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Show H' I FAIR AND DECENT DISCUSSION. Hf'j j j ( J I The Deserct News complains of the unfair at- "i;i K f tacks upon Mormonism by preachers and editors, fl 'j , declare that they, "often, with perverse intent, fl; III! ij , misstate the doctrines of our Church, its ordi- fll j li"' jj, nances, discipline-and purpose," and demands that fl! , j '" fl i 1 such offenders be "decent." fl 'jjt l Is that a true charge? Despite what is held R r1 j i if out to the world in the articles of Mormon faith p i ' J are not some of the facts about Mormonism as H h II follOWS? fl i I Jl 11 Does not the system include a temporal as fl Mr 1-1 f we" as sPritual government; a live, active, all- V ij, 31 controlling earthly government to which every B li'hl II Mormon is bound and by which his daily acts and B ' J ,' I conduct must be adjusted? fl fl 1 im Is not "ne nPe and determination of tho B . 11 fl chiefs of the Church to make a peaceable but in 1 IJ '' j' 8 sidious conquest of the United States, one state fl after another, even as Utah has been taken, all fl j u the time proclaiming their loyalty, until at last Bj l ' j If the President of the Church shall become the fl i i j l President of the United States; that then the Re- B ' i o f public may exist in name only; the kingdom be- HJj , I J lng established? B ' ,r j i Is it not true that no Mormon dare disobey Bj Lfl tne command of his President, regardless of the B !j r' consequences that might follow that obedience, fl ' ) i even as Bishop Whitney preached last Sabbath in B j Ija tho Tabernacle? B j l ' I Should one grow out of Mormonism enough to B ' i. jj defy and disobey that power of tho President, H ( I would he not be followed by swift ex-communi- B f li cation and merciless persecution? B i 111 Is it not truo that Mormonism in 'its entire- B" Lll ty is an absolute Monarchy? K.j ) IS What does the submitting of a proposition to a wKil fill vote o a tnousand or ten thousand people amount ill IllI to after thoy have been taught from the cra(lle I ill fill that their souls wiU be l0St lf tUey dIsobey I M nil Is ifc not true that if it; is necessary to lie or HP 7 Li II commit perjury to carry a point against Gentiles B i i 11 1 tho Mormon faitn and teachings justify the act? H I if 1 What different is it in fact from the rule of H j 'J David and Solomon? H J j J Is it not true that no faithful Mormon can H: j ' ' m give his first allegiance to the Government of H j ffij the United States? Can a man serve two mas- H U ml ters now any more than he could two thousand B j m years ago? B , j , M Is not political power the one thing more than Hb4 If lal any other desired by the Mormons church lead- Bn'M 1 ers? m ' ji Jh Has not every public act of the Mormon em- H f HB phasized this fact from the day when Joseph H; ' m& , Smith had himself appointed Lieutenant General HeVtl HH o an army wltllin the UnIted States, but not of HI' I ffli ' tne "United States, and then announced himself HI? m& a candidate for President, down to the swinging Hl ' I j of the vote of the Saints into the election of an Kj ! Ml Apostle to the senatorship of the United States, Hj i S . but confirmed the charge of a ceaseless thirst for Hm mil dominating, political power? H ; ( ,W Again is not the belief in polygamy as pro- r! ItWi 1 nounced today as it was fifteen years ago when Kit IMI tl,Q PenItentIary was fllled wlth polygamists for Bfy Jh principle's sake? K! fwa " Polysamy is but suspended nominally, would Hi ImA not an order from the President of the Church re- B 'ji lm store it in a day in all its old potency? HI 'ifl Are not the slncerest Mormons waiting ex- B ! Hm pectantly for that very order? K; (f Was there a Mormon high priest of any degree K'l 'Mf that urged any objection to what Apostle Grant K i ! ' ma said to the students of the University, except to K1 hi deplore the imprudence of the utterance just at Hif 'ill this time? mM- I SB Are they not a11 o1jlise(i to teach the divinity Hf M of Polygamy? mw !m Did not Heber Grant expresu exactly the sen- E fj timents of every one of the apostles and high Hjfi w priests? K I'm Tho claim is that the head of the Church re- BBJk qeives direct revelations from Almighty God and' reigns in his stead on earth, reigns not only over a spiritual kingdom that deals with the souls of men here and hereafter, but reigns absolute over a temporal governmcat which is as legal as God's command can make it. Cannot tho dullest mortal see what a menace this is to a government of the people, by the peo- f pie and for the people? And if let alone, if the highest officers of this kingdom, with their utmost fealty bound to it by blood-curdling oaths, are sent to represent one state after another in the Congress of the United States, what will happen when the great masses of the people of this Ropubllc realize the full facts? Of the Mormon creed so far as it relates to men's salvation we have nothing to do. The News says it is accepted as divine by many thousands of men and women. We are not interfering with their faith and never have interfered with it except when it .set at defiance the laws of this Republic, or under form of law sought to subordinate our free government to a monarchy; mon-archy; but we insist that it deserves no more consideration con-sideration politically than would any other alien power, and that it should not, under a pretense of excessive loyalty, be permitted to send its high priests where they Avill sit as representatives of millions of people who hold the government of the United States dearer than aught else on earth. Tho News is "sure that this system and the people who uphold it are going to be a power in the earth." Very possibly. The Mohammedans number millions and are increasing. Lord Lyt-ton Lyt-ton makes Zeus say that "if there were not gods, men would invent them." The order may grow greatly, but in the United States it will eventually eventual-ly be made subject to the righteous laws of this Republic or it will have to seek some other land in which to uprear its throne. . . . |