The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-06-04
Must Believe in Joseph Smith,

i1Oly grieStnOOd streaming.
Sunday school Hymnal, No. 61,
Must Believe in Joseph Smith.
One other observation must be made
| before leave is taken of this part of
| the defense before the world. 1T touches
a matter which in Importance dwarfs
%en5Hnod bo IN @o0t6on e6e Ad d.
the Mormon church is in the Book of
Mormon" the ''Doctrine and Cove
nants, the "Pearl of Great Price, "
and the testimony of the F'living ora
cles. - delivered from time 10 time. But
whoever digs down to the lowermost
foundation will find that, at last, every
thing rests upon the reported visions
of Joseph Smith. When any matter of
vital Importance is presented for the
! belief OF mankind, if that matter,
either IN its nature or the circum"
stances attending it, lies very much
outside the ordinary. duo regard for
human intelligence demands that,
whatever testimony is produced in sup
port of it shall be buttrcssed by cor
roborative evidence. But here we have
system of religion which claims sole
authority as being alone divinely ac-
credited. 1t asks for the acceptance
of mankind on the ground Of being so
accredited. it mathematics all who
| finally reject it. Yet this religion, MAX
ing such an astonishing claim, is found
ed upon the unsupported assertion of q
| young person whose probity was never
| so well established that his naked word
would be taken concerning any matter
! transcending ordinary observation and
! experience; and that assertion touches
supernatural appearances, and messages
which, II true, are of the most profound
Importance to mankind; and vet that
! assertion is wholly without corrobora-
ting evidence. We arc asked TO believe
that, after seventeen centuries Of apos-
tacy on the part of his church, and
seventeen hundred years of silence on
! his own part, God broke this long 81
lence Mt last with a message to a
hitherto unbelieving world, which would
determine the destiny of mankind but
that he so discrcdited human intelli-
| gence as to send that aIl-important
message by an ambassador without ere
dentialsl
! In short, the Mormon church has not
yet gwen the world any satisfactory
evidence that the foundation upon
which 1T rests its enormous claim, en-
tlIles that claim to any serious consid-
Grafton Here is the fatal desttution
OF the whole system. And no defense
that can be set up for the doctrines or
| practices Of the church. or for it's his.
tory, or for the character of its people,
however strong or adroit that defense
may be, can veil their mortal weakness.
"strange That There Are So Few
Plural Marriages
Attention is called in the EtAddress"
to plural marriages and polygamous
living We have no means of knowing
TO what extent the practice of plural
marriage has been discontinued in the
mormon church. since no records of
| such marriages are kept by the church
that are accessible to the public. That
there have been instances of such mar
riages, even since the agreement of the
church TO discontinue them, we know.
thaC they cannot be celebrated without
the sanction of the church, through ac.
credited officials, is unquestioned; that.
so far as the public knowledge goes,
no otilclals. who may have celebrated
such marriages, have been disciplined
thercior, IS certain. The doctrine Of
plural marriage yet appears in the ac~
cepted standards of the church un.
changed, In face of the promise made
by the president of the church that the
woodruff Manifesto should be printed
IN the later editions of such standards.
Ihat tho practice is not now as open.
or as common as in the days of Brig.
nam Young may be conceded But that
III is, at most, suspended bv church
decree, and not abrogatcd, is we'll up
derstood here.
Polygamous Living the Worst Kind of
Polygamy,
NO denla Is made of the practice of
polgamous living. The "Address' ad
inlts that authoritative figures Officially
collected show eight hundred and nine
/ ty-seVen such male polygamists in the
year l9O2, The fact that later rcports
nrG not quoted leads 10 the reasonable
behef that since that date the number
or male poiygamists has not diminished
but rather has increased But even if
th!S conclusion is not valid, these figures
gwen have very grave Significance
We have this condition before us; In a
! sect, numbering at the outside some
| 1our hundred thousand souls MANY of
whom-half or more are children or
mere adherents at the very least 26ol
persons are living III polygamy This
would be true VI each of the eight hun.
dred and nnety-sevcn male poIypam-
ISIS mad only two conSorts; but. since In
many cases there are more than two,
the whole number of persons living in
polygamy is considerably larger than
tue figures Just named would indicate.
IL seems quite probable that far more
than eighteen hundred families i'm this
sect are polygamous families, All of
these people are living in violation of
the law. Each one Of them has a cir
Gle Of relatives and friends. most of
sympathize with the criminal. These
people are rearing children majority
OF whom have been born under ban Of
the law. Moreover they are now main
tanning their relations against the de-
cree Of the church, as interpreted under
oath by the church leaders. and yet none
of them have been subjected TO church
discipline for polygamous living What
must reasonable people think Of it when
such condition is approved and sus-
tanned by church claiming to be the
only church of Christ in the carth-a
church strong enough to control all con
ditions in the State, political social and
ciyil7
Law breaker Wants to be Let Alone
federation of these criminals, mercy
and charity toward them is claimed on
tho ground; First, that toloration has
been shown them in the past 1t is
even said that the federation under
which the practice Of plural marriage
became firmly established binds the
United States and its people. if indeed
they are not bound by considerations