| 359 baptist. The camp meetings, class meetings, sisters and the three baptisms of the Methodist, all verifying the predictions of Paul, that in the last days 'they would not endure sound doctrines, but would turn from the truth, unto fables,' such as I have been referring to; that they should 'heap to themselves teachers instead of God sending them-and that they would have a form of godliness but deny the power,' also fulfilling the words of Christ to the Jews, that they made void the law of God by their own traditions, and 'taught for doctrines the commandments of men,' for instance the doctrine of Christ, as I have before shown, is baptism for the remission of sins-but the commandments of men are, come to the anxious seats, the altars-or the mourners bench, for the remission of sins. The doctrines of Christ is 'laying on of hands fro [for] the reception of the Holy Ghost;' the commandment of men-go to the camp meeting and receive the Holy Ghost.
But enough has been said to show that this Bible believing generation care not a fig for the Bible, or the doctrines it contains, when speaking of the doctrines and ceremonies of any sect; but if the sect is wealthy, or numerous and popular, they will be spoken of with respect and flattering words-whether their doctrines accords with the Bible or not; and the sect that is small, new and unpopular, will be met with ridicule and contempt, Bible or no Bible. The Catholics and Methodists and others will present to the community, doctrines and precepts, laws and ceremonies, that the Bible never dreamed of, and will be petted and supported by Pulpit and Press. The Mormons, on the other hand, come Bible in hand, ready to defend therefrom, both publicly and privately, each and every doctrine they present to the people, and they are met by Pulpit and Press with slang, vituperation, and any thing under heaven but argument. Oh! the consistency of this godly, Bible believing generation. J. H.
TIMES AND SEASONS
CITY OF NAUVOO,
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1843.
TO OUR PATRONS.
As the next number will close this volume, it may be expect that we should say a few words to our subscribers. We owe them an apology for not having issued a few of the last numbers punctually on the publication day.-This on our part has been unavoidable, as it was occasioned principally by sickness, and circumstances over which we had not control. The next number will be issued in about one week after this, and will complete the volume; and although a little behind the time, there will be no delinquency on our part. Other than this we have no apologies to make, nor no painful reflections for what we have done, or left undone; nor have we any particular promises to make for the future. We have hitherto been governed by the plain principles of truth; it has been our endeavor to lay before our readers those principles which we thought would best conduce to their interest and to the good of the church in general. How far we have succeeded in this, and in satisfying the public mind, they themselves must be the judges.
We feel very highly flattered from the many high encomiums that we have received from gentlemen of intelligence and respectability, both in, and out of the church; and if our subscription list is any evidence of our labors' being appreciated by our brethren, then have we some encouragement to proceed.
We feel highly honored by, and very much obliged to our brethren the Twelve, for the kind interest which they have manifested in our behalf, in the following resolutions which were passed during our absence from home. It affords us pleasure to know that we are engaged in disseminating principles, and publishing a work which in their estimation is of so much importance to the church, and to the world, and we would embrace this opportunity of acknowledging to our brethren the many obligations we are under to them for the salutary counsel nnd [and] assistance which we have so frequently received from them, which has aided us very materially in our arduous undertaking. We also feel obliged to our correspondents for their favors, and take this opportunity of soliciting a continuation of them; and though last, not least, are we indebted to our beloved brother JOSEPH, for his timely counsel, the access he has given us to his writings, and the many rich treats which have been furnished our readers through his instrumentality, without which, our sheet would in many instances have been comparatively dry and barren.
To our readers we would say, we are all the time promising ourselves that the paper will be richer and more interesting; we are expecting many things from Gen. SMITH, and from other sources, which will be highly interesting and edifying, but as we said before, we have no promises to make, but shall leave time which unfolds all things to decide this question.
With the close of this volume, the time will expire for which a great many of our subscribers have paid; it will be superfluous for us to
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