked so much like the Father's person? Was it an airy, invisible,\nevanescent, mystical _nothing_, which some would denominate spirit? No,\nby no means; very much otherwise. Hearken now, my dear sir, and all ye\nreaders, that have an honest desire to _know_ the living and true God,\nand Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, in order that men might know from\nthe person of the Son what is the personal appearance of the Father.\nHe, \"_the Word, was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we beheld his\nglory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace\nand truth_.\" Jesus had a fleshly form like the seed of Abraham, and\nbeing begotten of the Father he partook of his likeness. Men beheld his\nglory in human form, and Paul says that his glory was the glory of the\nFather.\n\nIt appears from the conduct of some of his disciples, that they, like\nsectarian churches now, were tinctured with the idea that Christ, after\nhis death and resurrection, was purely and exclusively a _Spirit_; but\nhe tells them to handle him and see that \"_a Spirit has not flesh and\nbones as ye see me have_.\" And he eat and drank with them as aforetime\nwith his resurrected body, and afterwards ascended up from their midst\nwith the same bloodless body into heaven; and in like manner will he\ncome again.\n\nThus, sir, the notion of a God that is exclusively _Spirit_ without\nbodily form, was banished from the minds of the disciples that saw\nthe bodily image of the Father in the person of the Son after his\nresurrection. From heaven he will come again in like manner, and every\neye shall see him, and they that have pierced him. But the popular\nGod of modern times, that has no body or parts, cannot be seen. But,\nsir, this popular God that has sprung into fashion, since the age of\nrevelation, has no resemblance to Jesus Christ, who has both body and\nparts, and is the exact image of his Father. Jesus Christ declared\nthat he could exercise all power in heaven and earth while he was in\nthe body. His Father could do the same, because they were alike. It\nrequired no extraordinary _condensation_ of the infinity of Jesus in\norder to reveal himself to men, or in order that men should behold his\nglory.\n\nBut we have other proofs that the person of God the Father is like\nthe bodily form of Christ's resurrected person. God has declared that\nman is in his image. Man was created in the image of God, and in the\nlikeness of God; and the bodies of holy men are destined to be like\nunto Christ's own most glorious body; that is as much as to say that\nthey are like the body of Christ in the heavenly state.\n\nIf the foregoing, and many other similar passages of scripture, do not\ngo to show that the Supreme Being bears a personal appearance like unto\nthe person of his Son, and consequently like unto any other resurrected\nbody of a righteous man, then we are in a labyrinth of doubt how to\ninterpret the most plain and unequivocal language. If the language of\nscripture does not bear me out in the conclusion that man is in the\nform of God, then there are no infallible way-marks or criteria by\nwhich I can safely interpret scriptures. And the votaries of Vishnoo\nhave as good scriptural reason to believe in their theory of deific\nannihilation, as others have to believe in a God without body, or\nparts, or passions.\n\nThe scriptures plainly deny both theories, as they do that God is a\nperson some millions of miles in the height of his stature. Common\nsense cannot grasp the idea of any _being_ or _thing_ whatever,\nthat is without body or parts. Even the most subtle and refined\nspirit conceivable, is a _material existence_ as far removed from\nimmateriality as the east is from the west.\n\nNow, sir, suffer me to entreat you to abandon all such crude theories\nconcerning God, which are as baseless and unscriptural as the most\nextravagant vagaries of the heathen, and confine your faith to the\nsimple obvious testimony of Jesus and the prophets. And remember that\nthis is not a subject of little importance; for it is written, that,\n_to know God and Jesus Christ is eternal life_. No man can understand\nthe import of eternal life, nor how it is secured to believers, that\ndoes not _know God_ and Jesus Christ. In God and Christ is eternal\nlife. This life is not barely the perpetuity of existence, for even the\nwicked exist for ever, but it is called in scripture the \"_power_ of\nendless life.\" This _power_ of multiplying or creating life emanated in\nthat Melchizedek priesthood of which Jesus is the head and High Priest.\nThis is the gift of God to men who keep his commandments, and the\ngreatest of all gifts. Unsearchable riches accompany this gift. When\nGod created man, he created him in his own image (male and female), in\norder that he too might have the power of multiplying life after the\norder of Melchizedek, through obedience.\n\nNow, sir, should it not be a matter of delight to you, that man is\ncreated in the image of God, and crowned with glory and honour through\nfaith in Christ. Will not Peter and his fellow-desciples rejoice to\nrecognise that same Jesus who ascended to heaven with a body like their\nown, and if Jesus bears the image of the Father, they will be equally\nfamiliar with the Highest. What is there, sir, that contributes more to\nthe glory of God than his _creative power_, by which he brings myriads\nof living intelligences into being, through whom a chaotic universe is\norganized into works of beauty, taste, grandeur, and glory? All these\ncreations are for the righteous pleasure of Him who created them.\n\nWe all are the offspring of God, and the loyal offspring of God are the\ngreatest delight and concern of God. For them he is ever ready to make\nthe greatest sacrifice possible. Not only is filial reverence displayed\nfrom them to Him, the fountain of life, but by them is shown forth the\nmanifold wisdom and power of God. And when men, by humble obedience,\nbecome worthy of eternal life, the Almighty bestows upon them the like\nprecious _creative gift_. But this gift of life is in his Son, and He\nnever bestows it upon unworthy subjects. Thus by the law of adoption\nmen become the sons and daughters of the Almighty, and receive the\npriestly \"_power of endless life_,\" which is after the order of the\nSon of God. Hence the marvellous language of scripture, \"I said ye\nare God's to whom the word of God came.\" Jesus virtually said on one\noccasion, \"If holy men are the sons of God, and consequently heirs\nto His throne, privileges, and glory, then marvel not that I (Jesus)\nshould claim to be a God or the Son of God!\" For Paul says, \"_there be\nin heaven Gods many, and Lords many, yet to us there is but one God.\nHowbeit there is not in every man that knowledge_.\"\n\nIn conclusion, I will drop a passing remark or two concerning the abode\nor dwelling place of God, with a brief hint of his moral attributes.\nAs Jesus is our light and example, we can learn of the Father's abode\nfrom his Son. The Son ascended up into _heaven_ and to his God and our\nGod. The scriptures abundantly declare that a place called _heaven_ is\nthe peculiar dwelling place of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus\nChrist. Now, if heaven is not a _literal, bona fide place_, but only\nan imaginary phantom, then it follows that Jesus went to no place, but\ncontinued to ascend up, till, in his glorious flight, He reached--\nshall I call it Nichban--an imaginary phantom--or annihilation!\n\nBe not displeased, dear sir, I am not trifling with your religion,\nbut am bound by truth and the love of God, to unfold its naked\nabsurdity, in order that you, my beloved friend, and all good men\nmay recoil from such gross Gentile vagaries, and exclaim, in the\nlanguage of scripture, \"_Our Fathers have inherited lies, vanity,\nand things wherein there is no profit_.\" If you will read carefully\nthe scripture accounts of the visions of holy men, that have been\npermitted to look in upon the heavenly residence of God, where Jesus\nand all the resurrected bodies of the righteous abide, and eat and\ndrink, you will be constrained to acknowledge every appearance of a\nsplendid local abode. Mansions--streets--rivers--trees--precious metals\n--thrones--persons--apparel--animals--ministering personages in all the\ncourtly livery of unspeakable celestial glory! The heaven of all the\nholy prophets!\n\nGod's holy dwelling place, is literal, local, real, and to its\noccupants, it is visible and tangible. It is by no means a matterless,\npassionless, mystical region of extatic and endless songs from the\nlips of immaterial spirits, offered in praise to some Great Spirit,\nequally passionless and immaterially chaotic, spreading infinitely\nthrough all space without centre or circumference. If such is the God\nthat men expect to adore in heaven, mankind would present but a faint\nimage of him, yea, even Jesus, who partook of man's likeness, could not\nhave been the brightness of the Father's glory, and express image of\nhis person. He declares that He has given us an image and likeness of\nhimself in the person of man. But who would ever recognise their Father\nand Jesus in the person of a boundless, centreless being, of no body or\nparts, infinitely expanded.\n\nBut it is sometimes urged that man only resembles God in his moral\nattributes. Morally, says the divine and doctor, man bears the image\nof God. Aye, indeed! The absurdity of such a supposition is still\ngreater. By moral, I must then understand, that the resemblance\nbetween God and man, consists in their being of like social, civil,\nand religious temperament and affection. Other things being equal, a\nholy man as Adam originally was, would cherish the same propensities\nwith God--have a similar sense of justice and truth according to the\nmeasure of knowledge belonging to each. But the absurdity and query\nare here: an immaterial, infinitely expanded God, without physical\nform and locality, is as unlike to man as light to darkness, or as the\nmost diverse animals can be supposed to be, and cannot in the nature\nof things have those sympathies and moral sensibilities that man has.\nMaterial sensibilities must differ from those which are immaterial, as\nmuch as the elements of land and water differ.\n\nMy sheet being full, allow me to subscribe myself\n\nYour friend and servant,\n\nORSON SPENCER.\n\n\n\nLETTER IX.\n\nTHE PRIESTHOOD.\n\n_Liverpool, September_ 30, 1847.\n\nReverend and Dear Sir,--In close connexion with an account of the\ncharacter of God, I will proceed to give you a brief and succint\ndescription of THE PRIESTHOOD. It is feared, however, that the present\nsubject will not be more congenial to your views than the foregoing.\nStill it shall be treated according to the spirit of the scriptures of\nthe Old and New Testament, which you ardently profess to believe.\n\nYou will admit that God is the righteous Ruler over all the moral and\nintelligent creatures of the universe. His government is both temporal\nand spiritual. Not even a sparrow falls to the ground without His\nnotice. He clothes the lilies of the field; much more doth He watch\nover all the varied interests of intelligent beings both in heaven and\nupon earth.\n\nI shall then define priesthood to be that order of authoritative\nintelligences by which God regulates, controls, enlightens, blesses\nor curses, saves or condemns all beings. To it, under God, all things\nare subservient in righteousness, whether in heaven, earth, or hell.\nGod the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is at the head of all genuine\npriesthood. But as it is His will that all men should honour the Son,\neven as they honour the Father, Jesus now stands accredited as the\nApostle and High Priest of our profession. Subordinate priests in the\nsame apostolic order of the Son of God, are such as he has put in his\nchurch. These are called apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers, &c.\n\nNow, sir, by means of this order, extending from Jesus the High\nPriest, to the lowest grade of priesthood in conjunction with the Holy\nGhost, God teaches and governs all things. Out of the line of this\norder, there is no power whatever that is acknowledged and approved\nof God. Magistrates, rulers, kings, potentates and principalities,\nif not legitimately ordained and clothed with the authority of this\npriestly order of the Son of God, are usurpers and not of God--for the\nscriptures declare that there is no power that is not of God. Even the\nangelic order is in the line of subordination to Jesus Christ, and in\nthe same chain of priesthood with apostles and prophets upon the earth.\n\nThe priesthood exhibits a regular gradation of knowledge and authority\nfrom Jesus the great High Priest in heaven, to the lowest description\nof ordination in the church below. Jesus said that \"all power was given\nhim in heaven and upon earth.\" But how did he propose to exercise all\nthat power which was given him both among the nations of the earth\nand in heaven? My answer is, that he proposed to do it through a\ndelegation of power to the different orders of his priesthood. We are\ntold distinctly what the priesthood consists of, which is established\non the earth, viz., apostles, prophets, evangelists, &c. The heavenly\norder, minister to the authorities of the earthly order. The ruling\nobject to be accomplished by the latter is, the work of the ministry,\nthe perfecting of the Saints, the edifying of the body of Christ.\n\nThe first object of this priestly order is to teach all nations to\nbecome loyal and good citizens of the kingdom of God, observing all\nthe commandments of God. One universal commandment of God is, for all\nmen every where to repent and be baptized, and keep all other laws of\nGod, as they shall be dispensed from the great High Priest through\nthe delegated authorities. Now if all men do not obey these commands,\nthey are liable to be dealt with as transgressors, and punished as\nevil doers. The command to obey is imperative upon _all_ men. Hence\nwhatever orders of civil government--or order of domestic compact--or\norder of business transaction--or order of religious worship--or\nrule of commercial transaction may contravene the established order\nof priesthood, the same must bow to the requisition of the inspired\npriesthood of God; and God acknowledges no other power with approbation.\n\nNow, dear sir, it is this imperative attitude of authority and power,\nwhich the Almighty boldly claims, and fearlessly attempts to exercise,\nthrough a chosen priesthood over all mankind, Jews and Gentiles, that\ngreatly displeases the rebellious portion of our race. They cannot bear\nthat this \"man should reign over them.\" False notions of independence\nand liberty rise against an order of delegated authorities claiming\ninspiration and officiality from God. The rebellious profess that they\nare ready to obey the Almighty God, but as for these men claiming\npriesthood, we will not have _them_, to reign over us.\n\nThe abuses practised by an apostate and uncalled priesthood for the\nlast seventeen hundred years, has wrought an honest but wofully\nmisguided prejudice against the true priesthood; and a large portion\nof mankind demand also, that God shall communicate with themselves\ndirectly, without the intervention of agencies chosen from mere men\nlike themselves. And this captious spirit of dictation, as to the\nmanner in which God shall teach and govern them, has been fostered in\ntheir minds by the erroneous notion that God is such a centreless,\nboundless spirit of ubiquity, that he can teach and govern all worlds\nwithout the aid of other agencies. We might as well suppose that he\ncan see without eyes, or hear without ears. But God's being like man,\nthough infinitely exalted above him, and unspeakably perfected in\nevery faculty and power, puts to shame these dark vagaries about the\ninutility of delegated powers.\n\nDuring the whole period of the world, God has ever and invariably\nattempted to teach and govern mankind by means of an established\npriesthood consisting of men; and this priesthood has been as\ninvariably resisted from the days of righteous Abel till now. By this\npriesthood, it is the design of God to establish a Divine government\nupon the earth, even as it is established in the heavens. All other\nforms of government have proved a complete failure in every nation and\nperiod, in which the experiment has been attempted.\n\nBut the most humiliating feature in the whole history of governments\nis, that many have sought to ape the Divine government with an\nuninspired priesthood. They have thereby made every species of\nreligious government a stink and confusion in all the earth. Their\nuninspired systems have been like a fair woman without discretion,\nor like jewels in a swine's snout. Sometimes they have united church\nand state, and swayed a sceptre of oppression; at other times they\nhave been passive and non-resistant, even to the utter extinction of\nthousands whose defenceless blood has crimsoned the earth. But the time\nfor experimenting upon false forms of government, civil or religious,\nhas nearly gone by never to return, \"save for a little season.\"\n\nA priesthood chosen not of men, but chosen first of God, and inspired\nwith his wisdom, truth, and power, is now called and ordained to teach\nall nations, and fill the earth with the knowledge of God. By means\nof this order, and this order alone, the kingdoms of this world,\nwhether temporal or spiritual, pagan or christian, are all to be merged\nin one universal kingdom. And this will be the best and greatest\nkingdom ever known this side of heaven. Its constitution, laws, and\nmethod of administration will be after the model of the heavenly\norder. It will embrace politics, arts, war, merchandize, science, and\nreligion--- things temporal and things spiritual. And the energy and\nwisdom of Omnipotence will, like the little leaven in meal, increase\nand magnify in the priesthood, till the whole world is brought into\nhappy subordination to this plan of government. The nations of the\nearth will then become one family and brotherhood. Kings and rulers,\nof all grades, will then be chosen of God through the priesthood, of\nwhich priesthood rulers will be a part and portion; and without being\nordained to the priesthood, no man ever can rule in this great kingdom.\n\nThus, dear sir, you perceive that I attach great importance to\nthe priesthood, and consider it the grand instrumentality of\nrevolutionizing, and saving, and governing the whole earth. But what\nharm in all this? Do you think there is too much power invested in\nthis chosen order of men? Why, certainly not! They have not chosen\nthemselves; neither have they come to office by the votes of the\nunthinking mass; nor by blind hereditary lineage, nor by violence\nand the usurper's arts. They have been chosen of God, who knew their\nspirits before the foundation of the world. They are a royal priesthood\nand holy nation, for God will have no other in his priesthood. Says\nJesus to his apostles, \"Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you.\"\nWhom God approves men should not refuse.\n\nMoses was a priest and lawgiver, and had to do with the temporal and\nspiritual affairs of his subjects. Moses sought to unite church and\nstate, in obedience to the command of God. Joshua was also a priest\nand ruler, and united both temporal and spiritual interests in his\ngovernment. David was a priest and king, and likewise Solomon, his\nson. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were as much directed, by God, in\ntheir temporal concerns or movements as they were in their spiritual\ndevotions. Jesus Christ came to establish a temporal kingdom fully\nas much as a spiritual kingdom. Both Jews and Romans suspected his\ndesigns, and charged him with the crime of treason. They said that he\ncalled himself a King. Some will say that he explicitly declared that\nHis kingdom was not of this world. True: He did make this declaration;\nbut what does it prove? It proves simply, that this world was not\nthe father, author, or origin of His kingdom. His kingdom was from\n_heaven_, and He had come here for the very important purpose of\nestablishing it on the _earth_. He called it kingdom of heaven, in\ndistinction from kingdoms that were of earthly origin.\n\nIt is strange, indeed, that the sectarian clergy should borrow the\nidea that His kingdom was not a temporal kingdom as well as spiritual.\nIt was the prayer of His heart, and the prayer that He taught His\ndisciples, that God would establish His kingdom on earth, and cause\nHis will to be done here as it is done in heaven. Consequently, he\norganized the kingdom here after the pattern of heaven, with all proper\nofficers, and laws suited to every temporal and spiritual occasion, and\nthen gave commandment that all nations should yield allegiance to the\nlaws and authorities established, and also submit themselves to the\nordinances of His Kingdom. And being in possession of living teachers,\neven the word of inspired men, they (all mankind, if they would obey)\nwould be thoroughly furnished to \"_every good word and work_.\" In\nother words, they would know how to act in every calling and sphere of\nbusiness, whether temporal or spiritual.\n\nJesus Christ did not design that his servants should fight one another,\nor fight and conquer mankind into allegiance to Him. The world would\nact on these principles through disobedience, but his disciples would\nnot, because they were shown a better way to universal dominion and\ngovernment.\n\nThe priesthood being an office of great responsibility, is guarded\nrigidly against intruders. Man may lawfully desire this office, but\nhe has no right to take it of himself, but he must first be called\nand appointed to it as Aaron was, by God, through a prophetic voice.\nNeither is man required to study, and artificially qualify himself for\nreceiving it. God takes men as they are, and with the gift of priestly\noffice He bestows the requisite qualifications. The ordination of\nheaven put upon the head of any man, however ignorant, is a voucher for\nrequisite qualification and blessing. Every man is thereby thoroughly\nfurnished for the discharge of all the duties of his respective\ncalling. They are not all apostles, however, neither are all prophets\nor pastors. But every one has his calling of God, and in the legitimate\nsphere of that calling he acts as God, and in the authority of God.\n\nSome have authority only to baptize unto repentance for remission of\nsins, as John the Baptist. Such can confer no more authority than\nthey possess in themselves. Others have authority to bless, and whom\nthey bless are blessed in very deed. They have similar authority to\ncurse, and whom they curse are cursed in very deed. Jacob blessed his\nsons, and the heavens sealed and confirmed the same upon their heads.\nPaul cursed Elymas, the sorcerer, with blindness, and the same curse\nwas sealed and confirmed upon him immediately. Elisha cursed Gehazi,\nhis servant, and leprosy cleaved to him from that time. Elijah shut\nup the windows of heaven that it rained not for the space of three\nyears and six months, by the same delegated power, and again they were\nopened at his voice. He was a man of like passions with ourselves. All\nmen are not ordained to this power, and when they are not, they are\nwholly incapable of exercising it. It is office that gives recognition\nand legality to a deed of conveyance and ownership. It is divine\nappointment and official calling that gives efficacy to the priesthood.\nBut many generations have contented themselves to preach and support\npreachers who have no divine appointment.\n\nThe consequence is, that men have been self-appointed to the ministry\nand spread dissention and confusion abroad. The knowledge of the true\nand living God has gradually receded from the earth, and darkness,\neven gross darkness, covered the people. The ordinances that impart\nhealing virtue and the power and light of truth, have either been\nchanged or abolished. The apostolic office has been counted as a thing\nout of date, and the spiritual gifts as being done away. The religious\nworld has been too much like King Saul. After he had been forsaken of\nGod, and the power and Spirit of his anointing given to David, this\nunhappy monarch resorted to every miserable device, (even to the aid of\nwitches), in order to obtain knowledge and influence. But the curse of\ndisobedience followed him to the day of his death.\n\nThe religious sects, in like manner, have resorted to seminaries\nand the polish of schools--also to the theological comments of\ntime-honoured fathers, (who were as ignorant as themselves) ever\nlearning, yet never coming to the knowledge of truth. Bibles have\nbeen translated again and again; learned volumes have been written\nin explanation, and even wars have been instigated by the supposed\ndefenders of the faith, and the earth crimsoned by human gore. All\nthese evils and curses have arisen from a spurious priesthood.\n\nIn view of these things, is it not time, sir, to let God resume the\nreins of government and once more establish a holy priesthood, which\nshall be after the calling of Aaron, and after the order and power of\nendless life. That this may be the unfeigned choice of all who seek\nafter God, is the continued prayer of\n\nYour old friend and servant,\n\nORSON SPENCER.\n\n\n\nLETTER X.\n\nON GATHERING.\n\n_Liverpool, October 13_, 1847.\n\nReverend and Dear Sir,--You have doubtless been ready to ask, time and\nagain, why this GATHERING together of such large bodies of Saints? Why\ncan they not stay in their former residences, like other christians?\nAnd may they not do more good to their fellow-men by scattering about\namongst the people promiscuously? Why, go away off to some distant\npart of the earth? is not the Almighty God to be found as much in one\nplace as another? Furthermore, says one, it is exceedingly dangerous to\ncommunity at large to allow any large body of people, of the same faith\nand doctrine, to assemble themselves in any one place, their influence\nbeing rendered formidable by reason of concentration and union.\n\nMy dear sir, have not cogitations like these passed through your\nmind, and been reiterated in your hearing more than once, concerning\nLatter-day Saints? Delusion! delusion! is reiterated on many sides.\nWhat can these Latter-day Saints mean--selling out their possessions at\nso great a sacrifice, and leaving a comfortable and pleasant home for a\nfar distant land, even crossing the wide Atlantic! Has there been the\nlike fanaticism since the time of the crusades? On the land, hundreds\nof wagons, yea thousands in all, are seen rolling their whitened canvas\nover the wide prairies, accompanied by their flocks and herds; and on\nthe ocean a multitude of ships are wafting the inhabitants of distant\nislands and continents to the same destination!\n\nNow, I propose to meet these inquiries and reflections promptly and\nfairly. In the first place, if the church is guided by the spirit of\nrevelation, God, the author of all true revelation, knows what is good\nfor his people, and He will not require them to _gather_ without good\nand sufficient reasons. For the church that is not guided by the spirit\nof sacred inspiration, is guided by mammon or the devil; for every\nchurch will serve God or mammon. Well, says one, I don't believe that\nGod ever did, or ever will, require people to gather together and leave\ntheir country and kindred. Aye, indeed; but you believe the Bible, I\ntrust, which informs you not only how God _has_ gathered his people\nin different periods of the world, but also, that He will gather them\ntogether in the dispensation of the fulness of times.\n\nDo I need to remind you, sir, that God required Abraham to rise up and\nleave his country and kindred, and go in search of a country that he\nshould afterwards show him. He was obedient, and went from one country\nto another, the Lord being his counsellor and guide. The ancient\nsaints and prophets generally were \"strangers\" in consequence of being\ncalled to leave their home and country. Their obedience to such a\ncall, through faith, constituted them heirs of an inheritance. Abraham\nbecame an heir of the country which he was not permitted to possess in\ntime, but he will hold the same in eternity, with a city built upon it\naccording to the counsel of God.\n\nIn the dispensation given to Moses, he was required to gather the\npeople out of all the land of Egypt, and take them to the land\nof Canaan; and what was very remarkable, he was required to slay\nand destroy the inhabitants, in order to make room for the great\n_gathering_ of the Hebrews. The children of God and the people of this\nworld cannot dwell together; they are always contrary one to the other.\n\nWhat fellowship hath Christ with Belial, or believers with unbelievers?\nThe Egyptians could have no fellowship with the Hebrews after they\nwere told that a prophet had sprung up among them. The Hebrews told\na marvellous tale about the Lord appearing to Moses in the \"burning\nbush.\" They pretended to have revelation and work miracles as in the\nearly days of Potipher and Joseph; but this pretension to angels,\nprophets, and miracles, speedily sundered all ties of harmony and\nfellowship, and it was necessary for the Hebrews to leave the country.\nGod required it of them, and even ordered them into an unpromising\nwilderness, to be subject to hunger, and thirst, and many hardships.\n\nThe same spirit of opposition to miracles, prophets, and angels exists\nnow; and the righteous can no more keep the ordinances and commandments\nof God now, without persecution even to death from the world, than the\nHebrews could do it. For the same reason Lot _gathered_ out of Sodom\n--even angels could not stop a night in Sodom without being mobbed;\naccordingly, the Lord commanded him to gather up so many as would\ngo with him and flee to the mountain. His reason for the gathering\nin this case was, that He could not properly punish the Sodomites,\nunless the righteous were gathered out of the city in the first place.\nLikewise, when Jerusalem was about to be destroyed, Jesus instructed\nhis disciples to flee to the mountain.\n\nIt was persecution that scattered the primitive Saints abroad in the\ndays of Jesus. Jesus had taught Paul and Peter, that the Saints could\nnot be preserved on the earth, and the kingdom built up, without the\nSaints were gathered together in one. He told them, absolutely and\nunequivocally, that he should gather the disciples in the day of\nrestitution. Such was their sense of the immediateness of gathering,\nand of the second coming of Christ, that they were troubled when the\ndisciples were _gathered_, lest the day of the Lord was at hand; but\nPaul disabused them, and told them that there must be a \"falling away\"\nbefore the notable day of the Lord should come.\n\nPaul informed his brethren, that in the dispensation of the fulness of\ntimes, God would gather together in one, all things both in heaven and\nupon earth and under the earth. John speaks of the same, probably as\nthe day of the great battle of God Almighty, Jesus signified that He\nwould gather his people, the elect, even if he had to send his angels\nto the four corners of the earth to bring them, after the manner in\nwhich he sent to Sodom to bring Lot out of it to a place of safety. He\ndeclared he would gather the wheat into the garner, and the tares into\nbundles to be burned. The prophets, too, long before the meridian of\ntime, saw with enrapturing vision, the sons coming from afar, and the\ndaughters from the ends of the earth.\n\nIsaiah says, \"the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the\nbrightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see,\nall they _gather_ themselves together, they come to thee; thy sons\nshall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.\nThen shalt thou see and flow together, and thine heart shall fear and\nbe enlarged, because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto\nthee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. Who are these\nthat fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? Surely the\nisles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy\nsons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name\nof the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel. And the sons of\nstrangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto\nthee, that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles. And he\nshall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts\nof Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the corners\nof the earth.\"\n\nThe gathering of Saints to one place is necessary in order to preserve\ntheir genealogies, and to secure to them those inheritances, the title\nto which must be substantiated by legitimate records, kept in the\narchives of the house of God. Whenever God has had a people. He has\nbeen careful to instruct them to keep an accurate record of marriages\nand the issues of marriage; from Adam to Noah, and from Noah to\nAbraham, and thence to David down to Jesus Christ, the genealogy must\nnecessarily be preserved. Says David, \"God setteth people in families\nas a flock.\" \"He arrangeth them in families.\" But if these families\nintermarry with those who do not keep the laws of God, nor conform to\nhis ordinances, the records of genealogy are soon obliterated from the\nknowledge of men, and the proof of a legitimate title to inheritance is\nthereby extinct; and unless Saints are gathered out from the midst of\nunbelievers, they are more liable to intermarry and become alienated\nfrom the ordinances and covenants of the Lord. If Isaac and Ishmael\nhave no records of parentage, how can one claim rights of lineage above\nanother? God will assign rewards to men according to the _records_ of\ntheir deserts, and one great pre-requisite to the final restitution\nof all things, is the reviving and establishing of proper records of\ngenealogy, and covenants, and promises, and patriarchal blessings.\n\nIn one instance God had to rescind the marriages of a numerous people,\nbecause such marriages, by their issue, would tend to frustrate the\ngrace of God to the righteous, and entail blessings upon a strange\npeople that God designed to curse. The ordinances of the church and\ninstitutions of God's house cannot be carried into execution in a land\nbelonging to \"aliens from the commonwealth of Israel;\" because aliens\nfrom God will not have the Lord to rule over them. They consider that\nthe laws of God set two against three, and three against two, the\nfather-in-law against the son-in-law, &c.; and so do they have this\neffect, and always will have it, until the Saints are separated from\ntheir adversaries. Before there can be anything like a true, godlike,\npeaceful millennium, a separation must take place between the righteous\nand disobedient; even as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats,\neven so must God's will be done with friends and foes on earth, like as\nin heaven.\n\nHad the Jews received Jesus Christ, He would have set up just such a\nkingdom on earth as in heaven, and the honest from all nations would\nhave been _gathered_ to his standard. But seeing they would pierce the\nShepherd, and scatter the sheep through a long cloudy day, as it had\nbeen prophesied of Him and his followers; He, nevertheless, assured his\ndisciples that his people should be _gathered_, in the latter days, as\nwheat into the garner. John says to the Saints in the last days, that\nare scattered among the confused nations of the whole earth:--\"_Come\nout of her my people, and be not partakers of her sins, that ye receive\nnot of her plagues_.\" Here the reason why Saints should come out of\nother nations is distinctly avowed--\"to escape her plagues.\" The same\nreason that was assigned why Lot should go out of Sodom.\n\nThe idea prevalent that God would inflict all his judgments in one\ngreat tremendous DAY, is as absurd as the notion is universal. The\nfamine and dearth were at the command of Elijah. The earthquake that\nswallowed up Dathan and the company of Abiram, was at the command of\nMoses. Moses also stretched out his hand as a signal to the accumulated\nseas to overwhelm the Egyptians, and they obeyed his mandate. But I\nwill not multiply proofs. God will pour out his vials of wrath, and\ndistress the nations till they will learn and practice righteousness;\nand his people must flee to their appointed hiding place till the\nindignation is overpast, otherwise they have no guaranty for their\nsafety. The Hebrews were obliged to mark their houses, lest the\ndestroying angel should slay both them and the Egyptians. The Lord\nGod has decreed a consumption upon the whole earth, therefore let the\nrighteous flee to the strongholds of Zion, that are preparing in that\nland that was promised to the Patriarch Joseph, while it is an accepted\ntime, and the evil days come not.\n\nJesus cautioned Jerusalem saints to beware of imitating the silly and\ndilatory part of Lot's wife. The righteous are no more secure from\napproaching judgments than the wicked, except they obey the commands\nof God. Even a prophet was once slain by a lion, because he dared to\ndisobey the Lord. No man should neglect any means by which he can be\nremoved, and help to remove others, from those nations that are as\ninevitably doomed to destruction for rebellion, as the Canaanites of\nformer times.\n\nSir, we feel the very same extraordinary interest in depositing our\nvery bones in the land of Zion, that the patriarchs formerly felt when\nthey commanded that their bones should be removed, to the country and\nburying place which God had designated. If there is enthusiasm in this\nsentiment, sir, it is the enthusiasm of patriarchs and prophets that\nkept the divine mandates, and knew well the order of the resurrection,\nand the necessity of having their bones laid on the identical land that\nshould afterwards be their possession and inheritance for ever and\never. Did not the Lord apportion off the land of Canaan to the twelve\ntribes to be their inheritance for ever? and shall not the one hundred\nand forty-four thousand in the latter days be equally tenacious to\npossess the very inheritance that was promised them to be a perpetual\npossession in time and eternity? There, their bones, like the precious\nvalley of dry bones, will be the guardian care of angels, and in the\nresurrection stand up like a consolidated army, while the disobedient\nand ungodly shall be scattered and driven as chaff before the wind.\n\nThe aged and infirm among us, fervently desire to carry their bones,\nwhile animated with life, to the land of Zion, as an expression of\ntheir faith in the promise of God, that he will resurrect them and\nplant them in that same \"heavenly\" country which they now seek. What\nCanaan was to ancient saints and prophets, the land of Joseph will be\nto the saints and prophets of the last days, and more abundantly. If\nmen have not the spirit of gathering they are blind and cannot see afar\noff, and are nigh unto burning. The gathering is one great test of\nfaith, by which you may know who is on the Lord's side. Kindred spirits\nlong to congregate together.\n\nThe language of Ruth is expressive of the desires of God's people in\nall ages. \"Thy people is my people, and their God is my God, and where\nthou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge.\" Her sister\nOrpah could forego the society of saints and the ordinances of God\nsooner than part with her native country and kindred. A portion of\nLot's family saw no wisdom in the _gathering_ until it was too late.\nSir, the _gathering_ is the great universal national _preacher_ of the\nlast days. It speaks in trumpet tones out of every nation where it has\nbeen commenced. As birds retire before a storm, and fowls before the\ndarkness of night, so the multitudes that go out by sea and land is a\npractical warning that cannot be mistaken by those that remain.\n\nThe nations wonder at the spectacle of such multitudes going out of\ntheir midst under the warning voice of Jehovah, and are ready to cry\nout, who are these that fly as clouds and as doves to their windows?\nWho are these Latter-day Saints? What is their doctrine, and whither\nare they fleeing? The sound of the gathering goeth into all the earth.\nThe fear and dread of approaching calamities take possession of the\nnations. The righteous are being withdrawn apart, in order that the\nAlmighty may stretch out his chastening hand, and inflict his sore\njudgment upon rebellious nations. There is no room to mistake the faith\nand sincerity of those whose gathering together is without a parallel\nfor magnitude of enterprise. The Israelites performed a journey that\nmight have been compassed in about forty days, but the Latter-day\ngathering brings sons and daughters from the ends of the earth.\n\nThe great design of Jesus in bringing the righteous to _unity_ of\nfaith and the knowledge of God, is wonderfully facilitated by bringing\nthe righteous together in one place. The ancient Jews were taught of\nGod to build up Jerusalem as a place of _gathering_; and those whose\ncircumstances forbid them to locate there, either from political or\nagricultural interests, were required to visit Jerusalem at least\nthree times a year, where they could interchange hospitalities and\nfriendships, and contract matrimonial alliances, &c. Also, in addition\nto these facilities of union, their baptisms were to be performed in\nthe national font; their marriage rites, and records of genealogy, were\nto be performed and deposited in the archives of the great Temple of\nthe Lord at Jerusalem.\n\nIn this great city of gathering, their frequent and splendid national\nfestivals were to be held from generation to generation. By these\nmultiplied means, the union of Jews became proverbially strong; and\ntheir attachments to their nation and kindred, and national rights and\nusages, became as enduring as their existence. If, perchance, they\nshould be scattered amongst the remote nations of the earth, still the\nrecollection of their journeyings to Jerusalem in social groups--their\nsplendid festivals at the national capitol--their royal affinity with\nthe great and good of God's people--vibrated through their minds with\nresuscitating power. There it was that the Almighty condescended to\nreveal his acceptance of their sacrifices, and bless the people from\nthe greatest to the least, and even speak to the people through their\nHigh Priest at least once a year.\n\nNow, when God shall build up Zion and his Holy House in the tops of\nthe mountains, and all nations flow into it, will He not appear in his\nglory? Such a measure of union, and strength of attachment to the Lord\nand his people, the last days will exhibit as was never before realized\non the earth; then will Zion rise and shine, her light being come, and\nthe glory of God being risen upon her--yea, be an eternal excellency\nand the praise and joy of the whole earth!\n\nWho, sir, can contemplate the glory of Zion, when God shall have\ngathered his people from the four corners of the earth, and made\nof them a great nation, an \"innumerable company,\" and blessed them\nwith his own laws and ordinances, binding them together in a new and\neverlasting covenant, without the most thrilling emotions of love,\ngratitude, and joy in believing. Break out, O thou inhabitant of\nZion, and sing for the glory that shall shortly be revealed; when the\nkingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of Christ, and the\nstakes thereof shall no more be thrown down for ever!\n\nNow, sir, in conclusion, may I not say, with all deference to the\nmisguided teachers of modern christianity, that the Lord is performing\na marvellous work and a wonder in the greatest of all gatherings since\nthe foundation of the world. He is gathering his righteous hosts from\nthe nations of the earth to one place, and setting his forces in battle\narray against the powers of darkness, and against all flesh that exalts\nitself against the knowledge of God. And by truth, and by judgments, he\nwill thoroughly cleanse the earth, and overthrow more wickedness in ten\nyears to come, than blind, boasting, self-righteous modern christianity\ncan in ten thousand years.\n\nPlease to accept my warmest desires for your present and everlasting\npeace and welfare.\n\nYour humble servant,\n\nORSON SPENCER.\n\n\n\nLETTER XI.\n\nTHE LATTER-DAY JUDGMENTS.\n\n_Liverpool, October_ 28, 1847.\n\nReverend and Dear Sir,--THE LATTER-DAY JUDGMENTS, the subject of my\npresent letter, deserve a careful consideration among the topics\npeculiar to Latter-day Saints.\n\nYou must be already aware that it is a part of my faith that God\ndesigns to set up his kingdom _on the earth_, in order that the meek\nmay inherit the _earth_ as their celestial abode; and as He will not\nemploy His enemies to administer even temporal affairs within the\nbounds of His kingdom, His kingdom will consequently be a temporal\none, and wholly and exclusively conducted by His own loyal subjects,\naccording to His righteous will. He will proceed from conquest to\nconquest, until all other kingdoms are overthrown and merged in\none--even His own kingdom.\n\nThe means by which he will subdue and overcome the nations of the\nearth are two, viz.. TRUTH and JUDGMENT. He explicitly declares,\nthat He will lay _judgment_ to the line and _righteousness_ to the\nplummet. His latter-day proclamation is, \"Fear God and give glory to\nHim, for the hour of His judgment is come.\" The salvation that He\noffers is temporal, spiritual, and eternal; and the judgments which He\nwill inflict are also similar. As a supreme lawgiver, He claims the\nsubmission of all the inhabitants of the earth. Nor is it necessary that\nHis servants should be for ever preaching the gospel on the earth, in\norder to effect a universal reconciliation of all men to their God. All\nmen will not obey the truth, therefore what the truth will not save\nthrough faith, God's judgments will destroy through their unbelief. And\nthese judgments will be executed speedily, even as in the days of Noah\nand Lot. God formerly gave the inhabitants timely warning before the\ndeluge came, and before the fire descended from heaven.\n\nThe gospel must first be preached, and then the judgments will follow\nin quick succession. Even as a chalk-line makes an impression for\nthe saw and the chisel, so God's judgments will make an impression,\nsensible and summary. The day of vengeance has long been in His heart.\nA day when His jealousy and wrath shall burn like fire, even to the\nlowest hell. The wicked and diabolical spirits will be pursued, even\nto their dens of darkness, and there scourged and bound. The righteous\nveterans that have long since fought and bled, in order to establish\na reign of righteousness and truth on the earth, and prayed with\nuplifted hands for this day of truth and judgment, their language is,\n\"How long, O Lord, wilt thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell\non the earth?\" But God, who is long-suffering--not willing that any\nshould perish, but rather that they should repent and be saved--has\nnevertheless reserved the worst spirits to the day of wrath and the\nrevelation of the righteous judgment of God. That day is even now\ndawned. God has commenced to reveal his wrath against all them that\nobey not the gospel. It is a day of revelation and prophecy.\n\nThe righteous are timely advised to gather out and separate themselves\nfrom those that will not obey the gospel. They are not disobedient to\nthe great revelation of mercy to them that obey, and of wrath to them\nthat are contentious and obey not the truth. The winds and waves are\nwafting thousands to the land of refuge. The prairies and wilderness\nreverberate with the songs of the outcast but chosen and elect ones\nof God. A more intelligent, enterprising, and bold race of Saints,\nperhaps, has never been summoned to the help of the Lord against the\nmighty, since the foundation of the world. Their fortitude, patience,\nand invincibility are indelibly written in their bloodstained pathway\nthrough Missouri and Illinois. The old arts of tormenting the sick\nby burning their houses, and of famishing the robust by plundering\ntheir crops, and forcing the sale of property by threats of murder and\narson, are fruitless. Prison walls and tragic scenes of assassination\nand expatriation have spent their fury to no purpose. The daring\nsons of Pharaoh, Cain, and Judas are baffled and confounded at such\ngodlike firmness. Occasionally a priest, goaded on by the loss of his\nflock, has dared to act as champion, and throw the gauntlet for public\ndiscussion, but the inevitable discomfiture that has followed, has\ntaught him the superior policy of evading discussion. But, dear sir, no\nman can long be a neutral in this warfare. He must choose his side. If\ntruth fails to bring down high looks, judgments will not fail. Those\njudgments which begun at the house of God, in Kirtland, Independence,\nand Nauvoo, have been seriously felt by the Saints of God. But if the\nrighteous scarcely escape, where shall the sinner and ungodly appear?\nThe latter-day judgments that shall befall their enemies will be far\nmore insupportable and abiding.\n\nThere was no part of the United States ignorant of the murderous doings\nof their countrymen towards the Latter-day Saints. The news spread over\nthe continent, and reached even the remote islands of the Pacific with\nalmost telegraphic speed. Nobody that loved justice, or felt the bowels\nof humanity, had the least need to be ignorant of the distress, and\nfamine, and sickness, and nakedness that were inflicted on the innocent\nworshippers of the only true God by their countrymen. Presidents and\ngovernors, judges and lawyers, priests, physicians, and common people,\nall were made acquainted with the diabolical outrages. They were not\nonly warned but _forewarned_. What has been the consequence? For the\nlast sixteen years the fluctuations of business have been like the\ntroubled ocean. Panic and depression have been as successive as light\nand darkness, with the exception of incalculable irregularity and\nconfusion. In the place of wealth there has followed bankruptcy; for\npeace, national war; and for the blood of one murdered servant of God,\nthere has been tens, and even hundreds, laid weltering in their gore.\nSome of the best blood of the nation (so accounted) has been demanded\nby Him that said, touch not my prophets and do my anointed no harm. The\nword of the Lord to all Israel, on the eve of the Carthage tragedy,\nwas, if they (the enemy) begin to shed blood, the sword shall waste the\nblood of the nation. And how are the sons of the mighty fallen? What\nwailing and lamentation are heard from high places over distinguished\nslaughtered Americans! And the end is not yet.\n\nBut what shall I say of time-honoured orthodoxy? Poor creature! Her\nglory is being fast turned into shame. Many of her lovers are forsaking\nher, and the balance are too sleepy to wake up. They refuse to be\nfascinated, notwithstanding all her meritricious arts. Education,\ntracts, missions, and moral reform, are a vain thing for strength. The\nLord is a jealous God, and will not give His glory to another gospel;\nbut he will curse all the systems of men that are built upon human\nprecepts merely, without the authority of immediate revelation. The\nvarious systems of modern christianity are cursed already, wherever the\ntrue gospel is proclaimed. That sincerity, fidelity, and zeal, which\nyour churches and your preachers once had, is taken away from them; and\nyour preachers have no longer power to preach with effect. The reason\nand cause of all this is, the true light has come; consequently, they\nhave no longer any apology for upholding systems of error and false\nreligions. The Spirit of God will be withdrawn from your ministry and\nyour churches, just in proportion as the true light shines and the true\ngospel is rejected.\n\nWhen the devout Jews rejected the novel doctrines of Jesus and his\napostles, the virtues which they previously possessed either withered\nup or were withdrawn from them, and communicated to Infidels or\nGentiles. So it is now. While the devout priests and churches reject\nthe gospel ministered by an angel to Joseph, and confirmed by the signs\nfollowing, their former virtuous principles forsake them. They become\nfilled with the spirit of envy, hatred, and malice towards the Saints.\nThey retail groundless slanders, and often are foremost in instigating\nmobs, refusing common civilities and hospitality to the servants of\nthe Most High; and so sanguine is their opposition, that they even\nbelieve it would be well for the cause of religion, if the Saints\nwere exterminated and put to death. So believed the devout Jews, who\npersecuted the prophets and slew the Holy and Just One. Thus, by step\nafter step, the professedly pious are brought to become accessory to\nblood-guiltiness, and bring upon themselves all the blood that has been\nshed from the days of righteous Abel till now.\n\nOh! my much-loved friend, will you not shudder at the sight of such a\ncatastrophe before the modern churches? What an awful curse! Given up\nby God to believe Saints to be sinners, and then to war against them\neven to blood-guiltiness! Strange and deplorable infatuation! One would\nthink that the snares and pitfalls into which God precipitated ancient\npersecutors, would prove an effectual warning to modern persecutors\nto beware how they plunged themselves into a worse destruction! Oh,\nhow great the severity of God towards them that strive with their\nMaker, and spurn the faith once delivered to the Saints as no longer\nneeded! The very _religion_ of modern christianity is now about as\ngreat a curse as can be inflicted upon its possessors, without doing\nviolence to their power of agency. It is the prolific cause of judicial\nblindness and hardness of heart. A false religion is worse than no\nreligion, because it is a lure and a lullaby, that excludes true\nreligion from taking effect.\n\nModern religion rejects immediate revelation; consequently, all that\nknowledge that flows from visions and dreams, and the ministry of\nangels, and the prophetic inspiration of the Holy Ghost. A greater\ncurse cannot well be conceived. There never was a people that lived\na hundred years, or even fifty years, without immediate revelation\nfrom God, but they fell into gross darkness and contention, and those\nhurtful lusts that drown men's souls in perdition. There never was a\npeople that survived the gift and blessing of immediate revelation\nany considerable length of time, except they fell into idolatry and\nworshipped strange gods; and their sorrows shall be multiplied that\nhasten after strange gods. All Israel fell into the worship of Baal,\nand hundreds of them became prophets to Baal. They, indeed, were\nthe descendants of the mightiest Saints that ever lived, such as\nAbraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, &c. They had in their possession\nthe writings and traditions of their fathers, but still they were\ncursed because they rejected the knowledge of God through immediate\nrevelation. They became like blind men groping in the dark. They taught\ntheir children to rebel against prophets and miraculous gifts.\n\nModern christians, with the Bible in their hands, are in as gross\ndarkness as the worshippers of Baal. The god they worship is no more\nlike the person of Christ, or the person of a man, than Baal was.\nTheir order of church authorities and church gifts, and ordinances of\nhealing and anointing, are probably about as remote from the apostolic\npattern, as the worship of Mahomet or Vishnu is. Do not believe, sir,\nfor a moment, that I intend, by this humiliating remark, any disrespect\nto the supporters of modern christianity. No: God forbid. As good a\nman as Paul the apostle was once as vehemently opposed to immediate\nrevelation and spiritual gifts as you are, or any other abettors of\nmodern christianity; but, by timely repentance, he escaped that awful\ncurse of aversion to the only means of knowing the only true and living\nGod. But multitudes of his countrymen still adhered to the belief that\nthe gift of revelation had ceased, and prophets and miracles were no\nlonger necessary. And you firmly believe that the curse indescribable\nhas followed them to this day. Oh! how astonishing it is that you, sir,\nand your high-minded associates in modern christendom, should plunge\ninto the same doleful abyss--reject the same doctrines and ordinances,\nas no longer necessary, and entail the same curse upon your children\nfor generations to come! In this you are fighting against Jehovah.\nEvery year and every day while you persist, the darkness of your minds\nwill become more gross, and you will bring the worst passions into the\nfield of conflict against the Saints. God will withdraw his Spirit\nfrom you, and you will ultimately be forced, through weakness and\nmultiplied divisions and contentions, to unite the scattered fragments\nof sectarianism on some common platform of anti-scriptural invention.\nOn this platform, and with this consolidated power of anti-Christ, the\ngreat battle is destined to be fought that shall silence the spirit of\nanti-revelation for a thousand years!\n\nAlas! the deplorable destiny of those that war against prophets and\napostles, and the spirit and power of primitive godliness! Such, in all\nformer ages of the world, have been cursed with wars, conflagration,\nfamine, pestilence, and the vagaries of an oppressive superstition.\nBut, in the latter days, God has decreed a consumption upon the whole\nearth. The religion that is not based on the immediate interposition of\nthe wisdom and power of God, from day to day, and time to time, will\nnot, cannot, and shall not stand, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken\nit, and let all the inhabitants of the earth hear it. Yea, sir, such\nreligions shall be as the chaff which the wind driveth away, even as\nthe small dust of the threshing-floor. God despises the religion that\nprofesses to flourish without the aid of constant revelation from the\nheavens; and he will shoot out the hot arrows of his wrath against it,\nuntil there is not a vestige or semblance of it left on the face of the\nwhole earth. The potsherds may strive with the potsherds of the earth,\nbut wo unto him that striveth with his Maker!\n\nAlas the day, when God shall withdraw his Spirit from all flesh! Then\nconfidence between man and his fellow, will give place to distrust; and\njealousy, evil surmising, hatred, robbery, and blood-guiltiness will\nspread their direful influence through all communities! The cords of\ndomestic union will be severed! The weak will be compelled to bow to\nthe yoke of the strong--might will become the strongest pretext for\nright! The carcases of the poor and infirm will bleach uncovered upon\nthe earth! The stench of putrefaction will impregnate the atmosphere\nwith poisonous pestilence; insects and noisome creatures will breed\ninnumerably to the annoyance of man! \"The sword shall devour from\none end of the earth to the other,--the earth shall be soaked in\nblood,\"--the rivers shall become bloody, and the fountains of water\nshall no longer be pure. Many that lie down at night shall not awake\nin the morning. The fruitful field shall become sterile and barren,\nbecause no man knoweth for whom his fruits are growing. \"The earth\nbecometh empty and desolate.\" The master and servant are brought to a\nlevel. The priest is as void of consolation as the people. Paleness and\nfear are depicted on every human face. Traffic in merchandize, as a\nbusiness, is wholly abandoned. Men cease to sow and to plough, in hope.\nNever before did the Almighty commence such an awful warfare against\nthe inhabitants of the earth; never before was there witnessed such a\nsuccession of plagues and dire calamities amongst men!\n\nAfter peace is taken from the earth, an agent, by the name of Death\n(probably invisible except to spirits and such as have the spirit\nof revelation) will go forth on the face of the earth and destroy\none-fourth part of mankind. In the midst of this destruction of\none-fourth of mankind, martyred Saints will ask the Lord to hasten\nthe work of human destruction. An earthquake, and the lapse of stars\nfrom heaven, then begin to destroy the frail tenure of human hope; and\neven the great men, and mighty and chief captains become desperate,\nlike the most effeminate and pusillanimous. Every successive plague\nis increasingly awful and unendurable. The plagues that fell upon\nEgypt will sink into insignificance and fade out of memory before the\nplagues which were shown to the revelator John, and which shall usher\nin the final consummation of the \"mystery of God.\" The opening of\nthe \"bottomless pit\" is followed with three woes which are inflicted\nupon men, and which are suited to the incorrigible condition of such\nobdurate spirits as no inferior engines of torment and destruction\ncould subdue. But neither the torment inflicted by the sting of the\nlocusts, like unto scorpions; nor that which is inflicted by the horses\nof that great army of two millions, whose mouths emit fire, smoke, and\nbrimstone, and whose tails, being like serpents having heads, destroy\nboth before and behind wherever they go; yet none of these things will\nlead these latter-day enemies to new revelations, unto repentance.\n\nNow, sir, in conclusion, I have endeavoured, briefly, to direct\nyour mind to the vortex of indescribable calamities into which the\nsentiments of modern christianity are calculated to precipitate all\nwho know not God (by immediate revelation), and obey not the gospel\nrevealed from heaven in this our day--a day of mercy and judgment.\n\nWith fervent desires that you and your posterity may escape the day of\nwrath, and seek for glory, and honour, and immortality, I subscribe\nmyself\n\nYour old friend and servant,\n\nORSON SPENCER.\n\n\n\nLETTER XII.\n\nON THE RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS.\n\n_Liverpool, November_ 14, 1847.\n\nReverend and Dear Sir.--THE RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS, is a subject\ndeserving rather a volumious treatise than the contracted limits of a\nsingle letter; still some out-standing features of this very prominent\npart of scripture revelation shall be briefly touched upon. _The\napostle says that the heavens must receive (Jesus) until the times of\nthe restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of\nall his holy prophets since the world began_.\n\nBy the term restitution, the scriptures mean putting all things on a\npermanent and righteous basis. All things are not, and never have been\non a righteous basis since the fall of Adam.\n\nAfter the expulsion of Lucifer and his associates from heaven, order\nand harmony were restored, and the everlasting system of progressive\nintelligence and felicity again established on an immutable basis, so\nfar as heaven was concerned. And even among the third part of heaven,\ndrawn away by the apostacy of Lucifer, there might possibly have been\nsome persons capable of ultimate restoration in the interminable ages\nof futurity. Of this, however, it may, perhaps, be said that no man\nknoweth. No man, surely can know unless it is revealed to him from\nheaven. The possibility, however, of redeeming all flesh from the\ntransgression laid upon mankind in this mortal state, through obedience\nto the gospel, is abundantly revealed in the scriptures. However wrong\nmay have been the conduct and opinions of the inhabitants of the earth,\nobedience to the gospel will reinstate them in the course of permanent\nfelicity, intelligence, and righteousness.\n\nThere are _particular_ and _set times_ for the restitution of all those\nthings which God has spoken of by the prophets. God hath spoken of the\nsubject of restitution by _all_ the prophets since the world began;\nindeed there never was a prophet on the earth whose business did not\nengage him more or less in the work of restitution. But long periods\nhave elapsed on the earth in which no prophets have been known. During\nsuch periods the work of restitution has invariably ceased. Iniquity\nand misery have been made to abound, and gross darkness has spread over\nall people. But at _particular_ periods God would raise up prophets,\nand then the work of restitution would commence and continue until the\nprophets were slain or otherwise removed from the earth. It is during\nsuch particular _times_ of restitution in the latter days, that even\nJesus himself may appear from the heavens, in order to give direction\nand mighty impulse to the work of restitution. Noah was raised up\nto stay the progress of wickedness and build up the waste places.\nWickedness was swept off the earth according to his prophecyings and\nteachings, and a race of righteous men put in the place of the wicked\nto people the earth. It was also a time of restitution when Abraham\nwas commissioned to reform mankind by truth and judgment, teaching\nthem to walk in the old paths of revelation and immediate and constant\nintercourse with the heavens.\n\nAgain, in mercy God raised up Moses, and recommenced the same work of\nrestitution which was subsequently undertaken by John the Baptist,\nunder the immediate supervision of Jesus himself. But it was not\ncompetent for any one prophet, in the short period of his ministry on\nthe earth, to set _everything_ right that was wrong; but each did what\nhe could, under existing circumstances, with the people with whom he\nhad to do. The spirit of revelation rested upon each successive prophet\nto perform that work which was most fit and necessary to the age in\nwhich he lived. No one could attend to all things; and many things are\nyet to be revealed that have been kept secret since the foundation of\nthe world. No man has ever understood all those measures and principles\nby which the human family can be brought to the highest degree of\nperfection. The angels probably do not know them, and even the Son\nhimself did not know them, but the Father only.\n\nThe reign of a thousand years of righteousness will probably do much\nto correct, ennoble, and exalt mankind, and beautify the works of his\nhands, and felicitate all flesh. Whatever principles and measures\ncan contribute to exalt and felicitate mankind in the sight of the\nheavens, is yet to be done. The profound philosophy and science of\nthe highest intelligences, with all the embellishments which art, and\ntaste, and genius can secure, are destined to become tributary to the\nrighteous; and when these things shall take place in the _times_ of the\nrestitution of _all things_, God will be crowned with ineffable glory\nand honour, blessing and dominion, for ever and ever. Amen.\n\nThe spirit of apostacy has stripped and shorn true religion of all its\nluscious and beautiful fruit, and left nothing scarcely but the naked\nwithered hulk of false _spirituality_. Religion has been taught, by\nprotestant dissenters, as a science almost wholly abstracted from civil\ngovernment--from political, social, and domestic institutions, and also\nfrom the useful and fine arts. It has been circumscribed to the most\nrevoltingly contracted limits.\n\nIn the zeal of its advocates to put down an illegitimate and bastardly\nunion of church and state, that had long darkened the moral atmosphere\nof the earth, and made nations groan under oppression, and sigh and\nmourn that religion was the wedded ally of the civil sceptre, they\npushed off into the opposite extreme of imbecile, naked, and sterile\nspirituality; thereby proving, plainly, that any religion that is not\nbased on constant and immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost, can\nneither walk long with or without the crutches of governmental aid and\nsupport. It will not only become a stink in the nostrils of Jehovah,\nbut soon cause great dissatisfaction and fall into merited contempt and\nignominy.\n\nThe best biographies of such men as David Brainard and Edward Payson,\nis a fair exhibition of internal mental turmoil, and fitful commotion\nof spirit, and servile bondage to a law that neither they nor their\nfathers could keep. Poor misguided but honest men! How happy might they\nhave been had they known the true primitive gospel that Paul preached,\nby the infallible light of inspiration! How joyful the intelligence to\nthe honest but misguided, when the glad news of _restitution_ shall\nreverberate in their prisons, and cause the captive exile to haste into\nlight and liberty! Not only will the hopes and faith of men be set\nright in the times of restitution, but the earth itself will undergo\nan important change, and the heavenly bodies or planetary system.\nThe islands shall flee, and continents be united, and the waters be\nrestored to their proper bounds, no more to break over their proper\nbarriers. The curse shall be clean removed from the earth, and the air\nshall become salubrious and delightful. The animal race shall cease\nfrom their animosity and virulence of temper. The lion and the lamb\nshall lie down together; and there shall nothing hurt or destroy in\nall God's holy mountain. In short, all things that are now wrong shall\nbe set right. Human life shall be prolonged: the infant shall die an\nhundred years old. The power and perpetuity of life will be secured\nto the ultimate extinction of death from off the earth. Death, the\nlast enemy, will be conquered and swallowed up in victory. When every\nform and power of sin ceases, may we not expect that death will also\ncease? Death hath passed upon all men in that all have sinned. Sin is\nthe sting of death and the cause of it. It is true that Jesus died,\nalthough he never sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression;\nbut he took upon him Adam's nature, and became sin for us, though he\nknew no sin. But it was not possible for him to be holden of death, or\nto see corruption, because he was holy.\n\nWhen a holy seed shall be raised up from the loins of the righteous,\nwhich know no sin (which will be the case when the devil is bound),\nthen their bodies will not see corruption. They shall not all sleep\n(or die), but they shall be changed. Those who partake of the curse\nof Adam will be changed in a moment, without knowing corruption; but\nthe posterity of such as are changed will be the legitimate heirs of\nsanctified bodies, upon whom death has no conceivable claim. Death\nwill not pass upon them because they have not sinned. Their bodies\nare generically spiritual and holy, like Christ's own most glorious\nbody. Then will the seeds of death become extinguished from the human\nbody, and man will stand as holy and pure as in his pristine creation,\nblooming with health, vigour, and immortality. Then he is prepared to\nhold intercourse with the heavens, and to reign with Christ on the\nearth.\n\nYou will perceive, sir, a difference in the liability of such persons\nas are born during the reign of righteousness, who do not sleep\nor die, and those who must die by reason of sin. The former know\nnot the dominion or sting of sin, but are as trees of the Lord's\nplanting--righteous. The latter must needs die and be resurrected.\nJesus was the first fruits of them that slept. In the case of all\nothers, corruption followed death; and a longer period must elapse\nbefore their bodies could be resurrected by reason of corruption. But\nJesus was first and foremost to ripen into immortality. Corruptibility\ndid not pertain to him, of course it was not necessarily pre-requisite\nto his resurrection and immortality; but with all others, down to the\nperiod when it is said that they should not sleep, corruption must\nprecede the resurrection.--If the body of Jesus did not corrupt and\nmoulder back to dust, then it is evident that he had substantially the\nsame sort of corporal frame after his resurrection that he had before.\nThe spirit resting upon him without measure, animated and resuscitated\nhis body with no other material change than that of loss of blood. He\nshewed his disciples his body, and told them to handle him and see of\nwhat material it was: \"a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me\nhave.\" He shewed them, demonstratively, in his own person, a proper\nspecimen of a living resurrected body. He shewed them that a spirit did\nnot possess flesh and bones as a resurrected body did. He also proved\nanother thing, viz.: that a resurrected body retains probably all the\nfive senses common to a mortal body. He eat and drank with them, and\nshewed them that his person was identically the same as before his\ndeath.--Here there is a specimen of corporal immortality. In this\nperson we may see what all resurrected bodies will be, for we shall be\nlike him. Life and immortality are brought to light in the example of\nChrist's resurrected body. Such is the organization of a resurrected\nbody, in consequence of the expulsion of the seeds of death, the last\nenemy, that decay and disease have no further power or influence.\n\nThe immediate resurrection of Jesus, after the lapse of only three\ndays, was one of the greatest blessings and honours that could be\nconferred. In addition to all the faculties and powers which he\npossessed previous to his death, he also had those of an immortal\nbeing; instead of lingering a long time, with barely the circumscribed\nand limited powers and privileges of a disembodied spirit, he was\nblessed in _body_, _soul_, and _spirit_ united. The key to innumerable\nlives and boundless dominions was given him on the third day after his\ndeath. It was his sole prerogative to say how long the dead should\nsleep before they should be resurrected. All the innumerable privileges\nof a resurrected body--privileges unspeakable and even unlawful to\nbe uttered by reason of the hardness of men's hearts--were conferred\nupon him! He held the key of death and hell. No one could come forth\nfrom the tomb without his orders--none could felicitate his spirit by\npossessing his own body till Jesus should grant permission. His friends\ncould all be called forth at his pleasure, and be reinstated on the\nearth as he had been, with all their friends and posterity after them,\nbut no enemy could resuscitate the slumbering ashes of his tomb, till\nJesus should speak the word and grant permission.\n\nHis attention would be especially directed to the speedy and early\nrestitution of such as had been beheaded for his sake and the\ngospel's. They should be the very first to be raised, and others in\ntheir time and order; but the wicked enemies! alas, how long they\nmust lie unnoticed! A _thousand_ years, at least, must roll slowly\naway before their mouldering bodies could be allowed to have a living\nre-organization! Long and doleful banishment from the joys of life and\nimmortality! In the meantime the righteous are restored to their own\nbodies, now immortalized for ever; they are reinstated on the earth in\nthe company of kindred spirits, while their enemies are trodden down as\nso much dust under the soles of their feet.\n\nHow remarkable a contrast between the righteous and the wicked! They\nthat sowed to the Spirit are reaping the fruits of the Spirit, which\nare life everlasting. They inherit the earth and multiply upon it, and\nbuild cities and temples, and their posterity are as numerous as the\nsands upon the sea shore. How glorious the rich reward of keeping the\ncommands of God! but, alas! where are the wicked all this time? Where\nare those who have sown to the flesh during this long and glorious\nreign of the righteous on the earth? Poor wretched creatures! they\nare reaping corruption, just according to what they sowed. Once they\nscorned the righteous, and oppressed the hireling, and sneered at\nprophets, and said they needed no revelations in their day and age. But\nwhere are they now? Their bodies mingle with the dust of the streets\nand of the field, that men tread upon daily. Their memories are nearly\nfaded from remembrance. Their posterity can no where be found on the\nearth. When the wicked return from their banishment (so many as do\nreturn, for they shall be visited after many days) they have become\nan inferior race of beings: the righteous have outstripped them in\nknowledge, and happiness, and power, and dominion, and glory, and\nhonour.\n\nThe resurrection will bring about a great restitution both to the\nrighteous and to the wicked. The righteous will receive the reward of\nrighteousness, and the wicked will receive the wages of sin. When the\nwicked are swept off the earth, the books will be opened and examined\nin order to know whose names are recorded; and those \"that are found\nwritten in the book shall be delivered;\" and such shall be resurrected\nimmediately, and shine as the brightness of the firmament on account\nof the illustrious part they had taken in Christ's service. But the\nwages of the wicked shall be paid off in a long night of death before\nthey rise; and when they rise, it shall be to shame and everlasting\ncontempt. If their long banishment and death is followed by a subdued\nand humbled spirit of loyalty to truth, still their late resurrection,\nwith all its doleful accompaniments, will be an eternal stigma on\ntheir name. It will always be known that they were once banished\nand trod under foot a thousand years at least, in consequence of\ntheir disgraceful rebellion against the laws and ordinances of God's\ngovernment. Neither they nor their posterity can ever wipe off the\ndisgrace; they may repent and reform, and become truly loyal to God,\nstill their former rebellion against immediate revelation and prophets,\nwill stand on record eternally, and crimson their face with shame, and\nfurnish occasion for contempt to their name at the retrospect. Many\nancient Saints endured \"tortures, not accepting deliverance, in order\nthat they might obtain a better resurrection.\"\n\nThe domestic tie is the strongest bond of union, and the most prolific\nsource of virtue and happiness that appertains to mankind on earth\nor in heaven. Hence the promise made to Abraham of an innumerable\ndomestic confederation, and to all others also, who should be heirs of\nthe same faith with faithful Abraham. But the wicked are disembodied\nspirits, without flesh and bones, and cannot partake of the blessings\nof domestic union, and that friendship and fellowship that the whole\n_family_ of God in heaven and upon earth enjoy. Poor desolate spirits,\nthat once despised prophecyings and forbid to speak in tongues, ye are\nnow left without the sweet ties of parentage, and the endearing bonds\nof filial and conjugal affection! The social circle in which you move,\nand the government under which you are organized, have lost their most\nlovely and essential ligaments of union and strength. How gladly would\nwicked spirits accept the bodies of the inferior animals as their\ntabernacle, might they be permitted to do so; even the swine would be a\ndesirable habitation rather than none at all.\n\nThe angels that kept not their first estate are reserved in chains\n(have not the liberty of embodied spirits) to the far distant period of\nfinal judgment, when death and hell shall be judged after the lapse of\na thousand years and \"little season;\" even then death and hell, with\nall others whose reprieve is not found written in the book, must fall\nvictims to the second death. Oh! dreadful consequence of sin! How oft\nwould I have _gathered_ you, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her\nwing, but ye would not; but now, your house is left unto you desolate!\n\nBut, alas! sir, how many attach no more importance to the resurrection,\nthan merely the fact of its being an evidence that we shall survive the\ndissolution of death? but blessed are those who understand and have\npart in the _first_ resurrection, for on such the second death hath no\npower. Sir, my heart swells with deep concern that all men might obey\nthe only true gospel, that entitles to a part in the first resurrection!\n\nThe limits of my letter forbid me to exhort; but suffer me to say,\nunless you have the same faith with Daniel and Elijah, and the same\nspirit of revelation with Peter, Abraham, and Moses, you can never\nassociate with resurrected bodies, neither with holy angels, nor with\nGod. In your _flesh_ you never can see God. All former Saints were\nunited with the spirits of the just, and angels, and Christ, and God\nthe judge of all: and if you are not united to the same by supernatural\nfaith, and the spirit of vision and revelation, you may bid farewell\nto every endearing social tie, and launch forth among the disembodied\npowers of the air; and there with bitter regret and wailing, lament\nover that fallen and lost bodily image of your Maker, laid low in\ncorruptible ruins through your transgression and hatred of the ministry\nof the prophet of the last days. There, this spectacle of your\nrebellion against prophets (monument of your shame) must lie till your\nself-righteous spirit is subdued, or be raised only to encounter the\nmortal grasp of a second death.\n\nYes, sir, while the restitution will elevate the righteous to their\nproper level in the scale of being, where the wicked cannot molest,\nit will also depress the wicked to their humiliating level. It will\nseparate them to their own place, and the want of bodies will prove\nan impassable gulf between them and happiness. In this state they\nmay, indeed, contemplate what they have lost, without the power of\nrecovering it. Oh, tantalizing state of keen despair! Dreadful chains!\nCruel death holds that once noble image of thy Maker fast in mouldering\nruins, as a monument of thy contempt of prophets! Now, thou needest\nsupernatural power to restore to thee that lost image of thy Maker!\nNow, thou needest a new name and key to resurrecting power! but thou\nhast despised these things, and saidst thou hadst no need, therefore\nthy light is put out and clean gone! Now, angels offer to minister to\nthee, and prophets to become thy teachers, but thou wouldst have none\nof these; therefore they will withdraw from thee for a long and dreary\nnight, in which thou wilt often cry out with bitter wailing, \"Would God\nit were morning!\"\n\nNow, sir, may a consideration of these truths lead you to choose the\ngood and refuse the evil, and stand on the immutable basis of every one\nthat is taught of God, is the unceasing desire of\n\nYour humble servant,\n\nORSON SPENCER.\n\n\n\nLETTER XIII.\n\nMISCELLANEOUS REMARKS ON RESTITUTION.\n\n_Liverpool, November_ 30, 1847.\n\nReverend and Dear Sir,--A question has sometimes been asked concerning\ninfants--with what bodies will they come forth? Will they be raised in\nthe stature of manhood or adult size? We believe not; but as they fall,\nso will they rise again--the size of their stature when they rise, will\nbe the same as when they fell asleep in death. Little children are the\nsubjects and residents of the kingdom of heaven. Their angels do always\nbehold the presence of our Father in heaven.\n\nIt is not the size of a person's stature that constitutes any certain\nmark of the measure of one's capacity, either to exercise power or\nenjoy felicity. Jesus possessed all power in a mere stature of human\nsize. Still, nothing is fully perfect till it has attained the measure\nof the grand Designer, and accomplished the end of its creation. Hence\nit may, with some probability, be inferred, that children will mature\nand come to their full stature after the resurrection; this, however,\nis more a matter of opinion than of any direct revelation that has come\nto my knowledge.\n\nIt will, of course, from what has been said, be discovered that the\nrighteous will enjoy a happy recognition of each other in every\nendearing relation that is common to mankind in their present mortal\nstate. Their familiarity will be that of perfect innocence and\nfelicity. Children, in the millennium, or after the first resurrection,\nwill need the same paternal care, tutorage, and guidance, which is\nrequired by them now. In the absence of their proper parents they will,\ndoubtless, receive adopted parents, or an equivalent guardianship\nof the angels of God. Such is the established order of progressive\nintelligence, through the medium of living teachers, that all the\nredeemed of heaven and earth, are under the special guardianship of the\nministering authorities of God.\n\nOh, how happy and blessed are those parents and children--husbands and\nwives--who shall meet in the palaces of the just, and recognize each\nother after so long an absence! Unspeakably joyful that day and hour\nwhen friends, that have been long separated, shall again strike hands\ntogether, and celebrate their re-union in the courts above. To die\nis gain, because the righteous are exalted and introduced to higher\norders of intelligence. New fields of discovery and enjoyment are\nconstantly opening, to intensify their interest and swell their bosoms\nwith the liveliest emotions. They may and do remember their righteous\nfriends that are left behind, for a little season, with kind desires,\nand cannot advance in knowledge and glory very advantageously without\nthem; still it is the knowledge which they possess of superlative\nglories ahead, that principally occupy their minds. Truths and keys,\nexplanatory of the boundless and skilful works of God, and facilitating\ntheir progress towards dominion and power, and blessing, and salvation,\nare continually warming up their hearts and inciting them to onward\ndeeds. The valiant and faithful that have fought a good fight and kept\nthe faith, are hailed with delight and thanksgivings on their reception\nto the heavenly courts, and most cordially welcomed to the embrace of\nthe great and venerable progenitor of our race.\n\nThrice happy are those who keep their present estate, and secure\nan imperishable inheritance on this planetary portion of their\ninterminable existence; and equally deplorable, on the other hand,\nthe condition of those who, filled with the delusive spirit of\nanti-revelation, keep not their present estate, and prefer the\ndarkness of _no revelation_, in their day; because they have changed\nthe ordinances, and transgressed the laws, and broken the everlasting\ncovenant.\n\nAgain, it may be asked, will not those who have died without the\nknowledge of the gospel, during many centuries past, perish for want of\nthe gospel? And where is the justice of leaving persons to perish, for\nwant of that which it is not in their power to obtain?\n\nWere not many of our ancestors, that have died in past generations,\ngood people, yet as the gospel was not revealed in their day, and they\ncould not enter the kingdom by being born of the water and of the\nSpirit, have they perished? These, indeed, are interesting inquiries.\nTo the first inquiry I respond--they have not perished, in the sense\nor manner in which those have perished who have rejected the offers\nof the gospel; not having known the gospel, they have never rejected\nit. They have not disobeyed laws and ordinances of which they have not\nheard, or which were never imposed upon them. They are neither rewarded\nor punished according to gospel laws; but such as have lived without\nlaw will be judged without law. Where there is no law there is no\ntransgression--where there is nothing given, there is nothing required;\nbut it is required according to what a man hath. Whatever light they\nhave had, by _that light_ will they be judged; and whatever privileges\nand blessings the _law_, under which they have lived, can confer, such\nwill be awarded to them. Still our fathers, who have died without the\ngospel, are in a condition far inferior to those who have received and\nobeyed the gospel.\n\nThis condition of theirs is consequent upon the early transgression of\ntheir progenitors. The condition itself may not be blameworthy. Their\nconduct, in a pre-existent state, may have deserved for their bodies in\nthis world to be without the privilege of the gospel; or withholding\ngospel privileges from them in this world, may be followed with future\nblessings compensatory for their loss, when they shall prove themselves\nworthy of a better condition. The gospel martyr sustains a great loss,\nbut the magnitude of his reward is designed to overbalance his loss.\n\nOur devout and worthy fathers that have died without the gospel,\ncannot, indeed, enter the celestial kingdom of Jesus Christ without\nconformity to the identical laws and ordinances of his kingdom.\nBut provision is made for them, whereby they can conform to the\nrequirements of the gospel, not altogether in their own persons\nalone, but through proxy, or the obedience of others, provided they\nvoluntarily accept of that obedience rendered by others for their\nbenefit.\n\nStartle not, my dear sir, at this idea that is so repugnant to the\nprejudice of protestants. The principle of substitution is at the\nfoundation of the great work of redemption, and forms a chain of\ngratitude and obligation of the purest and noblest metal. Jesus died\nfor others, because they could not have saved themselves without his\nobedience for them. The preachers of righteousness pass through many\ntribulations, and sacrifice houses, lands, and country, in order that\nothers may become rich both temporally and spiritually; without this\norder of suffering, the just for the unjust, no man could be saved.\n\nPaul says, I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which\nis _behind_ of the afflictions of Christ, in my flesh, for his body's\nsake, which is the Church. Every man that has the priesthood of\nChrist may suffer in his measure and degree a propitiatory sacrifice,\naccording to the degree of priesthood with which he is clothed. He may\nbecome a subordinate saviour to his fellow-men, Christ being, however,\nthe CAPTAIN of all men's salvation. Hence, the prophets plumply call\nmen SAVIOURS who shall be raised to officiate in Mount Zion.\n\nPaul also instructs Timothy how he can _save_ men and himself. This\ndistribution of _saving_ gifts, instead of eclipsing Jesus of the\nglory of salvation, magnifies his glory, because He is the spring and\nsource of all salvation. God the Father reigns over all, and Jesus\nunder him, and men reign under Jesus as kings and priests. Kingdoms\nrise up within kingdoms, but Christ is the _King_ of kings. Peter tells\nhow the devout and honourable dead may be saved, who never heard the\ngospel on earth. He says, the living may be baptized for them, and\nthen they can be judged according to men in the flesh. Says he, \"else\nwhy are ye baptized for the dead?\" Baptism for the dead was better\nunderstood in Peter's days than the doctrine of the resurrection.\nDoctrines are sooner obliterated from the mind than ordinances. But\nafter the destruction of the Temple, and the baptismal font, baptisms\nfor the dead must of course cease, because there was no longer an\nacceptable place for this ordinance to be ministered. Peter explicitly\ndeclares, that the gospel was preached to _the dead_, by which also\nhe went and preached to the Spirits in prison. Now if the gospel was\npreached to the dead, then mercy, and deliverance, and salvation, were\npreached to the dead; but these could not be preached to them without\nthe ordinances, because the ordinances of baptism, and gift of the Holy\nGhost, are a part of the gospel; for except a man is born of water and\nof the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. But if a righteous\nman is baptized for his departed friend, the law requiring baptism is\nmagnified, and God can justify the departed spirit that believes, and\naccepts the same.\n\nBaptism for the dead, however, only takes away the disabilities\nunder which they labour; unless this is done for them they cannot be\nredeemed, however penitent they may become. The blood of Christ took\naway the disabilities of all the human family, so that all mankind can\nnow be saved through faith and obedience. But no man is saved by the\nblood of Christ, without faith and obedience; and if they count His\nblood an unholy thing, and sin against the Holy Ghost, there is no\nmore sacrifice for sin, neither is there forgiveness for such in \"this\nworld, nor in the world to come.\" No person will be led by the Spirit\nto be baptized for any such description of persons; no person that is\nthe friend of Christ will ever lend a helping hand towards redeeming\nsuch obdurate spirits. Many worlds must pass away before they can be\nfit subjects for the visitation of God's mercy. But there are those\nwho will prove their lineage to be descended from those who slew the\nprophets, and \"fill up the measure of their fathers,\" and some will\neven shed innocent blood--for whom there is no resurrection, only\nto be plunged into a lake of fire, and writhe under the gnawings of\nthe worm that never dies. Among those in former ages who were of the\nlineage of the murderers of prophets, priests and high-minded divines\nare distinctly noticed by Jesus Christ, and their pedigree flatly\nexposed; and, sir, if you will allow me any credit for veracity, and\nattach any weight to the most palpable and irrefutable proof, you may\nassuredly know, that preachers of modern christianity have occupied a\nconspicuous part in the tragic scenes of Missouri and Illinois.--I\nwill admit that many distinguished divines do eloquently extol the\nancient prophets--speak in glowing diction of the faith of Daniel,\nAbraham, and Sampson, and of illustrious miracles, and beautifully\nportray the crucifixion, agony, and triumph of Jesus. But, alas! with\nthe next breath, and while soaring aloft with the ardent sympathies of\ntheir hearers, they prove their pedigree to be that of the self-same\nmurderers of the very prophets they affect to eulogize. Electrified\nand warmed up in the pseudo atmosphere of Calvary, and the story of\nredeeming love for a cloak of maliciousness, their words, though\nsmoother than oil, are sharper than drawn swords. The innocent Saints\nfeel their piercing thrusts from pulpits that bear the cognomen of St.\nPeter, and St. Paul, and St. Jude.\n\nLewd men of the baser sort catch the Lethean fire, and throughout the\nnation the righteous poor feel the Upean blast that sprung from the\nsacred desk. Thousands are thrown out of employment--writs, and every\nspecies of oppression are poured out like a storm of hail upon them.\nProperty is sacrificed--the Saints flee, homeless and shelterless, to\nseek an asylum in the wilds of the everlasting hills.\n\nAgain, I will invite your attention to the union of the fathers and\nthe children, and a faint outline of the innumerable kingdoms that are\nto rise up in the boundless dominions of the Supreme King. No king\non earth or in heaven is so omnipotent or omnipresent as not to need\nsubordinate ruling agencies, in order to control innumerable subjects.\nHence the Lord God of all the earth has a host of holy angels that\ncommunicate his will, and minister his pleasure among the hosts of\nheaven and the inhabitants of the earth. From the highest heaven, even\nhis own peculiar dwelling-place, to the lowest heaven, and from thence\nto the earth, this order of delegated authorities is maintained. His\ndominions extend through all space, and the number of his constantly\nincreasing subjects cannot be computed.\n\nHow, then, are these innumerable kingdoms governed? Every organization\nhas its own president or ruler, from the orbit of countless millions to\nthe smallest division that convenience may require--from the ruler of\nmany cities to the ruler of the smallest ward of a city. A man's gift\nmaketh room for him, and bringeth him into the presence of great men.\n\nNow, the strongest tie of government, of union, strength, and happiness\nin any confederation whatever, either in heaven or on earth, is that\nwhich springs from parentage, or the paternal tie. The first lesson\nof address which God teaches his subjects is to call him Father--our\nFather, &c. The father feels the strongest of all attachments to his\nchildren; for them he toils and provides, and to them he gives the\nfruit of his labours, and the wisdom and knowledge that flows from his\nlips. Every father is expected to look after his own progeny. If it\nwere not that the hearts of the fathers were turned to the children,\nin the last days the earth would be smitten with such a sore and\nheavy curse that no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake,\nand for the sake of the fathers who have obtained promises concerning\ntheir posterity in the last days, the earth will be preserved as an\ninheritance for righteous men. From the dust of mother earth has arisen\na sufficient number of righteous men to secure the endless perpetuity\nof its existence among the worlds that God has made. Glory and honour\nbe to God for this unspeakable favour! Some worlds have passed away and\nare not, doubtless because they abode not in the law given them.\n\nAccording to promise, God has sent Elijah just in the dawn of the\ngreat and notable day of sweeping the wicked with the besom of his\nwrath, to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers. The children\nare told of kindred ties between them and such as once held the true\npriesthood, and wrought righteousness on the earth, and of their\nconsequent heirship to thrones and dominions through faith. Through\nthe gift of the Spirit they respond to the same, as good tidings of\ngreat joy. The Spirit of God works in them mightily, that they may\ncome to the knowledge of their ancestors, that were once in honourable\nremembrance before God for their faith and priesthood. By revelation,\nand by records and traditions, and by the spirit of adoption, they\nwill learn their relationship to the heavens; and the vacant links of\nlineage between them and their forefathers in the priesthood, will be\nsought after on earth, and under the earth, and in the heavens, in\nthe set times of restitution; for God will gather together in one in\nChrist, all things in heaven and upon the earth and under it, in the\ndispensation of the fulness of times.\n\nThe different federative unions of the whole family of heaven and\nearth, when organized according to the law of adoption, have their\nown respective patriarch or president to represent them in the grand\ncouncil of the just, Jesus Christ being head over all things to the\nChurch, in all ages, worlds without end. Every dispensation under Him\nhas its own presidency and grand council, from whence emanate all the\nlaws that spring from the Apostle and High Priest of our profession in\nthe heavens.\n\nBy the federative laws of adoption, a representation may be had in the\ngrand council of each dispensation, with more practical facility and\norder than otherwise. Jesus is an advocate for the whole human family\nbefore the Father; \"and every High Priest taken from among men is\nordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both\ngifts and sacrifices for sins.\"\n\nA mediatorial and intercessoral work pervades the priesthood according\nto the measure of the grace bestowed. The union of families, not\naccording to the capricious and changeable institutions of men, but\naccording to the laws of heaven, upon the basis of virtuous affection,\nand upon the confidence of permanent security in righteousness, will\nform a solid phalanx against the intrusion of discord and the spirit\nof alienation from God. The righteous will be bound together, by the\nties of adoption and kindred, in the \"bundle of eternal life.\" This\nunited confederation of strength and affection will be peculiarly\nneeded, in order to endure the shock which society must receive both in\nheaven and upon earth, and under the earth, in the last dispensation;\nfor every tree that the Eternal Father hath not planted shall be hewn\ndown, and the institutions of men shall come to nought. Every man's\nhand shall be against his fellow; and while distrust and discord shall\ninsinuate their baneful influence into the secret chambers of the most\nfamiliar acquaintance, the Saints shall have peace like a river, and\ntheir union and joy shall abound. Then the nations that have sneered\nat prophets will be filled with disquietude and fear! Violence and\nrapine will stalk abroad with a bold front! Innocence, and integrity,\nand virtue will hide in confusion or be utterly banished! But the\nChurch--\"the pillar and ground of the truth\"--will be quiet and\nundisturbed! Virtue and innocence, truth and wisdom, will abound within\nher gates! She will come up from her tribulations like sheep from the\nwashing--fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army\nwith banners!\n\nAnd when the victory of truth over error is won, all nations will fear\nthe name of the Lord our God. \"The law shall go forth from Zion, and\nthe word of the Lord from Jerusalem.\" The Jews shall be gathered to\nJerusalem, and the city shall have been built in troublesome times. The\noutcasts of Judah shall re-occupy their own land; and the gatherings\nof Israel shall be commemorated in everlasting songs and festivals,\nbecause the greatness of the work shall surpass any deliverance\nthat Israel has ever experienced before from the hand of the Lord.\nTherefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more\nbe said, The Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of\nthe land of Egypt. But the Lord liveth that brought up the children of\nIsrael from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he\nhad driven them. And I will bring them again into their land, that I\ngave unto their fathers. Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith\nthe Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many\nhunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every\nhill, and out of the holes of the rocks, for mine eyes are upon all\ntheir ways. I will cause them to know mine hand and my might, and they\nshall know that my name is the Lord. And Satan shall be bound on the\nface of the whole earth; and for the first time in the lapse of more\nthan six thousand years, there shall be made a perfect demonstration\nof the majesty and glory of the kingdom of God on the earth; and the\npurity, efficiency, and wisdom of his laws.\n\nJesus Christ shall come in like manner as he went up. He shall set his\nfeet upon Mount Olives, and the earth shall quake at his presence.\nHis nation shall acknowledge their Lord and their God, whom their\nfathers had crucified. The city of the New Jerusalem shall come down\nout of heaven, even the city of the great King. In this city will be\ndisplayed the skill of the great architect of the world,--the builder\nand maker is God. The names of the twelve tribes, and of the twelve\napostles of the Lamb will not be the least distinguishable in this most\nextraordinary city that was ever revealed to man.\n\nThis vision of the future residence of the apostles and patriarchs,\nappears to have been unfolded to the apostle John, in a kind of\nfarewell visit, and must have ravished his heart with unspeakable\ndelight and ecstacy. His soul was suffused with joy and rapture, and he\nfell prostrate with feelings of worship toward the messenger of such\ntidings. Jesus had, indeed, told the apostles that he would go away and\nprepare mansions for them. And that there were many mansions. But never\nbefore, probably, had he described the celestial state and residence so\nbeautifully and minutely as now. The height, and length, and breadth of\nthe city, and the names of some of the most distinguished personages\nwho should occupy mansions therein, together with the gates of pearl,\nand the foundation walls of all manner of precious stones, were\ndistinctly shown to him.\n\nThe future residence of the Saints, we perceive, is not an ideal thing\nwithout reality. They will need houses for their persons, and for their\nfamilies, as much in their resurrected condition as in their present\nstate; they will be as sensible of the works of art, taste, beauty and\ngrandeur there as now, and far more so.\n\nIn this identical world, where they have been robbed of houses and\nlands, and wife and children, they shall have an hundred fold. The\nnations of the earth shall bring their glory into the city of their\nimmortal residence. And the diversified wisdom of Solomon, displayed\nabove all earthly kings, shall be but a miniature picture of the\nvisible and tangible glories that will be exhibited to the eyes and\nears of resurrected Saints on the very erarth where they once suffered.\nIf ever an earthly sovereign sat upon a throne, and swayed a royal\nsceptre, and wore a glittering crown of surpassing richness and beauty,\nthen shall men and women who have suffered loss and shame for the\ngospel's sake, be seated upon thrones in the city of the New Jerusalem,\nand their mandates shall be heard and obeyed to the ends of the earth;\nand the riches, and dominion, and power, and blessing, and glory, that\nshall encircle them, no tongue can describe. Oh! wonderful transition,\nfrom darkness to light, and from the degrading bondage of Satan into\nthe liberty of the sons and daughters of God! Glorious emancipation!\nWho can contemplate the recompense of reward without ample satisfaction\nfor all the withering scorn, and piercing sarcasm, and bloody hatred,\nthat have been endured? Give me a name that shall never perish,--a\nhabitation among heaven's kings,--a seat in the council of the just,\nwhere the fairest among the sons of men shall sometimes minister in his\nown person, and it shall suffice for having fought a good fight, and\nkept the faith once delivered to the Saints. Oh, enchanting prospect of\nrapturous delight!\n\n  The thought of such amazing bliss\n  Should constant joys create!\n\nBut grovelling unbelief will ask, how can such an immense city be let\ndown to the earth, or suspended over it, and contiguous to it? I reply,\nHow can the earth be suspended in vacant space? How could Jesus ascend\nup till the eye could see his person no longer? How could Elijah go up\nin the chariot of Israel? How could the angel fly through the midst of\nheaven, that the prophets Zechariah, John, and Daniel saw speaking to\nthe young man Joseph? How can Christ come with his ten thousand Saints,\nand descend with a shout? How will Saints, by tens of thousands and\nmillions, be caught up to meet him in the air? How do birds fly in the\nair, and vast planets hang on nothing? Oh! marvellous unbelief! shall\nnot He who organized worlds out of their chaotic state, reorganize\nthem at His pleasure, so as to suit the capacity and pleasure of\nimmortalized bodies, that have kept their second estate, and have\nobtained right and title to enter the pearly gates of the royal city?\n\nIsaiah says, that the Lord's work, in the last days, shall be a\nmarvellous work and a wonder. The changes wrought in the condition of\nthe earth will be very great. The face of its surface will be greatly\nchanged. There are many islands and lofty barren mountains, and sunken\npestiferous valleys, and sterile plains, that will be revolutionized.\nIndeed, far the greatest part of the earth stands covered with water.\nThe earth shall reel to and fro like a drunken man, and shake terribly\nbefore the coming of the Son of Man. It shall even be turned upside\ndown; and the approach of Christ shall be indicated by a succession of\ngreat events and changes. But a most extraordinary appearance in the\nheavens shall be distinguished, and known as the _sign_ of the coming\nof the Son of Man. Whether this sign of the Son of Man will be some\nplanetary body of an imposing aspect, first making its appearance in\nthe heavens and gradually approximating to the earth, or whether it\nshall be stationary, is not, and probably, will not, be fully revealed,\nexcept to the children of revelation, for that day shall come upon the\nnations as a snare.\n\nBut it is revealed that an extraordinary sign in the heavens shall make\nits appearance, announcing, with sublime and terrific grandeur, the\nnear approach of the Son of Man. The calamitous state of the nations,\nconvulsed with the sword, pestilence and famine, with which God will\nplead with all flesh before the Son of Man shall come; followed also\nwith great convulsions of nature, will lead many to practise wild and\nvisionary impositions, pretending that Christ _has_ indeed come, and\nthat he has been seen in the wilderness, or in the secret chamber,\n&c. But let it be understood distinctly, that even as a remarkable\n_star_ escorted the Son of Man in his first advent, and became not only\nvisible but stationary over the very point of earth where Jesus was\nborn--marvellous indeed!--even so, and much more visible will be his\nsecond coming.\n\nThe brilliancy of the lightning, extending over the whole heaven, from\neast to west, will not be more manifest to the inhabitants of the earth\nthan the approach of the Son of Man at his second coming. Still many\nwill behold, wonder, and despise, and perish; because it is written,\nthat whosoever shall reject that prophet shall be destroyed from\namong the people. The false signs and wonders that shall be got up in\nopposition to the true, will deceive and harden the nations, and they\nwill not discern between him that serveth God and him that serveth him\nnot.\n\nEven the sign of the coming of the Son of Man may be contemplated by\nmultitudes, barely as an unaccountable phenomenon; and familiarity\nwith the sight of it will beget indifference, hardness of heart, and\ncontempt for all such like things.\n\nYour humble servant,\n\nORSON SPENCER.\n\n\n\nLETTER XIV.\n\nSUMMARY AND FINAL APPEAL.\n\n_Liverpool, December_ 13, 1847.\n\nReverend and Dear Sir,--Having given you an epitomised view of the\ndoctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in a\nshort series of Thirteen Letters, I now make this SUMMARY AND FINAL\nAPPEAL to you, and to all persons to whom the foregoing Letters may\ncome.\n\nBefore parting with you, I will endeavour to obviate some objections\nthat might be supposed to arise, and give some further confirmatory\nproof of the truths that have been advanced.\n\nYou may be ready to inquire with great earnestness, can it possibly be\nthat the religious world have been so grossly mistaken and actually\ndeluded for so many centuries? can so many divines of celebrated\nlearning and devotion have been all this time in error? Is it possible\nthat that illiterate young man, Joseph Smith, should be the first,\nafter the lapse of so many ages, to break the spell of darkness,\nand pierce the clouds of error, and let in the sunshine of eternal\ntruth upon the whole world? Is it possible that he whom we have been\naccustomed to regard as the blackest impostor--about whose moral\ncharacter there hang so many shades of suspicion? can _he_ be, in very\ndeed, a true prophet of God?\n\nI do not wonder at your inquiries; but I do marvel that any good man\nshould have a lingering doubt. Your inquiries and objections I will\nbriefly answer.--Why should not the religious world be mistaken? do\nnot the great mass of the human family profess to be religious? are\nnot the millions of China and Asia religious? Here is nearly one half\nof the human family ardently devoted to their religion--they are\nsincerely devoted to their religion--the multitudes of their pagodas,\nand the great expense and sacrifice attending their worship, prove\nincontestibly their sincerity; and the long antiquity of their religion\nhas rendered it venerable as yours.\n\nYou readily say, that the myriads of Asia are deceived and mistaken.\nBut may they not retort upon you and say--how is it that we, whose\nreligion is so ancient and so universally believed, should be (all of\nus) in such gross error? Now, may not the reply that would fit them\nbe applicable to the advocates of modern christianity? They are all\nthe children of Adam as much as you, and as much the offspring of our\ncommon parent. Their rulers and divines are as respectable among their\nown countrymen as yours are among your countrymen. It is no worse for\nmodern christendom to be in error than for paganism. Paganism can\nboast of more learning and oratory, and of more universal, enduring,\nand mighty governments than modern christianity! Paganism can boast of\nmore union and stability than modern christianity. But I am no advocate\nof either paganism or modern christianity. I believe that the whole\nworld lieth in darkness, in consequence of transgressing the laws of\nGod. Modern christianity has had a fair trial for success. Kings and\npotentates with vast and populous dominions, have been arrayed on\nits side. _Eighteen hundred years_ have testified to its ragged and\ncrippled march. The sovereigns of Europe and rulers of America are\non its side. But what a haggard picture of union does the theatre\nof modern Christianity present! A garment of as many colours as the\nvarious religious creeds of modern christianity, would constitute a\nphenomenon fit to be carried about as a curiosity.\n\nIn Catholic countries there is the largest share of unity of creeds.\nIn Protestant countries every city, town, and village presents the\npicture of religious collision and jargon. Now, these contending parts\nmust necessarily be wrong, for God is not the author of confusion, but\nof peace. And if the constituent parts are wrong, the aggregate must\nalso be wrong. But whether the balance of wisdom and virtue lies with\nChristians or Pagans, one thing is certain, that no man, by searching,\ncan find out God or know the Almighty unto perfection! The world by\nwisdom know not God. No man can ever know God unless God reveals\nhimself to him. Those whom God selects to communicate revelations to\nmen are not the wise and mighty, but rather such as are accounted\nweak, and foolish, and unholy. This is the description of men that\nGod generally chooses to do his work on the earth. Again, it is said\nthat the doctrines of the Latter-day Saints may be good enough, but\ntheir characters are too reprehensible. Testimony from many reliable\nsources is against them; and we have seen with our own eyes a want of\nthat fervent piety that ought to distinguish a people entrusted with\nthe ordinances and gifts of salvation.--This, I think, is the most\nweighty and popular objection that is urged by the opposers of the\nLatter-day Saints:--if they were a respectable people, their doctrines\ncould better be endured. Now I propose to consider this objection,\nand canvass it thoroughly, in order that no man shall ever raise the\nsame objection again, with any hope of success; but before I try their\ncharacter, let us inquire what is the proper standard or rule by which\ncharacter is to be tested.\n\nSome people consider that no man can have a good character who is\nnot religious,--this is a common opinion among religious people. An\ninfidel, say they, is odious, and feels no responsibility; and no one\nis religious unless his faith harmonizes with their own religious\ncreed. In some countries, what would be accounted moral and virtuous,\nwould in others be stamped as immoral, unvirtuous, and sacrilegious.\nAnother, more plausible, says, \"let all men do as they would be done\nby,\" and then their characters will be good. This, however, is a very\nvague rule indeed; for instance, the Emperor Charles Fifth of Germany,\nsays: \"If I were as great a heretic as Martin Luther or John Calvin,\nI ought to be banished, or even put to death.\" Thus the Emperor\nconscientiously carries out the rule, and orders the famous Reformer\n(heretic) to be put to death. The above rule, unaccompanied by the\nspirit of revelation, is often defective and made the pretext for deeds\nof blood-guiltiness. What, then, is the true and infallible standard of\ncharacter? I answer, it is revealed in the Gospel. God is the only good\nbeing and standard of goodness; such as comply with his revealed will\nare good, and do good, and there is no iniquity in them.\n\nCompliance with the divine will is the only true standard of character.\nTo this test, then, let us bring the character of the Latter-day\nSaints, and that of their opposers. What is the faith of each? Let us\ninquire. According to their faith, so will be their works or their\ncharacter. Says James, I will show my faith by my works. You may not\nonly know a man's faith by his works, but his works are also known by\nhis faith. If his faith is bad, his works will be also bad; and if his\nworks are bad, his character is bad.\n\nIt was the faith of Christ to receive the revelations of God his father\nunto obedience in all things. This faith led him to work the works of\nGod, which were healing the sick, prophecying, casting out devils,\nspeaking in tongues, and doing many miracles, and revealing the will of\nhis Father. But the pious Jews, chief priests, &c., had another sort\nof faith: they believed in the God of Abraham and Moses, but believed\nthat the age of miracles was past, and they forbid to prophecy and\nspeak with tongues. Their faith was, that there was no further need\nof new revelation, and that the canon of Scripture was full. They\nbelieved that the Sanhedrim established by Moses was sufficient for\nthe perfection and government of the Church, without apostles, and\nprophets, and various gifts. Their faith was not the faith of God,\nnor of immediate revelation (although they said they believed in old\nrevelations); neither was it the faith of miracles, and prophecyings,\nand tongues, and healing.\n\nWhat, then, was the faith of those pious men that sent their\nmissionaries over sea and land, and preached eloquently, and wept\ncopiously over the pathetic doctrines of Abraham and Moses? Why, to\nbe plain, sir, it was the faith of devils; and their anti-revelation\ndoctrines were the doctrines of devils. Their works were of the devil,\nbecause their faith was opposed to immediate revelation, and their\ncharacter was like their works--bad and abominable in the eyes of God,\nand saints, and holy angels; and yet these same pious Jews claim that\nthey were the only true Christians! What a pity (thought they) that\nthis arch impostor should succeed in misleading and deluding so many\nfollowers. It was due to his wickedness that he got killed, and it was\na pity that his doctrines did not die with him. Doubtless some Solomon\nSpaulding story was current to prove that he was born of a harlot, and\nher husband, like another Judge Hale, was ready to swear that he was\nnot the father of the child.\n\nNow, sir, from the foregoing thirteen Letters, you will see plainly\nwhat is the acknowledged faith of the Latter-day Saints. It is\nprecisely the same with the faith of the ancient apostles and prophets.\nThey have proved before the face of mankind, and in the sight of\nangels, that they believe the doctrines set forth in these Letters and\nin the Scriptures, by persecutions, banishment, loss of goods, houses,\nand lands; yea, even of life itself; for they are a spectacle unto all\nmen, and their characters are good in the sight of God, and angels, and\nsaints, because they keep the commandments and ordinances of God, even\nunto death--not counting their lives dear unto them, in order that they\nmay be found in the same faith for which apostles and prophets have\ncontended earnestly and bled freely.\n\nTheir character is that of _compliance with the revealed will of God_,\nthe only true standard of character. They have preached the word to\nthe nations of the earth, under privations, and abuses, and perils\nhitherto unknown, since the days of the apostles. It is no vanity to\nsay, there is none like them in all the earth. They fear God and work\nrighteousness.\n\nIf any class of people were ever entitled to a good character, it is\nthe Latter-day Saints. They have earned a title to it by conformity to\nthe only true rule and standard of character that was ever revealed to\nman, viz., compliance with the doctrines and ordinances of heaven. On\nthis platform, sir, I am willing to try the character of Latter-day\nSaints before any tribunal of impartial justice; and it is on this\nplatform alone that all men must be tried, who have ever heard the\ngospel of Christ. When the Saints and their opposers are brought\nbefore this tribunal of high heaven, think you not that our accusers\nwill not be filled with shame at their groundless accusations? This\npeople, during the last seventeen years (since 1830) have endured\nthe fatigue and expense of emigrating from their former homes; built\ncities, and towns, and farms, and been robbed of them. Many of them\nhave journeyed, making their own bridges and roads, traversing prairies\nand mountains, and some have emigrated by ships around the greater\nhalf of the globe. They have preached the gospel to many nations, and\nbrought some hundreds of thousands into obedience to it. In doing\nthis, they have been unaided by any missionary funds or salary--been\ncompelled all the time to face an incessant and pitiless storm of\nscandal and vituperation. The pulpit, and the bar, and the medical\nfaculty have poured out upon them their grape and canister shot, and\ncaused their combustible shells to burst thick around their pathway;\nstill they survive, and the truth floats over every ocean, and converts\nto their standard are multiplying beyond the aggregate increase of\nlong venerated denominations. What but the power of God could have\nsecured these great and blessed results in the very teeth of boasting\nchristendom? Pure, eternal, and almighty truth has done it.\n\nWhy should you marvel at the success of this religion, seeing it is\nbased on the same principles as the religion of all the prophets ever\nsince the foundation of the world. The Bible recognises no other\nreligion than that of prophets and supernatural faith, and miracles,\nand immediate revelation. It is not possible to point out a single\npious man or woman, whose name or piety is recorded within the lids of\nthe Bible, that did not profess the same religion--the same gifts of\nsupernatural faith, prophecyings, healings, tongues, that Latter-day\nSaints profess. Ancient saints believed in a similar administration\nby angels--ancient saints knew nothing of any religion that did not\nembrace immediate intercourse with God and angels, or that did not\ncommunicate the gifts of healing, tongues, and prophecyings. They knew,\nindeed, what it was to smart under the lash of false religions; but the\nancient saints regarded no man as pious or acceptable to God, who did\nnot profess to believe in the ministration of angels, and the immediate\ninspiration of the Holy Ghost. John, and Jesus, and the apostles, laid\nthe axe at the root of all religions but their own; and they believed\nfully and heartily in these and such like things. And the great bone of\ncontention between them and their pious adversaries was mainly about\nthe gifts and blessings of a supernatural order;--the latter making a\nmock of tongues, and despising prophecyings, and miracles, as being\nneedless in that day and age of the world;--the former maintaining\nthat the faith of Daniel, Sampson, and Noah, were as necessary to\nsalvation as they ever had been in the early age of the world. Indeed,\nif you will look through the whole Bible, you will find that every\nman of Bible piety believed in prophets, and angels, and visions, and\nmiracles; and any one who did not believe as they did were accounted\nrebels, or hypocrites, and excommunicated accordingly.\n\nI know, indeed, that out of the lids of the Bible, you may find\npious creeds, that set aside all further revelation, and the\nfurther ministration of angels, and prophets, and represent the\nsupernatural faith of Moses and Elijah as no longer needed; but no such\nrepresentation can be drawn from any part of the contents of the Bible.\nMen of _supposed_ splendid piety can be found in modern churches, who\nknow nothing of the gift of the Holy Ghost in prophecying and tongues,\nor healing, and who never dreamed of having the ministration of an\nangel; and would sneer at the whole system of prophets and angels, and\npresent miracles. And what I ask of them is, that they will abandon\nall pretext of Bible authority for such piety. The Bible recognises no\nsuch piety, neither does it entertain any fellowship for it; but down\nto the day when the last revelation was uttered, it never breathed an\nintimation that the faith of miracles would cease, or the gifts of\nhealing, except through transgression; but the ancient faith of Abraham\nand Moses was strenuously contended for, till the last man sealed his\ntestimony with his blood.\n\nThe advocates of old revelations, and old prophets, and former day\nmiracles, were very numerous in Paul's day; but they hated new\nrevelation and the power of the Mosaic and Samsonic faith as they did\npoison.\n\nThe doctrine of constant revelation in the true Church, left them as\nbarren of Bible piety as the fallen angels. Go back to whatever part\nof the history of Bible piety you will, you will never be able to\nglean up anything in the shape or likeness of modern piety; but you\nwill pick up the hot indignation of apostles and prophets against all\nsuch pretended piety. The Bible wages an uncompromising war against\nmodern piety that wears the mask of friendship for ancient revelations\nand miracles, while it resists the same faith and power in its own\nday. It is no new thing to have revelation and miracles cease: they\nwere discontinued in consequence of transgression in several different\nperiods of the world. Previous to the days of John the Baptist, and\nbefore the days of Moses and Abraham, revelation had ceased. These\nmen were raised up as so many new revelators, in order to overthrow\nthe false and discordant religions, and establish the knowledge of\nthe true God on the earth. As soon as prophets have ceased to reveal\nthe will of God, people have turned into jangling about creeds.\nThe old revelations have been distorted and pulled all to tatters;\nmanuscripts have been picked up; and uninspired men, with all pomposity\nand pedantry, have set themselves to adjudicate and determine what\nwas genuine, and what was spurious revelation. You might as well set\nblind men without a telescope to examine the propriety of the local\nrelationship of the starry bodies in the heavens. Alas! the eager folly\nof biblical researches! Send one, as well, in the darkness of midnight\nto search a hay-mow for a cambric needle! as though the Almighty could\nnot hide himself from the gaze of transgressors, and withhold the\nkey of knowledge from those that \"despise prophecyings.\" But I turn\nfrom the vain and sickening labours of the erudite religionist. His\npathway is a mazy labyrinth--the further he goes, the more inextricable\nhis difficulties! The cost of his wearisome and fruitless labours\noverpowers the remnant of his veracity, and he seeks an inglorious\nreward for his labours in decoying others, as foolish as himself, into\nthe same learned labyrinths of error. He tells what this man has said,\nand that man has written; but from God, the fountain of all truth,\nhe has obtained no intelligence--he has heard nothing. Having felt a\nlittle of the mesh cords of this entanglement, in pity I turn away.\n\nThe faith of visions, miracles, angels, revelations, and prophets, is\nthe only religion of the Bible. With what contempt would Abraham look\nupon the religion that immediately preceded the days of Moses? With\nwhat indignation would Moses and Elijah look upon the religion that\nimmediately preceded John, and denied any further revelation!\n\nHow abhorrent to apostles must be the conduct of those who, having\npersecuted and slain the defenders of the faith of miracles, then\nturned round and said, \"We need no more such faith,--miracles are\ndone away.\" Their posterity approve their sayings, and teach the same\ntheology. Blush, O, thou foul prince of darkness, at the consummate\nfolly and credulity of thy followers! What would the revelator John\nsay, to a grave assembly or synod of divines, that should meet together\nin solemn council to devise means how to check the doctrine of new\nrevelation and miracles? After showing them that he was identified with\nthe self same obnoxious advocates of such a doctrine, and that _his_\nbanishment, and the martyrdom of his fellow apostles, had sprung from\nthe same spirit of anti-revelation and anti-miracles, that now convenes\nthis grave council of bishops; with mingled pity and indignation\nhe concludes a most touching remonstrance against their unhallowed\nopposition to prophets, by pointing the assembly to the tragic scenes\nof Calvary, where anti-revelation had matured a full cup. When men come\nto the knowledge of God through the principles of immediate revelation,\nand the power of the Holy Ghost, nothing can separate them from the\nlove of God but their own transgressions; neither sword, nor famine,\nnor peril, nor principalities, nor powers, can separate them from\nthe gospel. They know in whom they believe. Who could convince Jacob\nof the fallacy of visions, after what he experienced at Bethel? Who\ncould dissuade Peter from the faith of miracles, after witnessing the\nlame man healed at the gate of the temple? Would David or his mighty\nmen doubt the power of God, after a single individual had lifted up\nhis spear and slew _eight hundred_ at one time? Would mobbing and\nimprisonment force Sampson to abandon his supposed delusion, after\nhe had put to flight an army of thousands? No; vain hope of all the\nadversaries to miracles!\n\nHow long shall men wage a war of scandal, extermination, and massacre\nagainst the advocates of miracles? Yet the nineteenth century--blush\nto hear the undeniable charge!--yea, the christendom of the nineteenth\ncentury has espoused the old persecutor's warfare, as keenly as the\npersecutors of Stephen, Daniel, and Moses. Are they so forgetful of\nall sacred and profane history as not to know that they are fighting\nthe battles of Cain, Esau, Jannes and Jambes, Judas and Herod, over\nagain. The former persecutors fought against new revelations, and\nlatter persecutors do the same--the former Saints were called lying,\nblasphemous impostors, and the Latter-day Saints are called the same.\nThere always was an attempt to crush former saints by scandalizing\ntheir character, robbing and slaying them--the same luckless attempt is\nagain renewed in the nineteenth century.\n\nAlmost anything can be tolerated sooner than the admission that the God\nof miracles and angels reigns again on the earth. Bible saints never\nlived in any other age than an age of miracles, visions, and angels.\nThey knew that true saints never would live in any other age. They knew\nthat the gospel _could not_ be communicated to any people of any age\nwithout revelation; for therein is the righteousness of God _revealed_\nfrom faith to faith. A gospel without revelation is _no gospel_. A\ngospel without the gifts and power of the Holy Ghost, and the ministry\nof angels, is no gospel. There cannot be found the first instance of a\ntrue minister of God, throughout the whole record of inspiration, who\ndid not possess the gift of inspiration and the spirit of prophecy.\n_No man_ can say that Jesus is the Christ, but by the Holy Ghost; and\nthe Holy Ghost leads every man, who is loyal to his dictates, into\nall truth sooner or later. The deep things of God, and the keys of\ndivine power, are available to him. By obedience he is sure to reach\nthe measure of the power and wisdom attained by Christ himself--the\n_manifold_ wisdom of GOD, even, is to be possessed and shown forth by\nthe Church.\n\nBible saints were always familiar with the ministration of angels. And\nit is only such as are wholly unlike Bible saints who are not familiar\nwith the ministration of angels. Those who are unlike Bible saints\nhave always, in all ages, denied the ministry of angels, and gift of\nprophecy and healing, in their own day. And it is a certain test and\nevidence, that a man is not born of the spirit when he denies these\nthings; for no man that has the Spirit of God can speak lightly of God;\nbut he will extol his power for himself, and not for another. Men that\nhave not the Spirit of God may tell what great things faith wrought\nin former ages, but can tell nothing from their own experience of the\nsame power. It is, indeed, a marvellous thing, that men should affect\nto regard \"Bible piety\" as a standard or copy, which all are bound to\nimitate, and at the same time adopt an inferior rule of piety that\ndiscards and abrogates all the more conspicuous and powerful features\nof primitive piety! How they can have the temerity and effrontery to\nimpose upon community a system of religion, that is the counterpart of\nBible piety, I am at a loss to conceive. A gospel without immediate\nand accompanying revelation! Who ever heard such a thing, except from\ntransgressors sitting in the region and shadow of death? No Bible saint\never saw such a thing in his day. Neither Abel or Enoch, Abraham or\nMoses, David or Peter, ever saw such a gospel in their day. The only\ngospel that these men ever knew of or fellowshipped, was a gospel\ndistinguished by revelations, visions, and angels. Such a gospel\nrejoiced their hearts, because it was the power of God, and wisdom of\nGod. It nerved the arm of Sampson, so that scores and hundreds of men\ncould no more stand before his might than before a volcanic eruption,\nor an avalanche from the mountain. It gave elasticity to David, so\nthat he could leap a wall, or rush through a troop. It struck with\nblindness the mobbers of Sodom; opened prison gates to Peter; cursed\nElymas with blindness; enabled men to walk unsinged through the fiery\nburning of the furnace, heated sevenfold hotter than usual! This, sir,\nis _the_ gospel, and the only gospel. It exhibits the power of God and\nthe wisdom and might of God. Any other gospel is a curse to men, and\na stink in the nose of God. Angels have once tried to preach another\ngospel; and what has been the result of their efforts? They have been\nhurled down and are even now reserved in chains under darkness, to the\njudgment of the great day; and those who _first_ began to preach modern\nchristianity have doubtless shared a doom scarcely less awful.\n\nThe first step stone to modern christianity was laid on the smoking\nruins of primitive christianity. The christian enemies to new\nrevelations and miracles, actually waded through the blood of apostles\nand prophets, in order to establish the system of anti-revelation. And\ndid their descendants and abettors realise the bloody and accursed\norigin of that system that wars against new regulations and prophets,\nand angels, many of them would shudder at their blind zeal and\nself-righteousness! God winks at the conduct of the latter, because\nthey know not what they do; but He commands all men every where to\nrepent, else He will hold them guilty of all the blood that has been\nshed from the days of righteous Abel till now. God is my witness that I\nspeak the truth in Christ Jesus and lie not.\n\nThe history of modern christianity, from the day when the first martyr\nfell under its bloody hatred, is a history of contention, persecution,\nand massacre, that causes all heaven to weep. Rivers of blood have\nflowed in its wake. Crimination and re-crimination from the pulpit\nand the press, have agitated the people, from the throne down to the\notherwise peaceful cottage. The battle field has been soaked with the\nblood of its victims, and it is difficult to tell whether Catholic\nor Protestant domination can count the most victims, except as one\nmay have held a longer and stronger ascendency than the other. The\nfirst two or three centuries were bloody beyond description. All\ndenominations recoil at the history of their pedigree during this\nearly and bloody period. The links in the chain of supposed apostolic\nsuccession are so bloody, that even the \"dark ages\" cannot conceal\ntheir crimson hue. The period when this famous chain of succession\nhas not been coloured with human gore, is short. The records of the\nsuffering Waldenses, in the valleys of Piedmont, will always tell a\ntale of wo, at which humanity must blush. The history of the protestant\nreformation in Germany and England, including the massacre of sixty\nthousand protestants in France, at one time, is a serious comment on\nthe pseudo apostolic line of priesthood. But when protestantism came\ninto power, under Henry and Elizabeth, it proved to a demonstration\nthat the protestants had the same priesthood handed down through seas\nof human gore; excommunicating, torturing and killing catholic heretics\nin like manner as the catholics had previously done to others.[A]\n\n[Footnote A 1. It was death to make a new Catholic priest within the\nkingdom. 2. It was death for a Catholic priest to come into the kingdom\nfrom abroad. 3. It was death to harbour a Catholic priest coming from\nabroad. 4. It was death to confess to such a priest. 5. It was death\nfor any priest to say mass. 6. It was death for any one to hear mass.\n7. It was death for any one to _deny_ or not to _swear_, if called on,\nthat this woman (Elizabeth) was the head of the church of Christ. 8. It\nwas an offence punishable by heavy fine _not_ to go _to the Protestant\nchurch_, \u00a3250, equal to \u00a33,250 of present English money.--_Penal\nStatutes passed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth_.]\n\nThe United States of America were first settled by fugitives from the\nintolerance and bigoted persecution of the mother country; and it now\nbecomes no wonder that after all this tragic drama of inhuman and\nbrutal outrages for near eighteen hundred years, that the children\nof them that slew the prophets, should deny the need of any further\nrevelation, and also of any more apostles and miracles! But, sir, the\nHeavens are more compassionate. The Heavens feel the need to give\nfurther revelation, lest the whole earth be speedily destroyed through\nthe abomination of this mother of harlots and her numerous progeny.\n\nThere are thousands of honest hearted people that deserve a\nbetter destiny than to be made the deluded prey and spoil of such\nabominations, under the flattering name of christianity. It is to\nsuch these letters are designed to be a benefit. It is in vain for\nProtestants to charge the bloody axe of persecution against the\nCatholics, or for one sect of Protestants to charge and vilify another\nsect. Knox and Calvin were relentless, if not actually murderous\nenemies of the Catholics: and there is scarcely a consequential\nProtestant sect in England, or the United States of America, that\nhas not proven out their shameful and bloody pedigree by acts of\nbanishment, hanging, confiscation of property, or proscription of cast.\n\nThese charges against the christianity that has sprung up since the\ndays of revelation, are capable of the most undeniable proof. It is\nno marvel that intelligent and high-minded men in every country have\nbecome so sceptical towards the prevailing religions of the day. The\nscepticism of France was a misnomer; it was not in reality a warfare\nagainst the true Bible, but against the horrid impositions supposed to\nbe deducible from the Bible. If the Bible had been fairly represented\nby the true church, France would never have waged such a bloody war\nagainst it as it did in the days of its revolution. The illuminati of\nFrance had sense enough to detect the fooleries and impositions of\npriestcraft, and the nonsensical notion of a God without body or parts,\nand in their misguided rage they mistook the Bible to be the source of\nthese false religions.\n\nThe foregoing is only a cursory hint of the bloody character of\nmodern christianity, from the time when it slew the apostles who held\nthe keys of revelation, and has ever since denied the need of any\nfurther revelation; for a hundred volumes of the size of the Bible,\nwould not suffice to detail each instance where men and women have\nbeen whipped, hung, ripped open, or gibbeted, or burnt, or their\nears bored, and their faces branded with hot irons. The massacres\nof France, half-murdered Ireland, Germany, and England, if written\nin detail, would make an imposing library. Fortunate for humanity's\nsake, that no one religious power has any greater predominance than\nit has; else the want of religious checks and balances would even\nnow be as fatal to the minority as the exhalations of the Upas. Yet,\nafter all this, christianity claims to be tolerant and catholic; and\nher bishops, enthroned in a salary of more than \u00a327,000 sterling per\nannum, claim a regular succession from St. Peter. They might better\nhave said from the murderers of St. Peter. Oh, shame on the cry of\napostolic succession! What a transformation Peter must have undergone\nby this chain of succession! His gifts of discernment and healing\ngone! The spirit of prophecy and tongues have left him! The power to\nopen prison doors, and of converse with angels, have left him impotent\nas other men! Marvellous falling off of every thing but salaries and\npomp and persecution! Many suppose that Christ's Church must have been\nperpetuated on the earth, because it is said that the gates of hell\nshould not prevail against it. Strange and fallacious argument for the\ncontinuance of the Church! Can it be supposed for a moment, that the\nChurch is prevailed against, because it is removed from the earth?\nJesus was removed from this life and gave up the ghost, but was he\ntherefore prevailed against? Did he not triumph over death, and ascend\nup on high, and lead captivity captive? Did he not thereby acquire the\npossession of all things in heaven and upon earth?\n\nIt should not be supposed, that because all the saints were put to\ndeath, or became extinct from the earth, that they have any less\ndominion over wicked men and fallen angels; on the other hand, by\nremoval they increase in power and glory, and have authority increased\nupon their heads. The generations of the wicked have been prevailed\nagainst, ever since the Church left the earth. The curses that have\nfollowed the Jewish and Gentile enemies of the Church, from the days of\nthe primitive Church till now, are perfectly visible to any but such\nas have eyes and see not, and ears and hear not. The Jews and Gentiles\nare like two inebriates, each sees clearly how very drunk the other\nis, but discovers not his own intoxicated and besotted condition. The\nGentiles say that the Jews, through transgression, have lost the Urim\nand Thummin, and Ephod and Teraphim, and been proscribed and banished,\nand thousands killed and scattered, as a bye word and proverb, among\nall nations. On the other hand, the Gentiles have lost the gifts and\nblessings of the Spirit, with all the holy order of apostles and\nprophets; and wiping the slush from their bloody hands, say they have\nno need of them.\n\nAlas, sir, when shall the veil that covers all nations (both Jews and\nGentiles) be removed, and self-righteous religionists confess that\ntheir sins have separated, between them and their God, and hid his\nface from them? When will the sectarian priesthood that now arrogantly\nsay, we are rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing,\nhave humility enough to confess that they are blind, and naked, and\ndestitute of all things, seeing that they are without the gifts of the\nSpirit, and the key of knowledge (revelation) and the authority of the\npriesthood.\n\nI know it is very difficult to convince sectarians that they are not\na pious people. Why, say they, do we not manifest much more fervency\nof spirit, and studied sacredness of deportment, and punctilious\nexactness, in observing the Sabbath than Latter-day Saints? Do we\nnot show to all men great self-abasement in confessing our sins to\nbe like crimson and scarlet, and our iniquities to be like mountains\nin magnitude. Are we not scrupulously guarded against all levity and\ntrifling conversation? Are not our preachers very grave, and apparently\ndevoted and holy in their bearing? Do not their frequent sighs and\ninsuppressible groans, as their spirits are weighed down under the\nconviction of the worth of souls, and the vast responsibility of the\nLord's watchmen, indicate profound piety? Do they not fast often and\npray much? Are they not orthodox and evangelical, insisting much upon\nthe new birth and a radical change of heart? How can it be that a\npeople of this description are not pious and exceedingly holy? The\npreachers speak, and even walk in measured carefulness and peculiarity\nof manner, so that a preacher is generally known by his walk, and\ndialect, and sober, grave countenance.\n\nNow, sir, when I have conceded most liberally to the above, what\ndoes it all prove? Why, sir, one act of obedience to God is better\nthan the most rigid conformity to all the precepts of men. The more\ndevoted and sincere people are in error, so much more agreeable to the\nprince of darkness. What a meagre atonement does a demure countenance,\nand sanctimonious sighs and groans, and self-loathings make, for\ntransgressing the law of God, and changing an ordinance. Take, for\ninstance, the ordinance of laying on of hands for healing the sick. Had\nthis ordinance been perpetuated in the Church, millions upon millions\nof the human family might have been saved from premature death. Through\nthis ordinance, Jesus Christ has said, \"_they shall recover_.\" Through\nthe sceptical abandonment of this ordinance countless millions have not\nlived out half of their days. How much compensation does it afford to\nthe countless victims of disobedience, for men to assume a grave long\nface, and strive to elongate the name of God by gracious sounds, as\nthough the name of God was too short without being stretched for such\nholy lips.\n\nTake another ordinance, viz., the gift of the Holy Ghost, by laying\non hands. What a flimsy and miserable equivalent for the absence of\nthe Comforter, and spirit of prophecy and revelation, are seminaries\nof learning, and a multitude of oblations, and prayers, and frequent\nfasting! It is too much, sir, like the drunken boy, who, having broken\nhis master's bottle, boastingly claimed credit for saving the cork!\n\nNeglect of the weighty matters of laws and ordinances are to be\natoned for, by pious breathings in private journals for posthumous\npublication; and by elaborate sermons and comments, they make plain\nthings profoundly obscure; and every year increases the necessity of\nadditional learning, in order to disentangle the profound knottiness of\ntheological disquisitions and exegetical comments. The very religious\nopposers of Jesus Christ, whose hands were accessory to his death, had\na most fervent and devout spirit, and were eminently pious; but the\ndoctrine of new revelations, and the gifts of healing, tongues, and\nprophecyings, disturbed the equanimity of their devout hearts, and\ntheir rage rose to the pitch of desperation and blood-guiltiness.\n\nNo matter how much men confess, and pray, and sacrifice,--no matter how\nsincere and conscientious they are in error, if their religion does not\nlead them to keep the commands and ordinances of the true and living\nGod, their worship is vain and their faith is vain. Except they hearken\nto the law of God and the testimony of God, there is no light in them.\nSincerity is nothing without obedience; both wicked men and devils are\nsincere in many things which God abhors. A man coming to the forks of\nfour roads might pray months and years to be guided in choice of the\nright road, but if he would not believe the testimony of the Lord's\nservant who should tell him the only true road, he would still remain\nin doubt and fear.\n\nWell, says a very strenuous objector, now to end all controversy, just\nshow us one real genuine miracle, and I will thereupon believe, and\nbe baptized, and for ever after hold my peace. Aye, indeed! a very\ncommon sentiment, but a strange one coming from the lips of a professed\nbeliever in the Bible. He that is no hypocrite, but a true believer in\nthe Bible, has the explicit promise of God's own word, that miraculous\nsigns _shall_ follow them that _believe_. Now, if they do not follow\nbelievers, then God is a liar, and no longer worthy of confidence; but\nif God is true, and the signs do not follow, then your faith is vain,\nand will not save from damnation. But, says the objector, miracles were\nanciently wrought to prove the divine mission of the servants of God.\nNow prove to me that you are a servant of God, by the attestation of\nan indisputable miracle, for in apostolic days, even wicked men said,\na notable miracle hath been done, and we cannot deny it. Yes, very\ntrue, and other wicked men have testified to the same in these days,\nand sometimes they would deny it, and alternately confess it, according\nto the spirit that was upon them. Saul, the king, could tell the truth\nabout David at one time, and at another deny it--at one time worship\nthe youthful supplanter, and at another thirst for his blood. Miracles\nmay sometimes have been the occasion of leading persons to believe the\nword of God, but their prominent design was never in any age of the\nworld to introduce new revelation.\n\nMoses was a believer before God spoke to him in the burning bush.\nJohn the Baptist, who introduced the christian dispensation, and was\nthe harbinger of Christ, probably never saw any miracle, except at\nthe descent of the dove, at the baptism of Jesus. \"John wrought no\nmiracle.\" Joseph Smith was a believer before the angel which John and\nthe other prophets spoke of, ever visited him. Miracles may confirm the\nfaith of such believers as have the Holy Ghost confirmed upon them,\nwhereby they are able to distinguish between true and false miracles.\nTo others they often prove a snare and a trap.\n\nWhile miracles confirmed the Hebrews in the faith of God, miracles\nalso confirmed the Egyptians in the faith of satan. Many who witnessed\nthe miracles of Jesus were as keen for mobocracy and murder as the\nbloodiest. This parade about miracles, being designed to introduce\nchristianity, and confirm and attest all genuine revelation, is a\nhumbug that has always been started whenever a new revelation was given\nto man. The pious Jews insisted constantly that the disciples should\nprove their authority by miracles. It was about the first and last\nthing that they ever said to Jesus: WORK A MIRACLE! come down from the\ncross and we will believe. He told them, in language of the keenest\nrebuke, that they should not be seeking after \"signs.\" He told them\nthat it indicated a wicked and adulterous spirit to ask him to give\nthem miraculous signs. The devil and devout Jews fairly made game of\nChrist and his disciples, because when they were asked to do miracles\nthey refused. But still the devil, and many ministers and churches,\ncontinued to demand signs and miracles, and stormed and raged greatly\nbecause these men would never work miracles in a way to satisfy them.\n\nThese sagacious and pious adversaries of Jesus were always able to\ndetect some flaw--some cunning artifice or trick of the devil--in\nwhatever Christ or the apostles did (as they said). Now modern divines\nand churches, taking up this old cudgel against the saints, have even\nasked Latter-day Saints to drink a cup of poison. Drink it, says\none--now drink it, or we will not believe you are sent of God. Aye, now\nwe know you are not sent of God to preach! Forgetting that the first\nsign-seeker once said, if you are the Son of God, \"cast thyself down\nfrom this pinnacle, for it is written, that he shall give his angels\ncharge concerning thee.\"\n\nNow, sir, if irony were admissible on a subject of this nature, I would\ntauntingly add--how satan did trap this impostor! He drove him into an\nextremity for pretending to work miracles; didn't he? But I forbear;\nlet him that hath ears to hear, hear what the Spirit saith unto the\nsign-seekers!\n\nIt may seem marvellous to some if I should say that satan can work\nsigns and wonders far surpassing the greatest knowledge of men. The\npower of satan has probably never been fully exhibited to men on the\nearth. The grand adversary of heaven and earth has not warred against\neven the throne of the Eternal God, without acquiring some acquaintance\nwith those powers and keys of knowledge with which he has been baffled\nby the Almighty from the beginning. If believers had to contend _only_\nwith flesh and blood, or mere men in mortal flesh, they might rejoice\nin the hope of a far more speedy victory; but, on the other hand, they\nhave to contend against principalities and powers of a supernatural\norder. Spirits as much superior in power and cunning to the worst men\nin the flesh, as the full grown man is to the slender child. Men have\nacquired some knowledge of the laws that govern fire, air, and water;\nand some imperfect knowledge of the laws that govern minds, or the\nspirits of men; but the knowledge of fallen angels and outcast spirits,\nis sufficient to astonish and confound the wisest of men that are\nnot inspired with the wisdom of God. The satanic powers have always\nexcited the greatest wonders contemporaneous with the wonders wrought\nby the servants of God. In the days of Moses, and also of Jesus Christ,\nmen were inspired by satan with more than mere human powers; and in\nthis last dispensation, wicked men that yield themselves to become\nthe willing instruments of unrighteousness to the devil, will again\nacquire skill in cunning and deceivable arts, whereby they will bring\ndown fire from heaven, and confound all those who know not the laws\nand powers of spirits, and the extensive influence that the prince of\nthe power of the air has over the natural elements. Men who do not\nneed power from God to cast out devils, will find themselves made fast\nin his chains, beyond the power of extricating themselves. But while\nthe saints have not power of themselves to detect the lying wonders of\nsatan, and withstand them--yet, through faith, and the keys and gifts\nof revelation from God, they will be able to stand and overcome; and\nthe power of God will be greater than the cunning of the devil. But\nsign-seekers and the enemy of new revelations will be arraigned under\nthe banner of the father of lies, and believe a lie that they may be\ndamned. Jesus found foul spirits and devils so thick, in his days,\nthat he had occasion frequently to cast them out of persons, and also\nto empower others to cast out devils. Some instances are recorded\nwhere many of these fallen spirits took possession of a single person\nat one and the same time. No less than seven occupied one female. Now\nmodern christianity must be highly favoured, if they are so much better\nthan primitive saints, that they can escape the annoyance of these\nmultiplied and troublesome spirits.\n\nHow is it, sir, that devils do not trouble modern churches, as they did\nthe primitive saints? Are _they_ done away too? Miracles and devils\ndone away! The canon of the scriptures closed! miracles and devils\nceased! Happy christianity; thy warfare has ceased,--thy troubles are\nended! Blessed rest! Joyful reign of righteousness! As many ways to\nheaven now, as there are eyelets in a seive! Oh, brother, blush for\nthy theology, and for the doleful conclusions to which thy creeds have\nbrought thee!\n\nThe reign of Satan, for near eighteen hundred years, has almost effaced\nevery relic of Bible truth from the earth. Every thing that is valuable\nand powerful in the ancient system of prophets is done away, and the\ndevil himself is supposed, by many, to be merely the evil passions of\nmen. But, sir, the devil is not dead nor done away. But the gospel of\napostles will rouse him up again; and knowing that his time is short,\nhe will show his spite again on those bodies from which he shall be\nexpelled by the apostolic priesthood, in choking, tearing, and casting\nthem down to the ground. And who shall be able to stand, when deceptive\nmiracles, and lying wonders far greater than have ever been known since\nthe foundation of the world, shall be practised, and deceive many?\n\nNow, sir, before I close this appeal, suffer me to allude to the\nintolerant and cruel persecution of the Saints, in Illinois. The\nnineteenth century, and the great republic of the United States of\nNorth America, must have the pages of its history blackened with the\nrecord of a persecution that classes with the bloody acts of Nero and\nCaligula. From fifteen to twenty thousand citizens of the United States\nwere forced in an illegal, violent, and inhuman manner to forsake\ntheir homes and possessions in the state of Illinois, the greater\npart of them during the inclemency of the winter of 1846. A large and\npopulous city of eleven thousand and thirty-five souls of men, women,\nand children, has been compulsorily evacuated, under the dread of\ninevitable massacre if they persisted to occupy their firesides and\nhomes.\n\nContinued acts of house-burning and mid-day assassinations, and\nmidnight murder, and large gatherings of armed and lawless forces, with\nheavy pieces of artillery necessitated this numerous people to leave\ntheir flourishing city, merchandise, and farms, in the most inclement\nperiod of the year, for the purpose of self preservation.\n\nThis glaring act of expatriation, robbery, arson, and assassination,\nwas not done in a corner. It did not occur among the barbarous and half\ncivilized portions of the globe. It did not transpire in the dominions\nof the Ottoman, where the Coran and Islamism must father such inhuman\ndeeds. It was not done in the jungles of Africa, where kidnapping and\ninhuman enslavement of men have called forth the repudiating censure of\nall nations. It was not done by clannish wandering Arabs, whose hands\nare proverbially against every man as a profession. Neither was it done\nin Papal dominions, or under the despotic sway of the sublime Porte or\nthe autocrat of Russia.\n\nNeither did the red men of the wilderness spring from their thicket\nwith a warwhoop, and tomahook, and scalping knife, to perpetrate this\nbloody outrage! But hold still, modern christianity! The inquisitor of\nblood is in pursuit of thee, even to the gates of thy stronghold. Thou\ncanst not cover thy hiding place with the screen of papacy, for she was\nnot there. Thou canst not say that the autocrat of the Greek religion,\nwith iron despotism cast these men into prison for teaching the Bible.\nNeither was it the sword of the Mussulman propogating his religion.\nThere was no Mahometanism in Illinois. Neither canst thou charge it\nupon the Monarchical Institutions of Europe or established Episcopacy.\n\"Thou art the man.\" Free Republican Christianity; you did it! In thy\nyouthful beauty, the rising pride and envy of nations; thou didst it!\nThy priests and laymen rose from their devout knees, and lighted the\nfagot and torch of the incendiary.--The sick man and (gravis) mother\nbegged for God's sake, and for humanity's sake, you would spare their\nhumble cottages which their brawny hands had reared in the midst of\nloneliness, want, and insalubrity of climate. Yet their cries were\nunheeded. Thev had but one alternative, either to be thrust out upon\nmiasmatic ground, or remain and burn with their habitations. The man\nthat persisted to watch his stack of grain against the incendiary, was\nshot dead in the act. Durfee's blood crimsons the skirts of republican\nchristianity in Illinois. Where were the rulers and governors? Did they\nhear of it? Oh! it's nobody but Mormons! Where was the legislature\nof Illinois when the Smiths were shot in prison, in the sight of all\nCarthage, by hundreds in a painted gang? The governor threatening to\ndestroy the city in person if they did not keep the peace, and deliver\nthe Smiths for trial? What did the supreme legislature, delegates from\nmore than four hundred thousand people of Illinois, in fresh review\nof these scenes of assassination, do? They repealed the city charter\nof Nauvoo. The mob made one gap in the law by assassination, and the\nstate government following the example, threw down the whole enclosure\nthat guarded the rights and privileges of thousands by repealing the\ncharter. Where were the Illinois priests of modern christianity at\nthat time? A distinguished clergyman of the city of Quincy, in their\ndefence, said to the writer, we (the clergy) had nothing to do with\nthose scenes in Hancock. Aye, indeed! neither had the pharisaic priests\nany thing to do with the robbed and wounded man, but the good Samaritan\npicked him up and carried him to an inn, and paid his bill. But Jesus\nChrist had to do with making an eternal record of the difference\nbetween the conduct of the good Samaritan, and the hypocrite of high\npriestly profession. Even a priest commanded the mob force in the final\nattack upon the city that expelled the remnant of Saints that were too\npoor to get away sooner. This remnant were left shelterless and sick,\nfamishing upon the west bank of the Mississippi, where the quails of\nheaven actually fed them as they lay upon their couches, and in their\nwagons, in the sight of both friends and foes. Hear it! thou stronghold\nof modern christianity! Say not what great things you would do if you\nwere not trammelled by the despotic shackles of monarchical government!\nA puritan christianity planted the tree of liberty on the solitary soil\nof America, from choice seed of her own selection. After being long\nnursed and watered by her numerous and learned priesthood. These are\nthe full grown fruits of it; kidnapping, robbery, rapine, arson, and\nmurder.--Systematic efforts were made, more than once, to prevent the\ninflux of provisions into Nauvoo, in order that famine in a land of\nplenty, might coerce the inhabitants to flee their city, in building\nwhich they had sweat and toiled, and many had died. Time and again,\nsteam boats were hailed and searched, in order to stop barrels of flour\nfrom going to Nauvoo, that had been purchased by our citizens in a\ntime of scarcity at St. Louis. And provisions and other necessaries,\nhad actually to be freighted for Madison and other river towns, in\norder to escape detection. Teams loaded with pork from inland counties\nwere arrested, and turned to other markets, as though it were an\nacknowledged siege for the purpose of causing starvation. I know these\nthings to be true, and my blood warms with mingled pity and indignation\nat the recollection of scenes of which I have been an eye witness.\n\nAt this time, and in this day of revivals, where were the ten thousands\nof priests that officiate at the altar? Where were the innumerable\nconverts to modern christianity? What part did they all take towards\nregulating public opinion and preventing human slaughter? The sons and\ndaughters of the puritans were there in affliction for the gospel's\nsake; and no less than two venerable pensioners, Hatch and Hinsdale,\nthat fought in the revolutionary struggle for American Independence,\nwere there, and were driven from their country for maintaining the\nright of conscience.\n\nNow, who ever heard in all America of a priest pleading publically\nagainst these outrages, and importuning the throne of God in behalf of\nthese suffering sons and daughters of God? Modern American christianity\nmust redouble her gracious sanctimonious looks, in order to cover up\nthis horrid indifference to lawless violence and suffering humanity.\n\nThe statesman that fears not God, nor regards man, may have some\nsemblance of apology for his indifference; but American churches have\nnone. But, where were the statesmen that make high professions of\npatriotism, and sensitive regard for the national honor of the United\nStates? Could no disgrace accrue to the nation, when twenty thousand\npeaceable industrious citizens were violently robbed of millions of\nproperty without a shadow of requital? What security can foreign\nemigrants have for colonizing on the western lands, if whole cities\nand towns may be depopulated at a single blast of the popular caprice\nwith impunity? What regard can American statesmen be supposed to\nentertain for the sacred and inalienable rights of the people, while no\nman ever opened his mouth either in the halls of Congress or of state\nlegislatures against the most palpable and gross infractions of the\nconstitution that ever transpired since the existence of the United\nStates government.\n\nThe constitution guarantees to every man the right to worship God\naccording to the dictates of conscience, and without molestation.\nIt promises the right of property and the defence and protection of\npeaceable and unoffending citizens; but millions of property have been\nillegally plundered, and thousands of patriotic and worthy citizens\nhave been deprived of the liberty of common citizens, and forced into\nthe wilds of the mountains in the most inhuman manner. Had any foreign\nnation committed a small part of this damage upon their commercial\ninterests, would not the national executive have demanded redress for\nspoliations, even at the mouth of the canon?\n\nBut I would not have you think, sir, by these remarks, that I entertain\nany acrimonious feelings towards my country. No; far from it. I love\nmy native land, though cruelly exiled from it, because it is in that\nland that liberty is destined to flourish above all lands. That land\nhas been set apart in the councils of eternity, and dedicated as the\nnursery of virtue and religious liberty. That is emphatically a land of\npromise. Its very soil is hallowed above all others, for the literal\nproduction of truth. There the blessings promised to Joseph are to be\nfirst displayed and enjoyed. There the ensign is to be first lifted\nup to all nations; and all nations, or the upright of all nations,\nare to flow together there. Every description of product and variety\nof climate is there. Notwithstanding the degeneracy and corruption of\nthe civilized portions of that land, there is more toleration in the\ngovernment and constitution, and more facilities for the introduction\nand spread of gospel truth in that land, than any other under the\nwhole heaven. It is the very place, and probably the only place on\nthis planet, where the true and eternal kingdom of God could get a\nfooting, and survive the blasts of persecution, and the rage of fallen\nand apostate spirits of men and devils. Hitherto the Saints of God have\nbeen slaughtered, or compelled, like the city of Enoch, to forsake the\nearth.\n\nBut the Book of Mormon, and the angelic message to the young man\nJoseph, have dug the grave of apostacy, and laid the axe at the\nroot of false religions. The earth is destined to enjoy a reign of\nrighteousness, and a happy period of rest. Truth must and will prevail,\nand the kingdom of our God will be established in the mountains of\nIsrael, just where all the prophets that have spoken of it, have seen\nit rise and flourish, never more to be thrown down.\n\nWhen thousands that now compose the Church, and who have proved before\nthe American people that the cords of their union cannot be sundered\nby the hottest thunderbolts of persecution, are assembled in the\nremote, extensive, and fertile valley of the almost unknown mountain,\nthey will be for ever invincible. With their peaceable and inoffensive\nhabits, which have characterised their movements from the beginning,\nno people will ever be likely to assail them again, till their numbers\nand strength will be too forbidding. The accessions to this people\nhave never been so great as during the last six months. The certainty\nthat this people will survive all opposition, and triumph over every\nobstacle, was never so palpably manifest as at this very moment. Famine\nand war, pestilence, bankruptcy, treachery, and distrust, are causing\npanic and fear among the nations. Those who love peace and retirement,\nand abhor contention, crime, and revolution, must seek an asylum among\nthe Saints, for it cannot be found elsewhere on the earth. The Lord God\nhimself will stir up the nations to anger and strife, and thrash them\nas with a flail, and sift them as with a sieve. And the honest in heart\nwill flee to the Lord's hiding place, in ships and in companies, even\nas clouds and as doves to their windows.\n\nWhile the unity of great and powerful nations is undergoing a rapid\nconversion into fractional weakness, the strength of Israel is\naccumulating and augmenting beyond all former precedent. The materials\nof which this body of people is composed are not like the heterogenous\nmasses that constitute other nations; but they are select and chosen\nones out of every nation whose views--religious, political, social,\nand pecuniary--are previously all cast in the mould of unity; like\nthe materials of Solomon's temple, they are all fitted for their\nplace and destination before they are brought together. The ten\nmillions of Mexico could not stand even before the ten thousand of the\nUnited States; because the latter were united and subject to orderly\ndiscipline; while the former were distracted and divided. The hosts\nof Israel have never yet offered the first forcible resistance to the\nviolent and lawless assaults of their enemies; yet the principles of\nself-defence are alike compatible with their feelings and their faith,\nand by no means obnoxious to the practice of Abraham, Joshua, or David,\nor even Jesus Christ.\n\nWhen governments become too weak or perverse to protect their\nsubjects, it then becomes the divine and inalienable right of all men\nto protect themselves by all lawful and just means. Whatever lessons\nof forbearance and non-resistance Jesus Christ might have left on\nrecord, suited to particular circumstances, there is a predominance\nof scriptural instructions in favour of self-defence, and innumerable\nexamples to prove that the \"Lord is a man of war.\" Time would fail to\nmake mention of Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Sampson, David, and Barek. The\nprayer of Sampson was, that he might destroy his enemies; and God not\nonly heard his prayer, but gave him strength to fulfil his request: out\nof an opposing army, God even commissioned one of his angels (not so\nholy a personage as some modern Christians) to kill _one hundred and\neighty-five thousand_ in one night! Indeed! say you; could God do such\na bloody deed? Surely; and he that causelessly strikes the second cheek\nwill be repaid, for \"the day of vengeance is in his (God's) heart;\" but\nthose who proudly say, that they have no further need of revelation,\nwill find that day to come upon them unawares, even as a \"thief in the\nnight.\"\n\nSir, Zion is from henceforth and for ever invincible--she has run the\ngauntlet and is safe. After being submerged in a series of sufferings\nfor seventeen years, she now stands purified, tried, and made white;\n\"she has passed the baptismal ordeal of suffering, and power is given\nunto her to withstand and overcome;\" she has put on her beautiful\ngarments, and the mighty God of Jacob is her strength; the keys of\npower are given unto her, and the angels of God camp around about her;\nshe is entrenched in the munition of rocks, even the everlasting hills;\nby her the ensign of truth and liberty is lifted up to all nations;\nthe pure and wise of all nations may safely rally around her standard,\nand go up to the house of the God of Jacob and learn his ways. God\ncalled his Son out of Egypt after persecutors had shot out the arrows\nof their wrath in vain. If God's people have been able to stand under\npersecutions while in the midst of their enemies, much more may they\nexpect to abide when separated by the distance of months' journeyings,\nand by lofty mountains covered with perpetual snow. The mightiest\nnations already heave with convulsive throes, and travail in great\npain; they have enough to do without wasting their blood, and treasure,\nand unprovoked wrath upon the Saints; and God will soften the hearts of\nthe nations for the good of his people, from time to time, until their\npalaces and towers will be the admiration and delight of all the ends\nof the earth. The nucleus of the mightiest nation that ever flourished\non the earth is planted; the rapidly rising greatness of this people\nwill constitute one of the greatest wonders of the age; all the\nelements of a great and mighty people have been clearly demonstrated\nto belong to this people. Union, it is said, is strength; this has\nalready become proverbially a distinguishing feature of the Saints.\nDriven, and scattered, and robbed in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois,\nthey have readily re-assembled and re-united. Knowledge is said to\nbe power; knowledge has been acquired in the practical school of\nexperience; they are almost universally familiar with the undisguised\noperations of the hearts of their fellow men. No people ever had the\nsame opportunity to learn the diversified motives that govern the minds\nof men and women; no people, as a body, ever had the acquaintance\nwith the laws, government, and religion, and usages of civilized and\nbarbarous nations, which has been enjoyed by the Latter-day Saints. No\npeople of modern ages ever had their ingenuity and physical ability\nso extensively taxed in order for self-support, and the acquisition\nof knowledge, and propagation and defence of the truth. The moral\nvirtues of forbearance, long-suffering, fortitude, love to enemies,\nand self-command under fiery temptations, have been stretched to their\nutmost tension; indeed, they are a tried people--the word of the Lord\nhas tried them. They have kept the commandments of God, and are not\nfound wanting.\n\nThis, sir, is Zion, the care of angels, and the delight of the Holy One\nof Israel! Those who love righteousness and retirement from the din\nof war, and from the plague, and assassin, and incendiary, will seek\nher peaceful gates, out of every nation under the whole heaven. None\ncan injure this people or war against them with impunity, for the Lord\nis their shield and defence. When ancient Israel entered the land of\nCanaan, it is said that the Lord caused the fear of them and the dread\nof them, to rest upon all the nations round about. The same God now,\nwill again cause all nations to dread the opposition of the people of\nthe Saints of the Most High.\n\nSir, it need not be disguised that the armies of heaven are leagued\nwith the Saints in the covenant of everlasting union. You are not\nignorant of God's judgments at the Red Sea, or of the destruction of\nthe companies of fifties, and of his interposition in behalf of Israel\nin the valley of Gibeon. Neither is his arm shortened now, that he\ncannot save; His wonders have been multiplied on every hand in this\nday, according to the observation of thousands who are ready to attest\nthat the blind have been made to see, the deaf to hear, and the palsied\nhave been made sound, and many blasphemous opposers have been visited\nwith as swift and utter destruction as Ananias and Sapphira.\n\nNow, sir, what more shall I say, in order to convince you and all\nhonest men, that God has set up his kingdom against which no power can\npossibly prevail?\n\nYou kindly acknowledge that my testimony is credible; all my numerous\nacquaintance must concur with you in this acknowledgement. I have told\nyou the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, and as I expect to meet it at\nthe final bar of righteous retribution. My sufferings and expatriation\nfor the gospel's sake, are the seal of my testimony in Christ. I have\nliterally sacrificed wife, and houses, and lands, for the truths which\nI have inculcated in this volume. My motherless children are now in the\nwilderness in their solitary cabin, surrounded with savage tribes, and\nsubject to privations that make a father's heart to bleed. Better men\nof whom the world is not worthy have suffered even more in the same\ncause. I know this to be the true gospel revealed from the heavens for\nthe salvation of this generation; and all those whom it does not save\nthrough faith, it will damn through unbelief. If you have read these\ntruths carefully, your final destiny will hang on the decision you may\nmake--it is to you the voice of God, and the warning of the servant\nof God. Wait not for an angel of God to speak in your ear, or for one\nto come from the dead; if you hear not the servant of God, neither\nwill you be persuaded though one rose from the dead. Not only your\nown salvation, but the interests of your family and your kindred will\nprobably be seriously affected by the decision you now make.\n\nWhen the devout Jews, with reckless obstinacy, said, his blood be upon\nus and upon our children, you know what afterward ensued down to this\nday. With the knowledge which this gospel communicates, you cannot\nbe a neutral. The blood and sufferings not only of the Saints of the\nnineteenth century, but also of all others from the days of righteous\nAbel till now, will be chargeable to you if you obey not this gospel;\nif you reject this gospel, your children's children, to the latest\ngeneration, will for ever bewail the choice you may make. You stand\nin some measure as the representative of your posterity, therefore\nponder well the decision you may make. I know that you are surrounded\nby a knot of priests, distinguished for the wisdom of schools and\nseminaries; and the obstinate creeds and usages of modern christianity\nhold over you a threatening rod of proscription and slaughter; but\nexcept you have courage to escape, and sufficient love of truth to\ninduce you to peril even all things for the gospel, your die is cast,\nand your doom is with the lost and damned for ever.\n\nI do not expect to coerce you by motives of fear, but I know that\njudgments will and do follow this gospel; and knowing the terror of the\nLord, I persuade--I dare not say less; I would say more if the power\nof utterance were given me. All is not right with you; you acknowledge\nthat you do not understand the prophets and the apocalypse; also that\nmodern christianity is weak, divided, and contentious--not having the\npower and order of ancient prophets and apostles. Pause and consider\nwell before you reject the only light that can save this generation!\nYour old friend and acquaintance asks you to pause. The deplorable\nprospect of your kindred for generations to come, who may be involved\nin the consequences of your rebellion, require you to pause; the\ninterests of the denomination that look to you for spiritual guidance,\nrequire you to consider well the decision you may make. I know that you\nare in a strait place; Paul was once in a similar condition; but the\nsterling integrity of his heart saved him. He burst off the shackles\nof false religions, and overleaped the religious usages of ages, and\nreceived counsel and baptism at the hands of the most despised people\nthat ever lived.\n\nBut enough, perhaps, has been said; what I say to you, I say unto all\nmen--rulers and subjects, priests and people! I have set before you\nlife and death. If you reject the gospel, I am innocent of your blood;\nif you receive it, glory, and honour, and immortality await you. The\napostolic fathers and the angels of God watch to record your decision.\nWith sentiments of high respect, I subscribe myself,\n\nYour humble servant,\n\nORSON SPENCER.\n\n\n\nFAREWELL ADDRESS.\n\n_Liverpool, December_ 20, 1847.\n\nAmericans and countrymen!--Farewell! I have been exiled from your soil\nfor cherishing the inalienable rights of man. The principles of liberty\nand heaven-born truth have been the exclusive cause of the lawless\nbanishment of thousands, of which number I am one. My wife and worthy\nbrother have fallen victims to this cruel violation of constitutional\nrights. For nearly two years my six motherless children, between the\ntender ages of six and fifteen, have been inhumanly forced into the\nsolitary wilderness--nine months of the time dwelling in a tent, and\nthe remainder in a floorless log-cabin--often without flour, meal,\nor meat, and surrounded by savages of the fiercest tribes. From easy\ncompetence reduced to want, banishment, and the severest inclemencies\nof a northern climate! This is a faint outline of the picture of tens\nof thousands who have fallen victims to the unprovoked cruelty of an\nungrateful country!\n\nMy honoured father, at the age of eighteen, mustered into his country's\nservice, under the united command of Generals Washington and Lafayette,\nand was a youthful soldier at the siege of Yorktown, in the capture of\nLord Cornwallis. My grandsire was bankrupted of thousands of dollars,\nheld in promissory notes against the Continental government, which\nthe great expense of the war of revolutionary freedom disqualified\nthem ever to pay. My mother's sire was mustered among the superanuated\nveteran soldiers at the siege and capture of General Burgoyne.\n\nOf myself: many of my early associates are in the highest legislatures\nof the nation, and among the roost distinguished citizens of the desk\nand bar. To them, and to my countrymen at large, I offer this farewell,\nand this monitory counsel. Americans! your sympathy for Greece, and\nyour liberality to Ireland, and your response to the liberal efforts\nof the Pope, are relieved by a sad counter-check of cruel indifference\nand bigoted violence to your best, most peaceful, and industrious\ncitizens at home. The shades of Washington, Henry, and Adams are ready\nto burst their tombs with burning indignation, at the contempt cast\nupon the sacred principles of liberty which they fought to establish.\nThe lofty scorn manifested towards the outraged innocence of your\nsuffering countrymen, cannot escape the pity and rebuke of all patriots\nand freemen. By such foul deeds of inhumanity your country is mortgaged\nand ready to be sold. The day of final redemption will soon be passed,\nexcept a vigorous and mighty effort is made to roll back the crimson\ntide of lawless misrule and popular outbreak.\n\nBefore our people experienced their sad disasters in the state of\nIllinois, they took the timely precaution, dictated by the force of\nalarming circumstances, to _forewarn_ every governor of the several\nStates, and many other distinguished citizens, of the necessity of\ntimely succour from our countrymen and rulers. Our property, liberty,\nand lives were in danger from systematic organization of rapacious and\nblood-thirsty citizens of Illinois and Missouri. The stormy clouds,\nwhich we distinctly foresaw were ready to burst in desolating fury\nupon our innocent heads, were distinctly pointed out to the nation. We\nrespectfully petitioned for an asylum, in any one of the States that\nwould grant us this boon of protection and citizenship, for which our\nfathers had fought and bled in the war of independence. Our petitions\nwere barely answered, and coolly slighted. We were accounted as a\npeople too clannish, like the ancient Hebrews, and too peculiar and\nexclusive, like the apostles of Palestine.\n\nWe had no alternative but to commend ourselves to the God of the\noppressed, and take precipitate refuge, in the dead of winter, in the\nwild valleys of the mountains. To the God of justice, and the great\nArbiter of the destinies of nations, we look to avenge our wrongs, and\nchasten the nation that has been deaf to the voice of her suffering\nand loyal citizens. He will hear our cries and avenge our wrongs. The\ntime has come to set judgment to the line and righteousness to the\nplummet. The last and noblest experiment of popular self-government,\nand uninspired worship, has been tried in the young and giant Republic\nof America! The eagle of liberty has fled to the mountains, and\nthere perched aloft to behold the desolation of nations. Proud and\nenterprising nation! out-stripping all other nations in lofty bearing\nand onward progress, your foot has stumbled in a hand's breadth of the\nprize! Angels might weep at the spectacle of so sudden a fall; but God\nis just, and the nation that will not serve Him shall be brought low.\n\nYou are weighed in the balances, and from henceforth, until you break\nthe rod of the oppressor and redress the wrongs of the injured, your\ncouncils will be distracted, and your greatest chieftains will be\nat variance. Hand to hand, and toe to toe, every one against his\nfellow--your struggles will be sanguinary and obstinate. The people\nwhom you have trodden down in your pride, and banished by tumultuous\nacts of violence, though comparatively few and but partially known,\nhappen to be the choice ones of all the earth and the favourites of\nheaven. Their cause is espoused in the courts of the Lord of Hosts,\neven the God of all the earth. Other people, in different ages,\nhave suffered as much, or even more than this people, but the time\nof recompenses had not come. The time to end all controversy, and\nestablish a government that all nations could safely confide in, had\nnot come. It has now come. The land of Columbus, and the promised land\nof Joseph, must be cleared of the briars and thorns, in order to make\nroom for the upright of all nations to assemble themselves together,\nand enjoy a government of peace for a thousand years.\n\nTo the mountains, oh ye who would escape the convulsive throes of a\nperplexed nation, and the indignant blasts of the Almighty, in these\nyears of \"recompenses!\" \"Come out of her my people!\" Patriots of\nAmerica--friends of peace--advocates of justice! all ye that fear\nGod and tremble at his word, separate yourselves from the tents of\nwickedness, and flee to the strongholds of Zion. For the day of the\nLord cometh that will burn as an oven. The Lord reigns in the heights\nof Zion. From thence his voice will go forth as in days of old, when\nSinai quaked under his feet. He will plead with all flesh. He is risen\nup as a strong man to run a race, or as one that is full of wine. The\nseeming insignificance of the Saints may tend to conceal the Almighty\narm that is about to be made bare, not merely to redress their wrongs,\nbut to humble all flesh. The light of your priesthood thickens the\ndarkness and gloom that overhang the nation, and their efforts minister\na soporific that renders the necks of your countrymen passive to the\nexecutioner's axe.\n\nDescendants of Washington and Franklin! is there no hope? Must the\nbest constitution, ever given to any uninspired nation, be made the\nsport of traitors and demagogues? Must the loftiest efforts at freedom\nand splendid nationality he crushed by a perplexing concentration of\nevery thing humiliating to national pride and human ambition? Must\nthe sons of venerated puritans so soon be covered with the inglorious\ngore of assassinations and belligerent carnage? Must thy cities be\nlaid waste, whose lofty spires rival the mountain-tops, in courting\nthe earliest sunbeams of the morning? Must thy daughters, the fairest\nworkmanship of their Maker, be given to rapine and violence, when the\neye of pity is turned away, and the aegis of angelic guardianship is\nreluctantly withdrawn? Except you bind up the broken in heart, and make\nrestitution for robbery and rapine, and unprovoked banishment of loyal\ncitizens, who poured out their blood as water at the voice of your\ngovernors and the mandates of your laws,--the vials of wo are in store\nfor your unhappy country! No intercessor can stay the blast of divine\nindignation when the Almighty rises up to make inquisition for blood.\nThe Most High solemnly interdicted any man to show mercy to Canaan when\nthe cup of her iniquity was full. Jerusalem, the queen of cities! whose\nTemple was the pride and admiration of nations, having rejected the\nSaints, was made a heap of ruins under the curse of heaven.\n\nYet there is hope for America: let her senators teach wisdom, and her\nofficers exact righteousness, and undo the heavy burdens, and redress\nthe wrongs of her banished. Then the fruitful field shall not become\nbarren, nor every man's hand be turned against his fellow; and the\nvoice of mirth shall supersede the voice of mourning.\n\nLand of my birth, and home of my fathers! my earliest impressions\nwere devoted to your praise and glory. In my riper years I have never\ninfringed your laws or quenched the spirit of your philanthropy. You\nhave robbed me of my houses, and my farms, and martyred my dearest\nfriends, and stripped me of reputation, and expelled me from your\nborders, without the shadow of impeachment, or of trial by jury.\nContrary to my strongest predilections and educational attachments, you\nhave sought to eradicate every vestige of my patriotism, and render\nfrigid my warmest love to everything that endeared me to the friends\nand citizens of the country that was ever my pride and boast! My heart\nstill yearns fondly over the land that was marked out in the council\nof Heaven to be the nursery of freedom, enterprise, and genius. And\nnow, as I recede from your borders, and from the scenes of my toils and\nfond attachments with my desolate family, through extensive wilds to\nthe mountains for safety and a home, my heart overflows and bursts with\nthe sentiment--\"Oh, that thou hadst known in this thy day the things\nthat belong to thy peace!\" In the meridian of life I go from the tombs\nof my fathers to build and plant, where the eagle of liberty soars\naloft in the sunbeams of truth! My associates are called, and tried,\nand chosen; they are the virtuous and honourable of all the earth; the\nrefuse of all nations, but accepted of God and escorted by his angels.\nTheir bosoms beat high with every noble impulse of philanthropy and\nvirtue; they are a magnanimous people, fitted to foster and garner up\nthe scattered virtues of the human family, and open up a safe asylum\nto the oppressed of all nations; they have stood in the Thermopylae,\nand passed the Rubicon. The Roman Mutius could deliberately burn his\nhand to cinders as a token of the courage of his companions; so this\npeople have proved, indisputably, that they possess all the elements\nof endurance and triumph. Their most arduous and perilous conflict is\npassed; and millions comforted, enlightened, and redeemed will reap the\nreward, and enter into _their_ labours. They are worthy. They have paid\nthe last debt which the angel informed John must be liquidated in the\nblood of latter-day prophets, when the just could be avenged. Judgment\nis given unto them, and the richest benedictions of Heaven now await in\nZion the upright and noble of all nations.\n\nWith sentiments of pure benevolence, I subscribe myself\n\nYour exiled friend and humble servant,\n\nORSON SPENCER.\n\n\n\nNIGHT OF MARTYRDOM.\n\nThe following articles, on the Night of the Prophet's and Patriarch's\nMartyrdom, together with the suffering exit of the author's lamented\nwife, are inserted in this volume in order to perpetuate the memories\nof the \"just,\" and render to the heavens a tribute of gratitude for\ntheir manifest interest in the tried condition of Saints on earth:\n\nTwenty-seventh of June, 1844. Eventful period in the calendar of the\n19th century! That awful night!! I remember it well--I shall never\nforget it! Thousands and tens of thousands will never forget it! A\nsolemn thrill--a melancholy awe comes o'er my spirit! The memorable\nscene is fresh before me! It requires no art of the pencil, no\nretrospection of history to portray it. The impression of the Almighty\nSpirit on that occasion will run parallel with eternity! The scene\nwas not portrayed by earthquake, or thunderings and lightnings, and\ntempest; but the majesty and sovereignty of Jehovah was felt far\nmore impressively in the still small voice of that significant hour,\nthan the roaring of many waters, or the artillery of many thunders,\nwhen the spirit of Joseph was driven back to the bosom of God, by an\nungrateful and blood-guilty world. There was an unspeakable something,\na portentous significancy in the firmament and among the inhabitants\nof the earth. Multitudes felt the whisperings of wo and grief, and the\nforebodings of tribulation and sorrow that they will never forget,\nthough the tongue of man can never utter it. The Saints of God, whether\nnear the scene of blood, or even a thousand miles distant, felt at\nthe very moment the prophet lay in royal gore, that an awful deed was\nperpetrated. O, the repulsive chill! the melancholy vibrations of the\nvery air, as the prince of darkness receded in hopeful triumph from\nthe scene of slaughter! That night could not the Saints sleep, though\nuninformed by man of what had passed with the Seer and Patriarch,\nand far, far remote from the scene; yet to them sleep refused a\nvisitation--the eyelids refused to close--the hearts of many sighed\ndeeply in secret, and enquired why am I thus.\n\nOne of the Twelve Apostles, while travelling a hundred miles from the\nscene of assassination, and totally ignorant of what was done, was so\nunaccountably sad, and filled with such unspeakable anguish of heart,\nwithout knowing the cause, that he was constrained to turn aside from\nthe road and give utterance to his feelings in tears and supplications\nto God. Another Apostle, twelve hundred miles distant, while standing\nin Fanuel Hall, Boston, Massachusetts, with many others, was similarly\naffected, and obliged to turn aside to hide the big tears that gushed\nthick and long from his eyes. Another, president of the high priests,\nwhile in the distant state of Kentucky, in the solitude of midnight,\nbeing marvellously disquieted, God condescended to show him, in a\nvision, the mangled bodies of the two murdered worthies, all dripping\nin purple gore, who said to him, we are murdered by a faithless state\nand cruel mob.\n\nShall I attempt to describe the scene at Nauvoo on that memorable\nevening? If I could, surely you would weep, whatever may be your faith\nor scepticism, if the feelings of humanity are lodged in your bosom;\nall prejudice and mirth would slumber, till the eye of pity had bedewed\nthe bier, and the heart had found relief in lamentation. Before another\nday dawned, the messenger bore the tidings into the afflicted city;\nthe picquet guards of the city heard the whisper of murder in silent\namazement, as the messenger passed into the city. There the pale muslin\nsignal for gathering the troops hung its drooping folds from the\ntemple spire (as if partaking of nature's sadness), and made tremulous\nutterance to the humble soldiery to muster immediately. As the dawn\nmade the signal visible, and the base tone of the great drum confirmed\nthe call, fathers, husbands, and minor sons all seized the broken\nfragment of a dodger, or a scanty bone, for the service that might be\nlong and arduous before their return, or swallowed some thickened milk\n(as might be the case) and fled to the muster ground; the suspicious\nmother and children followed to the door and window, anxious to see\nthe gathering hosts emerge from their watch-posts and firesides,\nwhere rest and food were scanted to the utmost endurance. The troops\ncontinued to arrive, and stood in martial order, with a compressed lip\nand a quick ear. They waited with deathly but composed silence, to hear\nthe intelligence that _mournful spirits_ had saddened their hearts\nwith during the night. The speaker stood up in the midst, not of an\nuniform soldiery of hirelings, for they had no wages; their clothing\nwas the workmanship of the diligent domestic--the product of wife and\ndaughters' arduous toil; their rations were drawn from the precarious\nsupplies, earned in the intervals between preaching to the states and\nnations of the earth, and watching against the intrusions and violence\nof mobs. The speaker announced the martyrdom of the Prophet and\nPatriarch, and paused under the heavy burden of the intelligence.\n\nBut here I must pause; my pen shall touch lightly, as it must feebly,\nthat hallowed--that solemn and ever memorable hour! The towering\nindignation; the holy and immutable principle of retribution for crime\nthat dwells eternally in the bosom of God, insensibly impelled the\nright hand almost to draw the glittering sword, and feel the sharpness\nof the bayonet's point and its fixedness to the musket's mouth. But\nthe well planted principle of self-command, and also of observing the\norder of heaven and the council of the priesthood, soon returned the\ndeadly steel to the scabbard; and the victorious triumph of loyalty\nto God, in committing evil doers to Him that judgeth righteously,\nand who hath said, \"vengeance is mine and I will repay,\" prevailed\nover the billows of passion; and in the transit of a fleeting moment\nthe holy serenity of the soldiery, depicted by an occasional tear,\nshowed to angels and men, that the tempest of passion was hushed, and\nwholly under the control of the spirit of wisdom and of God. It was\nthe most unearthly and morally sublime scene that I ever witnessed.\nContemplate a city and community of 20,000 people, whose love for\ntheir leader, the Prophet of the Lord, was warm and abiding as the\nlove of David and Jonathan, in an evil moment betrayed by a sovereign\nState! Under his instructions they had been taught the ways of truth\nand salvation--they had been gathered from remote parts, even distant\nislands and continents, that they might hear the word of the Lord from\nhis lips, and build up a city where _gambling_ and _lewdness, theft_\nand _drunkenness_ should have no admittance! And the life of Joseph\nwas considered so necessary to the work of God and the welfare of the\nhuman family, that many thousands could readily have died in his stead,\nif that could have preserved his life. But the Governor of Illinois,\nthe Commander-in-Chief of 80,000 organized militia, threatened the\nspeedy demolition of the whole city of Nauvoo, if Joseph was not\ndelivered up to him for trial on the _antiquated charge_ of treason!\nHe made the most solemn assurance, and pledged the sacred faith of the\nState, that he should be kept safe and unharmed until he could have\na fair and impartial trial. But oh! the cruel perfidy of that modern\nNero, the governor! and the bloody butchery of the soldiery (some of\nwhom had been disbanded and others had not), that could deliberately\nmurder innocent and helpless men, that had surrendered at discretion,\nafter all the strongest assurances of protection! The soldiery in\nNauvoo numbered near four thousand, while those in alliance with the\nbloody perpetrators in the country, were not more than one-half the\nnumber. They would have been an easy prey to the merited revenge of\nthe outraged force at Nauvoo; but that force bore the outrages with\ncoolness and wisdom that has never been equalled by uninspired men.\nThey governed themselves under circumstances the most extraordinary,\nand hearkened calmly to the voice of wisdom, when their pain and grief\nwere almost insupportable. The soldiery on the Temple square heard, but\nfelt that there was no adequate victim for vengeance in the county,\nor even in the destruction of the whole State. Some, least tender in\ntheir hearts, found relief in tears. In the houses of the Saints,\naside from the soldiery, females, less competent to bear the news than\nhusbands and fathers, in some instances lost their sanity of mind for a\nseason; but as the sun arose and the people congregated on the green,\nafter being exhorted to give their enemies into the hands of Him that\njudgeth righteously, tranquillity and order ensued. But not so with the\nmob. During all the bloody night their houses were hastily deserted\nby men, women, and children. So great was the consternation and so\nprecipitate the flight, that even females fled in their nightclothes,\nalmost naked, and continued their flight amid imprecations and shrieks\nfor the distance of even fifty miles, where, exhausted and frightened,\nthey alarmed villages, and the city of Quincy to the ringing of bells,\nand the speedy gathering of every person that could bear arms for their\ndefence; but no man pursued, though \"the wicked fled.\"\n\n\n\nDEATH OF THE AUTHOR'S WIFE.\n\nCatherine Curtis Spencer died on the 12th of March, 1846, at Indian\nCreek, near Keosaqua, Iowa territory, at the age of thirty-five\nyears, wanting nine days. In one month from the time of her departure\nfrom Illinois to the wilderness, she fell a victim to the cares and\nhardships of persecution. The youngest daughter of a numerous family,\nbrought up in affluence and nurtured with fondness and peculiar care\nas the favourite of her father's house; her slender, though healthy\nframe, could not endure the privation of sleep and rest, and the\ninclemency of the winter season (the thermometer below Zero for ten\ndays). The change from the warm rooms of brick and plaistered walls, to\nthat of mere canvass ceiling and roof, floored with snow and icy earth,\nwas too much for her fragile form to endure. When, through unforseen\nhindrances in travelling, there was no place where sleep could visit,\nor food suited to the demands of nature could be administered to her\nor her six little children (from the age of thirteen and under), she\nwould cheer her little innocents with the songs of Zion. The melody\nof her rare voice, like the harmony and confluence of many virtues\nin her mind, contributed on that memorable epoch of the church, to\nrender her the glory of her husband, and the solace and joy of her\nchildren. When asked if she would go to her distant friends that were\nnot in the church, who had proffered comfort and abundance to her and\nher children, she replied, \"no, if they will withhold from me the\nsupplies they readily grant to my other sisters and brothers, because I\nadhere to the Saints, let them. I would rather abide with the church,\nin poverty, even in the wilderness, without their aid, than go to my\nunbelieving father's house, and have all that he possesses.\" Under the\ninfluence of a severe cold, she gradually wasted away, telling her\nchildren, from time to time, how she wanted them to live and conduct\nthemselves, when they should become motherless, and pilgrims in a\nstrange land. To her companions she would sometimes say, \"I think you\nwill have to give me up and let me go.\" As her little ones would often\ninquire at the door of the waggon, \"how is ma'? is she any better?\" she\nwould turn to her husband, who sat by her side endeavouring to keep the\nseverities of rain and cold from her: \"oh, you dear little children,\nhow I do hope you may fall into kind hands when I am gone!\" A night or\ntwo before she died, she said to her husband, with unwonted animation,\n\"A heavenly messenger has appeared to me to-night, and told me that I\nhad done and suffered enough, and that he had now come to convey me\nto a mansion of gold.\" Soon after, she said she wished me to call the\nchildren and other friends to her bedside, that she might give them\na parting kiss, which being done, she said to her companion, \"I love\n_you_ more than ever, but you must let me go. I only want to live for\nyour sake, and that of our children.\" When asked if she had anything to\nsay to her father's family, she replied emphatically, \"_Charge them to\nobey the gospel_.\"\n\nThe rain continued so incessantly for many days and nights, that it was\nimpossible to keep her bedding dry or comfortable; and, for the first\ntime, she uttered the desire to be in a house. The request might have\nmoved a heart of adamant. Immediately, a man of the name of Barnes,\nliving not far from the camp, consented to have her brought to his\nhouse, where she died in peace, with a smile upon her countenance, and\na cordial pressure of her husband's hand about an hour previous.\n\nMany tributes to her memory, from the Twelve, and other distinguished\nfriends, expressive of her worth and the amiableness of her life, have\nbeen communicated to the writer, which conjugal relationship forbids\n_me_ to insert, but which are still a comfort to the bereaved in his\npilgrimage through mortality. Though prepossessing in her manners, her\nconfiding and generous mind always made permanent the friendship that\nshe once obtained. Her unceasingly affectionate and dutiful bearing\nto her husband, and her matronly diligence in infusing the purest and\nloftiest virtues into the minds of her children, not only exemplified\nthe beautiful order of heaven, but made the domestic circle the\ngreatest paradise of earth. Said a member of the high council, after\nher death, who had often observed her in the temple of the Lord, where\nshe loved to linger and feast on the joys of that holy place, \"I never\nsaw a countenance more inexpressibly serene and heavenly, than hers.\"\n\n  \"'O! she was young who won my yielding heart,'\n  No power of genius nor the pencils' art\n  Could half the beauties of her mind portray,\n  E'en when inspired; and how can this my lay?\n  Two eyes that spoke what language ne'er can do,\n  Soft as twin violets moist with early dew.\n  In sylph-like symmetry her form combin'd,\n  To prove the fond endearments of the mind,\n  While on her brow benevolence and love\n  Sat meekly, like to emblems from above,\n  And every thought that had creation there,\n  But made her face still more divinely fair.\"\n\nHer remains were conveyed to the city of Nauvoo, and there, after a few\nneighbours had wept, and sung, \"Come to me; will ye come to the Saints\nthat have died,\" and expressed their condolence to the deeply afflicted\nhusband, buried, in the solitude of the night, by the side of her\nyoungest child, that had died near six months before.\n\nThe writer does not mourn for his dead as those that die without hope,\nknowing they are taken from many evils to come. He desires to dedicate\nthe above faint sketch to his children, now in the wilderness, for the\ntestimony of Jesus, lest time should obliterate from their young and\ntender minds the recollection of her person and some of her virtues,\nand thereby perpetuate the memory of the just, while that of the wicked\nshall rot. He desires the prayers of all Saints for himself and his\nchildren; and may the blessing of Almighty God rest upon all who love\nour Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.\n\n\n\nLINES,\n\n_Suggested on reading the Author's first Letter in the Series_.\n\nBY MISS E. R. SNOW.\n\n  \"My heart is fix'd\"--I know in whom I trust.\n  'Twas not for wealth--'twas not to gather heaps\n  Of perishable things--'twas not to twine\n  Around my brow a transitory wreath,\n  A garland deck'd with gems of mortal praise,\n  That I forsook the home of childhood; that\n  I left the lap of ease--the halo rife\n  With smiling friendship's soft and mellow tones--\n  Affection's fond caresses, and the cup\n  O'erflowing with the sweets of social life,\n  Where high refinement's richest pearls were strew'd.\n\n     Ah no! a holier purpose fir'd my soul--\n  A nobler object prompted my pursuit:\n  Eternal prospects open'd to my view,\n  And hope's celestial torch within me burn'd.\n  God, who commanded Abraham to leave\n  His native country, and to offer up\n  On the lone alter, where no eye beheld\n  But His who never sleeps, an only son,\n  Is still the same; and thousands who have made\n  A covenant with him by sacrifice.\n  Are bearing witness to the sacred truth.\n  Jehovah speaking? Yes, as heretofore.\n\n     The proclamation sounded in my ear--\n  It touch'd my heart--I hearken'd to the sound.\n  Counted the cost, and laid my earthly all\n  Upon the altar; and with purpose fix'd\n  Unalterably, while the spirit of\n  Elijah's God within my bosom reigns,\n  Embrac'd the \"Everlasting Covenant;\"\n  To be a Saint among the faithful ones\n  Whose race is measur'd by their life--whose prize\n  Is everlasting, and whose happiness\n  Is God's approval, and to whom 'tis more\n  Than meat and drink to do his righteous will.\n\n     It is no trifling thing to be a Saint\n  In very deed. To stand upright, nor bow\n  Nor bend beneath the weighty burthen of\n  Oppressiveness.--To stand unscath'd amid\n  The bellowing thunders and the raging storm\n  Of persecution, when the hostile pow'rs\n  Of darkness stimulate the hearts of men\n  To warfare: to besiege, assault, and, with\n  The heavy thunderbolts of Satan, aim\n  To overthrow the kingdom God has rear'd\n  To stand unmov'd beneath the with'ring rock\n  Of vile apostacy, when men depart\n  From the pure principles of righteousness--\n  Those principles requiring man to live\n  By ev'ry word proceeding from the mouth\n  Of God.--To stand unwav'ring, undismay'd,\n  And unseduc'd, when the base hypocrite\n  Whose deeds take hold on hell, whose face is garb'd\n  With saintly looks, drawn out by sacrilege\n  From a profession, but assum'd and thrown\n  Around him for a mantle to enclose\n  The black corruption of a putrid heart.--\n  To stand on virtue's lofty pinnacle\n  Clad in the heav'nly robes of innocence,\n  Amid that worse than every other blast--\n  The blast that strikes at moral character,\n  With floods of falsehood foaming with abuse.--\n  To stand, with nerve and sinew firmly steel'd,\n  When in the trying scale of rapid change,\n  Thrown side by side and face to face with that\n  Foul hearted spirit, blacker than the soul\n  Of midnight's darkest shade, the traitor,\n  The vile wretch that feeds his sordid selfishness\n  Upon the peace and blood of innocence--\n  The faithless, rotten-hearted wretch, whose tongue\n  Speaks words of trust and fond fidelity,\n  While treach'ry, like a viper, coils behind\n  The smile that dances in his evil eye.\n  To pass the fiery ordeal, and to have\n  The heart laid open--all its contents prov'd\n  Before the bar of strictest scrutiny.\n  To have the finest heart-strings stretch'd unto\n  Their utmost length to try their texture. To\n  Abide, with principle unchang'd, the wreck\n  Of cruel, tott'ring circumstances, which\n  Ride forth on revolution's blust'ring gale.\n\n     But yet, altho' _to be a Saint_, requires\n  A noble sacrifice--an arduous toil--\n  A persevering aim; the great reward\n  Awaiting the grand consummation, will\n  Repay the price however costly; and\n  The pathway of the saint, the safest path\n  Will prove, tho' perilous: for 'tis foretold,\n  All things that can be shaken, God will shake:\n  Kingdoms, and Institutes, and Governments,\n  Both civil and religious must be tried--\n  Tried to the core and sounded to the depth.\n\n     Then let me be a Saint, and be prepar'd\n  For the approaching day, which like a snare\n  Will soon surprise the hypocrite--expose\n  The rottenness of human schemes--shake off\n  Oppressive fetters--break the gorgeous reins\n  Usurpers hold, and lay the pride of man,\n  And glory of the nations low in dust!\n\n  THE END.\n\n* * * *\n\nLiverpool: Printed by R. James, 39, South Castle Street.","title":"Letters Exhibiting the Most Prominent Doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":61497}