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Show THE ARGUS. 2 XEbe Hvous. Issued Weekly by THE AROUS PUBLISHING COnPANY. Entered at the Salt Lake City Postoflice as second-clas- s matter. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, JUNE 5. 1897- - the children, horses or cattle ; of branding some old woman as a witch because the cholera was upon the swine; of burning somebody at the stake instead of taking other precautions against the measles ; of banishing some man from the community during a siege of the typhus instead of draining a germ breeding slime pit under the these have slowly given way to more sensible and effective aud scientific remedies. But there are a few old fogy ideas to which some otherwise progressive people still cling. A certain class of preachers hold up railway accidents, marine disasters, wars, disease, panics and pestilence as fearful warnings of the wrath to come, shadows of some impending disaster, the fulfillment of some prophecy, or the punishment inflicted by an offended God. meeting-hous- TER ns OP SUBSCRIPTION. Any part of the United States, Canada or Mexico, one year, ixiKtatfe paid all countries embraced England, France, Germany, and 2.00 in Universal Postal Union, oua year, nostage paid 2.00 . . Other Countries, ouu year, jxwtage added 2.00 in advance for when not or paid By Carrier, Postmasters sending subscriptions to Thk Ahocs may retain 25 per cent, of subscription price as commission. New Subscriptions may commence at any time during the year. emt by mail, should be made Payment Tor I'iik AHGi'ft, when bunk in a poti toll ice money order, draft, or an express money order. When keithkk op these can bb fbocuhbp, send are rethe money in a registered letter. All iKistmasters 1 to do so. whenever letters to request quired register If the I'aper is not desired beyond the date subscribel for the publishers should be uotillecl by letter, two weeks or more before the term expires. . Discontinuances Remember that the publishers must be notified bv letter whn a subscriber wishes his paper stopped. All arrears must lv paid. mailed to a new Requests of Subscribers to have their paperg former as well mention must secure attention, address, to as present address. Address all communications to THE ARGUS PUBLISHING COnPANY, Salt Lake City, Utah. e When such religionists refer to the frightful holocaust in Paris, where scores of human beings were roasted the other day, they are not prepared to explain why in all that wicked city a charity bazaar was selected for such a calamity ; when avathey point to railroad wrecks or floods or lanches, they are always able to tell why the wicked suffer, but people are apt to wonder if God were wreaked the wrath of an upon innocent children and good people men and women who worshipped and feared him all their lives. When a churchman goes about preaching that his personal enemies are sick unto death because of the Lords displeasure, how is he going to account for his own illness when it comes? How are his friends to account for his death when it happens? Men are but conceited asses who go around declaring that the Almighty is rewarding their personal friends and punishing those who oppose them, their projects, dogmas, doctrines or organizations. But, after all, they is may know exactly which side of their bread buttered. If the preacher is interested in temhesiporal as well as spiritual affairs, he will not tate to designate the particular offence for which the penalty of disease or death is visited upon the busiperson or family of an opponent or rival in ness. If the preacher is a politician his enemy gets sick because the Lord is not in favor of the opposition ; if a promoter of industrial schemes the patient is held up as a warning that it never does to oppose the Lords projects as carried on a by his servants ; if ambitious to become ruler of the people or a leader in the church in order to more easily control the revenues, the preacher lays great stress on the illness of a recalcitrant member who may have seen things in a different all-powerf- Editor. NOBLE WARRUM, JR., Creeds are narrow. True religion, d Theoid5 it seems, should be broad and New. erous. Religious sects are selfish and clannish as a rule, but mankind is gradually growing in heart and head, until the old religion of fear, frenzy, torture and revenge is giving way to a new religion of tolerance, charity and humanity. But it was not so very long ago that each denomination claimed heaven as its own and consigned the membership of all other sects to the other place. It hasnt been very long since the churches smelled of brimstone and sulphur, e and religious discourses were little else than appeals to the savage instincts of man. The preacher were potent arguments of the threats of divine wrath ; the doctrine taught was that of revenge revenge ; the God of the creed was an unforgiving monster, who cast little, prattling babes into a lake of unquenchable fire, and who had all kinds of ungodly punishments awaiting heathens and other unbelievers and those who differed slightly from the preacher in power on some doctrinal point or senseless ceremony. Sectarian religion was an appeal to the savage nature of man, most easily reached through ignorance, most easily controlled by superstition. Disbelievers were consigned to perdition ; men who did their own thinking were denounced from the pulpit ; men who acted upon their own responsibility were socially and politically punished, lied about in church circles, and And thus men were otherwise persecuted. driven into the various organizations, and threatened if they began to think their way out chased, as it were, through the pearly gates of salvation with the tin cans of threats, fears and coat-tailand an superstition clinging to their ordained minister, elder or exhorter after them with a flaming brand snatched from the funeral pyres of the damned. And this was called religgen-An- sav-ag- old-tim- never-endin- e g s, - ion. It was not so very far back along the path of his- tory that ecclesiastical courts in this country were sentencing men to be hanged for sorcery, ordering women burned for witchcraft, and punishing free thought with mayhem. But civilization is doing away with the rule of priestcraft. Enlightened people are, beginning to call for something better. Those old practices of holding some unpopular female or unfortunate epileptic in the neighborhood responsible for every epidemic among ul . light. But when the preacher gets sick it is different. .When a member of his family is wrecked or injured in a collision, or afflicted with disease or misfortune, it is different. When the object of his vindictiveness gradually rises from the grave and puts on the garb of health, and slowly but surely grows stronger day by day, and the of preacher himself approaches the portals death, what is the Lord doing then? There is somebething wrong about this style of preaching ; it of longs to the old school ; it belongs to the rule priestcraft ; it is fading like a fog under the rays ot the rising sun of enlightenment ; people see with through it now unless they are blindfolded the bandages of bigotry and prejudice, and they see the mountain peaks of reason and tolerance such beyond. It is time such preachers quit them and preaching. The world has outgrown their harangues. day Saints by the authorities at Centerville, Davis county, Utah, unless she repents and rescinds her claims on N. T. Porter, Jr., of that place. Some two or three years ago young Porter went to England on a mission. Last fall he returned, bringing back, as one of bis converts, the Hopewell girl, who claimed to be his wife. She alleges that she was married to Porter in England, cohabited with him during his mission, occupied the same room on the voyage to America and was married to him again in the temple at Salt Lake City soon after her arrival in Zion. She claims to have discovered later on that Porter was a married man and the head of a family in Centerville. Then she became indignant and made public her claims on Porter, which resulted in a bishops trial. S!ie naturally got the worst of it and was. given until noon to da to retract and repent or be cut c.ff he church. Porter claims that lie is misrepresented by Lucy, that she was a bad girl even before he knew her and converted her, that he was not married to her in England, and The Arocs is informed that the records of the Salt Lake temple show no such marriage to have been there emnized. Elder X. T. Porter, Jr., is a promising young man and has the sympathy of the community, which became so hot for Miss Hopewell that she came to Salt Lake City to await developments. The young man is a brother of the bishop, Aaron Porter, while the girl has neither friends nor relatives in this country. Unless she is able to get back home she had better repent and ask forgiveness. The Arous is not inclined to blame the young man more than the girl. It knows nothing of the nature and disposition of either, nor of the temptations and circumstances surrounding this case. It finds no fault with the church because such scandals occasionally follow men home from their missions. Missionaries are but human and converts do not necessarily lay aside ull their weaknesses when they enter the fold. But there is a lesson in this Davis county incident which should not be overlooked ; the greatest care should be exercised in selecting worthy men for missions ; only honest inducements should be held out for proselytes; and affairs of this kind should be thoroughly investigated. If Lucy Hopewell has lied she ought to be punished as a blackmailer ; if she has told the truth it is no credit to any organization to shield the man who deceived her. Elsewhere in this issue of The Argus may be found a review of Protection Robbery. Senator Cannons export bounty scheme frond the standpoint of a protectionist. Senator Cannon was at one time the chief exponent of high tariff doctrines ' in Utah and his fame for a time rested almost altogether upon his eloquent, impassioned appeals to the people of Utah to stand by the protective tariff idea of the founders of this commonwealth. A pamphlet entitled the Xuggets of Truth was issued with the picture of Our Frank on the first page and likenesses of other leading church authorities scattered through it. It told all aboutthe tariff, the benefits and beauties of protection," ; and it was distributed in Sunday schools and-- , religious meetings. But the Senator has learned a thing or two since his residence and he is not too proud or obstinate to admit the: i j corn. The Congressional Record contains this" admission: ' .i so-calle- d - - ? -: r- r To-da- y, Saturday, June 5th, A. D. 1897, Miss Lucy Hopewell, afe 0f old Radford, Eogland, is to be cut off the Church of Jesus Christ of Lattir- Hopewells predicament. sol- v Senator Chandler then, said: "May I ask the Senator1 from Utah a question 1 " Certainly, replied Senator Cannon. Mr. Chandler I heard the Senator speak of robbery a little while ago with reference to the tariff. Does the Senator 1 |