| 195 CHAPTER 9.
1844-52.
As RELATED in the foregoing pages there were many would-be leaders, and it may be some of them had the purest motives, honestly believing that they were called to deliver Israel. There should be no word of censure passed upon any except as their own works condemn them. Certain it is that there were many good, noble, and honorable men with each faction; and we deeply regret the unfortunate tendency of the time to seek to cover those of opposite views with shame and disgrace, and to follow them with cursing instead of sympathy and blessing.
Bitter, disrespectful, and almost blasphemous were the reflections and epithets they hurled at one another. We might give many examples, but we forbear. It was a time that tried men's souls, a time when charity and forbearance should have been exercised, but the opposite spirit seemed to prevail.
Many noble men, confident that the work was of God, seemed never to suspect that all had gone astray, but were sure that somewhere among the factions the right and truth would be found; hence when disappointed in one faction they would flee to another, only to be again disappointed, and forced by conviction to seek again. This gave them an unsavory reputation for fickleness, changeability, and instability, which they did not deserve. Under the spirit of the times before referred to they received slander and abuse from their former
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