Show i I CRUSHING OUT FAITH Ian I Last night we had occasion to speak of an article that appeared in the News of j I Saturday evening and we recur to it to1 day The position of the News may be termed general on the question of faith but the circumstances here in Utah today j to-day which call for its exercise are special I The New says that when people wish I to crush out a belief in special manifestations I mani-festations of God they are as intolerant in-tolerant as religious fanatics who display dis-play a zealous desire to crowd their religion down other peoples throats We fully concur with these sentiments but has any one wished to crush out this faith So far as we are concerned we care not what faith a man holds nor how absurd it may be but when it comes to doing then it becomes an entirely different dif-ferent question There is such a question in Utah today which is as everyone knows the question of the vindication of the law and the punishment of those who violate it Let us admit that those who are violating the law against polygamy and unlawful cohabitation are doing sounder so-under a divine authority still does that give them any more right than another who does the same thing without the sanction of such an authority People respect authority where it is coupled with power in fact authority is nothing but potfer Is it not reasonable to expect 1 that when a thing is done under the I I sanction of authority power will be manifest man-ifest when that authority is questioned Certainly it is and it is for this reason that the people of Utah are expecting such a manifestation of the power of the authority under which they claim to act But we find that many millions of people I peo-ple in the United States do not believe that the people of Utah have the divine sanction for their acts that they claim and what is more important still these same millions of people believe that they are doing the will of the very God from whom the people of Utah claim sanction and authority in endeavoring to put down the piactices of the people of Utah Surely then here is a dilemma and how shall one escope from it But two suppositions arc left either that God has nothing whatever to do with the question or else being a just God lie will desire the triumph of the just side of the question So far then the decision de-cision of the question has been against the people of Utah But is it not far more reasonable to look upon the question ques-tion as a simple one without any superhuman super-human elements in it It is an utter impossibility for human beings to know whether God is on one side or on the other as the ordinary methods of attaining attain-ing knowledge can never make it known The conflicting claims of various faiths must be decided according to each mans sympathies The various religions are but the various hopes and aspirations of different individuals the reliof that the gods of these religions give to their followers from the sorrows and sufferings of this world is peace of soul and hope for a happier time This is much but from such a state of mind by no process of reasoning can it be inferred in-ferred that God will manifest His power to shield those who are sorrowing and suffering Faith and belief do not assume to rest on reason they are things which belong to a world of illogical expectation expecta-tion Such was our statement a week ago In so speaking we had in mind the faith and belief which are of that other world into which man hopes to enter after death Has any one had experience of that world Is is not the great undiscovered undis-covered country from whose bourne I no traveler returns l Man can only I conjecture such a world by means of his senses and they can only work in and through the medium of his body When death ensues by the disorganization and I decomposition of the medium through which the consensus of all the faculties I which may be termed the soul or coil I sciousness acts is not absolute annihilation i annihila-tion of the individual attained Look at I the mummies of Egypt They were once living sentineut beings but what I has become of that which we call life i Vas that life any thing more than the perfect organization of these bodies The i Buddhist religion gives the most satisfactory i satis-factory account of what becomes of the i departed life or spirit it returns to the universal all pervading life or spirit Nirvana Yet this is but a faith a hope i not an established fact But the Xetcx says By the situation that exists now ahead of their anticipated I anticipat-ed escape from it their faith is enlarged because the circumstances that now prevail pre-vail have been foretold to them with minute fidelity of description If such J 1 is the case are not those who are i opposed to the practices of the peoI I pie of this Territory doing Gods will If both persecuted and persecutors touse the iWirs phrase are engaged in carrying carry-ing on a special work forordained by God would it not be thwarting His will to cease that work Surely those who are engaged in the work are i but as clay in the hands of the potter j According to this extract from the Kellif i i l > l 3 f IIItI I i it was as absolutely necessary that time Edmunds law should be passed and that the present Federal officials should be appointed i ap-pointed as that the gospel should be restored in these the last days and that Joseph Smith should he chosen as the means of that restoration On this theory and certainly it is the only onereconcil able with the above statement of the Xens could those who are opposing the people of Utah do otherwise than as they are doing And is it not harsh for the News to say that instead of it being II I I commendable to grind the faces of the Saints and seek to crush faith out of their hearts it is most exquisitely cruel and woe to those who engage in and advocate I the barbarity They will yet be put to I shame and be covered with contempt We do not ask this question to be disrespectful I dis-respectful but in sincerity If God has j a purpose in this world and uses men to bring about its accomplishment then those men are neither to be blamed nor praised for their conduct We believe that it is far more reasonable to think that lIe does not directly interfere in the 1 affairs of menThe men-The Sews says I Persons who have and express such ideas as these are professed Utah redemptionists and may it not be pertinent to ask to what source are the Saints to attribute boons and blessings when they are bestowed upon them Should they be credited to human agencies and if so to what particular portion por-tion of the race iI i I In conclusion we would ask To what source arc those who are opposed to the violation of the laws of the land by the people of Utah to attribute boons and blessings when they are bestowed upon them |