nd administrators, and possess all the
privileges that other free and enlightened citizens enjoy.

"Persecution has not stopped the progress of truth, but has only
added fuel to the flame; it has spread with increasing rapidity.
Proud of the cause which they have espoused, and conscious of
their innocence, and of the truth of their system, amidst calumny
and reproach have the elders of this church gone forth, and
planted the gospel in almost every state in the Union; it has
penetrated our cities, it has spread over our villages, and has
caused thousands of our intelligent, noble, and patriotic citizens
to obey its divine mandates, and be governed by its sacred truths.
It has also spread into England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. In
the year 1839, where a few of our missionaries were sent, over
five thousand joined the standard of truth. There are numbers now
joining in every land.

"Our missionaries are going forth to different nations; and in
Germany, Palestine, New Holland, the East Indies, and other
places, the standard of truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand
can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs
may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the
truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it
has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every
country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall
be accomplished, and the great Jehovah shall say, 'The work is
done!'

"We believe in God, the eternal Father, and in his Son Jesus Christ, and
in the Holy Ghost.

"We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for
Adam's transgression.

"We believe that, through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be
saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.

"We believe that these ordinances are, 1. faith in the Lord Jesus Christ;
2. repentance; 3. baptism, by immersion, for the remission of sins; 4.
laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

"We believe that a man must be called of God by 'prophecy, and by laying
on of hands,' by those who are in authority to preach the gospel, and
administer in the ordinances thereof.

"We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church,
viz., apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, &c.

"We believe in the gift of tongues, pr