The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-03-29
To the Editor Of THE HERALD.

A communication, well-written and
ingenious, though not free from soph-
isms, in which the writer, the Reverend
Mr.. Cooley, of Lehi, filings down the
gauntlet in behalf of what he terms
"those much berated Gentle schools"
was handed me day or two since by
HERALD representative, with polite
request for an answer to it through
your columns, to which the letter was
itself addressed. In inditing reply,
which has been done IN the intervals of
business, may not have succeeded IN
following the gentleman through all the
may windings of his very plausible
plea, nor was it my intention so to do.
My object is simply to show that Nor
mon" parents, with the belief they
cherish, and the spiritual welfare of
their little ones at heart, are justified in
the stand, which most of them have
undoubtedly taken, that these schools
are not the proper places to send their
children to obtain that greatest OF all
OOOAoJ pCd1A VI EACoo R1ANO AOA
such indeed we consider tia thorough
Christian education.
That "Mormonism" is afraid to meet,
and unable to stand the test Of such an
education in its votaries, is an assump-
ton as erroneous as tits unwarrantable.
Scarcely less so, in our opinion, Is the
claim put forth that these schools have
it in their power to impart an education
of that character. A Christian educa-
tion-and mind, we use the word Chris
TAM. for the nonce, as implying all
that it originally meant in the days of
its primitive purity, and not what
modern priests and pedagogues make of
it's the one grand object in this life of
every Latter-day Saint who properly
understands his or her religion, and for
which they embraced that religion, be-
lieving 1t to be the only means whereby
it could be secured. How preposterouS
then, must seem to them the inslnua-
ton that they are afraid of it, and that
the system which they claim incorpor-
ates all the elements of such training
and discipline, cannot stand the test
of contact with all the light and intelli-
gence which modern civilization can
bestow. Never was error more fragrant
or unfounded. "Mormonism" never
was afraid of, never was foe to educa-
ton. It's votarieS are willing to drink
truth from every source; but they pre-
fer the pure, crystal waters of the
fountain Head, to the roily rivulets of
apostate Christianity" 1t is not, my
christian" friends, that you give, or
can give, to mormon" children an
education of the kind you suggest, that
their parents are averse to placing them
under your care. 1t is because you are
not able to give, and do not give it, that
they object, and that is the only reason.
A thorough Christian education means
too much, and is too closely identified
with The mission of "Mormenism, for
modern Christianity with all its
schools, TO be able to impart. OF course
your claim will run counter to this, but
words are mere empty sounds. "Acts
speak louder than words 1--WE pro-
pose to come straight out into the
sunshine" taking 1.-THE law and
testimony for our guide, and
holding as did they of old, that if men
speak not according to that, it is be-
cause there is no light in them"
now propose citing briefly some of
the teachings of Christian preachers,
as have heard and understood them,
selecting those which, if religion Is
taught at all in the Gentle schools,
would be most likely to be inculcated
there. We will begin with the Chris
tian'' God, that mythical being said to
be made up of three beings which are
only one, which one has neither body,
parts nor passions whose "centre is
everywhere and his circumference no.
where" who is absent and present in
all places, at the same moment and sits
upon the top of a topless throne
beyond the bounds of time and space"
What an admirable definition for
Nothing and Nowhere, to be s4rei Is
this the kind of God that Mormon"
children are taught in Gentle schools
to worship and bow down to? Or, are
they taught that this is "a land of
liberty and equal rights and they
ought not to bow down to any
God at all? You may take which horn
of the dilemma you choose; to pretend
to teach even little religion and leave
God out of it, is disqualification; to
teach little children to worship Nothing
and call it God, is the rankest kind of
idolatry. And mark you, this mythical
deity is the same Interchangeable Being,
SO Christians" would have US believe,
who walked with Enoch, wrestled with
d dSOb; dtO n1Ih Aul dAAdAu, uIlQ MTOle IOr
Moses with his finger on tables of
stone; God who is Jealous, who loves
and hates imquity: who
created man in mis- own likeness, and
sent his son, Jesus, the express image
of His person, into the world to die for
all mankind. Are Mormon" parents
to endorse this Christian"
doctrine, as "being heartily in accord
with fhnir araod 2ft
Passing by the absurdity that this
God of nothing created the solid earth
out of the same kind of material
which has been taught in Christian
US glance moment at one
phase, the main one in fact, of a
"Christian's' belief in God. AS great
an iconoclast as Martin Luther held to
the dogma of justification by faith. .
and is said to have rejected as spurious
the epistle of st. James, which de-
clares that faith without works is
dead, being alone" The christian
sects to-day, without exception, that we
know of, believe just as Luther did, and
while allowing the epistle to remain. ig-
more its teaching entirely. They hold. ii
we mistake not, that, as Christ wrought
out perfect work of human redemp-
ton, it is a species of sacrilege to sup
pose mans own works will avail him
ANYTHING and that il is neceScar,, to