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Show I Two Kinds of Slavery. I Ingersoll begins one of his essays with these I words: I "When I was a boy I used to see steamers go I down the Mississippi with hundreds of men and I women chained hand to hand, and men standing I about them with whips in their hands and pistols I hi their pockets in tho name of liberty, in the I name of civilization and in the name of religion! I I used to hear them preach to these slaves, and I the only text th.ey ever took was, 'Servants, obey I your masters.'" I That was in our country and was all a com- I mon sight only three-score years ago. I Well, there are other chains that bind the souls of men more firmly than ever iron chains can bind I men's hands. The slave with his hands bound can I still in thought take in all that is beautiful in I nature, and can dream of a time when his fetters I will be broken and he will be absolutely free. The I man whose soul is chained by a superstition can never look out upon the earth or up to the stars, that does not feel the chain that is clanking I around his soul. In a few days conference will I again convene in Salt Lake. There will be no I chains on the hands of those who attend, no one will stand near with whip in hand or pistolln B pocket; but thousands of them will take their H seats on the benches and look up with religious H awe upon those who hold the high seats. What H for? Is It for anything that any ono of them has H ever said or done? H Tho Master claimed that he had a divine mis- H sion on earth and In proof he hushed with a word H the rage of wind and wave; he healed tho sick; H his divine voice "pierced the dull cold ear of H death," and he that had been asleep walked forth. H Has any one of those on the high benches ever H done, anything like this? Has any one of them H ever soon any one who did? They assume ex- H altod virtues over their fellows. What for? Have H they in tioir daily lives shown that they came H honestly by the claim? When one of them sells H the roof over a widow's head; sells tho home in H which she has worked ceaselessly for a lifetime; H whore her children were born; sells it on a title H for which ho never paid a penny, a title made over H to him by a dying man whose soul was bound by H a superstitious fear, does the transaction indicate H supernatural virtues on the part of tho seller? H But when gathered there, the host will be H preached to and every sermon will be "in tho H name of liberty, in the name of civilization, and H in the name of religion." They will tell the people H how free they are, how what they are preaching Is under tho last dispensation, and that what they preach is tho .only true religion. But analyze H what they preach and see if it breaks away in the H least from the text, "Servants, obey your mas- H ters." Do you recoil before this? Let us see if H It is not true. There is an organ of your church here which aften asserts that paying tithing is H but a voluntary contribution. Do you not know H that a letusal to pay leads directly to disfellow-H disfellow-H hip? And is not tho justice of that often preached to you from before those same taber- nacle altars? You often hear how free you are. fl lf 'ou dare to use your own reason and disobey the direct counsel of one of those' in the higher seats, are you not at once charged with possessing the spirit of apostacy, and will your membership last beyond the second or third offense? We cite these things merely to have you question yourselves your-selves whether, indeed, the chain of a superstitious super-stitious fear is not upon your souls? But, after all, that is a matter which belongs to yourselves; but there is another matter which we all have an interest in. Our government rests on the clear judgment and loyal patriotism of the people. Their will is given expression through the ballot. The ballot cast by the units, not by one man for the units. The man who founded your creed declared that . the Constitution of the United States was inspired by tho everlasting God. That has come down a sacred trust in the hands of the people. There was a time when the chain of superstitious supersti-tious fear was so riveted upon the souls of the Mormon people that at the beck of those in the higher seats they would violate that inspired instrument in-strument by voting as they were directed to. But they are all absolved from that now, for he to whom they look with most reverence, as to a prophet, seer and revelator, in tho most solemn form has promised that tho Mormon peop'a shall never more in their political thoughts or votes be interfered with. Hence, if now thoy re-accept that old merciless rule and vote as they are counseled coun-seled to vote by those on the high benches, by the act thoy admit that the chains of a superstitious fear has been so welded upon their souls that they are no longer fit to assume that they are citizens of the United States, or to take any part in its government. |
