"'Beloved sister, we see that perilous times have truly come, and the things which we have so long expected have at last begun to usher in; but when you see the fig tree begin to put forth its leaves, you may know that the summer is nigh at hand. There will be a short work on the earth; it has now commenced. I suppose there will soon be perplexity all over the earth. Do not let our hearts faint when these things come upon us, for they must come or the word cannot be fulfilled. I know that something will soon take place to stir up this generation to see what they have been doing, and that their fathers have inherited lies, and they have been led captive by the devil to no profit. But they know not what they do. Do not have any feeling of enmity towards any son or daughter of Adam. I believe I shall be let out of their hands some way or other, and shall see good days. We cannot do anything, only stand still and see the salvation of God. He must do his own work or it must fall to the ground. We must not take it in our hands to avenge our wrongs. 'Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord; I will repay.' I have no fears; I shall stand unto death, God being my helper. "'I wanted to communicate something, and I wrote this. Write to us if you can. &c., "'J. SMITH, JR.'" This letter to Sister Prescindia, which has never before been published, gives an excellent example of the spirit and style of the prophet. It will be read with interest, even by the anti-Mormon. Himself in prison, and his people even at that moment passing through their expulsion, what passages for admiration are these: "Do not have any feelings of enmity towards any son or daughter of Adam." "They know not what they do!" "We must not take it in our hands to avenge our wrongs. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord; I will repay." "I have no fears; I shall stand unto death, God being my helper!" Like his divine Master this; "Father, forgive them; they know not what they do!" A great heart, indeed, had Joseph, and a spirit exalted with noble aims and purposes. When Sister Prescindia returned to Far West, her father and mother, with her sister Zina, had started in the exodus of the saints from Missouri to Illinois. She says: "I never saw my mother again. I felt alone on the earth, with no one to comfort me, excepting my little son, George, for my husband had become a bitter apostate, and I could not speak in favor of the Church in his presence. There was by this time not one true saint in the State of Missouri, to my knowledge." Sister Zina says: "On the 18th of April, 1839, I left Far West, with my father, mother, and two younger brothers, and arrived at Quincy, Ill., on the 25th of April, and from thence to Commerce, afterwards called Nauvoo, which we reached on the 14th of May.