Show ITS HEALTHY FRUITS THE SINCERITY OF THE aou ams their religion contrasted with those of christendom correspondence of the at looking at the worl egyptian pyramids the beholder naturally exclaims who built these and how was tho wonder wrought similar astonishment possesses the mind as one looks on the great and magnificent temples and moral institutions that have been erected in utah by the latter day saints temples dedicated dedic ted to the most high in all their splendor dazzling beauty an majestic proportions smas it exists today to day though in embryo a grand thoroughly organized and highly successful denomination presents in itself more numerous causes of a bewildering nature bothof surprise and enquiry than any other religious or secular movement known in the annals 0 o ancient or modern history we will not attempt to present an elaborate or accurate view of this great work extending as it does over so wide an area and embracing so long a period but to produce a synopsis of this marvelous marv olous work at once instructive and interesting and at the same time to endeavor to re fute many vile slanders that are by wicked designing men heralded without cessation through the land against the people called cormons mormons Mor mons this we will essay to do fifty eight years have passed since the organization of alie church of jesus christ of latter day saints and those years while they have silvered the locks of men who were participants in or spectators of the many trials and excessive hardships brought to man s estate a nation so to speak of young latter day saints many of whom were sleeping iu swaddling clothes while their maternal protectors were watching and weeping over the deplorable turn affairs had taken to the rising generation more especially would the writer call attention in the humble though fervent hope that these lines offered in defense of truth may give them a knowledge and a thorough aon of the sublime und glorious struggle for religious liberty which the cynical cant of the present day too frequently alludes to as the mormon problem the overy day life of the people of this nineteenth century is to hurried to permit prolonged search after religious knowledge and undoubtedly is this the case with nearly all visitors to our fair territory daring their brief sojourn in our midst they seem predisposed to carp and find fault with the people who inhabit these once peaceful vales whilo to render justice to themselves as well as to the mormon people they should bridle their prejudices when being regaled and socially entertained at the mormon capi a f they wish to profit by their stay aud cluarn the true of the cormons mormons Mor mons the average tourist to utah shrinks from the task of hunting after puro unadulterated facts concerning this people there have been ponderous tomes of inestimable value to the leisurely student produced by profound scholars and competent critics on this all absorb ing theme there have been also skeleton apologies for a history of the cormons mormons Mor mons serving alio purpose only of circulating false and vicious untruths un truths against the latter day saints but bo it litween these two there is a groat gulf the sectarian divines of so called christianity at least a majority have the sublime mpr dence to refer to the cormons mormons Mor mons as lawbreakers law breakers and apply to them many foul epithets totally unlocked for from men of their profession but it seems to bo invariably the case that these tal dispensers of christianity are in to utter those boldfaced bold faced and bald headed fabrications by the father of lies aad that the perpetuation of a lio against the people 0 bodis their principal motive and the height of their ambition but in their case however charity and common seems as far away from them as fellowship and harmony arc from the different sects ahey represent the rapid growth of the mormon church and the solid unity of its members mem bars are the chief grievances they complain of and even in rabid opposition to mormonism they are at times quite at sea and extremely inconsistent they agree that the mormon church is but a small factor in alio body politic of these united states but again they ignore these assertions and positively declare that the advancing columns of mormonism aro too numerous and strong to allow their further progress to proceed unchecked what inconsistencies again the of all this opposition to the church of jesus christ of latter day saints springs from jealousy for it is too true that alio mormon church alone in this country has taken deep aad lasting root with a gombor ship of ovar one hundred and fifty thousand together with a legion of missionaries traversing tho entire globe who for the pure and cd lovo of jesus take pride in disseminating semina ting the word of god among the nations of tho earth elioso facts causes the sectarian world to wonder at the truly marvelous marv work together with tho spontaneous growth of this very despised and unpopular creed but in the cause of mondon ism at least it would seem to bo true that god hath chosen the weak things of the world to confounds tho things that are mighty the many absurd of the various sects born as they are from the li jenso of diee thought and interprets lon of ali e scriptures at once pro laim the sectarian pro fusions this license leads men and omen from one sect to another un W finally jamp into agnostic 11 or turn by the grace of provi uce to the bosom of the one true church of christ viz the church of jesus christ of latter day saints whore doubt is unknown and truth eternal has its seat an unerring slides the plain fact of the matter is that sectarianism has private judgment for its guide and that is the rock upon which every sect will ultimately go to pieces give a sectarian the bible and he can be his own creed maker and he can also draw any inference he pleases from every passage of holy writ there is therefore no actual need whatever of preachers among the conflicting denominations as no person is at all obliged to give the slightest credence to their unauthorized callings or opinions concerning either christian ethics or moral doctrines preachers then are mere figureheads figure heads to sectarian flatboats flat boats and the different crafts would float in the lutheran lake or calvinistic canal jus as well without them we boldly assert that the religious denomination known in the world as mormonism is the only true religion on the earth and by rendering obedience to its precepts and divine teachings the human family can only be baked in the kingdom of our god and the faith of the latter day saints is true and correct in all alio principles or the promise of christ is meaningless when sectarians sect arians deny the mission and divine authority 0 the prophet joseph smith they also can with an equal degree of truth deny the sacred mission of jasus himself the many religions of today and the various modes of worship indulged in by the different sects are man made and do not in no instance receive the approbation of the almighty martin luther for instance who violated his own vows seduced an unhappy nun unto the like perjury then the most pernicious of all the founder of the church of england henry repudiates tes his only lawful wife and takes unto himself five others decapitating decapita ting the beads of two of them in order to make room for the next victim and that monster established and became pontiff of the english church from which so many conflicting sects have since sprung only one church had christ for its founder and reabon says that it alone can be the true one others may claim to be apostolic by disregarding their origin and jumping bacat to the first century of christianity but not one has the presumption to claim that the almighty organized their church his regularly appointed servants the priesthood or claim that power authority and the many gifts and blessings which the presence of the holy ghost at all times insures now leaving prejudice asido which is the most likely to be the true church established by christ is it that started by an apostate licentious monk by a bloody libidinous royal tyrant or by some rampant fanatics etc by searching the sacred volumes of the old and new testaments and comparing them with the teachings of the latter day saints and of other beets it can readily be perceived that the latter day gospel is the same that noah preached to the lucians luv ians the same glad tidings of salvation that jonah delivered to the and the identical gospel and plan of salvation that jesus and his apostles offered to tho ancient jews in view of these historical and biblical facts it cannot justly bo denied but that the true church of christ is in possession of his saints the cormons mormons Mor mons chen again the mormon church is at all times consistent it is unerring and of all the religious denominations in the world it alone can justly point to never changing doctrines and this is we presume thoroughly understood bv many of the persecutors of this people but there are none so blind as those who will not see and today to day the mormon church is gaining prestige and we might add position in the nations of the earth and it will continue to flourish as it has in the past half con tury in spite of persecution and amid all the vicissitudes of religious and political revolutions and it is now cimo that this the greatest and grand est on does not live for itself alone but that the maintenance of all its enlightening institutions is an important aid in maintaining good government and that they not only insure peace prosperity and happiness at homo out that also by their powerful force of example hasten the approach of ahat period when all mankind shall bo blessed with that inestimable boon civil and religious freedom we would say to all those who feel to persecute innocent men and women on account of their religious belief to cease perpetuating this heinous of fonso against their fellow man cease to the minds of honest people by circulating despicable and bigoted calumnies calum nies calculated to prejudice them against a god fearing people and finally in charity wo commend them for their spiritual eternal welfare to study the golden kule and do not rest satisfied that they know all about the cormons mormons Mor mons and their religion through the pernicious and one sided reading of their past ives it is an established fact that to live a happy life as the world knew it one must choose unbelief but to die a happy death with the hope of an eternal reward wa must cling firmly and surely to belief in god and his teaching this seems to be tho alternative that the mormon church has faced consequently its adherents must believe abide and fight with god in this world for present happiness means future cun the end of all bascon mind and god waa the ruling thought so eighty legally and tho reward shall be as wo are told in holy writ such as no eye huth seen J M ta cannonville CANN ONVILLE co aug |