| Show lyom from the boston commonwealth saturday august kugust 1885 1883 ANOTHER LOOK AT THE MORMON PROBLEM editor of the boston commonwealth A landscape varies in beauty and interest beaucl according as it la is seen from rom tom one or another point of view not unlikely the mormon question may also be viewed under a better light than that under which it appeared in the commonwealth of july will you kindly permit a longtime long iong tinie time subscriber to attempt so to present it now keeping in mind that tion eions 9 on account of religious opinions and practices were very prevalent in the old countries 1 from which emigrated the settlers of ot what now form the united states and that to prevent t the e persecution erse cution of any religious sect in tie tle the united states it was expressly declared in the political constitution of 0 f the united states that con congress ress shall shail make no law respecting at an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof then th the thu e mormon problem is whether mor mons in the united states are arc equally with other rely reli religious bious sects entitled to protection in the enjoyment and exercise of their religious faith and practice including inc ludin iudin the practice of plural ur or marriage by christians arriage marriage ru Is regarded to be a religious ordinance by roman catholics and also by mormons cormons Mor mons it is held hold to be a sacrament the tho roman catholic church hi ill obedience to its interpretation of 01 the bible and its other religious authorities approve celibacy but permit marriage and hold it as the tile only legal and true marria marriage c for a aes ases es it nas has endeavored through terrific maledictions male dictions and by adf awful ul pains and penalties to prevent poly camic marriage on the other hand mormons cormons Mor mons under the sanction of the same bin Bio leand in obedience to it and their other reir religious lous ious authorities discountenance celibacy believe both and marriage to be approved of by god and practice either cither according 1 as their inclination cli nation and circumstances may p permit 1 ermit by shakers celibacy is approved and practiced and all marriage Is religiously avoided in a ail all these sects the conjugal relation be it of any kind whether entered into or avoided partakes of a religion character and the free exercise of it as a religious ordinance by each and ev every ery sect of religionists is as many honest sound thinkers believe equally entitled to protection against interference and persecution wise and politic was the roman proconsul gallio gallic when he told pauls persecutors that as to their questions and the interpretations of their religious law to look to it themselves and not to trouble him with them and so drove them from the judgment seat acts 15 would that congress had been equally judicious in its treatment of the mormon question every religious persecution whether heathen or christian is inic im politic and wrong and is remembered lo 10 the shame of the persecutors the persecution of the witches supported mt as it was by the and reverends of the day is now reckoned as a sorry sony blot on the fair fame of massachusetts chu ehu the present persecution of the mormons cormons in a so called land of liberty and under a political constitution expressly for rell reil religious lous ious toleration will be recorded in history as a i lamentable outbreak of bigotry an and intolerance as a it breach by tb the government overn of its solemnly plighted ef faith falth alth aith for religious liberty and i a wicked and cruel violation of the natural marital marfal mari marf al rights of men and women the commonwealth writer insists that the laws of order and ano decency must be enforced in utah 11 in the opinion of many competent observers whose testimony there isi ita not here space for there was far more genuine order and decency prior to the enactment of the edmunds the advent there of government bials and their servitors servi ithan than there has since been the mormons cormons were orderly and peaceful and ano even evell now though suffering from bitter 0 oppression are peace f ful fui ul order reigns in warsaw Watsa 11 said sald the czar buu but despotism whether in russia or the united states to not order it is concentrated disorder it lt is mental dynamite and soccer or later will explode spreading iri irk misery isery and destruction in its bla bia blast st As for the laws of decency decencies are matters watters of taste custom and habib and vary with times and places A turkish lady is shocked to be seed seca seen by a strange man without a covering to her faz face and sometimes will veil it with her liar only petticoat A well welli bred Ared african lady blushes to be deec for the first time in clothes why should the commonwealth mon wealth writers terIg notion of decey decency be enforced upon cormons mormons Mor mons I 1 instead of their notions bein belu being enforced upon him indecency is a the fruit of buor ance it itis is prolific itic in I 1 vicious mamuri it does not exist in virtuous souls pha and hypocrites every e see much of it unconscious all the while i that it is simply the reflex action of their inward thoughts athe common waith writer emphasizes that it is clear that doli doly poli polygamy gamy is a sin a against ainest the law of na nature ure and anti the law daiv of 61 f society against man inan and against woman I 1 if it be thus so cleat it is wondrous strange that many wise rise and good men who have made it ft a matter of special observation did not so sf see pe it nowhere inace in the B aiple an I 1 ig is there thene the reany any condemnation of it on the contrary abraham isaac jacob moses mosos the psalmists and prophets practiced polygamy said jesus whosoever wll shall shail put away his wife and marry another commit teth adultery against her the sin is not in marrying an other but in putting away the other wife the lord the god of israel sai sat saith th that he habeth putting away gway ll 11 malachi 2 16 so far from being clear clean to plate that polygamy was wrong he suggested that in a perfect republic it would bu be of great advantage to all concerned that wives and children should be in common socrates theodoret st Amb ambrose tose pose st Chry chrysostom st Au augustin ustin bolingbroke luther and other philosophers churchmen and statesmen after careful consideration have concluded that polygamy was wag not forbidden neither bv by the law of nature nor by the word of god and therefore is not sinful all this and much more valuable learning g on the them subject may baay be found in rev kev dr martin madans phely ph thora thord published in 1781 in london dongya by a brother of the bishop of bristol and peterborough Peter borough dr madan there seeks to prove prose that polygamy is a divine law bt of marriage anti and that the dissoluteness so prevalent in the cities of christendom some revelations of which have recently t oen en made through the columns of tile the pall mall stall gazette arii are the necessary and certain outgrowth of enforced exclusive it marriage harriage A copy of dr madans book Is in n the boston public library moreover gibout bout ten years ago there was published in boston a second edition of the history and philosophy of marriage or Polygamy and aud monogamy compared by a christian hris philanthropist ane author was a baptist minister who went to oddia india ondia and there having havin lived jor f or many years he returned he sa it to my native land an older an and I 1 hope a wiser wisor man ile he rema remarks t anat atthe the prejudices of modern ch christians iwa n ftp tp polygamy olega are neither natural I 1 or I 1 but that they have been heen be induced in d uce by the tha t e corrupted cord christianity of 0 the medieval medi osval priesthood and that they will be removed when christian people become better informed frev frey david 0 I 1 alien allen missionary of Q t t the h c A american in erl eri can board of missions for twenty five years in it india in ia his hid india ancient and modern illo IvIo dern a copy of which was was given to the boston boton public 1 library by theodore parker says page page vage boy polygamy Is not wrong as aa it tt exists among jew jews edans and hind ilind doos and thau that the continua continuance nde of the reial relations after they become christian cannot be morall morally wrong tie tle calcutta missionary con conference II 11 arence of missionaries of several sects exclusive ekel asive of roman catholic adopted unanimously the same conclusion 1 1 but let this article articie ai tlde tide now almost 11 most too iong long n tor for your columns close with a bingle n le remark from john Sel sei dens I 1 table tabie able abie talk taik alk aik 11 lie he was a member of the westminster association ter or divines for settling the doctrine liturgy and government of the church of E england n gh of stupendous learning earning in all kinds and in all langu es and of whose table talk coleridge said there is more weighty bullion senye in ia it than he ever found YA the same number of pages in any inspired uninspired in writer feldens Sel dens remark is that marriage is nothing but a civil contract of all actions of mans life his marriage does least concern other people yet of all action actions of our life itis most meddled witti hy by other people now mr editor please allow me to express the elbot of many ma good citizens that the them existing per persecutions of the mormons cormons Mor N mons mong may way speedily and ly cease A E G HYDE HYDIS rank pank dias MASS july 2 1883 1885 |
