| Show WHAT WE MEAN AW ANT WHY WE MEAN IT it is a matter of notoriety that from the organization of the church and prior to it all who professed faith falth in the ille revelations given through the tile pr prophet ophee joseph smith have been the special butt of every kind of malevolence malev olance persecution se vituperation violence and falsehood the virulence with which we have been subjected to these carry the mind back forcibly to those medieval ages now usually usually Y spoken of with such contempt when protestant and catholic not satisfied satis fled with tho the colv conviction 1 c that each respectively was certa centa certain in of the horrors of hell in the future sought SOUil lt strenuously to hasten each others exit to it byllie kindly offices of faggot fa ot and rack it is matter of surprise to many why the animosity against us has been and isso is so general continuous and violent they try to find a reason for it in some enormities practiced byus by us anda and are rethe tiie tile more ready to believe in the slanders perpetrated against us because they think such an ail exposition of feeling is so unusual in this liberal and enlightened piret pluet nineteenth couth century what is the matter they query what is is the cassez cause wily are you hated so intensely we will try to briefly solve the problem there are at least two underlying rea sons for it if which hinge Z upon each other othern the first is that there is eternal enmity between the powers of righteousness and the powers of evil the second that talat we have dared to exer exercise ciso elso the tiie inherent right of man to think and act for ourselves As long as truth and error confront each other so long there will be enmity between their them and error will use the only weapons it ean can command to crush the truth and aud aa as long as men will fexer eise cise their right to think for themselves the vanity and prule of those from whom they differ in thought and expression while under the influence of evil eyll will riso aso up in enmity against them the most salient point of our faith is that selled seized upon for the time being as the cause of enmity against us whether it be polygamy baptism for the remission or belief bellef in present revelation tho the first is practiced by four fifths of the human family yet mol moi mono to ganiats exist on terms of amity with them tile the next one lias has numerous believers now but there is no special animosity manifested against them on that account the tiie last is as widespread wide spread as spiritualism has made it and the world shakes 11 it ll lustily by the tho hand and all these can lay hay aside their political feud feuds S their social disagreements and religious bicke biche rinds rings and unite together when the gospel has to be contended with they can fraternize we have no fellowship with iniquity no brotherhood with those who practice evil honest inen men when their minds are disabused Dis Ois abused of error listen to the truth embrace it and rejoice in it dishonest men inca when foiled in ono one attempt coln to injure fife ilie th e cause of righteousness in one direction change their base and attack it ift in another direction only to be again foiled and beaten wo we aro ayo quiet and orderly mind our cur own business manifest industry enter prise this is the anani testimony of intelligent and unprejudiced strangers passing through or s sojourning sojo among Us it may be ithac ithac these are great greaf crimes since we are hated so c cordially ondia ordia lly liy for them but we are so obtuse that we cannot see it we are no lovers of strife and contention 0 of debaucher debauchery intemperance and corruption and readily plead guilty to the charee charge we havo have an object to accomplish ill in the spread of truth the teaching of mankind industry peace and goodwill towards each other and in the amelioration imell oration of the condition of the human fa family nilly we vve pursue this object in the way that the almighty has d deigned el 9 ned to reveal and as it differs from tho the ways of those who wiio oppose us we must een ean efen elen abide the tile results does docs it pay our enemies to eon con continually take the initiative ili in molesting us by voice and pen and by still more vigorous methods when opportunity offers if they will carefully covault consult the tile past and employ a competent to net up the results thuy thoy they thes will lad find it is a losing business b us iness we have been mobbed plundered and driven without just I 1 cause or reason shown or advanced but our loss has been trifling compared with that of those who were guilty of these while they still have restitution to make our enemies need not flatter themselves that they can induce us to enter their th air filthy puddle of polemics our course is is progressive 0 and upward not retrogressive and downward f we can bear to hear and read their slanders misrepresentations and falsehoods unanswered and at them we wo know the impotence of the influence at work we we can say to them keep at it it is the only way you have of spewing out that i with which you are surcharged ged by the the enemy of truth we are used to it and dont mind it men ihen inen will ili judge the spring by the quality of the lenient element that flows from it |
