History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Volume 2Smith, Joseph, Jr.
History
History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Volume 2
Smith, Joseph, Jr.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Smith, Joseph, Jr., 1805-1844
The hand of the Lord shall be upon them, until they repent in sackcloth
and ashes, and shall effect their temporal and spiritual interests
unless they repent.
Footnotes
1. The whole article is so valuable that, notwithstanding to publish it
entire leads to a repetition of part of the above, it is placed here in
a foot note.
To the Saints Scattered Abroad.
"Dear Brethren:--It is a duty which every saint ought to render to
his brethren freely--to always love them, and ever succor them. To
be justified before God we must love one another: we must overcome
evil; we must visit the fatherless and the widow in their affliction,
and we must keep ourselves unspotted from the world: for such virtues
flow from the great fountain of pure religion. Strengthening our faith
by adding every good quality that adorns the children of the blessed
Jesus, we can pray in the season of prayer; we can love our neighbor as
ourselves, and be faithful in tribulation, knowing that the reward of
such is greater in the kingdom of heaven. What a consolation! What a
joy! Let me live the life of the righteous, and let my reward be like
this!
According to the order of the kingdom begun in the last days, to
prepare men for the rest of the Lord, the Elders in Zion, or in her
immediate region, have no authority or right to meddle with her
spiritual affairs, to regulate her concerns, or hold councils for the
expulsion of members in her unorganized condition. The High Council has
been expressly organized to administer in all her spiritual affairs;
and the Bishop and his council, are set over her temporal matter: so
that the Elders' acts are null and void. Now the Lord wants the tares
and wheat to grow together: for Zion must be redeemed with judgment,
and her converts with righteousness. Every Elder that can, after
providing for (if he has any) and paying his debts, must go forth and
clear his skirts from the blood of this generation. While they are in
that region instead of trying members for transgressions, or offenses,
let every one labor to prepare himself for the vineyard, sparing a
little time to comfort the mourners; to bind up the broken-hearted; to
reclaim the backslider; to bring back the wanderer; to re invite into
the kingdom such as have been cut off, by encouraging them to lay to
while the day lasts, and work righteousness, and, with one heart and
one mind, prepare to help redeem Zion, that goodly land of promise,
where the willing and the obedient shall be blessed. Souls are as
precious in the sight of God as they ever were; and the Elders were
never called to drive any down to hell, but to persuade and invite all
men everywhere to repent, that they may become the heirs of salvation.
It is the acceptable year of the Lord: liberate the captives that they
may sing hosanna. The Priests, too, should not be idle: their duties
are plain, and unless they do them diligently, they cannot expect to be
approved. Righteousness must be the aim of the Saints in all things,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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