Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1859-09-01

Horace dreeley MAS AhOtHci iostoA AiNAi Doi'
Lake City in the Tribune We make some ex-
tracts:
MORMON PREACHING.
Tb. di,courses to which / listened were both
Intensely and exclusively Mormon That is,
thew assumed that the Mormons were Gods
pecuIiar chosen, beloved people, and that all
the rest of mankind are out of the ark of safety
and hounderiug in heathen darkness am
not edited by this sort Of preaching 1t re-
minds me forcibiy of the Pharisee's prayer.
Lord. thank thee that | am not as other
men are-unjuSt, extOrtiOners" &c. do. not
think good men delight in the assumption of
an exclusive patent for the grace of God, and
am quite sure il is not well adapted to the
trsnsformatiOn of bad men into good. 1t is too
well calculated to puff up its disciples with
seif-cODceit and spiritual pride. That Jesus
Christ IS about to reappear on the earth in all
the pOmp and sPlendOr of a mighty conqueror
that he will then proceed to take vengeance
on his enemies (mankind in general. whether
heather or nominally christian) and to gIorify
his elect (the Latter Day Saints OF Mormops)
we're treated by the Tabernacle preachers "a
propositions too self-eyident to need demon
s,ratiOn. Having thus chastised his enemies
and gathered his elect from the four winds Of
Heaven, the Saviour is to reign over them
here on earth for thousand years-at the end
Of which PERIOD they are together to be trans
fsrred TO Heaven. ...... ..lF q.
OF course, had heard the like Of this be-
fore, but it always seemed to me very gross
and wooden perversion of the magnificent
imagery whereby the Bible foreshado great
spiritual transformations. But the spirit of
the Mormon religion appears to me Judaic
rather than Christian; and readily believe
that Heber kimball, or at any rate one of the
great lights of the Church, once said in con-
versation with GENTLE do pray for nv
enemies; | pray that they may all 90 to hell. .
Neither from the pulpit or else where have I
heard from Mormon one spontaneous, hearty
recognition of the essential brotherhood Of the
entire human racc-one generous prayer for
the enlightenment and salvation Of all man.
kind. On the other hand, have been dis
tinctly given to understand that nv interlocu-
tors expect to sit on thrones and bear rule over
multitudes in the approaching Kingdom of
tod In fact. one sincere, deyOut m an has to-
day assigned that to me as reason for polypa-
my; he wants to qualify himself, by ruling
large and diversified family here, for bearing
rule ever his principality in the new earth, u
that he knows to be at hand / think he might
far better devote a few years to pondering
Christs saying to this effect He who would
be least In the Kingdom Of Heaven, the same
shall be greatest -
TIE M0RAOys NOT HYPOCRIrEs
Dc regard the great body of these Mormons
as knayes and hypoeritesl Assurediy not /
do not believe there was ever a religion where
OF the great mass of the adherents were not
honest and sincere. Hypocrites and knaves
are N all sects il is quite possible that some
of the magnates of the Mormon Church regard
this so-called religion with all others) as
eentrlvaRce for the enslayement and feecing
of the many and the aggrandizement of the
few; bat cannot believe that a sect so con-
siderable and so vigorous as the MOrmons was
ever founded in conscious imposture or built
H. Il. Al
ylcuoD. 1T the protector and two OF three of
his chief confederates were knayes. the great
body OF their followers were dupes
Nor do L accept the current GENTLE pre-
sumption that fke M0rmons are an Organized
banditti-a horde Of robbers and assassins.
Thieves and murderers mainly haunt the pur-
lieus Of great cities or hide in cavsrns and for
ests adjscent to the great routes Of travel But
when the Mormon leaders decided to set ND
their Zion in these parched mountain wales
AID canons, the said valleys were utterly se-
eluded and remote from all Gentle approach
away from any mail route or channel of emi-
grafton. That the Mormons wished to escape
Gen lie control, scrutiny, Jurisprudence, is evil
dent that they meant to abuse their inacces-
;.Iolllty. to the dstriment and plunder of way
farers, is not credible -
sRsELEr VIEW OF THE MORMON SYSTEM
Do /, then, discredit the tales of Mormon
outrage and crime-of the murder Of the Par.
Ishes, the Mountain Meadow massacre &c
Wherewith the general ear has recently been
shocked No, do not Some of these NAV
have been fabricated by Gentiie Iaalice-oth-
ers are doubtless exaggerated-but there is
sDme basis Of truth for the current entila con-
Elction, that MOrmons have robbed, maimsd,
and even killed people in this territory under
circumstances which should subject the per-
petrators TO condign punishment, but that Nor
mon witnesses, grand jarors, petit jurors and
magistrates determinedly screen the guilty,
deeply regret the necessity Of beliering this;
nut the facts are incOntestible. That large
party Of emigrants-notl less than eighty-from
ARKANSAS to CalifOrnis were foally massacred
at Mountain Meadow in September, 1857, more
lmmedlately by Indians but under the direct
inspiration and direction of the Mormon set
uers, IN that vicinity-to whom, and not TO the
savages, the emigrants had surrendered, after
a siege, on the strength of assurances that their
hves at least should be spsred-is established
oy evidence that cannot &c think be invalida-
ted-the eridence of conscience smitten par
taSers IN the crime, both Indians and ex-Mor-
mons, and Of children of the slaughtered emi-
grants, who were spared as too young to be
dangerous, even as witnesses, and Of whom the
great majority have been sent down to the
states as unable to give testimony; but two
ooys are retained here as witnesses who dis
unctly remember that their parents surren-
dered to white men, aud that these white men
at best did not attempt to prevent their per-
fdious massacre These children, NOR cover
were all found in the possession Of the Nor
mOns-not one OF them in the hands Of In
dians, and, though the MormOns say they ram
somed them from the hands of Indians. the
children deny It, saying that they never lived
with nor were in the'keepingof Of savsges; and
the Indians bear concurrent testimony So in
the Parish ease The family bad been Mer-
mons, but bad apostatized, and undertook to
return to the Ststes; they were warned that
they would be killed if they persisted in the
resolution; they did persist, and were killed
OF course nobody viii ever be convicted of
their murder; but those who warned them Of
their fate on which they were rushing know
Why they were killed, and could discover, if
they would who killed them.
The vital fact in the case is Just this. The
great mass of these people, as a body, mean to
he honest. just and humane; but they are, be-
tnre and sbOve ali things else, Latter-day
Saints, or Morn0ns. They deyoutly belieye
that they are God = peculiar and especial peo-
pie doing Ills work, npbuiIding bis kingdom,
and basking in the sunshine Of His peculiar
tsvOr Whoever obstracts or impedes them
IN this work, then, is God g enemy, who must
be made 10 get out OF the way of the estab-
hsbment Of Christ's kingdom on earth-made
to do 50 by lawful and pesceful means, il pos
slole but by any means that may ultimately be