m

I

The Story of "Mormonism"

By JAMES E. TALMAGE

One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Se'venth Edition in English

including

Forty-sixth to Fiftieth Thousand

Printed and Published by

THE DESERET NEWS

Salt Lake City, Utah

Copyright 1920

by

HEBER J. GRANT

Trustec-in-Trust for

The Church of Jesus Christ

of Latter-day Saints

THE LIBRARY

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

PROVO, UTAH

PREFACE

The Story of ''Mormonism'' as presented in the following pages is a revised and recon- structed version of lectures delivered by Dr. James E. Talmage at the University of Mich- igan, Cornell University, and elsewhere. The ''Story" first appeared in print as a lecture report in the Improvement Era, and was after- ward issued as a booklet from the office of the Millennial Star, Liverpool. In 1910 it was issued in a revised form by the Bureau of In- formation at Salt Lake City, in which edition the lecture style of direct address was changed to the ordinary form of essay.

In 1914 it was published by the Deseret News, Salt Lake City, with The Philosophy OF "Mormonism/" the latter being a lecture by Dr. Talmage first delivered before the Philo- sophical Society of Denver.

The present, or seventh edition in English

Preface.

is presented in combination with The Philo- sophical Basis of "'Mormonism/' The last named is Dr. Talmage's address dehvered by invitation before the Congress of Religious Philosophies, held in connection with the Pan- ama-Pacific International Exposition, at San Francisco, California, July 29th, 1915.

The Publishers.

Salt Lake City, Utah,

September, 1920.

The Story of *'Mormonism

ji

I.

IN the minds of many, perhaps of the major- ity of people, the scene of the "Mormon" drama is laid almost entirely in Utah; indeed, the terms "Mormon question" and "Utah question" have been often used interchangeably. True it is, that the development of "Mormon- ism" is closely associated with the history of the long-time Territory and present State of Utah; but the origin of the system must be sought in regions far distant from the present gathering-place of the Latter-day Saints, and at a period antedating the acquisition of Utah as a part of our national domain.

The term "origin" is here used in its com- monest application — that of the first stages apparent to ordinary observation — the visible birth of the system. But a long, long period of preparation had led to this physical com- ing forth of the "Mormon" religion, a period marked by a multitude of historical events.

6 The Story of "Mormonism."

some of them preceding by centuries the earthly- beginning of this modern system of- prophetic trust. The "Mormon" people regard the estab- lishment of their Church as the culmination of a great series of notable events. To them it is the result of causes unnumbered that have op- erated through ages of human history, and they see in it the cause of many developments yet to appear. This to them establishes an inti- mate relationship between the events of their own history and the prophecies of ancient times.

In reading the earliest pages of "Mormon" history, we are introduced to a man whose name will ever be prominent in the story of the Church — the founder of the organization by common usage of the term, the head of the system as an earthly establishment — one who is accepted by the Church as an ambassador specially commissioned of God to be the first revelator of the latter-day dispensation. This man is Joseph Smith, commonly known as the "Mormon" prophet. Rarely indeed does history present an organization, religious, so- cial, or political, in which an individual holds as conspicuous and in all ways as important

Joseph Smith, the Prophet.

a place as does this man in the development of "Mormonism." The earnest investigator, the sincere truth-seeker, can ignore neither the man nor his work ; for the Church under con- sideration has risen from the testimony sol- emnly set forth and the startling declarations made by this person, who, at the time of his earliest announcements, was a farmer's boy in the first half of his teens. If his claims to or- dination under the hands of divinely com- missioned messengers be fallacious, forming as they form the foundation of the Church organization, the superstructure cannot stand; if, on the other hand, such declarations be true, there is little cause to wonder at the phenom- enally rapid rise and the surprising stability of the edifice so begun.

Joseph Smith was born at Sharon, Vermont, in December, 1805. He was the son of in- dustrious parents, who possessed strong re- ligious tendencies and tolerant natures. For generations his ancestors had been laborers, by occupation tillers of the soil ; and though comfortable circumstances had generally been their lot, reverses and losses in the father's house had brought the family to poverty; so

8 The Story of "Momionism."

that from his earliest days the lad Joseph was made acquainted with the pleasures and pains of hard work. He is described as having been more than ordinarily studious for his years; and when that powerful wave of religious agi- tation and sectarian revival which character- ized the first quarter of the last century, reached the home of the Smiths, Joseph with others of the family was profoundly affected. The household became somewhat divided on the subject of religion, and some of the mem- bers identified themselves with the more pop- ular sects; but Joseph, while favorably im- pressed by the Methodists in comparison with others, confesses that his mind was sorely troubled over the contemplation of the strife and tumult existing among the religious bodies ; and he hesitated. He tried in vain to solve the mystery presented to him in the warring factions of what professed to be the Church of Christ. Surely, thought he, these several churches, opposed as they are to one another on what appear to be the vital points of re- ligion, cannot all be right. While puzzling over this anomaly he chanced upon this verse in the epistle of St. James :

Joseph Smith, the Prophet.

"If any of you lack wisdom^ let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and up- hraideth not; and it shall he given him."

In common with so many others, the earnest youth found here within the scriptures, admo- nition and counsel as directly applicable to his case and circumstances as if the lines had been addressed to him by name. A brief period of hesitation, in which he shrank from the thought that a mortal like himself, weak, youthful, and unlearned, should approach the Creator with a personal request, was followed by a humble and contrite resolution to act upon the counsel of the ancient apostle. The result, to which he bore solemn record (testifying at first with the simplicity and enthusiasm of youth, after- ward confirming the declaration with man- hood's increasing powers, and at last volun- tarily sealing the testimony with his life's blood,) proved most startling to the sectarian world — a world in which according to popular belief no new revelation of truth was possible. It is a surprising fact that while growth, pro- gress, advancement, development of known truths and the acquisition of new ones, charac- terize every living science, the sectarian world

10 The Story of "Mormonism."

has declared that nothing new must be expected as direct revelation from God.

The testimony of this lad is, that in response to his suppHcation, drawn forth by the admoni- tion of an inspired apostle, he received a divine ministration ; heavenly beings manifested them- selves to him — two, clothed in purity, and alike in form and feature. Pointing to the other, one said, "This is my beloved Son, hear Him." In answer to the lad's prayer, the heavenly per- sonage so designated informed Joseph that the Spirit of God dwelt not with warring sects, which, while professing a form of godliness, denied the power thereof, and that he should join none of them. Overjoyed at the glorious manifestation thus granted unto him, the boy prophet could not withhold from relatives and acquaintances tidings of the heavenly vision. From the ministers, who had been so energetic in their efforts to convert the boy, he received, to his surprise, abuse and ridicule. ''Visions and manifestations from God," said they, "are of the past, and all such things ceased with the apostles of old ; the canon of scripture is full ; religion has reached its perfection in plan, and, unlike all other systems contrived or accepted

Early Opposition. 11

by human kind, is incapable of development or growth. It is true God lives, but He cares not for His children of modern times as He did for those of ancient days; He has shut Himself away from the people, closed the windows of heaven, and has suspended all direct communi- cation with the people of earth."

The persecution thus originating with those who called themselves ministers of the gospel of Christ spread throughout the community; and the sects that before could not agree to- gether nor abide in peace, became as one in their efforts to oppose the youth who thus tes- tified of facts, which though vehemently de- nounced, produced an effect that alarmed them the more. And such a spectacle has ofttimes presented itself before the world — men who cannot tolerate one another in peace swear fidel- ity and mutual support in strife with a common opponent. The importance of this alleged rev- elation from the heavens to the earth is such as to demand attentive consideration. If a fact, it is a full contradiction of the vague theories that had been increasing and accumulating for centuries, denying personality and parts to Deity.

12 The Story of ''Mormonism."

In 1820, there lived one person who knew that the word of the Creator, ''Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness," had a meaning more than in metaphor. Joseph Smith, the youthful prophet and revelator of the nine- teenth century, knew that the Eternal Father and the well-beloved Son, Jesus Christ, were in form and stature like unto perfect men; and that the human family was in very truth of divine origin. But this wonderful vision was not the only manifestation of heavenly power and personality made to the young man, nor the only incident of the kind destined to bring upon him the fury of persecution. Sometime after this visitation, which constituted him a living witness of God unto men, and which demon- strated the great fact that humanity is the child of Deity, he was visited by an immortal per- sonage who announced himself as Moroni, a messenger sent from the presence of God. The celestial visitor stated that through Joseph as \he earthly agent the Lord would accomplish a great work, and that the boy would come to be known by good and. evil repute amongst all na- tions. The angel then announced that an an- cient record, engraven on plates of gold, lay

The Message of Moroni. 13

hidden in a hill near by, which record gave a history of the nations that had of old inhabited the American continent, and an account of the Savior's ministrations among them. He further explained that with the plates were two sacred stones, known as Urim and Thummim, by the use of which the Lord would bring forth a translation of the ancient record. Joseph further testifies that he was told that if he re- mained faithful to his trust and the confidence reposed in him, he would some day receive the record into his keeping, and be commissioned and empowered to translate it. In due time these promises were literally fulfilled, and the modern version of these ancient writings was given to the world.

The record proved to be an account of certain colonies of immigrants to this hemisphere from the east, who came several centuries before the Christian era. The principal company was led by one Lehi, described as a personage of some importance and wealth, who had formerly lived at Jerusalem in the reign of Zedekiah, and who left his eastern home about 600 B. C. The book tells of the journeyings across the water in ves- sels constructed according to revealed plan, of

14 The Story of "Mormonism."

the peoples' landing on the western shores of South America probably somewhere in Chile, of their prosperity and rapid growth amid the bounteous elements of the new world, of the in- crease of pride and consequent dissension ac- companying the accumulation of material wealth, and of the division of the people into factions which became later two great nations at enmity with one another. One part follow- ing Nephi, the youngest and most gifted son of Lehi, designated themselves Nephites; the other faction, led by Laman, the elder and wicked brother of Nephi, were known as Lamanites.

The Nephites lived in cities, some of which attained great size and were distinguished by great architectural beauty. Continually ad- vancing northward, these people in time occu- pied the greater part of the valleys of the Orin- oco, the Amazon, and the Magdalena. During the thousand years covered by the Nephite rec- ord, the people crossed the Isthmus of Panama, which is graphically described as a neck of land but a day's journey from sea to sea, and suc- cessively occupied extensive tracts in what is now Mexico, the valley of the Mississippi, and the Eastern States. It is not to be supposed

The American Aborigines. 15

that these vast regions were all populated at any one time by the Nephites ; the people were con- tinually moving to escape the depredations of their hereditary foes, the Lamanites; and they abandoned in turn all their cities established along the course of migration. The unpreju- diced student sees in the discoveries of the an- cient and now forest-covered cities of Mexico, Central America, Yucatan, and the northern regions of South America, collateral testimony having a bearing upon this history.

Before their more powerful foes, the Ne- phites dwindled and fled ; until about the year 400 A. D. they were entirely annihilated after a series of decisive battles, the last of which was fought near the very hill, called Cumorah, in the State of New York, where the hidden rec- ord was subsequently revealed to Joseph Smith.

The Lamanites led a roving, aggressive life ; kept few or no records, and soon lost the art of history writing. They lived on the results of the chase and by plunder, degenerating in habit until they became typical progenitors of the dark-skinned race, afterward discovered by Columbus and named American Indians.

The last writer in the ancient record, and the

16 The Story of "Mormonism."

one who hid away the plates in the hill Cu- morah, was Moroni — the same personage who appeared as a resurrected being in the nine- teenth century, a divinely appointed messenger sent to reveal the depository of the sacred docu- ments; but the greater part of the plates since translated had been engraved by the father of Moroni, the Nephite prophet Mormon. This man, at once warrior, prophet and historian, had made a transcript and compilation of the heterogeneous records that had accumulated during the troubled history of the Nephite na- tion ; this compilation was named on the plates "The Book of Mormon," which name has been given to the modern translation — a work that has already made its way over most of the civil- ized world. The translation and publication of the Book of Mormon were marked by many scenes of trouble and contention, but success attended the undertaking, and the first edition of the work appeared in print in 1830.

The question, "What is the Book of Mor- mon?"— a very pertinent one on the part of every earnest student and investigator of this phase of American history — has been partly an- swered already. The work has been derisively

The Book of Mormon. 17

called the "Mormon Bible," a name that carries with it the misrepresentation that in the faith of this people the book takes the place of the scriptural volume which is universally accepted by Christian sects. No designation could be more misleading, and in every way more untruthful. The Latter-day Saints have but one "Bible" and that the Holy Bible of Christendom. They place it foremost amongst the standard works of the Church ; they accept its admonitions and its doctrines, and accord thereto a literal significance; it is to them, and ever has been, the word of God, a compilation made by human agency of works by various in- spired writers ; they accept its teachings in ful- ness, modifying the meaning in no wise, except in the rare cases of undoubted mistranslation, concerning which Biblical scholars of all faiths differ and criticize ; and even in such cases their reverence for the sacred letter renders them even more conservative than the majority of Bible commentators and critics in placing free construction upon the text. The historical part of the Jewish scriptures tells of the divine dealings with the people of the eastern hemi- sphere ; the Book of Mormon recounts the mer-

18 The Story of "Mormonism."

cies and judgments of God, the inspired teach- ings of His prophets, the rise and fall of His people as organized communities on the western continent.

The Latter-day Saints beHeve the coming forth of the Book of Mormon to have been fore- told in the Bible, as its destiny is prophesied of within its own lids ; it is to the people the true ''stick of Ephraim" which Ezekiel declared should become one with the ''stick of Judah" — or the Bible. The people challenge the most critical comparison between this record of the west and the Holy Scriptures of the east, feeling confident that no discrepancy exists in letter or spirit. As to the original characters in which the record was engraved, copies were shown to learned linguists of the day and pronounced by them as closely resembling the Reformed Egyptian writing.

Let us revert, however, to the facts of his- tory concerning this new scripture, and the re- ception accorded the printed volume.

The Book of Mormon was before the world ; the Church circulated the work as freely as possible. The true account of its origin was rejected by the general public, who thus, as-

The Spaulding Romance. 19

sumed the responsibility of explaining in some plausible way the source of the record. Among the many false theories propounded, perhaps the most famous is the so-called Spaulding story. Solomon Spaulding, a clergyman of Amity, Pennsylvania, died in 1816. He wrote a romance to which no name other than ''Manu- script Story" was given, and which, but for the unauthorized use of the writer's name and the misrepresentation of his motives, would never have been published. Twenty years after the author's death, one Hurlburt, an apostate "Mormon," announced that he had recognized a resemblance between the "Manuscript Story" and the Book of Mormon, and expressed a be- lief that the work brought forward by Joseph Smith was nothing but the Spaulding romance revised and amplified. The apparent credibil- ity of the statement was increased by various signed declarations to the effect that the two were alike, though no extracts for comparison were presented. But the "Manuscript Story" was lost for a time, and in the absence of proof to the contrary, reports of the parallelism be- tween the two works multiplied. By a fortu- nate circumstance, in 1884, President James H.

20 The Story of "Mormonism/*

Fairchild, of Oberlin College, and a literary friend of his — a Mr. Rice — while examining a heterogeneous collection of old papers which had been purchased by the gentleman last named, found the original manuscript of the "Story."

After a careful perusal and comparison with the Book of Mormon, President Fairchild de- clared in an article published in the New York Observer, February 5, 1885 :

The theory of the origin of the Book of Mor- mon in the traditional manuscript of Solomon Spaulding will probably have to be relinquished. * * * Mr. Rice, myself, and others com- pared it [the Spaulding manuscript] with the Book of A^Iormon and could detect no resem- blance between the two, in general or in detail. There seems to be no name nor incident com- mon to the two. The solemn style of the Book of Mormon in imitation of the English scrip- tures does not appear in the manuscript. * * * Some other explanation of the origin of the Book of Mormon must be found if any explana- tion is required.

The manuscript was deposited in the library of Oberlin College where it now reposes. Still,

The Spaulding Story Refuted. 21

the theory of the "Manuscript Found," as Spaulding's story has come to be known, is oc- casionally pressed into service in the cause of anti-"Mormon" zeal, by some whom we will charitably believe to be ignorant of the facts set forth by President Fairchild. A letter of more recent date, written by that honorable gentle- man in reply to an inquiring correspondent, was published in the Millennial Star, Liverpool, No- vember 3, 1898, and is as follows:

Oberlin College, Ohio,

October 17, 1895. J. R. HiNDLEY, Esq.,

Dear Sir: We have in our college library an original manuscript of Solomon Spaulding — unquestionably genuine.

I found it in 1884 in the hands of Hon. L. L. Rice, of Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands. He was formerly state printer at Columbus, Ohio, and before that, publisher of a paper in Painesville, whose preceding publisher had visited Mrs. Spaulding and obtained the manuscript from her. It had lain among his old papers forty years or more, and was brought out by my ask- ing him to look up anti-slavery documents among his papers.

The manuscript has upon it the signatures of several men of Conneaucht- Ohio, who had

22

The Story of "Mormonism/*

heard Spaulding read it and knew it to be his. No one can see it and question its genuineness. The manuscript has been printed twice, at least ; — once by the Mormons of Salt Lake City, and once by the Josephite Mormons of Iowa. The Utah Mormons obtained the copy of Mr. Rice, at Honolulu, and the Josephites got it of me after it came into my possession.

This manuscript is not the original of the Book of Mormon.

Yours very truly,

James H. Fairchild.

The ''Manuscript Story" has been published in full, and comparisons between the same and the Book of Mormon may be made by anyone who has a mind to investigate the subject.*

*For a fuller account of the Book of Mormon, see the author's "Articles of Faith," Lectures 14 and 15; published at Salt Lake City, Utah, 1913.

11.

BUT we have anticipated the current of events. With the publication of the Book of Mormon, opposition grew more intense to- ward the people who professed a belief in the testimony of Joseph Smith. On the 6th of April, 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Lat- ter-day Saints was formally organized and thus took on a legal existence. The scene of this organization was Fayette, New York, and but six persons were directly concerned as partici- pants. At that time there may have been and probably were many times that number who had professed adherence to the newly restored faith ; but as the requirements of the law gov- erning the formation of religious societies were satisfied by the application of six, only the spec- ified number formally took part. Such was the beginning of the Church, soon to be so uni- versally maligned. Its origin was small — a germ, an insignificant seed, hardly to be thought of as likely to arouse opposition. What was there to fear in the voluntary association of six

24 The Story of "Mormonism."

men, avowedly devoted to peaceful pursuits and benevolent purposes ? Yet a storm of persecu- tion was threatened from the earliest day. At first but a family affair, opposition to the work has involved successively the town, the county, the state, the country, and today the "Mormon" question has been accorded extended considera- tion at the hands of the national government, and indeed most civilized nations have taken cognizance^ of the same.

Let us observe the contrast between the be- ginning and the present proportions of the Church. Instead of but six regularly affiliated members, and at most two score of adherents, the organization numbers today many hundred thousand souls. In place of a single hamlet, in the smallest corner of which the members could have congregated, there now are over eighty stakes of Zion and about eight hundred organ- ized wards, each ward and stake with its full complement of officers and priesthood organiza- tions. The practice of gathering its proselytes into one place prevents the building up and strengthening of foreign branches; and inas- much as extensive and strong organizations are seldom met with abroad, very erroneous ideas

Work among the Lamanites. 25

exist concerning the strength of the Church. Nevertheless, the mustard seed, among the smallest of all seeds, has attained the propor- tions of a tree, and the birds of the air are nest- ing in its branches ; .the acorn is now an oak offering protection and the sweets of satisfac- tion to every earnest pilgrim journeying its way for truth.

From the organization of the Church, the spirit of emigration rested upon the people. Their eyes were from the first turned in antici- pation toward the evening sun — not merely that the work of proselyting should be carried on in the west, but that the headquarters of the Church should be there established. The Book of Mormon had taught the people the true ori- gin and destiny of the American Indians ; and toward this dark-skinned remnant of a once mighty people, the missionaries of "Mormon- ism" early turned their eyes, and with their eyes went their hearts and their hopes.

Within three months from the beginning, the Church had missionaries among the Lamanites. It is notable that the Indian tribes have gener- ally regarded the religion of the Latter-day Saints with favor, seeing in the Book of Mor-

26 The Story of "Mormonism."

mon striking agreement with their own tradi- tions.

The first well-established seat of the Church was in the pretty little town of Kirtland, Ohio, almost within sight of Lake Erie ; and here soon rose the first temple of modern times. Among their many other peculiarities, the Latter-day Saints are characterized as a temple-building people, as history proves the Israel of ancient times to have been. In the days of their in- fancy as a Church, while in the thrall of pov- erty, and amidst the persecution and direful threats of lawless hordes, they laid the corner- stone, and in less than three years thereafter they celebrated the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, a structure at once beautiful and im- posing. Even before this time, however, popu- lous settlements of Latter-day Saints had been made in Jackson County, Missouri ; and in the town of Independence a site for a great temple had been selected and purchased; but though the ground has been dedicated with solemn ceremony, the people have not as yet built thereon.

Within two years of its dedication, the tem- ple in Kirtland was abandoned by the people,

Modern Temples. 27

who were compelled to flee for their lives before the onslaughts of mobocrats ; but a second tem- ple, larger and more beautiful than the first, soon reared its spires in the city of Nauvoo, Illinois. This structure was destroyed by fire, but the temple-building spirit was not to be quenched, and in the vales of Utah today are four magnificent temple edifices. The last com- pleted, which was the first begun, is situated in Salt Lake City, and is one of the wonders and beauties of that city by the great salt sea *

To the fervent Latter-day Saint, a temple is not simply a church building, a house for relig- ious assembly. Indeed the "Mormon" temples are rarely used as places of general gatherings. They are in one sense educational institutions, regular courses of lectures and instruction be- ing maintained in some of them ; but they are specifically for baptisms and ordinations, for sanctifying prayer, and for the most sacred ceremonies and rites of the Church, particularly in the vicarious work for the dead which is a characteristic of "Mormon" faith. And who

*For a detailed account of modern temples, with numerous pictorial views, see "The House of the Lord," by the present author; Salt Lake City, Utah,

1012.

28 The Story of "Mo -monism."

that has gazed upon these splendid shrines will say that the people who can do so much in pov- erty and tribulation are insincere? Bigoted they may seem to those who believe not as they do ; fanatics they may be to multitudes who like the proud Pharisee of old thank God they are not as these ; but insincere they cannot be, even in the judgment of their bitterest opponent, if he be a creature of reason.

The clouds of persecution thickened in Ohio as the intolerant zeal of mobs found frequent expression ; numerous charges, trivial and seri- ous, were made against the leaders of the Church, and they were repeatedly brought be- fore the courts, only to be liberated on the usual finding of no cause for action. Meanwhile the march to the west was maintained. Soon thousands of converts had rented or purchased homes in Missouri — Independence, Jackson County, being their center ; but from the first, they were unpopular among the Missourians. Their system of equal rights with their marked disapproval of every species of aristocratic sep- aration and self-aggrandizement was declared to be a species of communism, dangerous to the state. An inoffensive iournalistic ors:an. The

Persecution in Missouri. 29

Star, published for the purpose of properly pre- senting the religious tenets of the people, was made the particular object of the mob's rage; the house of its publisher was razed to the ground, the press and type were confiscated, and the editor and his family maltreated. An absurd story was circulated and took firm hold of the masses that the Book of Mormon prom- ised the western lands to the people of the Church, and that they intended to take posses- sion of these lands by force. Throughout the book of revelations regarded by the people as law specially directed to them, they are told to save their riches that they may purchase the in- heritance promised them of God. Everywhere are they told to maintain peace; the sword is never offered as their symbol of conquest. Their gathering is to be like that of the Jews at Jerusalem — a pacific one, and in their taking possession of what they regard as a land of promise, no one previously located there shall be denied his rights.

A spirit of fierce persecution raged in Jackson and surrounding counties of Missouri. An ap- peal was made to the executive of the state, but little encouragement was returned. The lieu-

30 The Story of "Mormonism."

tenant-governor, Lilburn W. Boggs, afterward governor, was a pronounced "Mormon"-hater, and throughout the period of the troubles, he manifested sympathy with the persecutors.

One of the circuit judges who was asked to issue a peace warrant refused to do so, but ad- vised the "Mormons" to arm themselves and meet the force of the outlaws with organized resistance. This advice was not pleasing to the Latter-day Saints, whose religion enjoined tol- erance and peace; but they so far heeded it as to arm a small force ; and when the outlaws next came upon them, the people were not entirely unprepared. A ''Mormon" rebellion was now proclaimed. The people had been goaded to desperation. The militia was ordered out, and the "Mormons" were disarmed. The mob was unrestrained in its eagerness for revenge. The "Mormons" engaged able lawyers to institute and maintain legal proceedings against their foes, and this step, the right to which one would think could be denied no American citizen, called forth such an uproar of popular wrath as to affect almost the entire state.

It was winter ; but the inclemency of the year only suited the better the purpose of the op-

Expulsion from Jackson County. 31

pressor. Homes were destroyed, men torn from their families were brutally beaten, tarred and feathered ; women with babes in their arms were forced to flee half-clad into the solitude of the prairie to escape from mobocratic violence. Their sufferings have never yet been fitly chron- icled by human scribe. Making their way across the river, most of the refugees found shelter among the more hospitable people of Clay County, and afterward established themselves in Caldwell County, therein founding the city of Far West. County and state judges, the governor, and even the President of the United States, were appealed to in turn for redress. The national executive, Andrew Jackson, while expressing sympathy for the persecuted people, deplored his lack of power to interfere with the administration or non-administration of state laws; the national officials could do nothing; the state officials would do naught.

But the expulsion from Jackson County was but a prelude to the tragedy soon to follow. A single scene of the bloody drama is known as the Haun's Mill massacre. A small settlement had been founded by ''Mormon" families on Shoal Creek, and here on the 30th of October,

32 The Story of "Mormonism."

1838, a company of two hundred and forty fell upoa the hapless settlers and butchered a score. No respect was paid to age or sex ; grey heads, and infant lips that scarcely had learned to lisp a word, vigorous manhood and immature youth, mother and maiden, fared alike in the scene of carnage, and their bodies were thrown into an old well.

In October, 1838, the Governor of Missouri, the same Lilburn W. Boggs, issued his in- . famous exterminating order, and called upon the militia of the state to execute it. The lan- guage of this document, signed by the executive of a sovereign state of the Union, declared that the "Mormons" must be driven from the state or exterminated. Be it said to the honor of some of the officers entrusted with the terrible commission, that when they learned its true sig- nificance they resigned their authority rather than have anything to do with what they desig- nated a cold-blooded butchery. But tools were not wanting, as indeed they never have been, for murder and its kindred outrages. What the heart of man can conceive, the hand of man will find a way to execute. The awful work was carried out with dread dispatch. Oh, what

Expulsion from Missouri. 33

a record to read ; what a picture to gaze upon ; how awful the fact ! An official edict offering expatriation or death to a peaceable community with no crime proved against them, and guilty of no offense other than that of choosing to differ in opinion from the masses! American school boys read with emotions of horror of the Albigenses, driven, beaten and killed, with a papal legate directing the butchery ; and of the Vaudois, hunted and hounded like beasts as the effect of a royal decree ; and they yet shall read in the history of their own country of scenes as terrible as these in the exhibition of injustice and inhuman hate.

In the dread alternative offered them, the people determined again to abandon their homes; but whither should they go? Already they had fled before the lawless oppressor over well nigh half a continent; already were they on the frontiers of the country that they had regarded as the land of promised liberty. Thus far every move had carried them westward, but farther west they could not go unless they went entirely beyond the country of their birth, and gave up their hope of protection under the Con- stitution, which to them had ever been an in-

J

34 The Story of "Mormonism."

spired instrument, the majesty of which, as they had never doubted, would be some day vindi- cated, even to securing for them the rights of American citizens. This time their faces were turned toward the east; and a host numbering from ten to twelve thousand, including many women and children, abandoned their homes and fled before their murderous pursuers, red- dening the snow with bloody footprints as they journeyed. They crossed the Mississippi and sought protection on the soil of Illinois. There their sad condition evoked for a time general commiseration.

The press of the state denounced the treat- ment of the people by the Missourians and vin- dicated the character of the "Mormons" as peaceable and law-abiding citizens. College professors published expressions of their horror over the cruel crusade; state officials, includ- ing even the governor, gave substantial evi- dence of their sympathy and good feeling. This lull in the storm of outrage that had so long raged about them offered a strange contrast to their usual treatment. Let it not be thought that all the people of Illinois were their friends ; from the first, opposition was manifest, but

Persecutors Denounced. 35

their condition was so greatly bettered that they might have thought the advent of their Zion to be near at hand.

I stated that professional men, and even col- lege professors raised their voices in commiser- ation of the ''Mormon" situation and in de- nouncing the "Mormon" oppressors. Prof. Turner of Illinois College wrote :

Who began the quarrel ? Was it the "Mor- mons?" Is it not notorious on the contrary that they were hunted like wild beasts from county to county before they made any resist- ance? Did they ever, as a body, refuse obedi- ence to the laws, when called upon to do so, until driven to desperation by repeated threats and assaults by the mob? Did the state ever make one decent effort to defend them as fel- low-citizens in their rights or to redress their wrongs ? Let the conduct of its governors and attorneys and the fate of their final petitions answer! Have any who plundered and openly insulted the "Mormons" ever been brought to the punishment due to their crimes ? Let boast- ing murderers of begging and helpless infancy answer! Has the state ever remunerated even those known to be innocent for the loss of either their property or their arms? Did either the pulpit or the press through the state raise a note

36 The Story of "Mormonism."

of remonstrance or alarm ? Let the clergymen ] who abetted and the editors who encouraged l the mob answer !

As a sample of the press comments against the brutality of the Missourians I quote a para- graph from the Quincy Argus, March 16, 1839 :

We have no language sufficiently strong for the expression of our indignation and shame at the recent transaction in a sister state, and that state, Missouri, a state of which we had long been proud, alike for her men and history, but now so fallen that we could wish her star strick- en from the bright constellation of the Union. We say we know of no language sufficiently strong for the expression of our shame and ab- horrence of her recent conduct. She has writ- ten her own character in letters of blood, and stained it by acts of merciless cruelty and bru- tality that the waters of ages cannot efface. It will be observed that an organized mob, aided by many of the civil and military officers of Missouri, with Gov. Boggs at their head, have been the prominent actors in this business, in- cited too, it appears, against the "Mormons" by political hatred, and by the additional motives of plunder and revenge. They have but too well put in execution their threats of extermina- tion and expulsion, and fully wreaked their ven-

Favorable Press Comment. 37

geance on a body of industrious and enterpris- ing men, who had never wronged nor wished to wrong them, but on the contrary had ever com- ported themselves as good and honest citizens, living under the same laws, and having the same right with themselves to the sacred im- munities of life, liberty and property.

III.

SETTLING in and about the obscure village of Commerce, the "Mormon" refugees soon demonstrated anew the marvelous recuper- ative power with which they were endowed, and a city seemed to spring from the earth. Nau- voo — the City Beautiful — was the name given to this new abiding place. It was situated but a few miles from Quincy, in a bend of the ma- jestic river, giving the town three water fronts. It seemed to nestle there as if the Father of Waters was encircling it with his mighty arm. Soon a glorious temple crowned the hill up which the city had run in its rapid growth. Their settlements extended into Iowa, then a territory. The governors of both Iowa and Ohio testified to the worthiness of the Latter- day Saints as citizens, and pledged them the protection of the commonwealth. The city of Nauvoo was chartered by the state of Illinois, and the rights of local self-government were assured to its citizens.

A military organization, the "Nauvoo Le-

Difficulties in Illinois. 39

gion," was authorized, and the establishment of a university was provided for; both these or- ganizations were successfully effected. It was here that a memorial was prepared and sent to the national government, reciting the outrages of Missouri, and asking reparation. Joseph Smith himself, the head of the delegation, had a personal interview with President Van Buren, in which the grievances of the Latter-day Saints were presented. Van Buren replied in words that will not be forgotten, ''Your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you/'

The peaceful conditions at first characteristic of their Illinois settlement were not to continue. The element of political influence asserted itself and the "Mormons" bade fair to soon hold the balance of power in local affairs. The charac- teristic unity, so marked in connection with every phase of the people's existence, promised too much; immigration into Hancock county was continuous, and the growing power of the Latter-day Saints was viewed with apprehen- sion. With this as the true motive, many pre- texts for annoyance were found; and arrests, trials, and acquittals were common experiences of the Church officers.

40 The Story of *'Mormonism."

A charge, which promised to prove as devoid of foundation as had the excuses for the fifty arrests preceding it, led Joseph Smith, president of the Church, and Hyrum Smith, the patriarch, to again surrender themselves to the officers of the law. They were taken to Carthage, Joseph having declared to friends his belief that he was going to the slaughter. Governor Ford gave to the prisoners his personal guarantee for their safety; but mob violence was supreme, more mighty than the power of the state militia placed there to guard the prison ; and these men were shot to death, even while under the gov- ernor's plighted pledge of protection. Hyrum fell first; and Joseph, appearing at one of the windows in the second story, received the leaden missiles of the besieging mob, which was led by a recreant though professed minister of the gospel. But the brutish passion of the mob was not yet sated ; propping the body against a well- curb in the jail-yard, the murderers poured a volley of bullets into the corpse, and fled. Thus was the unholy vow of the mob fulfilled, that as law could not touch the "Mormon" leaders, powder and ball should. John Taylor, who be-

The Prophet Slain. 41

came years afterward president of the Church, was in the jail at the same time; he received four bullets, and was left supposedly dead.

Joseph Smith had been more than the eccles- iastical leader ; his presence and personality had been ever powerful as a stimulus to the hearts of the people; none knew his personal power better than the members of his own flock, unless indeed it were the wolves who were ever seek- ing to harry the fold. It had been the boast of anti-"Mormons" that with Joseph Smith re- moved, the Church would crumble to pieces of itself. In the personality of their leader, it was thought, lay the secret of the people's strength ; and like the Philistines, the enemy struck at the supposed bond of power. Terrible as was the blow of the fearful fatality, the Church soon emerged from its despairing state of poignant grief, and rose mightier than before. It is the faith of this people that while the work of God on earth is carried on by men, yet mortals are but instruments in the Creator's hands for the accomplishment of divine purposes. The death of the president disorganized the First Presi- dency of the Church ; but the official body next

42 The Story of "Mormonism."

in authority, the Council of the Twelve, stepped to the front, and the progress of the Church was unhindered. The work of the ministry was not arrested ; the people paused but long enough to bury their dead and clear their eyes from the blinding tears that fell.

Let us take a retrospective glance at this unusual man. Though his opponents deny him the divine commission with which his friends believe he was charged, they all, friends and foes alike, admit that he was a great man. Through the testimony of his life's work and the sanctifying seal of his martyrdom, thou- sands have come to acknowledge him all that he professed to be — a messenger from God to the people. He is not without admirers among men who deny the truth of his principles and the faith of his people.

A historical writer of the time, Josiah Quin- cy, a few weeks after the martyrdom, wrote :

It is by no means improbable that some fu- ture text book for the use of generations yet un- born, will contain a question something like this: "What historical American of the nine- teenth century has exerted the most powerful in- fluence upon the destinies of his countrymen ?"

Josiah Quincy's Tribute. 43

And it is by no means impossible that the answer to that interrogatory may be thus written — ''Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet." And the reply, absurd as it doubtless seems to most men now living, may be an obvious common- place to their descendants. History deals in surprises and paradoxes quite as startling as this. A man who established a religion in this age of free debate, who was and is today ac- cepted by hundreds of thousands as a direct emissary from the Most High — such a rare hu- man being is not to be disposed of by pelting his memory with unsavory epithets. * * * The most vital questions Americans are asking each other today, have to deal with this man and what he has left us. * * * Joseph Smith, claiming to be an inspired teacher, faced ad- versity such as few men have been called to meet, enjoyed a brief season of prosperity such as few men have ever attained, and finally * * * went cheerfully to a martyr's death. When he surrendered his person to Governor Ford, in order to prevent the shedding of blood, the Prophet had a presentiment of what was before him. ''I am going like a lamb to the slaughter," he is reported to have said, ''but I am as calm as a summer's morning. I have a conscience void of offense, and shall die inno- cent."

The "Mormon" people regarded it as a duty

44 The Story of *'Mormonism."

to make every proper effort to bring the perpe- trators of the foul assassination of their leaders to justice; sixty names were presented to the local grand jury, and of the persons so desig- nated, nine were indicted. After a farcical semblance of a trial, these were acquitted, and thus was notice, sanctioned by the constituted authority of the law, served upon all anti-"Mor- mons" of Illinois, that they were safe in any assault they might choose to make on the sub- jects of their hate. The mob was composed of apt pupils in the learning of this lesson. Per- sonal outrages were of e very-day occurrence; husbandmen were captured in their fields, beaten, tortured, until they barely had strength left to promise compliance with the demands of their assailants, — that they would leave the state. Houses were fired while the tenants were wrapped in uneasy slumber within; in- deed, one entire town, that of Morley, was by such incendiarism reduced to ashes. Women and children were aroused in the night, and compelled to flee unclad or perish in their burn- ing dwellings.

But what of the internal work of the Church during these trying periods ? As the winds of

Brigham Young, the Leader. 45

winter, the storms of the year's deepest night, do but harden and strengthen the mountain pine, whose roots strike the deeper, whose branches thicken, whose twigs multiply by the inclemency that would be fatal to the exotic palm, raised by man with hot-house nursing, so the new Church continued its growth, partly in spite of, partly because of, the storms to which it was subjected. It was no green-house growth, struggling for existence in a foreign clime, but a fit plant for the soil of a free land; and there existed in the minds of unprejudiced observers not a doubt as to its vitality. The Church soon found its equilibrium again after the shock of its cruel experience. Brigham Young, who for a decade had been identified with the cause, who had received his full share of persecution at mobocratic hands, now stood at the head of the presiding body in the priest- hood of the Church. The effect of this man's wonderful personality, his surprising natural ability, and to the people, the proofs of his divine acceptance, were apparent from the first. Migration from other states and from for- eign shores continued to swell the "Mormon" band, and this but angered the oppressors the

46 The Story of "Mormonism."

more. The members of the Church, recogniz- ing the inevitable long before predicted by their murdered prophet, that the march of the Church would be westward, redoubled their efforts to complete the grand temple upon which they had not ceased to work through all the storms of persecution. This structure, solemnly dedi- cated to their God, they entered, and there re- ceived their anointings and their blessings ; then they abandoned it to the desecration and self- condemning outrages of their foes. For the mob's decree had gone forth, that the "Mor- mons" must leave Illinois. After a few san- guinary encounters, the leaders of the people acceded to the demands of their assailants, and agreed to leave early in the following spring; but the departure was not speedy enough to suit, and the lawless persecution was waged the more ruthlessly.

Soon the soil of Illinois was free from "Mor- mon" tread ; .Nauvoo was deserted, her 20,000 inhabitants expatriated. Colonel Thomas L. Kane, a conspicuous figure at this stage of our country's history, was traveling eastward at the time, and reached Nauvoo shortly after its evac- uation. In a lecture before the Historical So-

Colonel Kane's Experience. 47

ciety of Pennsylvania, he related his experience in this sometime abode of the Saints. I para- phrase a portion of his eloquent address.

Sighting the city from the western shore of the mighty Mississippi, as it nestled in the riv- er's encircling embrace, he crossed to its prin- cipal wharf, and, there to his surprise, found no soul to meet him. The stillness that everywhere prevailed was painful, broken only by an oc- casional faint echo of boisterous shout or ribald song from a distance. The town was in a dream, and the warrior trod lightly lest he wake it in affright, for he plainly saw that it had not slumbered long. No grass grew in the pavement joints ; recent footprints were still distinct in the dusty thoroughfares. The visitor made his way unmolested into work-shops and smithies ; tools lay as last used ; on the carpen- ter's bench was the unfinished frame, on the floor were the shavings fresh and odorous ; the wood was piled in readiness before the baker's oven; the blacksmith's forge was cold, but the ihop looked as though the occupant had just gone off for a holiday. The gallant soldier entered gardens unchallenged by owner, human guard, or watchful dog; he might have sup-

48 The Story of "Mormonism."

posed the people hidden or dead in their houses ; but the doors were not fastened, and he entered to explore. There were fresh ashes on the hearth; no great accumulation of the dust of time was on floors or furniture ; the awful quiet compelled him to tread a-tip-toe as if thread- ing the aisles of an unoccupied cathedral. He hastened to the graveyard, though surely the city had not been depopulated by pestilence. No; there were a few stones newly set, some sods freshly turned in this sacred acre of God, but where can you find a cemetery of a living town with no such evidence of recent inter- ment? There were fields of heavy grain, the bounteous harvest rotting on the ground ; there were orchards dropping their rich and rosy fruit to spoil beneath; not a hand to gather or save.

But in a suburban corner, he came across the smoldering embers of a barbecue fire, with fragments of flesh and other remnants of a feast. Hereabout houses had been demolished ; and there beyond, around the great temple that had first attracted his attention from the Iowa shore, armed men were bivouacked. This worthy representative of our country's service

Mobocratic Outrages. 49

was challenged by the drunken crowd, and made to give an account of himself, and to an- swer for having crossed the river without a permit from the head of the band. Finding that he was a stranger, they related to him in fiendish glee their recent exploits of pillage, rapine and murder. They conducted him through the temple ; everywhere were marks of their brutish acts; its altars of prayer were broken; the baptismal font had been so "dili- gently desecrated as to render the apartment in which it was contained too noisome to abide in." There in the steeple close by the ''scar of divine wrath" left by a recent thunderbolt, were broken covers of liquor and drinking vessels.

Sickened with the sight, disgusted with this spectacle of outrage, the colonel recrossed the river at nightfall, beating upward, for the wind had freshened. Attracted by a faint light near the bank, he approached the spot, there to find a few haggard faces surrounding one who seemed to be in the last stages of fever. The sufferer was partially protected by something Hke a tent made from a couple of bed sheets; and amid such environment, the spirit was pluming itself for flight. Making his way

50 The Story of "Mormonism."

through this camp of misery, he heard the sob- bings of children hungry and sick; there were men and women dying from wounds or dis- ease, without a semblance of shelter or other physical comfort ; wives in the pangs of ma- ternity, ushering into the world innocent babes doomed to be motherless from their birth/ And at intervals, to the ears of those outcasts, the sick and the dying, the wind brought the soul- piercing sounds of the reveling mob in the dis- tant city, the scrap of vulgar song, the shock- ing oath, shrieked from the temple tower in the madness of drunken orgies.

This, however, was but the rear remnant of the expatriated Christian band. The van was already far on its way toward the inviting wil- derness of the all but unknown west. But the wanderers were not wholly without friends ; certain Indian tribes, the Omahas and the Pot- awatomis, welcomed them to their lands, in- viting them to camp within their territory dur- ing the coming winter. '^Welcome," said these children of the forest, **we too have been driven from our pleasant homes east of the great river, to these damp and unhealthful bottoms ; you now, white men, have been driven forth to the

The Camp of Israel. 51

prairies ; we are fellow-sufferers. Welcome, brothers." .

In return much assistance was rendered by the white refugees to their, shall I say savage friends? If it was civilization the wanderers had left, then indeed might the red men of the forest have felt proud of their distinction. But the Indian agent, a Christian gentleman, or- dered the ''Mormons" to move on and leave the reservation which a kind government had provided for its red children. An order from President Polk, who had been appealed to by Colonel Kane, gave the people permission to remain for a short season. The government of Iowa had courteously assured them protec- tion while passing through that territory. As soon as the people were well under way, a thorough organization was effected. Remem- bering the toilsome desert march from Egypt to Canaan, the people assumed the name. "Camp of Israel." The camp consisted of two main divisions, and each was sub-divided into companies of hundreds, fifties, and tens, with captains to direct. An officer with one hundred volunteers went ahead of the main body to se- lect a route and prepare a road. At this time.

52 The Story of "Mormonism."

there were over one thousand wagons of the ''Mormons" rolling westward, and the line of march soon reached from the Mississippi to Council Bluffs. There were in the company not half enough draft animals for the arduous march, and but an insufficient number of able- bodied men to tend the camps. The women had to assist in driving teams and stock, and in other labors of the journey. Yet with their characteristic cheerfulness the people made the best, and that proved to be a great deal, out of their lot. When the camp halted, a city seemed to spring as if by magic from the prairie soil. Concerts and social gatherings were usual features of the evening rests.

But another great event disturbed the equa- nimity of the camp. War had broken out between Mexico and the United States. Gen- eral Taylor's victories in the early stages of the strife had been all but decisive, but the Republic was on march to the western ocean and the provinces of New Mexico and Cali- fornia were in her path. These two provinces comprised in addition to the territory now designated by those names, Utah, Nevada, por- tions of Wyoming and Colorado, as also Ari-

The Mormon Battalion. 53

zona; while Oregon, then claimed by Great Britain, included Washington, Idaho, and por- tions of Montana and Wyoming. It was the plan of the national administration to occupy these provinces at the earliest moment possible ; and a call was made upon the "Mormon" refu- gees to contribute to the general force by fur- nishing a battalion of five hundred men to take part in the war with Mexico. The surprise which the message of the government officer produced in the camp amounted almost to dis- may. Five hundred men fit to bear arms to be drafted from that camp! What would be- come of the rest? Already women and boys had been pressed into service to do the work of men ; already the sick and the halt had been neglected; and many graves marked the path they had traversed, whose tenants had passed to their last sleep through lack of care.

But how long did they hesitate? Scarcely an hour ; it was the call of their country. True, they were even then leaving the national soil, but not of their own will. To them their country was and is the promised land, the Lord's chosen place, the land of Zion. "You shall have your battalion," said Brigham Young

54 The Story of "Mormonism."

to Captain Allen, the muster officer, **and if there are not young men enough, we will take the old men, and if they are not enough, we will take the women." Within a week from the time President Polk's message was re- ceived, the entire force, in all five hundred and forty-nine souls, was on the march to Fort Leavenworth. Their path from the Missouri to the Pacific led them over two thousand miles, much of this distance being measured through deserts, which prior to that time had not been trodden by civilized foot.

Colonel Cooke, the commander of the "Mor- mon" Battalion, declared, "History may be searched in vain for an equal march of in- fantry." Many were disabled through the se- verity of the march, and numerous cases of sickness and death were chronicled. General Kearney and his successor, Governor R. B. Mason, as military commandants of California, spoke in high praise of this organization, and in their official reports declared that they had made efforts to prolong the battalion's term of ser- vice;-but most of the men chose to rejoin their families as soon as they could secure their hon- orable discharp-e.

Providential Help. 55

But to return to the Camp of Israel : A pio- neer party, consisting of a hundred and forty and four, preceded the main body; and the line of the migrating hosts soon stretched from the Missouri to the valley of the Great Salt Lake. Wagons there were, as also some horses and men, but all too few for the journey: and a great part of the company walked the full thousand miles across the great plains and the forbidding deserts of the west. In the Black Hills region, the pioneers were delayed a week at the Platte, a stream, which, though usually fordable at this point was now so swollen as to make fording impossible. Here, too, their pro- visions wxre well nigh exhausted. Game had not been plentiful, and the "Mormon" pioneers were threatened with the direst privations. In their slow march they had been passed by a number of well-equipped parties, some of them from Missouri bound for the Pacific; but most of these were overtaken on the easterly side of the river. Amongst the effects of the ''Mor- mon" party was a leathern boat, which on water served the legitimate purpose of its maker and on land was made to do service as a wagon box. This, together with rafts specially con-

56 The Story of "Mormonism."

structed, was now put to good use in ferrying across the river not alone themselves and their little property, but the other companies and their loads. For this service they were well paid in camp provisions.

Thus, the expatriated pioneers found them- selves relieved from want with their meal sacks replenished in the heart of the wilder- ness. Many may call it superstition, but some will regard it as did the thankful travelers — an interposition of Providence, and an answer to their prayers — an event to be compared, they said, to the feeding of Israel with manna in the wilderness of old.

After over three months' journeying, the pioneer company reached the valley of the Great Salt Lake; and at the first sight of it, Brigham Young declared it to be the halting place — the gathering center for the Saints. But what was there inviting in this wilderness spread out like a scroll — ^barren of inviting message, and empty but for the picture it pre- sented of wondrous scenic grandeur? Look- ing from the Wasatch barrier, the colonists gazed upon a scene of entrancing though for- bidding beauty. A barren, arid plain, rimmed

View of the Promised Land. 57

by mountains like a literal basin, still occupied in its lowest parts by the dregs of what had once filled it to the brim; no green meadows, not a tree worthy the name, scarce a patch of green-sward to entice the adventurous wan- derers into the valley. The slopes were covered with sage-brush, relieved by patches of chap- paral oak and squaw-bush; the wild sunflower lent its golden hue to intensify the sharp con- trasts. Off to the westward lay the lake, mak- ing an impressive, uninviting picture in its severe, unliving beauty; from its blue wastes somber peaks rose as precipitous islands, and about the shores of this dead sea were saline flats that told of the scorching heat and thirsty atmosphere of this parched region. A turbid river ran from south to north athwart the val- ley, "dividing it in twain," as a historian of the day has written, "as if the vast bowl in the intense heat of the Master Potter's fires, in process of formation had cracked asunder." Small streams of water started in rippling haste from the snow-caps of the mountains toward the lake, but most of them were devoured by the thirsty sands of the valley before their jour- ney was half completed.

58 The Story of ''Mormonism/'

Such was the scene of desolation that greet- ed the pioneer band. A more forsaken spot they had not passed in all their wanderings. And is this the promised land? This is the very place of which Bridger spake when he proffered a thousand dollars in gold for the first bushel of grain that could be raised here. With such a Canaan spread out before them, was it not wholly pardonable if some did sigh with longing for the leeks and flesh-pots of the Egypt they had left, or wished to pass by this land and seek a fairer home? Two of the three women who belonged to the party were utterly disappointed. ''Weak, worn, and weary as I am," said one of these heroines, 'T would rather push on another thousand miles than stay here."

But the voice of their leader was heard. "The very place," said Brigham Young, and in his prophetic mind there rose a vision of what was to come. Not for a moment did he doubt the future. He saw a multitude of towns and cities, hamlets and villas filling this and neigh- boring valleys, with the fairest of all, a city whose beauty of situation, whose wealth of re- source should become known throughout the world, rising from the most arid site of the

Irrigation in the West. 59

burning desert before him, hard by the barren salt shores of the watery waste. There in the very heart of the parched wilderness should stand the House of the Lord, with other temples in valleys beyond the horizon of his gaze.

Within a few hours after the arrival of the vanguard upon the banks of what is now known as City Creek — the mountain stream which to- day furnishes Salt Lake City part of her water supply — plows were put to work ; but the hard- baked soil, never before disturbed by the efforts of man to till, refused to yield to the share. A dam was thrown across the stream and the soft- ening liquid was spread upon the flat that had been chosen for the first fields. The planting season had already well nigh passed, and not a day could be lost. Potatoes and other seed were put in, and the land was again flooded. Such was the beginning of the irrigation sys- tem, which soon became co-extensive with the area occupied by the ''Mormon" settlers, a system which under the blessing of Providence, has proved to be the veritable magic touch by which the desert has been made a field of rich- ness and a garden of beauty; a system which now after many decades of successful trial is

60 The Story of "Mormonism."

held up by the nation's wise and great ones to be the one practicable method of reclaiming our country's vast domains of arid lands. It was on the 24th of July, 1847, that the main part of the pioneer band entered the valley of the Great Salt Lake, and that day of the year is observed as a legal holiday in Utah. From that time to the present, the stream of immigra- tion to these valleys has never ceased.

IV.

THE dangers of the first company's migra- tion were surpassed by those of parties who subsequently braved the terrors of the plains. In their enthusiasm to reach the gath- ering place of their people, many of the Lat- ter-day Saints set out from Iowa, where rail- way facilities had their termination, with hand- carts only as a means of conveyance. To- day there are living in the smiling vales of Utah, men and women who then as boys and girls trudged wearily across the prairies, drag- ging the lumbering carts that contained their entire provision against starvation and freez- ing. Such handcart companies were organ- ized with care ; a limited amount of freight was allowed to each division; milch cattle and a very few draft-animals, with wagons for con- veying the heavier baggage and to carry the sick, were assigned. The tale of those dreary marches has never yet been told; the song of the heroism and sacrifice displayed by these pilgrims for conscience sake is awaiting a sing-

62 The Story of "Mormonism."

er worthy the theme. \\' ading the streams with carts in tow, or in cases of unfordable streams, stopping to construct rafts ; at times living on reduced rations of but a few ounces of meal per day; lying down at night with a prayer in the heart that they wake no more on earth, a prayer which had its fulfilment in hundreds of cases ; the dying heaving their parting sighs in the arms of loved ones who were soon to follow, they journeyed on.

The inevitable catastrophes and accidents of travel robbed them of their substance. Hos- tile savages stampeded their cattle, or openly attacked and plundered the trains. But on they went, never swerving from the course. These later companies needed no chart nor compass to guide them over the desert; the road was plain from the marks of former camps, and yet more so from the graves of friends and loved ones who had started before on the road to the earthly Zion and found that it led them to the martyr's entrance to heaven, graves that were marked perhaps but by a rude inscrip- tion cut on a pole or a board. And even these narrow lodgings had not been left inviblate ; the wolves of the plains had too often succeeded in

Sufferings of the Immigrants. 63

unearthing and rending the bodies. Every company thus made the course the plainer ; each of them added to the silent population of the desert; sometimes half a score were interred at one camp, and of one company over a fourth were thus left beside the prairie road. Now we traverse the self-same track in a day and a night, reclining on luxurious cushions of ease, covering fifty miles while dining in luxury ; and we avert the ennui of the journey by berating the railway company for lack of speed.

Relief trains were continually on the way between the valley of the Salt Lake and the Missouri ; and the remnants of many a company were saved from what appeared to be certain destruction by the opportune arrival of these rescuing parties. Such relief came from those who were themselves destitute and almost starv- ing. Brigham Young with a few of the chief officials of the Church, and aids, returned east- ward on such an errand of rescue within a few weeks after first reaching the valley. The re- gion to which the early settlers came was in no wise a typical land of promise; it did not flow spontaneously with milk and honey.

Drought and unseasonable frosts made the

64 The Story of "Mormonism/*

first year's farming experiments but doubtful successes, and in the succeeding -spring the land was visited by the devastating plague of the Rocky Mountain crickets. They swarmed down in innumerable hordes upon the fields, destroy- ing the growing crops as they advanced, de- vouring all before them, leaving the land a desert in their track. The people scarcely knew how to withstand the assault of this new foe; they drove the marauders into trenches there to be drowned or burned; men, women and every child that could swing a stick, were called to the ranks in this insect war; and with all their fighting, the people forgot not to pray for deliverance, and they fasted, too, for the best of reasons.

And as they watched, and prayed, and worked, they saw approaching from the north and west a veritable host of winged creatures, of more formidable proportions still ; and these bore down upon the fields as though coming to complete the devastation. But see ! these are of the color that betokens peace; they are the gulls, white and beautiful, advancing upon the hosts of the black destroyers. Falling upon the people's foes, they devoured them by the thou-

The Crickets and the Gulls. 65

sand, and when filled to repletion, disgorged and feasted again. And they did not stop till the crickets were destroyed. Again the skeptic will say this was but chance; but the people accepted that chance as a providential ruling in their behalf, and reverently did they give thanks.

To-day the wanton killing of a gull in Utah is an offense in law; but stronger than legal proscription, more powerful than fear of judi- cial penalties, is the popular sentiment in fa- vor of these white-winged deliverers. Every year come these graceful creatures to spend the springtime in the fields and upon the lakes of Utah ; and right well do they feel their welcome, for they are habitually so tame and fearless that they may almost be touched by the hand before they take flight.

By the autumn of 1848, five thousand people had already reached the valley, and the food problem was a most difficult one. The winter was severe; and famine, stark and inexorable, threw its dread shadow over the people. There seemed to be an entry in the book of fate that every possible test of human endurance and in- tegrity should be applied to this pilgrim band.

66 The Story of "Mormonism."

Without distinction as to former station, they went out and dug the roots of weeds, gathered the tenderest of the coarse grass, thistles, and wild berries, and thus did they subsist; upon such did they feast with thanksgiving, until a less scanty harvest relieved their wants.

It was at this time that the gold fever was at its height, a consequence of the discovery of the precious metal in California, in which discovery, indeed, certain members of the dis- banded "Mormon" Battalion, working their way eastward, were most prominent. Some of the "Mormon" settlers, becoming infected with the malady, hastened westward, but the counsel of the Church authorities prevailed to keep all but a few at home. These people had not left the country of their birth or adoption to seek gold; nor bright jewels of the mine; nor the wealth of seas; nor the spoils of war; they sought and believed they had found, a faith's pure shrine. But the gold-seekers hastening westward, and the successful miners returning eastward, halted at the "Mormon" settlements and there replenished their supplies, leaving their gold to enrich the people of the desert.

But of what use is gold in the wilderness!

Establishment of Schools. 67

In the old legend a famishing Arab, finding a well-filled bag upon the sand, was thrilled with joy at the thought of dates — his bread; and then was cast into the depths of despair when he realized that he had found nothing but a bag of costly pearls. The settlers by the lake needed horses and wagons, tools, implements of hus- bandry and building; and gold was valuable only as it represented a means of obtaining these. Gold became so plentiful and was withal so worthless in the desert colony that men re- fused to take it for their labor. The yellow metal was collected in buckets and exported to the States in exchange for the goods so much desired. Merchandise brought in by caravans of "prairie schooners" was sold as fast as it could be put out ; and strict rules were enforced allowing but a proportionate amount to each purchaser.

Within a few months after the first settle- ment of Utah, public schools were established ; and one of the early acts of the provisional gov- ernment was to grant a charter to the Deseret University, now known as the University of Utah.

Up to 1849, Utah had no political history.

68 The Story of "Mormonism."

Settling in a Mexican province, the contest to determine its future ownership by the United States then in progress, the people in com- mon with most pioneer communities established their own form of government. But in Febru- ary, 1848, the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo gave California to the United States; months passed, however, before the news of the change reached the west. Early in 1849, a call had been issued to ''all the citizens of that portion of Upper California lying to the east of the Sierra Nevada mountains" to meet in conven- tion at Great Salt Lake City ; and there a peti- tion was prepared asking of Congress the rights of self-government ; and pending action, a tem- porary regime was established, under the name of the Provisional Government of the State of Deseret.

"Utah" was not the choice of the people as the name of their state; that word served but to recall the degraded tribes who had contested the settlement of the valleys. Desert^ a Book of Mormon name for the honey hee, was more appropriate. The petition of the people was denied in part, and, in 1850 was established the territorial form of government in Utah. Con-

Federal Appointees to Office. 69

cerning the period of the provisional govern- ment, such men as Gunnison, Stansbury, and other federal officials on duty in the west, have recorded their praises of the ''Mormon" colo- nists in official reports. But with the un-Amer- ican system of territorial government came troubles.

At first, many of the territorial officials were appointed from among the settlers themselves; thus, Brigham Young was the first governor; but strangers, who knew not the people nor their ways, filled with prejudice from the false reports they had heard, came from the east to govern the colonists in the desert. Of the fed- eral appointees thus forced upon the people of Utah, many made for themselves most unenvi- able records.

Some of them were broken politicians, pro- fessional office-seekers, with no desire but to secure the greatest possible gain out of their ap- pointment. With effrontery that would shock the modesty of a savage, the non-"Mormon" party adopted and flagrantly displayed the car- pet-bag as the badge of their profession. But not all the officials sent to Utah from afar were of this type ; some of them were honorable and

70 The Story of "Mormonism."

upright men, and amongst this class the ''Mormon" people reckon a number who, while opposed to their religious tenets, were neverthe- less sincere and honest in the opposition they evinced.

In the early part of 1857, the published libels upon the people received many serious ad- ditions, the principal of which was promulgated in connection with the resignation of Judge Drummond of the Utah federal court. In his last letter to the United States attorney-gen- eral, he declared that his life was no longer safe in Utah, and that he had been compelled to flee from his bench; but the most serious charge of all was that the people had destroyed the records of the court, and that they had resented, with hostile demonstration, his protests; in short, that justice was dethroned in Utah, and that the people were in a state of open rebellion.

With mails three months apart, news traveled slowly; but as soon as word of this infamous charge reached Salt Lake City, the clerk of the court, Judge Drummond's clerk, sent a letter by express to the attorney-general, denying un- der oath the judge's statements, and attesting the declaration with official seal. The records.

An Army Sent to Utah. 71

he declared, had been untouched except by of- ficial hands, and from the time of the court's establishment the files had been safe and were then in his personal keeping. But, before the clerk's communication had reached its des- tination, so difficult is it for stately truth to overtake flitting falsehood, the mischief had been done. Upon the most prejudiced reports utterly unfounded in fact, with a carelessness which even his personal and political friends found no ample means of explaining away, President Buchanan allowed himself to be per- suaded that a "Mormon" rebellion existed, and ordered an army of over two thousand men to proceed straightway to Utah to subdue the rebels. Successors to the governor and other territorial officials were appointed, among whom there was not a single resident of Utah ; and the military force was charged with the duty of installing the foreign appointees.

With great dispatch and under cover of se- crecy, so that the Utah rebels might be taken by surprise, the army set out on the march. Before the troops reached the Rocky Moun- tains, the sworn statement from the clerk of the supreme court of Utah denying the charges

72 The Story of "Mormonism."

made by Judge Drummond became public property; and about the same time men who had gone from Utah to New York direct, pubHshed over their own signatures a declara- tion that all was peaceful in and about the set- tlements of Utah. The public eye began to twitch, and soon to open wide; the conviction was growing that someone had blundered. But to retract would be a plain confession of error ; blunders must be covered up.

Let us leave the soldiers on their westward march, and ascertain how the news of the pro- jected invasion reached the people of Utah, and what effect the tidings produced. Certain '"Mormon" business agents, operating in Mis- souri, heard of the hostile movement. At first they were incredulous, but when the overland mail carrier from the west delivered his pouch and obtained his receipt, but was refused the bag of Utah mail, with the postmaster's state- ment that he had been ordered to hold all mail for Utah, there seemed no room for doubt. Two of the Utahns immediately hastened westward.

On the 24th of July, 1857, the people had assembled in celebration of Pioneer Day. Sil- ver Lake, a mountain gem set amidst the snows

News of the Approaching Troops. 73

and forests and towering peaks of the Cotton- woods, had been selected as a fitting site for the festivities. The Stars and Stripes streamed above the camp; bands played; choirs sang; there were speeches, and picnics, and prayers. Experiences were compared as to the journey- ings on the plains ; stories were told of the shifts to which the people had been put by the vicissitudes of famine; but thesje dread experiences seemed to them now like a dream of the night ; on this day all were happy. Were they not safe from savage foes both red and white? There had been peace for a season, and their desert homes were already smiling in wealth of flower and tree; the wilderness was blossoming under their feet; their con- sciences were void of offense toward their fel- lows. Yet at that very hour, all unbeknown to themselves, and without the opportunity of speaking a word in defense, these people had been convicted of insurrection and treason.

It was mid-day and the festivities were at their height, when a party of men rode into camp and sought an interview with Governor Young. Three of them had plainly ridden hard and far; they gave their i-eport; — an

74 The Story of "Mormonism."

armed force of thousands was at that hour ap- proaching the territory; the boasts of officers and men as to what they would do when they found themselves in "Mormon" towns were re- ported ; and these stories called up, in the minds of those who heard, the dread scenes of Far West and Nauvoo. Had these colonists of the wilderness not gone far enough to satisfy the hatred of their fellow-citizens in this republic of liberty? They had halted between the civ- ilization of the east and that of the west, they had fled from the country that refused them a home, and now the nation would eject them from their desert lodgings.

A council was called and the situation was freely discussed. Had they not seen, lo, these many times, organized battalions and com- panies surpassing fiendish mobs in villainy? The evidence warranted their conclusion that in- vasion meant massacre. With tense calmness the plan of action was decided upon. It was the general conviction that war was inevitable, and it was decided to resist to the last. Then, if the army forced its way into the valleys of Utah on hostile purpose bent, it should find the land as truly a desert as it was when the

Preparations for Defense. 75

pioneers first took possession. To this effect was the decision: — We have built cities in the east for our foes to occupy ; our very tem- ples have been desecrated and destroyed by them; but, with the help of Israel's God, we will prevent them enriching themselves with the spoils of our labors in these mountain re- treats.

There seemed to be no room for doubt that war was about to break upon them; and with such a prospect, men may be expected to take every advantage of their situation. Brigham Young was still governor of Utah, and the militia was subject to his order. Promptly he proclaimed the territory under martial law, and forbade any armed body to cross its boun- daries. Echo Canyon, the one promising route of ingress, was fortified. In those de- files an army might easily be stopped by a few ; ammunition stations were established ; provi- sions were cached ; boulders were collected upon the cliffs beneath which the invaders must pass if they held to their purpose of forcing an entrance. The people had been roused to des- peration, and force was to be mxt with force. In the settlements, combustibles were placed in

76 The Story of "Mormonism."

readiness, and if the worst came, every "Mor- mon" house would be reduced to ashes, every tree would be hewn down.

With an experience of suffering that would have well served a better cause, this picked de- tachment of the United States army made its way to the Green River country; and there, counting well the cost of proceeding farther, went into camp at Fort Bridger. Many of the troops had almost perished in the storms, for it was late in November, and the winter had closed in early. Colonel Cooke reported to the commandant that half his horses had per- ished through cold and lack of food ; hundreds of beef cattle had died ; yet the. region was so wild and forbidding that scarcely a wolf ven- tured there to glut itself upon the carcasses. In Cooke's own words we read that for thirty miles the road was blocked with carcasses — and "with abandoned and shattered property, they mark, perhaps beyond example in history, the steps of an advancing army with the hor- rors of a disastrous retreat."

With the army traveled the new federal ap- pointees to offices in the territory. Cumming, the governor-to-be, issued a proclamation

The Army in Winter. 77

from his dug-out lodgings, and sent it to Salt Lake City by courier ; he signed it as "Governor of Utah Territory." This but belittled him, for by the very terms of the Organic Act, to uphold which was the professed purpose of his coming, he was not governor until the oath of office had been duly administered and sub- scribed. A few days later he went before his fellow-sufferer Eckles, the appointee for chief justice of Utah, and took an oath; but why did he swear so recklessly when the one before whom he swore was no more an official than himself?

The army wintered at a satisfactory distance from Salt Lake City, and such a winter, ac- cording to official reports, the soldiers of our nation have rarely had to brave. It was soon ap- parent that they need fear no ''Mormon" attack ; orders had been issued to the territorial mihtia to take no life except in cases of absolute neces- sity; but General Johnston and his staff had more than their match in battling with the ele- ments. Communications between Governor Young and the commandant were frequent; safe conduct was assured any and all officers who chose to enter the city; and if necessary

78 The Story of "Mormonism."

hostages were to be given; but the governor was inexorable in his ultimatum that, as an organized body with hostile purpose, the sol- diers should not pass the mountain gateway. In the meantime, a full account of the situation was reported by Governor Young to the Presi- dent of the United States, and the truth slowly made its w^ay into the eastern press. President Buchanan tacitly admitted his mistake; but to recall the troops at that juncture would be to confess humiliating failure.

A peace commissioner, in the person of Colonel Kane, was dispatched to Salt Lake City ; his coming being made known to Gover- nor Young, an escort was sent to meet him and conduct him through the ''Mormon" lines. The result of the conference was that the "Mor- mon" leaders but reiterated their statement that the President's appointees would be given safe entry to the city, and be duly installed in their offices, provided they would enter without the army. This ultimatum was carried to the fed- eral camp ; and to the open chagrin of the com- mandant, Governor Gumming and his fel- low appointees moved to Salt Lake City under

The New Officials Installed. 79

"Mormon" escort, after a five months' halt in the wilderness.

I believe that strategy is usually allowed in war, and I am free to say the "Mormons" availed themselves of this license. At short intervals in the course of the night-passage through the canyon, the party was challenged, and the password demanded; bon-fires were blazing down in the gorges, and the impression was made that the mountains were full of armed men; whereas the sentries were mem- bers of the escort, who, preceding by short cuts the main party, continued to challenge and to pass. On their arrival, the gentlemen were met by the retiring officials, and were peace- ably installed. The new governor called upon the clerk of the court, and ascertained the truth of the statement that the records were entirely safe. He promptly reported his conclusions to General Johnston that there was no further need for the army. It was decided, however, that the soldiers should be permitted to march through the city, and straightway the "Mor- mons" began their exodus to the south.

Governor Gumming tried in vain to induce the people to remain, assuring them that the

80 The Story of "Mormonism.'*

troops would commit no depredations. **Not so," said Brigham Young, ''we have had ex- perience with troops in the past, Governor Gum- ming; we have seen our leaders shot down by the demoralized soldiery ; we have seen mothers with babes at their breasts sent to their last home by the same bullet; we have witnessed outrages beyond description. You are now Governor of Utah ; we can no longer command the militia for our own defense. We do not wish to fight, therefore we depart." Leaving a few men to apply the brand to the combusti- bles stored in every house, at the first sign of plunder by the soldiers, the people again deserted their homes and moved into the desert anew.

But the officers of the army kept their word ; the troops were put into camp forty miles from the settlements, and the settlers returned. The President's commissioners brought the official pardon, unsolicited, for all acts committed by the ''Mormons" in opposing the entrance of the army. The people asked what they had done that needed pardon; they had not robbed, they had not killed. But a critical analysis of these troublous events revealed at least one overt

Amnesty Granted. 81

act — some ''Mormon" scouts had challenged a supply train ; and, being opposed, they had des- troyed some of the wagons and provisions ; and for this they accepted the President's most gra- cious pardon.

V.

AFTER all, the ''Mormon" people regard the advent of the Buchanan army as one of the greatest material blessings ever brought to them.

The troops, once in Utah, had to be pro- visioned; and everything the settlers could spare was eagerly bought at an unusual price. The gold changed hands. Then, in their hasty departure, the soldiers disposed of everything outside of actual necessities in the way of accou- terment and camp equipage. The army found the people in poverty, and left them in comparative wealth.

And what was the cause of this hurried de- parture of the military? For many months, ominous rumblings had been heard, — indica- tions of the gathering storm which was soon to break in the awful fury of civil strife. It could not be doubted that war was imminent; already the conflict had begun, and a picked part of the army was away in the western wilds,

Underlying Causes. 83

doing nothing for any phase of the public good. But a word further concerning the ex- pedition in general. The sending of troops to Utah was part of a foul scheme to weaken the government in its impending struggle with the secessionists. The movement has been called not inaptly "Buchanan's blunder," but the best and wisest men may make blunders, and whatever may be said of President Bu- chanan's short-sightedness in taking this step, even his enemies do not question his integrity in the matter. He was unjustly charged with favoring secession; but the charge was soon disproved.

However, it was known that certain of his cabinet were in league with the seceding states ; and prominent among them was John Floyd, secretary of war. The successful efforts of this officer to disarm the North, while accum- ulating the munitions of war in the South ; to scatter the forces by locating them in widely separated and remote stations; and in other ways to dispose of the regular army in the man- ner best calculated to favor the anticipated re- bellion, are matters of history. It is also told how, at the commencement of the rebellion,

84 The Story of "Mormonism."

he allied himself with the confederate forces, accepting the rank of brigadier-general. It; was through Floyd's advice that Buchanan ordered the military expedition to Utah, os- tensibly to install certain federal officials and to repress an alleged infantile rebellion, which in fact had never come into existence, but in reality to further the interests of the seces- sionists. When the history of that great strug- gle with its antecedent and its consequent cir- cumstances is written with a pen that shall in- dite naught but truth, when prejudice and partisanship are lived down, it may appear that Jefferson Davis rather than James Buchanan was the prime cause of the great mistake.

And General Johnston who commanded the army in the west; he who was so vehement in his denunciation of the rebel ''Mormons," and who rejoiced in being selected to chastise them into submission ; who, because of .his vindic- tiveness incurred the ill-favor of the governor, whose posse comitatus the army was; what became of him, at one time so popular that he was spoken of as a likely successor to Win- field Scott in the office of general-in-chief of the United States army? He left Utah in the

No Secession in Utah. 85

early stages of the rebelHon, turned his arms against the flag he had sworn to defend, doffed the blue, donned the grey, and fell a rebel on the field of Shiloh.

Changes many and great followed in bewil- dering succession in Utah. The people were besought to take sides with the South in the awful scenes of cruel strife; it was openly stated in the east that Utah had allied her- self with the cause of secession ; and by others that the design was to make Salt Lake City the capital of an independent government. And surely such conjectures were pardonable on the part of all whose ignorance and prejudice still nursed the delusion of ^'Mormon" disloyalty. Moreover, had the people been inclined to re- bellion what greater opportunity could they have wished? Already a North and a South were talked of — w^hy not set up also a West? A supreme opportunity had come and how was it used? It was at this very time that the Overland Telegraph line, which had been ap- proaching from the Atlantic and the Pacific, was completed, and the first tremor felt in that nerve of steel carried these words from Brig- ham Youns:

86 The Story of "Mormonism."

Utah has not seceded, but is firm for the con- stitution and laws of our country.

The "Mormon" people saw in their terrible experiences and in the outrages to which they had been subjected, only the mal-administra- tion of laws and the subversion of justice through human incapacity and hatred. Never even for a moment did they question the su- preme authority and the inspired origin of the constitution of their land. They knew no North, no South, no East, no West; they stood positively by the constitution, and would have nothing to do in the bloody strife between brothers, unless indeed they were summoned by the authority to which they had already once loyally responded, to furnish men and arms for their country's need.

Following the advent of the telegraph came the railway; and the land of *'Mormondom" was no longer isolated. Her resources were developed, her wealth became a topic of the world's wonder; the tide of immigration swelled her population, contributing much of the best from all the civilized nations of the earth. Every reader of recent and current

Utah Becomes a State. 87

history has learned of her rapid growth ; of her repeated appeals for the recognition to which she had so long been entitled in the sis- terhood of states; of the prompt refusals with which her pleas were persistently met, though other territories with 'smaller and more illit- erate populations, more restricted resources, and in every way weaker claims, were allowed to assume the habiliments of maturity, while Utah, lusty, large and strong, was kept in swaddling clothes. But the cries of the vigor- ous infant were at length heeded, and in an- swer to the seventh appeal of the kind, Utah's star was added to the nation's galaxy.

But let us turn more particularly to the his- tory of the Church itself. For a second time and four times since, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been deprived of its president, and on each occasion were reit- erated the prophecies of disruption uttered at the time of Joseph Smith's assassination. Calm observers declared that as the shepherd had gone, the flock would soon be dispersed ; while others, comparable only to wolves, thinking the fold unguarded, sought to harry and scat- ter the sheep. But ''Mormonism" died not;

88 The Story of ''Mormonism/*

every added pang of grief served but to unite the people.

When Brigham Young passed from earth, he was mourned of the people as deeply as was Moses of Israel. And had he not proved him- self a Moses, aye and a Joshua, too ? He had led the people into the land of holy promise, and had divided unto them their inheritances. He was a man with clear title as one of the small brotherhood we call great. As carpenter, farmer, pioneer, capitalist, financier, preacher, apostle, prophet — in everything he was a lead- er among men. Even those who opposed him in politics and in religion respected him for his talents, his magnanimity, his liberality, and his manliness : and years after his demise, men who had refused him honor while alive brought their mites and their gold to erect a monument of stone and bronze to the memory of this man who needs it not. With his death closed another epoch in the history of his peo- ple, and a successor arose, one who was capa- ble of leading and judging under the changed conditions.

But perhaps I am suspected of having for-

Celestial Marriage. 89

gotten or of having intentionally omitted ref- erence to what popular belief once considered the chief feature of ''Mormonism," the corner- stone of the structure, the secret of its influence over its members, and of its attractiveness to its proselytes, viz., the peculiarity of the "Mor- mon" institution of marriage. The Latter-day Saints were long regarded as a polygamous people. That plural marriage has been prac- ticed by a limited proportion of the people, under sanction of Church ordinance, has never since the introduction of the system been de- nied. But that plural marriage is a vital tenet of the Church is not true. What the Latter- day Saints call celestial marriage is character- istic of the Church, and is in very general prac- tice; but of celestial marriage, plurality of wives was an incident, never an essential. Yet the two have often been confused in the pop- ular mind.

We believe in a literal resurrection and an actual hereafter, in which future state shall be recognized every sanctified and authorized re- lationship existing here on earth — of parent and child, brother and sister, husband and wife. \Ye believe, further, that contracts as of mar-

90 The Story of **Mormonism."

riage, to be valid beyond the veil of mortality must be sanctioned by a power greater than that of earth. With the seal of the holy Priesthood upon their wedded state, these people believe implicitly in the perpetuity of that relationship on the far side of the grave. They marry not with the saddening limitation ''f/77/f/ death doth you part," but ''For time and for eternity."''^ This constitutes celestial marriage. The thought that plural marriage has ever been the head and front of "Mormon" offending, that to it is traceable as the true cause the hatred of sec- taries and the unpopularity of the Church, is not tenable to the earnest thinker. Sad as have been the experiences of the people in con- sequence of this practice, deep and anguish- laden as have been the sighs and groans, hot and bitter as have been the tears so caused, the heaviest persecution, the cruelest treatment of their history began before plural marriage was known in the Church.

There is no sect nor people that sets a higher value on virtue and chastity than do the Latter-

*For treatment of Celestial Marriage and other Temple ordinances, see "The House of the Lord," by the present author, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1912.

Inception of Plural Marriage. 91

day Saints, nor a people that visits surer retri- bution upon the heads of offenders against the laws of sexual purity. To them marriage is not, can never be, a civil compact alone ; its sig- nificance reaches beyond the grave; its obliga- tions are eternal; and the Latter-day Saints are notable for the sanctity with which they invest the marital state. It has been my priv- ilege to tread the soil of many lands, to observe the customs and study the habits of more na- tions than one ; and I have yet to find the place and meet the people, where and with whom the purity of man and woman is held more precious than among the maligned ''Mormons" in the mountain valleys of the west. There I find this measure of just equality of the sexes — that the sins of men shall not he visited upon the head of woman.

At the inception of plural marriage among the Latter-day Saints, there was no law, na- tional or state, against its practice. This state- ment assumes, as granted, a distinction between bigamy and the "Mormon" institution of plural marriage. In 1862, a law was enacted with the purpose of suppressing plural marriage, and as had been predicted in the national Senate

92 The Story of *'Mormonism."

prior to its passage, it lay for many years a dead letter. Federal judges and United States at- torneys in Utah, who were not "Momions" nor lovers of ''Mormonism," refused to entertain complaints or prosecute cases under the law, be- cause of its manifest injustice and inadequacy. But other laws followed, most of which, as the Latter-day Saints believe, were aimed di- rectly at their religious conception of the mar- riage contract, and not at social impropriety nor sexual offense.

At last the Edmunds-Tucker act took effect, making not the marriage alone but the subse- quent acknowledging of the contract an offense punishable by fine or imprisonment or both. Under the spell of unrighteous zeal, the federal judiciary of Utah announced and practiced that most infamous doctrine of segregation of of- fenses with accumulating penalties.

I who write have listened to judges instruct- ing grand juries in such terms as these: that although the law of Congress designated as an offense the acknowledging of more living wives than one by any man, and prescribed a penalty therefor, as Congress had not specified the length of time during which this unlawful ac-

Infamous Segregation Doctrine. 93

knowledging must continue to constitute the offense, grand juries might indict separately for every day of the period during which the for- bidden relationship existed. This meant that for an alleged misdemeanor — for which Con- gress prescribed a maximum penalty of six months' imprisonment and a fine of three hun- dred dollars — a man might be imprisoned for life, aye, for many terms of a man's natural life did the court's power to enforce its sentences extend so far, and might be fined millions of dollars. Before this travesty on the adminis- tration of law could be brought before the court of last resort, and there meet with the reversal and rebuke it deserved, men were imprisoned under sentences of many years' duration.

The people contested these measures one by one in the courts ; presenting in case after case the different phases of the subject, and urging the unconstitutionality of the measure. Then the Church was disincorporated, and its prop- erty both real and personal confiscated and escheated to the government of the United States ; and although the personal property was soon restored, real estate of great value lon^ lay in the hands of the court's receiver, and the

94 The Story of "Mormonism."

"Mormon" Church had to pay the national gov- ernment high rental on its own property. But the people have suspended the practice of plural marriage; and the testimony of the governors, judges, and district attorneys of the territory, and later that of the officers of the state, have declared the sincerity of the renunciation.

As the people had adopted the practice under what was believed to be divine approval, they suspended it when they were justified in so do- ing. In whatever light this practice has been regarded in the past, it is today a dead issue, forbidden by ecclesiastical rule as it is prohib- ited by legal statute. And the world is learn- ing, to its manifest surprise, that plural mar- riage and "Mormonism" are not synonymous terms.

And so the story of "Mormonism" runs on ; its finale has not yet been written ; the current press presents continuously new stages of its progress, new developments of its plan. Today the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is stronger than ever before ; and the people are confident that it is at its weakest stage for all

"Mormonism" Destined to Live. 95

time to come. It lives and thrives because with- in it are the elements of thrift and the forces of life. It embraces a boundless liberality of belief and practice ; true toleration is one of its essential features ; it makes love for mankind second only to love for Deity. Its creed pro- vides for the protection of all men in their rights of worship according to the dictates of conscience. It contemplates a millennium of peace, when every man shall love his neighbor and respect his neighbor's opinion as he re- gards himself and his own — a day when the voice of the people shall be in unison with the voice of God.

ADDENDUM.

Since the lectures, embodied in the foregoing ''Story," were delivered, great advancement has been made by the Latter-day Saints in the building of temples and in the sacred services pertaining to the House of the Lord. As noted on page 27 herein, there are four temples in Utah, in each of which administrations are in progress, for both the living and the dead.

In addition to the sanctuaries specified, a temple has been completed, dedicated, and is

96 The Story of "Mormonism/'

now in service, at Laie, Hawaiian Islands. An- other great temple has been erected at Card- ston, Alberta, Canada; and preparatory work for the construction of a temple at Mesa, Ari- zona, is well advanced.

The Philosophical Basis

of

''Mormonism''

An Address delivered by invitation before the Congress of

Religious Philosophies held in connection with the

Panama-Pacific International Exposition

San Francisco, California,

July 29, 1915

BY

JAMES E. TALMAGE D.Sc, F. R. S. E.

FOREWORD

In connection with the Panama-Pacific In- ternational Exposition, a Congress of ReHgious Philosophies was held in San Francisco, Cali- fornia, July 29th to 31st, 1915.

At this Congress the philosophical claims of the principal religious systems of the world were presented by specialists and able expos- itors of the several faiths.

The first day of the session was named dis- tinctively "Christian Day," the second, ''Hindu Day," and the third, ''Oriental Day." Of the systems of religion based on Christianity, only three were given place on the program of' the Congress, vis. Catholicism, Protestantism (treated by a representative of Episcopalian- ism), and "Mormonism."

The presiding authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints responded to the courteous invitation to be represented at

Foreword.

the Congress by delegating Dr. James E. Tal- mage to address the body on the philosophy of "Mormonism."

Time limitations imposed the necessity of brevity in treatment. Dr. Talmage's concise address is given in full in the following pages.

The Publishers.

The Philosophical Basis

of

"Mormonism''

PERMIT me to explain that the term "Mor- mon," with its several derivatives, is no part of the name of the Church with which it is usually associated. It was first applied to the Church as a convenient nickname, and had reference to an early publication, "The Book of Mormon;" but the appellative is now so generally current that Church and people an- swer readily to its call. The proper designa- tion of the so-called "Mormon" Church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The philosophy of its religious system is large- ly expressed in its name.

The philosophical foundation of "Mormon- ism" is constructed upon the following outline of facts and premises :

1. The eternal existence of a living personal God ; and the preexistence and eternal duration of mankind as His literal offspring.

2. The placing of man upon the earth as an

102 The Philosophy of "Mormonism."

embodied spirit to undergo the experiences of an intermediate probation.

3. The transgression and fall of the first parents of the race, by which man became mor- tal, or in other words was doomed to suffer a separation of spirit and body through death.

4. The absolute need of a Redeemer, empow- ered to overcome death, and thereby provide for a reunion of the spirits and bodies of man- kind through a material resurrection from death to immortality.

5. The providing of a definite plan of sal- vation, by obedience to which man may obtain remission of his sins, and be enabled to advance by effort and righteous achievement throughout eternity.

6. The establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ in the "meridian of time," by the per- sonal ministry and atoning death of the fore- ordained Redeemer and Savior of mankind, and the proclamation of Hi-s saving Gospel through the ministry of the Holy Priesthood during the apostolic period and for a season thereafter.

7. The general "falling away" from the Gos- pel of Jesus Christ, by which the world degen- erated into a state of apostasy, and the Holy Priesthood ceased to be operative in the or- ganization of sects and churches designed and effected by the authority of man.

Man the Child of God. 103

8. The restoration of the Gospel in the cur- rent age, the reestabhshment of the Church of Jesus Christ by the bestowal of the Holy Priesthood through Divine revelation.

9. The appointed mission of the restored Church of Jesus Christ to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof amongst all nations, in preparation for the near advent of our Savior Jesus Christ, who shall reign on earth as Lord and King.

1.

The eternal existence of a living personal God; and the preexistence and eternal duration of mankind as His literal offspring.

As its principal cornerstone ''Mormonism" affirms the existence of the true and the living God; the Supreme Being, in whose image and likeness man has been created in the flesh.

We hold it to be reasonable, scriptural and true, that man's period of earth-life is but one stage in the general plan of the soul's progres- sion; and that birth is no more the beginning than is death the close of individual existence. God created all things spiritually before they were created temporally upon the earth; and

104 The Philosophy of "Mormonism."

the spirits of all men lived as intelligent beings, endowed with the capacity of choice and the rights of free agency, before they were born in flesh. They were the spirit-children of God. It was their Divine Father's purpose to provide a means by which they could be trained and developed, with opportunity to meet, combat, and overcome evil, and thus gain strength, power and skill, as means of yet fur- ther development through the eternities of the endless future. For this purpose was the earth created, whereon, as on other worlds, spirits might take upon themselves bodies, living in probation as candidates for a higher and more glorious future.

These unembodied spirits were of varied qualifications, some of them noble and great, fit for leadership and emprise of the highest order, others suited rather to be followers, but all capacitated to advance in righteous achieve- ment if they would.

No one professing a belief in Christianity can consistently accept the Holy Scriptures as genuine and deny the preexistence of the Christ, or doubt that before the birth of the Holy One as Mary's Babe in Bethlehem of

Ante-Mortal Existence. 105

Judea, He had lived with the Father as an unembodied spirit, the Firstborn of the Father's children. So lived or live the hosts of spirits who have taken or yet shall take bodies of flesh and bones. Christ while a man among men repeatedly affirmed the fact of His ante- mortal life — that He came forth from the Father, and would return to the Father on the completion of His mission in mortality.

John the Revelator was shown in vision some of the scenes that had occurred in the world of unembodied spirits even before the beginning of human history. He saw the spirits that re- belled against God, under the leadership of Lucifer, a son of the morning, later known as Satan, the dragon ; and he witnessed the strug- gle between those rebellious hosts and the army of loyal and obedient spirits who fought under the banner of Michael the archangel. We read that there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought, and the dragon and his angels fought. The victory was with Michael and his hosts, who by their allegiance and valor made good their title as victors in their "first estate,'* referred to by Jude, while Satan and his defeated followers, who "kept not their first

106 The Philosophy of "Mormonism."

estate," were cast out upon the earth and be- came the devil and his angels, forever denied the privileges of mortal existence with its pos- sibilities of eternal advancement.

The cause of the great antemortal ''war in heaven" was the rebellion of Lucifer following the rejection of his plan whereby it was pro- posed that mankind be saved from the dangers and sins of their future mortality, not through the merit of struggle and endeavor against evil, but by compulsion. Satan sought to destroy the free agency of man ; and in the primeval council of the angels and the Gods he was dis- credited; while the offer of the Well Beloved Son, Jehovah, afterwards Jesus the Christ, to insure the free agency of man in the mortal state, and to give Himself a sacrifice and pro- pitiation for the sins of the race, was accepted, and was made the basis of the plan of salva- tion.

The spirits who kept their first estate were to be advanced to the second, or mortal state, to be further tested and proved, withal, and to demonstrate whether they would observe and keep the commandments which the Lord their God should give them, with the assurance and

Spirits Embodied. 107

promise that all who fill the measure of their second estate ''shall have glory added upon their heads forever and ever."

2.

The placing of man upon the earth as an em- bodied spirit to undergo the experiences of an intermediate probation.

The advancement of the spirit-children of God from their first to their second estate was inaugurated by the creation of man upon the earth, whereby the individual spirit was clothed in a body of flesh and bones, consisting of the elements of earth, or as stated in Genesis, made of the dust of the earth. With the ways and means by which this creation was wrought we are not especially concerned at this point. The spirit of the first man, Adam, was taber- nacled in a body of earthly material ; and his remembrance of an earlier existence and of his former place amongst the unembodied was sus- pended, so that a thick veil of forgetfulness fell between his earth-life and his past. ^lan and woman thus became tenants of earth, and re-

108 The Philosophy of "Mormonism."

ceived from their Creator power and dominion over all inferior creations.

They were given commandment and law, with freedom of action and agency of choice. In a measure, they were left to themselves to choose the good or the evil, to be obedient or disobedient to the laws governing their second estate, or embodied condition. Experiences unknown in the preexistent state crowded upon the first parents of the race in their changed condition and new environment ; and they were subjected to test and trial. Such was the pur- pose of their existence on earth. To them as also to their unnumbered posterity — the entire race of mankind — this present life is a connect- ing link, an intermediate and probationary state, uniting the eternity of the past with that of the future. We, the human family, literally the sons and daughters of Divine Parents, the spiritual progeny of God our Eternal Father, and of our God Mother, are away from home for a season, studying and working as pupils duly matriculated in the University of Mortal- ity, honorable graduation from which great institution means an exalted and enlarged sphere of activity and endeavor beyond.

The Fall of Man. 109

The transgression and fall of the first parents of the race, by which man became mortal, or in other words was doomed to suffer a separation of spirit and body through death.

Prominent among the commandments given to the parents of the race in Eden was that forbidding their eating of food unsuited to their condition. The natural and inevitable result of disobedience in this particular was set before them as a penalty — that, should they incorpor- ate into their bodies the foreign substances of earth contained in the food against which they were solemnly cautioned, they would surely die. True, they could not fail by violation of this restriction to gain experience and knowl- edge; and the forbidden food is expressively designated as the fruit "of the tree of the know- ledge of good and evil."

They disobeyed the commandment of God, and thus was brought about the Fall of Man. The bodies of both woman and man, which when created were perfect in form and func-

no The Philosophy of "Mormonism."

tion, now became degenerate, liable to the phys- ical ailments and weaknesses to which flesh has ever since been heir, and subjects for eventual dissolution or death.

The arch-tempter through whose sophistries, half-truths, and infamous falsehoods Eve had been beguiled, was none other than Satan, or Lucifer, that rebellious and fallen "son of the morning," whose proposal involving the de- struction of man's liberty had been rejected in the council of the heavens, and who had been "cast out into the earth," he and all his angels as unembodied spirits, never to be tabernacled in bodies of their own. As an act of diabolic reprisal following his rejection, his defeat by Michael and the heavenly hosts, and his igno- minious expulsion from heaven, Satan planned to destroy the bodies in which the faithful spirits — those who had kept their first estate — would be born ; and his beguilement of "Eve was but an early stage of that infernal scheme.

Death has come to be the universal heritage ; it may claim its victim in infancy or youth, in the period of Hfe's prime, or its summons may be deferred until the snows of age have gathered upon the hoary head ; it may befall as

Need of a Redeemer. 1 1 1

the result of accident or disease, by violence, or as we say, through natural causes ; but come it must, as Satan well knows ; and in this knowl- edge is his present though but temporary tri- umph. But the purposes of God, as they ever have been and ever shall be, are infinitely su- perior to the deepest designs of men or devils ; and the Satanic machinations to make death inevitable, perpetual and supreme were pro- vided against even before the first man had been created in the flesh. The Atonement to be wrought by Jesus the Christ was ordained to overcome death and to provide a means of ransom from the power of Satan.

4.

The absolute need of a Redeemer empowered to overcome death and thereby provide for a reunion of the spirits and bodies of man- kind through a material resurrection from death to immortality.

From what has been said it is evident that **Mormonism" accepts the scriptural account of the creation of man and that of the Fall. We hold that the Fall was a process of physical

112 The Philosophy of "Mormonism."

degeneracy, whereby the body of man lost its power to withstand malady and death, and that with sin death entered into the world. We hold that the Fall was foreseen of God, and that it was by Divine wisdom turned to account as the means by which His embodied children would be subjected to the foreappointed test and trial through which the way to advancement, other- wise impossible, would be opened to them.

Let it not be assumed, however, that the fact of God's foreknowledge as to what would he under any given conditions, is a determining cause that such must he. Omnipotent though He be. He permits much that is contrary to His will. We cannot believe that vice and crime, injustice, intolerance, and unrighteous domination of the weak by the strong, the op- pression of the poor by the rich, exist by the will and determination of God. It is not His design or wish that even one soul be lost; on the contrary, it was and is His work and glory "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." So also, it is not God's purpose to interfere with, far less to annul, the free agency of His children, even though those children prostitute their Divine birthright of freedom

I

Plan of Redemption. 113

to the accomplishment of evil and the condem- nation of their souls.

Before man was created in the flesh the Eternal Father foresaw that in the school of life some of His children would succeed and others fail; some would be faithful and others false; some would elect to tread the path of righteousness while others would follow the road to destruction. He further foresaw that death would enter the world, and that the pos- session of bodies by His children would be of but brief individual duration. He saw that His commandments would be disobeyed and His law violated ; and that men, shut out from His presence and left to themselves, would sink rather than rise, would retrograde rather than advance, and would be lost to the heavens. It was necessary that a means of redemption be provided, whereby erring man might make amends, and by compliance with established law achieve salvation and eventual exaltation in the eternal worlds. The power of death was to be overcome, so that, though men would of necessity die, they would live anew, their spirits clothed with immortalized bodies over which death could not again prevail.

114 The Philosophy of "Mormonism."

While recognizing the transgression of Adam as an event by which the race has been brought under the penalty of death, we hold that none but Adam shall be held accountable for his disobedience. True, the penalty incident to that transgression is operative upon all flesh, and upon the earth and all the elements there- of; but in the great reckoning, which men call the judgment, the environment and determin- ing conditions under which each soul has lived, the handicap in the race of mortal strife and endeavor shall be taken into due account. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death pass- ed upon all men, for that all have sinned : * * * Therefore as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." (Ro- mans 5 : 12, 18.)

We affirm that man stands in absolute need of a Redeemer, for by self-effort alone he is utterly incapable of lifting himself from the lower to a higher plane. Even as lifeless min- eral particles can be incorporated into the tis- sues of plants only as the plant reaches down

Christ the Redeemer. 1 1 5

into the lower world and through its own life processes raises the mineral to its own plane, or as vegetable substance may be woven into the body of the animal only as the animal by the exercise of its own vital functions assim- ilates the vegetable, so man may be lifted from his fallen earthly state characterized by human weaknesses, bodily frailties, and a persistent tendency to sink into the quagmire of sin, only as a power above that of humanity reaches down and helps him to rise. We affirm as a fundamental principle of Christian philosophy the Atonement wrought by Jesus Christ; and we accept in its literal simplicity the scriptural doctrine thereof. Through the Atonement the bonds of death are broken, and a way is pro- vided for the annulment of the effects of in- dividual sin. We hold that Jesus Christ was the one and only Being fitted to become the Savior and Redeemer of the world, for the following reasons :

( 1 ) He is the only sinless Man who has ever walked the earth.

(2) He is the Only Begotten of the Eternal Father in the flesh, and therefore the only Be- ing born to earth possessing in their fulness the

116 The Philosophy of "Mormonism."

attributes and powers of both Godhood and manhood.

(3) He is the One who had been chosen in the primeval council of the Gods and foreor- dained to this service.

No other man has lived without sin, and therefore wholly free from the domination of Satan. Jesus Christ was the one Being to whom death, the natural wage of sin, was not due. Christ's sinlessness rendered Him eligible as the subject of the atoning sacrifice whereby propitiation could be made for the sins of all men.

No other man has possessed the power to hold death in abeyance and to die only as he willed so to do. We accept in their literalness and simplicity the scriptural declarations to the effect that Jesus Christ possessed within Him- self power over death. "For as -the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself" we read (John 5 :26) ; and again "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. ,No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power

Christ's Power over Death. 117

to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." (John 10:17, 18).

This unique condition was the natural heri- tage of Jesus the Christ, He being in His em- bodied state the Son of a mortal mother and of an immortal Sire. No mortal man was His father. From Mary He inherited the attributes of a mortal being, including the capacity to die ; from His immortal Father He derived the power to live in the flesh indefinitely, immune to death except as He submitted voluntarily thereto.

No other being has been born to earth with such investiture of preappointment and foreor- dination to lay down his life as a propitiatory atonement for the race. Prominent among the teachings of Jesus Christ in the course of His earthly ministry was the reiterated avowal that He had come down from heaven not to do His own will but the will of Him by whom He had been sent.

The Atonement accomplished by the Savior was a vicarious service for mankind, all of whom had become estranged from God through sin; and by that sacrifice of propitiation, a way has been opened for reconciliation whereby

118 The Philosophy of **M or monism."

man may be brought again into communion with God, and be made able to live and advance as a resurrected being in the eternal worlds. This fundamental conception is strikingly ex- pressed in our English word ''atonement," which, as its syllables attest is *'at-one-ment," "denoting reconciliation, or the bringing into agreement of those who had been estranged." As already indicated the effect of the Atone- ment is twofold :

( 1 ) The universal redemption of the human race from death, which was invoked by the transgression of our first earthly parents ; and

(2) Salvation, whereby relief is offered from the effects of individual sin.

The victory over death was inaugurated by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who had been crucified and slain. He was the first to rise from death to immortality and is therefore rightly called ''the firstfruits of them that slept" (I Cor. 15:20) ; "the firstborn from the dead" (Col. 1 :18) ; "the first begotten of the dead" (Rev. 1 :5). Instances of the raising of the dead to life are of record as antedating the death and resurrection of Christ ; but such were cases of restoration to mortal existence ; and

Resurrection Universal 1 19

that the subjects of such miraculous reanima- tion had to die again is certain.

Immediately following the resurrection of Jesus Christ, many of the righteous dead were resurrected, and appeared in their material bodies of tangible flesh and bones. The Holy Bible affirms such instances on the eastern hemisphere, and the Book of Mormon records analogous occurrences in the western world. The resurrection of the dead is to be universal, extending alike to all who have tabernacled in flesh upon the earth, irrespective of their state, whether of righteousness or of sin ; but all shall be called from the state of death in order, ac- cording to their condition. So taught the Mas- ter, when He said, following His avouchment that the Gospel should be preached even to those already dead : ''Marvel not at this : for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice. And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life ; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." (John 5 :28, 29.) As part of a Divine revela- tion given in modern times we read : "They who have done good in the resurrection of the

120 The Philosophy of "Mormonism."

just, and they who have done evil in the res- urrection of the unjust." (Doctrine and Cov- enants 76:17.)

The assured resurrection of all who have lived and died on earth is a foundation stone in the structure of ''Mormon" philosophy. "Bless- ed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection : on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." (Rev. 20:6).

The providing of a definite plan of salvation, by obedience to which man may obtain re- mission of his sins, and be enabled to ad- vance by effort and righteous achievement throughout eternity.

In addition to the inestimable boon of re- demption from death and the grave, the Atone- ment effected by Jesus Christ is universally operative in bringing a measure of salvation — what may be called general salvation — to the entire posterity of Adam, in that all men are

Individual Accountability. 121

thereby exonerated from the direct effects of the Fall in so far as such effects have been the cause of evil in their lives. I\Ian is individ- ually answerable for his own transgressions alone — the sins for which he, as a free agent, capacitated and empowered to choose for him- self, commits culpably and on his own account or volition.

As an essential corollary of this fundamental principle, it follows that all children who die before they reach the age of accountability are not alone redeemed from death through resur- rection to an endless life, with spirits and bod- ies inseparably united, but also from any pos- sible effect of inherited tendency to sin. It will be admitted, w'ithout disputation, I take it, that children are born heirs to the inescapable birthright of heredity. Tendencies either good or evil, blessings and curses are transmitted from generation to generation. While hered- ity is to be regarded as tendency or capability only, and not as assurance and absolute pre- destination, nevertheless all children are born subject to the algebraic sum of the traits and tendencies of their ancestors, combined with their own specific and personal characteristics

122 The Philosophy of "Mormonism/*

by which they were distinguished while yet unembodied spirits. From this heritage of sin- ward tendency all children are redeemed through the Atonement of Christ; and justly so, for the debt came to them as a legacy and is paid for them. They require no baptismal cleansing nor other ordinance of admittance into the Kingdom of God : for being incapable of repentance, and not having attained unto the condition of accountability, they are inno- cent in the sight of God, and will be counted among the redeemed and the sanctified.

But there is a special or individual effect of the Atonement, by which every soul that has lived in the flesh to the age and condition of responsibility and accountability may place himself within the reach of Divine mercy, and obtain absolution for personal sin by compH- ance with the laws and ordinances of the Gos- pel, as prescribed and decreed by the- Author of the plan of salvation. The indispensable con- ditions of individual salvation are: (1) Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ ; that is, acceptance of His Gospel and allegiance to His command- ments, and to Him as the one and only Savior of men. (2) Repentance, embracing genuine

Terms of Salvation. 123

contrition for the sins of the past, and a reso- lute turning away therefrom, with a determina- tion to avoid, by all possible effort, future sin.

(3) Baptism by immersion in water, for the remission of sins, the ordinance to be admin- istered by one having the authority of the Priesthood, that is to say the right and com- mission to thus officiate in the name of Deity.

(4) The higher baptism of the Spirit or be- stowal of the Holy Ghost by the authorized im- position of hands by one holding the requisite authority — that of the Higher or Melchizedek Priesthood. To insure the salvation to which compliance with these fundamental principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ makes the repent- ant believer eligible, a life of continued resist- ance to sin and observance of the laws of right- eousness is requisite.

We hold that salvation from sin is obtainable only through obedience, and that while the door to the Kingdom of God has been opened by the sacrificial death and the resurrection of our Lord the Christ, no man may enter there except by his personal and voluntary applica- tion expressed in terms of obedience to the prescribed laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

124 The Philosophy of "Mormonism."

Christ ''became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him" (Heb. 5:9). And further : God "will render to every man accord- ing to his deeds : to them who by patient con- tinuance in well doing seek for glory and hon- our and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, * * * For there is no respect of persons with God." (Romans 2:6-11.)

"Mormon philosophy holds that salvation, thus made accessible to all through faith and works, implies no uniformity of condition as to future happiness and glory, any more than does condemnation of the soul mean the same state of disappointment, remorse and misery to all who incur that dread but natural penalty. We reject the unscriptural dogma that for res- urrected souls there are but two places or states of eternal existence — heaven and hell — to the one or the other of which each shall be assign- ed according to the record of his deeds, whether good or bad, and however narrow the margin may appear on the balance sheet of his mortal

Graded Conditions Hereafter. 125

life. "In my Father's house are many man- sions :" said the embodied Christ to His apos- tles, and "if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." (John 14:1,2.)

The life we are to experience hereafter will be in righteous strictness the result of the life we lead in this world ; and as here men exhibit infinite gradations of faithful adherence to the truth, and of serviHty to sin, so in the world beyond the grave shall gradations exist. Salva- tion grades into exaltation, and every soul shall find place and condition as befits him. "Mor- monism" affirms, on the basis of direct revela- tion from God, that graded degrees of glory are prepared for the souls of men, and that these comprise in decreasing order the Celestial, the Terrestrial, and the Telestial kingdoms of glory, within each of which are orders or grades innumerable. These several glories — Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial — are comparable to the sun, the moon and the stars, in their beauty, worth and splendor. Such a condition was re- vealed to an apostle of olden time : "There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial ; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory

126 The Philosophy of "Mormonism."

of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars : for one star dif fer- eth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead." (I Cor. 15:40-42.) Thus is it provided in the economy of God, that to progression there is no end.

As a necessary consequence, man may ad- vance by effort and by obedience to higher and yet higher laws as he may learn them through the eternities to come, until he attains the rank and status of Godship. ''Mormonism" is so bold as to declare that such is the possible des- tiny of the human soul. And why not ? Is this possibility unreasonable? Would not the con- trary be opposed to what we recognize as nat- ural law? Man is of the lineage of the Gods. He is the spirit-offspring of the Eternal One, and by the inviolable law that living beings per- petuate after their kind, the children of God may become like unto their Parents in kind if not in degree. The human soul is a God in embryo; even as the crawling caterpillar or the corpse-like chrysalis embodies the potential pos- sibilities of the matured and glorified imago. We assert that there was more than figurative

Eternal Progression. 127

simile, and instead thereof the assured possi- bility of actual attainment in the Master's words : ''Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matt. 5:48.)

The fact of man's eternal progression in no- wise indicates a state of eventual equality on however exalted a plane ; nor does it imply that the progressive soul must in the eternal eons overtake those once far ahead of him in achieve- ment. Advancement is not a characteristic of inferior status alone; indeed, the increment of progress may be vastly greater in the higher spheres of activity. This conception leads to the inevitable deduction that God Himself, Elo- him, the Very Eternal Father, is a progressive Being, eternally advancing from one perfection to another, possessed as He is of that distin- guishing attribute, which shall be the endow- ment of all who attain celestial exaltation — the power of eternal increase.

6.

The establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ in the "Ineridian of time," by the personal ministry and atoning death of the

128 The Philosophy of "Mormonism.**

foreordained Redeemer and Savior of man- kind, and the proclamation of His saving Gospel through the ministry of the Holy Priesthood during the apostolic period and for a season thereafter,

*'Mormonism" incorporates as an essential part of its philosophy the scriptural account of the earthly birth, life, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ; and affirms the fulfilment of prophecy in all the events of the Savior's earth- ly existence and works. The time of His birth has been made a dividing line in the history of the ages; it was veritably the "meridian of time." Early in His ministry on earth He de- clared, and throughout His subsequent years repeatedly affirmed that He had come in pur- suance of foreordained plan and purpose — not to do His own will but that of the Father who sent Him.

From the days of Moses down to the advent of Christ the people of Israel, who constituted the only nation professing to know and worship the true and the living God — ** Jehovah wor- shippers" as they were distinctively called — had lived under the law of carnal command-

The Law and the Gospel, 129

ments comprised in the Mosaic code. To Is- rael the law and the prophets were the scrip- tures of life, however much the people may have departed therefrom through traditional alter- ations and misconstruction. Christ came not to destroy the Law — for it was He who gave the Law — amidst the awful glory of Sinai — ^but to fulfil and supersede the Law by the Gospel. Aside from the transcendent work of Atone- ment, Jesus Christ taught the principles of the Gospel, and laid down in plainness the laws and ordinances essential to the salvation of mankind. He made clear the fact that the Law of Moses had been given as a preparation for the Gospel which He gave to Israel.

He chose men for the work of the ministry ; in a special sense He chose twelve, whom He ordained and called Apostles. To them He committed power and authority not alone to preach and teach, to heal the sick, rebuke and cast out demons, but to build up the Church as a divinely established institution. These men were assured that through the Holy Ghost even after the Lord's ascension they would be, kept in communion and communication with Christ and the Father; and that upon the

130 The Philosophy of "Mormonism."

foundation of such close relationship, viz., direct revelation from God to man, would the Church of Jesus Christ be reared. That the apostles realized the actuality of their author- ity, and that of the responsibility resting upon them by virtue of their ordination to the Holy Priesthood, is evidenced by their prompt action following the Ascension, in filling the vacancy existing in the body as a consequence of Iscar- iot's apostasy and suicide, and in other admin- istrative acts.

When the Holy Ghost was given unto the Twelve, at the memorable time of Pentecost, the gifts, graces and powers of the Holy Priest- hood were manifested through those men as never had been before ; and the proof of their wondrous investiture of actual power and in- herent authority continued throughout their lives. The apostles carried the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every known nation, es- tablishing church communities or branches of the Church wherever possible. For each of these branches, the requisite officers were chosen and ordained, such as high priests, elders, bishops, priests, teachers, and deacons ; while for more general

Offices in the Priesthood. 131

supervision evangelists and pastors were com- missioned with the powers of priesthood. So zealous and efficient were the apostles in their particular ministry, that the Gospel of salva- tion was known to Jew and Gentile. Paul, writing approximately thirty years after the Ascension, declared that then the Gospel had' been preached to every creature under heaven (Col. 1:23), which assertion we may reason- ably construe as meaning that the Gospel mes- sage had been proclaimed so widely that all who desired might learn of it.

The purpose of establishing the several graded offices of authority in the Church, and of installing therein men duly ordained to the requisite order of priesthood, has been impres- sively stated as "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:12). So necessary were the several offices to the proper administration of the affairs of the Church, that they were aptly compared to the several organs of a perfect human body (.see I Cor. 12), all essential to a fulness of efficiency, and no one justified in saying to the other, "I have no need of thee."

10

132 The Philosophy of ''Mormonism."

7.

The general ''falling away" from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, by zvhich the world degener- ated into a state of apostasy, and the Holy Priesthood ceased to be operative in the organizations of sects and churches design- ed and effected by the authority of man.

The apostolic ministry continued in the Primitive Church for about sixty years after the death of Christ, or nearly to the end of the first century of the Christian era. For some time thereafter the Church existed as a unified body, officered by men duly invested by ord- ination in the authority of the Holy Priesthood, though, even during the lifetime of some of the apostles, the leaven of apostasy and disinte- gration had been working. Indeed, hardly had the Gospel seed been sown when the enemy of all righteousness had started assiduously to sow tares in the field; and so closely intimate was the growth of the two that any forcible attempt to extirpate the tares would have imperiled the wheat. The evidences of spiritual decline were

A Great Apostasy. 133

observed with anguish by the apostles who, however, recognized the fulfilment of earlier prophecy in the declension, and added their own inspired testimony to the effect that even a greater falling away was impending.

The apostasy progressed rapidly, in conse- quence of a co-operation of disrupting forces without and within the Church. The dreadful persecution to which the early Christians were subjected, particularly from the reign of Nero to that of Diocletian, both inclusive, drove great numbers of Christians to renounce their allegi- ance to Christianity, thus causing a widespread apostasy from the Church. But far more de- structive was the contagion of evil that spread within the body, manifesting its effects mainly in the following developments :

(1) The corrupting of the simple principles of the Gospel of Christ by admixture with the so-called philosophical systems of the times.

(2) Unauthorized additions to the rites of the Church, and the introduction of vital changes in essential ordinances.

(3) Unauthorized changes in Church or- ganization and government.

The result of the degeneracy so produced

134 The Philosophy of "Mormonism."

was to bring about an actual apostasy of the entire Church.

In the early part of the fourth century, Con- stantine cast about the Church the mantle of state recognition and governmental protection. Though unbaptized and therefore no member of the Church, he proclaimed himself the head of the Church of Christ, and distributed at his pleasure the titles of office in the Holy Priest- hood. Churchly dignity was more sought after than mihtary distinction or honors of state. A bishop was more esteemed than a gen- eral, and an archbishop than a prince. Soon the Church laid claim to temporal power, and in the course of the centuries became the su- preme potentate over all earthly governments.

Revoh was inevitable, and early in the six- teenth century the Reformation was begun. One notable effect of this epoch-making move- ment was the establishment of the Church of England as an immediate result of a disagree- ment between Henry VHI and the Pope. By Act of Parliament the king was proclaimed the supreme head of the Church within his realm. The Church as an organization, whether Papal or Protestant, had become an

I

The Apostasy Affirmed. 135

institution of men. The Holy Priesthood, to which men were of old called of God and or- dained thereto by those having authority through prior ordination, no longer existed among men. The name but not the authority of priesthood and priestly office remained. Bishops, priests, and deacons — so-called — were made or unmade at the will of kings. The awful fact of the universal apostasy, and the absence of Divine authority from the earth was ob- served and frankly admitted by many earnest and conscientious theologians. The Church of England, in her "Homily Against Peril of Idolatry" (Homily xiv) officially affirmed the state of general degeneracy as follows : "So that laity and clergy, learned and unlearned, all ages, sects, and degrees of men, women, and children of whole Christendom — an hor- rible and most dreadful thing to think — have been at once drowned in abominable idolatry; of all other vices most detested of God, and most damnable to man; and that by the space of eight hundred years and more." The Book of Homilies dates from about the middle of the sixteenth century, and in it is thus officially set forth, that the so-called Church and in fact

136 The Philosophy of "Mormonism."

the entire religious world had been utterly apostate for eight centuries or more prior to the establishment of the Church of England. The apostasy had been divinely predicted; its actuality is attested by a reasonable inter- pretation of history.

8.

The restoration of the Gospel in the current age, and the re-establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ hy the bestowal of the Holy Priesthood through Divine revelation.

From the time of the Reformation, sects and churches have multiplied apace. On every side has been heard the cry "Lo, here is Christ," or, "Lo, there." As the present speaker has writ- ten elsewhere : There are churches named from the circumstances of their origin— as the Church of England; others after their famous founders or promoters — as Lutheran, Calvin- ist, Wesleyan; some are known by peculiar- ities of doctrine or plan of administration — as Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Congrega- tionalist; but down to the third decade of the nineteenth century there was no church on

Priesthood is God-Given. 137

earth affirming name or title as the Church of Jesus Christ. The only organization called a church existing at that time and venturing to assert claim to authority by succession was the Catholic Church, which for centuries had been apostate, and wholly bereft of Divine authority or recognition. If the ^'Mother Church" be without a valid priesthood, and devoid of spir- itual power, how can her offspring derive from her the right to officiate in the things of God ? Who would dare to affirm that man can orig- inate a priesthood which God is bound to honor and acknowledge?

Granted that men may and do create among themselves societies, associations, sects, and even "churches" if they choose so to designate their religious organizations ; granted that they may prescribe rules, formulate laws, and devise plans of operation, discipline, and government, and that all such laws, rules, and schemes of administration are binding upon those who assume membership — granted all these rights and powers — whence can such human institu- tions derive the authority of the Holy Priest- hood, without which there can be no Church of Christ?

138 The Philosophy of "Mormonism."

But the world was not to be forever bereft of the Church of Jesus Christ, nor of the au- thority of the Holy Priesthood. As surely as had been predicted the birth of the Messiah, and the great falling away from the Church of His founding, was the restoration of the Gospel foretold as a characteristic feature of the last days, the dispensation of the fulness of times. John, the apostle and revelator, saw in vision the foreappointed reopening of the windows of heaven in the last days, and thus affirmed: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. Saying with a loud voice. Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come : and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." (Rev. 14:6, 7.)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is founded upon the literal fulfilment of this prediction — for prophecy it was, though worded as a record of what the prophet and revelator saw — an event of a then future but now past time.

J

A Glorious Theophany. 139

**Mormonism" as a religious system would be incomplete, inconsistent, and consequently without philosophical basis, but for its solemn avouchment that the Gospel has been restored to earth and that the Church of Jesus Christ has been reestablished among men. The Church today affirms to the world, that in A. D. 1820 there was manifested to Joseph Smith a theophany such as never before had been vouchsafed to man. He was but a youth at the time, living with his parents in the State of New York. Being confused and puzzled by the "war of words and tumult of opinions" by which the many contending sects were divid- ed, and realizing that not all could be right, he acted upon the admonition of James : "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that g^veth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." (James 1 :5.)

In answer to the young man's earnest prayer as to which, if any, of the discordant sects of the day was the Church of Christ, as he solemn- ly avows, both the Eternal Father and His Son Jesus Christ appeared to him in visible form, as distinct and glorified Personages; and the One, pointing to the Other, said: ''This is my

140 The Philosophy of "Mormonism."

Beloved Son, hear Him!'' The Son of God, Jesus Christ, directed the young man to ally himself with none of the sects or churches of the day, for all of them were wrong and their creeds were an abomination in His sight, in that they drew near to Him with their lips while their hearts were far from Him, and be- cause they taught for doctrines the command- ments of men, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. Thus was broken, by the voices of Eternal Beings, the long silence that had lain between the heavens and the earth incident to the apostasy of mankind. In 1820 there stood upon this globe one person who knew beyond doubt or perad venture, that the "orthodox" conception of Deity as an in- incorporeal essence devoid of definite shape and tangible substance, was utterly false. Jo- seph Smith knew that both the Eternal Father and His glorified Son, Jesus Christ, were in form and stature like unto perfect men; and that in Their physical image and likeness man- kind had been created in the flesh. He knew further that Father and Son were individual Personages — a fact abundantly averred by the Lord Jesus during His life on earth, but which

The Book of Mormon. 141

had been obscured by the sophistries of men.

Somewhat more than three years after the glorious appearing of the Father and the Son to Joseph Smith, the young revelator was vis- ited by a heavenly personage, who revealed to him the place where lay the ancient record which since has been translated through the gift and power of God and published to the world as the Book of Mormon. This volume contains a history of a division of the House of Israel, which had been led to the western continent centuries before the time of Christ. It is the ancient scripture of the western con- tinent as the Holy Bible is the record of the dealings of God with His people on the eastern hemisphere. The Book of Mormon contains the Gospel of Christ in its fulness as given to the ancient inhabitants of this continent; and in its restoration, through the personal min- istry of an angel sent from the presence of God, was fulfilled in part the vision-prophecy of John the Revelator of old.

The Holy Priesthood, having been lost to mankind through the universal apostasy, could be made again operative and valid only by a restoration or rebestowal from the heavens.

142 The Philosophy of "Mormonism."

We affirm that the Lesser or Aaronic Priest- hood, including the Levitical order, was con- ferred upon Joseph Smith and his companion in the ministry, OHver Cowdery, through per- sonal ordination under the hands of John, known of old as the Baptist, who appeared to the two men as a resurrected being, and trans- mitted to them the authority by which he had ministered while in mortality. That order of Priesthood — the Aaronic — as John the Baptist declared, holds the keys of the Gospel of re- pentance and of baptism for the remission of sins.

We affirm that the Higher or Melchizedek Priesthood was conferred upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery by ordination under the hands of those who, in the ancient apostolic period, held the keys of the Holy Apostleship, vi2., Peter, James and John.

Under the authority so bestowed, the Church of Jesus Christ has been reestablished upon the earth. To distinguish it from the Church as it existed in ancient apostolic days it has been named — and this also through direct revela- tion— The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints.

Church of Christ Restored. 143

As an institution among men, as a body corporate, it dates from April 6, 1830, on which day the Church was legally organized at Fay- ette, Seneca county, New York, under the laws of the State. Only six persons figured as ac- tual participants in the formal procedure of or- ganization and incorporation, that number be- ing the minimum required by law in such an undertaking.

Whatever may be the opinions of individuals, or the concensus of belief, respecting the gen- uineness and validity of the claims set forth by the restored Church as to the source of the Priesthood it professes to hold, none can reas- onably prefer the charge of incongruity or in- consistency on scriptural grounds. It is axio- matic to say that no man can give or transmit an authority he does not himself possess. The authority of the Priesthood of Aaron was re- stored to earth by the being who held the keys of that power in the earher dispensation — John the Baptist. The Holy Apostleship, compris- ing all the powers inherent in the Priesthood after the order of Melchizedek, was restored by those who held the presidency of that Priest-

144 The Philosophy of "Mormonism."

hood prior to the apostasy, vis., Peter, James and John.

We further affirm, that in 1836 there ap- peared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Temple at Kirtland, Ohio, other ancient prophets, each of whom authoritatively be- stowed upon the two mortal prophets, seers, and revelators, the keys of the power by which he had ministered in the long past dispensa- tion in which he had officiated. Thus came Moses and committed to the modern prophets the keys of the gathering of Israel after their long dispersion. Elias came, and gave the au- thority that had been operative in the dispensa- tion of the Gospel of Abraham. Elijah fol- lowed, in literal fulfilment of Malachi's porten- tous prediction, and committed the authority of vicarious labor for the dead, by which the hearts of the departed fathers shall be turned toward their yet living descendants, and the hearts of the children be turned toward the fathers, which labor, as affirmed by Malachi, is a necessary antecedent to the dawn of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, as other- wise the earth would be smitten with a curse at His coming.

Proclamation of the Gospel. 145

9.

The appointed mission of the restored Church of Jesus Christ to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof amongst all nations, in preparation for the near advent of our Savior Jesus Christ, who shall reign on earth as Lord and King.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, claiming to be all that its name ex- presses or logically implies, holds that its spec- ial mission in the world is to officiate in the authority of the Holy Priesthood by proclaim- ing the Gospel and administering in the ord- inances thereof amongst all nations, and this in preparation for the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall soon appear and assume His rightful place as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Besides its missionary labor among the liv- ing, the Church, true to the commission laid upon it through Elijah, is continuously engaged in vicarious service for the dead, administering the ordinances of salvation to the living in

146 The Philosophy of "M or monism."

behalf of their departed progenitors. Largely for this purpose the Church constructs Tem- ples, and maintains therein the requisite min- istry in behalf of the dead.

In the carrying out of the work committed to it, the Church is tolerant of all sects and parties, claiming for itself no right or privilege which it would deny to individuals or other organizations. It affirms itself to be The Church of old, established anew. Its message to the world is that of peace and good will — the invitation to come and partake of the bless- ings incident to the new and everlasting cov- enant between God and His children. Its warning voice is heard in all lands and climes : Repent ye! Repent! for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

Such in scant outline is the philosophical basis of "Mormonism."

DATE DUE

WAR 2 2 13f U APR 2 7 1990

DEMCO 38-297

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

3 1197 204157181

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