Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1870-06-24


alone in heathen nations, where woma
is regarded as an inferior being and
slave. The Jew thanks his Maker 70
not having made him a woman. Th
Moors do not allow women to enter thei
places of worship; and Mohammed de
nies that woman have souls. The Turl
allows women to enter his heaven, bu
only to minister to his passions ant
wants.
The heaven born Christian system in
augurated new civilization by procla
ming universal brotherhood among
men, making all men and women the
children of one God and created for i'm
mortality. 1t overturned many heath
en- doctrines and practices, and among
them that of polygamy, and elevated
woman to her equal and true dignity.
In face of the teachings of the Gospel
and the laws of nature, the " Latter
Day Saints" of Utah, or rather theil
leaders, have instituted the barbarous
and horrible practice of plurality Of
wives. And to add to the blasphemy OF
the system it is done in the name of the
Lord. In this nineteenth century they
have reduced woman to the heather and
Jewish standard. Foremost in the ranks
OF their oppressors stands Brigham
Young, president of the Mormon church
and ruler of Utah. Following in the
footsteps of Mohammed, he declares that
women have no souls; that they are not
responsible beings; that they cannot
save themselves or be saved except
through mans intervention. To be saw
ed woman must be sealed" to a coed
man; he can save her, if he does not her
sins will be upon his own head.
The Mormon church had its origin in
the vagaries, and lying deceits of Joseph
Smith. The "Book of Mormon" was
published in 1880. Mormon, it is pre-
tended, was the most noted prophet of
the Nephites, Hebrew colony in North
America, which came here about 600 B.
O., and was destroyed by the Laman ters
about 400 A. ID. The "golden plates"
containing the Book of Mormon, it is
said, were buried in Ontario county, New
York, about APO A. d., and exhumed
by Joseph Smith, Jr., September %,
1927. In reality the greater part was
written by one Rev. Solomon Spaulding,
between 1910 and 1872, as a romance,
for the purpose of connecting the North
American Indians with the lost tribes of
Israel. Smith saw that here was his op-
portunity. He pretended that he had
found these pilates" and that he had
received revelations from God, John the
Baptist, Peter and other apostles. The
fanaticism took root, and deluded men
and women followed him. Polygamy
was no part of their early creed. In
deed, it was pointedly condemned by the
Mormon bible, concocted by this same
Smith. There is no doubt, however,
that it was practiced by him, nor that it
originated in the indulgence of his own
baser passions. While he was thus gull
ty of the crime of polygamy he denied
its existence in the Mormon creed, and
violently denounced those who advocat-
ed it, even to cutting men off from the
church for the iniquity of preaching
and this many months after
the date of the pretended polygamous
revelations. He finally lost his life for
trying to persuade the wife of DIR. Fos-
ter, at Nanvoo, that it was the will of
God she should become his spiritual"
wife. This nefarious offer she confessed
to her husband. Foster exposed him
and Smith retaliated by destroying the
property Of Foster. For this he was ar
rested and afterward shot in Jail at Car
thage, Illinois, by band of Missourians
If Brigham Young had died at the same
time it is probable polygamy would not
have been the gigantic crime it has now
become in Utah.
l have before stated that polygamy
was no part of the Mormon system of
religion as originally established. 1t was
by all Mormon writers and
speakers previous to 1852 Perley P.
Pratt, one of the shining lights of this
system, who went to England
o make converts, stated publicly in Man
chester, in 1916, speaking of the charge
If polygamy against the church.
"Such doctrine is not held, known
'r practiced as principle of the Latter
Day Saints. 1t is but another name for
This same reprobate has since been
hot in this country for stealing away
mother mans wife, he having several
,thers at the same time. John Taylor,
.nother prominent Mormon apostle, was
:harged with belief in this doctrine, and
n France, in 1850, denied that it was