tion. A receiver was appointed to take and hold the property, in the absence of any cause for such appointment, such as usually gives authority to courts to appoint re ceivers. SPOLIATION IN OGDEN. a religious character. The townsite act, which was passed by Congress for the benefit of the inhabitants of cities and towns, in its entire genius and intent, provides that the land shall be conveyed to the occupants at the time the law comes into operation. Surely this fact will not be controverted, neither can it be denied that the sole occupants of the land in question, from the first settlement of the region, have been the religious worshippers whose buildings are erected thereon. and in this country it has become pare such a case with the Ogden the foundation-stone of our political scheme is the height of absurdity, fabric. If I were asked to declare my opinion as to what was the origin and shows the weakness of those of that doctrine, I should say it who undertake to apologize for it. rather springs from that spirit of In the matter of the Ogden TabThe alleged dissolution of the cor- manhood implanted in the breast of nacle square, as before stated in poration and the assumption on the every man who has stamped upon these columns, the land was set part of the court, before any trial his brow the image of his Maker, was had or investigation made, which enables him to say, in the apart about forty years since by the before even an answer was filed face of arbitrary power, "I am not people who redeemed that section to the allegations of the bill, your slave; my rights are governed from the condition of a wildernessauthorized, in the opinion of by law; and I am authorized by the the first settlers. The Tabernacle the court, the Government of the God that made me to say that I am United States to seize and confiscate not subject to your mere will or cap-building has occupied the ground all property which might be found, rice." What is the answer of arbi- for nearly that length of time. such as cattle and sheep, stocks and trary power? The answer, and the The other structures are also lands, houses, temples and taber-only answer that can be given, is, exclusively of nacles, and authorized the court, "I am stronger than thou." That through its officers, to take posses- is the answer of the brute and the sion of all such property, although barbarian, if, indeed, the brute could it is alleged in the bill that certain speak. It does not belong to the persons named therein, at the time teachings or practice of Christian of the institution of the suit, held civilization, and it will not be sancsuch property in their possession as tioned by this exalted tribunal. trustees for the corporation. The court in its decree specially finds that all the real property described in the findings of the court was, at the time of the institution of the THE movement on the part of the suit, held in trust for the corpora- Liberal City Council of Ogden to These proceedings are extraordi-gain possession of the Tabernacle nary, to say the least of them. The block in that town continues to act of Congress assumes that it not cause a great deal of comment only has the power to disapprove among fair-minded people. It is the act by which the corporation denounced as utterly inexcusable. What a ridiculous position must was chartered, but to declare that the property may be seized by the Even those who are more or less a person assume to compare such Government officers without any antagonistic toward the religious a situation with that taken by evidence that the corporation has body whose members constitute the a nest of land-jumpers, who seize in any respect violated the provi- contemplated victims of the scheme, the property of a corporation and sion of its charter, that it may be held in the hands of a receiver and are opposed to it upon the ground retain it for a few days, until they finally distributed in such manner that it is not sound opposition policy. are forcibly ejected from it. There as the court might think proper. It emphasizes a claim of the Latter- is not the remotest resemblance beCan such proceedings be justified day Saints that they are made the tween the two cases in point. except upon the ground that the government of the United States, subjects of spoliation and persecuits legislators, its courts and their tion. officers, are not bound to regard that provision of the fundamental law of all free governments, that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law? We think not. Here is a judgment without a hearing, a seizure without a cause, and an escheat without the pretence of any authority of law. tion. I say that these are acts of arbitrary power. It has been said by a distinguished jurist in this country The oc Another strong feature of lissimilarity exists in the fact of the corporation in the Ogden case having released and conveyed away its title to the property which has been so long devoted to religious purposes. This situation, so we understand, was recognized by the AttorneyGeneral in the person of the Solicitor-General, acting in his behalf. The position in regard to that property was understood by him, and by his advice it has been let alone. We stated the other day that no intelligent defense had been set up to sustain the step. All that has been offered in that direction has been in the nature of limping excuses. One of the most absurd that has come under our observation consists of a comparison made by an anti-"Mormon” newspaper, wherein the Ogden affair is likened to the notorious Capitol Hill land-jumping that there are two kinds of law in enterprise of last summer. The plea is reiterated in palliation America. One is the law which changes, comprising the acts of cupants of the land at Ogden are of the action of the Liberal Mayor legislators and the customs of com- sought to be placed in the same posi- and City Council of Ogden that the munities, which change from time tion as the land-seizing agents who courts should be allowed to settle to time as public exigencies may took possession of the property of the matter without the making of require. The other is the law that does not change. The law of the this city on the hill. In the latter any popular outcry respecting it. land which recognizes the doctrine case the title still adhered to the This would indicate that those who that no person shall be deprived of city, which had not released its desire to see the scheme forwarded life, liberty or property, without due doubts concernprocess of law. That law is claim, the Corporation having set entertain grave ultimate success. We unchangeable and eternal. It quali- apart for public uses the land thus ing its fies the authority of legislators; it ruthlessly taken by certain real estate have already stated that, this being limits the jurisdiction of courts; it agents. The jumpers held posses- the case, the subject takes on the asstands as a sentinel to guard against sion for a few days. the approach of arbitrary power over individual liberty every where making the seizure they commenced throughout this land. Whenceso- the erection of fences and tents. The ever it came, whether from the bar-city, through its lawful officers, ons at Runnymede, or from the forests of Germany, or from the teach-ejected them from the property, usings of Greek philosophers of an ing whatever force was necessary to earlier age, it has found its way here, accomplish the purpose. To com-fensive. With all these matters After pect of vexatious litigation. In saying this, it is not intended to be charged that the parties simply proceed as they are doing for the mere purpose of harassing and annoying those who are placed upon the de there is a question of dollars and cents associated. It has been intimated that some method must be devised to reward certain persons who have exerted themselves in the role of "active politicians" in relation to the recent Ogden election. As the funds are not forthcoming, it is hinted that employment must be found if not the ready cash, it being easy for the latter to become the result of the former. TO BE TESTED. THOSE Who have kept the run of criminal proceedings in the courts under the Edmunds-Tucker law are aware that there have been a large number of convictions of individuals for unlawful cohabitation and adultery. The same persons have been convicted of both offenses. preme Court of the United States. When it reaches that tribunal we cannot but feel confident that it will share the same fate as the segregation process, of whose genius it partakes. But whether this anticipation be correct or not, it is eminently proper that a final decision should be arrived at, as the subject will then be placed beyond question so far as judicial operation is con We have held from the time the cerned. If this be so, the appearance of Edmunds-Tucker statute was enthe case becomes speedily no better. From any standpoint it is, in our opinion, a shameful piece of business, and we apprehend that it will reflect no credit upon those who operate it or attempt to defend it. Since the foregoing was written we have learned of the attempt of the Ogden City Corporation, through its Liberal Mayor and Council, to take away from the Ladies' Relief Society its ground and buildings, consisting of a meeting hall and granary. Mention is made of the matter in our local columns. This undergo would indicate that spoliation upon a wholesale principle is contemplated. un that of a man named Neilsen, re- ROMANCES OF THE WIRE. There is no doubt regarding the acted that the charge of adultery view that has been taken on this could not properly lie in unlawful question by the late Administration. cohabitation cases. The latter It was on the ground of their cases charge covers the entire ground. having been covered by the charge To convict an individual of the two of unlawful cohabitation that a numoffenses is, in our view, in contra- ber of men who were sent to the vention of the principle that no Sioux Falls (Dakota) penitentiary person shall be placed twice in for long terms on a conviction of aieopardy for the same transgression. dultery were pardoned by Mr. CleveFurthermore, the Constitution pro-land. The case selected for a test is vides that cruel and unusual punishments shall not be inflicted; and any punitive system, by means of which a convict has endured one imposition of penalty, can be made to another by simply changing the name of the offense is both cruel and usual. Not even in the domineering The officers and members of the and tyrannical reign of such men as Relief Society are also members Jeffreys and Marlborough was such of the Church of Jesus Christ a thing thought of, much less atof Latter-day Saints. In their tempted. We very much question association capacity they spend if even the laws of Dracos, by any their time freely, without com- process of construction, could be pensation further than the re-made to cover such a proceeding. ward of a good conscience, in It is forbidden by common law as relieving distress. Their operations well as by common Christianity. are not necessarily confined to their co-religionists. They attend upon the sick, comfort the afflicted, visit the poor and needy, substantially supplying their wants. The character of the society is strictly and purely benevolent and charitable. Who ever defrauds it, or compels it to enter, for defensive purposes, into expensive litigation, necessarily injures the cause of the poor and distressed, depriving them of assist ance that would otherwise reach sational THE public should beware of senCheyenne, Wyoming. There was dispatches dated from one in the DESERET NEWS of March 11 in reference to the massacre of five French tourists in Yellowstone Park which, though carrying details that semblance of truth, is probably bear the founded on fiction. At the time the law was on its from St. Paul refers to this dispatch, A telegram passage the point was raised in op- as a sample of others from the same position to it that it was legisla-source, and declares it to be what is tion against a class, and therefore in telegraphic parlance vulgarly deone-sided. This led to the introduc- nominated a "fake.” tion of the provision for the punishment of the crime of adultery, which has no connection with the plural marriage relationship. It was intended to apply to all classes of the people, that the statute might not be open to the objection of being entirely directed against one class. Sexual association is an element of Surely a political party posing as unlawful cohabitation, although it an agency with a mission to im- has been declared by the courts here prove the condition of Utah is get-not to be an essential one. ting down to the lowest form of however, admitted to be an element It is, human meanness when it descends of that offense. This being the case, to work of that character. There is when a man is convicted of unlawno specious plea, as we look at it, ful cohabitation it necessarily covers that can, in the least degree, miti- that ground. If in addition to that gate such conduct. conviction, he is placed in jeopardy upon a charge of adultery, there is, as previously stated, a plain infringement of a universal principle of law. them. Many men who profess to pass their lives in the pursuit of virtue are apt to take care to keep so far behind that there is no danger whatever of their overtaking her. We are glad that this matter is to be, at the earliest practicable date, tested on habeas corpus in the Su The scenes of these romances of the wire are all laid in Wyoming, and the people of that Territory should take steps to put a stop to the mill which is grinding out these grists of falsehood. They are damA place in which murders and robaging the reputation of Wyoming. beries and riots are reported to be common diversions is not likely to prove very attractive either to tourhome. ists or people seeking a permanent the same source appeared in the A short time ago a dispatch from eastern papers describing a fight in a railroad car, alleged to have been occasioned by a row over some female converts who were being conveyed to Utah in a company of Scandinavian emigrants. Two imaginary "Mormon" Elders were made to be the villains of the story, and an irate Danish brother the hero who rescued his sisters from parallel embodied in the foregoing, Salt Lake City Corporation, under their grasp and inflicted summary it may be well to re-state the rela- the townsite act, reserved a piece of vengeance on the Elders. This was tive positions of the parties to the ground on what was formerly published as truth and commented respective transactions referred to. known as Arsenal Hill. It never upon with the usual misconception What the "Mormons" did regard-relinquished its title to any parof "Mormon" principles and prac-ing the Ogden property is briefly as ty whatsoever, the ground in tices that distinguishes the outbursts follows: of the average anti-"Mormon” editor. question having been platted and Those who pioneered and first intended for public uses for the bensettled this part of the country, re- efit of the entire inhabitants. A The young man at Cheyenne who deeming it from the condition of a party of land jumpers (Gentiles), is doing this sensational work is too wilderness, being Latter-day Saints, without the slightest claim what"enterprising" for a mere local dis-popularly known as "Mormons," ever, seized these grounds and forthpatcher of occasional items. He set apart a parcel of ground in what with proceeded to erect fences and should be retained by some daily is now known as the city of Ogden, tents thereon. They also stationed like the "Liberal" organ of this for religious purposes. The inten- on the spot men hired for the purcity, where he would find a wider tion was to erect upon it buildings pose of holding the land which befield for his talent. At any rate the in which the people could assemble longed to the whole of the people of Associated Press ought to put a for divine worship. this city. The Corporation, as was stopper on his flights of imagina- This design was soon carried out its bounden duty in the interests of tion, as the various papers which by the erection of a tabernacle, sub-the people, through its duly authorhave been gulled by them are be- sequently of a religious meeting ized officers, the Mayor and Council coming indignant and are calling house, and still later of the founda- ("Mormons") ejected the intruders for investigation. If he had con- tion for another tabernacle on a after the latter had been on the fined himself to the invention of larger and more imposing scale than ground a few days. In doing so "Mormon” atrocities he might have the first. The land has never been they were protecting no special class, gone on for some time without in any other hands nor used for any but the entire community without arousing much hostility. The pub-other purpose than that described. any distinction. lic appetite for such morsels never This being the case, the religious seems to be satiated. But he has worshippers who took the steps degone a little too far it seems, and will fined were entitled to the land in now have to subside for a season or question under the operations of the be squelched by an aroused public. townsite act. For this reason the Take all dispatches dated Chey-city under that statute released its enne, Wyoming, cum grano salis. NOT A PARALLEL. claim to the property. Again, another parcel of land is held in trust for a Ladies' Relief Society. On this ground is a meeting hall in which the members of that Association assemble; also a The latter structure is used for the storing of grain against a time of scarcity. The cereals thus stored are intended in time of need for the use of the poor. The society is strictly benevolent and charitable. The members of it, as stated a few days since in these columns, devote We have insisted that there has been nothing yet set up in the shape of a defense in favor of granary. the attempt of the Ogden Liberal City Council to take away from the Latter-day Saints portions of their sacred property held by them. Every attempt to bolster the outrageous scheme has been in the nature of halting and flimsy apologies. So it continues, as will be observed by the following manifest absurdity from an anti-"Mor mon" newspaper: Let the reader, if he can, by any possible process known to the rules of reason or logic, parallel these transactions which the journal we have alluded to has characterized respectively as "Mormon” and Gentile proceedings. Let any sensible person say, if there be any credit, to which side that credit belongs, and if there be any denunciation, upon whose heads it should fall. Yet here is a journal, laying claim to respectability, saying "It is refreshing to know that there is one of the chief municipalities (Ogden) in the Territory where" such things as the attempted seizure of the property of a religious people used exclusively for religious purposes can be This amounts to an endorsement themselves without remuneration to made. These instances of appropriating in that connection. "The Mormon papers are busy pointing out the "wide difference" between the Arsenal Hill lot jumping in this city and the way the A Liberal (or Gentile) mayor and Church is trying to hold Tabernacle city council were recently elected, at Square in Ogden. As usual, the difference simmers down to the regOgden, by methods that, to some exular thing-one was done by Gen- tent, we have reason to believe, were tiles and the other by Mormons; fraudulent. Almost immediately and, of course, the former are wrong after their official installation they and the latter are right. There has moved for the construction of an orbeen altogether too much of this, and it is refreshing to know that dinance by the attorney of that city, there is one of the chief munici- so framed as to cause the property palities in the Territory where it has above mentioned to revert to the ceased to operate. The mathematmunicipal corporation. ical rule that things which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other seems to be left out of the Mormon school books." In order to show the false and attenuated character of the attempted Now follows the transaction that the paper from which we quote attempts to parallel with what has been described above. of what we regard as an unmitigated attempt to steal as well as desecrate that which the proposed victims look upon as sacred. The journal in question might just as well have said, as we view it, "It is refreshing to know that there is one of the chief municipalities in the Territory where the proposed though often denied programme of the spoliation of the 'Mormon' people has begun at what appears to be an excellent opportunity." Our cotemporary is most unfortunate in the matter of making parallels. "The blind cannot lead the blind," and so justice and love both having bandaged eyes, neither can guide the other. JOHN WALTER, formerly celebrated as the owner of the London Times, the leading newspaper of the world, now notorious on account of the exposure of his attempt to ruin Parnell and the cause of Irish home rule, has had a great deal of interest centered in him of late. He is the third of the same name who has had a prominent interest in that great newspaper property. His grandfather issued the first number of the Times in January, 1788, and the THE TIMES" PROPRIETOR. seat two years later, and has there have been SO posted, we are continued to the present time. For still subject to this annoyance. over 40 years the Times under his It has been my lot to travel quite management has been considered extensively, and in no portion of the exponent of the best British the earth where I have traveled or thought. Its attitude towards each sojourned in, and entered houses of successive government has been in worship, have I ever witnessed the the main candid. The paper has unbecoming conduct that I have been popularly called the Thunderer, observed on the part of persons but it would be nearer the facts to who visit here where we assemble. call it the Judge, on account of its Men and women-ladies and gentlejudicial tone. The paper has for a men-apparently well educated peolong time declared dividends ple, who are not unfamiliar with amounting to about $350,000 annu- the rules that govern religious ally. No dividend was declared bodies in other portions of the earth, last year, the surplus having been will enter this building and behave spent in defending the most stu- themselves in such a manner that pendous libel in the history of those who assemble together to worjournalism. ship are annoyed and disgusted with "Mr. Walter is by nature more their conduct. I think this is the conservative than his grandfather, first time since I have been associ and yet he used the influence of the ated with this people that we have Times in the 'Parnellism and Crime' found it necessary to administer articles more recklessly than any this rebuke, and to adopt means respectable paper has ever been used for the checking of an in England. Mr. Walter overruled noyance that we cannot rehis managing editor in reference to strain in any other way. The the publication of forged Parnell acoustic properties of this hall are letters; he selected the form of in- very good-so much so that the least dictment under which Parnell and noise promotes confusion in every his associates should be tried before part of the house, or drowns the the commission; he had the moral sound of the speaker's voice. Under support of the attorney-general as these circumstances, I trust that his chief counsel; his witnesses were every person who has a proper sense given access to government papers of right and wrong will make every and his attorneys were furnished allowance for the rule we are about the names of government spies and to adopt, and govern themselves acsecret agents, and yet the case col-cordingly. Brother Joseph C. under oath by Mr. Parnell. Mr. and doorkeepers of this lapsed before one witness was put Kingsbury has charge of the ushers Walter is a man of great culture, and I have made a request and until his recent fall he has been considered thoroughly honorable and candid in all his dealings, professional and personal.” centennial of that event was the occasion of editorials and letters of congratulation in all English-speaking countries. It was left to the second John Walters to broaden the scope of the paper and to adopt the mechanical devices for printing which placed the paper in the forefront in England. Mr. Walter, the second, was the first to use steampower in printing a newspaper, and the employment of the ablest writers of the kingdom as well as a certain candidness in treatment of all subjects gave almost a magazine flavor to its editorial page. The London Times under the second Walter was as near an independent paper as England had seen. John Walter the third is a man of pleasant countenance, cast in a strikingly intellectual mould, while its general expression appears to be decidedly benevolent. It seems extraordinary that a person of his quality should enter into a conspiracy to ruin a man and a cause, by such means as were adopted in the relentless opposition to Parnell and Irish local rule, yet it is almost beyond the possibility of belief that Mr. Walter and his associates could have been deceived by Pigott et al. It is a matter for regret that one is forced to the conclusion that the celebrated advocate of Irish local rights was the victim of an unscrupulous plot in which the Times people were willing workers, yet any other position would be, in the light of the late striking development in the case, entirely untenable. The plea of the Times to the effect that it had been deceived is far from being generally accepted. RELIGIOUS. Sunday Services. Religious services were held in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, March 10, 1889, commencing at 2 p. m., President Angus M. Cannon presiding: The choir and congregation sang: O Jesus, the giver an house, of him to station doorkeepers at the doors and prohibit the exit of all persons from this building until the conclusion of our services; and I ask our city police to assist him in maintaining order in this building after these doors are closed. You (the doorkeepers) will close the doors in five minutes from now, against all persons leaving this building until the conclusion of our services, which will not continue beyond four o'clock this afternoon. We will now give the opportunity for all who feel that they cannot remain during our services to withdraw and we will suspend our proceedings for five minutes, after which Prayer was offered by Elder Wm. the doorkeepers are requested to Eddington. Of all we enjoy. The choir sang: Again we meet around the board PRESIDENT ANGUS M. CANNON said: My brethren, sisters, and friends, I regret the necessity for my rising on this occasion to make an explanation. For some time past we have been subject to the annoy ance of persons conversing in this house, during divine service, and otherwise conducting themselves in an unbecoming manner in the house of God. In numbers of instances persons will arise from their seats and leave the building, thereby producing a confusion in this house "He was born at London in 1818. that is very annoying to those who He was educated at Eton, and was have assembled together for the purcalled to the bar in 1847, which was pose of worshiping God. Under also the year of his father's death these circumstances notices have and his own election to Parliament. been posted upon the doors and in He remained in Parliament until the grounds adjacent to this house. defeated in 1865, but returned to his But notwithstanding these notices The following sketch of the present proprietor of the Times has appeared in an eastern journal: close the doors against all persons seeking to make an exit. [At this point quite a number of persons, most of them strangers to our city, took their leave. During the whole of the remainder of the services the best of order prevailed.] The Priesthood of the Second Ward officiated in the administration of the Sacrament. ELDER JAMES E. TALMAGE was called to address the congregation. He said he undertook in all humility to speak to the Saints trusting that he would be the instrument in the hands of the Almighty of saying something for the good of those who had assembled to worship God. We were so constituted that our mortal bodies cannot exist without food for sustenance. Spiritual food is also just as necessary for the sustenance of the Saints. The Lord has promised that where even a few are met together in His name He will bless them. An Elder | neighbor, in that man lies the ourselves weak, and as one of the who is called to speak should be greater sin. If one desires to make Apostles said last Sabbath, from a humble that he may bear the Spirit amends and receive forgiveness human standpoint there is no hope of God, and be able to give instruc- for his wrongs, that man who will for us; but he also testified that the tion from the source of all light and not grant such a request is in con- righteous would be made triumphant wisdom. The Saints should also demnation. None can climb in any by the power of the great Jehovah. have that Spirit, that they might other way than by complying with That testimony makes its influence recognize whether a speaker is ex- these principles. Forgiveness can- telt in the hearts of the Latter-day pressing his own ideas or is follow- not be purchased by money; salva- Saints. It is nothing new to see the ing the dictates of the Holy Spirit. tion cannot be secured with gold. Saints of God beset by enemies. We The sheep know the voice of their But the rich and the poor alike can gathered here to serve our Father. shepherd, and the Latter-day Saints receive, by conforming to the law of That is no secret; our enemies know should always be able to distinguish God. Repentance is a gift from the that is our profession. When I see between those who speak by the Almighty. We should supplicate the clouds of the coming storm, the power of God and those who speak for this gift, for the man who can Red Sea of trouble before and the by common wisdom. Those who repent earnestly and sincerely is on hosts of Pharaoh behind; when I talk to us under the inspiration of the way to receive a remission of his see these, I ask, cannot the Lord as the Spirit are not those who always sins. well raise up a Moses now as He speak according to the human rules did then? His arm is as powerful of eloquence, but they have that now as it was when Israel was in eloquence which goes to the heart the deserts of Arabia. of those who are honest. It was that Spirit that enabled Peter to speak so that every nation heard him in their own tongue. Those who were ready to receive the truth knew the meaning of the words of the Apostles, and inquired what they should do to be saved. There were others, who listened to the same words, yet who accused the Apostles of having been drunk. They were informed to the contrary; still many of them did not receive the testimony, which became to them a condemnation, because they rejected it. When an Elder of Israel speaks by the Spirit, there is a relationship between him and those who listen to his words. We are surrounded, in our daily lives, with evil, which seems to be mingled with good in all conditions of this life; virtue and vice appear to go hand in hand, for the great day of separation has not been ushered in. In the parable, the Lord said the tares and the wheat must grow together, but in the day of harvest they should be separated an 1 the tares will be burned. Today, the honest man lives next door to the knave; the unselfish man by the unselfish one. In the days of Elisha, a little Israelitish maiden, who had been carried captive by Naaman, who was afflicted and had not been able The Lord does not operate by to be cured, told of the Prophet who great armies. When Gideon went rebuked disease. Naaman availed out Jehovah would not let him himself of this information, and take a great force against the came to Elisha, expecting the latter Midianites. This was that His to receive him as became a man in power might be made manifest. his exalted earthly position. But Was the victory less complete than Elisha sent his servant to tell Naa-if there had been a greater number? man to go and wash seven times in Verily, no. The Midianites fled beJordan. Naaman was insulted, and cause they knew the injustice of thought the rivers of his own land their cause. The Saints today know were good enough. Finally he was that their cause is just, that they prevailed upon to do as he was are following the great Jehovah, ordered, and when he had washed who has declared that this work himself the seventh time he was shall not be overthrown. The Lord made whole. I sometimes has powers that we know not of. think there are some of us Man uses the powers of electricity, who are in the same condition for instance, bu the knows not what of heart as was Naaman when he it is. Shall man in his ignorance was angry at the Prophet. The say that God has not still other powpowers that were exercised ancient-ers? Nay, for He can make the ly are with the Elders today, but thunderbolt serve Him, and even they can only be used by obedience to the principles of righteousness. Only those who repent can receive forgiveness. man in his wrath to praise Him. Did not the flower of this nation's army come here to destroy the Saints thirty years ago? And did they not, instead, prove a blessing to God's people? We are not bigoted when we say that though the whole world fight against us, He will turn their wrath to His praise. The hosts of heaven are with those who serve God. A profane writer, Dante, describes what he says were the spirits in prison, who had rejected the law of repentance. Under this condition they were tormented; and their great punishment was that they I could see what they might have The Lord has said that it is diffi- gained, and thus suffered the an- When the Syrian hosts surroundcult to find a inan without sin; and guish of remorse. Dante further ed the little town where Elisha was, though man is surrounded by con- described another class, who had re- and they came to take him, taunting ditions that tend to lead him astray, pented, but who were being pun- him, the Prophet of God called fire the Lord has provided a way for the ished for what they had done; this from heaven to destroy the captain remission of the sins of those who class received their punishment joy- and fifty who were sent to take him; sincerely receive the law upon which fully, knowing that their debts a second time a captain and fifty that action is based. It is to were being paid, and that they came and they were destroyed in like our interest to inquire under what would ultimately be liberated. manner; the third captain entreated conditions we can receive a forgive- Still another class he speaks the Prophet to come down and he ness of sins; and we should seek to of those who stood clean did so. Elisha's servant was shown know the Lord that we may receive and redeemed, who had atoned for how it was done; his eyes were the benefit of those conditions. To do their sins. There may be among us opened, and he saw the hills covered this a man must confess his sins be- those who, by sinning, do not recog- with the hosts of heaven. The fore the Lord in all humility. In nize sin-whose sensitiveness is Syrian hosts were stricken blind, and accordance with the great law of destroyed by wrong-doing, and who the Prophet led his people into justice, those who desire forgiveness are going toward the condition of Samaria, and from there they were must forgive those who trespass deepest condemnation. Through delivered by Divine assistance. I do against them. The prayer of the being accustomed to sin, they do not think there is any cause for us to Lord was, "Father, forgive us not look upon it with aversion. We despair today. Has the Lord lost our trespasses, as we forgive should recognize this principle that His strength? No; it is those who de those who trespass against us." practice makes perfection, and if we not trust in Him who have lost Those who seek this boon must continue in wrong our sensibilities their faith. also keep in mind the great atone- become blunted. ment, and must ask for what they The warfare between right and desire in the name of Jesus. There wrong never waged more fiercely are none of us who do not need than it does today. The conflict forgiveness. Let us forgive those who have trespassed against us; and coming before the Lord in humility, in Jesus' name, we will not be cast aside. If a man will not forgive his was never hotter than in this age. Let us seek to do the will of God, that we may have confidence in Him. Let us be pure and our enemies cannot overcome us, for Jehovah has so declared. Let us exercise charity toward our enemies, and remember that vengeance is the Lord's. Let us so live that when we are spoken evil of it will be falsely, and that men, seeing our good |