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Show I 77e Disciplining of JSficol Hood. My whole life I have been taught to believe I . that man was made In the Image of his Creator I and endowed with Divine intelligence capable of the highest and widest development. But I have H come to a point where doubt is no longer impos-H impos-H sible. I've paid a visit to the present Utah Legis-H Legis-H laturo and seen its members, heard them talk, H beheld their antics. H Not because it proves that no man is so small H in the Mormon church that his criticism of higher H officials attracts the attention of the highest, H thereby illustrating the perfect system of esplon- H age and control of the church. do I refer to the H-, t disciplining of Nichol Hood, Democrat, of Sugar V' ' House ward, this county, for writing in the Her- H aid about the ambition of Apostle Smoot and the evils it has wrought for the church to which Hood also belongs; but to show how the spirit H gradually departs from the body of churches as it grows older until it leaves altogether and only H clay remains. Whatever may havo been the char-H char-H acter and personal motives of Joseph Smith, be H founded a religion that gave needed shelter to H countless thousands or seeking and earnest mon H and women which they had in vain sought else-H else-H where to And. Whatever the ultimate result of H its introduction to the world, it cannot be gainsaid M that the motive behind the religion was, to the M immemorable thousands referred to, inspiring m and ennobling. Men and women gave their lives H for it. That is the final test not of its truth, M ' but of the sincerity and exhaltation of spirit of --W those who embraced it. The founder's life was I " forfeit to his theories. That is the final test of his sincerity against which no controversy or argument argu-ment can prevail, since his bitterest opponents H I havo never dared to claim that he recanted in any- 1 f thing put forth by him as inspired of God. Bend, M reconstruct and argue as we may, the vital fact ' ?! remains that in the masses of men only great H j purpose or the highest ideals cause them to sustain H individual losses and sacrifices to any generally un- H popular sentiment. Whatever in these days may H bo found in the Mormon faith by those who accept B , as well as by those who reject it, it satisfied a B. great and ennobling longing and held a lofty ideal ' to those who embraced it in the earlier days. H i J5 & & B,'t If I mistake not, the salvation of all men was H ! then the motto of the church a motto that was B lived up to in large measure, and the faith of B I the men accepting it was shown in thousands M : upon thousands who gladly embraced the religion M i of Joseph Smith because of the living faith of the H men preaching the new doctrine fifty years ago. B Professed by the motto is the same today; but in H fact the present guiding inspiration of the Church H ) is obedience to the leaders in all they exact, or, H embraced in one word, discipline. Now, because Hj Elder Hood, (acting on the absolute promise of Hf the Church leaders, that in political matters the H Mormon people should bo unhampered by Church H dictation) took occasion to criticize Apostle Smoot H i for his political ambition, and its bad effect upon Hi the church of which Mr. Hood is a member, lie H has been summarily disciplined and relieved of all H official connection with ecclesiastical functions B hitherto as a matter of obligation exercised by H him. Under existing regulations of the Mormon H church no lay member, or inferior official, is per- H mltted to criticize any acts, religious or temporal, H of a superior church official. For violating this H rule Mr. Hood has been disciplined. This is lose H majeste with a vengeance. It is an observance of H a custom which invariably defeats the end sought H to be attained. Whenever rulers, or men, reli- H ious or civil, seek by the exercise of arbitrary Hi power to force respect among their subordinates H in position it argues clearly that the respect they desire is wanting among those from whom they strive to compel It. Like love, reverence and esteem, and respect, in their varying forms and shades respect is the voluntary and unconscious offerings of men to merit and worth in those to whom it Is extended. The veriest fool knows that it cannot be forced. Yet these church leaders have not sense enough to realize this, though they must know respect for them is gone or they would not think of striving to compel it. & & To my mind, this evidences the beginning of the end. When the question of birth is lost sight of in the leaders of any body of men, then the conditions are serious, indeed. The wise leader of men along religious paths never punishes for a frank expression of opinion, but takes the complaint com-plaint as a warning to learn whether the criticism criti-cism is the outpouring of personal bitterness, or one voice crying aloud the griefs of many; and if the latter prove to be the case, he will then seek for the root of the evil and remove it that no soul assigned to his care should be lost. No just man, no man inspired with the love of Christ, would shut his eyes to the possibility of wrong among his own immediate associates and with bitterness in his heart declare: "We'll stop this mutiny by discipline!" It's a sorry day for a church leader when his strength rests in the fear of his followers to criticize him rather than in their love for his opinions and involuntary respect j for his manifest purposes in life. So Brother Hood and those who believe with him may go to the devil, while the church lead- j ers discipline and start banks and water sugar stocks and sell senatorships and control offices, and make big money and do generally, in the language lan-guage of the Southern gentleman: As they "d d please." & & It is also worth while to consider what on earth could have prompted Apostle Smoot to pay any attention to the article. I read Apostle Smoot's biography of himself as published in the Telegram. The only thing I could see in it to wonder at, was that so good a man as Apostle Smoot says he is, was not like Blias, translated and taken bodily into the presence of God. What is the matter with the apostle that he should first think some member of his own family wrote the letter of criticism. Is not the goodness of the apostle well known to himself? Then why should he care? In spite of the many excellent , things the apostle-senator so cheerfully said of j the Apostle, he seems uneasy least the rest of the world should fail to see him as he sees himself. j And herein have we irrefragible proof that the old , axiom that "Virtue is its own reward," is false. Because, were it true, the Senator-Apostle, would be superior to any criticisms even those of his own family. By the way, why should so good a man as the Apostle-Senator and the Senator-Apostle Senator-Apostle let his suspicions, as to the authorship of the criticism that has aroused the church leviathan levi-athan from its slumbers concerning the welfare ot the people of the church, turn first to the bosom of his own family? Would it be considered ground for another exhibition of discipline if I should ask "Why?" & 3, & Bishop Orson F. Wnitney, the crown of whose glory is that from a dreamy youth he has developed de-veloped into a hard working writer of great merit, mer-it, and from a halting young man in his address to one of the most impressive and thoughtful speakers of the West, recently finished what is called "Elias, an epic poem of the ages." In referring re-ferring to it the other evening, the News stated that for some "three hours" a large number of persons sat, wrapped in attention while the author read the "concluding cantos." If it took three hours to read the concluding cantos some idea of the endurance required to go through the whole work may be hazarded by the speculative. The tatention of Scipio Africanus Kenner, by some idiotically supposed to be a back number, was called to the News' statement that the Bishop's auditors listened for tnree hours to the reading of the concluding cantos: Whereupon, he qulet-1 qulet-1 ly remarked: Well, I can say of it, as I said of I Governor Wells' last message, that things, to 1 be immortal need not necessarily be eternal.-' 1 Scipio may occasionally sleep, but he's not dead. THE PESSIMIST. |
