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Show 'HIRED PREACHERS." If there is one thing more than another which Elder Penrose delights in hurling coarse anathemas anathe-mas at, it Is "the hired preacher." In the pulpit and through the journal which the Elder edits, this theme never stales with him. If a Christian minister wears out his life, preaching his belief, for his services receives barely enough to exist upon and dies as poor as when ho began his work, with the elder he passes merely as "a hireling preacher." On Sunday last, when he knew that he had in his audience a large number of those "hired preachers," he "felt" himself inspired to re-roast this old chestnut for their edification, the Idea being to convey the impression that Mormon missionary mis-sionary preachers go out without a salary or, as is said, without "purse or scrip," to try and convert con-vert a sinful worlds A)1 this provokes an examination exami-nation Into the facts. Mormon missionaries dress as well, eat as good food and sleep in beds as soft as do Baptist or Methodist, or Presbyterian or any other Christian missionaries. How do they got their board, their clothes and lodgings? Are they mere bummers preying upon the substance of converts con-verts while praying for their souls, or are they paid out of the tithing fund? It is a rule that no Mormon can retain his standing and membership H in his church unless he makes an honest settle- M ment of his tithing. It is expected that every good Saint will give up annually 10 per cent of his earn- M ings or of the value of whatever he may produce. M United States government bonds draw only from 2 M to 4 per cent interest, but the old Mosaic rule of M 10 per cent in tithing is enforced, of course this H tithing collection is not accounted for, but often M when the people are being whopped up to pay, M one reason for the necessity of such payment is M the expense of carrying on the mission work of M the Latter-day church. M Now if a poor minister if forced to take care M of himself on the meager voluntary contributions jH of his parishoners, in what way is he any more M a "hired preacher" than, a young man who goes M out to prach the Latter-day gospel, while he, and M the family he leaves at home,, are pensioners on M the tithing fund, wrung from the hard earnings H ol the masses of poor Mormons, who have to pay M or lose their standing and membership in the re- ligion which they have accepted? Take the case of Elder Penrose himself. For many years he has H toiled and done missionary work on a newspaper H that would have been stranded thirty years ago H except for the tithing fund. In those years before H the News paid expenses, was the Elder a "hired H preacher?" H Again, looking over the history of this State H and of the territory before it was a State, who H among the Saints have fared best in a worldly H way, tho chief Mormon preachers or the lay mem- H bers? Beginning with Brigham Young, he H brought nothing to Utah; his supposed business H was to be the shepherd of his flock, but he died H possessed of more than $1,000,00, and following H the record down, it seems fair to say that one H hundred of those most prominent in holding the H offices and preaching the doctrines of the Church H of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have man- H aged to gather more individual assets to them- H selves than have one hundred thousand of their H followers. In estimating the profits resulting H from preaching of a gospel, would it be amiss to H point to those few preachers here as a shining ex- H ample? H Then note how many purely worldly enter- H prises the head of the church is the real or ex- H officio president of. Is it not a clear case that H there is as much of the commercial as of the re- H ligious in this church which Elder Penrose claims H sends out its missionaries and that they do their H work for the love of God and the human race H without, not only reward, but without a decent H living? It is a matter which we care nothing H about and only refer to it because of the persist- H eht insolence on the part of Elder Penrose in his M reference to "hired preachers." H |