EPISTLE OF THE GENERAL SUPERINTENDENCY. To the Officers and Members of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations throughout Zion. DEAR BRETHREN: Once more, through the blessings of the Lord, we are per- mitted to address you in writing; and, in doing so, we rejoice greatly in the bles- sings of life and liberty with which you are so abundantly surrounded on this auspicious occasion. An appropriate time has been chosen on which to hold your first General Annual Conference, for it is eminently befitting that the young men of Israel should thus honor the illustrious ...

your feet in the path of purity, leading to the gate of perfection. From mountain heights pause ye now, and gaze upon the world's magnificence, pride and pomp; then trace the gleams of light along the way in which faithful Elders, prayerfully and earnestly, follow the lowly Nazarene to realms of heaven- ly glory. Note carefully the faith by which they endure earthly tribulations, in order to gain heavenly crowns. Pa- tiently and faithfully do they bear their message amid the scorn of mocking mobs. Over lands and over seas they carry the Gospel, seeking not ...

brief life to shut out the hopes of that to come, nor quench the light that should cheer even in affliction. Narrow not the sources of comfort and happiness by selfishly debasing godlike powers. Do not hunger after perishable riches, but help the needy, thus keeping open the fountain of mercy, love and charity. Shun, we beseech you, as you would the deadly upas, the vulgarity of unseemly struggles for place and power. When Eli permitted his sons to asso- ciate with harlots outside the Temple, while they lived on the fruits of the ...

ally bound together in the bands of love, cemented by holy sacred covenants made on earth. What a flood of light, what a heaven of joy, came from God through His un- cultured boy prophet! Until he came, this world seemed as a black wilderness of woe, beyond which no heavenly light appeared. As the sun lights from the east to the west, so the revelations of Almighty God have penetrated our hearts and given us comprehension of earthly and heavenly things. This, or a future generation, will produce historians whose delight it shall be to ...