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Show ; Oder McMorsio Assassinates . 3 the English Language I 'it Editor Tribune: It is a recognised fact ,"i that Iho younger people of today lack j reverence, not only in Utah, but tho 1 world over. To many this Is a deplorable ,: condition, but to the person who Is work-; work-; ing for tho happiness and good of man-v man-v kind, this is an encouragement. 1.' We arc living in an age of progress and ;.il enlightenment, and as a result, the tcach-1(1 tcach-1(1 or. the pastor or any other professional 'jjUj man must give his followers something .,! they can put Into practice if he Is going .' i to bo successful P Of course, the present conditions do not ,;jr affect tho teaching profession as the rc-, rc-, ,llgious. 21 is now generally admitted - , - ithat teaching is an art, and as such It ' ';ns susceptible- 10 modification. But our lreligIon, understood generally as a science, ,'ilfi placed more at a disadvantage. Some Mjone has dotlncd it as ' A revealed ' ; science." If so. it appears t hat it should ! , be able to withstand all other sciences. 33ut such Is not the case, and as a re-; re-; suit, we have tho condition existing as !" mentioned in the first paragraph. People are no longer mere hoppers Into which revelation can bo poured and dl-i dl-i 'igcsled without being annlyzcd by Intelli-'! Intelli-'! igence. People are no longer afraid to iiise their reason even on things com-iiHng com-iiHng from God. (or that are at least sup-'; sup-'; 'posed to come from Him). . 'U ' There are, however, some few who still feci that tho old doctrine of threat and 'fear holds sway, and It Is to illustrate t this and also to bring before the people , . iihft utter foolishness of the view that the ' writer wishes to publish a synopsis of a ,fc-ermon delivered In ono of the outlying towns on Sunday, February 13. by ono of , ! ithe first seven presidents of seventies, lr McMurrin). No doubt many church members will say that one man is not a standard, but It Is natural to suppose that a man of that standing should know what ho Is talking about. If he doesn't, he should not hold tho position. Whether or not he knows what he Is talking about, it Is ali taken as direct from God by many church members, especially tho older ones. The following synopsis is not given to injure the good in any organization, but the .writer feels that such Ignorance as shown in a. sermon like this should be brought before tho class that are seeking seek-ing Improvement. In tho first place, tho sermon was almost Impossible to follow, due to Its utter lack of unity and coherence. coher-ence. However, tho speaker began by speaking of the ignorance of some missionaries mis-sionaries that arc sent Into the field to preach tho gospel. To Illustrate this he gave as an example a young man who had been in the Held somo time, and knew nothing of pre-existence, a fundamental doctrlno of Mormonlsm. Imagine what such a man could do teaching that doctrine doc-trine to Intelligent people. Ilo goes into the world to teach tho doctrine that lie absolutely knows nothing about. Hu also tells the people ho knows tho principles are true, yet ne does not know what these principles arc. Think of tho succcbs a teacher would have teaching geometry who had never heard that a straight lino was tho shortest distance between two points, or that equals subtracted from equals the remainder will bo oqual. No wonder an intelligent person Is never converted. con-verted. Of course, there aro many Intelligent Intel-ligent people In the church, but the great majority havo been raised in Utah and havo boon taught the doctrlno from infancy. in-fancy. But tho great majority of converts con-verts are ignorant. Why don't the mls-'sionarles mls-'sionarles bring us home an Eliot, a Hub-bard. Hub-bard. a Turner or a McLaughlin? Because of the vainglory of these men, I suppose the church will say. But If wo look at the sermons delivered tho mystery is solved. Tltp speaker next went lo tho newspapers news-papers and magazines of the state. Tho church papers, he said, were tho best literature published, and that they belonged be-longed to the saints and should bo supported sup-ported by them. Some of tho saints were narrow as ono tho speaker know who was a church official and would not take the News because It had offended hlin in a political stand It had taken. The Js'cws, he said, defended tho saints and thai it was tho greatest paper in the United States In defending truth and liberty; and, as a result, tho people should support sup-port It. "Who would like to see the News perish?" said the speaker in earnest tones. It is not known by tho writer whether or not the News is about to perish, but from tho preceding question and the manner in which it was askod, a close observer might draw that conclusion. con-clusion. And the greatest mystery Is that so great a paper should bo in such a condition. con-dition. The speaker said that some wcro taking tak-ing a paper that was "poisonous." a naper that dared lo cartoon the leader of "God's holy church. "It Is wrong! it is dangerous!" danger-ous!" said the orator, as he kindled In enthusiasm, until ho became so exhausted by shouting that he could hardly talk. Tho shouting, of course, struck consternation conster-nation to many, but to ono that was there to get tho real substance of what was said, It was disgusting. Such threats as "It Is dangerous." no doubt would have accomplished much in Neolithic ages, or oven as late as the time of tho Danltcs, but In an ago of enlightenment they have lost their force. Also whenever a man gets too holy to be drawn by the art of the cartoonist, ho has no business in this world, especially in the United States. Besides we have heard these threats ever since wo were old enough to listen, without with-out any results. They arc llko tho threats of a mother who is always going go-ing to whip hef boy, but never docs so. The child soon growa to take no heed of them The most of us also go to church for something other than hearing a book peddler. Plenty of those come every dny. Rather at a disadvantage, though, due to tho fact that they havo no divine power! behind them to frighten tho people Into buying. It is Just such sermons as these that are driving tho Intelligent young away from tho church Not satisfied with the statements already al-ready made, the sneaker had to finish on the paper question stating Hint people peo-ple must be careful in choosing the papers they havo In the home. "I tell you." he snld, "manv of you fathers and mothers will have your children stand up and say: 'you murdered me by giving bo bad literature lo read.' Take warning, my dear brothren and sisters, take warning," ho continued. Tho writer once moro asks if it Is any wonder that people aro losing Tcverence for church doctrine when such sermons as this aro pushed upon them? Hoping that the people will still continue con-tinue to grow in Intelligence as they are I at present, I am, JEAN MAX. |