We not only plead with you to consider the eternal welfare of your own soul, but, in the name of Jesus Christ, we testify to you that God the Eternal Father, has at last broken the speechless gloom of centuries. He has spoken from heaven and established his authority on the earth. If you have, by evil and false reports regarding the Saints, been surrounded by prejudice, break down the repulsive barrier. Draw the bolts and throw open the shutters of your mind, that the glorious sunlight of eternal truth may enlighten your soul with its illuminating beams. Remember the Saints of former days: how they were vilified, abused, maltreated and murdered for the truth's sake. Search diligently for the truth as it is in Christ, and when you have found it, treasure it as a gem of priceless value. It will lead you to seek for a duly commissioned servant of the Most High God, and inspire you to request him, after you have repented of your sins, to baptize you for the remission of the same, and to lay hands upon your head that you may receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; for thus did the ancients. Your thus becoming "like a little child," by obedience to the Lord's will, makes you a citizen of the kingdom of God, and by continued faithfulness, you can _know_, and not merely _believe_, that the doctrine, instead of being human, is divine. Liverpool, England, January 12th, 1880. Footnotes: 1. _First Principles_--John iii, 5; Luke vii, 29; Mark xvi, 15, 15; Matt. xxviii, 19; Acts ii, 38, 39; x, 48; Mark i, 4; Luke iii, 3; Acts xxii, 16; Matt. iii, 6; Acts viii, 12, 36, 38; Rom. vi, 4; John iii, 23. 2. _Authority Needed_--Heb. v, 4; Luke xxiv, 49; Acts xiii, 2-4; Rom. x, 14, 15. 3. _Gifts_--1 Cor. xii chap.; John xiv, 26; Acts xix, 6; Mark xvi, 17, 18. 4. _Organization_--Eph. iv. 11-13; 1 Cor. xii, 14-15; 17-29. 5. _Apostasy_--Isaiah xxiv, 5; 1 Tim. iv, 1-3; 2 Tim. iii, 1-5; iv, 3, 4; 2 Thess. ii, 1-3. 6. _Restoration_--Rev. iv, 1; xiv, 6, 7; xxii, 8, 9,; Matt. xxiv, 14. {195} THE MEANS OF ESCAPE, OR, EXISTING EVILS AND THEIR CURE. By John Nicholson. An Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. "Now learn a parable of the fig tree: When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh; So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors."--Matt. xxiv. 32, 33.