The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-04-16
The Land of the Mormons.
BRIGHAM YoUNG's INSPIRATIONS THE
REMEDY FOR THE EVIL OF PoLYGAMY.
LETTER NO. VII.

4 Scripture is not yet full. and they have an
abiding faith in miraculous interposition.
They say The Lord now sends good rains
for MS III tlls valley where the ordl-
mary man would remark: The rainfall
follows the plough They sent numbers
ofmlssionaries to China and Japan IN the
belief that the Holy Spirit would give
them Pentecostal power to preach to these
nations in their native tongues 1t is
| needless to say that they returned disap-
pointed
y Gentle version Of Il Mormon miracle
rins assfollows:
Is man living in England became Il CON
i vett 10 the teachings of Joseph Smith. He
bad lost a leg in some accident. and one of
THE inducements held out by the mission
Iaries was the promise that when he
gathered to Zion miracle would be
wrought in his behalf, and the limb would
be restored. The neophite arrived in Salt
! Lake He waited patiently for some time
but there was no prospect of a new leg. SO
he concluded to 90 to the prophet-head of
the church with his grievance. President
Young received him affably. and when he
mentioned his little difficulty expressed
his complete acquiescence inland power
to control-the miraculous restoration.
1t should be done. and done at once moth
ing was easier. But rs the man. over
joyed and grateful. was limping out
Young detained him-'.Ah, Mr.. -,n said
he: ~ on say the loss of your leg was due
to an accident ~
Yes. sir. ,
" Well-you know we shall appear on the
resurrection morning just as we were born
now, nothing is more simple than to
give you another leg, but would you prefer
to have taco legs now on the earth, and
three for all eternity, or will you content
yourself with one now ?'' The mans
hopes were crushed. Metaphoricaly, he
had not leg left to stand on. He chose
the eternal rather than the temporal, kept
one leg and crept home, sadder and let
us hope, a wiser man.
This Brigham Young was a wonderful
man. The elements of an unstable super
stition, in his fostering care, have devel-
oped into Il compact, organized church,
with its worldly endowmentS of power and
money, its credO, its devoted adherents,
and, am sorry to say, its martyrs. And
over this body he reigned more despotic
than the Gar Of all the Russias While
turning every dogma to personal aggran-
dizement, as in the so-called pork corner''
-(when he professed to have received q
revelation that to the Mormons, as to the
Jews, the hog must be a thing accursed-
and when all good saints were getting rid
of their pigs speedily as possibly-he sent
out his agents and bought up every pig in
the territory, and sending them to Eastern
markets made about 100000 by the trans
action he yet made all the saints i'm
plicit believers in his sincerity, and single
heartgdness. They are fondo of telling of
his great grief when in the early days of
MormonlSm, the principle of Celestial
marriage was unfolded to him. He
walked to the window to conceal his emo
ton, and seeing q funeral passing, ex-
| L
change places with that corpse yonder. be-
fore am called upon to fulfill this man.
date - He got bravely over his grief. con-
sidering he left score of spouses to
mourn his loss. Even in dying, he was
deceiver-or deceived. After he had lain
quiet for some moments, he looked up,
and his face was illumined with a light
not of earth, as he gazed upward, crying,
"Joseph Smith, Joseph !''-and so died.
Did he make his last utterance the seal of
alife-long hypocrisy ?-or did he see Joseph
Smith ?-and if Joseph Smith is in Para
disc, where does Mormonism stand-this
is nice point for psychologists.
Mormon credulity is Unreasonable.
Anointings, laying on of hands, &c., are
their prescriptions in illness, and their
T list of faith-cures, distances that of the
church of Rome. Their preachers are
divinely inspired after the laying on of
hands; no others have the right to preach.
Their theological ordinances are, faith
repentance. baptism, then laying on hands
for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Observe
J that no one, who fails to observe the ordi-
nance of baptism by immersion, admin.
istered by a Mormon, can receive the Holy
Spirit
The rise of Mormonism is familiar to
all Joseph Smiths alleged vision, by
which he found the Book of Mormon, in
scribed on gold plates. written in early
Egyptian, in the hill Cumorah, New Y ork
State, and translated it by means of the
Urim and Thummim found with it. The
Book of Mormon, which to US seems in
genious, and to the MOrmons divine, is 9
history of the people and cities in Amer
lea in prehistoric times-the settlers be-
ing the ten lost tribes Of Israel, and their
whole empire being swept away by the
threefold scourge of fire, earthquake and
inundation, on the day of Christ's cruel
fixlon 1t is supplement TO the Old Tes
timent in Mormon eyes. For doctrine
and precept, they turn to the book of spec
ial revelations made to Joseph Smith, af
ter he translated the book of Mormon. Il
is called the Book of Doctrine and Cove
nants." have read it carefully, and
must candidly say that | think it a sense
less rigmarole of botched Scripture
phrases. 1t is quite different from Thu
book of Mormon The appearance, il
what purports to be sacred writings, O.
the names Of towns Oh the Missouri river
of Jones and Smith and Robinson" ant
the trivial details in regard to shops ant
trade, in which are found the affectation O.
foreign names-is positively ludlcrous
For instance. ''Tahannes the tannery ant
Shulah the ash pit. '-effectually depriv
it OF all claims to dignity and respectful
consideration. The founder of Mormon
ism is usually designated as my sci
= want, Joseph Smith. Junior, and some
' times as ''Enoch' or "Gazeum.' A
! nearly as | could find out. the Mormo
7 church has one tenet somewhat resemblln
d the theory of metempsychosis. Souls VIII
\ have failed in their brightest spheres c
Il usefulness. i'll the sanity life of the latte
n day, will be born again and again int
. human bodies until their salvation is 81