| 757 as it will be a miracle if she ever sees them again. Write to me immediately.
With sentiments of respect and esteem I subscribe myself, your friend and brother in the gospel of Christ.
WM. SMITH
THE ANSWER.
Nauvoo, Ill., Dec. 25, 1844.
Remembered Brother William Smith:
Up to the reception of your excellent letter to me, (dated at Bordentown, N. J., Nov., 10, 1844, which you had the goodness to communicate through the columns of the "Prophet,") since we have been members together in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I think it may be said we have been one in faith, one in love, and one in friendship, and like the often used key, we have grown brighter and brighter, as we have performed the great service of opening and shutting the "lock" on religious understanding. As Jeremiah said, so say I: "The heritage of the Lord is like a lion in the forest ; yea, the heritage of the Lord is like a speckled bird:" every body is afraid, and every body is pecking at us. It is a great thing to be a messenger of salvation, and so I will begin to answer your questions.
You ask; "why is it that the saints of the last times, can have no rest!" and I answer, because the world loves darkness rather than light, and their deeds are evil. "popularity" now and ever, since the serpent was cursed to crawl upon his belly through the loss of his feet, is, has been, and will be, the best kind of religion in use. Talk about holiness, morality, temperance, humanity, brotherly kindness and charity among the refined polite nations of the world; why, ever since Cain built a city for the ungodly to revel in, for the polygamy of a Lamech; for the droving of a Jabul; for the music saloon of a Jubul; and for the brass and iron foundry, and bogus machine of a Tubal Cain, the majority of mankind, have made money their faith; popularity their works, and persecution their sincerest devotion of moral greatness.
They that live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution, says Paul; and so it is-and it always comes first from him that professes godliness: Cain was a sectarian and could not admit revelation and hear God say: "well, Abel I have accepted thine offering:" and so he killed his brother because the devil slyly whispered in his ear:-it is blasphemy to talk with God.
Now the next generation could discover the wickedness of Cain, and the holiness of Abel, but the same evil spirit whispered that was in a day when revelation was necessary, but there is no need of it now, and it is done away. We have followed the rules and regulations of those good men, and O! if we had lived in their days, they should not have been killed! but as for this fellow he is "unpopular;" he blasphemes our God: he ought to die, but we being compassionate and charitable, and feeling a warm desire for the great cause of religion, will advise him to quit his folly, or delution [delusion]; and if he dont [don't], we will punish him a little by stripes, sword, dungeons, or banishment; and then if he does not stop, we will stop him!
O Lord God Almighty, when the prison doors of Tophet, hell, and the horrible pit are unlocked; and the entrance into outer darkness opened, to bring the damned before the bar of the Judge of all the earth for the final judgment, I think some few christians in company with their father Cain and cousins of "popular" priesthood, from that day down to the judgment trumpet, will "grin horribly a ghastly smile'-YES, we killed the prophets and persecuted the saints, because they were not "popular." Then your question will be answered.
As to the "crime, time, and place, &c., of finding the Nephite record," its revelation is the very thing that produces an earthquake to this generation. It explains the bible: it opens the vision of the prophets; it unravels the mystery who first settled this country, and it shows the old paths wherein if a man walk he shall live. It copes with the boasted knowledge of the world; it glitters through the combined fog of ages; shows that God who eat [ate] of a calf with Abraham, will eat and drink again on the earth with his saints, when the wolf and the lamb, and the lion and the ox, will be as friendly as the saints and seraphs, in the full fruition of bliss; it cuts the gordian knot of priestcraft, and reveals the priesthood of the Son of God which is "without beginning days or end of years;" whereby it shows that prophets were ordained in eternity, when the "morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy:" and it speaks from the dead, whereby the living can hear from their friends, who have fought the good fight of faith, and passed from life unto death, and from death unto life! and Stevens [Stephens] with his incidents of travels in Central America; and others who are opening the bowels of the earth, and rolling "ruins' into being; and tend thousand elders of Israel filled with the Holy Ghost, declaring the everlasting gospel with irresistable [irresistible] power and economy, that surpasses understanding; the great persecutions and murders which are dealt out without measure to its believers; and the distress of nations and the
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