We live in an age of fearful imagination; with all the sincerity that common men are endowed with, the Saints have labored without pay, to instruct the United States that the gathering had commenced in the western boundaries of Missouri, to build a holy city, where, as may be seen in the eighteenth chapter of Isaiah, the present should "be brought unto the Lord of Hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of Hosts, the Mount Zion:" and how few have come forth rejoicing that the hour of redemption was nigh! And some that came have turned away, which may cause thousands to exclaim, amid the general confusion and fright of the times, "Remember Lot's wife." {133} It would be a work of supererogation to labor to show the truth of the gathering of the children of Israel in these last days; for the prophet told us long ago, that it should "no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither He had driven them," and so it must be for the honor and glory of God. The faith and religion of the Latter-day Saints are founded upon the old Scriptures, the Book of Mormon, and direct revelation from God; and while every event that happens around us is evidence of the truth of them, and an indicator that the great and terrible day of the Lord is near, we entreat the philanthropist, the moralist, and the honorable men of all creeds and sects, to read our publications, to examine the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Commandments, and listen to the fullness of the Gospel, and judge whether we are entitled to the credit of the world for honest motives and pure principles. A cloud of bad omen seems to hang over this generation; men start up at the impulse of the moment, and defy and outstrip all law, while the destroyer is also abroad in the earth, wasting flesh without measure, and none can stay his course. In the midst of such portentous times, we feel an anxious desire to prepare, and help others to prepare, for coming events; and we candidly believe that no honest man will put forth his hand to stop the work of the Lord or persecute the Saints. In the name of Jesus Christ, we intreat the people of this nation to pause before they reject the works of the Lord or His servants; these, like all flesh, may be imperfect, but God is pure; hear ye Him.