C. Must bid you good bye, sir, that doctrine is unpopular.

Many in this, as well as in other ages of the world, suppose, that if a man who professes to be religious, is afflicted it must be on account of his iniquities; behold say they, the hand of God is upon him, he is under transgression, &c. They forget the circumstance of Job, and a thousand others given in the scriptures. We are told that if any man will live Godly in Christ Jesus, he shall suffer persecution. Christ says, The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. John vii, 7. The same hatred has been manifested against every man of God, who stood up to rebuke the wicked ever since the world began. Paul understood the matter perfectly, for his 11th chapter to the Hebrews he says, And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment:

They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;

(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

Paul here speaking by inspiration, says, that those thus afflicted and tormented, were characters ‘of whom the world was not worthy,’ and yet God in his infinite wisdom suffered it to be so, that the world might be warned and rebuked, and left without excuse in the day of judgment, and that they might have an opportunity of filling up their cup of iniquity. They are suffered to grow up like a green bay tree, they spread themselves and become exceeding great and high, opportunity is given them to do much good, they are often made stewards over much wealth, that they might administer to the wants of the poor and destitute, but in their pride they forget the God of the universe who gave, and like Nebuchadnezzar, they say, behold I did it. Should the righteous mourn, because the wicked usurp authority, and exercise tyranny and oppression, and seem to go unpunished, no! for behold the day cometh and ‘the righteous shall be mine saith the Lord,’ and in that day the wicked shall cease to trouble, and their names shall be blotted out from amongst men, and the weary and afflicted shall have rest and peace, and they shall enjoy the sweet, for they have tasted of the bitter.

Let none suppose that God is angry with his Saints because he suffers the hand of persecution to come upon them, he chasteneth those whom he loveth, and tryeth and proveth every son and daughter, that they may be as gold seven times refined. Rejoice then ye Saints of the Most High, for the God of Abraham is your God, and he will deliver you from all your enemies; seek dilligently to know his will, and observe to do it, be zealous in the cause of truth, in building up the kingdom of Christ upon the earth, in rearing up the of God at , and in all works of righteousness. And say not, ‘the Lord delayeth his coming,’ for behold, the day draweth near, the hour approacheth, be ye ready. Be virtuous, be just, be honorable, be full of faith, love, and charity, pray much, and be patient, wait a little season and the voice of God shall thunder from the heavens, his voice shall be very terrible, then the wicked shall tremble and fall back, they shall be taken in their own snares and fall into the pits which they have digged for others, but the just shall live by faith, and shall shine forth as the stars in the firmament, their glory shall be as the brightness of the sun, for they are God’s.

The following account of preparing and managing books, is taken from Dr. Jahn’s Biblical Archaeology. Tablets, tables, and plates, are all of the same import, and the mode of fastening leaves, plates or tablets together at the back with rings, is the same way the Book of Mormon was connected. We may, at some future day, pursue this subject far enough to convince honest people, that the stone tables of the Bible, and of the Book of Mormon, were constructed and carried alike. [p. 908]