(To the Editor of the Times and Seasons.)

DEAR SIR-In this age of superstition and infidelity, we find vast numbers who not only deny revelation, but even the existence of deity, which has in a great measure arisen from the inconsistencies and perplexities of the professors of Christianity; indeed we cannot much blame a man for denying in toto what appears altogether a mass of contradictions and absurdities. For, let us suppose for example, that an individual from China, or any other part, who had had an opportunity of listening to the preaching of some of our modern Missionaries, and had given full credence to all that had been advanced, had a Bible placed in his hands and told that it was the word of an immutable God, it seems to me that one desire alone would pervade his whole soul, viz: to get to that land of religion, that nation of demi-gods, where they had such a superabundance of piety, as to send a little over the great waters and let the heathen participate in their blessedness. Well, there are few things on which man is fully bent but he is able to attain to it, so with this young Christian; at length he is enabled to start for this paradise, and leave his native land, and, oh joy! lands safely on Columbia's happy shores, with his Bible in his hand, just as the people are repairing to their different places of worship. Judge his surprise on finding their worship as diverse as possible, yet all professing to teach from the same unchangeable book. He inquires in vain for the church of Christ; the cry is lo here, and lo there, and he finds but one thing in which they all agree, viz: in contending that the unchangeable word has become altogether changed. That though the great author of it has asserted that certain signs shall follow those that believe, they fearlessly tell us they shall not; that the great apostle to the Gentiles tells us that God placed apostles and prophets in the church, and they boldly tell us they are not wanted; and there is no need for tongues and prophecies. In the days of Paul, they saw through a glass darkly, yet it was needful for Paul to have a thorn in the flesh, lest he should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of revelations that were given unto him, that, he was caught up into the third heaven, and heard things that it was not lawful to utter that the church then had visions, angels, tongues, healings, interpretations, &c. &c., but now there is no need of these, as perfection is come. Would not our traveller [traveler] be at a loss to account for this strange state of things? And could we be surprised if he began to think he had been deceived, and to question the authenticity of the book?

Although infidelity may abound, and many may live and die, not having the fear of God before their eyes, I am of opinion that the existence of Deity, and the truth of revelation can be established beyond the power of successful controversy.

First, then, the laws of nature by which vegetation is produced, the globe kept in regular motion, and the planets governed and arranged. How wonderful the chance that caused the earth to take its place just at such a distance from the sun, and to hold on in its course, and still as fortunate that the moon should be situated as to give its light in the night instead of the day, so that it happens to be a blessing to the inhabitants of all the earth. And, if we may rely on astronomers, it was a lucky chance that gave Jupiter four moons, seeing that his distance from the sun is near 500,000,000 of miles, and therefore, his nights must have been very dark but for that chance. We are also informed that Saturn is removed 900,000,000 of miles from Sol, and therefore his nights must have been dismal, had not chance given him seven moons; Georgium Sidus, of vast magnitude, 1,800,000,000

of miles from the sun, though no knowledge of his diurnal motion has been ascertained; six moons at least have been discovered. All the planets and fixed stars are governed by a law, and if they be governed by law, there must be order, and there can be no order without design, and if by design, there must be a framer. No matter whether it be the law of nature, or any other law, it could not have been produced by chance, for chance begets confusion. Law and order cannot spring into existence of their own accord, but must have been framed in wisdom and intelligence, and intelligence does not exist in nature, nor wisdom in chance. If then, intelligence exists, that framed not only this earth, so well adapted for the dwelling of man, but all the countless numbers of worlds, with all their regularity and beauty, continually revolving in the immensity of space, without a jar, in perfect harmony, shall we consider it strange that when man is created, a law should be given, or shall he be left in darkness and confusion? I am persuaded that we may bring forth such an abundance of evidence as to satisfy even the skeptic on this point, and if we could once get man to place implicit confidence in the Bible, he has nothing to do but read it, to believe in the Book of Mormon, and the doctrines taught by the Latter Day Saints.

The prophecies contained in the scriptures are so numerous, and the proofs of their fulfilment [fulfillment] so abundant, that, instead of any deficiency of evidence, the only difficulty lies in selecting or condensing them. A few of the prophecies that have a definite and distinct meaning, and that have received an express and literal accomplishment, shall be selected, Moses, being the first inspired writer we have an account of in the Bible, we will examine his words first, respecting the Jews and their city. He says, Leviticus 26, if they would not obey the commandments of God, ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat, and I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you; and I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries into desolation; I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it; I will scatter you among the heathen, and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste, and ye shall be in your enemy's land, and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies; and ye shall perish among the heathen, and they that are left among you shall pine away in their iniquity in their enemy's land; and yet, for all that, when they be in their enemy's land, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly." Also, Deut. 26: "It shall come to pass if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, and observe to do all his commandments, that all these curses shall come upon thee; [which may be read at leisure, therefore, for the sake of brevity, I only extract a few;] thou shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth; the Lord shall smite thee with blindness, and thou shalt grope at the noon-day as the blind gropeth in darkness, and shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee. Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given to another people, and thine eyes shall fail with looking for them all the day long; and there shall be no might in thy hand; the Lord shall bring thee into a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb and a bye-word among all nations, whither the Lord shall lead thee. These curses shall be upon thee for a sign and a wonder, and upon thy seed after thee. The Lord shall bring a nation upon thee of fierce countenance, from afar, swift as the eagle's flight, who shall not regard the person of old, nor show favor to the young. He shall beseige [besiege] thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down; and thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and thy daughters, in the seige [siege] and in the straightness wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee. So sore will be the distress, that he will not give to any the flesh of his children, whom he shall eat &c. &c. The Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, and of long continuance. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth unto the other; and among these nations thou shalt find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy feet have rest, but the Lord shall give thee there, a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind; and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee, and thou shalt fear day and night, and have no assurance of thy life. In the morning thou shalt say, would God it were evening! and at evening, would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see; the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again, in ships, and there you shall be sold unto your enemies for bond-men, and bond-women, till no man shall buy you; death should be chosen by them rather than life," &c. &c.

These, and a vast number of other passages might be quoted, but I am afraid of trespassing too much on your valuable columns, and therefore

shall proceed to give the manner; the strange and wonderful manner the prophecies have been fulfilled, with other remarks I may feel disposed to make.

False Christs and false prophets arose after our Lord was crucified, as he himself had warned his disciples, which occasioned great commotions among the Jews, and soon every city in Syria became the seat of a civil war. The Roman procurator, Florus, heaped indignities and oppressions upon the Jews, till at length, they were goaded on to open rebellion against Rome, which soon brought the Roman ensign around the beloved city, and Jerusalem was compassed about with armies, as described by the Saviour [Savior], and on their withdrawing for a time, the Christians made their escape to Pella, having been forewarned of the calamity. Multitudes crowded within the walls of Jerusalem, some to the Passover, and others for a temporary security of their lives and property. But, alas, the day of God's wrath was come upon Jerusalem. The robbers who had banded together, amidst the preceding commotions, and resorted to the mountains of Judea, not able to protect themselves from the Roman power, flocked into Jerusalem, and joining the lawless mob, ruled over the devoted city. Destruction and murder was carried on by them to an awful extent, and the provisions for the siege were pillaged and burnt. The blood of thousands was shed within the walls by their brethren, while the work of destruction was proceeding with awful rapidity by the Romans without. The bones of the priests were scattered around the altar, but the famine soon began to prey on all; and so severe were the pains of gnawing hunger, that the sewers were opened in search of food.-Shoes, and the leather from off their shields were eat [ate], and the most loathsome refuse devoured as a sweet morsel; the bodies of the famished fell dead in the streets. They then began to eat the dead bodies, and one lady, once rich and noble, had slain, and was roasting and eating her own sucking child. The Romans built a wall and hemmed them in one every side. It is said, of fugitives from the famine, five hundred were taken prisoners, and crucified daily, without the walls, till they could not find room for the crosses, nor crosses for the bodies. The purposed object of such cruelty failed, for even so sad a spectacle did not intimidate the desperadoes, who ruled over the wretched city, into submission. In the entrails of some of the slaughtered captives, gold was discovered, which, loving it as their lives, they had swallowed in the hopes of escape. The bodies of 2,000 deserters were dissected in one night, in search of hidden treasures, and so great was the work of death, that one hundred and fifteen thousand dead bodies, were carried out at one gate during the siege; in all, six hundred thousand, having no other burial than being cast without the walls. Houses were filled with dead bodies and heaps of them piled together in every open space, and every place in the city covered with dead bodies. About six thousand perished amid the burning cloisters of the temple, or precipitated themselves down, and were killed; ten thousand others were killed about the temple, and all the sewers were completely stopped with human bodies. Eleven hundred thousand perished during the siege; and when Jerusalem was given to the flames, the streets literally flowed with blood, and finally the Romans passed the plough-share over the city, signifying that the work of destruction was complete. Josephus specifies the number that were slain at each place, exclusive of those who were slaughtered in the seditions and siege. Two hundred and forty thousand were slain throughout the cities of Judea and neighboring countries. Vast numbers were taken to Egypt and sold for slaves, till their marts were glutted with them, and, in the words of Moses, no man would buy them, and eleven hundred of them were put in prison, and suffered to die for want of bread and water. How far Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Micah, and Jesus have described this event, it is for your readers to determine, while we proceed further to investigate the sufferings of the Jews, in the different nations of the earth, down to the present time.

For prophecy concerning the Jews, I would refer to Moses, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Amos, all of which predictions are delivered with the clearness of history, and the confidence of truth. After the Jews had been destroyed, as above described, when their numbers had again increased, they combined together to make a desperate attempt to regain Jerusalem, when they fell by the edge of the sword, in such numbers that few escaped.-They were then banished from Judea, and by an imperial edict, it was death for a Jew to set his foot in Jerusalem, and from that time they have been scattered among the nations, among the heathen, among the people, even from one end of the earth unto the other. They have been removed into all the kingdoms of the earth; they have been scattered unto all the winds, and dispersed throughout all countries, among nations which neither they nor their fathers had known.

I suppose at the present time, there is not a kingdom on the face of the earth, where they are not to be found. There are great numbers

in Holland, Turkey, Germany, and Poland.-In America, Britain, France, Spain, Italy, and Russia, they are not so numerous. In Persia, China and India, on the east and west of the Ganges, they are few in number among the heathen. The cold region of Siberia, and the burning deserts of Arabia, bear record of their misery; and we have every reason to believe, that they are to be found in the very interior of Africa. From one end of the earth unto the other, the Jews have been scattered among all nations.

They were to find no ease nor rest among the nations, whither they were to be driven.-Their plagues and the plagues of their race, were to be great, and of long continuance.-They were to be oppressed and crushed, and spoiled evermore. In the first century, Jerusalem was laid even with the ground, and they led captive, or driven as homeless vagabonds throughout the world. In the second, five hundred thousand of them were slain, under one emperor alone. They suffered serious persecutions in the third. In the fourth, their ears were cut off, and they banished from Rome.-In the fifth, they were driven from Alexandria, and grievously oppressed throughout Persia, and could find no rest for the soles of their feet, they made another attempt to regain Judea, being allured by a false Messiah, and a slaughter, like that by which their forefathers had fallen, was again renewed in Palestine, in the sixth century. In Africa, they were prohibited from any exercise of their religion, even in caverns. In the seventh century, they were grieviously [grievously] persecuted and expelled from Jerusalem, from Antioch, and from Spain. Numbers fled to France, where the only alternative was to renounce their religion, or be despoiled of all they possessed. Mahomet also, exacted a heavy tribute from the Jews in Arabia, and finally expelled them. In the succeeding century, a law was passed throughout the Mahometan dominions, authorizing any child that would renounce Judaism, and embrace Mahometanism, to take possession of the whole property of its father, and turning the whole family out of doors. In the ninth and tenth centuries, they suffered grievously through the caliphs, or successors of Mahomet, whose power extended from Spain to India; their academies were closed, themselves taxed; and marks and badges of infamy placed on them, till they were compelled to flee for refuge, to the deserts of Arabia. And if the murdering hand of oppression was stayed for a short time, through their excessive covetiousness [covetousness], they soon began to heap up treasures in abundance, which merely prepared the way for further spoilations.

The scenes through which this stricken people had to pass, is calculated to rouse the sympathies of the most obdurate heart. Sir Walter Scott says that no part of God's creation, except the flying fish, suffered as this once peculiar people. Surely they had trembling of heart, and sorrow of mind! What madness for the sight of their eyes that they did see! What choosing of death, rather than life, was their portion. They were massacred in multitudes throughout Europe. All the Jews were slain at Ulm; at Frankfort one hundred and thirty were burned, and numbers butchered. Twelve thousand were killed at one time in Franconia and Bavaria. In other places they barricaded their houses, and threw their treasures, their families, and themselves into the rivers or the flames.

At Norwich, in England, the Jews were massacred, and many were slain at Stamford, and other places in that kingdom; but at York their sufferings were worse than death. Fifteen hundred Jews, including men, women and children, shut themselves up in the castle and their silver and gold could not save them from the murderous sword of those demons, and in their desperation, each father was the murderer of his wife and children, and afterwards cut their own throats. At Massada, a similar scene was transacted; and several other places, death was chosen by them rather than life.

The Mahometans bribed their children to forsake their parents; the Roman Catholics took them from them by force, according to law, and brought them up in monasteries, and when the Jews were banished from Lisbon, none of the children under fourteen years of age, were suffered to depart. Their sons and their daughters were given to another people.

They found no rest for the soles of their feet. They were seven times banished from France, and at one time six hundred thousand of them were driven from Spain, and scarcely a kingdom in existence, but what have publicly banished them. They have been a proverb, a bye-word, an astonishment, and a hissing among all nations.

This letter has, in spite of all my endeavors, run out too far, and yet I am afraid the few subjects I have touched upon will not be explicit enough to be of much service to your readers, for I thought I could have put twice as much in half the space, and so I must conclude after giving a short statement of the present condition of the Jews, and one more proof of the truth of the Bible, namely the much talked of numbers of Daniel and John, and I think I can set this in a light that all can understand it. Many good men have been endeavoring to fix the

time of calculation, but few agree as to the exact year. Numbers are a few years over and under the period that I calculate from. The reasons that I adopt it is because the excellent Wesley had fixed upon it, viz: 567, adding 1260, it brings us to the year 1827, which Mr. Wesley expected would be the beginning of a new era in the Christian world, and probably about 1830 the millennial light would go forth!!! How exact. In the identical year, 1827, the fulness [fullness] of the gospel burst forth on the world, contained in the Book of Mormon, it in a measure laid dead three days and a half (three years and a half,) but in 1830, life came into it, it was printed and circulated, and thus the light of the millenium [millennium] went forth. You see, sir, poor father Miller has got hold of the beast by the wrong horn.

It would seem that the long night of Jewish persecution is drawing to a close, and the dawning of a brighter day is fast breaking over their horizon. Their condition is meliorating in all parts of the world; the word of the Lord is sure; the natural branches of the olive tree will be grafted in again, and the time is not far distant, when the Jews will bow to the name of Jesus, and enjoy the liberty and blessings of the children of God.

The Jews believe that they shall yet be restored to the holy land, where, under the dominions of Messiah, they shall become an independent and glorious nation. But an unsurmountable [insurmountable] barrier to the fulfilment [fulfillment] of prophesy, is the uncertainty of the existence of the ten tribes, which has caused a great deal of search and enquiry [inquiry] to be made in all parts of the world. What an expence [expense] and trouble it would have saved the Christian world if their God had given revelation in these last days, but they have been obliged to go the warfare at their own expence [expense], and I suppose have about made up their minds that the ten tribes are not in existence! For, say they, if they are, where are they to be found? Many boldly assert that they have been lost among the nations. But if the ten tribes be extinct, how will prophesy be fulfiled [fulfilled], and the promise of God realized? But where are they to be found? Why, say some, in China, that their ancestors settled that country one thousand years before Christ. Sir William Jones thinks that they were the nations of the Afghans, in Persia; who had generally mingled with the Mahometans. Dr. Buchanan said he had found them among the black Jews, near Cochin; who had copies of the books of the Old Testament, written before the captivity, but none after. Manassas Ben Jorden, in a work styled the "Hope of Israel," proves that the American Indians are the decendants [descendants] of the ten tribes. To this, the apostle of the Indians, Mr. Eliot, agreed. Mr. Adair, a trader among the Indians for many years, was a warm advocate of this opinion. These writers say that they have found among the Indians, something like the Hebrew festivals, fasts and religious rites; the Jewish prophets, priests and cities of refuge. The bases of the Hebrew language, many Hebrew words, something of the theocracy, or divine government of Israel; the doctrine of the divine unity, the Jewish divisions into tribes; phylactries [phylacteries], or ancient Hebrew writings, and various traditions, unaccountable on any supposition but this, that they descended from Israel. Paul said in his day, that the ten tribes were alive, and serving God day and night, in expectation of the promise made to their fathers, and Joseph says they still live, and are yet expecting the promise to be fulfiled [fulfilled].

At the present time the employment of the Jews is generally that of merchants, brokers, bankers, jewelers, dealers in clothes, watches, gold and silver, ornaments, pedling [peddling], &c. &c.-They are not known in Great Britain, in law, but are connived at, and valued for their enterprize [enterprise]. They have the free exercise of their worship, and the opportunity to acquire and hold property to any amount.

In Holland, the Jews are numerous, wealthy and respectable.

In Spain they are not known as Jews; but are numerous in every class of society, even among priests and inquisitors, as good Catholics.

In Portugal, they are in the same manner, obliged to dissemble. The Spanish and Portuguese Jews do not mingle with the German Jews. They have separate synagogues wherever they reside.

In Germany and Prussia, most of the vexatious statutes of former ages have been repealed, and the Jews are living in quiet. At Frankfort, however, they are subject to many humiliating restrictions.

In Russia, favorable edicts have been passed by the emperor, and in Poland there are about 300,000 enjoying great privileges.

In Sweden and Denmark, they have a good degree of liberty.

In France, their situation since Napoleon has been highly gratifying. In 1791, all who would take the civic oath were admitted to the rank of citizens. This was the first act that gave the Jews a country in Europe.

In the Ottoman empire, they have to pay a heavy tax to the Porte, before they are allowed the liberty of their own worship.

In South America and the West Indies, the Jews are favorably situated for accumulating wealth and practicing their religion.

In the United States they enjoy perfect freedom.

I have endeavored to give a few particulars respecting this ancient and peculiar family, hoping that they may prove interesting to your readers, and so conclude for the present, intending, by your permission, to take another view at some future time, of the prophecies of the Old Testament.

I remain as ever, your affectionate brother,

JOHN GREENHOW.