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Show The Bights of the yomen of Zion, and the Rights of to I-f 3 - Vol. SALT LAKE CJTY, UTAH, AUGUST 15, 1882. 11. OUR GOD IS GREAT,"AND KATURE IS Natnre! glorious nature! 'tia of thee I Ioyq to thy stupendous "changes," how- ' sing,-An- d lovingly I ring;" - .hand, , iathy Emile,ndfostering"care, aTwltheis Ihou'; ' And dost stand ; , -- - 7 ' unfolds. human-kind, Creator of all in whom He doth declare His Image, both in form, and mind, eternally Is there. Oh! glorious nature! thou hast been a loving nurse torn e And ever fed, and filled my soul with glowing extacyl In soft,; low whisp'rings thou hast taught my craving soul to learn - - :'r The Alpha and Omega of a lansuarre that doth bum Into the heart and brain of those, who with an ear attent, Wait, ever listening to catch the message daily sent;"" Its ministering aids are those that wait on nature's call It may come in the cataract,- - or In the cascade fall, It may be, written on the yaultof Heaven's ethereal blue It may come In the starry night, when worlds appear ----. to view; l; '; It may coma In the Summer rain, or iu the zephyr breeze, it may corao In the running streams, or the language of ino trees; , r . :r . -- -, " It may be in the flowers, tho poets, nature names Fonnlrth, and galas, and alas! for solemn requiem ' claims; LI: ; In the ocean sTroarToTolf the land, or in the ambient air, Voices are heard by listening cars, yes,Yolces everywhere' The artillery of Heaven, 'tis grand and hear, .With holy awe, and holy charm, but not one pang of toit It seems the voice of God to us, but not in lettered word As when on some important deed the cannon's voice is - " ' ' Nv ; Yes! ----- . e '.' fear! . May we so llvo that every 'Hay our kearls are joyful ., made, And walk the earth, and hear his voice, yet never feel ' ' ", - , ; afraid; For oh! so much of lorojs teen, so much of care is. play'd For all the denizens of earth, bow can we be afraid? The Druids worshiped in their groves, In one of nature's " Fanes " A temple reared to nature's God, without man's aid or .. pains. And even in this "poIUh'd age" metbinks 'tis sweet to ' stand Upon the silent mountain top with upraised eyo and ' hand, And feel there's naught dividlngus from Heavens eter- nal blue, . Bat only that lherear veil that hides nim from our ' "' ' ' view. Oa earth! I lovo thee, as a child loves tome, and all thaVa there! Z My mother earth! thou art to me, the fairest of the falrT - . ; . -- . . -. - - And when within tho sacred Book, we see thy future, " , "grand, It causes both tho heart and brain to joyfully expand; And realize how well content we'll be with such a home, AU pudfled, and glorified, where God and Christ will - -- . ' -- ': " -- . -w- . f . heard,; nature Is a BiUo of beauty, lova and dread, An open book, upon whose leaves our Father can bex read; .... His God-likhisvolca too, wc presence broods around, ' can hear, ;.:.2; rrom which in Eden's garden Adam "hid himself" for , , . we-m- ay- - Of nim, the great Creator of all the eye beholds, And all the starry worlds above, that the firmament . in like condition, was driven into the wilds of the frontiers by a mob whese facer were painted - as black as Ethiopians and- - thU at the ' point of the bayonet, from Jackson Co., Missouri, barefooted through the crusted snow cutting our feet until our path was a trail of bloo d "earth, and' however much fa ct deplqre-th- e Then natukiv empress of the earth, all glorified shall bo ; this mob was led and urged on by a divine,who And never more within her hand the dreadful rod wo'll a few Sabbaths before had professed to be a, see; follower of the meek and" lowly Jeus. " Was But in her sweetest, holiest mood 3,-- with aspect al I be- thisbeeausfJ-oiir;7beHef-iiygamyf lXo7" Sho'll wield ber sceptre but in love, to weld widft'o truly no: for the principle of plural marriage " '"""7combine; was not then known or even heard of in our No j arring elements will thcn.d iscordant wound the ear, Church. Why then did t hey become so inBut "peace on earth, good will to "man" be nature's furiated against us? I know no other reason chanticleer. than that the angel,- - whieh John the revelatory" 4 saw flying in the midst of heaven, having the -""August th; Haknah T. Kixg. "everlasting Gospel to preach to themthat dwell on the earth, had come and fulfilled that mis- LETTER OX PLURAL MARRIAGE. sion by appearing to Joseph Smith, the great -- modern prophet, and giving him authority to 3Ii3 Esther M. Parker, Greenville, Penn. . preach the Gospel as did Je3us and hi3 Apostles Dear Cousin: Although I so recently when on the earth; and it come so opposite to ill-grant answered your last letter, I trust you their preconcerted "creed that they sought to me pardon for thus unceremoniously addestroy it, by persecutiug the Churchjof God as but I And that same spirit that caused them" ta do dressing you again, only merely touched upon the course our enemies are pur- so then, isjQowmost suredly urging them o n us as a. wish to to deeds of great wrongs. suing against people, I give As you are aware by my former letter to you a few 'of my Tiews on the subject, not as a retort to the many vilcand libelous slanders go --yqirthat I am:arfifM beHeyeTinnpo sustain! the principle of plural marriage the celestial widely circulated - about us, but to tell you truths as I know them. When I see men, law or higher order of marriage, which not who are, or should be, placed by the voice of only unites husbands, and wives for time but the people at the head of the government, so for, all eternity, which last clause is the crownfarlose sight of their . duties as guardians of ing point for all. I will explain more fully, if th& constitutional laws of this great Republic possible, my reason for so doing, arid being a as to enact special legislation to deprive a porfirm believer in the Bible, I will take that as tion of her children (no matter how few) of , my guide. I find by searching it3 pages where ' the inalienable right to worship God accord- God said to Abraham the father, of the faith- " to the dictates of their own consciences ful, (in whose bosom all ; good Christians are ing and then seek to rob them of the greatest praying to repose) "I will bless them that bless boon given to man to protect him in ha liberty thee and curse them that curse thee, and in as a responsible being, the right of franchise, thee shall all families of the earth be blessed;" I cannot hold my peace. This right was be Now this we understand is the promise pertainqueathed to us by our iorefathers who suffered ing to Christ the Redeemer, who should come untold privation, fought, bled and many of and be crucified to atone for' the sins of the them died for their country s cause, while ou world, that as many as would hearken to his foremothers labored in poverty ami distress at word, might be brought back into the presence ' the mental of of home, bearing God; also in Galatians, "Now to Abraham deep anguish heart that none but true, patriotic wives and and to his seed were the promises made," and mothers could bear, it kindles thefireof old '76 He saith not unto seeds as of many, but as of in my blood, which I am ever proud and happy one, and of thy seed which i3 Jesus Christ, to say runs through my veins as upcontamin-ateand all who read the .3ible know that Abraham as when in the veins of my veteran father, had more than one wife. Again I find the who bore arms in the war of 1812. He ever same promise made of Christ that he should -come through the seed of Jacob; a man hav taught his children that the spirit of our heaven-born- ; constitution and was that glorious plural wive3 came;: ing founwives, and God inspired Columbus to the discovery of the twelve patriarchsrwhoso names John the this continent,-an-d had reserved this land for revelator tells us are to bo written on the the express purpose that our Pilgrim fathers twelve gates of the holy city, even the new and mothers might find an asylum from perseJerusalem. In Kin 23 I read that David wa3 from the fearful a man after God's own heart, and through his cution; but what a digression loin3 a chosen seed -- should -- be raised up even standard of justice and right that a Washington and his compeers so devotedly erected, Jesus Christ the Redeemer. The Apostle Paul when clergymen, politicians and the press all in hi day tells the . people howthe Lord said; I have found the-- son of Jesse a man after claim, that thev now are taking action against believe and practice polygamy. us because we mine own heart which shall fulfill all my will, .Now my dear cousin this is not true, ai- of thisj man's seed hatb God, according to raised unto, Israel a Bavio r, Jesus, though they fain would make it appear go to ?romise, and the nations abroad, confirms the same by telling us, in thus, deceive many own otherwise our that of people day there shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand as an' ensign for the people, to it nation; for well do I remember the time in 1833 when shall the Gentiles seek and hb rest shalfbe the year my father land brothers were hunted day and night by our tho Bible that glorious. Now I learn-fro- m concealJesse, the father of David, was the son of Ruth enemies, and 6nly saved tneir lives by David hia of the ment, while my mother with a large family plural wife of Boa2 and that did! he dis- eon tad sny wives, yet ia nothing littla children in constctioa with nany others : . " Well might the unenlightened, but the still adoring eouI Before tby Godly presence, bow down without control, The child of God thou truly art, his Image thou dost bear, Ills handmaid, his Jbeloved one! on earth, his chosen heir; In all thy footprints,' God is seen, and in thy beauteous ' : And visit with the ransora'd Saints, and with the Kings '"".."" ; r and "Priests; tiicyi the righteous, have redeemed from death, " 7 and sia released. " , J When all creation will pass thro' a new immortal birth The holy book says newness, both ' to Heaven dud to ; HIS PROPHET. - - No. 0. -- d, of-the- se -- -- - . well-meani- ng . . ; ; |