TO THE SAINTS SCATTERED  ABROAD.

Dear Brethren:—It is a duty which  every saint ought to render to his bre thren freely—to always love them, and  ever succor them. To be justified be fore God we must love one another:  we must overcome evil; we must visit  the fatherless and the widow in their  affliction. and we must keep ourselves  unspotted from the world: for such vir tues flow from the great fountain of  pure religion. Strengthening our faith  by adding every good quality that adorns  the children of the blessed Jesus, we  can pray in the season of prayer; we  can love our neighbor as ourselves, &  be faithful in tribulation, knowing that  the reward of such is greater in the  kingdom of heaven. What a consola tion! What a joy! Let me live the  life of the righteous, and let my reward  be like his!

According to the order of the king dom begun in the last days, to prepare  men for the rest of the Lord, the elders  in Zion, or in her immediate region,  have no authority or right, to meddle  with her spiritual affairs, to regulate  her concerns, or hold councils for the  expulsion of members, in her unorgan ized condition. The high council has  been expressly organized to administer  in all her spiritual affairs; and the bish op and his council, are set over her [p. 137]