| 216 of God! Ye have had ministers of your own choosing, instead of those of God's sending; ye have had forms of government of you own devising, instead of bringing the lawgiver to Zion by your prayers; ye have had your own way in every thing, and ye have sought your own glory and not the glory of God. "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!"
We have been much astonished at the sentiments contained in the foregoing extracts, at the light which the individual has had of what is truth; and we cannot but lament that his own course has led him, not to the fulness [fullness] of the gospel and the kingdom of God, but to become associated with one of the very churches he condemns as having no claim upon the title of the Church of Christ; but so it is, let the light of truth break in upon the human mind, and let the individual after rejoicing in the light for a season reject it, and who shall describe the darkness in which he is involved! but while such is the course of man, let the saints rejoice in the truth of God, knowing that it is their privilege to be associated with the kingdom of the Redeemer, to have their minds illuminated by his spirit, to judge all things, and to be instrumental in raising a temple for his glory, and in the building up of his people, in order that they may receive the dominion, and reign with him at his coming.-When we read the pointed facts stated by the Rev. gentleman whose words we have quoted, and read his lamentations and mournings because the Lord has no house upon the earth and kingdom of his own organization which he can acknowledge and bless as such, our own feelings are those of gratitude and thanksgiving to our heavenly Father; in the first place for an existence in the flesh at the time when he has commenced his glorious work; and secondly that we have been favoured [favored] with hearing the gospel of the kingdom, and especially that we have been led to the obedience of faith, so as to realize for ourselves that assurance and that spirit which can be enjoyed only by obeying the precepts and keeping the commandments of the King of Zion. Does the Lord need a temple in which to manifest his glory and bestow his blessings upon his people? we know such an object shall be speedily consummated.-Must the nations of the earth be gathering to Zion? it is ours to behold the hand of the Lord manifested in this also-to behold the little stone cut out of the mountain without hands, rolling onward in majesty; and while the nations of the earth are perplexed, and a general and almost universal paralysis seems to affect the sources of prosperity, it is our privilege to be connected with a growing kingdom, destined never to be destroyed, but, like a phenix [phoenix], rise from the ashes of a world, to become irradiated and adorned with the splendours [splendors] of heaven, and to repose in the light of the presence of God.
*** Elders James Higbee, jur. and Z. H. Brewster, of Springfield, Sangamo county, have been cut off from membership, by the authorities of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
JAMES ADAMS, President.
*** Should any elders be passing through, or near, Fredericksburgh, Virginia, they are particularly requested, by Elder Francis H. Bell, to call and visit the small branch of the church in that place.
TIMES AND SEASONS.
CITY OF NAUVOO,
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 1843.
The Editor of a small paper, published in St. Louis, that has lately sprung into existence, called "The Ariel," has been pleased to animadvert rather unceremoniously, and surely not very courteously, upon the Times and Seasons. Scarcely having broken the shell, and certainly not fully fledged; not being able to stand alone, and laboring severely under the hallucinations of a disordered brain, he has seen fit to stagger forth unfledged, and make a wanton, uncalled for, unprovoked "PECK" at us-and as it is the nature of geese to fly, no doubt, but that while staggering on the brink of the nest, gaping like a young goslin for what might be crammed down his throat, he fancied in the wild flight of his imagination, that he was soaring on high, and making his nest in the clouds that the earth was under his control-that he was king of the feathered tribe and lord of the skies. Poor thing, he knew not that he was wallowing in his own nest, subject to the control of others, and besmeared with the filth of his own making, every time he flapped his featherless wings, exposing his own nakedness, discommoding others, even of the same brood, and stirring up the foul effluvia with which he was enveloped. We should not have noticed the creature at all, had he not, with the flapping of his wings, cast some of his dirt at us; as it is, we shall give him a gentle admonition to keep out of our path-and let him go.
We think of all people in the world, the inhabitants of the state of Missouri, ought to be the last to say any thing about the Mormons
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