| 334 who have slept in Christ shall he bring with him when he shall come to be glorified in Him, and admired by all those who believe, but to take vengeance upon his enemies and all those who obey not the gospel.
"At that time the hearts of the widows and fatherless shall be comforted, and every tear shall be wiped from off their faces. The trials they have had to pass through shall work together for their good, and prepare them for the society of those who have come up out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
"Marvel not, then, if you are persecuted; but remember the words of the Savior: 'The servant is not above his Lord; if they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also;' and that all the afflictions through which the saints have to pass are in fulfillment of the words of the prophets which have spoken since the world began.
"We shall therefore do well to discern the signs of the times as we pass along, that the day of the Lord may not 'overtake us as a thief in the night.' Afflictions, persecutions, imprisonments, and deaths we must expect, according to the Scriptures, which tell us that the blood of those whose souls were under the altar could not be avenged on them that dwell on the earth until their brethren should be slain as they were.
"If these transactions had taken place among barbarians, under the authority of a despot, or in a nation where a certain religion is established according to law and all others proscribed, then there might have been some shadow of defense offered. But can we realize that in a land which is the cradle of liberty and equal rights, and where the voice of the conquerors who had vanquished our foes had scarcely died away upon our ears, where we frequently mingled with those who had stood amidst 'the battle and the breeze,' and whose arms have been nerved in the defense of their country and liberty, whose institutions are the theme of philosophers and poets and held up to the admiration of the whole civilized world,-in the midst of all these scenes with which we were surrounded, a persecution the most unwarrantable
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