The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-08-02
THE TWO OATHS.

The official organ of the Mormon
church is seriously aroused by the dis
covcry that parallels have been drawn
''between tho alleged oath that the fol
lowers of John Alexander Dowic are
required to take, and the covenants en-
tered into by the members Of the
church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints The News contends that it
is utter folly TO compare the two; thnt
there is no similarity between the Dow
10 oath and the Mormon covenant; and
that no Latter day Saint was ever re-
quired to give his allegiance TO any
man living or dcad.
The article of the News is intended
TO be serious, but it contains a flash of
unconscious humor. The organ of the
church says that cit was to be expect
ed" that such a parallel would be
drawn
Why was it to be expected if there
was no Similarity Why is it drawn if
the Dowie oath and the Mormon COW
enant are so utterly uulike' All, dear
Deseret News, this world is not so fond
of vapidity as to struggle for par
allel where none exists-to struggle de-
liberately, knowingly and uselessly, as
the News insists Besides. dear Deser
CT News, ''it was TO be expected that
you would find fault with the parallel
after your expectation had been full
filed and the parallel had been drawn
You insist that those who make the
comparison know that there is no sim
ilarity, and those who make tho COM
parison are more emphatic in making
their insistence that you know that
the oaths are almost identical in
meaning,
When the Deseret News contends
that no Latter day Saint was ever re-
quired to give his allegiance TO any
man living or dead and that Mormons
are not subject to the arbitrary rule
of man, ii is utter apostasy from the
faith and practice of Joseph T. Smith,
Arbitrary rule is the only kind of rule
known in the Mormon church. The
rule of man pretending to speak for
God is the only rule known. Any
Mormon who does not give his allie
glance to the living president is ex.
communicated. The teaching Of the
Mormon church is: fObey the priest
hood as you would obey God, for the
priesthood speaks for God.' The cove
nant to follow the direction and i'm
plicltly obey the counsel Of the hie-
rarchy is the supreme covenant of Nor
mon life. There are plenty of instances
where men have deserted wives in ODE
dience to that counsel. There are plenty
of instances where men have taken new
wives against their own will and to
the ruin of honest family life in obe.
dience TO that counsel. There are plenty
of instances where men have yielded
all their financial opportunities in ODE
dience to that counsel. There are plen-
ty of instances where men have sacri-
feed the most tender ties of nature in
obedience TO that counsel. There are
plenty of instances where men have
foresworn their allegiance to this coun-
try in obedience TO that counsel And
there are plenty of instances where men
have been absolutely ruined for fail
ure to obey that counsel.
The Dowie oath lacks only one thing
of being a complete parallel of the
Mormon covenant and that is that the
Dowie oath was not enforced, aud the
Mormon oath is enforced under pains
and penalties which fall barely short
of actual capital punishment.