Scrap Book of Mormon Literature, Volume 2 (of 2). Religious Tracts
Religion
Scrap Book of Mormon Literature, Volume 2 (of 2). Religious Tracts
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- Doctrines; Latter Day Saint churches -- Doctrines; Latter Day Saints
When the first edition of this pamphlet was issued the {154}
anti-Mormon paper of the city and several anti-Mormon parsons of Utah
and Canada undertook to answer these statistics by claiming that the
Mormons referred to were all "Latter-day Saints," while none of the
"non-Mormons" were "Christians." For answer I will say that the record
shows that of the seventy-eight "non-Mormons" in the Utah penitentiary
and referred to above, forty-five were members of Christian churches.
To show that this class of Utah non-Mormons were not worse than
Christians generally, I refer to statistics furnished the Deseret News
recently by Ephraim Ainsworth.
In 1889 Ohio had 942 convicts in penitentiary--826 of them belonged
to Christian churches. In 1893 Canada had 11,810 convicts--Catholics,
4,395; Church of England, 3,621; Methodists, 1,624; Presbyterians,
1,495; other sects, 698; Atheists, none. In 1896 the Kansas
penitentiary had 343 Methodists, 41 Presbyterians, 61 Campbellites,
other sects 12. In 1896 the Michigan state reformatory had as inmates
226 Methodists, 84 Baptists, 31 Episcopalians, 28 Congregationalists,
18 United Brethren, 229 Catholics, 65 Presbyterians. From the Tennessee
state prison, no date given, is reported 873 convicts--870 Christians
and three who would not state their religion. Thirty years ago a
Unitarian minister named Hatch made a careful investigation of criminal
statistics of the United States and Territories and published the
statement that 7 per cent of male convicts in the penitentiaries of the
country were ministers. Utah has had her full share of them in the last
thirty years, though she has kindly permitted them to run away, making
no attempt to capture them, save in the case of a parson who killed his
victim, cut her body up and attempted to burn it. A reward was offered
for him, but he is probably sending heretics to hell yet for Christ's
sake. It is said "there are none righteous, no, not one;" that is, we
all "live in glass houses" perhaps.
If the faces of children are an index to the morals and self-control of
parents, many Mormons have only to point to their offspring to prove
their own general purity. Indeed, it would be difficult to find finer
types of manhood and womanhood that are to be seen among the Mormons,
and this applies as well to polygamous as to monogamous offspring.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account