MORMON LIFE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 18, 20 January 1876, Page 4

MORMON LIFE.

[From the Wellington Argus.} A sickly-looking saint from Utah, Elder F. W. Hurst by name, so far as human appellation goes, delivered a lecture last evening in the side wing of the Odd-Fellows' Hall, Wellington, *' On the faith and doctrine of the Church* of Christ, of the Latter -Day Saint's." Thus he proclaimed his mission. Now we are not going to beat about the bush with Elder Hurst, We will do him the justice to cay that he is a gospel-monger of the first water. ''Abuse me or prai.Be me, whichever you like — but please don't forget to do one or tbe other," is the eternal request of a celebrated mountebank who travels round New Zealand in tbe electrobiological business. Notoriety is the game. We are going to abuse Elder Hurst, conecious tbat the effect will be beneficial to him in a business point of view ; still it is the duty of the press to see that weak-minded people are not deceived even by peripatetic saints.' Elder Hurst, by th« way, is not a cheer-ful-lookiog man. He looks most like a ghost oo a twelve hours' leave, and evidently would derive advantage from communion with a porter-bouse Bteak. His appearance last evening would indicate that he had been sleeping in a desolate churchyard without the benefit of association with a philosophic gravedigger. The little room in which the assemblage took place was suffocatingly hot, but tbe Elder looked cold and clammy while every one else perspired freely. . Under these circumstances it might be said that he is no ordinary man ; but really be is an exceedingly .common-place individual', whose poverty of language ' and ' execrable grammar * wobld ; mark him as an insignificant personage in Utah or anywhere else. And yet he mouths the word of God with a facility which makes men of this class contemptible. We can all take up the Bible, and, in some secluded nook, admire the simplicity of its language— the refining influence of its teaching — its ennobling effect upon the youthful _nind — and, above all, the beautiful ethic code outlined in the Decalogue— but in what way can it elevate: our thoughts or give tone to the mind to listen to a man who seeks to gain converts by constantly reiterating, with unctuous delight, the words, " The Holy Ghost," " Jesus Christ," "God yin his infinite mercy," " The Great : Almighty," "The beloved Redeemer," and so od, ad infinitum. To use these words so ofien as tbey occur in the text is not objectionable; but Elder Hurst, like others of his stamp, knows : their 'tali-manic effect upon ignorant people. And, besides, polygamy is a ■ distasteful subject, and we therefore protest against his lectures in toto. He is an old Wellington resident, according to his own statement; yet he affects a pretty considerable Yankee drawl. Here is a specimen of his oratory; "The persecution of the Latter Day Saints will be an everlasting slain upon tbe escutcheon of Uncle Sam. We -worship God in bis infinite mercy, and : we shall grow and flourish as a green bay tree, because we have ' itching ears ' according to the language of St. Paul, and walk in the ways of faith. I cannot say much for the hospitality of the people of Wellington. In Utah we have a Tabernacle that will bold 13,000 persons, and when a minister of any oilier church comes along we let ' him have it free of charge and provide hira with a congregation. Here it is very different. I have been around here quite a time trying to find a place to lecture 'in, but I waa destitute of means, because we travel without purse or scrip. When we are sent off we are expected to drop- our business, leave our families add friends, and go out iritothe world. I had a great number of friends when I was formerly b_re; now when any of them meet me they give me the cold shoulder; j but when tbey do it once, I don't give them the chance to do it again. It is •a 'great trial to leave your own fireside. I had ' a wile and seven children, and I came from them with pleasure to preach truth and righteousness. Wellj I had no money, but the; other day I received £l from a gentlemen I had not seen. I considered that a godsend, and haviDg a little money I determined to get a hall and let the people know what the Latter -Day Saints -believe in. I went to . work aud paid 7s 6d for tbis small room, and 5a 6 i to the Evening Post for an advertisement. Tbey are very nice people down there; tbey pave me a 'local' ih for the money. Well, now, my friends, I don't want to keep you late, but I don't know what time it is for I, ain't rich enough to carry a watch. I have enjoyed my sojourn in Utah very much, and I can speak of it not from what I have heard from James or John, but because I went down , into the waters of Baptism and came up the recipient of the Holy Ghost. It will be damnation to those who reject tbe Gospel. When I deoided to go forth, I trusted to luck whether I should get a meal's victuals or a night's lodging, but a man must add works to his faith in order to obtain salvation. It does appear siugular how men can mess up the Truth when it is so clearly laid' down in the Bible." And so the diatribe went oh. The Elder confessed that- that there were no inducements likely to lead to any great immigration io "Utah considering the temperate climate of New Zealand, and its prosperity^ compared with the inhospitable j .weather to be raer with, at Salt Lake, J

He promised to lecture again on Sunday afternoon at the same place; and after the distribution' of some tracts the assemblage dispersed.