Show HEATHEN AT THE DOOR THE preachers of the south al are very much agitated over the labors of our missionaries and some of them are largely responsible for the personal outrages inflicted upon those brethren who have been mobbed there is oue one virginia methodist preacher however who is entitled to credit for his advocacy of civilized methods in meeting what he believes to be error the danville va be register of the ath lost contains a long account of the active work of mormon missionaries sion aries in the blue ridge mountains and their success among intelligent tell igent people as well as the less informed in spite of the terrible tales told by the clergy and the hostility raised by those misrepresentations eions the preacher referred to spoke very strongly against the elders and their teachings at a two days religious calig ious gathering and also to a reporter for the be register three of the elders were present during his remarks and tried to obtain a hearing jn in reply to his strictures the gentleman seemed to be ast astonished at their boldness and did not accord them the privilege desired dee ired but he maintained that harsh measures or persecution only strengthened their cause and created a sympathy for it and he could see but one way to contend with what he called their pernicious doctrine and that is I 1 with the bible and the presentation of true religion the register thinks that instead of wasting tears on china and benighted africa the danville missionary societies would find a better field in the region where the elders are at work and i endorses endorsee the preachers remark that the heathen are at our door edite right the heathen ore are at their door and among them may be classed the pretended christian clergymen who meet mormonism with a club and doctrines which they cannot controvert with shotguns and tar and feathers the elders go to the people with the bible in their hands one of them was shot dead by a christian mob while reading it on a sabbath day in tennessee let the trained ex of the sacred book bring forth their strong reasons and scripture proofs and they will be in line with their profession fes sion the elders will be ready and willing to meet them on the ground of holy writ and yield to them any advantage they can fairly gain but bu atthe the christian he athens of the south will have to be better informed than most of the antagonists of mormonism or they will find themselves worsted in the encounter for mormonism is essentially biblical and it is because the average sectarian preacher finds it so that he substitutes mob violence for polemics and tries to drive out the men med whom he cannot vanquish in controversy the heathen are at our doors all over the united states and nothing proves it plainer than the weapons with which they try to beat down and crush out mormonism the danville preacher is wise and consistent it is bad policy as well as bad religion to attack any creed with persecution Sympathy created by such cruelty softens the heart and pre prepares lares it for conviction success follows suffering and the barbarism of these heathen methods eventually defeats itself let the champions champion of orthodoxy change their tactics and by all means try the bible in place of the heathen mode which has been the rule in opposing mormonism |