Show yat THE PEOPLE SAY Jious lits abil kt i the synopsis of liy alio llio llcy S mcclain aln the synopsis af pf tho lecture on obedience by the rev J mcclain of this city as published jn your issue of the dinst borne fea lures I 1 would likes lo 10 notice not however to brace up the mor mons as his argument presents no nc v points and the ground taken by him has been contested so often ahat for them argument is unnecessary but to call tho gentleman tf attention to a few of the many graver charges ho makes against a birst I than roan higher power will state there has been no resist unco on the par of the cormons mormons Mor mons to any of those general laws to which he cites us nor as yet to alie enforcement of the edmunds lw it is true that tho ad the payment of tribute but equally truo that he stated it wag not richt but a stronger physical power demanded it wherein the citation of beut deut 17 approaches the ground the gentleman wishes to occupy it is not denied that at tho time the lord pet lia baud to lead israel oui 01 egypt that the nations of the arth acre very corrupt lascivious idolatrous dol and unjust in consequence of which we find the lord through moses preparing for his people a new and distinct code of laws altogether for their govern mant and that whatever may havo been the pagan or heathen laws under which the people had ifred they were then required to liyo gods law now right here the that those were pagan laws and heathen customs the people were called to obey all through tho books of exodus leviticus numbers and deuteronomy the commandments of the lord appear to charge they were not pure that they partook of sensuality and that he failed to give the aright kind of instruction to maintain the sa and purity of tho homo circle is going a step too far there was and there never will be a better or a more appropriate time for the lord to have placed his seal of condemnation on polygamy than when he spoke to moses the magistrates and judges who were to be chosen by the people were to of and administer the laws given i bogod himself and not the inhere was a among the people of that day was wrong who is to be blamed if polygamy was so condemned where h the record kalifo read the jaw fit the lord a laid i by moses we find alie of home circle was not forgotten and the severest punishment was to be visited on who treated lightly the mari ariage vow or invaded the sacred precincts of a roans family and debauched them but mark you there wag nothing eaid about the monogamies monog amies order that our friend bould have us accept instead tho i following bif brath ten dwell together and one of them dimand have no child the wife of the dead shall not marry without to a husbands brother ahall take her to him to wife and perform the duties of a husbands brother unto aier deu 25 5 see also balance of the law aon tins point I 1 ask how is a married man to law if god did not want him to enter into plural marriage for mark you there was no proviso in it exempting him if he already had a wife but on the contrary lie was to be publicly disgraced before all israel see duet 21 ch 1517 15 17 where the lord makes express case a man lias two wives and arct era hia second to the first a prohibition is placed on him that lie is not to wrong the offspring of the first wife again if lie take him another wile her food her raiment and her duly of shall not bo de mini shad ex 21 cli 10 no condemnation dem nation as onerea for his taking another but simply a rule to govern him in that relation if I 1 understand der stand the estimation the rev gentleman and place on mhd bible it ia to word ot lord when therefore he believe that polygamy aims a death blow at tho most sacred relation marriage eliat U women that it dc birones her place of honor and power does be not charge the almighty with a dereliction of duty in that he did not denounce that inn aa mr mcciain calls it in bernu which are plain and easy to be understood in that he gave instructions regulating tho conduct of people in that relationship in that lie FO often speaks in loving terms of his servants abraham and jacob and others and promised hent hatin them and their seed should all tho national the earth be blessed in that he gave the bivs of saul to david to be his davids and thus directly assisted to aim a deathblow death blow at the roost sacred relation vives the fall marriage and 2nd diun did not tha lord make a great mistake when his prophet he declares david that which was right iu eyes the lord nod turned not aside from finy thing that ho commanded him all tha days of his life save only in tho matter of uriah alie hittite let kings 15 55 yet we arc told that davids conduct dog radee women de thrones her from her place of honor and power mn editor I 1 marvel at such a mode of reasoning by those holding i the bible to bethe word of god because it put sour heavenly father in alie light cofone who 13 not tho same yesterday today to day and for ever aud that he deals treacherously with his children or else it sweeps away for ever tho claim of tho monogamist that his is the only system of mar ciriago in favor with god tell us why such areat blessings were conferred on polygamists and and their posterity if their acts degraded women surely if it does now it would then christ himself not against any of choso men but told the people if they were the children of abraham they would do the works of abraham and it was the boast of tho apostles that our savior was a descendant of abraham through the loins of david I 1 have no desire to contend over this matter christians should not do that but I 1 speak in defense of the sacred record as it stand and repel the charges so often and flippantly made which implicate the deity for a lack of plain and fair dealing with his children in matters of such grave importance about every decade some one professing to be a servant of god comes along to tell us what the bible the word of god tea clies on the marriage question and as often they have retired from the task crestfallen crest fallen and defeated and like leviticus and parson newman subside on the question sine die I 1 think there are quite a number of clergymen who adroit the old testament leans on the polygamy side of the ques tion while others again falling to find in it the kind of timber wanted for an argument have said some hard things against the patriarchs rev H W beacher advised the christian ministers to go after the cormons mormons Mor mons with the new acs lament and whip the old one with the new strange advice that but traditions and customs long es are hard for us to lay aside and to maintain their rightfulness ful ness their votaries vot aries are placed in strange attitudes at times not all and many times have have attempted to decide against the laws had a very difficult duty to perform but it was a duty all the same As witness the refusal of the patriot fathers to obey the laws and in refusal of the our own day the northerners to obey the fugitive slave law A truth is still a truth if millions on millions of people do not believe it thousands odmor mons bear testimony that god spoke marriage question now let some one of those professing to bo gods servants pro bessing to administer in his name and by his divine authority in the ordinances of tho gospel speak to us and give us the thus saith the lord ou this matter and th enaud not till then will they have an equal claim to our consideration finally if they are goda ministers and are called to teach us of his bays that we may walk T his path s they can give us besides we believe sides the moral sense of the chiv world something besides the public conscience something besides the demands of of people give oh give us the word of the lord and forever dry up this fountain of contention II 11 you cannot do alna how can you expect any ono to lay aside ills convictions based on what he considers a divine command for a belief unsupported by a like command 1854 may |