Show RELIGIOUS MARRIAGE AND end THE CIVIL LAW home houn comments of the DEET deseret NEWS on that part of president arthurs message menage relating to utah have been telegraphed east and west and have been produced in many papers with remarks calculated to mislead the public as to their true meaning given without the context and Inter interpreted interpret pre ted or construed according to the desire of the dispatcher or editor edl edi tor adding the com ment athe paragraph from thia this paper has done service for those who wish to convey the impression that the cormons mormons Mor mons are defiant and ready to resist the laws and the government we find in the chicago times however a truthful presentation of the much quoted remarks of the NEWS with a common sense fair and able dissertation on their plain meaning and intent we clip the following from a leading editorial of the times reviewing the failures of the various attempts made to solve what is called the mormon problem polygamous cormons mormons do not seem to regard the presidential plan of solving the polygamy problem as an heroic remedy of that amazing efficacy which some bome persons persona who are not saints impute to it A mormon mon paper says bays vory very rationally glit it is not show shown nin in what way the destruction truc tion of our local government would affect the question of poly gamy the plural marriages of the mormons cormons ara are not sustained or recognized by the territorial laws and could not be dissolved by commissions by edicts by armies nor by any other earthly powers why sc because they are ecclesiastical perpetual eternal unless mor mons mona become ned red recreant to their faith with heaven s in other words more appropriate to the expression of ideas that appertain to this world they are annaira of religion and not of politics of eccle biss polity and not of civil poi pol ity of a superstitious falth faith arld arid not nov not of a rational understanding nearly all systems of religion comprehend notions practices and rites of some sort respecting the marital relation this is especially the case with all the religions that rest on or accept the inspiration theory of the hebrew cebre W and greek scriptures the roman and greek greet churches regard civil marriages as aa no less than an unsanctified state of adultery and the anglican church Is hardly different to them in that respect all of them and adad moat of the non apostollo sectaries sect aries too treat marri marni marriage age as a religious sacrament valid on only 1 y in the night eight of heaven when celebrated by the lords an hinted while tb the a civil power may rna y legally separate t those h ose obe whom god hath joined together the orthodox christian notion is that god only can disjoin whom they bay eny god hath joined the mormon religious notion is not different to the most moat generally accepted christian notion on the subject the celestial ma marriage ridget system asserts the sanction and authority of jehovah in the ministry of an ecclesiastical agency of jehovah precisely as the christian marriage system asserts the fiame bame sanction and authority through a like ilke ministry whose spiritual accountability count ability is not to any establishment of civil government the civil law may decree that such religious marriages may not be legal legai may denounce them as immoral in oral orai may sanction severe punishment upon any who practice them and the ministers of the civil law jaw may inflict such punishments if they can convict the offenders by due course of law but all that would not dissolve the celestial marriages nor change the relations of the celestially married in any way how then can a particular form of civil government governments rovern govern ments menti a parti particular cular oulAr code of civil laws lawas or a particular establish ment of civil administration solve the polygamy problem or dig up polygamy by the roots evidently there Is no potency in any form or device of official government that can cali beform such a miracle because the roots of the tb thing ing it is proposed to dig up are axe not within the jurisdiction or the reach of any civil power powers any more than are bre the roots of any other mode of superstition su or idolatry hew rew then shall the It polygamy problem be solved there la Is only olie oile way and that is to emd eradicate leate the religious superstition in which polygamy exists the civil power cannot do that it can be done only by spiritual power acting upon the moral nature of men and women abusing disabusing dis them of an absurd religious superstition of a tyrannical and pestilent faith those who wb 0 can most effectively exert that spiritual power are not preachers of a somewhat different faith resting on ane same bame foundation like parson newman but preachers prea of no faith at all in theories of the supernatural like mr bob ingersoll for ingersoll there is in utah a grand mission and a great work in the preachment of unbelief it is the solution lution eo of the polygamy problem putting aside the facetious facet ions lons sug gediwon of the temes times in regard to the eloquent apostle of modern In fidell fideli ty it presents the views of this paper couched in the paragraph that has been misinterpreted by our enemies and shows their bearing upon the which seems to agitate ao many minds throughout the country the vigorous and sensible utterances of the times are in contrast to the twi stings and wid perversions of those persons persona and appers that have tried to evolve ddom daom our remarks an avowal of hostility to the government of the united states celestial marriage Is ia marriage for eternity under rules ceremonies and covenants revealed by the almighty with the promise that what to is sealed by the authority thus divinely given on earth shall be sealed in heaven heavens and be of full tuli force and eface in this world and in the world to come objectors may say bay we do not believe it but that is not the question we do believe it and it is that faith which leads us to tobay say eay that there is no earthly power which can dissolve such marriages commissions courts armies nations may bring trouble to the individuals and the community and may ay even go to the extent of destroying their lives but this would have no effect upon the eternal nature of heir marriage covenants because those covenants are beyond the reach of any power but that of jehovah unless it be the parties thereto 3 who may may rende their covenants void by iniquity bands imprisonments penal penalties ties of any kind even death itself would not change or destroy them because as we have said bald they are divine perpetual eternal As an the times clearly shows the civil government hass habs hab hns properly no I 1 jurisdiction uris aris diction over that which is ecclesiastical sla sia sias stica marriage sa as a religions reli rell giona ordinance is outside of the domain of the civil law that matrimony is a matter of religion has been recognized in all ages and that it is so considered dered today to day by many millions leopla of in europe and america cannot be denied c mormon mormont marriage Is ia essentially a religious ordinance and that it is in some respects different to other religious marriages does not affect the question of its relation to the civil law if the government feels called upon to enach enact laws against it let those laws be put in force in a lawful and republican man ner to use the frequent language of our oun mall mail malignant giar at enemies net let the laws be enforced in utah as in other parts of the union and this would exclude extraordinary method metho dv violations of the established rules of of attainder e lecial legislation A tio n and most of the unprecedented and irrational schemes devised against the latter day saints to prevent the tree free exercise of their religion this thia whole mormon question st has been exaggerated exaggerate dj misrepresented and worked up into a political issue as a cry for demagogues ands and a text for professional in and of itself it Is a matter that ought to be left to the sphere of polemics and if it had not been so thrust to the front advert advertised ired iced throughout the world and ad made prominent by its adversaries would have formed no occasion for excitement and no national issue to puzzle statesmen and perplex the politicians |