Morning journal and courier., 1880-10-07
A Mormon sunaay-schooI

Tsat Lake Correspondence of the Congregationalist
 One would hardly notice at first that he was not in an eastern Sunday school The manner of conducting it was nearly the same, but second glance showed the faces were not of New England children. The Scand1- nayian English and Dutch face types were very marked showing the sources whence come the recruits for the Mormon church. While many of the children were bright and pretty, there seemed to be listless air about them which told the story of ignorance, and a servile following of an imposed faith. After singing, prayer, and the report of the secre- tary the school separated into class rooms for the lesson of the day. AS the superintendent gave me liberty to look around where pleased, I went first into the theological class. They were studying from the Mormon Book Of Doctrines and Covenants, and the chapter for the day was headed, '"Three grand keys by which one may know good and bad spirits; revealed to Joseph the prophet in Nauyoo, Ill., February 9,1S43'' The good spirits were said to be of two kinds. CD Resurrected bodies. (2)Spirits of just men made perfect The grand test drawn from the words of Jesus. Handle me and see, for spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have; and was simply to ''shake hands" If spirit appears to you, just offer to shake hands If he is of resurrected body you will feel the flesh and bones. If he IS spirit of just man made perfect he will not respond to your offer, for such spirits are not allowed to shake hands. If he is the devil or one of his angels, he will shake
 hands with you, but you will feel nothing for
 he ''has not flesh and bones." Now this
 struck me as quite useful thing to know. If man could detect the presence of Satan by so easy process shaking hands with him 1t would be worth good deal. This seemed to be the idea of the leader of the class, for he remarked that this very ru1at tn room several classes were recltlng-some from the Book of Mormon, some from the ten commandments, and some from Corinthians xvi. The infant class interested me very much Herein room by themselves were more than 100 children all under 12 years of age, under the charge of three gentle men teachers. As went in they broke of suddenly from what they were doing and l began to sing, which they did very prettlly. l Their leader then put them through sort of l catechism, evidently for my benefit, and l 1 was glad he did, for 1t opened up some ot the vital points of Mormonism:- 1 When may Mormon child be baptized l At eight years of age.
 l How many of you have been baptized? :? | About two-thirds of the hands were raised | What is a child baptized for? l For the remission of sins ] Yes, that is right. There are those who l sprinkle little babies and call 1t baptism. l Rave they ever sinned so as to need it No, sir.
 No, little babies have not sinned, but are pure and innocent. But when they get to be eight years old they do some little things that are wrong, and need to be baptized to make l them pure again.
 | May child who has been baptized partake of the sacraments :?
 Yes, sir.
 May a child partake of the sacrament
 before he is eight years old, and has been
 baptized
 1 Yes, sir.
 I Yes, for then they have no sin. l Do you believe in God? | Yes, sir.
 Do you believe he has body, parts and passions?
 | Yes, sir.
 1 Yes God once lived on the earth. He has ! body, parts and passions just like us. He ! went through all our experience, so he knows
 how to govern the children of men. This was the substance of the lesson. At 1 the close of the school the sacrament was l administered to all who had been baptized
 and the unbaptized under eight years were allowed to partake I asked one of theil
 teachers if all children were baptized when
 reached eight years of age, and he replied:
 eff they wish to, and they are all very anxious for it. And well they may be, for they are
 taught that no unbaptized child can be saved