Nauvoo

As good news from a far country, like pure water to a thirsty traveller [traveler], is very refreshing, so we have thought that a little space devoted to Nauvoo, might afford some consolation to those that wish well to the cause of Zion. It is one of the few comforts of the saints in this world, to be settled in peace, and witness the raped [rapid] growth of their infant city, as a place of safety and gathering for the last days. For three or four miles upon the river and about the same distance back in the country, Nauvoo presents a city of gardens, ornamented with the dwellings of those who have made a covenant by sacrifice, and are guided by revelation, an exception to all other societies upon the earth. There is a beautiful commandment and call upon this subject in the fiftieth Psalm, as well as a prophecy of what the Lord will do when he shines, the perfection of beauty out of Zion.

The city of Nauvoo is regularly laid off into blocks, containing four lots of eleven by twelve rods each-making all corner lots. It will be no more than probably correct, if we allow the city to contain between seven and eight hundred houses, with a population of 14 or 15,000. Many of the recent built houses are brick, some one story, and some two stories high, displaying that skill, economy and industry which have always characterized intelligent minds and laudable intentions. The first habitations, as well as many now reared for the time being, in comparison with the expensive mansions of voluptuousness and grandeur in old cities, may be termed "small" but when it is recollected that a large portion of the saints have been "scattered and peeled" some two or three times: and that, also, it is the 'fashion' of the world, to 'shave' them close before they let them 'go to the land of promise,' (as hypocrites not unfrequently [infrequently] name the place of gathering) no apology will be needed. We can, therefore, of a truth declare, that within the same length of time, and with the same amount of means, no society on the face of the globe, has a better

right to the claim of improvement by their own industry; or have offered to their surrounding neighbors, a plainer pattern of mechanical skill, domestic economy, practical temperance, common intelligence, every day virtue, and eternal religion, than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Such a statement of facts will be considered the simple truth, when it is remembered that we are the only people upon the earth who profess to be governed and guided by direct revelation from the Lord: And in this place let us not forget to mention that important commandment which said: "And again, inasmuch as there is land obtained, let there be workmen sent forth, of all kinds, unto this land, to labor for the saints of God." Now who that has witnessed the driving of the saints from place to place, and seen them in the short space of two or three years, raise a town or a city, glowing with all the arts, improvements, and curious workmen found any where upon the earth, can doubt this revelation? One thing is certain, the elders must possess more plausibility, discernment and ingenuity, to find out wise and skilful [skillful] workmen, than has ever been the lot of the world, or else the revelation is true,-and these elders are blessed with the spirit of God, to assist in bringing to pass his act, his strange act. This light is not under a bushel.

Two steam mills have been put into operation this season, and many other buildings for mechanical labor in the various branches of manufacture, are either under way or in contemplation,-while the Temple of God, a work of great magnitude, and the Nauvoo House, which when finished will hardly be surpassed in the western world, are rising up as monuments of the enterprise, industry and reverence of the commandments of God, of the saints in their banishment from Missouri.

As to mercantile business we have but little to say:-The fewer foreign goods that are consumed among the saints, the better it will be for home manufactories,-and the nearer we shall come to the word of the Lord, which says: "Thou shalt not be proud in thy heart; let all thy garments be plain, and their beauty the beauty of the work of thine own hands."

We have two presses doing as much as can be expected from the limited resources of a people twice plucked up by the roots, and plundered, even to their clothes, besides the loss of a good printing establishment. As far as truth can be spread and lies contradicted by two presses, against several thousand, it is done! and we have the gratification of saying that things seem to work together for good to them that look for the second appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Finally, brethren, as this world is not the place of much happiness to the saints, on account of the great prevalence of the powers of darkness upon the earth, and the wickedness and corruption of men's hearts, we think we can not do better than say, that while other cities are secretly practicing vice in its most horrid form, Nauvoo, like an infant at the breast of its mother, is deriving its nourishment from that fountain of life which invigorates youth without endangering the health; and we do sincerely hope, that we as children of the kingdom, may keep the law of God, and the law of the land, continuing steadfast in the liberty of the gospel, and ever abounding in the knowledge of the Lord, knowing this, for grace and salvation, that in the world there is no deliverance; no; nowhere but in Jerusalem, and in Mount Zion, and in the remnant whom the Lord our God shall call.

Nauvoo, at present is, figuratively, the great fish market of the earth, where all kinds, both good and bad, are gathered-where the good are preserved, and the bad cast away-for until the savior comes, there will be wise virgins and foolish;-blessed are they that continue to the end faithful, for whether they have builded a city in Ohio, or Missouri, or Illinois, they shall enter into the joys of their Lord, and inherit the kingdom prepared before the foundation of the world.