The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-01-12
THE SALT LAKE HERALD THIRsDAY JANUARY Il. 1899

ance.s But what they do ask and expect
/ is this: That these former violators OF
/ law shall keep their solemn pledge to
the country, stop living in polygamy,
cease their unlawful Capitalization and
quit increasing the number of illegiti-
mate children. Carefully and kindly
providing for former plural wives and
children is one thing, and living with
] former plural wives in the marriage re-
lation is another thing, which all decent
| people want stopped. But it seems eX-
ceedingly hard for many of the Nor
mon officials to see the difference. Now,
! if President Snow is really sincere
about providing for their plural wives,
let him use his financial ability and or
ganize special fund for their support,
and we shall begin to have some con-
fidence in his sincerity.
The concluding words of this official
document are especially misleading
and deceiving, for certain form OF
Christian phraseology is used which is
well calculated to deceive the outside
world into the conclusion that the Nor
mon church is in sympathy with the
fundamental doctrines of Christianity,
instead Of being directly opposed to
those doctrines. In these concluding
words, resident Snow thus describes
Mormonism:
is a system of religion which rec
ognizes God as the creator and ruler of
the universe. and Jesus Christ of Naz
areth as his son and the Savior Of
mankind, and teaches that the Holy
Spirit may be obtained and enjoyed by
all persons who will receive the gospel
and obey the divine commands"
Now, when we are taught explicitly
and repeatedly, by the recognized au-
thorities in the Mormon church, by
Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and
Farley p. Pratt, and Elder 3. H. Rob-
erts and others, that the God above
mentioned is the exalted Adam, po-
lygamist now living with his plural
wives in heaven; that Jesus Christ is
polygamist, and not the spiritual, but
the natural son of q polygamist father:
and that the Holy Spirit is a refined
fluid or substance resembling electric
ity, we are both astonished and grieved
that anyone in the name of religion
should be willing to engage in such in
eXcusable deception.
And that we may not be char@eable
with misrepresentation, we herewith
make quotations from these Mormon
authorities, Joseph Smith, called the
prophet thus taught: God himself was
once as we are now, and is an exalted
man. and sits enthroned in yonder
heavens. That is the great secret. =
(Journal of DiscourseS, vol. vi, page 81.
more explicit, as follows: When our
father, Adam, came into the Garden of
Eden, he came into it with a. celestial
body, and brought Eve, one of his
wives, with him. He helped to make
and organize this world. He
is our father and our God, and the only
God with whom we have to do" He
denies that Jesus Christ had a spiritual
origin. and says: And who is the
Father? He is the first of the human
family. "-(Journal of Discourses, vol.
l, page 500.
The following is the Mormon teach
ing concerning Jesus Christ: IF none
but gods will be permitted to multiply
immortal children it follows that each
god must have one or more wives.
One thing is certain, that there were
several holy women that greatly loved
Jesus-such as Mary and Martha, her
sister, and Mary Magdalene. If
all the acts of Jesus were written, we,
no doubt, should learn that these be-
loved women were his wives. 1.-THE
Seer, vol 1, PIP. 15S-159).
And here is Apostle Farley P. Pratt's
teaching about the Holy Spirit: The
purest, most refined and subtle of all
these substances (such as electricity,
galvanism. magnetism and the least
understood. or even recognized by the
less informed among mankind, is that
substance called the Holy Spirit. -
(Key to Theology, chap. V, p. so.
And yet President Snow, who holds
and teaches such anti-ChriStian doc
trines as these. as he must do if he is
a true and loyal Mormon. would have
the outside world believe that this sys-
tenn which he represents is very similar
to- the Christian system, and, there