Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-01-11
BELONGS TO HISTORY.


+be transformations of leading anti
..Mormons2 as 10 their real aims ana
purposes. One set loudly proclaims us
admiration FOR the Mormon people,
ana Its sincere desire to rescue them
from tho alleged tyrannical rule oil 'he
',hierarchs." Another set attacks tne
mormon people openly and impudent-
" as bigots, and traitors. the ignorant
followers OF false pretenders. The salt
Lake Tribune. true to its nature ana
antecedents.. stands with one foot on
each side of the line. asserting one
thing today and another tomorrow. as
best suits it's dark purposes.
Recently the theological writer of That
rl-American sheet made another attack
,,pon the Church--not merely upon the
President OF the Church. as is usually
denouncing the beloved founders OF the
Church as liars and hypocrites the
epologist of the sheet viii. of course,
saS that it was not an attack upon the
Church, but only upon the Prophet ana
Patriarch But 1t was. You cannot
sreak evil of the martyrs without
Insulting every true Latter-day Saint
If the allegations of the hired character
ASSASSIN were true every Latter-day
Saint would be a deceiver or victim OF
deceivers The multitudes who say
that they have testimony as to the
truth of the Gospel would be frauds
The fathers and mothers of thousands
of Saints, who came here for the sake
OF the Gospel and testified of its truth
to their children and grandchildren,
would be merely false witnesses. COW
cred in their graves with ignomy. Moth
Ing less is implied in the vile attacks
upon the Prophet Joseph and his mar
tyred brother.
The attempted justification for the as
sault is, as always, the revelation on the
eternity of the marriage. covenant.
commonly referred to as polygamy. The
organ of immortality alleges that the
founders of the Church, because of their
sins and their falsehoods. were
responsible for the troubles that came
upon the people. To quote:
..T'he Smiths were secretly practicing
polygamy declaring II to be the most
exalted principle that the Lord had yet
revealed TO His people; yet they were
No Ashamed of 1t that they denied II.
Although they said that the Lord nad
uiven the revelation in July, 1913. they
repudiated the Almighty and HIS com
mandment in this official document oil
1914. They privately preached that po-
Iyganiy was an institution of the very
heavens; and yet they publicly de-
clared II 10 be n false and corrupt doc
trine, and branded as iniquitous the
man who preached 1t.
In this way the Tribune apologies for
the murder OF the martyrs. The char
acter assassin justlfles the assassination
of Carthage.
The facts relative to the doctrine OF
plural marriage are no secret They
are set forth in the history of the
Church with sufficient clearness and
frankness. The Church has nothing TO
conceal. Prior to the recording OF the
revelation the doctrine was taught pri-
vately by the Prophet and 1t was even
practised by some Elders who had re-
oeived ii as truth. 1t was not preached
70 the world, nor TO the general body OF
the Saints, until later, for the simple
reason that very few even among the
Saints were prepared to understand II,
or receive 1t. at that time When, there
fore, an Elder by the name of Hyrum
Brown went out and taught polygamy,
he not only preached something for
which he had no authority. but he un-
doubtedly preached heresy, or "a false
and corrupt doctrine" as stated In the
<t,tks. %. ssif
son that he did not understand the doc
trlne Itself. not having been instructed
therein by anyone who could give COR
rect information,
THE Prophet Joseph had an experience
similar 10 the Apostle Paul. We learn
from the writings OF Peter that there
were In his epistes some things hard
TO understand. which they that ara
uniearned and unstable wrest, as they
do also the other Scriptures, unto their
own destrnetlon," IT was 10 avoid this
that the Almighty permitted the grad
uaI unfolding OF the doctrines contained
In the revelation on marriage, II was
for this reason that 1t was necessary
10 rebuke severely those who without
authority went out and preached some
thing OF which they had no understands
Ing and OF which they had heard only
By rumor They We're not In a position
10 explain 10 the people what they did
not know themselves. When they at
tempted 10 do SO. they necessarily fell
into error and became the preachers OF
false doctrine.
But why did the Lord not command
His servants TO lay the matter before
the public at once? why was the re-
violation first carefully guarded? Why.
let us ask in reply why did our bless
ed Savior charge His disciples that
hey should tell no man that He was
Jesus, the Christi" Alatthew s;9O)
And why was this solemn injunction
later removed? (see Acts 1913.
when the revelation was first given
to the Prophet the Church was in
position relative 10 II very much SIM
liar 10 that IN which the primitive
church found itself when the truth was
FIRST proclaimed that the gospel Of Je-
sus was 10 be offered TO an The world,
and not to the Jews alone. A wayer-
ing To- both sides is clearly discern