The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-07-01
MISSIONARY VICISSITUDES.

The Mormon missionary business pre-.
sents some very peculiar features
which cause an ordinary man to smile
at the simplicity of the adherents
who sincerely believe all missionaries
to be chosen by God for their sojourns
among the unbelieving and benighted
world. In many cases the bishop
sends rival 6 name to the authori
ties that he may get rid of him; some
times a man is prospering too well to
suit his brethren, and his name is sent
up, after which he soon gets a call for
mission, Hundreds of young men are
sent on missions in order to "re.
form them We have in mind
a certain young man, son of a
stake president, who had been
drinking and carousing around, having
what is known out West as ''hell OF
time. After he became quite hope
less, so far as reformation was con
cerncd, he was called on mission. The
evening before he left he spent in hav.
ing his usual spree, associating with
women of rather questionable repute
but he went just the same, and there
were no serious objections heard in the
community.
One young fellow was duly called
for a mission, but the higher authori-
ties would not let him go. The call was
regularly received, but no one ever
found out which time the Lord had
ANYTHING to do with it, At the same
time a man was sent who was un-
fit for anything except drinking
whisky or shoveling dirt. He went, but
even the mission failed to reform him,
and after six months experimenting he
came home.
Another stake president S son went
TO the Southern States for two years.
After returning he quit The church, re-
marking that the only converts he
made were some half breeds in which
he had a half interest.
To say that the Lord has anything to
do with such missionary work seems im.
possible in this enlightened age. In the
cases where the missionary wife
suffers and perhaps sins while her hus-
band is preaching the gospel and
in those instances where the bearer of
the Masters message goes astray, the
good saints, as taught by their
polygamous leaders, tell you the Lord
did not have part in it. But when is
the adherent to know when the mis-
sion is divine in it's inception, and when
ii is merely the scheme of some church
oi1icial7 The saints hear much about
the young, ignorant elders confound-
ing the wise men of the world; yet, to
one who hears them on the streets
of our American cities, using poor Eng
lish and worse logic, talking as though
they were afraid of being heard, and
constantly repeating their simple ideas,
such talk is ridiculous. The whole mis-
sonary system is imbued and absolute
ly permeated with the identical priest
craft so prominent in Utah affairs.
Brigham Young knew how much God
had to do with calling the missionaries
when he said, in the Tabernacle, Feb
ruary "a, 1856: "But we will send
off the poor curses on a mission, and
then the devil may have them, and we
do not care how soon they apostatize,
after they get as far as California. -
Many other such speeches may be
found in early church writings, before
all the published utterances were close
ly censured, so that the people could
not find such gross lack of essential
Christianity.
The condition of blind servitude, in
the face of so much ridiculous non
sense, into which the Mormons are
cropping is beyond belief unless one
actually sees and hears that which
exists in Mormondom.
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