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suffrages possess , in this respect , at least , some advantage over a possibly more oblivious and credulous posterity ; for it is just very possible , though- the comparison may be unequal , that it may he easier for all of us now to be Christians , than it would have been at a much earlier period in the history of Christendom . As in physical nature , so is it very much with certain of our mental and' moral perceptions of things , especially those at all associated with the marvellous , '' distance lends enchgsitment to the view . " Time gives them , more or less , the stamp of authenticity .
However despised , therefore , may be this new faith of the nineteenth century , whether caused by its low origin , or by the extravagances of its founder , it is very certain , judging from past experience , that no inconsiderable success awaits it . At present it is estimated that the sect numbers somewhere about 800 , 000 . In the Salt Lake City alone there are upwards of 30 , 000 . The "Book of Mormon , " for which , like the Bible , they claim inspiration , is now in print in the' English , Welsh , French , German , Danish , and Italian languages ; and preparations are being made to translate it in the Chinese , Burmese , Spanish , and other languages .
It is obvious that there is in and about Mormomsm many points that will be ever and increasingly attractive to a large class of human beings ; no doubt almost exclusively confined to those who , like the followers of Mahomet , are to be influenced in their religious convictions , in proportion as their credulity and animal appetites are ministered to and consulted . The supremacy and numerical strength of the priesthood will be useful and powerful in restraining arid keeping together the people ; the institution of the priesthood
itself to serve as a stimulus to avaricious and ambitious devotees . The government of the Mormons is the most absolute theocracy . It consists of the President , the twelve apostles , the high priests , priests , elders , bishops , teachers , and deacons . In truth , the new religion is one of the '' great facts" of our time . The rapid growth , and grossness of the imposition , is one of the most marvellous events of many centuries . "It is , " says a sensible authority , " a great practical comment on the so-called intelligence of the age . "
In the face of these facts it becomes the civilized world , and especially the more enlightened portions of Christendom , calmly to consider the best means of staying the progress of this moral scourge , the just retribution it may be of an offended God , for the deplorable ignorance and superstition that for ages have been cherished , and now permitted to rise up with rank luxuriance in our midst . The question , then , naturally occurs to us , how and in what manner is this crusade to be carried on ? Is it
to be by following the practices of the priest-ridden county of Somerset , by hooting , yelling , stoning , ducking , and assaulting those who differ from us ? Or is it to be by more gentle and Christian means , in the spirit of '' loving those who persecute us , and spitefully use us V By raising up the broad standard of universal love and truth * Or by uplifting the standard of bigoted Rect and party , a mutilation and distortion of tire truth ? Persecution at all events will never do . If history will supply a solitary instance of misguided power over permanently and satisfactorily serving- the cause of the persecutor , then I shall bo willing- to abandon iny position . The instances to be found in the history of the world are all the reverse way .
But without going further , let us take Monnonism itself to explain the operation of this panacea for all tile heterodox evil that " flesh is heir to . " Notwithstanding the known profane , lying , profligate character of Joseph Smith , the Mormon Prophet , he succeeded , step by step , in raising and establishing a church out of the weakest , most corrupt , and \ inaccountablo elements , at first consisting only of six interested members of his own family and friends ; and which , as we have already stated , now numbers upward of ; $ 00 , 000 persons —its influence threatening to spread over the whole western continent of America . In the supposed zenith of tho Church ' s strength the prophet ordered " that all
property should bo consecrated to the Lord ; " and with no greater rapacity than has been always manifested by the sacerdotal order—a tenth part of allthingn for himself { in < l priests . No sooner did this Mormon bull go forth Mian his spiritual empire began to doelino , and the number of " tho faithful" to diminish . lint fortunately for the Zion of Joseph a violent persecution arose , and tho inhabitants of Jackson county drove out , amid remorseless cruelties , the converts from Missouri , and from that instant Mormonism < hw fresh life . The prophet and a devoted disciple subNecpioinMy Uie floor
were shot / and " their innocent blood on of Carthage gaol , " says an authority , "is Hoarded as a broad « oal affixed to Monnonism , that cannot be re-™ - J t'fi < ' < yJLbxUIiy court on earth . His name ijow goes J"L < KlAy ) O ^ tiBV > rity as a (/ cm for the sanctified . " / a / V ^^^ Ftf ^ il * u « Wstood and established is the foregoing f ^^ l ^ & ^ - ^^ S ^^ !^"' * ' ^ HOino ( lo tf <) ° <» "l ° r obliga-M / ^^ P ^ J ^ fr ^^^ i your intelligent readers forolforing ho ^( fe (" ' ^^ M ^^»!|| iSpj )» 4 » it'i <) n of my proposition . Pomicution $ * y \ ^^^ r * nL % ^ F' ^/ ^ 9 IU > railco iin ( l 1 > i ^ otrv . ' - " "" I it may be V ^^ ' ) S ^ 0 ^| l ^^ ' ^ " ^ y ttr *'' ' * ' ! lH HUCn - "" ' P " i'l " uly lno > s ^^' vH ^[ fe ^ wl' ^ jifiesthood . No one who Imih over sin-VI rvX ° ^ $$ ^ Ml jj ^ « tly sought after the truth-- "who has **¦ *'¦* *• * w ** % ) iwdl'Dliili sou ) through tho tortuous avenues of
every species of theological dogma , leading to the obscurities of so-called "belief '—will ever feel any desire to resort to such a practice . It is truly humiliating to know that nearly all the evils recorded m the history of the world—the wars of nations , the cruelties and persecutions of sects and individuals—are more or less to be attributed to the baneful influence of a proud , ambitious , and tyrannical priesthood . Do we' wonder at the extension of error and superstition ? With what reason can we wonder ? Is it not notorious that , with very rare exceptions , the whole efforts of the Christian priesthood are at present directed to the curbing and restraining of mind , if not
the absolute suppression of conscience . Reared , many of them , in the musty cloisters of Oxford and Cambridge , they know comparatively nothing of the state of feeKng and opinion beyond the narrow circle in which they move . There they have been taught that it is a dangerous thing to think , a sin to doubt , and a damnable thing to believe , other than that which is stamped by the authority of their own church . Such being the teachers , no wonder at the character of the taught . Yet these are the men who are trained , and turned out to feed the hungry souls of the neglected millions . ' ' The people ask for bread and they are given a stone , for
equally indigestible are their dogmas . The mmd is first excited by the marvellous in doctrine , aud then stultified by the inconsistent in practice . The Christ —whose kingdom was so emphatically declared to be not of this world—is mocked by the pomp and pageantry of state profession . The Christ " had not where to lay his head" : —his chief disciples now live in palaces , enjoy princely revenues , and claim , by a sort of " apostolical succession , " all this splendour and greatness of the world . The people meanwhile are taught to '' despise r iches , " to be ' 'jealous of human
wisdom , " and to be satisfied that such is the mechanical power of consecration g iven to the hands of bishops and priests , that the most unholy thing " may be consecrated pure and holy to the Lord . " Thanks , however , be to God , these things cannot long be perpetrated with impunity . Such are the laws by which the Creator governs his universe that evil is a purblind thing , and is in itself suicidal . '' When the worsb conies to the worst things must mend . " Yours respectfully , A Spectator . October 6 .
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NATIONAL HISTORIC STATUES . Sib , —I have observed , with considerable surprise , that the statue of Isabel of France , the wife of Edward the Second , is , or is to be , among the ornaments of the Westminster Palace ; and as some visitors to the twelfth-cake show shop may be curious to know who she is , I beg leave , by means of your columns , to suggest that her title , from Gray's Bard" She-wolf of France , Avith unrelenting fangs , Who tore the bowels of her mangled mate , " be engraved upon the pedestal . In addition , Sir , I would ask , upon what principle is the statue of such a woman to be introduced into a building in which the pielced men of the most moral and thinking nation of tho world assemble for the sole purpose of making laws for this nation ? There should not be a picture or . a statue in that palace that is not suggestive of the good , the great , and the becoming . Private wealth may encourage mere manipulation , and cover its walls with dogs , horses , and bad women ; but the nation pays for these adornments , and can afford to pay for nothing that has not a tendency to purify and exalt their representatives—nothing that has not mind in it , and that r ightly directed . I could write a volume on this subject . I will not suppose that the persons ordering this statue went so deeply into the
matter as to say , " We will place it there as a beacon or warning ; " no , Sir , she was a queen ; and orinine , like charity , covers a multitude of sins . It in true , she was as infamous as a woman as she could be , and through her arose the accursed claim of England to the throne of France , which desolated both countries with a war of a hundred years ; but she was a queen ; and though Cromwell , " I ' l / Murpateur du / ne de , rci / ner , " as Voltaire says , bo excluded , her effigy must have a place of honour . Whilst upon this subject , allow me to advert to the statue of Riehard Cuiur de Lion , about to be erected in the metropolis . In undent times , no doubt , statues were erected to keep people in mind of their benefactors ; when Roman wealth , luxury , and vanity
extended the practice to tho heads of parties , familioN , and royal favourites , the principle was destroyed ; when bad men and women in the flesh obtained marble immortality , that which had been originally good , became morally evil . The same remark I have made upon the " she-wolf " ' statue ) holds good with respect to this famous Cawr < lo Lion ; being beautifull y wrought , it would be fitly placed in the gallery of some eminent virtuoso ; hut , it haH no business to stand an a public monument , in a groat city , in the year 18515 . Such points of honour should only be occupied by thai , whieh would stimulate tho public mind to worthy aofion , and in accordance with tho aims of the existing world . Richard ean only stand as a symbol of brute strength , ungoverned passions , and indomitable Hellwill . . Ho was a bad man and a bad king ; as much
below bis great rival Saladin as possible , fory notwithstanding the fictions of painters and poets , he neve even overcame him in personal conflict ; arid why , then is this-statue to be thlnist daily before the eye * arid thoughts of a people who now , thank God > have nothing in common with the character of vyhich he is the type ? Its skilful workmanship is nothing ; ifc is time that" the arts and artists were informed tley are wrong in their aim ; that art alone is worthy of p " ublitf en ? couragementi which ' - in' addition to the efforts of tlte eye ^ and the hand , proves that- mind' appeals to mind W R Stoekweli .
{ Although contrary to our custom to' discuss with writers the opikio * Vs which 1 we alioVsr to find ? a placed in our Open Council * we must in this case ; merely to protect ourselves from farther correspondence , enter a , protest against what is said of Richard Cceur de Lion whom we regard as a man of his age , and distinguished in that age ; worthy therefore , as all distinguished men of all ages , of national' respect . —Ed . ]
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THE GREEK EMPIRE MEETING AT CROSBY HALL , ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) May * ff-building 6 , Sft Martin ' s-lane October 6 th , 1853 . SrB ; - ^ -With considerable' expectation I attended a meeting at Crosby Hall on Thursday "Week , a meeting called for the purpose of sympathising with the Christian Greeks of the Turkish Empire . It was a great strain on my patience to sit and hear the " halfhour speeches of the St . Johns , interlarded as they were with Christian cant . It seemed as if Christian bigotry was pitched against Mahomedan fanaticism , and I must confess I have little sympathy with either . No policy was enunciated . Wild and unlimited denunciation of the Turk supply the place both of policy and pr inciple . This is not the way to move the English public . If the St . Johns aim at rousing Exeter Hall and its imbecility , at reaching the old women , the inhabitants of teadom , they are going the right ¦ way to work ; but I take it , impotence is not what they seek . Mr . Nicholls , who made a speech that went home to the hearts and the heads of the audience , spoke quite apart from the Christian furor and silly depreciation of the Turks of the other speakers . He stated he was a stranger to the gentlemen on the platform , and knew nothing oft'ie league , which he advised the audience to judge by its fruits , neither to accept it without caution , nor to condemn it on bare suspicion . Mr . Nicholls seemed to think there was danger in the attempt to form a new empire , with the colossal power of Nicholas confronting it , ready to take advantage of the dissensions and the weakness that always accompany a new state . One expression does him honour , and the audience , the clergyman in the chair who heartily applauded it . It was to this effect , — " Tell him there were 90 , 000 , 000 of human beings oppressed , trodden undei' foot , outraged ; and he would not wait , nor did he believe the p uWic would wait to inquire whether they were Christians before he raised an arm in their defence , or made hie voice h eard in sympathy . " I should not have troubled you with this , had not the daily papers neglected to report anything said by Mr . Nicholls , and the Eastern Star omitted to repair the oversight of its daily contemporaries . Your obedient servant , W . jROBINKON .
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100 Q THE LEADER . [ Saturday ^
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An Unhappy Iixustration . —King William IV . was one day ins 2 > ecting a militia reg iment , with the Duke of Buckingham on one side , and a sun-burnt Indian veteran on the other . The King suddenly found it necewsary to make a speech , and thti natural topic was the glorious contingencies of a military career . By way of illustration , he pointed to "the Duko on his left , and said , " You see me supported here , on one side , by a descendant of tho Plan tagenets—one whose lineage is equal to my own ; while , on tho other , my sido is pressed by a man uprung Jrovi we very drc » of the people . —Mew Quarterly Jiemew toi October .
Thk Ckdjuih of Lkiianon- have diminiflhed from a forest to a sacred grove , guarded by a priest and protooted by a superstition . The prophecy of taiah Jia long since been fulfilled , and " Lebanon is turned into a fruitful field , " "the rest of the trees of hw forest » u few , that a child may write them . " The « odar ? "J . Lebanon scarcely occupy a space equal to two-acio ground ! But Lebanon is a fruitful field ; the nnill > e » y tree yields ibi luHciouu fruit , and its more usolul leave , witl / gracefnlluxurianee ; and in its valleyH tlio « . vests wave spontaneously in autumn . —J \ vu > ( J > tai ¦¦ licnitiw for Oetobor
. .. Statihtioh <>«¦ Loiwkvity . — 1751 perflons won taken , all of whom had attained an . hundwety « ^ and were all living at tho same time . In one- y they had riiniiniflhed to 1587 , in the hoooihI y «» 1442 , in the third to 1280 , in tho fourth to 11 ^ . { so on till , out of tlio original 17 /> 1 , ° "iV Vo » " < ! the ago of 120 ; 4 < i survived to 130 , Jl w Je ' cttf of one tough old gentleman actually resisted tho oim > timo and wonthor , till he had oompleted n »» ™* dei 0 mwn and nnwH year \ -New Quarterly Km for October .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 15, 1853, page 1000, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2008/page/16/
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