The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-05-26
A DEFENSE OF MORMONISM-

AN ADHERENCE TO TRUE CON
MUNISTIC PRINCIPLES-PoYERT7
UNKNOWN AMONG THE MORMONS
The following clear and interestin,
defense Of the MOrmons was re
ceiYed by Truth from a well-knowI
gentleman, a Gentle, whose ex
| perience in Utah gives his assertion.
and opinions a weight that cannot
be ignored:
To the Editor of Truth.
In your issue of May 10th YOU
published a letter from Daniel E
Ryan" and in your answer you said
while cOndemning pOlygamy and
admitting the honesty and in
tegrity of the Mormons, that
they unite church and state, and are
aggressive toward unbelievers." In
this sentence you plainly show that
you follow the line of argument ad-
Yanced against these people when
they were
STRUGGLING FOR EXISTENCE
and trying to plant what they con-
sidered to be the true religion of
man upon the face of the earth.
In this you err, for Mormonism,
like governments and political par
ties, has changed its mode of pro-
ceeding.
at one time, when they were weak
and nearly all discouraged, 1t needed
an iron will to hold them together,
to rule over them.
BRIGHAM YOUNG
was the man for the time; and Salt
Lake City itself stands as the monu-
ment of his work. g
The chief complaint against these
people is THAT they practice
PoLYGAMY,
And the general impression is that
this feature of their faith is the
magnet that draws so many souls
into the Mormon net. There is
where the people outside of Nor
mondOn make a great mistake.
Polygamy has never been one Of
the tenets of the chuIch, but was
adopted because it was at one time
considered necessity. They wanted
population, and used polygamy az
one of the means to accomplish that
end. Christian people need not
shudder at this, for they have only
to look into their own Bibles to find
the justification, and they have only
to read the Biblical history of the
men whose names are held as sacred
for a precedent. Then why blame
the pioneers of Mormonism, who
We're deeply impressed with what
they had read in sacred history, if
they saw their way to a quicker
growth by the practice of polyg-
amy?
The Mormons at Nauvoo were
tossed about from pillar to post,
until at last they resolved to turn
their backs upon a civilization
which
Prosecuted THEM
Because of their falkland be it
understood that at this time they
did not practice polygamy, but wor-
shipped their maker in a different
manner from other sects. That was
their crime, and that alone.
After leaving Nauvoo they started
westward, their destination being
California. On the morning of the
10th of June, 1917, Orson Pratt and
the advance guard, vending their
way over the Wasatch Mountains,
sighted the Great Salt Lake through
what is now known as Emigration
Pass. They came down into the
valley and concluded to wait until
the main body had arrived. The
next afternoon June 18th, 1S47,) the
entire party came into the valley
Brigham Young in command, and
camped on the spot where is now
being built the Temple, probably as
substantial piece of
ARCHITECTURE
AS there's in the world. The COM
pany was composed of, 1 think, 147
men and three women. They had
had a hard trip; their supplies were
short and California was still long
way off. Salt Lake Valley was then
a desolate spot, but they concluded
to rest there for time, plant crops
and prepare themselves for their
next years trip to the far west.
When the season had rolled by and
their crops had been gathered in they
concluded to abandon the westward
trip and to settle where they were.
Then commenced the building of
Salt Lake City. They had every
thing to oppose them-nature and
the elements-but Salt Lake City
stands to-day as a model for any of
our cities to copy, especially New
York.
at do you suppose was the rea-
Sv.. 49, 9eople suffered such
TERRIBLE HARDSHIPS?
Was it that they might practice
polygamy? Mol The cause Of their
going so far west was the same as
brought the Pilgrim Fathers to
America-to find homes and a place
in which they might worship the
Creator in their own way-but prin-
cipally to find homes.
THEY HAVE HOMES.
These homes they now have, and
I wish that every other religious
sect on earth could say the same for
their people. The method of gov
eminent In the Mormon Church is a
very simple one-the only objection
being that it does not need lawyers
to assist in its administration.
To be brief, if one Mormon con-
siders that he has been wronged by
another he appeals to his bishop. If
the case has not been ended to the
satisfaction of both parties, appeals
are carried along until it has reached
the supreme power the apostles),
where, if the loser refuses to abide
by the decision, he is turned out of