| Show UTAH PARSON IN NEW jr 1150 westfield new jersey march 12 cries out upon abuses seems to weep over his count rys wrong and by his face this brow of seeming justice he did win the hearts of all that he did angle for A futile attempt to play the role above described was made in the presbyterian church at westfield N J last sunday evening by the rev W R campbell a presbyterian clergyman of salt lake city utah that gentleman was announced to preach against the pernicious activity of the mormon church his text was neither will be with you any more except ye destroy the accursed from among you which is recorded in joshua 7 12 in his exordium couched in a style which could scarcely be excelled by a colorado mine minerve rhe described the mormons cormons as beastly sensual devilish and without any redeeming feature the inference was evident the mormon church was the accursed thing in israel and which israel must destroy in order to regain the favors of god the first reason why the accursed mormon church must be destroyed the speaker found in the teaching of that church about the trinity which he supported by quotations from some books written by mormons cormons on that subject he did not attempt to refute it by argument that indeed was not necessary was it not sufficient to claim that the teaching of the mormons cormons was an accursed thing and hence must be destroyed that was always the kind of arguments with the reformers of the sixteenth century when they burned temples of worship while listening to the speaker I 1 was reminded of the tragedy which occurred on the day of october 1553 1563 in geneva then the abode of the re forhez john calvin on that day there appeared a dismal fire near the sea of geneva A great crowd surrounded a funeral pile on it sat a man forty four years of age with a refined face tied to the pillory two books around his hips and a ed wreath around his head that man was the celebrated inventor of comparative geography the best beat editor of the best edition of Ptole maus and one of the most able writers of his time the spanish physician michael servetus servetus was apprehended in geneva tried and condemned by an inquisition instituted by john calvin whose mot motto like that of his co religionist zwingli ll 11 was Evang Evangel ellum tum sanguinet nem the gospel thir atter after blood servetus asked to be be headed but was wag led away to the fire under the mockery of his tor mentors some of the spectators took compassion and threw dry wood upon the slow alow burning fire after an half hour of torture a pierced the air and all was ashes and servetus was no more john calvin who watched the agony and slow death of his victim from his window was the recipient of applause and congratulations upon his zeal in behalf of a pure gospel bev the crime of servetus consisted in his daring to hold views different from john calvin concerning the trinity yet his accuser his judge his executioner john calvin was himself a heretic he himself made the denial of all authority his cardinal dogma and the bitter mockery pretended to fight the tyranny of rome and in behalf of religious lous liberty and so the rev mr campbell a true disciple of the founder of his church desires to see the accursed thing mormonism destroyed because heresy of on the trinity just a little contrast mr editor tor for the sake of an agreeable change if I 1 were the emperor of the world the ruler of the human family I 1 would never do violence to any man on account of his religious views joseph smith the speaker evidently noticed that his hearers did not enthuse over ids his doctrinal doctrinal discourse and in order to catch the crowd he appealed to their patriotism in behalf of his bleeding country which Is being stricken down by the mor mons who are only americans in name he called upon them to protect their homes and their beloved land he told them of a bill which is now before congress to pay a certain surn sum of money to a high dignitary for services rendered the government of course the speaker did not mention that at the present time there is a bill before congress to pay to the methodist church in the south for alleged damages done to that church during the late civil war when the ministers of that were preaching rebellion from their pulpits against the united states government he pictured the destruction of american institutions by the mormons cormons Mor mons strike till the last armed foe expires strike for your altars and your fires and the effect was wonderful tho the maine disaster weyler the bu butcher teher the lynching lunching lyn ching of negro postmaster the maltreated mal treated cubans the annexation of hawaii and even the silver question were all forgotten an and devery every nan man and woman in the audience was ready to march with hymn book in hand and to beselle the great salt lake city of course the speaker forgot to state that originators of his church were the originators and instigators of every eawy revolution against the governments of their times history will bear me witness that whatever the mormons cormons sam man or did against the government of the united states as claimed even by their bitterest enemies was devoted loyalty compared with the perfidy and ery taught and practised practiced by the reformers of the sixteenth century I 1 stand ready mr editor to make good my assertion by indisputable evidence but the best wine the grand climax the Bassue ts finishing touch came in the th e peroration it was about polygamy hush the audience was w all attention the young ladles ladies leaned forward the matrons matrona straightened their headgear head gear and the men were nervous they heard the speaker read from mormon books and so they thought he had some wretched polygamist husband and wife hidden under the pulpit and I 1 would produce them he disappointed them but an all the stronger were his denunciatory exclamations about devilish here again I 1 must come comb to the aid add of the speaker for he omitted to tell the audience about the views held on chastity by the licentious reformer zwingli he did not allude to the besetting sin of john knox the founder of english presbyterianism nor did he mention the letter of luther to chancellor brucks in which he says 1 I indeed confess that I 1 cannot forbid anyone taking many wives as it la Is not against scripture in a letter to the landgraf philip von hessen whom he and the gentle melanchton gave a dispensation to live in polygamy he writes what is permitted concerning matrI matrimony nony in the law of moses Is not revoked and forbidden by the gospel this mr editor is not a defense of if mormonism I 1 am as you know not a member of your church if I 1 have aught to say against the creed of the latter iatter day saints I 1 will say it in due time and use such honorable weapons as ais christian gentlemen are wont to use in honorable warfare but I 1 plead fot for fairness to all men and abhor all reng religious ious sham and under the existing conditions of society t the morans mormons have a civil right to propagate e their faith anywhere they and in such endeavors they are en entitled ile to the protection of the law and to fair treatment at the hands of the ther ar fellow citizens the mormon missionaries go about their work peaceably unlike the tumult and the destruction of property which was the result of th 2 missionary work of john knox in scotland polygamy is now forbidden by the civil law and also by the highest at authority hority of the mormon church and no one should make accusations with dext absolute proof which no one claims to have bave however the rev mr campbell 32 neither either by education nor by his personality can bring harm to any church hur that lie he might attack and his labor I 1 in n theeart theE the east amt will not mot be of great damage to the mormon church toward the end of mr campbells Campbel great effort the congregation was saying with the poet with all my soul then let us part since both are anxious to be tree free I 1 v VERITAS |
