Show POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS US kaleidoscopic ac reer of governor arthur L thomas has been occasionally referred to in these columns he assumes so si man many Y phases in an official and semi off cial capacity that his transformations are necessarily a subject for journalistic cognizance asa beligio political missionary he presents now and then a grotesque spectacle several jears ears ago while acting in the capacity of member of the utah commission he showed strong symptoms of ashe mixed that religion to some extent in his politics he drafted a report of the majority of the commission to the secretary of the interior it coltaine 1 l the asual anti mormon assault and becom recommendation mend actions sand and to give a L religious spice apice to the crusade which has been beligio political for many years he adopted adopt eI a set of resolutions passed hy by a conference of the denomination named held in sanpete San pete he thus placed the dual character of the crusade beyond question the evide evidence uee now constituting a portion of a state paper ier perhaps haps he occupied a similar position to that expressed by mr J B R mcbride who represented a part of the political wing of the anti mor imor mona mon 1 crusade at a methodist meeting held in this city on sunday may fth 1882 when that gentleman said that he be felt himself to be on that ocular 0 cular occasion an excellent ex client ellent methodist theodist th odist perhaps for the special oe occasion aslon of using the resolutions of a religious denomination in a state document mr thomas felt symptom of presbyterianism but alas for the stability of men of a certain class foiw the governor exhibits strong symptoms of methodism of course it may be but a religious eruption likely to pass off on the patient swallowing a decoction prepared by some other sect but all that can be done is to ibale ake his bis present status without any cou consideration sidera of future probabilities the M E EJ church hurch is now holding a conference in this city at its session on june the right rev bev bishop governor arthur L thomas was present and delivered a discourse he lifted up his voice and the whites of his eyes and according t to the reported proceedings said he ought to feel at home among methodist people he spoke of the great work which the church had carried on during the past century and it had bad been a mighty factor in the work of christian civilization that it had witnessed the settlement of the country commencing on the atlantic coast and reaching to the pacific coast now in the heart of the continent it was engaging in a contest which involved ahe supremacy of the law and the sanctity of christian civilization he said tle the methodist church had been a power for good in utah that it was early in the fight and would be there to stay he hoped the conference would express in plain language it its views regarding the utah situation and thus add to its proud revord of the past if the reader will scan what bishop thomas said he be will observe that the speech was simply in the nature of a tender to the brethren of a chunk of taffy on the end of a long political stick he was frequently applauded showing that the sugared lump tasted sweet and particularly tickled the palate of bishop ninde who arose carose and said that be was not a member of the conference nor did he have a vote but as the governor hod had asked for an expression of opinion he be wanted to say sav for one that he thought N the mormon church was the mont moat abominable church on the face of the earth that the methodist church had always 1171 ways been loyal to the government and that in the contest in utah it would do its duty toward the government this informal declaration on the part of a zealous persecutor of a christian community seemed to excite the jealousy of the rev bev dr iliff who since he fell from his elevated and consistent perch of conservatism has been doin doing his best to exhibit that hotheaded hot headed beaded intolerant radicalism for which meek exponents of manifestations or of gospel love are sometimes conspicuous it will be observed that his dose of taffy which was dipped in the gall of anti mormon bitterness was designed for the gubernatorial gums alone he offered the following which was adopted unanimously B resolved that wt w greatly appreciate the presence and kind words of governor thomas and we pledge him our hearty support and our earnest prayers p we recognize e in him a loyal representative pre senta ive of the government a faithful administrator of its laws av au earnest sympathizer in the christian work of the territory and worthy of the confidence and trust reposed in him the entire scene must have been strikingly pathetic it should have wound up with a tableau consisting of a triple embrace of the three how sightly it would have been to behold them with their arms entwined around each others necks while they piously liate up their voices and wept at the holy spectacle of a perfect union of church and state this unanimity has been so ardently sought and vehemently denounced nou by the rev bishop governor arthur L thomas that the dramatic picture must have represented tho the perfection of consistency one of the alleged peculiarities of paul ul has evidently not been lost upon his excellency that of being all things to all men that he might 90 gain n some political advantage bishop nindo ninde express ex pressed edon UK n opinion about the mormon church it was far from favorable to that Cb christian crristian ristian body fortunately the gent lemans opinion amount to fe much so far as affecting the truth of the matter is concerned we know without reference to matters of opinion that the mormon church is not at all what he says he believes it to be on the contrary it inculcates the holiest hollest and noblest principles in existence one of its features is that it does not believe in persecuting other religious bodies such a course being auti christ bishop ninde and his church do not take that consistent line of action and as a matter of opinion we will venture the remark that as a christian he is a dismal failure for evidence of this estimate being correct it is unnecessary to go 90 outside of his obtrusive and satanic behavior in the M E church conference on wednesday last poor dr iliff hiff seems to be completely demoralized having of late taken the position of a pronounced enemy of a people who according to his is own statements often heretofore made have treated him with 0 W and hospital ity H ma ims to have been going down the ladder of christian demeanor ever since he entered the political campaign of february last and engaged in the intellectual pupation occupation of carrying around a torch on a 9 broomstick in the ranks of f the ungodly 81 since nee the torch went out he seems to have been groping in the dark hence the terrible mistake he made at the ellb liberal jollification held at the walker house when the shadow that enveloped him was bodeep so dep that he continued to participate in the revelry after saturday night had ad lapped over on to sunday morn ing iga 9 clear hour and a half in the light of current events it may be appropriate to speculate as to which religious sect will next be favored with the aff affiliation illation of bishop thom thomas he seems to esteem it to be his high prerogative to marshal the forces of the sectarians sect arians and lead them to make war upon the saints |