Yet we fear them not, for the Lord God of Israel will protect us if we are faithful to him and to the covenants which we have made, and from our enemies we ask not mercy, but demand justice, although we expect it not while satan reigns in the hearts of the children of men; but we do look for aid to our Father in heaven, and we know that he will make the wrath of man to praise him, for he has said so. We

"Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;

and have ofttimes proved that
Behind a frowning Providence
He hides a smiling face."

are accused of all manner of crimes. | camel. What are these crimes? Simply prac tising those principles which are contained in the Bible, which our persecutors themselves profess to believe in, and which we have been commanded by God to obey, and upon our obedience depends our eternal salvation. For this we are counted unworthy to live, by those who have not rendered obedience to the Gospel of Christ, but "blessed are ye when men speak all manner of evil against you falsely," and we know that we are spoken against falsely by those who confess Christ with their lips while their hearts are far from him, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof." But a tree is known by its fruit, and with all their professed holiness, wickedness and crime unblushingly and defiantly hold up their heads in their midst, and they are utterly unable to hold these evils in check. The outside of their society is garnished with piety, but inside, is filled with dead men's bones. They are looking with a microscope for the mote which they think is in our eye, while the beam still remains in their own. Like the persecutors of the Lord Jesus they are straining at a gnat and swallowing a

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Having received the Gospel of Christ, we know that it is the power of God unto salvation, and return thanks unto him that we are counted worthy to suffer persecution for this Gospel's sake. For,

"When dark clouds of trouble hang o'er us,
And threaten our hopes to destroy,
There is hope smiling brightly before us,
And we know that deliverance is nigh;
We doubt not the Lord nor his goodness,
We have proved him in days that are
past;
The wicked who fight against Zion
Shall surely be smitten at last."

MISTAKEN IDEA.

We are informed on good authority, that a certain rabid member of the "ring," of whom, without doing him the honor of mentioning his name in these columns, it is only necessary to say, in order to know who is meant, that no one, in observing his hard looking countenance would commit the error of supposing him the possessor of any of the nobler traits of humanity, made a remark the other day to the effect that, within six months from now the "Mormons" would be driven from their possessions and others would possess their property. There may be others besides the person alluded to who entertain such an absurd notion, and for the benefit of such we say, that we have no idea that any such thing will ever happen. Although goaded by those seeking to destroy them, the motto of our citizens is peace. They desire "peace and good will to men. They have shown this by their sub

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mission to wrongs which, we are safe to say, no other people would have calmly endured; and whatever may happen in the future in the way of trouble, they are determined in no case to be the original aggressors. Their enemies shall not have even the shadow of a just cause for their despotic and unwise course; and, in such case, come what may the verdict of all honorable people cannot fail to be on our side, and our traducers cannot fail ultimately to bring upon themselves the imprecations and condemnation of all the right thinking among men. We may be wrong in our belief," but we have an idea that if the Mormons" be not allowed to live here in some sort of peace and quietness, no other people will ever be able to do so. If the "Mormons" have not a right to the peaceable possession of these valleys, who has ?-Deseret News.

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THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS' MILLENNIAL STAR.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1872.

A CHRISTMAS GIFT TO THE LORD.

THE opponents of "Mormonism" have been long and busily engaged in hunting up imaginary grievances for our sisters in Utah, but so far with very poor success, for the "Mormon” women being busily engaged in assisting their brethren, with heart and hand, in balding up the kingdom of God, had no disposition to whine for the mere sake of sentimentality. At last, however, a real grievance has been found, about which they erince no disposition to keep silent. Unfortunately, however, for their penis sympathetic friends, the grievance does not come in the shape of wrongs sustained at the hands of an ** oppressive and sensual priesthood,” nor of brutal husbands, but originates in the calumnies and misrepresentations of some of their own sex.

The New York server of December 7, 1871, published the following appeal

TO THE LADIES OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN BEHALF OF

SALT LAKE CITY.

In the providence of God, the board of Home Missions his sent to our city the Rev. Josiah Welch, to establish a Presbyterian church. An organization is already formed which bils fair to be, in the ban is of God, a power for good; but a prerequisite to its success is a suitable horse for worship, which cannot be erected, at the present eat of building material and the price of labor, for less than twenty-five or thirty tå usand dollars.

We now appeal to our sisters in the Church on behalf of the poor, deluded and down-trodden women i Utab. Hundreds of them have been unwing slaves to Mormonism. Ther n bal the present movements here as the morning star anre ring their deliverance. Sorres on socres of them would gladly open their hearts to the Gospel, if errand that they will not again be deceived. We can only resca these perle through the Church; but a church building is essentally necessary to the Atient working of the Church izseli.

Committee of First Presbyterian Church, Salt Lake City.

The abore was supplemented by other emailestias in the same strain, each harping especta”y on the “degradation,” do, of the women of Utah, but

never permitting the grand idea of the urgent need of that "Christian gift to the Lord" to be lost sight of.

In due time the Deseret News republished these manifestoes of the Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake City, with the laudable intention, no doubt, of acquainting the Latter-day Saint ladies of Utah with the great efforts that were being made in their behalf; also, perhaps, to give any such who might so desire the opportunity of adding their "Christmas gift," for one of the correspondents of the Observer was very express in his statement, that though this appeal was addressed to the members of the Presbyterian Church, there was no anxiety "to debar any other parties from giving to so desirable an object.” But human nature is proverbially ungrateful, and the "poor, deluded and down-trodden women of Utah" refused to be benefited by any such means, or by any such women, although one was the wife of a United States Judge, and the name of another had figured quite conspicuously in those proceedings referred to by the Ogden Junction in an article entitled "Judicial Protection of Vice," which we republish in another portion of this STAR.

But we will let the "Mormon" ladies speak for themselves, for no sooner had the Deseret News republished these slanderous appeals, than they flew to the rescue of their own fair names, their faith and their freedom, in a torrent of letters to the Editor, some of which we give below—

SALT LAKE CITY, DEC. 14, 1871. Mr. Editor.-Sir, In perusing your last evening's issue, we noticed an appeal, copied from the New York Observer, and signed by

As a Committee of the Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake City. The appeal is for contributions in money in behalf of "the poor, deluded, down trodden women of Utah," which very much excited our curiosity (you know woman is proverbial for curiosity) to know who those dolorously described women were, and where they could be found.

It has been admitted that there are three kinds of poor in society, to wit. : "The Lord's poor, the devil's poor, and poor devils."

We have been long in these valleys, and having been pretty conversant with the Female Relief Societies which are established in each Ward in this city and in every settlement throughout the Territory, our acquaintance is very extensive, and we are prepared to say that it is astonishing to even imagine the existence of such women in our midst as have elicited the piteous wails. In fact, we are more or less associated with all the "Lord's poor" in Utah, and are quite certain there are no 'poor, deluded, down-trodden women" among them. We never associate with the "devil's poor," neither with the "poor devils."

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If you will condescend to do so, please ask the benevolent authors of the signatures above, to which of the last named classes do the "poor, deluded, down-trodden women" of Utah belong?

ELIZA R. SNOW,
HANNAH T. KING.

SALT LAKE CITY, DEC 14, 1871. Editor Deseret News.-Dear Sir, Patience and endurance are laudable qualities, but they have limits. Ours found their utmost boundary this morning, while reading an article entitled, "To the Ladies of the Presbyterian Church, in behalf of Salt Lake City," and we felt that to sustain self-credit we must speak.

When men seek to represent us as degraded and imbecile, it is well enough to hold our peace. We have husbands and brothers, trustworthy protectors of name and honor, not only through the press and in the pulpit, but by administration of the unsparing rod of justice if necessary.

Knowing how sacredly our honor is intermingled with their own, we can safely trust all such cases with them; but when women undertake a system of misrepresentation, are we not able ourselves-is it not our right and duty, to pull down the covering of falsehood with which they seek to envelop their would-be righteous enterprise, and with just indignation point out to the public a few of the premeditated errors of their benevolent scheme?

We think so; and to the honorable ladies whose names are found appended to the pious document under consideration, we would express our appreciation of their benign efforts in our behalf, from a standpoint far above whining cant and hypocritical subterfuge.

We have no objections to your building a meeting house, at whatever cost your taste may suggest; we do not object to your taste in resorting to the somewhat doubtful method of begging to accomplish your object; but we do object to being held up as dumb puppets in the hands of a few contemptible specimens of perverted humanity, for the purpose of deceiving unthinking women, who perhaps have never had the opportunity of exercising their own judgment in regard to the justice or truth of your statements.

We do object to false pretences. If you would be respected by honest people, come out like honest women and declare your true motives. Say to your uninitiated sisters, "The Mormon women are not down-trodden slaves, but we wish them to be! We have joined our hands with corrupt and unscrupulous men to falsify their position and their characters; to seek, under a cloak of sanctity, and under the shadow of the pulpit, to institute a religious crusade against hard-earned homes and happy firesides; to bring Utah's pure and honored daughters down to the level of modern Christendom; that they will not blush with indignation to meet fallen and depraved creatures flaunting along streets which never knew such denizens before the Morning star of Deliverance' began to dawn upon the unwilling slaves to Mormonism!"

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We, toc, might ask a "Christmas gift for the Lord," of our sisters, scattered through free America; one for which, if granted, we could surely promise God's blessing in return. We do not ask for money; we build our own meeting-houses, or worship God under the high arches of heaven until we can with the honest toil of our own hands erect a dwelling to his name. Who ever heard of "Mormons," male or female, asking even for that which is their due, as reclaimers of a desert and subduers of nature's sternest wilderness? No, we do not sit down in our easy chairs and ask our neighbors for five dollar contributions with which to build a house and call it a "Christmas gift to the Lord," wherein to rustle our silks and frills, and listen to priests who pray for hire. The gift that we want comes from the heart, not the pocket. We want justice. Our American sisters should understand, the world should understand, the motive that prompts American women to ask for justice-should arouse themselves to the fact that justice is withheld from us, and, with a few men of integrity and honor who have heard our plea, and begin to realize our wrongs, join woman's voice with theirs against persecution and vile calumny, hid under the sacred name of religion, and with its truth-hating and manifold evil and life corrupting designs, veiled with hypocritical sanctity.

What think you, ladies of the Presbyterian, or any other church, of women who will, in a petition asking aid for down-trodden females, place their names side by side with those of characters who have within the last few days figured in police courts, on no very creditable charges? Why not append the names of fifty or a hundred of those heart-broken "Mormon" women who hail the "present movement as the morning star," &c. ?

We answer, because they cannot be found, and we think that the fair petitioners in our behalf are aware of the fact, that should their scheme succeed and their church house be erected, not one honest "Mormon" woman would

ever be found within its walls, save to contrast the gilded cup of emptiness. offered there with the full life-giving draughts which flow from our own sanctuaries, where religion is not made to pander to selfishness, and the worship of God a subterfuge for evil designs.

ONE OF THE DELUDED WOMEN. SALT LAKE CITY, DEC. 15, 1871. Editor Deseret News :-Dear Sir. A lady figuring one day in the week in the police court and sentenced for matters more delicate than I shall name, and appearing the same week side by side in name with the wife of a Federal Judge, asking Eastern ladies for a five dollar" subscription as a "Christmas gift to the Lord "-causes me to pause, wonder, and at last pity! especially as the refrain is wrung on the "down trodden women of Utah." I am a polygamic "Mormon woman", my husband coming to these valleys when they were a desert, in 1847. I have been an active member of the Relief Society for the poor "Mormons" many years, and I bear my testimony (as in court) that I know nothing nor have seen anything of the "down-trodden Mormon women" for which the delectable Mrs. and the Judge's wife appeal to Eastern ladies for aid. Mormon women "have been proud to labor side by side with their husbands and sons, to accomplish the almost superhuman results, looking as they do look, to-day, the Christian and civilized world squarely in the eye, not asking, but willing to meet, competitive results anywhere on the American continent.

"Mormon women "have been willing in poverty, in persecution, in sorest trials, to bear sons and daughters in honor of God's first commandment"Multiply and replenish the earth." If we choose to obey God, and bear the pains and expense and scoffs, shall Mrs. and a Judge's wife make us scape-goats" by which to raise means from "Eastern ladies," to insult true wives and mothers? Mr. Editor, we raise men, and when men interfere we leave men to meet them; but when women, and such women, throw us out like a red flag at a sutler's post, to attract attention and rake in the means of "Eastern ladies," we enter our protest. If there are "down-trodden broken hearted Mormon women," why don't Mrs. and the Judge's wife secure their signatures for aid from the "Eastern ladies?" Bah, sir! 66 Ringism" works more alone here than it ever worked anywhere. Unity, truth, honor among "Mormon " men and women will throw so much light into "ringism" here, as will make a gagged territory a free state. For your manliness in helping this, accept the thanks of not one, but many, true "MORMON WOMEN."

SALT LAKE CITY, DEC. 15, 1871. Editor Deseret News :-The reputation of the Latter-day Saints has, for many years, been a fruitful theme for slanderous speculation, and also a prolific source of moneyed traffic, to which editors, reporters and lecturers have, from time to time, freely resorted to replenish their purses.

As Latter-day Saint ladies, we feel it a duty we owe to ourselves, to all good people abroad who are speaking and publishing truth concerning us, and to the great cause of humanity, to give expression concerning a gross speculation which is now being attempted at the expense of truth, and in violation of true womanly honor and dignity. We allude to the appeal of the Presbyterian committee published in the Deseret News of the 13th inst.

We here transcribe a copy of the circular which accompanied the appeal— "Rev. My Dear Sir:-I take the liberty of sending you an appeal which we have published. Will you be so kind as to read it in your pulpit, put it into the hand of some lady who will take an interest in the matter, to receive whatever your people may wish to give, and forward the amount to us immediately.

"The Lord has opened a wide door to us in this city. We cannot do the work unless we receive aid from abroad. This enterprise belongs to the church at arge. The Episcopal church has a fifty thousand dollar building; the Metho