Show al WHAT THE PEOPLE AY plural marriage alio sense of world and tho barbarita Barbari tr or christian aco plo and courts with their balso logic EDITOR HERALD now that audgo zano has declared that alio edmunds law was not passed in tho interest of morality and further that it cannot be construed to apply to persons not in tho marriage relation the only inference that can bo drawn from hia latest version is that the sole aim and intent was to reach and ostracise ostra cise the mor mons only it is doubtless understood der stood by him that tho mor mons claim to be practicing practising celes bial marriage by divine command hundreds have borne testimony to tho validity of that command it occurs to roe that it is an impossibility for any man on earth to say that god has not revealed his will in this regard no matter what he may believe in relation to it except the almighty himself speaks to him and authorizes him to BO de dare there is no force in the denial nor is the status changed when numbers more agree with him to jhc thc extent of fifty millions or any other number if there has an in df vidual learned or unlearned given us the thus saith the lord on the question I 1 am ignorant in regard to it the testimony of the latter day saints on this point is not contradicted then by any one having authority the belief of the great majority in christs day was that he was an impostor troublesome fellow a dangerous character a blasphemer that stephen ought to die and that the strong arm of the law should be used to repress tho new sect paul himself seemed to be a deputy marshal for ho says ho was armed with authority and was around I 1 guess making arrests much the earlo as is being done now I 1 come alien fo the conclusion that the opinions of the majority on matters of divine revelation or the divine mission which was in times past claimed by llie prophets and the savior himself is hardly a safe cri terion to go by all professed be leevera in the bible are a unit in saying that the great majority of yo olden time were wrong and pray tell me what better ground does the great majority of the present day occupy in their opposition and disbelief there is another matter that is not bite so clear to mo as I 1 would lakeit to be I 1 for over thirty years it has been i sounded in our ears that the coles bial marriage system of the mor mons outraged the moral sense of the christian corid it seems to be looked upon as immoral and by very many the second third and so on wife has been rated with the courtesan court ezan and harlot and it was to repress this immoral practice that the christian churches ss bea sought congress to enact stringent laws against it yet zane says in substance that congress has nothing to do with our morality that the slate aud territorial legislatures have to deal with such matters the supreme court claims cons gress has alie right to pass all laws for the territories in fact has all and exclusive jurisdiction over them that then being the case by aliat sophistry does this self styled representative of of people reach hia conclusions and further if the status of the wives in the estimation of the christians is the same as the harlots what lias the marriage relation to do with it and why should illicit intercourse in unlawful wedlock be different from that outside of it why should tho former outrage the moral sense of just more than tho latter again in regard to the selection of witnesses As is well understood the cormons mormons Mor mons believe in the divinity of the revelation on celestial marriage and from their stands point thare is no crime committed no one h robbed of any right be to them and the interested being satisfied with the relationship existing between them there naturally exists among them the family ties that aln dg blood relations together the world over la it then anything but torture and that the most excruciating to put a mans son or hia daughter on the stand as a witness against him and compel them under pains and penalties to give evidence that will confine him iu tho biary the childs vision sweeps over the past every act of the fathera haa been fillad kindness kind nesa ilia fatherly care liaa zealously zeal busly guarded them in their young and tender years they hear again his gentle mi that saved then in the hour of temptation recall his wise counsel that made them see and understand the amenities of life and when the angel of death was hovering over their couch they wil big great care and unceasing arid uncomplaining labors to hiim ter unto them the child 13 filled with filial love for that father DO matter how many more there may be in the family what must be the feeling of such a witness alien lio looks upon the gray hairs of his aged sire se ea the bowed and wasted lorm of hia fath er in tho prisoners place and him compelled to disclose the situation of and relationship that father sua taina inthe in the family circle where all satisfactory well knowing that by tho decrees of men his truthful answer will send that innocent father to the prison shame on those who wreak their petty apito against a creed they cannot cope with on the christian standard the bible and with or at their back whose minda are biased by the slanderer shamo on those who resort to such methods to ish others whom they cannot turn from their honest convictions or their duty to their families and obedience to the god of heaven 1851 |