| 584 thence I went to Fredericksburg, on the Indianapolis road, where I preached to a congregation, the most of whom had never seen a Mormon before. From thence I went to Jamestown where I preached again; the meeting went off well, and the people seemed anxious to hear the truth. From thence I went to Pittsborough where I preached to an audience who had never heard a saint before; they had many awful conjectures about the truth, and sent three miles for a Protestant Methodist to oppose me.
I set forth faith and repentance and baptism, for the remission of sins, &c., which he opposed so strong that he quaked like old Belshazzer, and finally it grew into a debate; the Mormon the affirmative, and the Methodist the negitive [negative]; but after one night's sleep, (the debate was to come off the next day,) he wanted to be off; he too when he began to consider, believed the same things, except baptism, and that he would not deny. All things being ready, I opened the subject and read his dicipline [discipline] which settled the point, and we parted friendly; but in the beginning he was determined to oppose Mormonism; but found it hard to kick against the truth. From thence I went to Indianapolis, the great capital, where I lifted my voice to them in defence [defense] of the truth. They listened with much attention and seemed disposed to investigate. From thence I went to Morristown, where I again told the listening multitude the way of life and salvation; thence to Connersville, where I have an appointment to-night in the court house.-I am now seated in a large hall, surrounded by strangers, yet friendly, who have took in a stranger and fed him; I am within five miles of the place of destination. I have been favored with good health since my departure from Nauvoo; and have baptized two, who live in Ottowa, Ill.
Yours respectfully,
GEORGE P. DYKES.
James, the apostle of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in his general epistle to the twelve Tribes scattered abroad, thus speaks unto them: James, chap. 5;1-3.
"Go now ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire.-Ye have heaped treasures together for the last days."
TIMES AND SEASONS.
CITY OF NAUVOO,
MONDAY, JULY 15, 1844
THE MURDER.
Gen. Joseph Smith, who was murdered in cool [cold] blood, in Carthage Jail, on Thursday, the 27th day of June, was one of the best men that ever lived on the earth. The work he has thus far performed, towards establishing pure religion, and preparing the way for the great gathering of Israel, in the short space of twenty years since the time when the angel of the Lord made known his mission and gave him power to move the cause of Zion, exceed any thing of the kind on record. Without learning, without means and without experience, he has met a learned world; a rich century; a hard hearted, wicked, and adulterous generation, with truth that could not be resisted; facts that could not be disproved; revelations, whose spirit had so much God in them that the servants of the Lord could not be gainsaid or resisted, but like the rays of light from the sun, they have tinged every thing they lit upon, with a luster and livery which has animated, quickened, and adorned.
The pages of Gen. Smith's history, though his enemies never ceased to persecute him and hunt for offences [offenses] against him, are as unsullied as virgin snow; on about fifty prosecutions for supposed criminal offences [offenses], he came out of the legal fire, heated like Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, seven times hotter than it was wont to be, without the smell of fire, or a thread of his garments scorched. His foes of the world and enemies of his own household, who have sought occasions against him, in order, secretly to deprive him of his life, because his goodness, greatness and glory exceeded theirs, have a poor excuse to offer the world, for shedding his innocent blood; and no apology to make to the judge of all the earth, at the day of judgment. They have murdered him because they feared his righteousness.
His easy good natured way, allowing every one was honest, drew around him hypocrites, wicked and mean men, with the virtuous, and in the hour of trouble, or trial, when the wheat was cleansed by water, the light kernels and smut, rose upon the top of the water and had to be poured off, that the residue might be clean, or to be still plainer, when they went through the machine for cleansing the grain, the chaff, light grain and smut were blown off among the rubbish.
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