Show av ir T THE MORMONS IH IN DOUGLAS in fit the masonic hall leleon man me f W 11 14 ajl asle 1 f I 1 i smith continuing said enid it was a fundamental law own land that all people should worship god as they thought fit and the congress of the united states could i ass ft a law to prevent religious freedom as such a law would be an infringement on the fundamental principles on oil which the government was based they were fighting the battle as a a constitutional one and when it was decided they would conform to the laws of the land which might be given in plain terms on oil the question of morality lie could speak with confidence having grown from boyhood to under the shadow of the faith laith and having been taught by a mormon ni mother othe r to respect the mormon law il e had been brought up tip to t believe bel that flint a person could never be numbered among the hundred and aud forty four thousand who stood around the throne if lie were guilty of sexual sin by their creed v very every man woman in and child was to be to respected and lie had been told by a mormon mother that lie should honor and respect women those were etlie the views of the latter day saints as taught and insisted on by men who were wert looked upon by the world as evil they had gone and made a home for themselves ilves in a waste they had gone out to live in a desert and they lad only drawn from other nations and countries those who were believers in the tenets of their religion at onetime one time utah territory was the most forbidding portion of the american continent but they had tilled the ground built houses lioums and made their homes there and they hoped to be able to maintain their position they were before the audience in that hall that evening as the representatives of thai that people and they had not the sympathy ofa ill liula dr a dozen persons in the building yet they were the agents appointed to preach the gospel of christ and they were determined to do their duty they were quite willing to tramp the world meet ing with all kinds of rebuffs and scornful treatment their names would be traduced traducer trad and themselves cast out yet they would defend their doctrines and their faith and none could be more willing than they to meet with hardships and trials they believed the gospel came from god and they were there to represent the cause which was first and foremost amongst all causes cause on the earth religion was known to all there was a world of religion around them and it could easily be realized that education and training went a long way to foster the growth of any particular faith and adv any interference with a m mans a ns r religious legious i belief was not pleasant to I 1 his feelings in the search after truth no source from which information might be obtained should bo be neglected and by gleaning from all sources they would be 0 most likely to see the way to go to their saviour and hear the welcome words well done good and aud faithful servant mr kell kelly we know all about that preach mormonism interruption rup tiou and cries of turn him bim out mr smith sinith to say that the theory y of IDI tile latter day saint was that the power of the gospel was restored on oil earth in ili real reality ity the he power had never been wholly but the tile christian doctrine had bad undergone such a change by having heathen ceremonies ceremonies en grafted on it that it had lad lost much of its merit and anti efficacy the claimed to be ile goverio governed I 1 by th alic samo same principles and doctrines doc aa as were taught by the saviour while tie lie was on earth in older to make religion pleasant and palatable people bad t aught many strange doctrine doctrines but their theories and ideas were not ill in iee I keeping ee aing with early christianity faitel fainn was the first great great element of I 1 re religion ligion it was not the e only element but it WM w the chief one 3 men ten judged of mormonism who knew nothing whatever about the subject who had never studied d the lives of the tile mormon people or r seen them in their own home jt it was waa too hard hajj to judge of them at a distance more especially to those who were ignorant of the great principle principles by which they were governed they contended that certain great pr i gnei plea were necessary when christianity was founded and that such pr principles inci ples were equally necessary in the present r es ell t day there was perfect harmony i armony in all things which god had lad created they could not remove one part without destroying the symmetry and usefull usefulness ess of the whole errors had crept into the church of christ after the death of the apostles and such men as luther wesley and knox had gone to work to allow the evils in the church of their day as did not belle velh an such things as the forgiveness of sins silis in return for r money payment and warned the people aga against irist such things yet good as tho those semen men undoubtedly were not one of them claimed to be sent of gd they were inspire inspired d by a holy zeal and sought by by every meansie me ansin their power to stem the current of evil which was swamping the earth and sweeping men do down 1 I to destruction luther never claimed it a good and phoua man hear hear never claimed that he was divinely appointed not until the time tinie of joseph smith sinith a man whose name was reviled leJ and who suffered all manner of perse persecution cu tion was it the case that the lord had raised up a a Prop prophet liet to bear witness the world would not believe the claims of joseph smith it looked upon the thing as wt impossible he ile mr smith aid not know thai ha h could speak of anything more interesting than the life of the great P prophet joseph smith was a man mail who came prominently before the world at fourteen years jbf age and who had since won for himself honor lionor and fame at the period referred lo 10 there had been a great religious re res vival smiths father and mother jol joining a tl the e presbyterian church J joseph s 1 1 smith himself was not satisfied i I 1 I 1 with this but rather inclined to a the tile doctrines doc of the wesleyan church after the revival meetings a dispute arose anion amongst t the tile ministers with regard to art getting in g the converted into the different churches und and tills this was the first thing that led the lad to consider religion ion he ile thought that one and not every system could be correct whilst in in this state ul of mind ilia his attention was directed to the pi passage lesage which says sava that anyone can call get wisdom who asks of god in faith fa etli and with out a wavering mind mini he ile presented himself before heavenly father and prayed that the lord might inight use him as an on instrument to do hia ilia work in the world at that time heavenly messengers aphea appeared red to him and directed him as to what he lie should do but when he lie repeated the story to his minister lie was laughed at and ridicule waa was thrown upman him when he said he lie had conversed with i a holy being he ile as was told that he must not mention such a thing or he lie would meet with abuse and slander and yet in spite of all the lad said he lad seen what he eaid said had bad been seen and heard what he said he had bad heard bearo he did not care for ridicule god the tile father was his witness s and he be did not dare to go back A although he and the family of which he was a member suffered sufi cred all kinds of persecution he held fagat to the truth and aud when ho wl or rived at 18 years of age he again claimed to have had a conversation with an angel who visited him and instructed instructed him re respecting his mission and the way 0 of doin doing his work ho ile was told that bg h 4 would be an outcast on the face of the earth but that he lie would be revered and venerated by those who would be converted to his faith at first he stood alone but now his ilia followers were a numerous body 7 1 and numbered in their ranks men of lionor and worth three witnesses had bad testified to the truth of his statements one of whom dr david whitmer of Ilich mond Alis missouri was yet livin living 91 martin harns and another being now dead these three men bore witness to the truth of tho the mormon golden bible he the tile speaker had taken the boek book of mormon tu to mr harris shortly before he death of that gentleman ari and d asked him if the declaration made by himself respecting it was the truth and his deathbed death bed tol sol emaly assured him hini that what he had testified was true and that the book had been brought from froin beav en by an ail angel then mr whitmer another of the witnesses was still living and could be consulted by anyone who doubted the authenticity of the boek book mr johnson why 1 i d ehe lie not a mormon now mr smith epla explained ined hat that certain had aliben whilmer whitmer and joeph smith and lie lad become an ail apostate this however did not the credi ability of the book but rather the contra contrary because if ir it had been a fb forgery none would have been ill ing 1 or read ready than david Whit merlo to procla proclaim iiii the fact it was noteworthy that in spite of all the di difference rence which arose between the two men whittier always steadily maintained that the book of Mormon was ef of divine orl ginand uund came as a direct gift from the al mighty not one of the three witnesses biad gone back on oil statement and two of them lad gone down to their graves testifying wit with their last breath to ite its truthfulness 1 then thero there were eight witZ emes and although some of them had turned away from front their f faith aith not one of them lad gone back from what he lie had bad bestif testified led some of these witnesses testified that ar an angel had brought the book in m tho tile shape of golden characters platea lates en graved with egyptian characters which joseph smith was inspired to translate and delivered them to the latter latte r before their faces A voice had the ancel angel a mate matea nal rial body mr smith joke joseph h smith says it was given to him ty by an angel of god A voice waa wu it a real book or was smith only inspired to write it ac mr smith it was golden book A voice V oice ie Is it there now mr smith was understood to say that it was it again gaich taken by the anel gel joseph snit smith received power from god to tran lat the book bool and LT athe e the r angel c stood by him turning the tile I 1 rif plats 11 over asche translated ta em I 1 several persons had test testified ifie d t I 1 lat they had both seen and handled the golden plates and that they knew smith had what lie claimed to possess the they had examined the plates leaf by leaf and it was noi possible oss ibl e fora number of people ed in such a manner as that A voice where did you eay say t they hey are now mr smith in the hands of the angel moroni foroni Ik who brought them and in whose care they are tire now mcjohnson Mr Joh Johnson fison I 1 will give a history bf atoo smith and find the angel moroni roni next sunday I 1 would sug suggest gest that this meeting now come to a close wa like to keep decent time here mr smith anyone who chooses can leave the room A voice I 1 am going by the one boat and I 1 dont see the use of bringing it to a close yet mr smith I 1 an am quite willing to proceed mr sou I 1 am anxious to make arrangements for the discus sion next sunday I 1 want to put this matter in a very dif different light A voice I 1 should like one or two points to be discussed tonight to night there are many present who will wil I 1 not be here next week another voice had the angel a spiritual or a physical body I 1 mr smith who spoke against great interruption said that tho the angel moroni was ft it spiritual body and was seen by spiritual eyes with regard i to doctrine and faith the lormans mormons lor mons believed lu gifol holy scriptures and that the L lord ord wol would again vait the earth in the lull nesi 08 of time tile they believed he lie was a pattern atterb of the true church and andun un fess lesa a man mail had faith and anti repented and became baptized bap tied he lie could not participate in oin the resurrection to everlasting glory they they believed in the tile whole of the ordinances of god and that at no tinie would would such ordinances cease to exist ex iff tin uncil t I 1 1 the second camill coming 9 of christ tie would say that they believed the whole of the holy bible abild not of i t I 1 on YN a and nd that the 91 scriptures crip tures meant ex exactly ta ly 1 they said the tile regulations for or the proper government ament of life were there laid down an and d they were as binding now as ever they had been th the e bible had bad been given for th the gul guidance of the human I 1 family a mily and ita its truths were as much truths today to td day as when they were first written by the tile inspiration of god mr then rose and said he lie desired to ask one or pr more q questions aes ues it had been promised to the audience that a few questions might be asked at the close of the meeting s i kiil a a it ivan after dpn he e t thought h 0 u it about time to allow a few questions to be put it was not fair to close the mouths of those who desired to put forth a few question questions a mr ir smith 1 the hall is my property until the ine meeting eting is ia over and I 1 decline to allow questions to be put 1 ask oak you quietly and as a matter ef of common courtesy mr smith said they were not to be outraged in the building they had bad ill themselves em selves paid for and that tha i t they would be most happy to meet mr johnson on the hap following 0 boing sunda sunday y evening for the purpose of discussion they believed iu in the gospel as revealed to the ancients and taught tha none would walk i in the tile presence cresence of god goa but those who relieved Eeli believed eved in the goepel gospel as it was laid down at the commencement at this stage the interruption interrupt iod became very ery great and h amith t th f m brought g t the meeting to a close b by y pronouncing the benediction considerable co n I 1 sider sid erable ablo excitement was manifested at the tile close of the meeting and it was somo some time before the liall hall was cleared ed |