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Show WHERE? Where does the Mormon polygamlst of today obtain the groundwork for his faith In plural marriage? By Mormon polygamlst we mean the man who practices prac-tices or tho man who teaches the principle. prin-ciple. This becomes a very pertinent Inquiry In view of the testimony offered by President James II. Llnford of the Brlgham Young College at Logan. He swore before the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections that ho believed be-lieved in tho rightfulness of plural marriage. mar-riage. He is an instructor of tho youth of both sexes in the Mormon church. Holding to such views he Is likely to inculcate the doctrino by precept at least. Once more the significant question: ques-tion: Where does such a polygamlst as Llnford (theoretical If not practical) obtain the groundwork for his faith? When, according to the Mormon religion, re-ligion, God Almighty commanded plural plu-ral marriage, the pretense was that the faith was enforced upon members of the church by revelation from on high, against which could stand no human judgment. But In 1S00, through prophetic authority, au-thority, the samo God Almighty prohibited pro-hibited plural marriage and polygamous polyga-mous living. And if there were anything any-thing rational in the former attitude it then became compulsory upon Mormons, Mor-mons, no matter what their Individual Judgment, to cease to believe In the rightfulness of plural marriage. When men like James H. Llnford, president of a college which teaches theology as well as domestic science to the young women and young men, continue con-tinue to affirm their belief In polygamy after the revelation inhibiting that dogma and that offense, "there Is a natural na-tural suspicion engendored in the minds of observers that, with the present polygamous po-lygamous cult, the doctrino has at no time been a matter dependent upon revelation, but one which its devotees "believe" nnd practice because they want to "believe" and practice It. And this suspicion does grave Injustice to many of those devoted women who sacrificed their peace of mind and all their happiness in life, in seeking to obey what they believed was a command com-mand from God, when plural marriage was the revealed vogue, and who were required by the men of the church, in obedience to another purported command com-mand from heaven, to mako the final Immolation in renouncing plural marriagejust mar-riagejust when the United States was reaching out to punish all the participants partici-pants and the sympathizers in the practice, and when the men were about to carrythelr share of the agony. |