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Show THE ARGUS. you might have learned respecting the arts and sciences by your search and study, no matter what principles you may have accepted as the result of your experience or scientific research, that if the prophet of God should tell you that your scientific conclusions were not true, that you nust abandon those conclusions. To my mind nothing can be more enslaving or conducive to hypocrisy than belief in such a doctrine. The man who thus professes to abandon his honest convictions at the dictation of church superiors must of necessity become a hypocrite, because our rational convictions are not the result of volition and no man can change his opinions at command. He can only seem to change them by expressing an indorsement of that which he does not believe. The acceptance of such a doctrine is enslaving, because he Who believes it practically ceases to have the right to think for himself,- and becomes the machine through which the will of others is made operative. He renounces his reason, the only thing which entitled him to claim superiority over brute - creation. - I would rather be a lone mariner upon the high seas of free thought, every sail being kissed by winds laden with perfume from flowery fields of thought ; I would rather be that man, braving the occasional tempests of intellectual freedom, and even become a shipwreck upon the rock of religious error, than to be safely anchored in the little stagnant pool of inspired ignorance, filled with the putrid remains of ancient superstition. It is useless to argue that religious persecution will never again occur, even in this country. If it seems at present improbable that men will be killed for differences of religion, it is so only (thanks to the work of infidels) because Christians are not so certain as they used to be that God is the author of their doctrines, and because skeptics are now too numerous to make the practice of entirely blood-atoneme- nt blood-atoneme- nt safe. That many alleged Christians still have the disposition to persecute those who differ with them is manifested in the many social and business boy cots with which skeptics are inflicted, and with the numerous instances in which Mormon missionaries are brutally treated by those who, through their own ignorance, are unable to answer the missionaries argument. Religious wars and persecutions will not cease until men have become sufficiently intelligent to know that they may be wrong. They can-jnpossibly acknowledge error so long as they have an infallible Bible or a living prophet. Those who would question either must of necessity be the enemies of man and God, and as such they must be hated, traduced, and even killed to preot vent the spread of their satanic doubts. The work of free thinkers will never be finished until mans social and business relations will be no more affected by religious differences jthan they now are by differences of opinion as to the constituent elements of the moon. J We realize that in every community there hre those unfortunately ignorant, who need an arbitrary religion. They are intellectually incapable of appreciating the moral obligations which every man owes to his fellows. They have Hot reached that state of intellectual development necessary to prompt them to do right because it 3 right ; they do right only because it is supposed to pay best. These persons need to be )ribed to right doing, and a promise to give them i mansion in the sky built upon a cornor lot adjacent to streets paved with gold may answer the purpose as well as anything else. If not, you uay try a threat of hell fire and damnation. It t because we realize that there exists this unfortu- . 9 nate class that we would not, if we could, wipe out all churches by a mere wave of the hand. Our purpose is to do what we can to educate these unfortunates up to the point where religion ceases to be a necessity to them, and thus teach men to do the right thing because it is right, and not because it is the best policy. In doing this we believe we will have made mankind both better and happier. When we have elevated the individual above the necessity of having a revealed religion he will never complain of our having robbed him of his faith without giving him anything in its stead. He then understands that what he lost was only a counterfeit, and in being deprived of it he has parted with nothing of value. It is a peculiar feature that those who are supposed to Le injured by being robbed of their religion are the last to complain. To all others we reply, that the destroyer of spooks is as much a benefactor of mankind as the creator of spooks. Our course is not only destructive but constructive as well. We would spend our time in the edification of erring men, not the glorification of imaginary Gods; for theology we substitute anthropology. We endeavor to make men moral, not religious. We would have them do right for the love of man, instead of the fear of God. We believe that man is bad, not because a talking and walking snake tempted Eve to eat an apple, but because man is made bad by his physical condition, his environment and his education. The belief that we are degenerate children from perfect parents, who were banished from the Garden of Eden, we reject for the one that we are the improved and enlightened descendents of barbarous ancestors. For groveling prayer we substitute rational effort. Piety we replace by intellect. Instead of useless inquiry about our duty to an unknown God we would have man study his duty toward his fellow man. Instead of spending time trying to acquire a harp in the hereafter, we would have them try to get happiness here. Instead of teaching men how to die so as to secure a crown in the next world, we would teach them how to live and enjoy this world. We would determine moral guilt, not by a mans belief about infant dam nation, but by his motives. The man who refrains from wrongdoing only for fear of hell fire is on the same moral plane w ith the man who is . good because he is in jail. For knowledge we depend on reason, observation and experience, not visions, dreams or revelations. We would encourage independent thinking instead of humility and prayer. We want individuality of action guided by reason, instead of unquestioning obedience to authority. The books of Moses and the Book of Mormon must alike stand the test of right reason, or be rejected. Instead of worshiping Gods we would serve men. For revelations superinduced by disordered digestion, we would substitute the thought product of healthy brains. Our creed may be summed up in these words : The time to be happy is now ; the place to be happy is here ; the way to be happy is to make others so. - self-relian- self-constitute- t, d If at any tlmeyo irfeet flORnONISM IN niCHKIAN. The Gazette, of Green Bay, Michigan, has some friendly things to say of the Mormon people and adds the following bit of history to the record of certain leaders of the past : The' Hart boats on their regular route to Mackinac make stop at Beaver Island in Lake Michigan. A long pier, warehouses, an all pervading odor of fish, are characteristice that strike the average traveler as he gazes from the steamers deck. This island represents the abiding place of the one absolute monarchy that Wisconsin can claim as her own. Here it was that James Jessie Strang, the Mormon leader, wras crowned and successfully reigned for a number of years a half century ago. The of Mormonism now being celebrated with ceremony and rejoicing in Salt Lake City brings under review a movement that, phenomenally successful as it was when inaugurated, could never by any possibility gain even a foothold in the United States today. The record of the illustrates the truth that good may spring from what is most evil and is above all indicative of the immense strength and efficiency that ensue from unity and steady pursuance of purpose. The little band of fanatics that in 17 crossed the great plains endured keen hardships and were moreover buffeted by the censure of public sentiment. Aside from Brigham Young, a man of exceptional ability and gifts of leadership, the converts were almost universally uneducated, commonplace people but bound by vows as tremendous as those assumed by the secret orders in the middle ages and urged on by the old and much abused good of pertruded divine revelation. Mormonism today purged of polygamy is as different from the Mormonism of such men as James Jesse Strang as is light from darkness. Much of ill was done in adherence to the prophets inspired counsel but in sharp contrast to the dark spots in Mormon history is the thrift and general clean citizenship imposed by its teaching. Brigham Young lived to see his dream more than realized and his city on the salty inland sea a wonder of good government. The better part of those principles which it was his aim to inculcate in time overthrew that which was base. Higher education and civilization among the Mormons themselves wrought this inevitable result and the people have worked out their own salvation. So Utahs carries with it more significance than the customary tale of reminiscence and congratulatory review of prosperity achieved. It tells of a peoples final advancement,' a victory in social ethics almost without a parallel. so-calle- semi-centenni- d al half-centur- y semi-centenni- al FREAKS OF FIQURE5. Last week The Argus furnished several puzzle problems to its readers and a number of correspondents have been wrestling with some of them. Here is another : Two boys in one day sell GO apples ; one boy sells SO apples, 2 for 1 cent, the other boy sells SO apples, S for I cent. The next day one of the boys gets sick and has the other boy sell mother lot of GO apples, 5 for 2 cents. The result of the first days business is 25 cents, of the second days business 21 cents. Where does the loss of I cent of the second days business creep in? . trouble you come and see me at once; also Manicuring. W. H. JACOB, 531 Dooly . Block. A gentleman of this city also submits the following : If G dozen eggs cost as many cents as I can buy egg for 50 cents, what will one dozen eargs cost? |