Show W H SHEARMAN DEFINES HIS POSITION IN RELATION TO THE LATTER DAY SAINTS AND THEIR RELIGION twice in my life have I 1 sacrificed every earthly consideration and endured hatred obloquy and ostracism rather than be untrue to my convictions and now for the third time conscience compels me to take the same stand under more difficult and trying circumstances than before so long as the mormons cormons Mor mons were riding the flood tide of prosperity and power I 1 kept silent but I 1 was born with sympathies for the under dog in the fight and now in the day of this fisted peoples affliction my iny feelings are enlisted in their behalf the time is approaching pro aching when every man will have to take a stand for or against them and it is not in my nature to wait until forced to do what conscience and judgment ap approve so I 1 deem it best regardless of consequences to clearly define my position one of the ancient apostles advised the former day saints to be ready to give to every man a reason of the hope that was in them I 1 neither hope nor expect to be able to give reasons for my belief in the truth ot what is called mormonism that will satisfy many men to say nothing of every man nor can I 1 state so clearly and fully as I 1 could ifould wish the reasons that satisfy me of the correctness of my faith there are at least seven great and vital problems which today to day agitate the world and which the wisest of mankind are trying to solve they are first the true position ot of woman and her equality with man second the social question or the relation of the sexes which may be considered a part of the first proposition third the temperance question fourth the ownership of land fifth the relations of capital and labor sixth religion its nature and sphere sp liere seventh governments their source and power on all these subjects mormonism gives no uncertain sound an answer to and solution of every one of them can be found in its principles mormonism is denounced by those who do not net understand its principles or aims as an attempt to return to the ages aged of barbarism the fact is the very e ry r reverse everse A has taken the lead in I 1 all I 1 lim important reforms and it grapples fearlessly with problems that the wisest statesmen shrink from handling in its earlier days it incurred the hatred of slave holders bolders because it was opposed ased to slavery it was and still is renounced denounced by orthodoxy beci because tuse it teaches that there chere is hope of redemption from sin beyond the grave thit that though all men will be severely punished for their wrongs without the possibility lity of escape the punishment will not be eternal unless the sinner continues wilfully and eternally to sin it teaches that itoman woman in her sphere is equal to man in his bia that the woman is not without the man in the lord nor the man without the woman wor rian in other words that there is no f full nal and complete complete salvation for either separately rate y if the woman is dependent on tile the man he is at least east equally dependent on her this of things that are unseen let us turn to those that pertain to this life from time immemorial woman has been either worshiped as a goddess that is thy the few or treated worse than a slave as with the majority there have been two social codes one for men the other for women men could violate every principle of virtue betray degrade and desert as many women as they could and society still held upen apen doors and arms to them but what of the poor victims they must be ostracised ostracized and thrust into the slough of degradation and want in this life and into the darkness of despair in j the next but mormonism has one i code for both or rather while hold ing both guilty it holds the man the i ati guiltier of the two while men every where ere excepting the honorable minority regard women as their lawful prey and while professing 11 horror at the idea of any one a acknowledging two wives will have as many mis tresses as their influence and means permit mormonism condemns all intimacy of the sexes outside or the marriage relation and imposes on its members the most sacred obligations to respect and so far as in their power to defend the chastity of ever every woman in the world of whatever name or nationality As between these two social systems I 1 am first last and all the time on the side of I 1 marriage but this is an important s subject and demands f uller fuller explanation than space will permit here As to temperance that is and always was an integral part of the mor mormon mon I 1 religion in a wider abider and fuller sense than mere abstinence from intoxicating liquors on the land question mormonism is equally emphatic it recognizes the fact that the earth is the lords and the fullness thereof that he holds it so 80 to speak in trust for all his children and that the few have no right to monopolize it to the exclusion of the many that like air and sunlight it is indispensable to life liberty and the purs pursuit alt of happiness and that land d mon monopoly opo I 1 v is 8 the worst kind of robbery for it defrauds unborn generations this will doubtless be branded as another dangerous mormon heresy mormonism also holds that whatever the talent with which individuals may be endowed it is obligatory upon them to use their sifts gifts for the good of the race and not for their own exclusive gratification that we are the children of one common father and that there should be one universal brotherhood and operation cooperation co of ef tort so that all might figr enjoy the blessings of life and be knit together by a comm community unity of interest and by the ties of brotherly love in reference to religion it takes the common sense view that while all re which do 00 not violate natures laws should be protected there can be as with all scientific truths cruthi but one true system B briefly rie ft y pu put ti Mor mormon morill religion consists in believing that god is our heavenly father who knows what is most conducive to the welfare and happiness ot all his children and in keeping his commandments that his will Is implicitly and joyfully obeyed in heaven and is destined so to be on earth producing here the same peace and happiness that prevail devail there the government of god this is the pivotal principle upon which all other ether reforms turn the keystone to the social arch without which all will fall to ruin until gods government is established upon the earth all ref reforms arms will be but partial fleeting vain as they always nave have been and ana it is in reference to this very principle that the great struggle will be made think of the political condition of the world divided into a vast number of discordant and ani antagonistic agonistic states each trying to outwit and rob the other either of commerce or people eople or territory or all combined M the people but arver puppets up in the hands of their rulers ever and anon compelled to cut each others throats destroy each others property inflict tin inexpressible expressible suffering sorrow and privation on each others families and to fill the land with widows and orphans and the sounds of lamentation and mourning and for what in nine cases out of ten in order that some ambitious and unscrupulous potentate may add a few square miles to his dominions a few more coins to his treasury a few more taxpayers to his list ano and a few more soldiers to his amy to keep up this horrible state of affairs the people are taxed to pay enormous incomes to their oppressors and are required to maintain immense standing armies besides hordes of officials to to collect receive and spend the money stolen from the people in the shape of customs and other unnecessary taxes when gods government is established as it will be some day clay all this will be changed peace will supplant war comfort and prosperity will exist everywhere instead of penury and woe while universal love and brotherhood will banish animosities and hatred this is what I 1 understand I 1 mormonism to be and these its grand purposes if I 1 imagined for a moment that I 1 misapprehended apprehended mis its objects or that it was simply a scheme for the enrichment rich ment and aggrandizement of a tew either in this world or that which is to come I 1 would have nothing to do with it but I 1 jove it because it designs to bless and benefit the entire race or at least all who will permit it to do so true it has accomplished com comparatively amatively arat ively little to what it would would have done had all its professed disciples faithfully e exemplified its principles in their lives but it is a point of inestimable value gained that there is an organized body of people who even believe in these principles how such grand and stupendous changes in the social and political condition of mankind are to be effected and the necessary details perfected mortal wisdom cannot tell I 1 t am content in a the assurance that the lord knows how and will in his own time accomplish them that they must come is certain if the latter day saints prove unequal to the glorious work others will be found to do it but it is their mission and I 1 believe they are able and willing to make the sacrifices necessary to establish the nucleus of such asocial organization the cond conduct net of many has sot not accorded with these views but it ought to be unnecessary to say that I 1 have no word of justification or excuse for wrong rong either in myself or any one else theny there is one standard of character for the high and the low the rich and the poor whether prominent or obscure the soul that kinneth must suffer the consequences but this I 1 do know that any professed latter day saint who is not striving to live in public and in private a prayerful humble upright kind pure noble and unselfish fish life is not living in accordance with his professions and his covenants but I 1 also know from sad experience bo how w possible it is to strive after such a life and yet fall far short of it for these and many other reasons though not a member of their church my lot is unalterably cast with the I 1 mormon I 1 people in their struggle to correct their own faults and to establish the principles for righteousness justice and true liberty of all mankind that they will ultimately succeed in this I 1 have not the shadow of a doubt though I 1 do not pretend to foresee how machof much of disappointment humiliation and suffering they will have to pass through first except that it will he be all that mortal nature sustained by divine strength can endure for many months past in the see seclusion in and solitude of my chamber have I 1 carefully and prayers prayerfully all y considered cons con the subject and earnestly and disinterestedly terest edly sought to be led to right conclusions this appears to me to be the path of duty the only course that offers peace of mind the cost has been deliberately counted la in one scale I 1 put reputation friends comfort social recognition prosperity and life in the other ostracism probably financial ruin suf suffering ferin possibly poss bly death and DUTY the Te decision elsion is in favor of the latter those who desire to ignore me for that decision will save m me e much embarrassment e m barras by doing so in an n un unmistakable m is nc anner I 1 can truthfully 11 ay say that I 1 have besought the lord to save me above all things from error and in the Ian language guage of luther here I 1 stand god help nae me I 1 can do i no DO other good christian people dont be afraid that the I 1 mormons cormons Mor mons it will not suffer enough for all their mistakes and errors whom the lord loreth he chast eneth 11 he wants and will have a tried and pure people whom he can trust to faithfully and unselfishly carry out oat his purposes for the benefit of the entire human family the squeezing process has but lust just commenced nor willit will it cease until every drop ot of injustice impurity and unrighteous selfishness has been eliminated from our hearts and all who work wickedness from the midst of this people no doubt many very good and estimable persons will also be unable to co endure all that the latter day saints will have to pass through but those who do and survive may be trusted by god or man to an unlimited degree and in all things the rod is going to be used with severity but as sure as the lord lives when he has done with the rod he will bum it I 1 wish all men could realize as I 1 do that whoever takes part in or consents tto ito gross injustice oppression or the shedding of innocent blood whether they be jew or gentile mormon or mohammedan professed saint or avowed sinner will wish they bad been burned at the stake before the they had bad ever given their consent to th these e ye things this saying will provoke the sneer of the skeptic and the evil doer but I 1 know whereof I 1 speak having tasted the sweetness and beauty and glory of the heavenly world aud and the awful bitterness and anguish of the opposite T the h e painful al consciousness of my past errors and my present inability to conform to the true standard of a divine manhood has made me shrink from my present step more that any other cause but I 1 t KNOW that the lord jesus christ lives and reigns in the affections of millions in heaven as he will yet in the hearts of the majority on earth and notwithstanding all my 1111 imperfections perfections I 1 love him and elect to serve him as best I 1 can my present course being the result of that determination mi I 1 love those who do love and obey obby him of whatever name or sect band and am sorry lor those who do not dot so understand his character and teachings as to be attracted thereby W H |