Show VOICES THE PEOPLE t eap exp Ex expostulates with enemies ile 11 les of mormonism E aniton HERALD perhaps gli all the lie eneim generations eions of men and in in all tho the various various organizations of society no people have ever occupied C a more peculiar position than those styled cormons mormons Mor Morn mons ions I am now fort forty live five years of age and from my ear earliest T iest remembrance have been face to face faceN with the problem I was born and reared in a mining village of five or six hundred ini inhabitants of which devent seventy five or eighty were cormons mormons Mor mons where there wai a gf good ad common cello Olt a almost most freland fre cand consequently nearly e every man Wom woman anand and child could coula at least read and write my father held a place of some sonic re responsibility in the works he was chairman of the school board when mormonism was introduced and was noted in the village for industry sobriety and intelligence thus opened my life and thus early was I confronted with this mormon problem for problem it was then as now although at tint time there was no polygamy in the question that it wag was so I learned from the jeers and taunts of my schoolmates soon I had more substantial proofs proof in efforts made atthe instigation of the parish ministers to influence the minds of my ray fathers employees against him the gentlemen argued thus he my lit father ther has been a good in man and true but he lie has certainly now one crazy he ile has joined jo jos mith is leading the workmen az astray tray and is no longer fit to attend to your interests the tile reply of the principal r n partner artner a lady her husband I I u e cip being ll g d dead ca d w wa an he lias has served us long and faithfully he ile lias has been steady honest sober and sensible and I cannot believe that a man mail liko like lien lie would embrace a religion so ridiculous and hurtful as you represent mormonism to be but be that as it may aa s long as he lie serves us faithfully I shall not allow liny tiny interference on oil account of liis his religion my father hearing of this talked and tau taught U ht in hiis cis way I have embraced what I know to be the truth of high heaven and if my religion i is s not worth my illy place here bere and lily my life if it was called for it would not be worth my hold holding let them crack alic r whip we c are all in the hands of god to him I appeal eal ag much u I and various has been my experience since since that in it this his and other lands trying to convince convince men of the folly of peeking reeking a solution of this problem by methods instigated by sectarian rivalry and priestly hate but I am afraid that at achi medes like they will be found with their eyes on oil the ground seeking a so solution u tion but bu t uni unlike ike b him i tu illogically illogical ly when their own lives and national pr preservation CZ er are at stake through causes they own unscrupulousness nesa all and intolerance has set in motion now there ate arc two ways of solving this problem both nrc 11 equally bally sure but not equally eafe safe ex peri mentor but let us define tho the po position if mormonism niam am is of god and liis his word is pledged as claimed for its triumph all must agree that he ile will not permit it to be solved by the process of obliteration on the other hand if n not ot of god it will obliterate itself because it bears the seeds of its own triumph or d destruction in this generation consequently force in the first case would be useless and in the latter sinful and shameful keeping these premises in in view let us consider what claims this problem lias has to be treated seriously it is agreed r ed by all who have written ona on t the ah that i immediately at alter ter the det death ill of the apostles of the saviour by violence disputations disputatious and dissensions arose nay more paul testifies ad chap ath verse that the m mystery acry of iniquity was working in ilis his own day and that a great f falling fling uway away was at hand land ibid ib idem etu ad v and a full revealing n or prevailing of tho the devil a general general apostasy apo stacy and great wickedness which would continue until the tile coming of the lord should put an end to it further proofs of this apostasy apo stacy may be found in revelation chapter ath and ath vcra vers c cs s also chap oilier other scriptures might be quoted in proof of this position but I think the history of those lations tat ions sit beirce ce that time who have claimed christianity as a common beri heritage tage is proof positive that those predictions of apostasy apo stacy have been literally fulfilled bat a restoration of the gospel to accod accomplish fisli a preparatory work york prior ri r to t the ie coming of the lord is pi also s elf clearly arly set forth in scripture see isa guth chapter ath to last ezek ath to last dan to ath joel ad 28 to last macall ath to ath zeph ad fth to last zech esth to ath malach alach ath chapter mattli cli chapter apter to vers etc etc therefore it is claimed that a youth coming forth illiterate claiming revelations from god in exact harmony with scripture doctrinal and prophetic uttering tittering prophecies F that have been literally tI n jug to the world the h hidden history of a coutin continent ent in the roost most unique book ever over published which has since been largely corroborated is worthy of the attention of men and the tile application of the debts which tile pio problem blein itself pra proposes poses pay say what ig Is truth methinks I see the tile glorious statue of truth immaculate and immutable by the vicissitudes of the eternal past and the fierce jost lingg lings of foul unreason holding aloft the god inscribed motto come comp and test me and a host of earths noblemen led by abraham and others eager for demonstration and entirely oblivious to the pears of ignorance and priestly late come and test me ah AM that ia is the philosophers stone that is tho tile motto of every honest heart and the only safe rule for testing this mormon problem problem apply the principles honestly nestly honestly Ro to bour your lives put yourselves in in a position I to be taught by that influence promised by the tile and then thell to you tho tile problem will be solved cither either by ti discovering the road to eternal life and find exaltation or that jose joseph ph smith was a gross gros impostor but remember not even in the latter case ewe have you acquired any right to persecute those who continue to believe in him the only remaining rational way of seeking a solution lution eo is by leaving the problem to the dissipating in influence of potent modern ci civilization vi i iza if the tile first process is is unsatisfactory how it can withstand this latter application is beyond rational conjecture from its incipiency mormon biml has stood stool de destined to its triumph and consummation in the generation i in which va i ea i it t or originated i g i bated viz this g generation nera tiou the prediction of the savior mat 2401 mormonism lias bas always construed authoritatively in this way ilove e lations and predictions through joseph smith are in in print today to day confirming thia view and believed in by all latter day saints to be brief brij the tho lime time is close at liand hand the year is almost known abor monism is in in open contact with the most enlightened and powerful branch of the human race her children arc are being be in diligently educated eduin and think you oil can that time pass and these things remain unfulfilled and find escape their observation no verily not oni only would they observe but they would treat the creed of their fathers as an all evaporated nightmare of the past and strive to repay the tolerance of their fellow citizens by acts of the most devoted loyalty and thus tho the problem would solve itself and much honor accrue to the nation butto but to this would be more zeal than courage might say what will the world say what will england say if we longer tolerate tb s blot on n tho the national escutcheon what did grundy sav say what did lid despots say ay tell fell angland england to purify london ont from its vast vast army of pimps and prostitutes prostitute rag ragged ged ruffian sand royal reprobates and brevity urges that this recommendation may serve as an answer for al I the others but aside with ourselves I think the worst blot on the national honor bonor is the illiberal and f foul treatment the latter day saints have received in the past from their fellow el low citizens unchecked by the general government now permit me to say that this whole agitation is only a repetition of history lii story and of a particular portion that every christian man and woman wo llian should learn wisdom from the situation and also the key to this problem can bo be found in the ath chap of acts from the to last verse dwelling specially on the counsel given by gamaliel which is the key now this gamaliel Ga malici was afraid to bo bc found fighting against god why was he more afraid than the others because he lie was the successor odthe of the prophets so far as the keeping of tale the records was concerned see talmud no doubt havi having ng abec s he lie had been refreshing liis his mind with the experience of avimelech Abi melech pharaoh aaron and miryam korah and dathan the ten spies saul the captivity etc etc and therefore was well prepared to give such counsel in ill conclusion I pray that all men may ponder the counsel of gamaliel tako take warning and lind let a matter alone which it if not of god will soon come to naught lest peradventure ad venturo they he be found fighting against god and their house te be left unto to them dem desolate late E |