Show eue TUE THE MORMONS w 3 t the fol rol following loIng article on ithe chemor lher mons 11 from ciol the louisville Luis luls ville carfer courier journal of the uit is founded upon two articles published in the london fortnightly review written by the son of earl russel bussel lord Amb amberly enly efly who visited utah last summer bummer the bill for the reconstruction of utah arnd arid the suppression of polygamy which has just passed the lower house of congress varies somewhat the tone though it does not alter the the radical policy of interference with which the country has been so long loag afflicted our washington correspondent gave in his letter of yesterday a graphic sketch of ahe the he leading features of the proposed enactment act ment and since the question has as fumed a shape at once so direct and live it is worth our while to consider it more attentively than its remote anil ani abstract nature has hitherto seemed to warrant mr hooper the delegate from utah presented in his speech before the house the mormon view of mormonism with zeal if not with ability and his remarks will doubtless be read by the country with interest although we may reasonably suspect both their authenticity and their value we do not desire a partisan argument upon a case of this eort sort what we really desire and need is accurate information from some impartial source viscount amberley a son of earl bussell russell better known as lord john bussel russel made a visit to this country a year or two ago and like many foreigners traveling in the united States extended his journey to utah in order to learn something of the great west in general and this remarkable social and religious phenomenon in particular the latter he seems to have made the object of his especial study and that ho he studied if it to some purpose is evidenced by two very superior articles which were published in the november and december numbers of the fortnightly review lle JIe view these papers contain all that it is important orn or orr interesting to know about mormonism so far as we are aware they constitute the most complete and instruct tive compendium of the rise progress and theory of the sect which has yet appeared his ais account is as fair and correct as a perfectly impartial and unprejudiced mind could make it behas he has bas dealt with his subject in the spirit of a philosopher his aim being to know mormonism as it really is it was of far more importance to study the writings odthe of the mormons cormons themselves than the accounts which have proceeded from avowed enemies it must not bebop be supposed ased however that because lord amberley t irley erley was animated by a purpose to do the cormons mormons justice he has therefore found nothing to condemn and everything to admire in their system ou on the contrary their peculiar doati lues cues and practices are to the last degree ob noxious to him but he has not for that reason shrunk from saying for them the best word their case admits of he ile rightly conceived that what the indu inquiring ir and reflective portion of the public desire respecting mormonism is information not denunciation the latter 14 rs is 14 very common and very cheap the former is quite rare and the writer who gives it must be at the pains of studying his subject until he understands it alord did Amber leys Jeys account begins with the origin of mormonism in the banat cal but ingenious and unscrupulous mind of joseph smith and traces its development from this obscure and humble beginning to its present condition of power and importance As this however is a part of mormonism with which all are sufficiently familiar it would w ouid be superfluous to repeat the wonderful bi history story the chiet chief let lef interest and value of lord amberlena Amber ieya leya article is contained inthe remarks he makes concerning the doctrines and peculiar in institutions of mormonism what space therefore we shall be able to spare shall be devoted to a few extracts bear beat bearing inc ing on those branches of the subject perhaps it is not generally known that the mor mons claim to belong to the church of christ and accept the bible as the word of god speaking of their theology lord amberley Am bbrley birley says but wp aso q we do not hesitate to pronounce c 0 that condemnation in the name ot of religion we mustin anstin must most in the name of justice keep distinctly before us the great fundamental principle which lies at the base of the mormon theology and upon which the whole superstructure has been raised that principle is belief in the literal inspiration of the bible nobody no body of christians can be found upon the face of the earth that holds this faith more sincerely more or more conseil consistently bently among the lon bor lor mons nar far gafore tean than gri arl of i T W T elid kitt professed sed ged believers in in its inspiration tho abe bible is constantly appealed to ns us theun thenn the unerring standard and test of truth 11 then after commenting on the common practice among christian sects I 1 of quietly ignoring certain texts which conflict with particular dogmas or modes of life be he continues odthe latter day Saints it must honestly be confessed that they do not thus shrink from pushing their principle to its extreme conclusions if that principle be erroneous at any rate it is one that they did not invent but found already accepted by nearly the whole cf of christendom if the prin ciple be ri night right but their deductions erroneous we must meet them on their own ground and show them wherein their error consists this is in fact the only fair way of dealing with them since they are not responsible for their fundamental dogma the literal truth of the bible we must perforce consent if we would hope to ar ive live x at any impartial judgment concerning the remainder of the system to admit that dogma as a common postulate we are reduced then to one of three alternatives either we must prove that the theologians of salt lake have drawn untenable inferences from the words of scripture or we must admit that their inferences are correct and become mormons cormons ourselves or lastly wo we must reject the postulate and and ana build the superstructure of our theology on some other foundation loun Joun dation f I 1 but the mormons cormons are not content with the bible alone they contend that the bible and tradition without further revelation are an insufficient guide by what principle then do they distinguish themselves from other sects of religionists lord amberley says bays I 1 I 1 what speculative or practical ii superiority rity do its adherents claim to possess over other christians the answer is that mormonism claims to possess two gleat advantages 1 A new revelation 2 A n umlee r 0 f gifts an and d powers which are not granted to other christians the new revelation it ial 19 hardly feces sary to say Is the famous book of mormon a volume containing closely printed pages and divided into four fourteen tien books resembling in external aspect a cheap edition of the bible nible we quote it was the alleged discovery of orthis this book that made the existence of the new nev sect possible in the estimation of the saints it holds a place second only to that of the the tho bible I 1 then follows an inquiry into the evidences external and internal of this alleged new revelation to facilitate this examination lord amberley avails himself of the writings of mr orson pratt rat one of the most eminent of the twelve apostles who has devoted an elaborate composition to the object of proving its title to be received as a ken hen genuine revelation in the first place the apostle endeavors to show that the bible by itself is ii an insufficient guide and then proceeds lo 10 argue in the language of lord amberley as follows with regard to th the a elb Eib leit leaves abarge 6 number of import important aya questions entirely unsettled the roman catholics indeed assert its insufficiency and make up the deficiency by tradition in tradition ue however ow is an uncertain guide for it was by tradition that the canon of scripture was fixed and upon this point catholics anglicans gli cans and lutherans Luth erans are not agreed obviously sly then tradition can us which are the genuine canonical writings by new now revelation alone can this very de and infinitely important knowledge be obtained even it if tradition could demonstrate that the books were written by those who are e reported as their authors yet how can it be determined that the originals were written by divine inspiration how can protestants know without new revelation that any one book was divinely inspired moreover the original MSS are lost and the copies are very much corrupted there is an incredible multitude of different readings and there are no two translations that agree how then can we rely upon the bible as a faithful record of gods word who knows that even one verse of the whole bible has escaped pollution so as to convey the same sama ense use now that it did in the original 5 this is the 1 line ne of argument by which the mormons cormons claim to prove the necessity of anew a new revelation step is to show that in the book of mormon such a revelation really exists to establish this point the evidences of the book of mormon are compared with those thae of the bible the divine origin of the book boob of mormon ia established on the testimony of three witnesses who have sworn that in company with joseph smith I 1 they saw an angel descend from heaven and exhibit the plates before their eyes so that they could see them and tho the engravings upon them distinctly and further that the voice of the lord hen then declared to them that they had been translated correctly I 1 these four persons could not be V deceived while their characters and leli leib cum stances were such that wb we cannot suppose p oke ohe them to have hate combined to receive i 1 I I 1 mankind nay he even urges with great plausibility that we ve have stronger evidence of the authenticity of the book of ml mormon ormon than of tae resurrection of christ of lof the latter event we have the written testimony of only four witnesses matthew john paul and peter therefore when this generation can establish the writings of these four apostles to be genuine and jQ translated stated slated correctly they will have the testimony of as maris marls many witnesses to establish the resurrection of christ as there was in the first place to t establish the divine authenticity of the book of mormon mr pratt next adduces the testimony of the eight witnesses as showing that there are in all twelve witnesses who have seen the plates of the book of mormon and be asks this generation to produce one living witness who has seen even one of the original manuscripts of any of the books of the bible again we must confess our inability to produce the evidence demanded therefore we must admit the statement that this generation has twelve eye wit nesses of ortho tho original of the book of mormon neb net one ot the original of any book boor of the bible I 1 nor does the apostle stop here heres he Is endowed with the gift of interpreting prophecy and thus la Is able to bring any quantity of evidence from the hebrew prophets irl in support of the pretensions of mormonism he professes to find in isaiah the plainest allusions to a certain early convert to mormonism while the construction construe tion of the passage is no less farfetched far fetched and ingenious than much of the same sort of exercise among imaginative agi native christian writers but the mormon priesthood does docs not stop with the assumption that unto their sect god has vouchsafed a new revelation they also claim that supernatural per natural powers and gifts have been bestowed upon them thus I 1 power of prophecy of healing of speaking with tongues of castin eastin casting gout out devils and working gother other miracles are the prerogatives of those wio who belong to this kingdom they claim that according to the scriptures the church of christ should be distinguished by the possession of these powers and they prove this theory by a strong array of biblical texts all other church es it is said have lost these spiritual gifts they are now possessed alone by the mormon priesthood and this fact is deemed conclusive evidence that the mormon church is the true church of god non bellev ers are threatened with dire calamities in this world I 1 and perdition is 18 to be their lot in the life to come the defenders fenders of the mormon faith are not lacking in such evidence as is needed to prove the occurrence of miracles and other marvels as having been performed by the apostles of their sect or if such evidence evi evl deace debee alone is sufficient to establish the heavenly origin of the mormon church they are prepared to fur nishit in overwhelming quantities says lord amberley I 1 if our faith is to be founded upon the testimony of miracles if miracles are credible according to the degree of evidence brought to support them then there is no doubt of the conclusion to which we should bo be led every rational man ought immediately to join the mormon church not only can they adduce evidence which in itself is stronger than that relied upon iby any other religion but they can adduce it under circumstances in which d deception ecea t ion lon is far more difficult while blie bile I 1 however there can be no doubt those miracles which rest upon ther ev authority are to be recel received vM this ligion would carry the day yet its advocates do not insist upon such facts as one of the evidences of their faith miracles in their opinion are not jn intended tended to convert un believers 0 they are treated as nothing but the ordinary effect effects 4 of faith the mormons cormons contend however that they have ample scriptural warrant warray it for be leving ieving that the power to work miracles the gift gilt of tongues of healing of prophecy prophesying ing and divers divera other supernatural endowments should attend and distinguish the true church of christ though as already remarked their theory is that god had bad long since withdrawn these m arbs arba of his ills favor from other christians but that they bey were rf restored stored again to men with the advent of ortho the tho new religion of joseph smith mith the apostle parley pratt presents the following contrast between the doctrines of christ and the doctrines of men it is upon the former that the mormons cormons found their doctrine that iho the ministers of the true church should possess the same tame powers as were possessed by the early apo apostles ales kles tue THE OF I 1 THE doctrine gr CHRIST MEN 11 he that bell belie eveth veti ile he that believeth beli belle eveth voth on me the works in christ shall nat not that I 1 do shall he do do the mira also and greater cies cles add mighty ti works tn thau than these works that he hedla hedia dib did shall he heda dg because altor ihor nor for such wings minos have I 1 go to the theather Father 1 ceased W i r y Is any sick among bof n g if any are aro sick you iet let et him call cail 11 for or among you do not the elders of the send for the elders church and let them of the church or if p pray ra over him the elders eiders come mei do a anointing OT ting him with not let t them b mel in lay I 1 a oil in the name of the hands on them ne lorland Lor dand the prayer ther let them anoint of faith shall save the them in the name of sick and the lord the lord for this is shall shail raise him up all mormon delu dein and if he has com corn bion sion buthena but bena bend fora bitted sins they good physician and shall be forgiven p perhaps erba they may him ge get t we well weil n covet to prophesy D do not t prophesy and forbid not to and it is all ali alia alla a delu speak with tongues sion to speak ia in tongues for to one is given but to one it |