1823. Jan¼y. 28th.

Bey of Tripoli © Proclamation

People! Beloved People! People! whom God hath committed to my care! harken now to my voice, it shall be a sound of sweetness in your ears.

Opening on a former day (for so did God ordain) the Book of life, I read in it this sentence. "Ruler! act not of thy own will purely: that which is of moment, do it not but with advice of wise and honest counsellors."

No sooner had I read these words, than it seemed as if a film had fallen from my eyes. I looked up: and lo! all the errors of my past life stood, as it were in array, before me. I trembled. I should have sunk under the sight, had not the same divine words, which thus brought to my eyes the evil, brought with them, and left in my heart, the remedy.

On a sudden, it seemed to me as if the Prophet were looking down upon me: and that © not with hand, as when he delivered to our forefathers the book of truth © not with hand, but with tongue and lips, he spake to me these words.

"My Son! Adore God, and listen to his Prophet. Thou hast erred; I will set thee right: thou hast been severe; I will make thee gracious: thou hast been selfish; I will make thee generous: thou hast been weak in mind; I will make thee wise: thou hast been in peril, I will make thee safe: thou hast been weak in power, I will make thee strong: thy power would end with thy life, I will continue it, even to the end of time. The power of those that shall come after thee, shall thus be bounded. But thy own power shall receive encrease. Yea, verily it shall receive encrease. For, that obedience which those who went before thee were wont to receive from fear, ”that•, yea and more also, shalt thou receive: receive, from admiration, love and gratitude. Do that which I command thee, the whole multitude of the faithful throughout the earth shall look up to thee: they shall

1823 Jan¼y. 29.

Bey of Tripoli. Proclamation.

shall envy thee, until they imitate thee: all generations to come shall bless thee: they shall bless thee, even as a second Prophet, from whose word they will have received a new being, a being, compared with which the state of all who went before thee was a state of affliction, fear, and darkness.

"Ruler! thou takest upon thee to provide for the ”wants• of thy people, and thou knowest not what they are: Thou callest upon them to obey thy ”will•, and they know not what it is.

"My Son! thou shalt call the ”people• around thee, and thus shalt thou ”then• know their wants. Thou shalt call around thee ”men chosen• by the people, and, when thou hast heard their counsel, thou shalt profit by it. Thou shalt cause thy will to be written in a ”book•, and wheresoever the book of ”my• law is kept, the book of ”thy• law shall be heard.

"Thou shalt divide thy diminion into districts, and from each district thou shalt call unto thee a wise man © the man whom the people shall have chosen.

"In each district thou shalt place a ”Judge•. At his right hand shall lie the book of ”my• word: at his left hand shall lie the book of ”thy• word, and of the words of those, concerning whom it is written on the Table of brass, that in all ages they shall come after thee. The seat of the Judge shall be on high; it shall be in the presence of the people. Under him shall sit at all times two men, three men, or, as the case may require, more, also taken by lot among the fathers or sons of families. Without these men he shall do nothing. On each occasion he shall pass such decision as, in his own judgment, shall be according to the law, and according to the facts that have come before him: but, whatsoever these men shall see good to say, shall, in the first place, have been heard.

"Thus doing, thou shalt be loved, as Sovereign was never before loved: for never before did people receive from Sovereign such gifts, as thy people will thus have received from thee.

"Thus