| Show congregational MINISTERS aulie aubie eor nob eok FOK POLYGAMY WM BARTLETT the tho pastor of plymouth congregational church chicago preached a sermon on tho the loth instant on the subject of the family in which w li ieh ich be retook betook took tooh occasion as we learn from the chicago post pos to give his views on the subject of polygamy connected therewith and now receiving no little attention from the american pub lie the post in alluding to his discourse hayg not so much because this gentleman is the minister of or a large congregation of influential fluent ial intelligent people not even so much because he is generally known as a prominent thinker and writer in that denomination which has BO so many leading maids of the country not so much for both these reasons as because he belongs as a pl citizen of the republic to that school whose teachings have destroyed slavery uprooted all political caste and made the nation free do we make mention of a discourse the truth and wisdom of which we wish were instilled into the hearts of all the people of the land mr bartlett does dogs not mot approve of polygamy he thinks the family ia Is a divine institution and as divinely instituted monogamy nono gamy is a part of it he says baya polygamy is nowhere commended nor are ara there any moral lessons based upon it on the contrary he thinks the history of solomon the chief of polygamous sin sinners neis aig and particularly the history of his latter days is an ull uli unanswerable argument against polygamy he branded that klug king wilh the red hot iron of condemn atlon ullon and then skinned him to the bones he made him out to be a great sea eca sea a wag awag s it is not our purpose tv to comment on this part of mr bartletta bartletts Bart baut letts discourse uis course we differ diff er with him respecting his conclusions about polygamy and the testimony of scripture in reference to iland it and certainly think solomon wickedness no more an evidence against the institution of patriarch ial lal marriage than the idolatrous conduct conductor of jeroboam king of israel and the dissoluteness of george the fourth I 1 of england are aro evidences evidence sot of the hurtful tendencies of r monogamy but it is his views in relation fon ton to the measures under consideration at the present time for the extirpation of the people who believe in patriarch lal Jal marriage that we wish 1 to lay before our readers mr bartlett Bartlet fc cannot from his record and public avowals and censures be looked upon as a man having the slightest leaning towards the pecolar institution of utah yet the treatment he would extend to it would those who are in favor of sending fire and sword and army contractors to 10 this territory to civilize its inhabitants he would wipe out the institution and aud because he would wipe it out he would do it by means not only adopted to the end by moral forcee for ceib crib but b which the enlightened elv of the ao age e would approve no drop or of blood should according to his view bo 1 shed in the contest or could be without the gravest crime As for the particular politico religious horror BO so many people have upon the subject it must be taken for just what it is worth and no more due regard being had bad to the laet tact eu t u quote from the post that only een ten years ago nearly all of us were upholding an institution infinitely worse in all respects than polygamy and in det fact embracing that atrocity in the tho infinite variety ot of atrocities of which it was the parent the institution of african slavery but even though the nation were sinless now and had bad been as pure as snow for centuries for the toleration tio n of flagrant wrong in the past is no good i reason why I 1 it t s should bould be shielded now or in the future we quote again from the post we should never draw the sword against tho the polygamists of utah because as a remedy for such ills it has long since become obsolete there are so many better surer and even quicker means permanent and thorough cure being desired that we should be in the last degree stupid not to say criminally blameworthy to use such means as used centuries ago cast a black shadow over the fame of those who had a thousand excuses and palliations where we could not possibly have one it is mr bartletts bartletta Bart letts opinion in a word that brigham youngs institution in utah as a religious monstrosity Is only paralleled in view ot of the enlightened civilization of the age in which wo we live by the politico i religious monstrosity of what is known as the cullom bill there can be but little doubt that herein mr bartlett correctly represents the thought of that liberal school of thinkers who have led the public opinion of this nationality and are rapidly taking position as leaders of the public g lie ile opinion of christendom they will lot not let the world be turned baek three centuries even in the cause of the destruction of tile the utah harems bareis they will not let slip the dogs of war in a contest of a religious nature they will put down the evil but in such way that tile the cure shall not be as bad as the disease let the christian chuich church in all of its different denominations pronounce la against that monstrous barbarism practiced practiced upon tho the shores odthe of the areat salt lake let them pronounce with equal earnestness against the equal barbarism of an act of congress which coul could donly only with complete appropriateness pr I 1 aane be written in blood and they w will nind find polygamy ygo go down before their peaceful assaults and the operative cooperative co in of commerce travel journalistic discussion and the irresistible power SJ of millions of families organized on the tho onty only principle which is consistent with the laws of nature and of natures god otherwise we may indeed destroy the monstrous evil of polygamy but in BO so doing would certainly hast bast enand might speedily s hee pee bring on the ruin olour of our oun free republic 21 |
