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"That fearful threat about will of 'fierce avenging sprite! How escape that sure blood-atonement?" It now seems to Paul that all the sleuths of fate are hunting him for these murders. Rising haggard and feverish, he takes a glass of strong brandy and braces himself for the day. After light breakfast, he starts out for a walk, but avoids familiar faces.
For, on this day, was boldly preached, for the first time in Zion, something which had never before been more than whispered among the highest elect, the doctrine of blood-atonement of human sacrifice. "I am preaching St. Paul, this morning," began Brigham, easily.
"O, judgment!" cries Shakespeare, "thou hast fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason." The morality which the Christian church teaches is of as mythical a nature as the story of the fall, and the blood-atonement. It is not natural morality, but something quite unintelligible and fictitious. For instance, we are told that we cannot of ourselves be righteous.
Certain dogmatic beliefs, for example, about the Fall, the scriptural basis of revelation, the blood-atonement, the meaning of salvation, the punishment of sin, heaven and hell, are not only misleading but unethical. What sensible man really believes in these notions as popularly assumed and presented, and what have they to do with Christianity?
On the other hand, we have a picture of an angry Deity, manifesting purely human emotion and temper, bent on revenging himself upon the race which he had created, and demanding its eternal punishment in hell-fire; then the same Deity creating a Son whom he sent into the world, that this Son might be the victim of a blood-atonement and death upon the cross, that the Deity's wrath might be appeased and the blood of this Divine Lamb be accepted to wash out the sins of the world.
The rationalist does not see how the divine order can be vindicated by the triumph of gross injustice; nevertheless he recognizes that the ways of God are inscrutable, and he knows that such ideas, of the winning of peace through blood-atonement, were once intensely real to the Christian world.
The blood-atonement idea is naturally repulsive to civilized beings, and were it not that nearly every one who adheres to the old form of orthodox Christianity swallows theologic interpretation of the Bible as he would swallow a dose of castor-oil, by closing his eyes and holding his nose, the teaching as thus interpreted would be stopped by police authority.
"And was executed for it?" asked Christine, while she shuddered with horror." "No," said Edward; "he was promoted by the Mormon priesthood to a higher place in the church, as one who had done a praiseworthy deed." "Murder a praiseworthy deed!" they cried in astonishment and indignation. "How could that be?" "They have a doctrine that they call 'blood-atonement," replied Edward.
After facing his goal so long, he was now going from it and never a turn! It was the wretched paradox of a dream. The day after Brigham's sermon on blood-atonement, there had been a meeting in the Historian's office, presided over by Brigham. And here for the first time Joel Rae found he was no longer looked upon as one too radical.
Whenever a loved pig died its owners were in custom bound to go out and kill somebody, anybody. Of course, it was better if they killed the one whose magic had made the pig sick. But, failing that one, any one would do. Hence Kwaque was selected for the blood-atonement.
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