The progressive farmer and the cotton plant., 1905-08-01

their chance of eternal salvation. Hundreds 81
illustrious persons have thus been baptized br
proxy: many of the kings and queens Of FnronoS
all of the Presidents of the United States eycant
those who were unfriendly to the Mormons Opo
man is said to have been baptized for each Of tho
signers of the Declaration of independence and
scores of others have thus been given cbanco ~
accept the true religion and hence gain salvatioo
after death.
One woman in Utah, of more than ordinary
zeal. has been for years spending day each vee,
in one of the Temples, trying to accomplish tho
baptisms of 10, 900 dead ancestors After months
and months of patient baptism, she called her two
sons from a ranch in Nevada, to come to helm
her complete the list She has already been i'm.
mersed thousands of times, but [ have never
heard if she had, with the aid of her sons, accom-
plished her whole purpose.
On the same principle, marriages are per-
formed by proxy. Generally speaking there are
two kinds of marriage among the Mormons:
marriages for time, and for eternity As there
is believed to be no marriage nor giving In mar
riage in the next world, marriage for those who
have died single can only be accomplished by two
Mormons having the marriage ceremony per-
formed over them as proxies, thus giving them
the opportunity to accept this marriage and build
UP a kingdom for themselves in the next world.
Hence, the case of Mormon woman whose son
died at the age of eight. and friend, a Mormon
man. whose daughter died at the age of six When
the time had elapsed after their death in which
they would have reached a marriageabe age, the
man. parent of the little girl, and the woman,
parent of the boy, went to the Temple, and
married by proxy for these two children, to in
sure their greater glory in the other world
There is nothing in the arrangement of mar
riage so repugnant so horrible that it cannot
be accomplished under the proxy system. Nor
mon man, being attracted to a Gentle woman,
who may be married to a Gentle man, and whom
he does not even know. may by finding her name
and securing the services of a Norman
who is willing to "stand for her." be sealed to
this Gentle woman by proxy, by a service in the
secret Temple Thereafter that may look
upon that Gentle woman his wife, though the
woman has, nerhaps, never seen him, and he may
gaze upon her when he sees her the street.
thinking in his heart that she will be his wife in
the next world. Also, it is possible and exam
Piles of the possibility are rife in Utah. for
man and a woman to be "sealed," which is the
Mormon term for married, for eternity. but not
for time. IF, however, in spite of the fact that
| the man had another living wife, they choose to
start to build up their kingdom by raising fam
| lily of children in this world, though they incur
| the responsibility of breaking earthly laws they
| insure themselves greater glory in the hereat-
| ter. In former installment [ have related
case which is common one, of a woman beng
sealed to the brother of her dead fance that she
| might raise children to be sealed or adopted to
| her betrothed and belong to his kingdom IN the
| next world The prox~ system OF marriage as
can easily be seen, produces endless and revolt
| in" complications of marriage.