| 312 immediately! But I must bring my communication to a close, for it is already longer than I intended; and if you think it would interest the readers of your valuable paper, you will please publish it.
Yours, with great respect, &c.,
JOHN D. LEE.
TIMES AND SEASONS.
CITY OF NAUVOO,
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1843.
TO OUR PATRONS.
We owe an apology to our friends for the late and untimely issue of this number. It may be generally known that Mr. Woodruff is, and has been absent for some time in the east; his absense [absence] has necessarily thrown more business upon us. This together with the sickness of some of our hands during the late sickly season, has caused us to be behind the day of publication. As we did last year, so we propose doing this; at the end of the volume, which is now near, to rest two weeks, and commence the new volume a fortnight later than the last. This will enable us to complete this volume before the commencement of the new one without interfering with it; it will be an accommodation to us, and we hope will be found satisfactory to our readers.
MYSTERY OF GODLINESS.
There is nothing perhaps, that is more talked or written about, or that is made a subject of critical, if not of philosophical research, than the subject of godliness; and there is nothing that evades the grasp of human intellect, and outstrips the genius of the most profoundly wise, so much as that subject. The geologist may dig into the bowels of the earth, and open the different strata of minerals; the docomposition [decomposition] of vegetable matter; the process of petrefaction [putrefaction]; the various changes of the different strata; and the length of time that it takes to effect those changes: together with the various specimens of timber, shells, bones, fossils, &c., &c., form sufficient data whereon to found an hypothesis that must lead to certain conclusions pertaining to the organization, age and revolutions of the earth. But he may at the same time be most egregiously ignorant of the principles of godliness. The Astronomer may make himself acquainted with the heavenly bodies; understand perfectly the motions of the solar system; and with the capacious mind of a Newton or Herschell, dig out and unravel the mysterious windings of the celestial spheres, and know nothing of those principles that govern the Almighty, and regulate the affairs of his kingdom; who spake, and worlds rolled into existence, and who upholds those worlds "by the word of his power." It has evaded the grasp of the linguist, the philosopher and the sage; and the divine has had to exclaim as one of old, "great is the mystery of godliness."
The very nature of religion has been a stumbling block to many of our philosophers, who, because they could not, with mathematical precision, demonstrate its various problems, unravel its hidden mysteries, and drag into daylight, its incomprehensible truths, have proclaimed godliness a farce, religion a delusion, and its votaries fools. It is true that there has been, and now is, a great deal of priestcraft in the world; and it is equally true that the thing called religion, has been very much abused; and that godliness is too little thought of, and less known: but the abuse, mal-administration, or neglect of principle, does, by no means, prove that the principle does not exist, that it is not correct; nor does it prove that it is not calculated to meet the exigencies, and wants of the human family, nor to promote their highest interest, peace and prosperity on earth, and their eternal happiness in the world to come.
There are various grades of intelligences in the world; and the scale of human intellect, is very dissimilar. One man may fully understand how to make a ditch, or to cut down a tree, but could not comprehend the motion of the heavenly bodies, however clearly defined, for could he understand the principles of trigonometry or algebra; not because the principles are not demonstrable, the problems may be solved, and the principles demonstrated with mathematical precision; but the man is equally ignorant of the principles, proofs, and ideas; and his mind incapable of comprehending them; and they, of course, however intelligent and lucid, are no proofs to him. If there is this disparity of intellect between man and man, how much greater difference there is between God and man; and how incapable man must be, unless it is revealed to him of finding out God, who is the fountain of wisdom, and the source of all intelligence. Well might it be said of old, "canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? it is high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? the measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader that the sea." We are moreover told that, "as the heavens are higher than the
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