Show MORMONS IN NORWICH the following is the result of an interview between a reporter odthe of the norwich england davy daily press prem and elders T E bassett P W baker isaac sears sean joseph gibbous gibbons and E missionaries from utah of course in some respects the comments of the newspaper man are tinged with antl anti mormon prejudice but the article aids in spreading the news that preachers of the gospel of christ are in that part of th the country and as awhile a w hole the re report portis is about as fair as one may expect from a non mormon press A MORMON MISSON AMONGST US it may not be generally known that five missionaries all the wa way y from salt lake city have quartered themselves in norwich and are striving to establish amongst us the kingdom of latter day they are somewhat remarkable people having no contributed fu funds ads and collections being strictly a ab b ju J ared redall all expenses have to bo be met me t out of the missioners ners private means a circumstance about which there is so something decidedly prepossessing they beat no drums they do not even resort to that milder expedient of bringing down a crack preacher when in norwich which is not a mission field in itself but merely a centre of a missionary district they occupy a stuffy and unpretentious room over a shop in dove street the site whereof is only indicated by a black tin plate setting forth the hours of service anything less bugg suggestive dative of the rushing whirlwind than the methods of these humble emissaries from the land of the many alved it would be hard to conceive the age is so remarkable for of a militant assertive sort that some may be disposed to attach much meaning to so obscure and unobtrusive a crusade and yet the result of mormon missionary effort taken as a whole is real every month a vessel leaves europe carrying carry ing prose lytes to the faith of joseph smith liverpool and one of the scandinavian at ports being alternately the points of departure there are thirteen mission stations in the british A isles at each of which there is a i corps of mormon believers actively engaged in propagating the following articles ot of faith the outline of belief herein described is as definite and exact as a builders specification the most lynx eyed of orthodox churchmen could detect no downgrade down grade tendency here he who can subscribe to 0 o the whole thirteen A points including the one which proclaims the book of mormon to be the word of god at least suffers no deficiency lia in the matter of simple faith 1 we believe in goethe eternal father and in his son J esus christ and in thu the holy ghost 2 we believe believe that men will be punished oed for their own sins and not for adams transgression 3 we believe that through the atonement aw of christ all mankind in may be saved by obedience to the laws an and d ori ordinances bances nances of the gospel 4 we believe that these orain ordinances ances are first faith in the lord jesus christ so second repentance third baptism by immersion A for the remission of sins fourth laying ghost on of hands tor for the gift of the the holy A 6 5 we believe that a man must be callei of god by bj prophecy and by the laying on of han hands i s by those who are in authority to preach the gospel and ad minster in the ordinances ther thereof eor 6 we believe in the same organization 0 r that existed in the primitive ceana church viz apostles prophets pastors teachers evangelists ac 7 we believe in the gift of tongues prophecy revelation visions healing interpretation terp of tongues ac 8 we believe the bible to be the word of god as far as it la Is translated correctly 4 we w e also believe the book of morcom to be t the he word of god A 9 we believe all that god has revealed jf all that lie he does now reveal and we believe that he will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of god 10 we believe in the literal gathering of israel and in the restoration of the ten tribes that zion will be built upon this continent that christ will reign person ally upon the earth aud that the earth will be renewed and receive its glory ii 11 we claim the privilege of wor won nipping hipping almighty god according to the dictates di ji of our conscience and allow all men the same privilege let them worship how where or what they may 12 we believe in being subject to kings presidents rulers and magistrates in obeying honoring and sustaining the law 13 we believe in in being honest true chaste benevolent virtuous and in doing good to all men mem indeed we may say that we follow the admonition of paul panl we believe all things we hope all things we have endured many things and hope to be able to endure all things it if there is anything virtuous lovely or of good report or praiseworthy praiseworthy we seek after these things JOSEPH SMITH it looked somewhat out of accord with the shy and anil retiring ways of the mormon missionaries that one of our representatives should be invited to call upon the president of the norwich contingent at his quarters in dove street he half expected to witness some such scene of conjugal a I 1 felicity on a I 1 large arge sea scale e as artemus ward encountered when he visited brigham young but he was spared so embarrassing embar assing an experience instead of being in vitiated into a sort of mormon pare fare aux cerfs ceras he was introduced to five staid middle aged gentlemen who were living comfortably en garcon the walls wain were ornamented with some coloured texts from holy writ A number of ponderous trunks and traveling bap bags piled up in the corner served as a reminder that the missionaries are birds of passage f only the president by name y thomas thom E bassett is a youngish looking man of not more than 30 H perhaps and appears to be the junior g by several years of at least three of y his colleagues all of them spoke with an unmistakable american accent their manner was mild and subdued and it was hard not to feel that this mission across the atlantic is to them a matter of in tense religious import the british isles said the pie aident in explaining the modus operandi operand I 1 axe are divided into thirteen missionary districts or conferences as we call them the head one being at liverpool and each conference comprises a president and a staff of traveling elders from three to fifteen t en in number four traveling elders elders and a president are allotted to the norwich district which embraces norfork suffolk and parts of lincoln and cambria Cambridge 1 shire 11 what sort of success do 0 you meet with as regards making converts well we reckon that a thousand mormon converts leave europe every year for utah and of that number or are recruited from the british isles Is the there reany any native church not worth mentioning there are at present latter day saints in the norwich district but they are only waiting till they th have saved sufficient means to em emigrate rate there are very few who refuse fuse to go to utah when once they have accumulated the wherewith there used to be a thousand in the norwich district alone A thousand how do you account tor for the decline oh they have emigrated it is only the poorest who remain our numbers are recruited chiefly from the poor the laboring class clam mainly we are not very successful in the large tow towns ns 11 and have you no contributed funds no means of subsistence provided by the church in utah none said mr bassett in the opulent tone of a man to whom bank notes are things of no account we bear our expenses out of our own private means we have been called upon by the president of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints and we expect to fugill fulfil a mission of about two years duration preaching what we consider to be the principles of the gospel as taught by christ the appearance of the missionaries was fairly comfortable and well cared for but it was a little surprising to learn that they were able out of their own resources to undertake a two years european tour 1 I take it then that in your own country you are men of substance no we have our flocks and herds in utah but we are not what you would call wealthy 1 I observe that nothing is said in your articles of faith about polygamy no and in preaching we do not advocate advocat eit it but we think it is permissible because there is nothing in the scriptures forbidding it it was commanded of god anciently the number of mormon men having more one wife is estimated at from 7 to 10 per cent of the total adult population of utah we do not even persuade men to take one wife our mission is 18 simply to preach the first principles of the goo gospel I 1 would you er madr mind telling me how many er wives you have each asked the pressman putting nl so delicate a question with na natural tu ra embarrassment the photograph of a charming mormon lady lay jay upon the table oh we have only one each they replied in chorus except one of us and he has no wife at all no I 1 am not married at all said mid the elder indicated laughing sadly at the of his condition the mormon church seems to have got itself into hot water with the united states legislature in regard to polygamy how can you go goon on practising practicing it in view of your article 12 which proclaims subjection to the law but said the president we do not believe that the legislature in trying to uproot polygamy and confiscate our church property is acting in accordance with the law the constitution of the united states says that congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise of religion now polygamy is a part of our religion and we hold that the law passed in prohibition of it is unc unconstitutional institutional and therefore carries with it no obligation to be obeyed the pern permission debion to practice polygamy has been revealed to us by our heavenly father and we believe it will tend to the salvation of the human family and ameliorate its condition here on earth but has it not yet to be proved that there is a surplus female population all the world round asked the visitor reflecting that mr hepworth dixon found in some of the mining states that the proportion of men to women was twenty five to one there are states in the union said mr bassett where the males predominate but taking the whole population of the united states females of marriageable age predominate over males of marriageable age how about the book of mormon do you preach from it ano no we simply preach from the bible ible the book of mormon contains a sacred history of the ancient inhabitants of america and the ful ness of the everlasting gospel as taught by our savior to the inhabitants of that land after his resurrection it is to some extent doctrinal but mainly a historical book ZIL well barring your view n married life and the book of ajr mon there is nothing extra ragaa ly y unorthodox in your theology j no perhaps noti not but there k I 1 great deal of objection raised to ta claim we make that the goepel is ig again restored to the earth teach that the church of C as reorganized organized by him was taken from the earth about the close of the sixth century and that according to the prediction of john the revell tor in the and chapt chapters enat f revelation it was restored to eurth again a n through the instrumentality instrumental 0 of a holy angel from heaven we meet with some opposition on this thia point 0 iut our views too on the sub ye eject wt of r the godhead are a source of objection we belive in a god wm with bodily parts and passions but we ire encounter no actual opposition sueh as we had to endure years yeara ago then our meetings were broken wo up and we were pelted belted with rotten eam eggs but all that is stopped now we the clergy and ministry treat us with indifference do not opplee us but neither on the other hand do they in any way recognize us I 1 just one last question mr bas baa sett what are the legal proe pacts of the church in the united states well fairly encouraging after the report recently made by a committee of congress on application being made for the admission of utah as one of the states of the tee union a committee was appointed appoint sd to make investigations and here are some extracts from the report ff the report would almost make it appear that the period of glory lory has begun already in utah the he people are chaste and sober the proportion of illiteracy to is very low and industrial prosperity pre prevails valls the latest figures of the mormon church give 12 apostles 70 patriarchs high priests elders 2069 priests 2592 teachers and deacons or a total of officers for a population a little over the immense ing effort put forth by so small a community seems to indicate that the church of the latter day saints is enjoying the full vigor of infancy what sect in europe exercises such discipline and control over its adherents as to make them missionaries by word of command and scatter them in scores across the cistand charge the chief blot on the system plurality of wives forbids anything more than a modified sympathy on the part of people who believe that the sanctity of the marriage mariage bond as between one man and one woman is the very basis of a he healthy daby social fabric but for this weak point in president bassetts bassetta Bas theological harness one might complacently regard the dove street mormons cormons as a cheap and effective emigration agency A sentiment of antipathy is unavoidable but so also is an under current of sympathy have they not taken this for a guiding prin cible if there is anything virtuous lovely or of good re report bese rt or praiseworthy we seek after these things 5 jil d 28 |