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Show - C .3 O M J ). olv U lien-en Wto Was Ex-. Ex-. rolled From' Ccnjress . Scores- the Hev. Dr. ; Tlicujscn and Other Presbyterian iiinistcrs. ' Erigham- H. Roberts was the principal princi-pal speaker at the Tabernacle yesterday yester-day afternoon on the occasion of the ilutual Improvement conference. . In his address Elder Roberts scored , the Rev. Dr. Thompson and the Presbyterian Presby-terian assembly. He. declared that the Rev. Dr. Thompson's address was an in-citatlon in-citatlon to mob violence.. ." Elder , Roberta used as his text, the sdngle work "How?" After reading a portion of. a "revelation handed down lin 1832 promising worldly knowledge to 'he Saints, he said it was the duty of ""all Saints to keep advised concerning Worldly affairs and currect history. Toms oa . Presbyterians. "It Is only a little while." he said, 'since the ministers of the Presbyterian church assembled in solemn conclave to consider their own church work and, incidentally, in-cidentally, vo look a little after ours. One of the' propositions advanced at that meeting involves nothing more and nothing noth-ing less than to crush Mormonlam. If they are really going to crush us I think we are a little interested in knowing how they are going to. do it. "One of the speakers who, the dispatches dis-patches say, was most applauded, said that Mormon Ism 'was not to be educated. not to be civilised, not to be reformed, but must be crushed.', I say we are interested in-terested in knowing how. this is to be done- Fortunately or unfortunately this gentleman set forth his ideas as to bow it was to be done. He compared the , church to an octopua and quoted from Victor Hugo telling how the octopus put forth first one tentacle and then another, wrapping the victim in its slimy colla. And he adds, "There is one moment in .which to seize-it," says Victor Hugo. It Is when it thrusts forth its head. It has done .it. Its high priest claims a Senator's Sena-tor's 'chair in Washington. Now is the time to strike. .Perhaps to miss it now is to be lost.' . , - .That Congressional Affair. "Wonderful wisdom, worthy of a great divine! A most 'lame and impotent conclusion con-clusion . like the labor of the mountain, that brought forth a mouse! If my voice could reach 'the gentleman I would tell him that, away down in the inner recesses of . my soul, I have a faint recollection of a. time. in 1898 when a certain gentleman gentle-man was elected to Congress. They j said then that that was the time to strike and I have a faint recollection that they struck. In re.ronse to the sentiment created cre-ated by men l.ke those at the Presbyterian Presbyte-rian assembly Congress refused to receive re-ceive the gentleman from Utah. "But what effect did that have on Mor-monism? Mor-monism? 'About as much as a mosquito alighting on the moon would have on that celestial orb. and I haven't heard that the . gentleman on whom the delivered de-livered the blow has had his shadow grow perceptibly less In consequence of it. I do not relate these things with any bitterness. I understand the law of the gospel that we are not to answer railing rail-ing with railing and that we are not to smite those wjjo smite us. The Church Of Jesus 'Christ occupies .a position so exalted that It may smlle o'n ths efforts Cf men to destroy it. Their senseless resolutions res-olutions and their impotent fulmlnations fail harmless at its feet. "Nothing LefCbut Porce." "When you are dealing with a thing that is not to be corrected by education or by civilization and which cannot, be reformed, what agency will you invokeT There is nothing left but force. Force means mobs and armies. Can it be that in the nineteenth century in the midst of Christian civilization a body of religious ministers propose, as we are led to believe, be-lieve, to cast aside education, civilization civiliza-tion and . reform, all these enlightened methods, and that brute force must stand out as a religious institution? And the man who voices that, sentiment receives the most applause from the assembly of the divines. . "In the same spirit in which these anti-Mormon anti-Mormon resolutions were cast in the Presbyterian., assembly in Los Angeles, they declared that the law could ' not reach Joseph Smith, but powder and ball could and they finally did. They struck down the prophet who was then the head of the church, but it did not hurt Mor-monlsm. Mor-monlsm. The blood of the martyr was the seed of the church. His death became be-came a holy recollection to the church and his teachings sn inspiration to the Saints in the time of trial. "When the church survived this blow at its head they said it was the genius of Brlgham Young that kept the church alive -that when he died there would be a contest con-test for his position that would disrupt the church. In the providence of God he passed away, yet we now have 'an institution insti-tution more powerful, bettor organized , than any other earthly institution except, perhaps, the German army.' The church has survived because the work is infinitely infinite-ly greater than any man or any set of men." Causa to Bejoice. : "But would you believe that this very assembly, by the action they are taking on their creed are contirming tho teachings of Mormonism and proving the Justice of the Lord's Judgment." Here he read the doctrine of predestination predestina-tion which he said was not yet reformed and the part that was reformed concern-, ing the damnation of all but elect infants. He referred to the confession of Rev. Mr. Thompson that "sectarian churches' in Utah were a protest and little more; sectarian sec-tarian schools an invitation and little more," and exclaimed: "I rejoice in their failure and I rejoice and am thankful for their acknowledgment acknowledg-ment of it. I hope they will go on reforming reform-ing their creed, adding a little light and a little more and a little more until, when their eyea become accustomed to it, they may look upon the fullness of the truth." |