| 375 when I leave the dignity and honor of heaven, to gratify the ambition and vanity of man or men, may my power cease, like the strength of Samson, when he was shorn of his locks, while asleep in the lap of Delilah. Truly said the Savior, cast not your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you.
Shall I who have witnessed the visions of Eternity; and beheld the glories of the mansions of bliss; and the regions and the misery of the damned; shall I turn to be a Judas? Shall I who have heard the voice of God, and communed with angels; and spake as moved by the Holy Ghost for the renewal of the everlasting covenant, and for the gathering of Israel in the last days; shall I worm myself into a political hypocrite? Shall I, who hold the keys of the last kingdom; in which is the dispensation of the fulness [fullness] of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets, since the world began; under the sealing power of the Melchesedek priesthood; shall I stoop from the sublime authority of Almighty God, to be handled as a Monkey's cat's paw; and pettify myself into a clown to act the farce of political demagoguery? No, verily no! The whole earth shall bear me witness that I, like the towering rock in the midst of the ocean, which has withstood the mighty surges of the warring waves, for centuries, am impregnable, and am a faithful friend of virtue, and a fearless foe to vice; no odds, whether the former was sold as a pearl in Asia, or hid as a gem in America; and the latter dazzles in palaces, or glimmers among the tombs.
I combat the errors of the ages; I meet the violence of mobs; I cope with illegal proceedings from executive authority; I cut the Gordian knot of powers; and I solve mathematical problems of Universities: WITH TRUTH, diamond truth, and God is my 'right hand man.'
And to close, let me say in the name of Jesus Christ to you, and to Presidents, Emperors, Kings, Queens, Governors, rulers, nobles, and men in authority every where, do the works of righteousness, execute justice and judgment in the earth that God may bless you, and her inhabitants; and
The laurel that grows on top of the mountain,
Shall green for your fame while the sun sheds a ray,
And the lily that blows by the side of the fountain,
Will bloom for your virtue till earth melts away.
With due consideration
and respect, I have the
honor to be your
most obt. servt.,
JOSEPH SMITH.
GEN. J. A. BENNETT, Arlington House, N. Y.
P. S. The Court Martial will attend to your case in the Nauvoo Legion.
J. S.
TIMES AND SEASONS.
CITY OF NAUVOO,
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1843.
KIDNAPPING.
Missouri has been playing one of her old pranks again, and not content with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property belonging to the saints, has been engaged again in stealing human beings.
Two of our brethren, Daniel and Philander Avery, father and son, were decoyed into the neighborhood of Warsaw, about the 4th of December, and by a gang of desperadoes were forcibly taken across the Mississippi river into Missouri. Daniel Avery was taken by nine men, three of whom were Missourians, and six inhabitants of the state of Illinois. The ruffians were armed, and having forcibly seized Daniel Avery the father, put him on a horse, and tied his feet underneath. Information was received at Nauvoo, relative to the affair, by Mr. Sission Chase who made affidavit before a magistrate relative to the affair, and a constable was immediately dispatched after a person by the name of John Elliot, one of the villains, who is a schoolmaster, and resides four and a half miles below Warsaw. Mr. Elliott was brought up to Nauvoo, was tried before Aaron Johnson, justice of the peace, proven guilty and committed to the Carthage jail, to wait his trial at the county court.
In the examination, the facts were developed implicating others, who will in their own due time be brought to punishment. Testimony has since been received, which shows that a clan of those villains are associated with the Missourians to assist in killing or kidnapping Joseph Smith and others. Since their names and whereabouts has been ascertained, some of them we are informed have fled whilst officers are in pursuit of others. Col. Williams, we are informed is one of the parties engaged in this very honorable transaction.
To cap the climax, and put on the top-stone, we are really informed that this pack of renegades were taking these men for some alleged crime, committed three or four years ago, and being such great sticklers for law and justice, came without process, decoyed and stole-not negroes, but free American citizens, for fear they could not get justice. O, tempera!
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