| 142 God and man from the days of Adam to the present day, among all nations, kindreds, tongues and people; except such communication has been withheld by reason of transgression. Thousands of communications were received during the progress of these writings, besides those which are written in it, and thousands of communications have been received since the Bible was completed. Thousands of communications, and in other countries remote from the scenes where the Bible was written. And in short the Holy Ghost is a spirit of revelation and prophecy, and wherever it has been enjoyed by mankind, there communications from God have been received.
We therefore believe in the Book of Mormon, which is an ancient American record lately discovered, containing a sketch of the history, prophecies, and doctrine of the ancient nations who inhabited this country. And we also believe in many communications which God has been pleased to make us in the rise and progress of this church, as he has often revealed his word to us, by visions, by dreams, by angels, by his own voice and by the Holy Spirit of prophecy and revelation; and lastly, we believe that God will continue to reveal himself to us until all things are revealed concerning the past, present, and future; until we have come in possession of all knowledge, intelligence or truth, which is in existence. We believe that the Jews and all the house of Israel will soon be gathered home to their own lands, from all the countries where they have been dispersed, and that they will become one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, never more to be divided or overcome, and that they will all be brought to the knowledge of God, and will become a holy nation. We also believe that Jesus Christ will come in person, in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and all the saints with him to reign on the earth a thousand years, and that he will destroy the wicked from the earth by terrible judgments at the time of his coming. We also believe that the saints will rise from the dead at this second coming, and that they will live and reign on the earth one thousand years. We do not believe that the wicked will rise from the dead until the thousand years are ended, but that their resurrection is after the millenium [millennium] and connected with the last judgment. We further believe that the restoration of Israel and Judah, and the second advent of Messiah are near at hand, and that the generation now lives who will witness the fulfilment [fulfillment] of these great events, and that the Lord has raised up the Church of Latter Days Saints, and has set the truth in order among them as a commencement of the great restoration. For further particulars as to our doctrine and principles, I refer the reader to a work entitled The Voice of Warning, which is particularly designed as an introduction to our faith and doctrine. I must, however, before leaving the subject, contradict certain reports which are in circulation concerning our principles in regard to property. It is a current report, and often credited by those who have no acquaintance with our society, that we hold our property in common. This is a base falsehood without a shadow of truth.-The members of this church have ever held their property individually, the same as other societies, with the exception of that which they freely give for the use of the society, to minister to the wants of the poor, and for the building of houses of worship, &c. The property thus given is managed by proper officers, who render a strict account for all their incomes and expenditures, and who have no right to apply one shilling for any other purpose than that for which it is given.
Having given this brief sketch of our religious principles, we will now proceed to our account of the rise and progress of the church until this present time. After the church was organized as stated in the foregoing, they gradually increased in numbers from that time until June, 1831; the whole church numbered near two thousand. A general conference was then held in Kirtland, Ohio; and was attended by something like sixty of our preachers. From this time until 1835 it rapidly spread throughout all the United States of North America, insomuch [inasmuch] that in 1836 branches of the church and general conferences had been organized throughout this vast republic, and at the present time the number amounts to over 50,000. In the latter part of the same year it was introduced into Toronto, Upper Canada, when it soon spread through that province; and in 1837, several of the elders sailed to England, under the direction of O. Hyde and H. C. Kimball, where they soon baptized between one and two thousand; from that time the work of the Lord has rapidly spread through England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, and we have now flourishing societies in the principle towns and cities of Great Britain; numbering over twenty thousand*. This glorious message has also spread into Germany, a part of France, and reached even Constantinople, Jerusalem, the East Indies, and islands of the seas.-It is still spreading in every country where it is known, and we anticipate a time not far distant, when a knowledge of the great work which the Lord has set his hand to do in these
*About ten thousand.-ED. Times and Seasons
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