Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 13 November 1843, as Published in Times and Seasons
Source Note
JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , , [New Utrecht, Kings Co.], NY, 13 Nov. 1843. Version published in “For the Times and Seasons,” Times and Seasons, 1 Nov. 1843, vol. 4, no. 24, pp. 372–375. For more complete source information, see the source note for Notice, 26 Aug. 1843.
when I leave the dignity and honor of heaven, to gratify the ambition and vanity of man or men, may my power cease, like the strength of Samson, when he was shorn of his locks, while asleep in the lap of Delilah. Truly said the Savior, cast not your your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you.
Shall I who have witnessed the visions of Eternity; and beheld the glories of the mansions of bliss; and the regions and misery of the damned; shall I turn to be a Judas? Shall I who have heard the voice of God, and communed with angels; and spake as moved by the Holy Ghost for the renewal of the , and for the of Israel in the last days; shall I worm myself into a political hypocrite? Shall I who hold the of the last kingdom; in which is the of the fulness of all things spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets, since the world began; under the power of the ; shall I stoop from the sublime authority of Almighty God, to be handled as a Monkey’s cat’s paw; and pettify myself into a clown to act the farce of political demagoguery? No, verily no! The whole earth shall bear me witness that I, like the towering rock in the midst of the ocean, which has withstood the mighty surges of the warring waves, for centuries, am impregnable, and am a faithful friend to virtue, and a fearless foe to vice; no odds, whether the former was sold as a pearl in Asia, or hid as a gem in ; and the latter dazzles in palaces or glimmers among the tombs.
I combat the errors of ages; I meet the violence of mobs; I cope with illegal proceedings from executive authority; I cut the Gordian knot of powers; and I solve mathematical problems of Universities: WITH TRUTH, diamond truth, and God is my ‘right hand man.’
And to close, let me say in the name of Jesus Christ to you, and to presidents, Emperors, Kings, Queens, Governors, rulers, nobles, and men in authority every where, do the works of righteousness, execute justice and judgment in the earth that God may bless you, and her inhabitants; and
The laurel that grows on the top of the mountain,
Shall green for your fame while the sun sheds a ray;
And the lily that blows by the side of the fountain,
Will bloom for your virtue, till earth melts away.
With due consideration and respect, I have the honor to be your most obt. servt.,
JOSEPH SMITH.
Gen. , , N. Y.
P. S. The Court Martial will attend to your case in the .