New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-09-02
DIR. NEWnAH,s CRUSADE.

It has been seriously objected that the
recent discussion between Parson New
man and Elder Pratt was Of no higher use
than to afford the former little notoriety.
No doubt the same suggestion had an
utterance when Newton offered to demon
4trate the problem of gravitation by the
simple descent Of an apple to the ground;
and, perhaps, even before, when on Mars
Hill the inspired orator declared the I'M
known God; or, when on the Mount Of
Olives, Christ preached his wonderful SER
mon to the believing and the unbelieving
world. 1t is human to carp at truth, be-
cause it is much easier to carp than to
understand. And yet truth keeps on her
way, tolerating error because her labor is
to correct it. The diamond was not taken
all cut and polished from the mines, but
came forth rugged and sodden, perhaps
to be thrown aside by the ignorant hand
that lifted it from the earth. And shall
the true prophet descend from his speech
to the men of Athens because they cast
away his inspiration? Not yet.
DR.. Newman must not be made to stop
his work because he brushes the nap of
evil the wrong way in order to detect the
sham beneath it. All that can be done by
the clothier is to withhold his goods from
close inspection when Truth passes that
wav. And if the Mormon wants to live
in sensuality and sin, let him not defy
morality and religion, to lift the cover
from his evil practices and his abominable
doctrines. The great men of the world
are content to rest the cause Of right in
abeyance for while, but they are not
willing to be challenged by the Ubiquitous,
without making an attempt to reconstruct
the wrong. And wherever error has
hiding place, or sin and degradation a
foothold, the evangelists Of light, religion
and relief will surely 60 to cast them out.
The church is no soft and easy place in
the cataclysm Of the Methodist organiza-
ton. Her preachers are not the salaried
and feasted oracles of velvet-cushioned
pews and deeply stained windows, where
wealth and fashion gather to hear the
mysteries Of redemption related in soft
and rounded sentences; but rather are
they men with little scrip and scanty
taking no care Of the morrow,
but trusting themselves into the great
deserts Of the human family, and finding
souls to save and sin to combat wherever
the serpent has made his trail.
And thus it was that Dr. Newman made
his way to Utah. The Saints defed the
laws, and being left alone for little
season they grew holder and challenged
the ministers of God. What Congress
had consented for time to endure, the
sentiment Of religion could not allow to
exist without expostulation. Polygamy
invited inquiry into its own household,
and seeing that no other soldier carried
the cross that way, DR.. Newman took it
up. And because he did, and because he
held up the fiery serpent in the valley Of
sin, it is wickedly charged that he
held the token with an unclean
spirit All, thou scarlet woman,
this is one Of thy ways, that when the sick
are healed, you charge that it is done in
the name of Belzebub, and the thoughtless
throw up their caps. But it is not so.
While the mind is free, and while speech
is given to proclaim its own liberty and
the cause of truth, Newman will be found
in every land, telling Babylon that she is
wicked, and picking up sinners by the sea
of Galilee. And no power can stay the
argument. Inquiry runs hand in hand
with time, and never speech is made Or
great principle declared, but its echo
marches down the highways and by-ways
of life, stirring up thoughts that benefit
mankind DR.. Newman did not go to
Utah in vain. His words were not cast
adrift without q rudder. But having
labored and lectured, the truth which
he has planted must have its har-
vest time. He has seen one great
change in favor of freedom, and let US
hope that he may live to see another.
Slavery set its metes and bounds, and de-
clared that it was hedged about by the
laws of God. Mormonism has done the
same thing. Now let us see if Parson
Newman is not right to-day, as he was ten