Sir, Zion is from henceforth and for ever invincible—she has run the gauntlet and is safe. After being submerged in a series of sufferings for seventeen years, she now stands purified, tried, and made white; "she has passed the baptismal ordeal of suffering, and power is given unto her to withstand and overcome;" she has put on her beautiful garments, and the mighty God of Jacob is her strength; the keys of power are given unto her, and the angels of God camp around about her; she is entrenched in the munition of rocks, even the everlasting hills; by her the ensign of truth and liberty is lifted up to all nations; the pure and wise of all nations may safely rally around her standard, and go up to the house of the God of Jacob and learn his ways. God called his Son out of Egypt after persecutors had shot out the arrows of their wrath in vain. If God's people have been able to stand under persecutions while in the midst of their enemies, much more may they expect to abide when separated by the distance of months' journeyings, and by lofty mountains covered with perpetual snow. The mightiest nations already heave with convulsive throes, and travail in great pain; they have enough to do without wasting their blood, and treasure, and unprovoked wrath upon the Saints; and God will soften the hearts of the nations for the good of his people, from time to time, until their palaces and towers will be the admiration and delight of all the ends of the earth. The nucleus of the mightiest nation that ever flourished on the earth is planted; the rapidly rising greatness of this people will constitute one of the greatest wonders of the age; all the elements of a great and mighty people have been clearly demonstrated to belong to this people. Union, it is said, is strength; this has already become proverbially a distinguishing feature of the Saints. Driven, and scattered, and robbed in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois, they have readily re-assembled and re-united. Knowledge is said to be power; knowledge has been acquired in the practical school of experience; they are almost universally familiar with the undisguised operations of the hearts of their fellow men. No people ever had the same opportunity to learn the diversified motives that govern the minds of men and women; no people, as a body, ever had the acquaintance with the laws, government, and religion, and usages of civilized and barbarous nations, which has been enjoyed by the Latter-day Saints. No people of modern ages ever had their ingenuity and physical ability so extensively taxed in order for self-support, and the acquisition of knowledge, and propagation and defence of the truth. The moral virtues of forbearance, long-suffering, fortitude, love to enemies, and self-command under fiery temptations, have been stretched to their utmost tension; indeed, they are a tried people—the word of the Lord has tried them. They have kept the commandments of God, and are not found wanting.
This, sir, is Zion, the care of angels, and the delight of the Holy One of Israel! Those who love righteousness and retirement from the din of war, and from the plague, and assassin, and incendiary, will seek her peaceful gates, out of every nation under the whole heaven. None can injure this people or war against them with impunity, for the Lord is their shield and defence. When ancient Israel entered the land of Canaan, it is said that the Lord caused the fear of them and the dread of them, to rest upon all the nations round about. The same God now, will again cause all nations to dread the opposition of the people of the Saints of the Most High.
Sir, it need not be disguised that the armies of heaven are leagued with the Saints in the covenant of everlasting union. You are not ignorant of God's judgments at the Red Sea, or of the destruction of the companies of fifties, and of his interposition in behalf of Israel in the valley of Gibeon. Neither is his arm shortened now, that he cannot save; His wonders have been multiplied on every hand in this day, according to the observation of thousands who are ready to attest that the blind have been made to see, the deaf to hear, and the palsied have been made sound, and many blasphemous opposers have been visited with as swift and utter destruction as Ananias and Sapphira.
Now, sir, what more shall I say, in order to convince you and all honest men, that God has set up his kingdom against which no power can possibly prevail?
You kindly acknowledge that my testimony is credible; all my numerous acquaintance must concur with you in this acknowledgement. I have told you the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, and as I expect to meet it at the final bar of righteous retribution. My sufferings and expatriation for the gospel's sake, are the seal of my testimony in Christ. I have literally sacrificed wife, and houses, and lands, for the truths which I have inculcated in this volume. My motherless children are now in the wilderness in their solitary cabin, surrounded with savage tribes, and subject to privations that make a father's heart to bleed. Better men of whom the world is not worthy have suffered even more in the same cause. I know this to be the true gospel revealed from the heavens for the salvation of this generation; and all those whom it does not save through faith, it will damn through unbelief. If you have read these truths carefully, your final destiny will hang on the decision you may make—it is to you the voice of God, and the warning of the servant of God. Wait not for an angel of God to speak in your ear, or for one to come from the dead; if you hear not the servant of God, neither will you be persuaded though one rose from the dead. Not only your own salvation, but the interests of your family and your kindred will probably be seriously affected by the decision you now make.
When the devout Jews, with reckless obstinacy, said, his blood be upon us and upon our children, you know what afterward ensued down to this day. With the knowledge which this gospel communicates, you cannot be a neutral. The blood and sufferings not only of the Saints of the nineteenth century, but also of all others from the days of righteous Abel till now, will be chargeable to you if you obey not this gospel; if you reject this gospel, your children's children, to the latest generation, will for ever bewail the choice you may make. You stand in some measure as the representative of your posterity, therefore ponder well the decision you may make. I know that you are surrounded by a knot of priests, distinguished for the wisdom of schools and seminaries; and the obstinate creeds and usages of modern christianity hold over you a threatening rod of proscription and slaughter; but except you have courage to escape, and sufficient love of truth to induce you to peril even all things for the gospel, your die is cast, and your doom is with the lost and damned for ever.
I do not expect to coerce you by motives of fear, but I know that judgments will and do follow this gospel; and knowing the terror of the Lord, I persuade—I dare not say less; I would say more if the power of utterance were given me. All is not right with you; you acknowledge that you do not understand the prophets and the apocalypse; also that modern christianity is weak, divided, and contentious—not having the power and order of ancient prophets and apostles. Pause and consider well before you reject the only light that can save this generation! Your old friend and acquaintance asks you to pause. The deplorable prospect of your kindred for generations to come, who may be involved in the consequences of your rebellion, require you to pause; the interests of the denomination that look to you for spiritual guidance, require you to consider well the decision you may make. I know that you are in a strait place; Paul was once in a similar condition; but the sterling integrity of his heart saved him. He burst off the shackles of false religions, and overleaped the religious usages of ages, and received counsel and baptism at the hands of the most despised people that ever lived.
But enough, perhaps, has been said; what I say to you, I say unto all men—rulers and subjects, priests and people! I have set before you life and death. If you reject the gospel, I am innocent of your blood; if you receive it, glory, and honour, and immortality await you. The apostolic fathers and the angels of God watch to record your decision. With sentiments of high respect, I subscribe myself,
Your humble servant,
ORSON SPENCER.