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Show ;jrnlr 1 jUMPOTENCY 0f THE MORMON GOD 03 I BY )T. F. GIBBS. 'rouRh. .'ill tho ages mankind has P?d JCW,zc1 tho pi'esenco of an In.scru-liable In.scru-liable loWCr , tlc llnivorso 'pll0 rc;ijy rSrti r? . 1 Por is sensed in tho. per-Jl per-Jl !Pi "lo4V,e1mont5i of lho uus !,"l worlds. A SIS. st"' s,n?M VoiRU" o 11,0 Infinite rS fk3,t0 JL8 ,n a inousand ways, ami Ha ihT0URb a thousand channels. The mar-:" mar-:" Jo'ouk previsions for maTi-'s existence, , omlorl, pleasure and infinite advance-rVM advance-rVM gwnt may "bo truthfully credited to the IK !2'.i , lrw of evolution, but behind JV jnnt lav.- is a power of which evolution evolu-tion is merely a manifestation. From ,nn,r s"!Jnding. and from Lho experi-0UV experi-0UV lCt ol4,'fo. iulclligeut men and women Ifni11. an.d tliat in :i Scnoral way, Iffif tor iCmidu!K tho destiny of that which JJIJIW.or tho kick of a better term, wo will !v.V;tent life. Like tho law of -En m"-' 11,0 rpa,ity f which we nUlu", OP1 hy i,s effects, we " thS -tliat abovo all beyond all, Kin 1H a "wrveloua Power whose ex Ifi. i fif raltXpufe1 th U,0Uk"SS Mfl lr0V ffii5'lt t"i hi6l' "prophot'J of , tnoxr organization was tho sole agent ou , i?a,r,th ,,f"a'' mysterious Power Sn l .1 f 0,1 a,,d fchat Brigham 2lJ2llu Ta'l0I" Wilford Wootfruff, crn &nu-w ,atul 'sepli ,V. Smith Ln. rC"Slvoly tho depositories of tho ffn "iWy ,!lI1fd to have jAtfl Ind iZ ,C'rro,d u" 7o-slh Smitli, Jr. . ffiliin?1'. u" css ,l,en women are i S , nV' 1,10 l,!0dc of relicious doc rtft4 rst r ,,d ",or,l,tS l'cribcd by the llf al ,&m1 fr-01 lllat s'1Cfii:i1 k ftfn30rimiA y lh0 r"a Bah,, m,"'.1 a facl" :,s 1,11 Mormons S? & i5.U"c eiP''alically affirmed, it P' 3 C,ln (7v t0 t-'hW tho above S 'Imnolency . of Joseph 11 fl od " ft i- :,1IVRC(1 vicerogeut of rt 'lioin..vK1, '" ,.ftnli'r (0 those wr od"& 'IV'iey of tho Mormon ?PC S-r ".non God." On ft SKS In11"! tlu: foUving unam- w ' iii IToulSJ. :,,,ou y PreHi,Ir ufc Bri- ' S m!rrv:,!!i '''a'nls of Lho eartli, I ir fHi,.-.- &,:,Ral"1 '! "binet-t When - -I tfy. a hi i,PftnT. 'iV0 Jt w' a celestial "li Jhn ua"?l ,5w- oe of I.Ik wives, w ( ,s ,,0'Id- He is Michael, The Arcli- anset. tlie ANCIENT OP DAYS! Aliout 1 wliom holy moil have written and spoken i he Is our l-'.VTl.lEIl and our GOD, ami lho only GOD with whom wo havo to do ! livery man upon the enrlli, professing ! Christians or non-profe-salny, must hoar , It and will liav- it .sooner or later. They uaino hero, organised the raw material, ami arrannod in l heir order lho herbs of lho Meld, thc trees, the apple, tho punch, lho plum, tho pear, and uvcry other fruit Unit is desirable and -good for man; the aeod was brought from another sphere, and planted In this earth. The thistle, the thorn, the briar, and the ohuoxiou.s weed did not appear untli after Lln earth was cursed. When Adam and live had eaten of the forbidden fruit, their bodk-H becamo mortal from lis effects, and therefore their offspring were mortal. it , For thc present; discussion oue in-slance, in-slance, only, of tho impotency of tho Mormon Hod will be sufficient About, hix months after 1ho organization of tho Mormon church, on April G, lS.'lU, Joseph Smith, tho prophet, sent Oliver Cowdcry -and Parley P. Pratt, ou a mission mis-sion to lho Indians in Missouri, and, incidentally, to preach tho new-fangled gospel to the white population. Ou their return to Ivirtland, Ohio, Elders Pratt; and Cowdery gave such glowing reports of the resources of Missouri its abundant and fertile soil, wild game, climate, etc., that tho Lord (Adam) was immediately impressed with the idea that Missouri would be a splendid splen-did "gathering place" for his "chosen people'' the Mormons. It is well not to press the titular deity of the saints loo closely as to why he didn't know of tlie resources of Missouri prior to the reports of 1'Ilders Pratt and Cowdery, Cow-dery, and why it was that it hail not thereloforn occurred to him that, in his eternal scheme of salvation, it was necessary nec-essary to have a "land of Zion," and an "everlasting inheritance" for "modern Israel." Hut ,J(3cpb immediately imme-diately had a "revelation" to tho effect ef-fect that ho and Sidney Uigdon must go to Miisouri, nnd, while I here, the Lord .would reveal to his prophet tho precise place whero tho New Jerusalem would be built. To cut short a very long story of alleged miraculous incidonts, suffice it to sav thutlndcpoiidonce, Jackson Jack-son county. Mo., waa discovered to be thc ancient site of tho garden of Kdcti, and lho placo whero the future "holy city" would bo built. Also, tho precise hill upon which a temple would bo reared before the genoratiou which then existed should pass away was revealed lo Joseph Smith. And that, upon tho temnlo there should rest a "cloud by day. and a pillar of lire by night," and "which cloud shall be even the glory of the Lord, which shall till the house.'' There is not space to dwell on the tender memories which cluster around thai ancient garden of Fdeu. II is sufficient to say that when Mark Twain "lifted up his voice and wept" over tho grave of Adam, away over in Palestine, that Mark was wasting his tears. The grave of the Mormon Deity was discovered by tho Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith, to be still intact in I'lay county, Mo. And. before J his "anti-Mormon "anti-Mormon screed" is concluded it will be patent, to all bul the saints that tho "Father ami Clod" of the Mormons vol. slumbers in the stale where it is ever the insistent demand of the people Ihat they be "showed." w The sainls were delighted with their "everlasting inheritance." ami there is no doubt that I hey suggested to the old settlers that it, would be to their advantage to move out at once, ami not wait for Adam to take them by the "scruff" of tho neck aTid throw them over the border. Tho .Missouriaiis have always insisted insist-ed that the saints wero iutolerant and impudent in their assertion of their (Jed-given title to Missouri; and the saints have as insistently denied it. But there has been discovered within the Mormon church a man who is as courageous as ho is candid. Near lho close of the recent Mormon conference Elder Hrigham II. Roberts thc ablest speaker, writer and historian in (he church, spoke as follows, thc quotation quota-tion being from the conference report in the Descret News of October 15, 1900; Examining thc biulory of the past, truth compels m! to say that wu, as a people, have not always been wholly blameless In the inninier In whleh sumo things wi-re met In the past. While lho community did not do anything Illegal or criminal in the- days uf .Missouri and IlllnolH. there wan somewhat of fanaticism, fanati-cism, Intolerance and even impudence on the part of Individuals. It n a danger-ouh danger-ouh thing for a people to feel that they aro the favored of heaven, anil that he has made them hts depositories They thus think themselves all powerful and become l'tiua Ileal. Their impudcuco in asserting their close monopoly on Missouri, aud their political unity and meddling, within a couple of years brought upon the sainls the wrath of their uoighbors. Tho saints had sown tho wind, and they were to reap the whirlwind "While the storm was gathering momentum mo-mentum and fury, the prophet was in Kill land. The Lord had "sworn" that "Zion shall not be, moved out of her placo" in Missouri, and ther'o is no doubt that the prophet put tho question ques-tion to the 7 ami as to how that prophecy proph-ecy was to be fulfilled. According to Joseph, he received a revelation on the subject, which may be found on page ;G-1 of the Poole of Doctrine and Covenants, edition of 1D0S. In order lo st lengthen the faith of Joseph and the saints, it is said that; the Lord spoke as follows: ' Heboid they shall, for I have decreed It. begin to prevail against mine enemies from this very hour. Paragraph 0. Again, in paragraph 1-3, will be found the following: Heboid. 1 say unto you. the redemption of ZIon must needs come by power, In paragraph 110 the Jjord told Jo,-seph Jo,-seph to raise a company of ot)0 men. if possible, anil go to Missouri and redeem re-deem Zitui, but a less number would do, as we learn from the following: Therefore. If you cannot obtain live hundred, seek diligently, that peradven-luro peradven-luro you may obtain three hundred. Paragraph Ami in paragraph S3 the Lord makes a yet greater discount of the force that was necessary to "redeem Zion:" And if yc cannot obtain throe hundred, seek diligently, that pcrndventurc yc may obtain one hundred. Tho prophol raised one hundred and liftv men lor his expedition to Missouri, anil before reaching the borderlautl of Jackson county he added lift' more of thc Saints to his company, which is known in history as "ZiSn's Camp." In every respect it was a military organization, or-ganization, and under strict discipline. If Joseph, or the Lord, knew lo what use the imposing army of two hundred men would be put, history has not sufficiently suf-ficiently explained. One thing was, however, accomplished. The residents of Jackson county raised two hundred men, while the people of Clay and other oth-er counties raised nearly as many more, and had it not been for an "interposition "interpo-sition of providence," Zion's Cant), or "Joe Smith's arm v." as the Mis-sourians Mis-sourians called it, would have been annihilated. an-nihilated. Zion's army went into camp between tho forks of Fishing river. The ''enemies ''ene-mies of the Lord' were on the other side of the shnllow stream. That night a terrific rain storm raised the Hig and Littlo Fishing rivers to such a height that the "mob" could not cross, and thus was the "Lord's army" saved from total annihilation. Aud "since that night Iho Mormon prophets have hold that incident before tho world, nnd havo gloated ovor it, as one of the very trrcnt "mir-tclea" which provo thc""di'viiic" miseiou of Joseph Smith! o But what, weio the results upon which, ultimately, tho prophet's claim to divine favor and power must rest? The Saints were driven over into Clay, Caldwell and Daviess coutnies, and subsequently from their entire "in-heritancoa'" "in-heritancoa'" in the " Land of Zion," Tho prophets shield their deity from the charge of impotence by the baby- v. claim that (lie Sainls were not sulVi-I sulVi-I ciently faithful! But lilder Hubert .s j rightly claims that it was because. of I their intolerance and impudence, and the Mormon record fairly bristles with evidence in support of his declaration. Lot us dissect the Lord's programme embraced in the enrollment of "Zion's Camp." and its pitiful ending, anil it will be patent to any one who has the abilil3 to use the" brains that God gave lo b im that the inception ami finish of that hair-brained expedition bear all the earmarks of insanity or downright idiocy. The Saints in the "Land of Zion" were in dire straits, and in need of divine aid. It would have been dead easy for the Lord to have prevented those "intolerant, and impuueut individuals" indi-viduals" from going to Missouri, or, subsequently, lo have killed them off in order to save the lives of scores of others who had the good sense to keep their faces closed regarding lho "ouster" "oust-er" which the Lord held in reserve for his "enemies." But inasmuch as tho Lord's own revelations had incited those "individuals'' to acts of "intolerance "intol-erance and impudence, ' ' ho could not consistently deprive them of their "agency "'to become religious fanatics. Therefore, "the redemption of Zion must needs come by power." And not only were the Sainls to be redeemed, but tho "miracles" embraced in the manifestation of the "power" would be handed down to future generations as positive evidence that the Mormon God is not impotent. The story of how o.lseph fulfilled his part of the programme lias been told. ISvidonlly the Lord couldn't foresee that after marchiug his "army" a thousand miles that a "mob" of" nearly near-ly four hundred Missouriuns would lie in wait for his "mob" (an unauthorized, unauth-orized, illegal force) of two hundred. But when the Saints' Doily saw that his "army " -was up against tho real thing ho did the next best thing. As soon as the Lord made the discovery that his hindsight was better than his foresight he saved his "armv" by wind and Hood! In fact, "wind'"' seems to have Loon the only pot mil power manifested during the expedition. ' So far as known to the writer. Elder Brigham 11. Koberts is the only Mormon Mor-mon historian that has been sufficiently i candid 1X- publicly recoguizo the guff : that yawns between tho unambiguous : predic.it ions of tho Mormon prophet regarding re-garding (he saints', divine title to tho "laud of Zion" in Missouri, ami to i tho predictions regarding thc mission of "Zion's camp" and the fulfillment i of those prophecies. In his fasciuat- : ing story "Missouri Persecutions," . with almost incoherent apologies and i excuses, Elder Koberts attempts to : bridge the gulf. Commenting on the total collapso of thc "'Lord's army" i and its ltiission to '.'redeem Zion,'-' Elder Eld-er Hobcrts, page M'J, has the following: Thus Zion's Camp was disbanded ilad Governor Dunklin possessed the courage It, enforce the law of the state: had he called out tbe militia of Missouri to re-Imuate re-Imuate the exiles In their homes, as at one lime he expressed a willingness lo do. the history of Zion's Camp might havo been different. Hut tJovernor Dunklin lucked Hint courage, ami without ihat assistance .the camp Itself was powerless. power-less. In the abovo paragraph Elder Koberts Kob-erts entirely eliminates the divine authority au-thority behind Zion's camp. The reader ..should substitute tho word Lord for Ulder Huberts' word "camp," aud the last division of his paragraph would truthfully read as follows: "And with-otil with-otil that assistance the Lord itself (himself (him-self 1 was powerless." Elder Poberts seems to have forgotten the substance of paragraph 13, alreadv quoted, and to refresh his memory it is herewith agaiu quoted: Heboid they (the Saints in Missouri) sliull. for I (the Mormon God) have decreed de-creed It, begin lo prevail against mine enemies . (tho Mlssourians) from this hour. It is not an impossible feat for a man to "descend from the sublime to the ridiculous" and retain his dignity, but- for one of tlie Lord s servants, like Hitler Roberts ' to begin his story with thc postulate that the Infinite Power that men call God was behind, above and below the Zion's camp expedition, ex-pedition, and then concede that the Almighty was dependent on the courage cour-age or cowardice of Governor Dunklin for the fulfillment of those unqualified unquali-fied promises is surely si descent into the depths of impotency, humiliation and almost imbecility. k On page loO Klder Koberts continues his apologies for the abbreviated power of tlie Mormon God. aud although superfluous, su-perfluous, they are herewith quoted: Perhaps another view is also admlssa-ble. admlssa-ble. Jlttd the members of Zion's Camp boon more faithful less contentious more united; und had tbe saints in the eastern branches had more faith faith to send up to Zion more men aud more money with which to strengthen the hands of the saints on the laud of Zion the history of Zion's Camp might havo been different. "While the child-liko faith expressed in the above paragraph is most admirable, admir-able, and .becoming, to , children, Hie associated as-sociated nonsense is 'contemptible in a full-grown man. Tho Lord told his prophet to collect 500 men, if possible, for thc expedition. If that number could not be obtained, .'300 would answer; an-swer; or, failing in that, to secure 100 men. It wns the Lord's business, not tho prophet y When Joseph secured 150 men he was well within the requirements re-quirements of tho Mormon God, and it. wiis the hitter's duty to fake care of tho remainder of tho details. And now comes Elder KobertSj who attempts hole bv charging the Lord's failure to the lack of faith tin the part of a MM 1 small number uf poverty-stricken MMm ' Saints! And all of which is a pitiful MMm concession by Elder Koberts that tho MM Mormon Gotfcould not foresee that his vicegerent, Joseph, could not raise tho MMt maximum number of ineu, nor secure a MM sufficient amount of "money:" nor MM could thc Mormou God foresoo that MM Governor Dunklin lacked the courage to MM reinstate the Saints in their God-given MM inheritance. In fact, the Mormon God MM did not foreknow that li is expedition MM4 to Missouri would bo worso than a lo- MM tal failure! And that is tho God that is behind thc efforts of Joseph F. Smith ct al. to establish a theo-political suze- MM rainty over the only government, and MM among the onlv people on all tho earth. M that would tbloralo thc ecclesiastical Mm anarchism established by tho firsb prophet of Mormoiiism, And that is Mm the God that, is expected to damn a ht MM of us "apostates" because wo declino M to longer take any stock iu such a Jbe- MM sotted superstition! Recognizing thc hopolessuess of his efforts to satisfy even himself. Elder Mi Koberts retreats to the last ditch into MM which children and vannuished men crawl when all other defenses are in M possession of tho enemy. Following is MM a portion of bis last heart-rending mM While God's general purposes MM will never ulllmatelv bo defeated by man, MM still upon each side of tbe general pur- MM pose of God a margin somewhat wido mmmj seems to have been left In whleh those for arid against those purposes may write Mj what history they please one that will MM meet with (ho approval of God, or one that will meet only with condemnation-- Mm herein Is tho agency of man. If any human with brains unwarped Mm by deadening superstition cau discern MM anv "-margins somewhat wide." or MM narrow, in the definito, positive, unam- MM biguous, unqualified predictions of tho MM Mormou God regarding tho "redemp- mmm lion of Zion." he should immediately MM enlist in the' "Lord's army," or sock MM refuge in a madhouse. And, according MM to Klder Roberts, the Lord loaves MM "margins somewhat wido" to the end MM that men "mav write what history MM Dwy please" and be damned for usiug MM tho brains which the good God gave MM to them, aud for the use of which ho MM will hold them responsible; or. sur- MM rendering their brains, they may be- MM licvothc illogical rot of which Elder MM Roberts is the most able champion and MM be exalted as a reward for their stu- MM pidity and servility I In other words, t.h'o Lord sets ecclesiastical steel traps MMM to catch those, who exercise their god- kwi given "agency! " jjH In next Sunday's Tribune, a discus sion of ihe "Impotency of tho Mor-mbu Mor-mbu God" will bo further proved bv tho "revelation' on polygamy it3 mWM history and practice. to get his Deity out of a very deep MM |