| Show I 1 despicable WORK the creed of the saints lathat is ls that while they have a celestial kingdom which pertains stains to the lue life to come they Irke likewise wise have a kingdom of god on earth which is a purely temporal affair relating entirely to the daily bus business iDess and politics of their people and moreover that is the ODI only legal government on earth and ite t the only legal government that has existed on earth for hu hundreds of years the foregoing is clipped from a long article in a recent issue of the organ of slander which is continually hindering the progress of this territory while pretending to desire its adv advancement by wilfully misrepresenting its people and their belief and sentiments the above extract is but a sample of the many untruths un truths which the article con contains lains we have tried on several occasions to attribute the misstatements of the creed of the saints which appear from day to day in the gilad paper that was ever printed on this planet to the dense ignorance and aad perverse obliquity of the writer bair buir it is clear that this is too charitable a view to take of the matter intentional tent ional falsehood malevolent disc dis fortion of the truth a fiendish spirit of wilful mendacity are so palpable that ones eyes cannot be closed to them to any one who has read the creed of the saints as embodied in their articles of faith and in the books which they accept as standards of doctrine there is no need to say that the statement we nave have copied is not the creed of the saints 1 but the article of which it is a part was waa written for people at a distance who do not know what the latter day saints believe nor what manner of men they are it was also intended to still further blind the eyes of some people nearer home who though close at hand are am as aa sadly uninformed as their thee friends afar off as to the true creed and sentiments of the mormons cormons Mor mons there js one baci fact which should of itself give the lie to such absurdities as those inthe in the clipping above and that is the submission of toe great body of the latter day bainter to the laws and authority of every government under which they liek As a body of citizens they ars are the most law abiding people on earth they pay more respect to 4 the atlle powers that be wherever they reside than the same nimber of individuals not connected with them anywhere and this respect comes from their creed which enjoins it as a ft a sacred duty until he comes whose right it is to reign that is jesus christ the king of kings they are am commanded by what they regard as divine revelation to be subject to the governments and laws that are established ani as regards this ais governments government it is expressly stated to have been in statute d by wise men whom bod god raised up for that purpose that is in the creed of the saints as any one may learn who chooses to read it and we need not mention the only fitting epithet which applies to the author of the fabrication we have copied here is another from the same article there is not a mormon in utah wh who is 19 true to ilia his faith who does not X hold that a command of his bis sovereign president daut woodruff to Is more to him of more binding force we mean than any law that congress h has as passed a s e d the president approved and tt the h e supreme supreme court affirmed aby by this we do not mean anything that pertains to the religious discipline beliefs or practices of mormons cormons Mor mons but to te temporal ral matters entirely no good saint will dispute the correctness of this there is not a mormon in utah who understands and is true to his faith who holds anything of the kind it la Is pure invention if the word pure is not prostituted prostitutes by association with such a vile untruth and its author there is not a mormon nor an anti mormon who can cite any command of president woodruff either as a sovereign which he does not assume tobe to be nor in any other capacity spiritual or temporal there is no excuse for such falsehoods as the foregoing extract contains and the effrontery which accompanies their utterance is amazing so with this a further extract we are aware that great stress I 1 is laid upon mormon devotion to th the constitution but when we examine into that closely we find that even it is sacred to them only as it ha happens to be interpreted by their ch chiefs and that laws law s enacted under the constitution are held of binding no effect if these same chiefs so decree li this is of the same character as the other quotations where is there a line in the recognized standards of mormon doctrine which makes any chiefs chief an interpreter of constitutional law where lathere is there a line which intimates that no law to is binding except what the chiefs decree weissert we assert that it cannot be found if jt cn jet it be produced if not let the author of the falsehood again be branded with the name that is fitting if a spot can be found on his anatomy leaving room enough for another mark of 4 his mendacity we have claimed the right and so have other I 1 mormons cormons Mor mons to ariti else cise and review some rulings of the supreme court on I 1 mormon questions but none of our friends whether I 1 chiefs or subalterns subal terns that we know of have ever claimed any such authority as stated in the foregoing extract A decision of the court of last resort is the end of legal controversy tro versy any one can dissent from its opinion however and give reasons for that dissent that august tribunal has more than once reversed its own decisions and anun en undated at one time the very opposite of its rulings at another time it is final in law but not Hible in principle any one may disagree with its of law but if he carries his dissent into action he has to take the consequences quen ces that is all we have claimed that is all we ha have ever heard claimed by any chief or member of the mormon church but w why hy do all these wilful falsehoods appear just now revamped in the organ of slander just to try to hinder the naturalization of some mormons cormons Mor mons of foreign birth who have resided here the statutory time and desire to swear allegiance to the government and constitution and laws of the united states but are likely to vote a different ticket from that which the daily li beller will dictate Is not this a noble motive to prevent such men from becoming citizens this american paper published by self styled american gen 11 endorses proceedings that are utterly at variance with ameri can republicanism that are repugnant to the spirit of american freedom and that breathe of intolerance and med seval lieval bigo tory and it supplements them with barefaced bare faced falsehoods to prejudice the courts and provoke further farther hostility to mormon applicants there is no DO language that will do justice to such diabolical infamy comparison might be invited between the candidates for citizenship who are thus maligned and many who have been passed without much examination when it was learned they were not mormons cormons Mor mons N boutwe but we forbear however we think any fair man will admit that one who has kept the law and intends to do so who Js is sober industrious truthful religious and peaceable even if he has opinions on the marriage question at variance with orthodoxy is at least of as good moral character attached to the principles of the constitution of the united states and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same as a profane in chaste and infidel inebriate whose chief qualification apart from his five years residence is that he will support the liberal ticket and so will have his naturalization expenses charged to the liberal committee we repeat what we have had occasion to say many times before these attacks on the mormon creed are corroborative evidences of its truth if its enemies cula could find 11 nd facts and verities verifies veri ties wherewith to assail it they would be glad to do so because they would have some force failing this they resort to falsehoods as the only missiles within their reach but perhaps we are mistaken even in that the indications ard are that the love of lies is so ingrained in the nature of some persons they prefer falsehood to everything else and as their appetite grows wit hIts use they scroll roll it under their tongues as a sweet morsel and make it their daily diet they are greatly to be pitied while their work is to be deeply de |
