| Show A MARES MAKES NEST the accompanying article was sent to the kinsman by me with a request to publish it the editor in charge declined saying it is not what people have been or are but what they ought to be and the truth which makes to that end that is the position of the kinsman I 1 suppose that my article might be declined by the news on the same ground yet I 1 see not how the truth that makes for righteousness is ever to be learned without discussion of what passes for truth I 1 believe the kinsman assumes the ground that discussion is unnecessary and that mr schroeder and itself are infallible ble that is to deny history and make progress impossible I 1 offer the article for publication CHARLES ELLIS I 1 have been reading the record of A T discoveries conce concern rn ring ing polygamy and inspired lies and sundry other from the same author in your paper kind ly insert in your next issue these considerations side rations upon that writers criticisms mr i lies are admitted as discrepancies or even lies it if he likes ahta word better betler and his efforts result only in raking old straws from the I 1 mares mare I 1 s n nest est in which the world has not the slightest interest there never was a theological system established on I 1 earth in the name of religion that did not indulge in what mr schroeder could call inspired lies with as much appropriateness as there is in his application of the terms to what he has found in mormon literature it if 14 he e were to say that the revelation given to joseph sr smith nith authorizing polygamy were an inspired lie I 1 should admit the probable truth of his allegation and follow it up with the aser assertion tion that the statement that an perfect all god gave one of his favorites another mans as a mark of his favor is also an inspired lie that is if polygamy is now contrary to the will and command of god it has always been so or god has undergone a mental and moral growth if he has thus changed that is evidence of the genuineness and authenticity of mormonism for one of its claims is that god is a progressive being if we turn to the life of jesus as 1 shown in the literature of the years covering the life of i his apostles and their co temporaries and immediate successors we find more inspired lies than can te be gathered from mormon literature if it is said they were not inspired it follows that none of the new testament writings were lu inspired for they all come from followers of the nazarene and the dogma of was not determined in favor of any of the writings for several I 1 hundred years after the death of thle the writers therefore I 1 hold that the so called apocrypha of the new ment is just as much or just as little inspired as were the writings now accepted as the word of god the tact fact Is that jesus never established a theology or a church the statement put into his mouth that peter was the rock upon which he would build his church bears beaco internal evidence of posthumous origin jesus was not a pung punster ter his ministry was too sober the burden upon him too great to admit of playfulness ful ness besides the question of church was not raised until long after his death I 1 believe too that the closest manuscripts do not contain the passage to which I 1 have referred but suppose god ever did or doe now choose human beings to be his agents in conveying his will to the world of man it follows that the intelligence telli gence so conveyed must be modi fled by the agency through which it passes As water is impregnated by the bles through which it flows so is the thoughts though tt of god modified by the i agency through which it become Sr speech in the ears of mankind it takes a god to convey the mind of goa and in so fax far as the human mind Is less than the mind of god by just so much Is it possible that even a a prophet chosen by god may err in conveying his will I 1 do not believe that god ever d did d or ever will lay down a law through the agency of the huma dumaw it mind under which any person will be damned tor for neglecting its requirements I 1 but if he has done so then hen r hold that the imperfections of his agents are a re so great apat none can be condemned for calling the law in question for instance god cannot condemn me if in my conception ot oo o 00 O hia greatness and justice i I 1 see such imperfections in his scheme of redemption as presented in christian theology as make it repugnant to my ideta of god therefore I 1 hold that even if he chose one or many prophets in the past they were all human and so equally liable to err as all ail men hence supposing mormonism to have been the work of god as Is said we should expect to find it full of the imperfections 1 and inconsistencies and dis crep accles that are common to Irn imperfect perfect humanity it will be said in reply that agencies agen cleg so chosen have the gift of the holy spirit and that they cannot err that is however impossible you yoa cannot draw a string through a slobbering slob bering pipe stem without soiling it with nicotine ane no more can the holy spirit strain jur thought through a human mind without 1 taking up the conditions of that mufid if then god does use men and bome to convey his will we may expect that will to become more band and more cle clearcy ariy 1 expressed sed as the human mind becomes au more and more competent to recelle and proclaim the divine will without conscious or unconscious 1 if mormonism is true it should be growing more and more godlike from year to year the same is true of every system of theology that claims god as an its author mr schroeder has made no discovery in proclaiming the vagaries imes of early mormonism as inapt inspired red lies he could find inconsistencies and ab X ties in any theology on earth la any religion professed by men the question to be considered to is do the me people still accept the crudities of their early faith as the will of god if 1 falk thley do then to that extent their faith I 1 an injury but it if they outgrow abw weakness of the infancy of their faith and move abreast with the clearest will of god made known to them with the passing years then their faith is productive of progress and that is the will of god forever ringing down the ages in the mind of every human being capable of understanding life judged thus mormonism is doing well it has outgrown blood atonement it has outgrown many a rough wild prejudice and vindictiveness engendered by the bitterness of that old hatred it has outgrown polygamy you may deny the last but it is true let the manifesto of 1890 be withdrawn and polygamy once more given a clear field the intelligent young men and women of utah would abandon the mormon church before they would be forced into that marital relationship even though a thousand revelations should appear commanding them you see progress counts for something and the theology that makes progress is that which will hold the hearts and hands of the people let then mr schroeder peddle his mares nest of inspired lies and give the mormons cormons credit for all the good they have done for themselves whether Wl aether joseph smith was a prophet is of no consequence what mormonism is now Is the thing in which we are interested what presbyterianism was in the days of nonconformists what the catholic church was in the times of the inquisition what methodism was when the love feast was vile these are not the questions but what are they all now they have all grown broader and better so long as they continue to pro grew gress they may be instruments of good and so agencies of god in the world the lies pass whether inspired or not the truth remains I 1 long ago predicted that mormonism would in time grow out of its chrysalis and become a thing of beauty and an american religion based on clear clean human reason as the highest possible agency through which can ever work among men I 1 abay be mistaken but it if so then while it will like all other religions live its day and go a newer word will come for god is not dead but Is ie speaking more clearly now than ever in the undeveloped past all good agencies have my best beat wishes and I 1 know that through many ups and downs truth will gradually rise and spread hoary dogmas may retard but cannot destroy it CHARLES ELLIS salt lake june 10 1898 |
