Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1906-01-20

would only cleave to one wife there
after.
Now, the rank and file of church !
cannot be better than the leaders of a !
church. If you have a corrupt pulpit
IN time you will have a corrupt pew.
Dean Swift in clerical garb means
Dean Swift with a debauched cOngre-
CATION. Water by the law of specific
gravity cannot rise higher than It's
source. Yet it is undeniable that there
are many Of the rank and file who are
thoroughly dlsgusteG with the odious
lives and false pretenses Of those lead
ers. To these honest ones, who long
for better things, we must extend all
sympathy.
A Visit to salt Lake City.
Let us go and visit Salt Lake City.
We stop and look in the city directory
TO find where the Mormon leader lives.
"My," you say, Uncle Joseph must
move quite often to escape paying
rent. Why, here are five different
houses under his name" YES" | say,
she sleeps in one house, eats breakfast
in another house, has supper In another
house, spends the evening in another
house and sleeps IN another house. In
each one of these homes he has a diff
ferent wife. When he walks along the
street forty-two different children can
stop him and call out, Hello, papav
Uncle Joe must have great memory
70 remember the faces of all these chill
dren. He must have a deep well Of
affection to love all of his progeny. He
must be a financial genius to support
all these homes and yet be a poor min
ister.'" Most Of us Protestant minis
ters have hard work to make financial
ends meet and support one wife and
J 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
I leading his cattle over the western
prairie than for this human libertine
! walking around and posing as an apos-
tie Of God and talking about love. Yes,
he has love, but it IS the love Of q
wholesale libertinism which ought to
push it's devotee out of all decent so
ciety.
While writing this sermon there lies
before me Il list of the domestic me-
mage Of the leaders Of the Mormon
church. Francis NJ. Lyman, the presl-
dent Of the twelve apostles, has two
wives: John II. Smith, an apostle, two
wives: Heber ]. Grant, apostle, two
wives; John w. Taylor, apostle, five
wives Mariner W. Merrill, seven liv-
ing wives and forty-six children; \
thias F. Cowley, apostle, three wives;
Rudger ClawsOn, two wives. Now, If
these men are living in open sin, what
are they doing in secret? And II these
church leaders, these apostles, are llv-
ing in such illicit relationship, what are
the rank and file of the Mormon church
doing today? If the truth about the
llbertlnsm Of the Mormon church could
6a. ,enllv pictured the walls Of POmpeii
would be ioooted upon as a picture gal
lery Of virtue and Of modesty IN COM
parlson All decency, al purity all
virtue, should rise up in wrara- against
the sins Of the Sodom and Gomorrah OF
the Utah plains.
But modern Mormonlsm stands for
more than financial graft and unlicens-
ed llbertlnsm. 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 ana 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 Delllah.
They try to put out her two eyes and
compel her to stagger around in the
temple Of GAIA while they mock at her
and deride her helplessness.
An Impossible Task.
There are two means whereby 1t Is
nossible to overthrow a 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 a sensible woman that he
could love equally we'll and at the same
time twenty-six wives besides a score
or more of affinities. The second way
| for the Mormon hierarchy to overthrow
n good woman is through her religious
beliefs. This is one Of the ways in
which the Mormon church accomplishes
ifs infamies. The leaders Of that
! church promulgate these two doctrines
First they say:
"a woman who is unwilling to mar
ry and beget children is a woman VINO
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 to
do with the matter In the Mormon
world q woman must be sealed to a
man or else she is doomed to eternal
death" The second doctrine IS like
unto the first: The highest seat IN
heaven for the good Mormon is for the
Mormon saint who takes unto himself
the greatest number Of wives and rears
I'D the greatest number Of children, for
on the great day Of ascension God VIII
first call up the husband. Then the
husband in turn, will call up his wives
Then the more wives and the more chill
dren the man can produce the greater
will be his rewards for eternity"
Therefore the Mormon church says
woman. marry. Woman, get your
husband as many wives as you can, fol
such Is the will Of God" BY thus ap
peallng to woman's superstition We