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Show 202 HOW MORMONISM the scattering grain that the reapers had not bound in their sheaves. If this minister's ideas of the labors that per tained to certain branches of the Church are correct, then it is to " our rougher brethren," particularly, that these re marks should be addressed. Let their frontiersmen or their reapers go forth into Utah, and I would accept the latter simile as the most applicable in this case, for instead of a forest primeval to be levelled, are fields of error fertilized and cultivated, now all white unto harvest, awaiting the scythe of the reaper. There is work for both reaper and gleaner. But the first great work should not be confined to a denomination of Christians, but on it all the Churches should unite their influences. That work is to secure the cooperation of the Government with the Church. The Rev. Mr. McLeod, of the Congregational Church, to whom I have before referred as the chaplain at Camp Douglas, who has done good in Salt Lake City, is now ab sent in the States, lecturing against Mormonism, and col lecting funds for building a church. Something more than the enterprise of one minister is required, and unsupported he can do but little less than when he held a commission as chaplain. Moreover, though Mr. McLeod may be ad mirably suited for the work in other respects, his exposi tions and denunciations of Mormonism have made him so obnoxious to the people as, in my opinion, to interfere with the usefulness which otherwise his talents and energy would insure. Before concluding this already too long chapter on such a subject by such a writer, I must add a few words on the abo lition of polygamy. Referring to the writer, it is but jus tice to such officers to say that he is not a chaplain. That may have been patent to most of the readers, but not to all. The provision to be made for surplus wives is a subject that requires thoughtful attention, in connection with the abolition of polygamy. If the present law could be so construed as to be prospective in its requirements, and for bid the future marrying of more than one wife, and not apply to those who had a plurality of wives before its passage to |
