Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-11-13

of union of Church and state IN
Utah. in the sense that our eastern CO.
temporaries seem to anticipate, nor in
any way, not perfectly legitimate
President woodrum's address at the
conference is not susceptible of the in
depreciation given to it, Lately lead
ing men OF nearly every denomination
have said substantially the same
thing as did the President OF
the Mormon Church. They have
claimed to have right to lift
their voices against political eorrup-
tion; they have urged Christians to
unite in the interest of good city gov
ornment, even at the sacrifice of party
interests. Thus DIR. Parkhurst tele-
graphs concerning election results IN
Gotham: May the Lord have mercy
on New York. 1t never Will become n
respectable city till its clergy are SO
possessed of the spirit OF the old pro-
phets as TO be prepared to put a gov
erning pressure upon secular events
Have prominent men in the Mormon
Church not the same rights of free
speech as other Christian ministers? Is
it not their sacred duty to stand up for
public morality and good government?
The matter would hardly deserve
comment but for the fact that our
contemporaries, although conversant
with the plain teachings of practical
theology, for the sake of hing at
Mormonlsm. either forget or deny one
of the most self-evident axioms con-
Of ~
the State. Their words seem to I'M
ply that the only mission of the Church
of Christ in the world is to explain
abstract doctrines and perhaps keep up
sociabillty and charity. among the mem
bers. This is a great mistake. From
the very first moment of the ar ear
ance of the Church at the beginning
of our era, it boldly announced its
mission to be to penetrate all human
affairs, to act like a leaven, to regen-
crate the world and to make Of the
Kingdoms of the world the kingdom OF
| God. or, which is the same, to make
| the kingdom of God n universal king
| dom. In furtherance of this great
mission the first followers of Christ
very clearly indicated the rights ana
privileges of both state and Church.
They inculcated loyal submission to
| all human institutions not established
| in violation of divine law; yet main
tanning their right to proclaim against
the sins even of emperors and rulers
and to break down established social
prejudices, as, for instance, when they
accented a slave" as a brother and
invited him to the same table as his
master. In this way the Church fire.
auently came in contact with the
state, as the Church is pretty sure tc
do as long as it is true to It's mission
on earth; but this contact was not
and can never be, undue interference
with the state.
Ecclesiastical history offers many in
stances of such interference wher
Church officials have claimed the righ
to dispose of secular functions at VII
and also cases of State officials usurp
ing the prerogatives of the Church
1t is against this kind interference 81
detrimental to human progress, tina
the Constitution of our country seek
to guard the citizens. And never vii
this provision of the Constitution tin'
more ardent supporters or more watch
full guardians that the leaders am
members of the Mormon Church. I
believe in the right of the Church t
exercise an influence for good on tn
State by being by word and example
regenerating power-this we shall no
deny nor disclaim. But seek t
mixChurch and State, to effect the un
ion of the two. Is matter entirel
different, and one which the Mormon
are as much opposed to as anyone els
possibly can be.