| 471 TIMES AND SEASONS
"TRUTH WILL PREVAIL"
Vol. 2. 18.] CITY OF NAUVOO, ILL. July 15th, 1841 [Whole No. 30.
Times and Seasons.
City of Nauvoo,
Thursday, July 15th, 1841.
Psalm-124th.
"If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say;
If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us;
Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:
Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul.
Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.
Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth."
Since the rise of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, there has been a continual and increasing opposition manifested towards it from all classes of society, high and low, rich and poor. False reports have been circulated with an industry which would have done honor to a better cause, and the cry of "delusion," "false prophets," "imposters [impostors]," have been borne on every breeze. And, when we take into consideration the immense force which has, from time to time, been brought to bear against the Saints, and see them stand fast and immoveable [immovable], we are led to exclaim "it is the Lords doings and it is marvellous [marvelous] in our eyes."
If it had not been that the Lord was on our side, we certainly, before this, would have been mince meat, for the philistines who have dared, from time to time, proudly to stalk abroad, and threaten our overthrow.
It would be impossible for us to trace the Church through all its movements, and record the sufferings and persecutions to which the Saints have been subject: Suffice it to say, that not only has all manner of evil been said against us, falsely, but all manner of evil has been done to us, without any just cause or pretext whatever. We would ask, what have our enemies gained by their conduct? What great object has been accomplished by their vexatious law suits, tarring and feathering, whipping and and stoning, mobbing and murdering the Saints of God? Have they extingiushed [extinguished] the hopes of the Saints, or undermined the religion of heaven? Such arguments, we believe, are powerful to the fearful and unbelieving, but they are esteemed as chaff by the Saints who know in whom they have believed, and who prefer the cause of truth to this world and all its pleasures, rejoice in tribulation, and count not their lives dear, so they may finish their course with joy. "The enemies have indeed shot at us, but our bow hath abode in its strength, and our arms have been made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob," and, instead of our adversaries prevailing over us, they have been instrumental in forwarding the great work of the last days. When the enemies of righteousness persecuted the saints at Jerusalem, so that they had to flee out of the city; the messengers of salvation spread into different places, the gospel was no longer confined [to] Jerusalem and Judea, but other people and other nations heard the tidings and left off their heathenish worship and became obedient to the gospel of Christ. "The word was every where preached." If we had been suffered to have remained in quiet in Missouri, the sound of the gospel would not have spread as it has done nor would such great interest have been excited; but the Saints being expelled form that inhospitable State, thousands have listened to their tale of woe, and the gospel of Christ has been prominently held forth wherever the Saints have been scattered, and thousands in this and other states have listened to those things which, heretofore, had not been told them.
In all these things we mark the hand and dealings of our Heavenly Father, who orders all things by his unerring council, and can make the wrath of man to praise him, while the remainder he can restrain.
In all circumstances in which the Saints have had to pass through, there has been a consciousness of the hand of God in all their movements,-a belief "that he would temper the blast to the shorn lamb," and that all things should work together for the good of the Saints. Hence, they have enjoyed joy in the midst of sorrow, order in the midst of confusion, light in the midst of darkness, peace in the midst of war, and life in the midst of death.
One great and blessed consolation is, that the Lord is on our side. Yes: "The Lord of Hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge." This affords comfort in the midst of the most heart rending and trying circumstances which can possibly fall to the lot of Saints, and having this consolation, they rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, and can say-
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