Joseph Smith, Jr.

“ 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 ”

“ But if the inference is, that by more love, more light, more virtue, and more truth from the Lord, I have succeeded as a man of God, then you reason truly; though the weight of the sentiment is lost, when the 'influence is left to the mass.' Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Of course you follow out the figure, and say, 'the boldness of my plans and measures, together with their unparalleled success, so far, are calculated to throw a charm over my whole being ”

“ How far you are capable of being *a most undeviating friend, without being governed by the smallest religious influence, will best be decided by your survivors, as all past experience most assuredly proves. Without controversy, that friendship, which intelligent beings would accept as sincere, must arise from love, and that love grow out of virtue, which is as much a part of religion, as light is a part of Jehovah. ”

“ Dedication:
To freemen and freedom,
With wise men to lead 'em
To the aged and youth;
With a holy desire,
And a true patr'ots fire,
And blessings, forsooth.
The Author dedicates,
To the United States,
This plain "Voice of Truth." ”

“ Now, sir, to cut the matter short, and not dally with your learned ideas, for fashion's sake, you have here given your opinion, without reserve, that revelation, the knowledge of God, prophetic vision, the truth of eternity, cannot be solved as a mathematical problem. The first question then is, what is a mathematical problem? and the natural answer is, a statement, proposition or question that can be solved, ascertained, unfolded or demonstrated, by knowledge, facts or figures, for 'mathematical' is an adjective derived from Mathesis (gr.) ”

“ Besides these tangible facts, so easily proven and demonstrated by simple rules and testimony unimpeached, the art (now lost) of embalming human bodies, and preserving them in the catacombs of Egypt, whereby men, women and children as mummies, after a lapse of near three thousand five hundred years come forth among the living, and although dead, the papyrus which has lived in their bosoms, unharmed, speaks for them, in language like the sound of an earthquake: Ecce Veritas! ”

“ Book-making has become so common, that unless some new. subject flits before your eyes; some mighty mystery is found out; some great secret is unravelled; some woful wonder hung up in black and white to touch the very finest sensibilities of human nature ”

“ If, as the learned world apply the term, you infer that I have achieved a victory, and been strengthened by a scientific religion, as practiced by the popular sects of the age, through the aid of colleges, seminaries, bible societies, missionary boards, financial organizations, and gospel money schemes, then you are wrong; such a combination of men and means, shows a form of godliness without the power ”

“ One thing more in order to prove the work as we proceed; it is necessary to have witnesses, two or three of whose testimonies, according to the laws or rules of God and man, are sufficient to establish any one point. ”