Thus the most important events which are to take place before the glorious coming of the Son of God have been fulfilled. We know not the day nor the hour in which the Master will come, but we know that the preparatory work to that event has made considerable progress:—The GOSPEL has been restored to the earth, and is being preached to all nations for a witness that the end is near:—The MESSENGER has come and restored the authority of God to man, that the way might be prepared for His coming and judgment:—ELIJAH has come and performed his mission:—And the SAINTS are gathering together to the tops of the mountains, and are building up the House of God. And as the fig tree putting forth its leaves proclaims the approach of summer, so these things indicate the near approach of that time when the Son of God will be "revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and who obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." This is the word of God and remember, O reader! that it is written, though heaven and earth pass away, not one jot nor tittle of the word of God shall fail, but all shall be fulfilled.
Despise not this testimony and warning because he who bears it is a representative of a cause and people everywhere spoken against. Remember that Satan has ever opposed the work of God, and those who labored to establish it. If he did so in former ages, will not this opposition be more fierce in the dispensation when the work of God is to become triumphant, resulting in the overthrow of the powers of darkness and binding them? Such, it would seem, are the plain dictates of reason—such are the facts. Be not deceived, then, reader, whoever you may be, by the infamous falsehoods in circulation about the Latter-day Saints, but examine these things with a prayerful heart that you may know of their truth and escape the calamity that shall befall those who "reject the counsels of God against themselves."
"Seek to know God in your closets, call upon Him in the fields. Follow the directions of the Book of Mormon, and pray over and for your families, your cattle, your flocks, your herds, your corn and all things that you possess; ask the blessings of God upon all your labors, add everything that you engage in."
—Joseph Smith.
THE CHARACTER OF THE MORMON PEOPLE.
BY ELDER B. H. ROBERTS.
INTRODUCTION.
In the ancient City of Rome, at the time that St. Paul went there on an appeal to Caesar's judgment seat, about the year 62 A.D., the followers of Christ were denominated, "That sect which is everywhere spoken against." And as it was with the Christians then, so it is with the "Mormons" now. Everything that is wicked or damnable was once charged upon the Christians. Even the just historian Tacitus was so far deceived by the wicked misrepresentations of their enemies, as to speak of them as "a set of people who were holden in abhorrence for their crimes, and called by the vulgar 'Christians.'" He also says—speaking of them as a body—"They were criminals, and deserving the severest punishment." The same writer calls their religion a "pernicious superstition." Indeed, we may say to the opponents of "Mormonism," however skilful they may be in the use of calumny or the distortion of facts, it would be difficult for them to charge upon the "Mormons" more heinous crimes than were charged upon primitive Christians. It was commonly reported of them that in the celebration of the Eucharist they were in the habit of slaying a male child, whose flesh they ate, and whose blood they drank in remembrance of the body and blood of the founder of their religion. In short, they were held to be the enemies of mankind, the disturbers of social customs, and a standing menace to all governments; while their religion was looked upon as the sum of villainy and absurdity. In the same light the "Mormons" are regarded to-day. But perhaps I shall be pardoned for suggesting that it is just possible that the world is as much mistaken respecting the character and religion of the "Mormons" now, as it formerly was respecting the "Christians" and their religion.
No prejudice is so cruel as that growing out of religious controversy. At any rate, we know that the most cruel wars have risen through a determination to resist religious innovations, or efforts to reform religious systems. While the acts of inhuman cruelty, which most disgrace our race, have been perpetrated in vain endeavors to suppress what have been considered heresies, and silence their advocates. In short, the most unrelenting hatred, the most lasting prejudices have grown out of differences in religious opinions. The Messiah, doubtless, was guided as much by His knowledge of human nature as He was by inspiration when He exclaimed:
"Think not that I have come to bring peace upon earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household" (Matt. x, 34-36).