Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1902-06-14
DTsERET EVENING NEWS, SATURDAY JUNE "A, 1902.


It secretly visited the youthful seer. an
n laid all the plans. before he was hap
h tized. And he supposes the exisienc
d Of another spaudlng manuscript thai
i that now preserved In the Oberlln col
i lege, and by such supposltlons he man
ages to keep the untenable theory be
> fore the public another moment
i But here the reader IL asked TO be
q iieyc that Sidney Rlgdon. a prominent
I Christian minister and scholar en-
: tered into a conspiracy with an litter
! ate youth Of alleged bad reputation
I 10 found a new religion and that tho
( minister and scholar though driven Ia
this step by a burning desire for power
and fame, needy took an inferior po-
sltlon In The strange combination. We
are asked TO believe In union Of
scholarship with ignorance, and schol-
arship sitting at the feet OF ignorance
In the attitude OF a disciple And 10
such an Alliance "Mormonlsm' Is
traced Sidney Rigdon It is true,
though no IN after-years left the
Church remained steadfast In his dec
laratlon that the Book Of Mormon was
true Not long before bis death, pressed
by his own son for a btatement con-
oernns his connection with that vol
ume, solemnly reasAerttd that Il Is OF
divine origin. SO we have been as
sured by the gentleman himself, who II
not Church member, But Sidney
! Rlgdon's testimony firm and un-
swerving, must be discarded, we
presume, In order to make
room for an absurd the
Dry The theory Is the important
thing with the opponents Of Nor
monlsm." The facts must be Whitfield
down. until they 1T into the theory.
TO follow the author In his story Of
the "Mormons" through Ohio, Mis-
sour, Illinois and Utah, would be rn-
possible within the limits Of "a brief
newspaper article II would require a
volume OF at least equal size TO that
under review. The general tenor OF the
narrative can be understood from the
opening chapters. IL Is to the efect
that the "MormonS' were themselves
largely responsible for the mobbings
and prosecutions they passed through,
on account OF their extravagan' GAINS,
A -. Al |
their immortality and Indifference TO the
rights OF their nelshbors And, In the
view of the author. the "Mormons' are
stlll insineere. The problem Is not
yet solved
To sum up, Mr.. Linn holds that
i'Mormonlsm" was conceived by un-
prlncipIed persons who palmed II Off
on superstitlous and credulous people.
II was continued by others Of slmil-
AZ character. And out OF this corruption
and fraud, a system OF truth force
d righteousness, a power for good, has
what is specially remarkable about
bis unreasonable reasoning is this, that
I closely follows the lines on which
ome noted Rationalists have endeay- 9
,reg 10 account for the rise of Chris 4,
mnlty in the world. Those who refuse !
o accent the divine mission OF Jesus.
re IN about the same uredlcament az a
hose are who decline 10 believe in the n
ivlne commission of Tho pronbet In.
enh. They fail back uuon the theory
Z frand ana superstitIon IN both In {
tances.
we have before Nc large youme
ntltled. "Geschichte des Rabbi .
eschua ben Jossef Hanootzri. Genannt !
esus Chrlstus," or history OF Rab.
1 Jesus. the son OF Joseph, published
! Hamburg. 1881. The author has not
lven his name but he claims that his "
the only authentic history OF the :.
vents which he sets forth And, curl Il
isly, enough, his line Of reasoning is 81
most Identical with that OF many y
'ltlcs of Mormonism," 3,
lie describes tie political and re- &c
sious excitement Of the time OF Jesus m
particularly favorable to the rise of q.
new superstition He introduces the la
stlmony OF an Essene, Euphanius by ye
'me', to prove the blasphemous asser- pc
On mat this person was the angel OF m
e Loln that visited Mary previous to IN
e birth OF our savior. He, too finds ma
impossible TO explain the origin Of n,
Instantly from the lowly source, ut
manly speaking and so he wa
noes Jesus previous TO His u.
lO'lc appearance IN Alexandria, in in s Ws
na'e company with the Jewish schol- OF
ana philosopher Philo, studying col
nguages' sciences and healing, And cid