Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-01-18

street forty-two different children can
stop him and call out, Hello, papav
Uncle Joe must have a great memory
to remember the faces Of all these chill
dren. He must have deep well Of
affection to love all of his progeny. He
must be a financial genius to support
all these homes and yet be poor min
ister.'" Most Of US Protestant minis
tiers have hard work to make financial
ends meet and support one wife and
three or four babies, but Uncle Joe GER
tainly can do wonders. have more
respect for the stag lording it over his
herd or the shaggy four legged beast
leading his cattle over the western
prairie than for this human libertine
walking around and posing as an npos.
tie Of God and talking about love. Yes,
he has love, but 1t is the love of
wholesale libertinism which ought to
push its devotee out of all decent So
, ciety.
While writing this sermon there lies
before me list Of the domestic me.
mage of the leaders Of the Mormon
church. Francis NJ. Lyman. the presi.
dent Of the twelve apostles, has two
wives; John II. Smith, an apostle, two
wives; Heber J. Grant apostle, two
wives; John w. Taylor, apostle. five
wives Mariner w. Merrill. seven liv-
ing wives and forty-six children; Mat
thias r. Cowley, apostle three wives;
Rudger Clawson. two wives. Now, II
these men are living in open sin, what
are they doing in secret? And II these
church leaders, these apostles, are liv-
ing in such Illicit relationship, what are
the rank and file Of the Mormon church
doing, today? If the truth about the
libertInsm of the Mormon church could
be fully pictured the walls Of Pompeii
would be looked upon us a picture gal
lery of virtue and of modesty in COM
parison. All decency, all purity, all
virtue, should rise up in wrath against
the sins Of the Sodom and Gomorrah OF
the Utah plains.
But modern MOrmonism stands for
more than financial graft and unlicens-
ed libertinism. 1t stands for the degra-
dation Of woman, not only through the
evil door Of sin. but also through the
narrow door of superstition What
Brigham Young and his associates
could not accomplish by false means
they tried to accomplish by the blinded
eyes Of superstition. Where they could
, not overthrow woman by her physical
weakness they tried to overthrow her
by her spiritual credulity. The Sue
cessors of Brigham Young are now try
ing to render her helpless, as the Phil
istines rendered the mighty Samson
helpless after his betrayal by Dclilah.
J They try to put out her two eyes and
. compel her to staggcr around in the
temple Of GAIA while they mock at her
and deride her helplessness.
| An Impossible Task.
{ There are two means whereby it is
possible to overthrow good woman.
The one is through her heart or by her
? love- That Is not what the Mormon
, leaders can do. Even Brigham Young
: with all his powers Of persuasion. could
not prove to sensible Woman that he
, could love equally well and ut the same
| time twenty-six wives besides score
? or more of affinities. The second way
for the Mormon hierarchy to overthrow
a good woman Is through her religious
2 beliefs. This is one of the ways In
| which the Mormon church accomplishes
! its infamies. The leaders Of that
church promulgate these two doctrines
, First they say:
. "A woman who il unwilling to mar
ry and beget children is a woman who
will have no part in the glories OF the
celestial life. Therefore it Is the duty
of every woman to marry. no matter
: what may be the desire Of her heart
= Love or dislike Of life has nothing tc
r do with the matter. In the Mormon
I world n woman must be sealed to 9
man or else she Is doomed to eterna
D DEATH" The second doctrine is like
: unto the first: 1.-THE highest seat ir
! heaven for the good Mormon is for thu
2 Mormon saint who takes unto himself
t the greatest number Of wives and rear'
1 up the greatest number Of children, fol
on the great day Of ascension God viii
2 first call up the husband. Then thu
I husband, in turn, will call up his wives
I Then the more wives and the more chill
= dren the man can produce the greate
I will be his rewards for eternity
: Therefore the Mormon church says
e "Woman, marry. Woman. get you
t husband as many wives as you can, 70
8 such is the will Of God" BY thus ap
: pealing to wOman's superstition w
n find that husbands have married sis
n tiers and even mothers and daughter
$ and had children by them all. Is it no
t about time for this horrible teaching t
{ end?
S But" again says some one. 9TH
: government has no right to stop tn
b belief Of man and woman. Here "
4 have no union of church and state.
i No, the government has no right to tr
TO make a Baptist out Of Methods
: or Il Presbyterian out of Catholic
e but it certainly has right to stop an
" teachings that lead directly to crime G
:. which may be used to overthrow
s. man's or woman's morals. The Ii
, dian government certainly had rigl
s. to interfere and stop mothers castin
e their children to the crocodiles in II
" Ganges. 1t certainly had right
y stop the widow burning and the India
y Juggernaut. Our government certain
q " has a right to forbid the use Of IL
n mails for villa litQratlra and for II