Dear :—Your letter of the 24th ult. has been regularly received; its contents duly appreciated, and its whole tenor candidly considered; and, according to my manner of judging all things in righteousness, I proceed to answer you, and shall leave you to meditate whether mathematical problems, founded upon the truth of revelation, or religion, as promulgated by me, or Moses, can be solved by rules and principles existing in the systems of common knowledge.

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. Hence the saying of Jesus—“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for a friend.”

You observed, “as I have proved myself to be a philosophical divine, I must excuse you, when you say that we must leave these influences to the mass.” The meaning of “philosophical divines,” may be taken in various ways. If, as the learned world apply the term, you infer that I have acheived 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; for is it not written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the rudiments of the world and not after doctrines of Christ?” But if the inference is, that by more love, more light, more virtue, and more truth from the Lord, I have succeded 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 calcutated to throw a charm over my whole being, and to point me out as the most extraordinary man of the present age.” The boldness of my plans and measures, can readily be tested by the touch-stone of all schemes, systems, projects, and adventures,—truth, for truth is a matter of fact; and the fact is, that by the power of God I translated the Book of Mormon from hieroglyphics; the knowledge of which was lost to the world: in which wonderful event I stood alone, an unlearned youth, to combat the wordly wisdom, and multiplied ignorance of eighteen centuries, with a new revelation; which, (if they would receive the everlasting gospel,) would open the eyes of more than eight hundred millions of people, and make “plain the old paths,” wherein if a man walk in all the of God blameless, she shall inherit eternal life; and Jesus Christ, who was, and is, and is to come, has borne me safely over every snare and plan, laid in secret or openly; through priestly hypocrisy, sectarian prejudice, popular philosphy, executive power, or law defying mobocracy, to destroy me.

If, then, the hand of God, in all these things that I have accomplished towards the salvation of a priest-ridden generation, in the short space of twelve years, through the boldness of the plan of preaching the gospel, and the boldness of the means of declaring repentance and for the remission of sins; and a , by , agreeable to the authority of the ; and the still more bold measures of receiving direct revelation from God, through the Comforter, as promised, and by which means all holy men, from ancient times till now, have spoken and revealed the will of God to men, with the consequent “success” of the of the saints, throws any “charm” around my being and “points me out as the most extraordinary man of the age,” it demonstrates the fact, that truth is mighty and must prevail; and that one man empowered from Jehovah, has more influence with the children of the kingdom, than eight hundren millions led by the precepts of men. God exalts the humble and debases the haughty. But let me assure you in the name of Jesus, who spake as never man spake, that the “boldness of the plans and measures,’ as you term them, but which should be denominated their righteousness of the cause, the truth of the system, and power of God, which “so far,” has borne me and the , (in which I glory in having the privilege of being a member,) successfully through the storm of reproach, folly, ignorance, malice, persecution, falsehood, sacerdotal wrath, newspaper satires pamphlet libels and the combined influence of the powers of earth and hell. I say these powers of righteousness and truth, are not the decrees or rules of an ambitions and aspiring Nimrod, Pharoah, Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander, Mahomet, Buonaparte, or other great sounding heroes, that dazzled forth with a trail of pomp and circumstances for a little season, like a comet, and then disappeared, leaving a wide waste where such an existence once was, with only a name, nor were the glorious results of what you term “boldness of plans and measures” with the attendant “success” matured by the self-aggrandizing wisdom of the priests of Baal; the Scribes and Pharasees of the Jews; Popes and Bishops of christendom; or Pagans of Juggernaut; nor were they extended by the divisions and sub-divisions of a Luther, a Calvin, a Wesley, or even a Campbell; supported by a galaxy of clergymen and churchmen, of whatever name or nature, bound apart by cast-iron creeds, and fastened to set stakes by chain cable opinions, without revelation; nor are they the lions of the land or the leviathans of the sea, moving among the elements, as distant chimeras to fatten the fancy of the infidel: but they are as the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, and will become a great mountain and fill the whole earth. Were I an Egyptian, I would exclaim Jah-oh-eh, Enish go-on-dosh, Flo-ees-Flos-is-is; (O the earth! the power of attraction, and the moon passing between her and the sun[.]) A Hebrew; Haueloheem yerau; a Greek, O theos phos esi; a Roman, Dominus regit me; a German, Gott gebe uns dos licht; a Portugee, Senhor Jesu Christo e libordade; a Frenchman, Dieu defend le droit; but as I am, I give God the glory, and say in the beautiful figure of the poet:—

“Could we with ink the ocean fill;

Was the whole earth of parchment made;

And ev’ry single stick a quill;

And every man a scribe by trade;

To write the love of God above,

Would drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the whole upon a scroll

Be spread from sky to sky.”

It seems that your mind is of such a mathematical and philosophical cast, that the divinity of Moses makes no impression upon you, and that I will not be offended when you say, that you rate me higher as a legislator than you do Moses, because you have me present with you for examination; that “Moses derives his chief authority from prescription and the lapse of time; you cannot however say but we are both right, it being out of the power of man to prove us wrong. It is no mathematical problem, and can therefore get no mathematical solution.”

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.) meaning in English, learning or knowledge. “Problem” is derived from probleme—(Fpench)—or problema, (Latin, Italian or Spanish) and in each language means a question or proposition, whether true or false. “Solve” is derived from the Latin verb solvo, to explain or answer. 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.

Now for the question. How much are one and one?— Two. How much is one from two? One. Very well, one question, or problem is solved by figures. Now let me ask one for facts: was there ever such a place on the earth as Egypt? Geography says yes; ancient history says yes; and the Bible says yes. So three witnesses have solved that question. Again, lived there ever such a man as Moses in Egypt? The same witnesses reply, certainly. And was he a prophet? The same witnesses, or a part, have left on record, that Moses predicted in Leviticus that if Israel broke the covenant they had made, the Lord would scatter them among the nations, till the land enjoyed her Sabbaths; and subsequently these witnesses have testified of their captivity in Babylon, and other places, in fulfilment. But to make assurance doubly sure, Moses prays that the ground might open and swallow up Korah and his company for transgression, and it was so; and he endorses the prophecy of Balaam, which said, out of Jacob shall come, He that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city; and Jesus Christ, as him that “had dominion,” about fifteen hundred yearr after, in accordance with this and the prediction of Moses, David, Isaiah, and many others, came, saying: Moses wrote of me, declaring the dispersion of the Jews, and the utter destruction of the “city,” and the apostles were his witnesses, unimpeached, especially Jude, who not only endorses the facts of Moses’ “divinity,” but also the events of Balaam, and Korah with many others as true. 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! Ecce cadaveros. Behold the truth! Behold the mummies! Oh, my dear Sir, the sunken Tyre and Sidon, the melancholy dust where ‘the city’ of Jerusalem once was, and the mourning of the Jews among the nations, together with such a “cloud of witnesses,” if you had been as well acquainted with your God and Bible, as with your purse and pence table, the “divinity[”] of Moses would have dispelled the fog of five thousand years, and filled you with light; for facts, like diamonds, not only cut glass, but they are the most pricious jewels on earth. The spirit of prophesy is the testimony of Jesus.

The world at large is ever ready to credit the writings of Homer, Hesoid, Plutarch, Socrates, Pythagoras, Virgil, Josephus, Mahomet, and an hundred others, but where, tell me where—have they left a line, a simple method of solving the the truth of the plan of eternal life? Says the Savior: “If any man will do his (the Father’s) will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself” Here, then, is a method of solving the “divinity” of men by the divinity within yourself, that as far exceeds the calculation by numbers, as the sun exceeds a candle. Would to God that all men understood it, and were willing to be governed by it, that when one had filled the measure of his days, he could exclaim, like Jesus—“veni mori, et revivescere!”

Your good wishes to “go ahead,” coupled with Mahomet and a “right hand man,” are rather more vain than virtuous. Why, sir, Caesar had his right hand Brutus, who was his “left hand” assassin; not, however, applying the allusion to you.

As to the private seal you mention, if sent to me, I shall receive it with the gratitude of a servant of God, and pray that the donor may receive a reward in the resurrection of the just.

The summit of your future fame seems to be hid in the political policy of a “mathematical problem” for the chief magistracy of this , which, I suppose might be solved by “double position,” where the errors of the supposition are used to produce a true answer.

But, sir, when I leave the dignity and honor I received from heaven, to boost a man into power, through the aid of my friends, where the evil and designing, after the object has been accomplished, can lock up the clemency intended as a reciprocation for such favors; and where the wicked and unprincipled, as a matter of course, would seize the opportunity, to flintify the heart of the nation against me for dabbling at a sly game in politics; verily, I say, 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 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 hand-led 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 everywhere, do the works of righteousness, execute justice and judgment in the earth that God may bless you and her inhabitants; and

Shall green for your fame while the sun sheds a ray;

Will bloom for your virtue, till earth melts away.

With due consideration and respect, I have the honor to be your most obedient servant,

Gen. , , N. Y.

P. S.—The Court Martial will attend to your case in the .