The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1877-04-18
.sl Lee and the Mormons.s

l. a. Va. az
From the Alta California. 13
There is in the Mormon faith a pro.
fessedly particular regard for, women.
Man is the cause of all the frailty of the
opposite sex, hence the husband, from
Mormon stand point, is ''the head"
and is responsible for all her sins.
She cannot sin beyond all redemption.
She is sure TO be saved in eternity,
even though she may be destroyed in
the flesh. Children are proportionately
more innocent than their mothers, and
are to be more tenderly cared for-so
far as their life is concerned. This ex.
plains the trouble of Dame first and
Brigham afterward about the number
of the women and children killed in
the massacre. There is, however, a
point beyond this that hinges upon
constructive guilt of both women and
children, and here Haight informs
Brigham that ssthere was not drop of
innocent blood in the whole train.
! They were condemned in toto for be.
ing the relatives, in some degree, of
those who had, long before many of
them were born, driven the saints, as
before stated, from Missouri and H.
AAlOlS. is, there.
fore, credited to women and children
only until the Mormon priesthood sits
in judgment upon them, and then. as
seen in the Mountain Meadows, they
are no more secure from violence than
the rest of humanity. 1t was only
after the Lord had assured him that
there was nothing wrong that even
Brigham felt relieved from anxiety.
The Mormons fully believe that
s'without the shedding OF blood there
is no remission of sins.'' hence the
murderer who is hung by the neck till
he dies, makes no Precipitation of the
gods whatever. The blood must be
split on the ground, and the smoke
thereof ascend to heaven, before the
atonement for crime is fully accom-
plished. In that spirit and under.
standing Lee was firm in his faith to
the last moment, and without falter-
ing in voice expressed himself ready
to ''meet God face to face, and also
the emigrants.'' He died with the
fullest confidence that whatever there
may have been wrong in the killing of
the emigrants, or in any other of the
dark crimes that he alludes to, that
blood split upon the ground cleansed
him from all iniquity. The denuncia-
ton against Brigham Young seemed
to convey the idea to some, of his
having abandoned the Mormon
faith, but to the initiated it has not
that Interpretation. Lee abjured
Brigham, bQt chung to Smith, the
founder of the faith.
There are many persons in Utah to-
day in fellowship with Brigham Young
anxiously awaiting the hour of his
death. These persons will be con-
firmed in Lees confession in their res
olution TO abandon Mormonism alto.
gether when the heel of Brigham is off
their necks. Many who have been told
that the massacre was the work of the
Indians will be undeceived, and ulti-
mately doubt and tumble out of the
church !; but the old Mormons, the un-
changeable fossils, will only be sorry
that Lee has brought them so unfavor-
ably before the world. They will jus.
tify the massacre as much as those did |
who were engaged in the bloody work.
In foreign nations Lees confession |
will be published, the pains and trou.
bles Of the missionaries will be greatly |
increased, and the emigration to Utah !
will no doubt be greatly in.
jured. Lees statement is a severe |
blow to the Latter-Day cause, and
should be the death Of Brigham's |
hopes that Utah will be admitted into
the Union; but the willy prophet has
faith in the kindness of his foes.
~>0>- !
An Advertising Agent.
We thought, from the way he came
into the office, and slammed his cane
down on the table, and took the best |
chair, and spat on the stove, and said !: |
"Well, Gully, how does the old thing