To the Elders of the Church of Christ, Who Preach Good Tidings to the World

Brethren, as stars of the ensign which is now set up for the benefit of all nations, you are to enlighten the world; you are to prepare the way for the people to come up to Zion; you are to instruct men how to receive the fulness [fullness] of the gospel, and the everlasting covenants, even them that were from the beginning; you are to carry the Ark of Safety before the wondering multitudes, without fear, entreating and beseeching all men to be saved; you are to set an example of meekness and humility before saints and sinners, as did the savior; and when reviled you are not to revile again; you are to reason with men as in days of old, to bear patiently and answer as the spirit of truth shall direct, allowing all credit for every item of good. You are to walk in the valley of humility and pray for the salvation of all; yea, you are to pray for your enemies; and warn in

compassion, without threatening the wicked with judgments which are to be poured upon the world hereafter. You have no right to take the judgments, which fell upon the ungodly before the flood, and pour them upon the head of this generation; you have no authority to use the judgments which God sent upon Pharoah in Egypt, to terrify the inhabitants of America, neither have you any direction by commandment, to collect the calamities of six thousand years, and paint them upon the curtain of these last days to scare mankind to repentance; no; you are to preach the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation, even glad tidings of great joy unto all people.

Again, you are not to take the blessings of an individual, or of a church, from the days of Enoch to the days of the apostles, and place them upon an individual or a church, in these last days; but you are to teach all men that they are to be judged according to their works: For, if God is the same yesterday, today and forever, his reward is always with him, and his revelations and blessings, and judgments, before the flood, were fitted for that people and that time; in the days of Abraham, for that man and that time; in the days of Moses, for that man and that time; in the days of David, for that man and that time; in the days of Paul, for that man and that time; and now, for this generation and this time. You therefore, must reason from the Bible and the Book of Mormon, with great care and not pervert the meaning of God's sacred word. If our heavenly Father saw fit to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness, for its abomination, and Jerusalem for a transgression of his commandments, what have their destructions to do with the salvation of the world now? The Lord says vengeance is mine, and I will repay. Teach all men to trust in God and not in man, and do works meet for repentance. Again, teach all men that God is a God of the living and not of the dead. Finally, whatever you do, do it with an eye single to the glory of God. You are the light of the world in matters of pure religion, and many souls may be required at your hands. Let the idea not leave you, that, not only the eyes of the world but the eyes of the angels and of God are upon you.