| 280 refer them to the sixty-third section, paragraph four: 'And now, if your joy,' etc. . . 'Contend against no church, save it be the church of the devil,' etc., and to the latter half of paragraph six, section seventy-two. If after a careful reading, and a prayerful asking, they cannot understand how we are to overcome a great deal of prejudice of the world, and that we are better situated to advance our cause, as we now are, than if gathered into one city or place, then I am most willing to be told the reason why.
"I could carry this subject further, but wisdom dictates that I ought not to take up so much space in our journal at one time, and so I must conclude my letter by stating, that to me there is no command to gather this people together at any given locality; and if I did so, in the absence of such command, I would be guilty of an act of injustice to them, and might possibly injure them and others. I must say, however, in justice to them and to myself, that all who are seeking after truth, and are determined to forsake wickedness and corruption, will quickly get themselves away from places where crime, wickedness, and abominations are sanctioned or justified; and will quietly settle themselves in some region of country where truth is acknowledged, where they can serve God, be good to their fellow men, live uprightly and honestly before God and in the sight of men, quitting their evil ways, and cleaving unto righteousness; holding in honor the laws of the land, and living in obedience and amenable to them. Our land is wide, and full of pleasant places, wanting good men for citizens. Our religion, if good at all, is good for one, ten, twenty, an hundred, or an hundred thousand; here, there and everywhere. Doing good, and not evil, is its true intent, and preached by example as well as precept, it must be lived to, if we mean to reap its reward. I will follow this subject further at some future time, until then, may God bless and keep his people is the prayer of,
"JOSEPH SMITH,
"President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
"NAUVOO, Illinois, Nov. 7,1860."
-True Latter Day Saints' Herald, vol. 1, pp. 254-256.
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