| 743 TIMES AND SEASONS.
CITY OF NAUVOO,
DECEMBER 15, 1844.
VOLUME VI.
The present number and one more, closes volume fifth, and, with as ardent a desire as ever for the great work of the gathering of Israel in the last days, we feel disposed, to call upon the brethren and all honest men, to lend us their aid, and grant us their patronage for the sixth.
In calling upon our friends at home and abroad, for pay in advance for the next volume, we save the perplexity of dunning our subscribers for means after we have got under way; we save ourselves from bad debts, and we save a certain number of copies to bind for future use. These hints are sufficient without urging the necessity of paying the printer in advance, because the workmen need the comforts of life as well as other trades.
We might say much in this article, because great things have taken place among us as a church, in eighteen hundred and forty four.-As has been the case in all ages of the world, when righteous men endeavored to promulgate the everlasting gospel, for the benefit and salvation of the human family, wicked and ungodly men, have taken counsel together and slain the "Lord's anointed." Two of the best men of this generation have fallen martyrs to the cause of revealed religion; and truth has seemingly perished in the midst of the land.
Now the great question is, is there goodness and patriotism enough among the brethren and honorable men to support the "Times and Seasons," while it speaks the truth, and sedulously maintains the great principles of religious toleration and constitutional liberty? Will the friends of freedom, knowing that "an hour of virtuous liberty, is worth a whole eternity of bondage," exert half as much pains for our welfare, as is manifested for the ordinary journals of the day? If they will, we shall receive ample means to carry us through eighteen hundred and forty five, without the embarrassing or discouraging necessity of having to borrow means to answer in the place of delinquent or remiss subscribers.
We will here remark, that so far as our knowledge extends, we have generally found that "stingy christians make snivling [sniveling] saints" and as the church has been learning lessons of practical instruction for fourteen years, we can hope with assurance, that all who have the good of the cause at heart will manifest it by liberality. The apostle says, "a liberal man deviseth liberal things."
The world is full of events, and heaven is rich with revelation, and who wishes to live without the one, and die without the other? No one, except he be ignorant that he has a soul, or like the fool, shall say in his heart, there is no God.
But we have said enough; the day in which we live, the vengeance and folly of mankind, manifested in every important move, the eagerness with which truth is received by the faithful saints; and the heavenly desire, burning in the hearts of the "heirs of salvation," like the fire in the 'burning bush of Moses,' for the completion of the temple, wherein can only be consummated and practiced the holy washings; the holy anointing; and the holy conversations for the salvation of the living and the dead, are sufficient to arouse every one that wishes to be saved, to secure the only paper that is entirely devoted to the revelations of Jesus Christ, and a determination to carry out the measures and plans of the great martyr of the nineteenth century, JOSEPH SMITH. And let us not forget to say that his history which the world so much desires, will continue to occupy a portion of the paper.
Having said so much, we have now to rely on the goodness of the saints, both for prayers and means for success, confident that the elders abroad, will work while the day lasts; and that the "Times and Seasons" will be its own witness of their exertions to sustain it, both in matter and money.
N. B. We shall keep bound for the benefit of such as wish, a few copies of the three first volumes of the Times and Seasons, and a supply of the fourth and fifth volumes for those that may need them.
***Elder Wm. Smith's letter to W. W. Phelps, in the Prophet, will be answered in the next number of this paper.
THE CITY OF NAUVOO.
Since the death of our beloved Prophet and Patriarch, many have supposed that our city would be laid desolate, or, at least that it would cease to prosper; that Mormonism would die, with its great leader, and that the Latter-day Saints would be scattered to the four winds.-The editors of the day, with few exceptions, have come to this conclusion, and some few in our midst, not being better informed, or wayward in their dispositions, have essayed to believe this egregious folly. Some few families have left us and gone to Pittsburgh, some
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