Show BLOOD an able EXPOSi exposition tIOU of 1417 1 I 1 doctrine I 1 1 AS THE MORMONS BELIEVE IT 4 1 i 1 Hon Joseph A weata reply newly to kate field fields S art article acio on r 3 the subject tho the following article entitled mormon blood atonement appears in the december number of the north american review lie it ie 15 from the pen of ilon joseph A we west st I 1 have heard of the principles of blood atonement I 1 believe in it as I 1 be bei lieve in the expiatory power of the christly sacrifice Buc on calvary in the september number of the review miss kate field said 1 I in anre replying I 1 1 mr joe jos mr V joe jos A west a vo mormon annn absolutely asserted that he had never heard of monstrous doctrine as that of blood atonement 11 0 mass field is absolutely mistaken neither before the committee of the house of representatives nor at an any y other time or edid did I 1 cyer ever de deny r 1 y ray my knowledge of bf that doctrine T the he official report of the committee compiled by the committees official a copy of which is herewith the editor of the review contains coat Aias my remarks in full in them are but two references to the subject as follows from page 11 mra west I 1 tho the thrilling bloodcurdling blood curdling stories told t this his committee by mr air baskin have anc principally ally been gleaned from thia this paper the salt lake tribune they are not original with him by any means but have been collected by the reporters of that journal journ alp and arid published by the tribune company in in y various form forms and scattered el broadcast C throughout this and other lands their I 1 object ha has been to arouse a b itter and unrelenting prejudice A against against t tho the mormons cormons Mor mons and thereby secure what they could not get otherwise unjust and unconstitutional legislation placing an insignificant minority represented by them in a position to usurp authority and tyrannize over oyer the mormon people these stories stories have been replied to in detail in in various publications ard have been proven to be absolutely false the majority of the statements that mr baskin has quoted as extracts from tha religious publications of the mormon church if they are to be found there at alig all are certainly no not in the form and connection in which they are given by him lim mr air baskin I 1 read from your own church bible erwest mr west and you garbled what you read you did notreab no tread what proceeded or what followed but took out independent paragraphs and put them with something else you did not tate state the under which those statements were made or the occasion occasions that ravo gave rise to them if you had read the whole of the text it would have presented quite a different phase and mean meaning lug from crum page a V mr west so far as the charges charkes which mr baskin makes against the mormon church of blood at atoning g people cutting their throats etc for violating church laws it is all nonsense non senie mr baskin knows that it ie Is not so 1 I mr baskin I 1 e expect x you to deny it of course IF mr west I 1 ch challenge illengo you or anybody else to come before this committee and say that hay they know from personal knowledge of any acta acts of violence of that mountain meadows massacre or any other kind that tho tile mormon church has ever committed I 1 e any aa ny man nian to do it I 1 have lived in that territory all my life lire I 1 was born in sa salt it lake I 1 am ain a mormon and I 1 can truthfully eay say that I 1 never heard such a monstrous doctrine taught as that made to appear from fram the garbled extracts read by this is gentleman to the committee lec the other day I 1 know it doea does not form any part of the I 1 mormon faith I 1 know that the mormon people do not execute any tiny such penalties upon anybody or any other penalties that for violations of church laws members are simply from the church and nothing more our books proclaim that it is not the province of the church to execute corporal punishment nn on any suy of its members it men inen who offend against tho the law should I 1 LI be turned over to the law I 1 that hattley they should render unto the things that are chiard that is the be position of or the mormon beope in reference to thi this matter blood atonement was not the euh suh jept under discussion and avd very prep erly I 1 did not attempt its elucidation my only words concerning it were a rebuke to mr baskin for garb garbling linZ the texts which he quoted miss bliss field in turn wilfully wil lully attempts to make that rebuke unavailing by mutilating my protest and ignoring ig norina its solemn remonstrance then the lady proceeds to explain A mormon formon blood bloo atone ment with as little success if truthful presentation be her object as she achieved in quoting my plain words there is willing secret in the doctrine its theory or practice at roost most it ills Is but a logical and pur pure e continuation of the belief of all christians la n christs sublime atonement for the eins sins of a AL fallen dij face juat as that supreme sacr sacrifice idee is an illustration of the idea under which smoking incense was raised from altars by men kofold of old our saviors crucifixion was 96 blood atonement for sin it re deem man from eternal death but there are mortal sins which de deprive the doers doors of expiation wrought by jesus and the tile shed fi hedding dink of their own blood is the ouy only sacrifice oce r which can cansar saye e sach cuilty ones from an outer darkness which shall benj endure juro forever in genesi genesis it is written eh sh eddeth bans mans blood by man shall shut I 1 his hi blood be abed bed and through our doctrine itna covenants aich Is the repository of 0 t the a accepted creed of tho the church gou goa declares de olaree 0 then thou shall not kill but he lie that kill eab shall die mis miss field in one respect ie correct we are literal be in n gode gods words we do not accept acce banging a fulfillment th of the sacrifice because by that at death the murder murderers erlis blood Is not literally shed but we distinctly disavow any individual or church right to execute that plain law of necessary blood bloid atonement for our doctrine and covenants especially commands 1 if any a rions among you shall kill they thoy shall be delivered up and dealt w with ith according to the tile law of the land for remember that he lie hath no forgiveness and it shall be proven according to the lav law of the land among christians no argument can bo be required to prove that christs death was vas an infinite atonement for the infinite condemnation which flowed from tho the adamic sin nor to prove to all who believe in humanity free agency that after having this redemption offered to him a man can so 0 o sin as to lose loss his claim upon christs atonement and to make his own blood forfeit to eter nal naI justice upon no pointon point of religious belief is there a greater of authorities ev every cry act of wilful transgression trang mastbe followed by it adequate penalty either in thi this life or that which is to come well yell will it be for the sinful man jf if he may atone for his lis guilt by the loes loss of earthly comfort earthly time or even earthly existence encel not all sins require an atonement y the shed blood odthe of the wrongdoer and yet killing is not the only mortal of fence in relation to a certain wicked thing saint paul wrote to the corinthians C concerning him that bath so done this deed in in tho the name of our lord jesue jesus christ I 1 to dehiter such a one unto satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may way be eared saved in the day of the lord jesus we believe that after a man has coyen covenanted anted with almighty god to hold himself spotless from the ein sin condemned by paul if be he fall into that awful wickedness atonement must be made with hi his life other wine the spirit will be lost in the day of the we lord jesus yet not ours is s the tha vengeance not ours the richt right to 0 offer the sacrifice so far as the church and ite its Ind individual vIdual member members are concerned the belief ii is imply simply passive 1 ve no point more pass a strongly ro enjoined than this which I 1 quote literally from the doctrine and covenants we belie believe ve that all religious socie ies ties have a right to deal with their members for disorderly conduct according to the rules aar and regulations of such societies provided that such deal dealings logi be for fellowship and gowd good 11 el tan anding ding but brit we do not believe that A any ny religious society has authority to try men on the right of property or life to take tale from them this wo rids goods or to put them in jeopardy of either life or limb neither to inflict any physical punishment upon them bey they can only excommunicate them from rom their society and withdraw from rom them their fellowship brigham young declare in effect that the law regulating the atone ment by blood for the sin condemned to the tile is not now in force among the nations in the identical I 1 di discourse i course from which mies migs fled field d selects a few sentences be says the time has been in israel tinder finder the law of god the celestial law or that which pertains to tho the celestial awl law for it ie to ono one of the laws law 0 of f that kingdom where our father dwells that if a man was found guilty of adultery he be must havelis blood abed and that is near at and hand 11 like the day of christs coming the lie time for a restoration of the law is is not yet here bore but it is near at hand brigham young said 1 I could refer you to p plenty enty of instances where men have be been slain to atone for their bins sins the whole tenor of the context in iii located lica ted that be he referred Jerred re to the fulfillment of the mosaic law in ancient times speaking on this subject in the s same ame volume he says 1 I can refer you to where the lord had to elay stay every soul of the israeli israel ites that va went ent out of egypt except caleb and joshua he ile slew them by the hands of their enemies by the algue pi gue and by the sword why because he ile loved them and promised abraham he ile would save them 11 Is there any thine blood curdling in the belief that a merciful god will some time sivo give to me men tle the opportunity to die in the flesh by the gift stroke of a vengeance rather than to suffer sulter eternally in the wt those persons who are shock ed 11 by y buch such a victrine dic dc trine cannot fully understand the significance ol 01 of christs death for if it be a horror for a guilty body to be broken in behalf of its own spirit how much more of a EL cinel injustice to command a divine and sinless soul to buffer the agony of crucifixion to atone for a fall net not his own mies miss fiell impales gods people upon both horns of a dilemma dilo nima which she creates in fancy the dilemma itself haa no real existence we do not deny and have not denied a belief in the ther divinely ordained principle of atonement by shed blood for sin but we do deny the monstrous absurdities which misa lUiss field and other writers equally uninformed falsely assert to have been committed in the practice of that principle where is the ir consistency of our position miu alias field claim claims our public avowal of blood atonement I 1 admit it but I 1 declare that nothing can be bound found in all the accepted creed of the church which taken with ite its con text and the circumstances under tinder which it was wa promulgated rives gives ua us a any authority for the literal shedding 0 of f N human an blood except by legal servant acting under the statutory jaw law of the thi land no d people hold human life in higher sanctity sanctity y than it is held avus bv u being literal we accept literally jo johns lins word words no murderer berer hath eternal life abiding in an and A hence as all our hopes and aspirations pi gratiot rations is are re centered ip an eternal ll 11 afe ufe where y hire we WO expect the justice anil azil mercy y denied us here wb we view w atu ith dreaded layer slayer of hi at fellow man 1 T 1 I 1 I 1 1 i allis field claims private avowal followed by secret assassination this I 1 deny what proof is there which any reasonable man roan would accept of any murder executed by a mormon under ant authority hority of the church as a blood atonement abao lute lately 1 ynone none monstrous stories there are in abundance but not botone one which ita its utter ers dared to sift A fierce and gory tale is told with horrifying details ita its sole evidence is the word of some sensation monger we dispute it and challenge proof the illogical illogic i reply assumed to be unanswerable sw erable and accepted by pulpit and pub public 1 ic is another unsupported ta tale I 1 e utterly foreign to the first and anti still more impossible isible and sanguinary gu inary mies I 1 k field iad 0 relates the alleged experience of a mrs mansfield since last I 1 heard beard that story previous to this time it has been veen dignified had ind i nd embellished for the review then the tale was crude it lacked the p pathetic personage persona 9 6 of oi daisy 10 and not nothing hing was said of f th the e victims victim I 1 s satin raiment in england but the betrayal of endowment house se creta crets the worse than cannibalistic murder of the woman the slaughter odthe of the two young boys were all there the womans name then was maxwell now it is the more euphonious e and aristocratic title of mansfield by th the way since first I 1 heard beard the story the th victims name has run the alphabetical gamut but seriously miss alias field cannot substantiate by on one e tittle ofer of credible evidence the tale ebe she has related I 1 am aware that the lady could probably find a score of infamous publications relating such sanguinary falsehoods but a charge of murder especially against an unpopular un poli people about which the wor world id is is anxious to hear and ready to believe S hould debased be based upon proof absolutely y irrefragable urn instead of quoting approvingly from the dime novels on mormonism a conscientious invests in vesti gation aaion ought rather to join in the sentiment F I 1 ament of the old worthy walter curie le lK winton inton who said in a court sermon more than two hundred heaps ego ago I 1 and it were bear heartily tily to 0 o be wished that of all such scandalous books and pamphlet pamphlets that are daily vended amongst us such as are fraught of nothing but pestilence and bitter malice and the most shameless desperate untruths that the devil the father of lies can call help to invent there were a fire made of them the flame whereof perhaps might expiate some part of the authors of fenee which ot otherwise berwise would one day help to increase their torment in hell bell fire tales of blood toning stoning are not seriously related by old reputable and honest residents liero here of any act sect or party nor are these stories told to such persons the falsehood are entered as second class matter exclusively for tra narni IOU abroad in utah no denial isnec is needed of these bitter and infamous falsehoods every year since the pioneers entered the waste valley of the tile great salt lake there have been occasional from the church men have been led away in search of wealth in fear of pe persecution rae cution in dread of popular r opinion and some in in a conscientious disbelief among these apostates are men who once ranked as most faithful members of the church some of them are men of high personal character they include lawyers doctors merchant tw all the doings of the church mu must mut t have been known to them there liae have also been respectable gentiles enga engaged ed in business here since early days all these men have been at liberty to speak at any hour under hill full protection ot |