Kimball enterprise. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1883, 1883-05-11
GRowTH OF

How the Work of PROSECUTING is
Carried un-The Talk of an Elder.
On the Goth of March, at Chattanoo-
ga, Tenn, ore hundred and fifty pei
sons gathered, preparatory to departing
fer Utah. Chattanooga is the point at
which all the %proselytes rendezvous
before starting on their journey, and
Elder John H. Morgan, who has charge
Of the recruiting service in the south,
spends a great deal of his time there.
Elder Morgan, who is represented as a
refined gentleman and scholar, was in
terviewGd by the Atlanta Constitution
reporter, and furnished the following
information, which is given in his own
words as nearly as possible:
The southern states mission comprises
sixteen states, geographically known as
the southern states, with headquarters
at Chattanooga. Tennessee. The mission
is divided into conferences, each state
being a conference, which is in turn sub.
divided into districts. One elder pre-
sides over the entire mission, and each
conference has a presiding elder, who
directs the labors Of the elders travelling
in the various districts. There are about
eighty-five elders in the mission, Tenn
essee, Virginia and North Carolina pre-
dominating as to numbers. We find
that from five to fifteen elders have to
be added to the force per annum The
president of the mission is supposed to
remain in the mission all the while, and
there is no stated time for the visitation
of leading elders. The missionaries are
men called from the various avocations
of life, merchants, farmers, mechanics,
day laborers, etc. Not preachers in the
general acceptation of the term, but men
who are willing to lay down their labors
and leave their homes and households for
from to three years, to proclaim
and nsp'bt back tA and Ps def any' th DHr e xps eus
while out. On arriving at the head
quarters ofthe mission, they are assigned
to fields of labor, an inexperienced n
being placed with one who has been in
the field from six to twelve months.
Trayelingtwo andtwo as a RUE without
purse or scrip" preaching to the people
in their schools, meeting in private
houses by the roadside, under the shaue
of the trees, anywhere and everywhere
that men will listen to them. The bur-
den oftheir song is, 'The kingdom of
heaven is at hand" have faith, repent Of
your sins by turning from them, be bap-
tised for the remission of them. and rs
ceive the laying on of hands for the re-
ception ofthe Holy Ghost. The honest
in heart come forward and are baptised,
one of their number selected to preside
over il and the missionaries pass on to 8
new field.
The elders as q rule do not use tea or
coffee, abstain from the use of tobacco
and maintain total abstinence in the use
OF intoxicants. They endeavor to lead
lives of purity, and set a good example
before the people, maintaining their
%tercourse between the sexes, with MUIR
der, is one of the objectionable sins,
and out Of the 23O elders who have been
in this mission, in the past six years, we
are at the defiance of any and all men to
adduce one single iota Of truthful proof
that II of them has stepped aside from
the paths of virtue. Relative to the
whole body of the church, there are in
stances, of course where men and NO.
men 60 astray, but they are the rare ex-
ception and not the rule, and the crime
of sexual intercourse outside of the mar
rage relation is punished by excommu-
nication from the church, and had we
the civil law we would intiict the penal
ty of death. We teach this to the peo-
pie.
There have been $50 baptisms within
the past twelve months, which with
children blessed, would make an addi-
ton Of about 700 to the church. Tennes-
see. Virginia and North Carolina yield
the greatest number Of converts. They
are as a rule, small farmers and mechan-
les, having sufficient means, after they
dISnpSQ nf thar rnol ocfofo on1 norsnno1
property, to emigrate themselves, and
make a start in their new homes. They
emigrate of their own free will and ac-
cord, believing it to be a commandment
of God, and being unwilling to endure
the persecution and contumely of form
er friends and Christian neighbors,
heaped upon them because of their adj
herence to an unpopular belief.
We receive converts from all the var
ious denominations-about equally di-
vided, Possible one-half of ali our corr
verts have never been members of any
church. We find this class themost lib
eral, they treat us the fairest and. as a
rule, are willing to hear before they con
denim. They are the Zacheuses of to-
day, to whom we can turn for shelter
and protection, to whom we biiag sal-
walton, and they receive us joytully.
0uI 6tCtdIIdu IlGIluS dCCuS6 US u COLI
sorting with Observation-Disclosures. 1--WE
have come to ave sinnerg, not the right
eous, the whole need no physician"
If man thinks the Methodist, Baptist
or Catholic creed can save him, that
ends it. We have no right to say orRdo
aught that would interfere with his OBJ
servance of that creed. Man is, and of
right, should be free to worship God ac-
cording to the dictates Of his own con-
science. He who interferes with that
right, strikes a blow at the very vitals of
freedom.
For, known this, that every soul is free,
To choose his life, and what he'll be,
For this eternal truth is given,
That God will force no man TO Heaven.
The opposition that we have to en-
counter, consists in misrepresentation of
the objects and aims we have in
view, of the doctrines that we teach,
and of our personal characters. II
shapes itself into correspondence and
editorials in newspapers, sermons in the
pUlpits, resolutions passed at religious
conventions, threats Of personal violence,
night raiding by masked men, whip
pings, and in one instance assassination,
in the case of Elder Joseph Standing,
who was killed by an armed mob Of
twelve men in Whitfield county, Geor-
gia, 2lst of July, 1879. His murderers
are to-day unpublished for the terrible
crime. In Clay and Cherokee counties,