The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-03-25
The @lrsse1ler.
HHE AWAKENING AS TO MORMON
PROSELY THING.

mons busily at work. A week or U"o
ago the North Carolina Presbyterian
Eaatde an extraordinary statement tnat
zxszast surprise all who shall see It. 1t
xEos a very great shock to us, alrhough
Eve had been watching anxiously for a
rear or two the adven of the apostles
<T lust, and had seen their Industrious
putoseIyting journeys among h numer-
Gus ignorant people of this state with
fears as Ito evil consequences. They
have been steadily making converts TO
Ehedr religion of lust that rivals any
thing In Mdhammedan HISTORY. The
statement made and reported by The
Charlotte Presbyterian Is to h effect
THAT there are TO- more Mormon ell
.11ers at work IN North Carolina than
kAere are Presbyterian ministers, md
that at the present rate OF increase It
uflL not be long before the MormonS
viii have more churches and more COM
us1ntcants in this state than the Pres
byterians, wtho constitute the third
largest denomination in the state, the
Fsaptists and MethOdists o~utnumbering
Them in the order manned. To those
1xe1o may regard the future of North
Carolina there is some cause for alarm.
There is a tremendous amount of IL
ZIferacy in this state, it Is standing 4 in
the alphabet as to white i~Nfterates, &C
cnrding to the census of 1890. 1t is NO
Better in 1893. The Mormon false stuff
II we'll calculated to appeal to igno-
rance and animal lust. The emmisa-
~aes talk religion of the Old kind, and
appear we'll up in professions Of spiri-
fual illumination and Bible truth.
Among intelligent educated people this
is the kind of strain they indulge. They
talk religion right along and of the gen.
nine. Biblical kind. When they get
among people of the more ignorant and
degraded kind they talk Mormonism-
TO Smithism-Brigham YOungism in
essence.
What do he protestant denomina-
flons mean to do about this Mormon
Invasion? 1t is too late to talk of re-
7igious prosecutions. The whip, the
fire and faggot, cannot be resorted to
Esssw, and especially in a commonwealth
LuffCu VI dl oCIlSIS IDdS UCCII LIN 1IlooI
restive and defan under religious in
Yaorerence and ecclesiastical persecu-
lions. Read Bancroft and you will
learn something of this.
This invasion of the Mormon prosely-
Eers-the "buzzfng emissarfes" of Sa-
fan-must arouse the genuine protest
ants from Currituck to Cherokee. They
have been Indifferent, asleep, torpid,
while the agents Of the Mormon de
6auchery have been as active as mag
zots, and have gained fresh conf
sdence,' to quote William Cowper,
from every h~airbrained proselyte they
make" These spies into the intellec-
1uaa and educational nakedness of our
state have gathered fresh hope daily.
They find the receptivity OF lgno-
rance and superstition immense, and
they have gone ON diligently prOSecu-
TN their i~nsinuating n deceiving
work while the religious denominations
!, were fallen into a condition of lethargy.
Already the MormOns count about 1OO
congrega tfons in this state in THE re-
Efons of Egyptian darkness The
regular Christians are Supplied, stunn-
I'd. amazed They ook ON helpless and
s~orrowful. They are reported as
STARTLED" 'dumbfounded." They Will
now begin to try to do something to
cxe1ntervail all false t~eaching-WiH seek
a remedy for the new disease, an anti
sH1te to the insidious, killing poison. 1t
Is late, for the enemy has has entered
IN" The Charleston News and Cur
fer is amused and say with severity,
ryos without some aspects Of Justice:
1.-The funny aspects of the
ARE too broad to be missed; but there
is q serious side to 1T, also, which Is
presented in the very obvious ref1ec-
zion that the Protestant ministers and
churches of North Carolina appear to
Eaye rendered such an invasion, with
sxIch results, so easily practicable. TIE
North Carolina ministers and dhurcnes
baye not employed their opportunities,
we fear, when the elders from far
Utah cam find material for about a hun
bred congregations all about them. Inc
sndden activity of the shepherds and
churches, moreover, appears to be IN
sspired rather by dislike of the Mormon
Brethren than by hostility TO 1.-THE om-
mon enemy and a consuming regard
FOR IA salvation of lost souls. Tt is
very much to be feared, in short, that
BUT for the invasion of the elders the
thousands of poor and ignorant people
would have been left in darkness for
many years TO come. There is more
anxiety, it seems, to save Them from
Mor4nonism than there has been to
save them from heauhenism and their
SINS"
while Protestant ministers have been
urging, persuading, begging their peo-
p9e to give much money to send the
? EssSSral to tnao laaaIthan in Remote cllln=