An Epistle of the Twelve

To the brethren scattered abroad on the Continent of America, Greeting:

Beloved Brethren.

It seemeth good to us to write unto you at this time concerning the great things of the kingdom of our God, and more especially as we have been called upon by the late General Conference, so to do; that the work may not be hindred [hindered] but that all may understand their privilege and duty in this day of glorious events, so that by exercising themselves therein, they may attain unto those blessings which God has in store for his people in the last days.

We have abundant occasion, and we rejoice exceedingly at the privilege we have had of beholding so many thousands of our brethren and sisters as were assembled at the late conference, and for the most perfect harmony and good feeling which prevailed throughout all their deliberations; for the great amount of valuable instructions by President Joseph Smith and others; and for the disposition which we have seen manifested, by all who were present to carry into effect all those noble plans and principles which were derived from heaven, and have been handed down to earth to carry forward the great and glorious work which is already commenced, and which must be consummated to secure the salvation of Israel.

While the minutes of the General Conference are before you, which will be read with interest by every lover of Zion, we shall recapitulate some items and detail more particularly to the understanding of those who had not the privilege of being present on that interesting occasion, the past, present and future situation and prospects of the church, and the stakes, and those things which immediately concern their best interests.

A short time since and the saints were fleeing before their enemies. Whips, imprisonments, tortures and death stared them in the face, and they were compelled to seek an assylum [asylum] iu [in] a land of strangers. They sought, they found it within the peaceful bosom of Illinois; a State whose citizens are inspired with a love of liberty; whose souls are endued with those noble principles of charity and benevolence which ever bid the stranger welcome and minister to his wants: in this State, whose soil is vieing [vying] with its citizens in all that is good and lovely, the saints have found a resting place, where, freed from tyrany [tyranny] and mobs, they are beginning to realize the fulfilment [fulfillment] of the ancient prophets, "they shall build houses and inhabit them, plant vineyards and eat the fruit thereof, having none to molest or make afraid."

In this city the church has succeeded in securing several extensive plats of land, which have been laid out in city lots, a part of which have been sold, a part has been distributed to the widow and the orphan, and a part remains for sale. These lots are for the inheritance of the saints, a resting place for the church, a habitation for the God of Jacob for there he has commanded a house to be built unto his name where he may manifest himself unto his people as in former times. when he caused the ark, the tabernacle and the temple to be reared and the cloud and the fire to rest down thereon; and not that the temple be built only, but that it be completed quickly, and that no more general conference be held, till it shall be held therein; and that the Nauvoo House be finished for the acoomodation [accommodation] of the brethren from afar, and the stranger who shall come up hither to inquire after the work of the Lord and worship in his Temple.

Scores of brethren in this city, have offered to board one and two laborers each till the Temple is completed; many have volunteered to labor continually, and the brethren generally are giving one tenth part of their time, or one tenth part of their income, according to circumstances; while those sisters, who can do nothing more, are knitting socks and mittens and preparing garments for the laborers, so that they may be made as comfortable as possible during the coming winter. In view of these things we would invite our brethren for many miles distant around us to send in their teams for drawing stone, lumber, and materials for the buildings; and at the same time

load their waggons [wagons] with all kinds of grain and meat, provision and clothing; and hay and provinder [provender] in abundance, that the laborer faint not, and the teams be made strong: also that journeymen, stonecutters &c. come bringing their tools with them and enlist in 'the glorious enterprize [enterprise].

Most of the plats in this city before referred to, as well as several farms and large lots of land in this and the adjoining counties are paid for, and are secured to the church by good and sufficient titles; while the town plat for the Town of Warren near Warsaw is secured on such conditions that the brethren can be accommodated with lots on very reasonable terms; but the large plat in Nauvoo purchased of Messrs. Hotchkiss, Tuttle & C. of New Haven, Conn., remains unpaid for, and the time has now arrived, when it is very desirable on the part of the church as well as on the part of the gentlemen of whom it was purchased, that payment should be made and a warrantee title secured; to accomplish which we have been called upon by the united voice of the General Conference to address the churches in the eastern states to advise with the brethren in those regions, and devise ways and means whereby this debt may be liquidated, Hotchkiss & Co. satisfied, the plot secured to the church, and the brethren in the east at the same time transfer their real estate from the place where it now is, to this city or region of country according to their desire.

The contract for the "Hotchkiss purchase" in Nauvoo, consisting of upwards of five hundred acres, was entered into on, or about the 9th of August 1839, for the specified sum of fifty three thousand five hundred dollars, and security was given to Messrs. H. R. Hotchkies [Hotchkiss], Smith Tuttle, and John Gillet, for the amount of the same in two notes of equal amount, one payable in ten years, and the other in twenty years from the date thereof signed by Messrs. Hyrum Smith, Joseph Smith, and Sidney Rigdon. In August last, interest to the amount of six thousand dollars, or upwards, had accumulated on said notes which it has not been in the power of the church to pay up to the present time. The nature of this purchase and the situation of the church is such, that it is necessary that the note should be taken up, the interest stopped, and a warrantee title secured immediately; and a correspondence is now in progress with Messrs. Hotchkies [Hotchkiss] & Co. to effect this thing, and bring forward a final settlement.

But, say you, what can we do to accomplish this great and desirable object? Let the brethren in the eastern states, who have lands which they wish to dispose of, so that they may remove hither and secure to themselves an inheritance among the saints, either in the cities or farms in the vicinity, and are willing to have their lands in the east made over to Messrs. Hotchkies [Hotchkiss] & Co. towards the payment of the foregoing notes, communicate with us immediately, at this place, stating to us the extent and value of their property. Then as soon as we shall have received communications concerning property sufficient to cancel the obligations, and the necessary preliminaries are understood with Messrs. Hotchkies [Hotchkiss] & Co., we will dispatch an agent to New Haven, to complete the negociotion [negotiation], transfer your property, take up the notes, and secure a deed; and those whose property is thus transferred can have the value thereof here, in city lots, or lands in the vicinity; and thus your property will prove to you as good as money, inasmuch as you desire to emigrate, and you will no longer be obliged to tarry afar off, because that money is so scarce you cannot sell and get your pay. If there are those among you, to whom God has given in abundance, and they desire to appropiate [appropriate] some portion thereof for the benefit of his people; for the redemption of Zion; for a blessing to the widows of those who have been slain for the word of God, and been buried in a well, for a sustenance to their fatherless children, and provide for them a habitation, they cannot do it more effectually than by devoting a portion of their sustenance towards liquidating this claim.

To those brethren who live so far distant that they cannot send in their loaded teams, and yet desire to assist in building the Lord's House, we would say, gather yourselves together and bring of your substance, your silver, and gold, and apparel and of your superabundance cast into the treasury of the Lord and see if be [he] will not pour you out a blessing till there is not room enough to receive it.

Brethren the blessings of the kingdom are for you, for the body of Christ, for

all the members, and God will help those who will help themselves, and bless those who will bless each other, and do as they would be done unto. The gold and the silver is the Lords; all the treasures of the earth, the flocks and the herds of the fields and the cattle of the thousand hills are his; if he were hungry would he crave thy food, or thirsty would he ask thy drink? Nay! he would only ask that which was his own, he would feast on his own flocks and quench his thirst at his own springs. This God is the God of the saints, he is your God, and he has made you stewards of all that has been committed to you, and will require his own with usury; and will you not be faithful in a little that you may be made rulers over many cities? Yes, you will, we know you will.

The journeyings and gatherings, and building of the saints are nothing new, and as they are expecting, looking and praying for the completion of the dispensation of the fullness of times, they must also expect that their progress will be onward or they will be of no avail, for what is not of faith is sin, and can you believe that God will hear your prayers, and bring you on your journey, gather you, and build your houses, and you not put forth one hand or make one exertion to help yourselves? No! therefore inasmuch as the saints believe that father Abraham journeyed to a distant land, at the command of the Highest, where himself and household, (whose household we are, if we keep the commandments,) might enjoy the fruits of their labors unmolested, and worship the God of heaven according to the dictates of their own conscience and his law. That his seed afterwards gathered to Canaan, the Land of Promise; that David was commanded to build a house where the Son of Man might have a place to lay his head, and the diciples [disciple] be endued with power from on high, and were with one accord in one place; they must also believe that this dispensation comprehends all the great works of all former dispensations; and that the children must gather as did the fathers, must build a house, where they may be endued, and be found together worshipping and doing as their fathers did, when Jehovah spake and the angels of heaven ministered unto them; and if these things are not in this generation then we have not arrived at the dispensation of the fullness of times as we anticipate and our faith and prayers are vain.

Is it that we labor in vain, and toil for nought [naught], and that we shall be disappointed at the last? No! we know assuredly that the set time to favor Zion has come, and her sons and daughters shall rejoice in her glory. The time has come when the great Jehovah would have a resting place on earth, a habitation for his chosen, where his law shall be revealed, and his servants be endued from on high, to bring together the honest in heart form the four winds; where the saints may enter the Baptismal Font for their dead relations, so that they may be judged according to men in the flesh, and live according to God in the spirit, and come forth in the celestial kingdom; a place, over which the heavenly messengers may watch and trouble the waters as in days of old, so that when the sick are put therein they shall be made whole; a place where all the ordinances shall be made manifest and the saints shall unite in the songs of Zion, even praise, thanksgiving and hallelujahs to God and the Lamb, that he has wrought out their deliverance, and bound satan fast in chains.

What then shall we do? Let us all arise and with one united and mighty exertion, by the strength of Israel's God, oppose the powers of darkness, and every being and principle that may rise up against us, and complete the work already commenced. Let us not for a moment lend an ear to evil and designing men, who would subvert the truth, and blacken the character of the servant of the Most High God, by publishing abroad that the prophet is enriching himself on the spoils of the brethren. When Br. Joseph stated to the general conference the amount and situation of the property of the church, of which he is trustee in trust by the united voice of the church, he also stated the amount of his own possessions on earth; and what do you think it was? we will tell you; his old Charley horse, given him in Kirtland; two pet deer; two old turkeys, and four young ones; the old cow given him by a brother in Missouri, his old Major, dog; his wife, children, and a little household furniture, and this is the amount of the great possessions of that man whom God has called to lead his people in these last days; this the sum total of the great estates, the splendid

mansions and noble living of him who has spent a life of toil and suffering, of privation and hardships, of imprisonments and chains, of dungeons and vexatious suits, and every kind of contumely and contemps [contemptuous] ungodly men could heap upon him, and last of all report him as rolling in wealth and luxury which he had plundered from the spoils of those for whose good he had thus toiled and suffered. Who would be willing to suffer what he has suffered, and labor near twenty years as he has done, for the wealth he is in possession of?

Brethren, in view of all these things let us be up and doing. Let those in the eastern states use all dilligence [diligence] in communicating to us their ability to assist in the Hotchkiss payment, being assured that no exertion they can make, will equal what has already been made for them and the church generally; and let all the saints come up to the places of gathering, and with their mites and their apandence as God has given them in trust, help to build up the old waste places which have been thrown down for many generations, knowing, that when they are completed, they will belong unto the people of the Most High God, even the meek, the honest in heart, he shall possess all things in the due time of the Lord. Be not covetous, but deal in righteousness, for what the saints shall not possess by purchase and in righteoasness [righteousness] they shall not possess for no unrighteous thing can enter into the kingdom; therefore, beloved bretbren [brethren], deal justly, love mercy, walk humbly before God, and whatever your hands find to do, do it with your might, keeping all the commandments, and then, whether in life or in death, all things will be yours, whether they be temples or lands, houses or vineyards, baptisms or enduements [endowments], revelations or healings, all things will be yours, for you will be Christ's and Christ is God's.

Brigham Young,

Heber C. Kimball,

Orson Pratt,

Lyman Wight,

John Taylor,

Wilford Woodruff,

Geo. A. Smith,

Willard Richards,

Nauvoo Oct. 12th, 1841.