| 527 Times and Seasons.
City of Nauvoo,
Wednesday Sept. 1, 1841.
Persecution.
They that will live godly in Christ Jesus, must suffer persectuoiu [persecution]-Paul
Persecution has ever been the lot of the saints of God, while they have been sojourners in this vale of tears; fierce and cruel opposition have marked their progress, and those, who in the estimation of heaven have been jewels, and prepared for the association of angels and the spirit of just men made perfect, have been proscribed, verefied [vilified], hated and abused; their liberties taken from them, and many, very many, have suffered death in its most horrid forms. This spirit continues to rage even in this enlightened age, and thousands of professing christians, zealous to promote their faith, and send their religious opinions to the world, are no less so, to stop the mouth of the saint and to persecute the servant of the Most High. And why we ask, do they do so? Is it because the saints have violated the laws, trampled on the constitution, wrested the rights of individuals or communities, & pursued a lawless demoralizing course? No such proceedings have been indulged in. No! they are as foreign to the heart of the Saints now, as they were at the time of our Savior's sojourn on earth. No such accusation could be for one moment sustained against the saints of old, neither can there be any in this day, whose rights have we trampled upon? whose lives have we jeopardized? None of those things have been committed-no violations of the peace-no infingement [infringement] of right, why then this outcry, why this unhallowed persecution which has been heaped upon the church for more than ten years, until many of the saints have been worn out, and have fallen a prey to the fell spirit of persecution which has raged from time to time since the rise of the church. Men of integrity faith and virtue, who for their religion alone have died martyrs? Ah! it is because they have borne [born] testimony to the truth, that God is the same yesterday today and for ever, and "that he will do nothing but that he will reveal his secrets to his servants the prophets;" They have testified that the heavens have been opened-that Jesus has again spoken-that angels have again administered, and that the Holy Spirit has been poured out as in days of old; and that the words of Joel have been fulfilled which say that, "in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy &c. &c." This the cause of the scoff of the drunkard, the scorn and ridicule of the hypocrite and bigot, and the persecutions of priests and people. The principles of the gospel-the true principles of the gospel-the ancient faith has been restore; this raises the indignation of the self-righteous who have already got sufficient religion, and because the saints testify that all the blessings enjoyed by the saints anciently may, by a proper course of conduct and obedience, be enjoyed now, they immediately pounce upon him, and cry delusion, imposter [impostor], and not overturning his doctrines by such arguments, use the more potent ones of whiping [whipping], tarring feathering, &c. &c.
Upon a perusal of the sacred volume, we shall find that amongst the legacies left by the head of the church, persecution was mentioned and it was spoken of in such terms as must have led every rational mind to the conclusion that the saints could not, without bartering their religion, and their hopes of eternal life, expect to escape it. Says the Savior, "In the world you shall have tribulation." These were the assurances which the savior gave, to his beloved disciples before he left them, to take his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high; but at the same time to make the cup palatable, threw in the comforting assurance that in him they should have peace.-The words of the Savior were verified, for after his death, the saints were hunted from place to place, like the roe upon the mountains. The Pharasees[Pharisees], jealous of the laws, no longer able to gainsay or resist the testimony which the saints could bear of the truth of the gospel, like our modern friends, resorted to means diabolical and cruel, and by physical force endeavored to overthrow a system which all their false reasoning and philosophy failed to do, and thrust into inner prisons and accused of crimes against the government, men whose only crime was in proclaiming the abrogation of the cerimonies [ceremonies] of the law, and the establishment of the kingdom of God with all its authority, gifts and blessings. Why this then? Why this conflict now? If we teach the word of God, we shall find that in consequence of transgression, men love darkness rather than light, and whenever God has made known his will to the world, by far the greatest part of mankind have discarded it, and acted on entirely different principles than those revealed, consequently hatred and anamosity [animosity] have sprung
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