OCT m 1919

Morm on S aints

T HE T ORY OF O P MIT H HI S JSE H S , S

G OLDEN BIBLE , AND T HE

CHURCH HE FOUNDED

GEORG E SEIBEL

PIT TSBURG H T HE LESSING COMPANY 1 b Co pyright , 19 9 , y

T HE LESSING COMPANY CONT ENT S

Chapter

N H I AN 1 . A A ER C ISLAM “ . JOE S I P P E II M TH , RO H T

T H K OF M III . E BOO ORMON

I V . I OF A W R IG I . B RTH N E EL ON .

H V . NAUVOO T E BEAUTIFUL

V T o T H D A D I . E PROMISE L N

VI I M N I F AND P AC IC . ORMO BEL E S R T ES

T H AR VIII . E M ORMON W

’ I N P ! . I SOLOMON S FOOTSTE S

D ! . S CHEMING FOR S TATEHOO

I A F T H AP ! . CTS O E OSTLES

I I T H N D ! ! . WHAT WI LL B E E E It is often and tru s aid that f! —ly , as a es were r e e m n e n p t g p i tly red o s as o m ared wh o ur c ul u , c p it wn h ff i o ; yet t e di erence s no t so m uch in the am o unt o f the cre' d ulit as in the d re on wh h y, i cti ic

M n re al s ref akes . w it t e a ay p

ar ed to a e o n ver s h p cc pt , y lig t ev den e wha he be eve to be i c , t t y li ex e n ro ce di gly p bable . T he Morm on S aints

CHAPTER I

An Am erican Islam

HE history of the Mormon church T forms one of the strangest and most startling chapter s in the annal s of the Nineteenth Century . The French philosopher S alver te has said that man is credulous because he is naturally sincere .

Yet it seems. almost beyond belief that such r a crude far ago of superstition, if not a s fraud, Mormonism could be brought forth by the most enlightened age of the an i world, age in wh ch science has worked her greatest marvels and ha s been ! culture d f l B Kr i h al . dh s i fused over lands ud a, mi na, Mithra, Apollonius , and other de s gods who founded miraculous religion , belong to the remote past and to di stant climes . We flatter ourselves that their revelations prospered because they came B ut m long ago and far away . Mor onism a arose lmost yesterday, amid universities

and libraries , as if to prove that man is — the same in all age s a s if to demonstra te the truth of what Gregory Na zianzen MORMON SAINT S

! wrote to St . Jerome A little jargon is all that is necessary to impose on the people . The less they comprehend , the ” more they adm ire . t Almost a cen ury has passed, and the followers of Mormon are still among us and while missionary societies are sending abroad thousands of men and mi llions of m oney to bring the heathen unto Christ , a terrible cank er has attacked the heart of

Christianity at home . Mormon apostles are swarming through the land , sowing c their doctrine broad ast . Most amazing of all is the fact that they are meeting with denomi success , and while many orthodox nations complain of stagnation and de

- cline , the church of the Latter Day Saints i s forging steadily ahead , gaining ground in fashion marvelous . It will be the aim of these pages to in — quire into the origin of that church a hierarchy, rather ; to trace the Cagliostro n like career of its founder , and its rise u to power despite intelligent opposition and shameful persecution ; to examine its “ supernatural revelation ” by the higher criticism of common sense ; finally, to con sider whether its institutions are antagon i s ti c to those laws upon which rests the well-being of the nation and of society

and, if they are, to suggest a remedy . The purpo se ever kept in view will be AN AME RICAN ISLAM

to weigh , not blindly to condemn . To enumerate the sources drawn upon and the authorities consulted would needlessly en cumber the account ; the wonder tales of Mormon writers and the rabid concoctions of their foes have alike been cautiously

sifted . Nought is set down in malice though the historian expressly reserves the right to smile at human folly where he finds it . The peculiar people who colonized the valley of the Great Salt Lake have many admirable qualities comm ending them to favor ; the impartial historian may not

shut his eye s to these . Perhaps these virtues are more to be feared than their

vices . For , if the beliefs , doctrines , and practice s of the Mormons are dangerous to o a society, there is reas n for the gravest p

prehension , and need of the most ener

getic measures to render them harmless . Truly marvelous has been the spread of m 1 2 the Mormon faith . Joseph S ith in 8 7 proclaimed his discovery of the golden plates whereon was inscribed the B ook of r n Mo m o . Three years later the first church was organized with six members ;

to day, after less than a century, the Mormon faith numbers nearly half a mil awdh er ents lion It is doubtful whether Christianity had gained that number of

converts by the end of its first century. MORMON SAINT S

There is no parallel to the successes of

Mormonism except in those of Islam , which it resembles in many other respects .

Like the religion of Mahomet, it claims to supplement and supplant Christianity—to im be a second thought of God , with the plication that second thoughts are best . k Mah om etani sm Li e , it has a special reve lation , committed to its founder by an Mah om eta ni sm angel from heaven . Like , it i s extremely practical and not at all mys tical ! it fills the flesh -pots of the faithful

' and enjoin s no strenuous asceticism . Mahom etani s m Like , it believed in the missionary potency of the sword . One of the earliest writers upon the subject m styl—ed Joseph S ith the American Maho met a comparison which in no way vio

. lates the truth of history, save that the camel -driver and prophet of Mecca was s probably a sincere fanatic, wherea the seer of Palmyra was more likely a cun

ning impostor . This excrescence of Christianity has steadily grown at a rate faster than the

nation . The advance guard which entered Utah in 1 847 numbered only 1 48 ; to - day h ak t Uta , excepting Salt L e Ci y and Ogden ,

is overwhelmingly Mormon , and the church to a great extent holds the balance of political power in the adjoining states

Idaho , Colo r ado , Wyoming, Nevada, Mon AN AMERICAN ISLAM 1 1

tana, Arizona, and New Mexico . It rules absolutely over a region as large a s the combined area of New York and P ennsyl vania , and is a potent factor in every part of the great West . It sends its elders missionaries in the apostolic sense , with “ ’ — out purse or scrip to Mexico , to the republic s of Central and South America, to the islands of the Pacific, to Australia , to India, to the Cape Colony and the

Transvaal , to Turkey, Russia, Germany,

Switzerland, Denmark , Sweden , even to

England . They overrun the Southern states and the Northwest , and boast that they gained over sixty thousand converts during one year alone—more than any other religious denomination in the United

States during the same period . The Mor mons outnumber many sects that make a great deal more noise . An idea of their strength may be gained from the fact that they are almost as numerou s a s the a d her ents of the great and respected E pi s co palian Church . Counterfeiting humility when it served their purpose , they have never failed to di splay an overweeni ng arrogance when In power . When they attained statehood for

Utah , they paralyzed the arm of Federal jurisdiction . Then the meek mask was thrown off, and offensive usages sanction ed by the church were again openl y prao 1 2 MORMON SAINTS

ud es ticed and brazenly defended . J g and juries in Utah were under their thumb , and even those who were not for them

dared not pronounce against them, or at best connived at grave misdemeanors by imposing trifling fines upon Saints that happened to get caught . They even went to the extent of electing to the United States Congress a notorious and self- con fessed violator of the state law against polygamy— virtually saying to the nation What are you going to do about it ! ”

- And to day , through Senator Reed Smoot , they are influential in a ll caucuses and councils of the powerful Republican fac tion . There is a tremendou s truth in the a hil os o words which Mark Tw in , that p a m pher who put on the mask of hu orist , uttered through his Connecti cut Ya nkce in ’ “ King Ar thur s Cour t ! I was afraid of a

united church ; it makes a mighty power , m t the igh iest conceivable , and then when

it by and by gets into selfish hands , as it s is always bound to do , it mean death to human liberty and paralysis to human thought ” There are sects which proclaim insani ties more iniquitous than the tenets of the “ Saints ”—but they lack the peculiar vi tality of Mormonism and hence are com pa r a tively harmless They have their AN AMERICAN ISLAM 1 3

day, and are forgotten, but Mormonism is spreading both as a religious body and a political force . To the elements of danger already indicated there i s joined the mili ha s tant spirit of the theocracy . It not hesitated at violence and bloodshed to ai m ntain itself . Wherever the Mormons en have gone , their presence has often gendered civil strife . They form a state within the state—they submit to the gov

er nm ent . , but do not acquiesce in it What manifestation of implacable hostility never eff aced— could be plai ner than the

- flags of Salt Lake City flying at. half mast ’ on the Fourth of July, the nation s birth ! h day The—country a s had several Mor mon wars and, as one historian put it , after the lapse of half a c entury the prob “ l em ha s not yet yielded to the force of ” logic or the logic of force . 1 4 MORMON SAINT S

CHAPTER II

mi Joe S th, Prophet

Ye shall know them by their fruits , “ ! says Scripture , and adds Do men gather “ ! ” grapes of thorns , or figs of thistles Whether we judge Jo seph Smi th by Mor monism, or that faith by its founder , the B ut result is very much the same . an inquiry into the Prophet ’ s antecedents and character will be found instructive as a commentary upon the gull ibility of man kind . There have been many false pro hets - p , religious quacks , high priests of humbug, from Simon Magus to Teed the Kor esh . None has gained power over hi s dupe s so easily ; none has exploited their credulity for his own profit with greater impudence ; none has erected a religion ” more transparent than that system of lunac y and lechery foisted upon hi s followers by the Scotch-Yank ee Mes siah of Mormonism . mi 23 1 Joe S th was born December , 805 , at Sharon, Vermont . The threadbare — phrase must be reversed in his case he m “ ” ca e of poor but disreputable parents . m lm New They re oved to Pa yra, York, in “JOE ” SMITH , PROPHET 1 5

1 815 h mi , Josep S th senior having in fringed upon the government monopoly of “ ” making money, and escaped punish ’ ni e ment only by tur ng stat s evidence. l In Pa myra, the pursuits of the fami ly Joe was the fourth of nine children—rang ed from the prosaic peddling of r ootbeer to fortune - telling and digging for buried a treasure . M ny good people pointed the n fi ger of scorn and suspicion at them, while chi cken- coops and smoke-houses wil were watched ith special vig ance as a

result of nocturnal raids . They were an t - k e illi erate , shiftless , whiskey drin ing trib — and Joseph was not least among them s in laziness and other evil propensitie . “ ” B t wa s u he a genus , as his father used to say ; he could with utmost solemnity h ws e a utter the most palpable untruths , i wa s fertile in schemes of every k nd, and “ an omnivorou s reader of the buckets of ” Hi s blood literature extant in that day . favorite books in his youth were the L ife of t hen B ur r ou hs m S ep g , a religious i postor whom he seems to have chosen for a pa L i e o Ca tain Kidd tron saint , and the f f p , m e whose career he could not well e ulat ,

being far from the sea, but whose buried m treasures , drea ed of and diligently dug m the for , may have been the ger of “ Golden B ible ” discovered in Mormon An d e h . w Hill furt er learn that poetry, 1 6 MORMON SAINT S

o as well as biography, had charms for J s h ep , his favorite stanza being

M a e wa Ro e Ki y n m s b rt dd,

As s a e a s s a e I il d, I il d, And os ke m t wic dly I did, ’ Go s a s o d l w I did f rbid,

As s a e a s s a e . I il d . I il d

B lood-and-thunder literature was not as

plentiful nor as cheap then as it is now, or Joe might never have opened the B ible ; wa s as it , he later became quite familiar

with parts of the Old and New Testaments , and the fanciful stories he invented b e

gan to take on a religious cast . The mor idl b y superstitious nature of his mother ,

who believed in dreams and saw visions , n him also must have i fluenced greatly .

With the aid of a curious piece of quartz, l found while digging a we l , Joseph em

- barked upon fortune telling . It may be proper to add that the well had not been

- dug by him, for he had a deep seated a n tipathy to every sort of undignified exer

tion . He preferred more lucrative and a less arduous avoc tions , such as the pos - now session of the magic peek stone opened to him— pretending to be able by

its agency to recover lost. or stolen prop er ty and find hidden pirate hoards . Many people paid him money for the exercise of hi s clairvoyant gifts . One easygoing and “ JOE M H P ” 1 7 S IT , PRO HET superstitious farmer furnished a sheep for a blood-offering in treasure- seeking incan — tati ons which sheep was promptly trans formed into mutton under the auspices of t ’ the budding prophe s mother . When the lost property failed to turn up , or the chest of gold did not materialize , Joe had ever an ingenious explanation for the failure , and nearly always managed to placate the wrath of his disappointed dupes . Such was the boyhood of Joe Smith at Fayette and Manchester, whither his parents had 1 1 removed in 8 9 . new A revival broke out , opening up a field for the idle and imaginative young scamp , who first became a Methodist pro b a ti oner , but soon backslid and began to see visions , like his mother . God the Father and God the Son appeared to him while he was at prayer in a forest , bidding him to ally himself with no church extant , since all were in the meshe s of error . Later an angel clothed in supernal glory announced to him that he himself was the c hi hosen vessel of God , that s sins were t blotted out, and tha the acceptable year of the Lord had come . He was directed to go to a certain hill , where he would find a book of golden plates , together with the in instrument to interpret them . Strict wa s ut junction p upon him not to show the plates to any one , nor to use them for self 1 8 MORMON SAINT S

ish gain , under penalty of death . Perhaps Smith disregarded this warni ng later which would plausibly account for hi s nu t imely end—though the Mormons have never made use of the forcible argument

that could be based upon such conjecture . Smith henceforth received revelation a f

ter revelation . He found the plates in the t f spo indicated , but not being su ficiently

sanctified he did not remove them . At last , ’ 1 827 s in September , , after three year

growth in holiness , during which he took unto himself a wife in spite of her parents ’

opposition, which the father wished to

voice with a shotgun , the plates . passed ’ m . w into Joe s possession Together ith the “ he found two smooth three -cornered dia

monds set in glass , which were connected with each other in much the same way as - old fashioned spectacles . These were the Urim and Thumm im— the insignia of Old Testament seers—to be employed in

translating the golden tome . A curious copper breastplate and a sword also were

found in the same spot .

So runs the Mormon version . A sug g es tive commentary upon it is furnished

by the neighbors of the Smith family . One

of them, named Peter Ingersoll , a close ’ c friend of Joe s , de lared under oath that “ Smith told him the whole story was a hoax ; that he had found no such book ; but

2 0 MORMON SAINT S congenial and valuable than Martin Har ris , in a stranded schoolmaster, sometime a blacksmith, named Oliver Cowdery . B John the aptist , appearing in a vision , commanded the pair to baptize each other n r by immersion , at the same time co s ec a t “ ing them Priests of the Order of Aaron. As soon as the rite had been performed, the Holy Ghost came upon them with the B ’ . ower C d s gift of prophecy y y —aid Smith coul d not then write legibly the “ ” of B wa s translation the Golden ible completed, and the pair began to preach the new gospel . They gained a few con m verts , but were too well known in the co munity to meet with any great measure of success . Most of the converts afterward t wa s backslid ; it is doub ful if any sincere except Martin Harris , a dupe so simple minded that he bought Smith ’ s wedding suit for him upon the representation that it was needed for missionary work . From this time forth the life of Smi th runs parallel with the history of the Mor h mon church . W ether he was the real ’ - originator , or only the cat s paw of Sidney i Rigdon , whose connection w th the begin ning s of the church will be touched upon he a o later , Smith from the first was t knowledged head and front of the scheme . He possessed in a remarkable degree the qualities essential to success in such an “ JOE ” 2 1 SMITH , PROPHET

— un undertaking unscrupulous audacity , blushing impudence , and the nimbus of r nec omantic power . Tha t Joseph Smith was a deliberate c impostor , as the earlier ritics of Mor monism asserted, is not now believed by s tudents of psychology . The dupe of his own imagination , perhaps an epileptic like

Paul and Mahomet , he was a victim of the religious crazes that swept the New York im lake region . Having received this pulse and acquired this propensity, he found it profitable and easy to expand his first revelations into systematic deception —like those spirituali stic mediums who supplement their “ phenomena ” with wi B tricks . eginning as a mystic th hal lucinati ons , Joe Smith developed into a

- professional high priest of humbug . Smith ’ s pretended revelations certainly appeared to be the crudest and most pal pahle sort of imposture , and it is amazing that they were swallowed by his dupes . Soon after the B ook of M or m on was print t ed, and when the prin er was clamoring for his money, Smith had a revelation com manding Martin Harris to foot the bill ! “ I comm and thee that thou shalt not covet but thine own property, impart it freely B ook o M or m on to the printing of the f , which contains the truth and the word of a ha s God . P y the debt thou contracted 2 2 MORMON SAINTS

” m with the printer . No a biguity about that oracle ! Another revelation com m anded the church to build a house for t “ Smith . Still another ordered tha he be provided with food and raiment , and what soever things he needeth to accomplish the w ” ork wherewith I have comm anded him . The irreverent may note the unconventi on ality of the grammar , which the giant spec taeles of the Urim and Thumm im seeming l m y were powerless to overco e . Despite the defects of his education and m a mi his or l delinquencies , Joseph S th was one of the most remarkable men of his in time . His portrait , long the possession

B . hi m of righam Young, shows to have had t features regular and not unintelligen . Physica lly he was tall and well -propor ti oned , with light hair , blue eyes , and cal low face . He was mild and suave in manner , yet always carried his measures — a born leader of men . He could endure privation and persecution unflinchingly to gain his ends ; yet he was fond of ease and luxury, and from his sensuous nature doubtless proceeded the revelation enjoin — ing polygamy upon the church a feature of its creed that has roused more hostility than all others . In this , also , he resembled t Mahome , who had a special rwevelation (Sura 33 of the Koran! when he ished to “JOE E ” 2 3 SMITH , PROPH T

marry the wife of his adopted son Zaid, a thing abhorrent to the Arabs . Such was the man who founded a great es religion upon flimsy mummeries, and tabli shed it despite ridicule and malignant opposition ; the m an who was tarred and feathered in Ohio , driven from Missouri by the militia, jailed and lynched in Illi nois ; the man who built three flourishing cities , and had the effrontery to run for the presidency of the United States ; the m an whose spirit , though like Mo ses he never trod the promised land, dominates the state of Utah to - day and is one of the mightiest factors in the ultramontane r egion of the great West . 2 4 MORMON SAINT S

CHAPTER III

The B ook of Mormon wi It ll be well , before pursuing further the fortunes of the infant church, to pause and look into the supposedly sacred vol ume from which it sprang . The Mormons derive their name from this book . which they believe to have been written in the fourth century by the Hebrew-American

- hero chief Mormon . It has been trans lated into German , French , Spanish , H a Italian, Swedish, Danish , Welsh , waii an , and a dozen other languages , and scattered broadcast over the world by

Mormon mi ssionaries . The volume is a — queer hash just such a work a s might — have been expected of Joseph Smith a mixture of Holy Writ with blood- and ll ! thunder fiction . Its plot is as fo ows After the confusion of tongues at the B building of the tower of abel , God scat ter ed the various tribes of mankind over the face of the earth . Several families , descendants of Jared, came to America , where they increased and multiplied . At

first they prospered, living righteously ; but later wickedness began to flourish

m B O. 600 . a ong them, until, about , they wTHE BOOK OF MORMON 2 5 ere punished for their transgressions by twotal annihilation . Their history was ritten and the record hidden away by their great prophet Ether . Let not the “ irreverent therefore deem it light a s ” ffi air , nor suggest its a nity to laughing g a s .

Now about this time , while Zedekiah sat on the throne of Judah , Lehi , a holy man of the tribe of Joseph , divinely warned ’ al of Jerus em s impending destruction, w’ a s by God s hand led to America . Lehi landed on the coast of Chile , and his de s cendants r e , spreading northward , s peopled the land , and found record of t r ite B the extinc J a ed s . oth of the races now dwelling on the continent , the sons of e hi N p and the sons of Laman, waxed pros per ous and mighty like their predecessors .

B ut the Lamanites lapsed into barbarism, while the Nephites , specially favored by the Lord, attained high civilization They i h l ved according to the law of Moses , whic e they had brought across the sea, and wer ruled by judges , kings , and prophets , even ’ s as Israel . Visions and angels visit were vouchsafed to their patriarchs and holy hi s men , and in the fullness of time , after death on the cross and his ascension, Christ came down to visit America a nd organized the church there as he had in

Judea. 2 6 MORMON SAINTS

Three or four centuries after Christ , the

Nephites , lapsing into sin , were delivered a into the hand of the sav ge Lamanites , progenitors of the American Indians . The great Nephite hero - prophet Mormon had been commanded to inscribe the records of his nation upon golden tables , which he committed to his son Moroni, who hid them in the hill Cumorah when the Laman ites destroyed his people , slaying in a great battle . The Urim and Thum mim were put with the tables , so that the finder might be a ble to interpret the writ ings . In due time these plates were di s covered by Joseph Smith . Such is the story of the B ook of M or m on . The plates of fine gold which Smith professed to have found, guided by an angel , have aroused much incredulous c criti ism . They were not shown to any one until two years after Smith first an noun ed c their discovery . Even then they were displayed only to eleven person s ; the remai nder of the world was not holy enough to be permitted a glance at these writings in Reformed Egyptian , a u lang age hitherto unknown to philology .

To make matters worse , the book with the other paraphernalia was returned to the i h a angel after Sm th d done with them, which of course disposes of any hope that future generations of linguists m a y nu

2 8 MORMON SAINTS

Smith s left behi nd them when they mi grated from Palmyra to Kirtland, Ohio . The eleven persons whose testimony that they saw the original plate s i s pre fixed to the later editions of the B ook of M or m on can hardly be called disinterested witnesses . The first three are Oliver hi Cowdery, David W tmer , and Martin

Harris . Cowdery and Harris were Smith ’ s confederates in the labor of trans lation ; Harris was also financially inter es ted to a considerable sum ; while David Whitmer belonged to a family “ noted for ” and of credulity a belief in witches , who fer ed Smith an asylum in their home soon after the story of the Golden B ible was B bruited about . esides , the testimony of these three witnesses contains so many things of which they can not have been sure , that we may well doubt their reli ability as to those points upon whi ch they

a . should h ve been sure Harris , when questioned closely, used to explain that he had seen the plates with his spiritual eye , and we may well believe that he saw ’ them through Smith s spiritual spectacles , for it seems. almo st certain that the whole of the testimony was drawn up by Smith himself. Cowdery and Whitmer were subsequent — ly expelled from the church called ‘ ” m murderers at heart by S ith, and THE BOOK OF MORMON 2 9

s of counterfeiters , thieves , liars , blackleg ” the deepest dye , by Sidney Rigdon . m u Harris also was expelled, having tini ed at the shabby treatment Smith a o hi corded him after s money was gone , but he never recanted his belief in Mormon

I S I Il .

Of the eight other witnesses , five were relatives of Whitmer ’ s and the remaining three were Smith ’ s father and two bro h r t e s . So it appears that this testimony , taken at its full value , is pretty much a family aff air A simple diagram will make thi s plam !

Jos e ph m ith th e oph et S , Pr

' f 1 I H a Q C o 9 q '9 r q m0 I A a u a 0 I m l (1 s P 9 u MmA c A s 5 A A 3 u 1 W I I o mI I 3 H I u 1 J A -9 U A I

B m 9 — M 1 e 01 r

wa s Martin Harris a practical man as well as a man of faith, and hoped to reap a golden reward on earth as well as oc cu py a front pew in the New Jerusalem . Impelled by this practical vein in his char acter, a nd probably instigated by his 3 0 MORMON SAINTS

Quaker wife , who treated the whole matter “ ” as craziness , he insisted upon being given a copy of the writing , which he took to New York and showed to various schol ars , asking their opinion . The Mormons m An assert that the fa ous Prof . Charles thon declared the characters to be E gyp tian , Chaldean , Assyrian , and Arabic . Anthon in a letter denied having given any such ridiculous opinion, but suspected that an attempt was being made to vic tim i ze Harris , and accordingly warned B ut it him . Harris , is supposed, was only confirmed in his faith by any warning . “ God hath chosen the foolish things of the ” fa world to confound the wise , was his v r i o te axiom . Harris ’ s wife burned a part of the man us cr i t i p secretly, think ng to put an end to the scheme . This brought about a cool ness between Harris and Smith , the Pro phet suspecting the farmer of having con nived at the loss of the precious pages . Smith had a convenient revelation order ing him not to retranslate the lost portion, lest, if the stolen copy should be found and differed from the new version, skeptics ’ might scoff at God s word . Although Harris declared that B r o ther Joseph drank too much liquor while ” B ook o M or m on translating the f , the translation was finally completed . The THE BOOK OF MORMON 3 1

work was printed and given to the world 1 830 in , Harris mortgaging his farm for s to make thi possible . It was a 588 book of octavo pages , and was to be sold at the specially revealed price of Harris was to have the exclusive selling rights ; but he proved a failure as

a colporteur , and the books were finally an sold, traded , or disposed of in y way that would redound to the greater a f fl n ue ce and comfort of the Smith family . “ The meaning of the word Mormon , ’ ” which is Greek for bugaboo , has been explained by Smith with a happier ety ” m ol o gy . Mon in Egyptian means “ ” “ ” good, and mor is a contraction of “ ” “ more ; hence Mormon means more ” “ good or better . Such hybrid deriva tions being contrary to the best usage , it might be suggested that “ mon ’ be treated “ ” as a contraction of money, and that the “ ” full meaning is more money . “ B ” Part of the Golden ible was sealed ,

so that it could neither be opened nor read . “ wn The writing a s in a small u known ” character ; the facsimiles of it shown rather resemble the hieroglyphics execut ed by a very small boy who has sur r epti i ’ t ously secured his father s pen . There

are Arabic numerals , dots and dashes , cir an cles and squares , Roman letters at all n gles and upside dow , with queer curly MORMON SAINTS cues that look like a clumsy forgery of - a laundry check .

The original mss . of the new B ible had no marks of punctuation and no c apital letters , nor were there any paragraphs . The Urim and Thummim did not pay any attention to typographical details . ” After handling a few pages of the copy, the printer who got out the first edition had found that his reputa tion would be forever lost if he printed the book “ as it ” was written . Finally, after much expos tul a ti on , Smith modified the command ment of the Lord forbidding any changes , and gave the printer limited liberty as to nonessentials . Thus it appears that the new- fledg ed Prophet was already learned i in the w sdom of the Higher Critics . Not i ’ withstand ng the printer s corrections , the first edition of the “ inspired ” vol ume was full of errors in spelling and grammar , capitalizing and punctuation to say nothing of anachronisms , gross his tor i al c blunders , glaring absurdities , and stilted imitations of scriptural phr a s eol — ogy six hundred pages of dull drivel . Those hero - prophets of prehistoric

America were wondrously endowed, as they could quote from H a m l et and the King James B ible a thous a nd years b e fore —Shakespeare and King James were born plain proof of inspiration ! B ut THE BOOK OF MORMON 3 3 the work adds nothing to human know of ledge except the names two animals , “ ” om s un cur el om s and cum , hitherto known to Zoology . Along with Leviathan and B ehemoth, these creatures would

- prove drawing cards for any menagerie . Some inspired artist should paint these beasts and resolve all doubts about them . Has the cur el om wings or a prehensile " tail ! Is the cum om carnivorous or does it feed upon nuts !“ B ut what of the true origin of this sacred book "! One widely accepted theory identifies it with an archeological romance , T he M anus r i t F ound c p , written by the 1 ul 809 . Rev . Solomon Spa ding about Spaulding believed the American conti nent to have been colonized by the ancient

Israelites , and that the Indians are their hi — descendants . Upon t s theory which belongs in the same category a s Shake speare-B acon ciphers and Great Pyramid inheritances— the good dominie based a

- fabul ous hi story of the mound builders . He gave the manuscript to a Pittsburgh bookseller named Patterson . Spaulding died before an agreement as to terms of publication could be reached, and the manuscript remained in Patterson ’ s pos

session . Now another character appears upon hi i I the stage of t s relig ous melodrama . t 3 4 MORMON SAINTS

dn is Si ey Rigdon , who afterward became the great apostle of Mormonism . Rig don was a sort of theological free lance a n eloquent speaker and a man of much b t executive ability, u given to erratic no B tions . He drifted from the aptist fold into the Disciple , and here , becoming dis gruntled at real or fancied slights put up

on him by Alexander Campbell , he prob ably conceived the idea of starting a r e i i l g on of his own . It is known that he worked at the printer ’ s case in his young s P a t er days , and it seem that he was in ’ terson s employ or loafed about the place , and it is not unl ikely that in some way or other he got hold of the Spaulding manu

script . ’ Learning through the papers of Smi th s necromantic and clairvoyant perform “ ” o - an es , and of his magic peek stone , Rigdon saw in him a perhaps val uable

ally . Perhaps they met on one of Rig ’ don s tours as a Campbellite evangelist ; - dl perhaps the tin ped ing theologian, Par l ley Pratt , who wi l play a great role in

the future of the new religion, was the g o

between . An understanding was reached

in some way, and the result was that ’ ul r Spa ding s tale , g eatly padded and a l ter ed to suit the purposes of the schemers , in due time made its appearance as the B ook o M or on f m .

3 6 MORMON SAINTS

di not have evolved . It is a religious me novel written in the style of King s and Chr oni cl es l atitu , interminable, prosaic, p di no a us . , ungrammatic l It will never be attacked by any Higher Criticism ! it is b e i s im neath all criticism . Yet it believed li i l p c t y by hundreds of thousands . Very true are the words of the great hi storian “ Edward Gibbon ! The practice of super stiti on is so congeni al to the multitude that, if they are forcibly awakened, they still regret the loss of their pleasing So urgent on the vulgar i s the al necessity of believing, that the f l of any system of mythology will most probably be succeeded by the introduction of some ” other m ode of superstition . Very true —and yet how tragical ! BIRTH OF A NE W RE LIGION 3 7

CHAPTER IV

The B irth of a New Religion

w . It a s a time of spiritual unrest Mushroom sects sprang up over night s epidemic delusions swept acros the land , like the fla g ell ant and dancing manias of an the Middle Ages . The appear ce of a comet would throw whole communities in to a frenzy of preparation for the day of wrath . To this period belong the vaga ries of the Millerites , and the meteoric D lks career of y , the Leatherwood Mes siah ; this period also marked the rise of n the Disciples , the Winebrenneria s , the - B Free Will aptists . Religious excitement everywhere blazed up in remarkable r e vival s e , which were often attended by p culia r physical and psychical phenomena - t s shouting, grimacing, wri hing, a in con “ v l s i ns B u o . The arkers would gather around a tree , snarling and yapping like “ al dogs , which they c led treeing the ” devil camp -meetings would be convulsed with holy laughter ” that could be heard a long distance off for hours and days . It was an age of religious epidemics . The cause of this unsettled state of the popular mind, and of the consequent ready 3 8 MORMON SAINTS responsiveness to religious freaks and frauds , is not hard to find . The labors and privations of pioneer life were rapidly being superseded by the comfort and se cur it y of established communities , while education had not yet clarified the seeth ing brains . In the fallow soil of leisure a nd naive ignorance Mormonism quickly took root , like a score of other religious c a ecu r zes of the day, which had not its p liar elements of vitality and so perished . The church was defini tely organized at

1 830 A . Fayette , New York, in , on pril sixth " W h d y not five ays sooner , may be asked , to conserve the eternal fitness of things ! The six original members were Joseph m Smith , senior , Hyrum S ith , Joseph

Smith, junior , Samuel Smith , Oliver Cow dery, and Joseph Knight . At first they “ s called themselve the Church of Christ , “ c soon , however , they styled it the Chur h ” of Jesus Christ of Latter - Day Saints “ now usually abridged to Latter - D a y ” Saints . The first conference of the new- fledg ed b e church was held the same year , in the of ginning June , with thirty members pre a nd sent . Missionaries were sent out , an evangelistic campaign inaugurated . Elder Oliver Cowdery preached the first sermon ;

Parley Pratt , already mentioned , whose di w time was vided bet een peddling tin BIRTH OF A NE W RE LIGION 3 9

en ware and proclaiming the gospel, also tered the apostolate ; Martin Harris har angued crowds at street corners and in taverns . Sidney Rigdon soon threw off his mask, and embraced the new faith . He had been gradually preparing his congre a ti on g at Kirtland, Ohio , for the change ; now, at the start , he made a melodramatic s how of opposition , to render his conver sion all the more impressive . He went through a vehement public debate with

Pratt , yielding inch by inch , and at last surrendered, professing to have received the Spirit ’ s witness to the truth of the new

- revelation . The trump of the latter day gospel was sounded with might and main ; — conversion s came thick and fast except around Palmyra, where the Prophet and hi s t n acoly es were too well know . “ ” Of course , the world now began to ffl e a ict the Saints . Jos ph was arrested, charges of fraud being brought a g a l ns t him . Though acquitted by the district court , he deemed it prudent to shake the es dust of the community from his feet , p eci a lly as threats and attempts of vio 1 lence were several time s made . In 1 83 he and his followers removed to Kirtland , where Rigdon already had done effective missionary work . e Th re the church grew, despite vehem ent opposition . The ignorant and super 4 0 MORMON SAINTS s titi ous were frightened into the fold by prophecies such as one by Martin Harris , w a that ithin fifteen years Christ would p pear and everybody who had not accepted

Mormonism would be damned . Others were attracted by the fascination which the strange and marvelous ever exercises over many mi nds ; not a few were infl u enced by motives of cupidity and a desire and for place power . Such converts were not susceptible to counter a ctives lik e the scholarly Alexander Campbell ’ s expos! of B ook o M or h o the f m on . W knows if in centurie s to come Campbell ’ s writings may not. be lost like those of Celsus , who criticised early Christianity on the ground “ an d that weavers , tailors , fullers , the most il literate and rustic fellows ” were preaching this gospel and exalting the peculiar glory of ignorance ! It would be no greater marvel than the success of the illiterate a nd rustic fellows preachi ng Mormonism among people of their own mi stamp Still , it would be sleading to assume that all the Mormon converts of that day, or of more recent time , were ignorant and superstitious . Among them were men of piety and learning ; many were descended from the stern old Puri tan stock of New England . Such was Lorenzo Snow— whose sister Eliza later ’ — became one of Smith s wives an aecom BIRTH OF A NE W RELIGION 4 1 pli s hed Hebrew scholar and a graduate of Presbyterian Oberlin ; such was B righam

Young, the Joshua of Mormonism, whose grandfather was a New Engl and Metho dist , and whose father fought in the Revo

l i n r . ut o a y war Lorin Farr , the first mayor of Ogden, came of old New Hamp ’ shire stock ; Anson Call s grandfather fought at B unk er Hill and under Wash ing ton ; Abram Hatch also boasted of a

Revolutionary an cestry ; Franklin D . Rich ards was a native of Massachusetts ; ’ s Francis M . Lym an grandfather was a — cousin of Lyman B eeche r Henry Ward B eecher and Harriet B eecher Stowe were hi s second cousins . The list might be ex tended greatly ; but these names will suf fice to show that not merely the rabble was captivated by the str ange and novel doc trine . w a s A splendid temple built at Kirtland , representing a value of forty thousand dollars . Apostles were sent forth to con ” vert the Indian tribes , the Lamanites , to whom Smi th professed to be specially sent . A new version of the B ible was also begun with the aid of the Urim and a Thummim . Ere long, however , it bec me evident to Smi th that his plans could not be carried out to the full in the more set t l ed states . In obedience to a revelation — he now had revelations as reg ularly as 4 2 MORMON SAINTS his meals—another colony was founded in “ Missouri , where the foundations of the gloriou s city of the New Jerus al em were laid . The settlement prospered , for the Mormons spread its fame far and wide with an energy and eloquence that a town boomer of later days might have envied .

The streets would be paved with gold . The ten lost tribes of Israel had been dis in covered the vicinity of the North Pole , where they had for ages been secluded m b e by im ense barriers of ice , and had come vastly rich ; the ice in a few years was to be melted away when these tribes , w, ith Saint John at their head , would be seen making their appeara nce in the new m city, loaded with i mense quantities of gold and silver .

Communism , with its alluring dream of fraternity and its promise of assured sub sistence , was another factor that led many s I t to follow the apostle of Mormonism . was the time when the Shakers and the B Owenites . the rook Farmers and the i Harmon sts , formed their communities , most of them upon a religious basis . These doctrinaires could point to the ex ample of the early Christians who had all — , things in comm on an d in a time of eco nomic stress and emotional fervor such teachings found many eager listeners to ac cept them . As the Mormons increased

4 4 MORMON SAINTS have thrown a glamour over all its clai ms in the eyes of simple -mi nded and pious i s b e folk, spread its w ngs in the sobriquet ” B a stowed upon those apostles . righ m Young was the Lion of the Lord ; Parley A Pratt, the rcher of Paradise ; Orson -B Hyde , the Olive ranch of Israel ; Wil of s lard Richards , the Keeper the Roll ; n Joh Taylor , the Champion of Right ; “ ’ William Smith , the Patriarchal Jacob s f S t “ood r uff B aff ; Wilford , the anner of the A m E ntab Gospel ; George . S ith , the l a tur e of Truth ; Orson Pratt , the Gauge of Philosophy ; John E . Page , the Sun

Dial ; Lyman Wright , the Wild Ram of the

Mountains . The collapse of the Kirtland community came with wthe financial panic of 1 837 . The bank that as to swallow all other banks had flooded the We stern Reserve with a l worthless scrip . An ction for un awful banking was brought against Rigdon and

Smi th ; other troubles began to multiply . The temple had already been mortgaged not by the church , but by Smith , Rigdon , et a t . When the bank closed its doors , h e Mormonism pulled up stakes , and the culmi na t gira to the Missouri Zion began, ’ i ng in the Prophet s inglorious mi dnight hi i flight , w ch he justified by the say ng of “ Jesus ! Wh en they persecute you in one ” city, flee ye to another . BIRTH OF A NE W RE LIGION 4 5

“ Meanwhile the Missouri colony, where ” Christ woul d shortly reign in person , n wa s had grow to about souls and progressing finely ; but some practices of the Saints brought upon them the odium of their neighbors . Resolutions were passed ordering all Mormons to leave the state , forbidding any others to enter it , and closing with this delicious morsel of “ irony ! That tho s e who fail to comply with these requisitions , be referred to those of their brethren who have the gifts of divination and of unknown tongues , to ” inform them of the lot that awaits them . h a Josep , appe led to as Prophet, preached resistance and predi cted victory ; so a

Mormon army, two hundred and five men r strong, had set out f om Kirtland to smite m the Gentiles . Their banner was ilky “ ” u white , with the word Peace printed p - B ut on it in blood red characters . when s a w they arrived in Missouri , and the Gen “ ” tile host, instead of possessing the land they possessed themselves in patience , and decided to take the inscription of the ban ner literally a s their motto .

W h en Smith arrived in Missouri , Far wa s West the nucleus of the Mormon col wa s c ony there . A new temple proje ted, “ upon the very spot where the Garden of ” B ut Eden had once been . trouble was s brewing. Cowdery and Harri were ex 4 6 MORMON SAINTS

B communicated ; Thomas . Marsh , the and president of the Apostles , apostatized charged hi s late brethren with many mis deeds , among them counterfeiting, cattle m s thieving, im oral practice , and treason against the state . The people of Missouri rose ; civil war was rife ; the mi litia had to be called out . The end of the trouble was that the Mormons again had to cross the Father of Waters . As a Mormon — hymn phrase s it a genuine Mormon hymn for all its Gilbertian comic- opera flavor i s o i M s ur ,

i k e h i l i d i i ts f L a w r w n n ury , i h o a d e or And w t ut j u g j ury , l oo Dr ove th e S a ints a nd s pil l ed th ei r b d . NAUV OO T H E BEAUTIFUL 4 7

CHAPTER V

N auvoo the B eautiful 1 In the spring of 839 the Mormons , now ni more sinned against than sin ng, crossed over into Illinois , and there , about fifty s mile above Quincy, on a rolling plain in r a curve of the majestic st eam, founded B B Nauvoo the eautiful . oth the name of the new city and its significance were r e

e . vealed to Smith, who ruled ov r it as pro t phe , priest, and king . Soon the desert blossomed like the rose , and the erection of another pretentious temple was begun, a limestone of marmorean beauty and dur ability being used i h the building . From near and far the faithful flocked to the new settlement ; many converts were a t tracted through sympathy aroused by the Missouri persecutions ; and ere long Nau voo had a population of ten thousand soul s . The city was well governed .

Saloons and drunkenness were unknown . The Mormon virtues of industry and b thrift were a undantly in evidence . The idle were “ whittled ” out of town— sur a rounded by committee of citizens , who whi—ttled their sticks at them until they left a curious Yankee mode of ostracism ! 4 8 MORMON SAINTS

s mi As the number of Mormon grew, S th began to dabble in politics . He con trolled the vote of Nauvoo and the county almost absolutely ; in one election only six votes were cast In opposition to his dictum . This power he used to obtai n for Nauvoo a charter giving the church almost unl imit

ed rights and privileges . The Prophet was elected Mayor . The Nauvoo Legion was formed , a fine body of soldiery which eventually grew to four thousand men a Mormon army in the guise of state mil -in itia, with General Smith as commander hi c ef . The Nauvoo University was insti t d w tu e . s next A fine hotel a built, in

obedience to a special revelation, in which “ my servant Joseph ” was remembered as s alway , and a suite of rooms ordered to be him I m set apart for and his forever . agine a revelation from heaven decreeing the building of a hotel , and giving m inute architectural details ! Mormon apolo

gists , of course , point to the tabernacle as a precedent— for Mormon apologists are

quite resourceful . The year 1 844 saw Morm onism strongly c intren hed in Illinois , with Smith at the oc zenith of his glory and power . He cupied a place and wielded an influence far beyond anything hi s own hi gh-fantas r tic imagination had eve p ainted . His we alth was estimated at a million dollars ; wNAUV OO THE BE AUTIFUL 4 9 he a s Pontifex Maximus of a great and

growing church , absolute ruler over tem poral and spiritual things hundreds of missionaries p r oclaimed his wisdom a nd B holiness in every quarter of the globe . y hi s mi wa s ene es he envied and feared ; by

the politicians . of both great parties . cod e dl d and courted . No wonder his vault ’ ing ambition o er l ea ped itself !

Clouds began to gather on the horizon .

A number of his henchmen, notably John B ' C . ennett , were alienated, and went forth breathing calumnies ag ainst the a o church, cal ling N uv o a modern Sodom

and Smi th a moral leper . Some of their m a charges y have been too well founded , for it is almost certain tha t the revelation commandi ng polygamy had now been de “ w” livered and that spiritual ifehood w, a s flourishing. At the last dress parade ’ “ i ce of the Nauvoo Leg on, ten of Smith s ” l es ti l a wives took part, mounted on milk whi te chargers and arrayed in ful l uni form . Such things could not but rouse al l bad blood . With respect due to Mor mon virtues , the people of Illinois were m s not re a dy, any ore than those of Mi souri, to brook Mormon vices . It seems that am ong the failings of the wa s early Saints a fondness for their ’ hb s neig or g oods . Elders had found reve lation a very c onvenient path to prosper 5 O MORMON SAINTS ity ; a believer in possession of a gold watch or a suit of clothes could ofttimes be persuaded to turn them over in obedi c en e to divine injunction , but sometimes complai ned because the revelations never told the holy men to share their gold s watches or new suit with any one else . Still more objectionable was the literal a c “ ce ta nce ! B p of the words ehold, it is not said at any time that the Lord should not t ake when he pleased , and pay as seemeth

him good ; wherefore as ye are agents , and ’ ” — et a . ye are on the Lord s errand, c reve lation given in Missouri in 1 831 to miti gate the rigors of the Eighth Command

ment . “ — Milking the Gentiles a cant Mor — mon phrase of obvious m e aning was practiced till the Gentiles were incensed B ut M or m ons to fury . controlled the

courts round about Nauvoo , and could not

be convicted of any crime , however strong

the evidence . To fan opposition into active hate need ed only some such incident a s occurred in 1 4 wa s 8 3 . An attempt made upon the B life of Gov . L . W . oggs , of Missouri ; a -b e a Mormon was the would ssassin , and Smith was charged with having instig ated

the deed . A requisition was issued for

the Prophet and his alleged tool , but a writ

of ha beas corpus defeated thi s move . The

5 2 MORMON SAINTS

window attempting to escape . O Lord , ! ” my God were his last words . Thus the long comedy closed with a dark “ i r r e r e and tragic denouement . The p s confli c u ai sible had beg n . The S nts n saw the futility of resista ce , but chose to exile themselves rather than yield . The hi temple , w ch was to have cost a million dl dollars , was hurrie y completed , because Smith had prophesied it should be ; but wa s the day after its dedication it dis a s m ntled and the exodu began . The charter of Nauvoo was revoked by the leg i sl atur e ; the city was besieged and bom barded by a mob ; the remnant of the Pro ’ het p s followers was driven forth . At i B Counc l luffs , Iowa, they caught up with - u the advance g ard, and plodded on toward the setting sun .

B eyond the borders of civilization, the exiles hoped to buil d an empire of their

own, untrammeled by conventional moral ity and the envy of the orthodox denomina “ tions . They would claim the West for ” ’ their inheritance . Smith s tragic end re ally gave Mormonism a greater im petus

than anything else could have done . Per s ecuti on always further s the cause it at tacks ; it kindle s sym pathy in fair -minded

men, stubborn resistance in the martyrs

and their followers . TO T H E PROMISED LAND 5 3

CHAPTER VI

To the Promi sed Land

The blood of the Smiths , in the soil of h Uta , then a part of Mexico , became the prolific seed of a mighty church .

Upper California, as Utah was then al called, had ready been looked toward as ’ an ultimate haven in Smith s day . The

Saints , overwhelmed with grief at their ’ s Prophet martyrdom, were ready to de B ut part from the land of oppression .

a city can not be moved in a day . The people of Illinois disgraced themselves a s s had those of Missouri , and the haples

remnant of the Mormons was. driven

forth in the mi ddl e of winter , their homes

pillaged and burned, by the savage big

otry of their Gentile neighbors . A firm hand seized the reins that fell ’ B from Jo seph Smith s lifeles s grasp . rig ham Young showed that he had justly “ ” been styled the Lion of the Lord . This

uncouth man , who did not know how to

spell hi s own name , and began it with a “ y ” hi m . small , had in the qualities that — make gr eat leaders singleness of pur

pose , a clear head, and a resolute will . He

had the aggressive energy of Luther , the 5 4 MORMON SAINTS

r resourceful fervo of Loyola . He was the man for the hour ; no other could have saved Mormonism from disintegration in ’ c a the risis th t followed its leader s fall . B m Much as he has been maligned , righa was undoubtedly sincere . He accepted the Mormon revel a tion at par ; while an a ex er utocratic spirit , rising from his ub a nt vitality, led him to turn all things to his own aggrandizement . Not versed in s the subtletie of ethical dialectics , but holding that might makes right , his crude conscience justified any me a ns by the end a in view . With e se he wrested the scepter of Mormondom from Sidney Rigdon , who believed himself entitled to the succession . ws m m liv a de Sidney exco unicated , and ered unto Satan for a thousand years . Smith ’ s erratic rule was succeeded by a

- a wise , far seeing , and eminently pr ctical inflex policy, administered with despotic i ilit ik al b y , extending al e to things spiritu ” B r i ckh am and things temporal . young became Pope and Czar in one person . a With wonderful energy and gener lship, ’ B righam led the Saints hegira to the a region beyond the Rockies . Fanatic l faith buoyed up the spirits of the exiles , steeling them for the wearisome journey .

Hardships were many, but on the far hori zon gleamed the sta r of hope . They plod — d ed a cross the tra ckless pr a irie a seem TO T H E PROMISE D LAND 5 5 in l g y interminable caravan . There were twelve to fifteen thousand men , women and children ; over three thousand ox- carts and wagons ; thirty thousand head of cattle , un horses and mules in great number , counted droves of sheep . For nigh two years thi s pilgrimage through the wilder ness continued ; the jolting of the wagons to being used churn the milk . The church had no place of fixed a bode ; still the wSaints , shaken with ague and blistered ith fevers , had ever before their eyes the vision of the new city . As they journeyed on they received from the savage Indians of the wilds a welcome that stood in glar ing contras t with the inhuman treatment accorded them by the Christian communi “ h h a ties t ey d left behind . We have both P otta wa ttomi e suffered , said a chief ; “ we must help each other , and the Great

Spirit will help us both . A pioneer band of the bravest a nd best men was sent ahead to spy out the land and prepare the way . The romance of

was . Mormonism not yet at an end Noth ing in Greek myth is more beautiful than this forlorn hope scattering seeds of the sunflower along the route , so that the mighty host that followed was shown the way by patches of golden bloom . On the - 1 847 en twenty second day of July, , they ter ed the valley where they founded the 5 6 MORMON SAINTS

” An City of the Great Salt Lake . d now, an if rom ce had not fled, there also was still in their mi dst the saving grace of hu hi mor , which had made the story of Mor monism seem almost a huge joke from the

first . In an exhortation to the Saints , the Apostles commanded them to “ bring their gold, their silver , their copper, their zinc, their tin, and brass , and iron, and choice ” steel , and ivory, and preciou s stones , to

adorn the new Zion . So the Saints came , obedient to the command, and fell to work pitching rude shelters , splitting logs , hoe ing corn , and planting potatoes . Then the miracle of the cricket s oc i curred , convincing the ex les that the Lord had been their guide . Clouds of fierce de vour ing insects descended upon the young

crops . And it came to pass that white gulls fell upon the crickets and devoured s them . Thi incident has grown into an

elaborate myth , though naturalists decline

to see anything supernatural in it . Those g ulls wer e always numerous about the Great Salt Lake ; the crop s attracted the s crickets , and the cricket attracted the s mi birds . Naturalists are alway co ng along with such easy explanations to spoil m i r perfectly good miracles . The real

acle , however , was the perseverance of the

Saints . Soon the Great American De sert put T O T H E PROMISED LAND 5 7

. a wa s on robes of fragrance At first gr in c - s arce, so that thistle tops were eaten, soup -stock was made by boiling the hide roofs of houses , and the beef obtainable was so tough that they had to grease the s aws to cut it, yet faith and toil won the s victory . In a few year abundance p re a l eav1 n v iled, g leisure for the amenities l of ife . A great university was projected in 1 850 newa - hi wo ; a lphabet of t rty t s wa s wa letter invented ; a library s found ed, and well stocked with books from the East ; and a ye a r later even a dramatic s as ociation had been formed, giving cred itabl e 1 stage entertainments . In 853 the corner-stone of another new temple was s laid, amid the blare of brass band and the e rodomontad of the Apostles . i The commun ty throve marvelously . That they were governed wisely and well is proved by the manner in which B righam 1 49 Young stamped out the gold fever in 8 , w al hen many wanted to migrate to the C i i “ for n a Ophir . If we were to go and dig ” “ up chunk s of gold, argued Young , or

find it in our valley, it would ruin us — Sound statecraft losing some of its point and force by the declaration that “ the true use of gold i s for paving streets and cover ” ing houses .

Fresh troubles were brewing . The i ze — state of . Deseret was organ d which 5 8 MORMON SAINTS

- means the land of the honey bee , accord B ook o M or o ing to the f m n . The Mexican war had resulted in the cession of Cali for ni a Ne and New Mexico to the Union . vada and Utah then formed part of Cali f or ni a , so that the Mormons again had come under the jurisdiction of the United

States . A territorial form of government “ ’ was extended over the State of Deseret , and B righam Young was appointed gov ern r o . Ere long there moved into the thriving community Gentiles , who would not accept a s final the judgments of Mor s b mon court , presided over y Mormon a bishops . Perh ps they were justified in s B thi attitude , for righam Young himself, the a in patriarch l role of supreme judge , once threatened to dismiss the whole epis “ ! copal bench , with the words You are not fit to decide a case between two old ” women , let alone two men . The troubles were aggravated when polygamy was openly promul gated as a a l plank of the church platform . It was so charged that B righam had converted to hi s own use moneys appropriated by Con gress for government buildings . Other usurpations and abuses of various kinds added fuel to the flame . To balance the f a ccount , many of the judges and o ficials s ent to the territory by the government a t ” W ashingt on were d enounced bv th e M o r

6 0 MORMON SAINT S

CHAPTER VII

Mormon B eliefs and Practices W hile the hosts of the “ chosen people are preparing to repel the “ mercenary rabble ” sent against them by President B mi uchanan , let us exa ne the peculiar sys tem of government— almost a theocracy which held that people together , and still - di obtains among them to day, mo fied along some lines , elaborated along others , but l essentia ly the same . Also let us consider those virtues that have made them great , those peculiaritie s that have brought hate — and obloquy upon them the same to -day as at the outbreak of the Mormon War . The church polity of Mormoni sm i s com plex and complete . Its hierarchy includes dignitaries enough almost to exhaust the ’ English tongue s store of ecclesiastical ti tles . There are two orders of priest hood , the Melchisedec and the Aaronic ; c there are presidencies , ouncils, quorums , seventies , and stakes ; there are prophets , patriarchs , apostles , bishops , elders , dea i i tu a d n n m . cons , teachers , fi About a fifth of the Mormon men hold some i s churchl y office . Their organization per feet . Every block of buildings has its BELIEFS AND PRACTICES 6 1

nl teacher, who is charged not o y with keep ing ablaze the religious faith of those un der him, but is also their mentor in secu f i —in lar a fa rs business , in politics , in do m es ti c i s life . He father confessor and father inquisitor in one , and is amenable onl y to the ward bishop to whom he r e s ports . The ward bishop are under a pre siding bishop for the whole town . He in “ turn derives hi s authority from the First ” Presidency, consisting of the Prophet an a f d two Counselors , who direct the fairs of the entire church . This network of surveillance and super intendence centering in the supreme head of the church, this concatenation of power radi ating from the spirit of absolute and unquestioni ng obedience that permeates w a fi ai r s the hole body, moves in secular upon principles so empiric and crude that s tate s men would stand aghast at the r e ’ s ults c a . Here are Poor Ri hard s m xims welded into a system of political economy . “ ” “ B ul Laws, said righam Young, sho d be simple and plain, easy to be compre hended by the most unlearned void of am bi uit g y, and few in number . There is “ the basis of Mormon legislation . Pay m ” your tithes and ind your own business , was and i s the fundamental rul e of con ”

. u duct Produce what you cons me , another bit of hom ely counsel for plain 6 2 MORMON SAINTS

“ people ; buy no article from the stores that you can do without ; permit no viti ated taste to lead you into indulgence of u expensive l xuries . And though revela tion had exempted Joseph Smith from toil , the church pronounced labor to be honor able , and a duty no less than prayer or B temple service . righam Young worked ’ at the carpenter s bench in his own mill .

Charity was another supreme virtue , and was displayed most. commendably in the - w treatment of the broken do n Argonauts ’ 49 fleeced of , who were first on their way to the coast . Remarkable also was the attitude of the church upon the questions of slavery, tem

er a nce . p , and woman suffrage The aboli ti oni s t utterances of some Mormon leaders had much to do with the rancor aroused in

Missouri . Among the hundred and forty three pioneers who entered Utah were sev eral negro freemen And while B righam s held slavery to be a divine in titution , he also believed that the time would come when “ the seed of Cain should be redeem ed ’ —according to tradition the negroes were the descendants of Cain , and their black skin the mark set upon him by God . The Mormon settlers of Utah bought I n dian slave children , but only to prevent their being killed by their captors . The equal rights of woman were al ways BELIEFS AND PRACTICES 6 3 recognized ; the ballot belonged to male and female alike . The territory of Utah affords probably the first instance in the United States where woman suffrage was ’ — permitted a privilege later withdrawn I n before statehood could be obtained . deed, the Mormons may also claim to have i “ ” or ginated the new woman, as King i n Strang, who ruled an island colony Lake hi Mic gan, published an ukase which made “ ” r e bloomers obligatory, provoking a bellion that ended in his downfall—not the ’ first sovereign to trip over woman s skirts . Temperance and sobriety were incul cat ed from the start . At Far West and Nau voo a rigorous prohibition law was pro — m ulg a ted with a rather incongruous amendment reserving to Joseph Smith the sole privilege of selling liquor . And among the earliest enactments at Salt Lake City was one forbidding the sale or use of ardent spirits . In the heart of eu winter , and amid the horrors of the forced hegira, it had been resolved that ‘ i no corn should be made into wh skey, and that if any man was preparing to dis till corn into whiskey, or alcohol , the corn

should be taken and given to the poor . These homely virtues and enlightened principles of public policy would have ma de any people great ; but in Mormon ism they were linked with beliefs inherent MORMON SAINTS ly so absurd and practices so unconven ti onal that civilization laughed at the former and strove by every shift of di l om a c As p y or force to uproot the other . a fair sample of the ludicrous may be i h s tanced the new astronomy whi ch was to and be taught in the Deseret Univer s ity, was to overturn the orthodox theories of s un science ; putting the , the great orb

Kolob , into the center of the universe , let ting it rotate once in a thousand years and a ll u the host of heaven revolve aro nd it , while the law of gwravitation was entirely a s abolished . For it not so written in the B ook of Abr a ha m ! Mormon theology is of a truth fearfully u and wonderfully made . It is founded p B ook o M or m on in on the f , modified by numerable later revelations vouchsafed unto Smith , Rigdon , and Young . Accord ing to its prime tenets there is one chief s God, Jehovah , who has three person ; this wi e t supreme God has a fe , a femal dei y ; from them has sprung a whole pantheon s of minor gods and goddesses , beside angels and the human race .

God the Father , according to Joe Smith , has a body of flesh and bones as tangi ’ ” B ble as man s . According to righam

Young, God was Adam , and Eve was one ” s . of his wives . Mormon apologist do not t ce defend this doc rine , but it was rtainly BEL IEFS AND PRACTIC E S 6 5 promulgated by Young in a sermon preached April and i s just as a u thenti c as any other revelation or tenet of

Smith and his successors . According to later theologians , the supreme God h a s i h deed the form of a man , but his body is composed of spiritual matter that is , matter of extreme fineness . He resides in the center of the universe , near the great star Kolob , each millennial rotation of which marks a divine day . Jesus was l litera ly the son of God , but differs from — him only in age and a uthority seniority i presides . The Holy Spirit s matter i n r a r ified its most form , a subtle fluid , like electricity, filling all space . Heaven i s partitioned into three abodes — the telestial and the terrestrial , for those who have neither accepted nor r e ected c j the gospel ; and the elestial , for a nd a tho se who believe h ve been baptized .

The manner of baptism is by immersion , infant baptism being rejected . Curious in this connection is the doctrine of ” i sm t for the dead , according to which a n s y one , believing a decea ed relative to be in torment , can go and be baptized as n his proxy, so securing his admissio to

the re alms of bliss . These , the celestial

heaven , would ultimately be established i upon earth , when the great wh te throne

would stand in Jackson county, Missouri . 6 6 MORMON SAINTS

who accept Joseph Smith as the Pro phet of the Lord wi ll there reign with

Christ for a thousand years ; apostates , who are guilty of the sin against the Holy

Ghost , will be bound, and cast into the pit wwith Satan and his angels . Apropos of hich it may he remarked that the Mor mon leaders frequently and with the ut most s ang -fr oid consigned people to To phet for offenses far less grievous than “ the sin against the Holy Ghost . Zach ary Taylor is dead and in hell , and I am ” glad of it, declared Young, because of real or fancied slights put upon the Mor a mons by T ylor . A Federal judge sent to the territory angrily protested, when “ the leader of the Saint s coolly told hi m he need have no doubt about it , for he would ” see him when he went there himself . Upon this m! lange of chiliastic dreams and calculating invention , communistic ideas had been engrafted from the start , and later toned down into a system of tith

‘ing when they failed to arouse enthusiasm among those who had and who were ex p ected to impart unto those who had not . en The system of tithing , as rigorously f ’ forced, is one secret o the church s great power— it provided unlim ited sinews of war , which the leaders never scrupled to “ c h use in the most effe tive way . W en I m ” B put y hand into one pocket , righam

MORMON SAINTS

considered in a later chapter , and the atonement of blood According to this

latter doctrine , there are certain sins that

can hope for no pardon upon this earth . Among these are the shedding of guiltless

blood , apostasy, marital infidelity on the ’ wife s part, and revealing the inner work m B ings of the Endow ent House . lood — al one c an atone for these sins and the Mormons di d their best to make the atone ffi i B ment e cacious . Sa d righam Young in “ a public sermon ! I could refer you to plenty of instances where men have been righteously slain in order to atone for

sins . I have seen scores and hundreds of people f or whom there would have been a chance in the last resurrection if their lives had been taken and their blood spilled on the ground as a smoking incense ” to the Almighty . Human sacrifice , for by no other term could it be described, was one outgrowth of this doctrine ' the other development was plain murder .

To carry out these teachings , worthy of

Thugs or Assassins , a secret society was formed , sworn to support the head of the church in all things . They were called “ the Destroying Angels , or Danites “ Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an ’ adder in the path , that biteth the horse s heels , so that his rider shall fall back ” ward (Genesis The organization B E LIEFS AND PRACTICE S 6 9 already existed while the Saints were in Missouri ; to this there is ample direct tes tim on y , apart from the circumstantial evi dence in the attempt to assa ssinate the — its m m a Governor indeed , ger y be found 1 3 at Kirtland, in 8 7, when one Grandison Newell charged Smith with inciting a young Mormon neophyte to take his life . Many murders were char ged against this Danite brotherhood , which made the

Mormons a terror to their neighbors . No ’ les s a witness than the Prophet s own brother declared under oath that before leaving Nauvoo fifteen hundred of the n Saints solem ly swore , in the presence of Almighty God and his holy angels , that they would avenge the blood of Joseph mi S th upon the nation , and so teach their children ; and that they would hencefo rth and forever begin and carry out hostility a and gainst this nation , keep the same a ” profound secret now and forever . This dogma, born of the spirit of revenge in the O weak and ppressed, made their later I ts r atrocities seem deeds of piety . t agic climax , writ large in blood, will be nar in r rated the next chapte . 7 0 MORMON SAINTS

CHAPTER VIII

The Mormon War

We have seen the Mormons , weak and - i long suffering under persecution , d s s em b ling their resentment, at worst plotting revenge in secret . Now we shall see them powerful and vindictive , flinging down the n gauntlet of defia ce to a great nation .

Their legislature , in which were now some aw astute l yers , went so far as to pass one act that virtually abrogated the entire body of the English Common Law .

Conquering the wilderness , the Mor mons came to know their own strength ; now they were ready to try it against the a d mailed fist of civilization . It must be mi tted that they showed themselve s s u s tr a e i es perior , both in t g and in diplom acy, to the trained troops and leaders sent i aga nst them . The bloody drama of se cession , which a few year s later was to be a enacted upon the n tional stage , had a prologue upon the great plateau of the

West . President B uchanan deposed B righam hi Young from the governors p , which was conf erred upon Alfred Cumming ; Judge a Delana R . Eckels , of Indi na, was made THE MORMON WAR 7 1

B chief justice of the territory . y June of 1 858 over s ix thousand men were in r e- Utah , or on the march , to establish Fed eral supremacy and maintain the author ity of the Federal courts . B Give us ten years of peace , righam Y “ oung had said, and we will ask no odds of the United States . He had foreseen this confl ict when his people entered the valley . Now the die of war had been cast , and the crafty old leader prepared to r e pel aggression by assuming the a g g r e s s sive . His a surance , whether g enuine or

c was s . theatri , marvelou In an immense convocation of his people he announced that at no distant day he would hims elf become President of the United States , or would bestow the office upon whomsoever Hi s he choose . own courage inspired his followers ; there was a fury of preparation for the conflict ; every house was turned into an armory and arsenal . Fierce de in termination glowed every heart . Dur ing divine service at the tabernacle , soon wa s n after the approach of the troops a nounced al l , an apostle asked to raise their s ul hand who wo d burn down their homes , fell the trees , and lay waste the fields , if the foemen entered the valley . Over four thousand were in that congregation— and i i s every hand was ra sed . There no doubt t tha the United States army, if it had 7 2 MORMON SAINTS forced the passes of the mountains and a m rched upon Salt Lake City , woul d have found a smouldering Moscow in a howlin g wilderness . The Mormons at once inaugurated ef fective guerrilla warfare . They captured or destroyed the supply-tra ins of the ih s vading army, tampeded their cattle , burnt every available shelter on the line n of advance . The army went into wi ter — quarters destitute and discouraged al most justifying the contemptuous hyper “ bole of an elder ! A swarm of long billed mosquitoes could eat them up at a ” supper spell . While harmony and pa tr i oti c self- s a cr ifice prevailed at Salt Lake

City, factions were snarling at each ’ s other heels in Washington , and unani mity was present onl y among the horde of contractors who fleeced the government by furnishing the a rmy wretched supplies at exorbitant prices , as in every war . t i 570 Flour , for instance , cos the tr fle of $ a ton . The ending of the Mormon War was not -i creditable to the United States . Pres dent B uchanan has been described by a fair historian as “ not at heart an unjust ” “ man , but he lacked the requisite back bone . His messages were filled with h e d noble phrases , but wavere and hesi ta ted se , and usually in the end compromi d T H E M ORMON WAR 7 3

e with vil . That is what he did in the dl Mormon mud e , in which he lost interest after he had set hi s headstrong wil l upon putting the V i ci ous Lecompton cons titu n tion through to browbeat Ka sas . While the Federal forces sent to Utah were still B hibernating near Fort ridger , Col . s n Thomas L . Kane , a Penn ylva ian, friend ly to the Mormons and perhap s a secret B n ’ agent or lobbyist of righam You g s , was sent by the President with the olive n branch of peace . Ka e reached Utah by hi s way of California, and succeeded in s mission of conciliation . The Mormon nominally submitted , and an escort of their militia conducted the new governor to the state capital , where his authority was acknowledged . Amnesty was grant s in ed the Saints , and the troop marched c to Salt Lake City, whi h was deserted by its thirty thousand inhabitants , save for a resolute little handful who were to apply the torch if the military took possession . Governor Cumm ing followed the fleeing

Saints , who had already decided to emi a grate to Sonor , and prevailed upon them s to return . For several year the soldiers were quartered within forty miles of the

w . to n , but no further trouble arose The spor t had co st the n ation over fifteen mil f lions o dollars , and nothing had been gained . 7 4 MORMON SAINTS

At the begi nning of thi s war oc curred the horrible Mountain Meadows I massacre . t was the logical outcome of B the lood Atonement doctrine , and there win is not the shadow of a doubt that it a s s tig ated by leading Mormons and execut ed by men of the Nauvoo Legion and In s dian allie of the Saints . Parley Pratt , one of the Apostles , the man who had “ ” converted Sidney Rigdon , had been m an w killed by a whose ife Pratt had “ ” lured into his harem . Innocent blood o cried to heaven for vengeance . The p ’ or t nit p u y soon offered itself . Pratt s n slayer was from Arka sas , and now an Arkansan emigrant train was crossing

Utah . The killing of Pratt was expiated

- by those hapless . home seekers, of whom probably none had ever heard of Pratt . Mormon scouts on fleet horses sp ed in a d s vance of the train , and warned the Saint along the route not to furnish the emi grants food nor afford them shelter . The company would have died of starvation in mi the dst of abundance , had not the bul lets of the Danite avengers cut them off .

- A hundred and twenty seven men , women , and children perished in that slaughter .

The bodi es were left unburied, a prey to the coyotes . A Mormon , moved by pity, buried some of the bleached bones

7 6 MORMON SAINTS

CHAPTER I !

’ In Solomon s Footsteps . The institution which for years formed ’ the impas s able barrier to Utah s admit — tance into the sisterhood of states a n in stituti on that seems interwoven with the — very texture of th e church was polygam y . It will surprise many people to learn that the B ook of M or m on in the plainest term s forbid s polygamy . Scripture itself is silent upon this point ; but Joseph ’ Smith s B ible ha s an explicit prohibition that ca n not be equivocated away by any the sophistry of exegetics . Here are words ! “ And were it no t tha t I mu s t s p eak unt o you concern

in a r os s e r e ea o e o e ex ee . g g r c im , my h rt w uld r j ic c ding ly For e ol s s a the L o r T s peop e b h d, thu ith d, hi l

o wa x e e s a not the b eg in t in iniquity ; th y und r t nd

D a a nd S o o o ha d S criptures . vid l m n truly

a s a nd o e c wa s a o a e we s v m ny i c ncubin , whi h thing b min bl

o m s L . e e o e b ef r e e, aith the o rd W h r f r , my

b re r e ea r m e a nd ea ke to the o of the L o th n , h , h r n w rd rd ; fo r th ere s h a ll not a ny m a n a mong you h ave s ave it

be one e a nd o es he s a a ve o e fo r wif , c ncubin h ll h n n ; I ,

the L o God el the a s o f o e . rd , d ig ht in ch tity w m n This passage shows that a multiplicity IN S OLOMON ’ S FOOTSTEPS 7 7 of wives formed no part of the Prophet ’ s al origin scheme . Indeed, in the early days of his career he found it difficult t enough to suppor a single wife , much less s a harem of forty, as was charged again t him later . John Hyde, one of the few apo s tates who spoke with fai rness of the “ church after seceding, said polygamy ’ was not the result of Smith s policy, but ” ffl of his passions . It was the a uence and the opportunities of Nauvoo days that led “ him into the grosser crime ; an idle and luxurious mode of life , two hundred and twenty pounds of “ too too solid flesh ” ’ the s e wr ought the Prophet s fall from grace . There is ample evidence of immoral ities practiced by Smith and others at Nauvoo , s al and perhap earlier , which gradu ly “ transpired , and made necessary the spe ” ci al 1 843 a revelation given in , s nction ing and commanding a plurality of wives . For nine years that revelation was kept secret , and the practice was publicly de nied— partly because Illinois had laws r to punish bigamy, but chiefly in orde that No proselyting might not be hampered . t offi 1 2 e. until 85 , Young at Salt Lak City l ci al y proclaimed the doctrine , and ever si nce it has been a cardinal tenet of the m church, which si ultaneously made the “ startling discovery that Jesus had sev 7 8 MORMON SAINTS

eral wives , among them Mary and Martha, ” the si s ters of Lazarus . Simple polygamy was not broad enough for these peculiar Saints , so they invented that doctrine of celestial ens ealm ent which made Mormonism almost a revival of the obscene cult of the B abylonian Mylitta . The practical application of the doctrine meant sexual promiscuity under the sanc tion of the church A man might wed as “ ” many spiritual Wi ves as he could per suade to enter into that relation with him — while they might at the s a me time be the temporal wives of other men . A woman might have any number of “ celestial ” hus — “ ” bands that is , she could be sealed to some dead person , who had an earthly a a proxy, with all m rit l rights , save that the children born were credited to the i Saint in heaven . The workings of th s system can not be fully comprehended by the Gentile world - they formed p art of the wm secrets of the Endo ent House , whose precincts might not be entered by the pro

‘ faneu B ut enough is known to make it clear that “ any one of either sex can be sealed to any number of persons of the op ” o i e p s t sex , whether married or single .

The Reorganized Church , a protesting sect which sprang up in repudiation of B righam Young , never countenanced poly a d gamy, but numbers only about ’ IN S OLOMON S FOOTSTE P/S 7 9 h r nt T he e e s . orthodox Saints defended polygamy by an elaborate line of argu ment , the salient points. of which were as wfollows ! I f it is not wrong to have one ife , why should the possession of two , or “ a ! a score , be stigmatized s a crime Abra s ham, Isaac, Jacob , Mose , David, and

Solomon had many wives and concubines , and it was accounted unto them for right — eous nes s nowhere in the B ible i s there a B c word of disapproval . esides ac ording to Mormon theology, all space is peopled ws unl ith pirits awaiting incarnation ; ess there is plural marriage these Spirits can not all be supplied with human bodies to join the ranks of the saints on earth , and so attain to salvation . Such are the scrip tural and theological warrants for the i s practice , no less importance attached to the argument based upon the experience of mankind and the constitution of human s o ci t e y . Statistics will prove that there are many more women than men ; so , unless there is plural marriage , many women must perforce remain unmarried, Mono am i g y, it is further cla med, makes the one wife more truly the slave of her hu sband than are the many wives of the polygam ist ; it prom otes licentiousness and fosters s i n prostitution ; and finally, it exist nam e only, for among the professedl y mono gamic comm unities practical polygamy is 8 O MORMON SAINTS just as comm on as among the openly polygamous . These plausible contentions may not be al lightly dismissed . Let us an yze them in detail . A mi for d tted , that if it is not wrong a man to have one wife , it can not be wrong m for him to have a dozen . The sa e premi s es lead to the conclusion that if it i s not wrong for a woman to have one husband . it can not be wrong for her to have a dozen . This the polygamous oracle—who is a — e man, mark you makes hast indignantly B ut mi to deny . if we ad t that woman is ’ — man s equal something more than a slave hi s to minister to appetites , or a beast of — burden to work in hi s field s then she has just as strong a claim upon the undivided affections and attentions of her husband as he has upon her love and care . The B ible does not di rectly interdict — iffi polygamy true . It will also be d cult to find in it any Thou shalt not ” leveled against arson , gambling, and many other b e offenses against society . These have come crimes only by the evolution of a n complex society . There is no inhere t ’ r ovi d wrong in setting fire to one s barn , p it i ed enta ls no injury, direct or indirect , n — in upon a y one else neighbors , heirs , i nc a s u a e comp ny . There is no essential wrong in ca rrying goods acro ss a coun IN S OLOMON ’ S FOOTSTEPS 8 1

’ try s border, provided you do not thereby evade payin g your fair proportion of the expense of government , and so increase the proportion others must pay . There could be no valid objection against polygamy, if it might be harmonized with the Golden

Rule . A man might have ten wives , pro vided he could show that he loves each with as his whole heart , he demands that she love him ; and provided he accords to each the privilege of espou s ing ten husbands .

Nor does his duty end there . He must

wal l . o sho that he can fulfill his parental b ligations springing from each of the ten unions ; clothe , feed, educate the offspring a of all s he could that of each one . He must show that his conduct does not work inju s tice or injury to any individual nor s B ut to ociety . polygamy is convicted of — the gr ossest injustice at the outset it r e gards the wife as a possession of the hus a s hi band , s inferior ; it is a relic of the age s when women were chattels , spoil of s war, beasts of burden . It rears a warm of chi ldren unl oved . uncared for, untaught .

For the home it substitutes the harem . ’ wi a It puts the fe beneath the husb nd s

not . heel , at his side

As for the spirits awaiting incarnation , it m ay be just a s well to let them wait . In the ab s ence of reliable statistics from Mormon writers as to the precise number 8 2 MORMON SAINTS

a of those spirits , there is reason to fe r that under Mormon practice the supply of

. A spirits might run short . dire contin enc ! B h g y In point of fact , this udd ist c spe ulation , revamped into a Mormon dog ma, requires to be proved before it may

demand to be refuted . The sociological arguments are of the flim s i e s t texture . If women are m ore

numerous than men , the greater number of births under polygamy would incr ease

the disproportion in the same ratio . Whether the one wife of the monogamist is his slave may be left to the sound sense and conscience of any monog amist who

has them . To say, further , that mono gamy prom otes licentiousness and fosters prostitution is equivalent to asserting that

polygamy tends to abolish them . Does i "2 t . Or does it simply cloak them under legalism "! If we admit that practical polygamy exists in monogamic communi ai i s ties , it can not be gains d that it every where regarded as an evil to be con an dem ned and eradicated , rather than as ideal state of society to be desired and

promoted . — To sum it up polygamy may nominally diminish crime by legalizing it ; but it practically increases it by making it safe and respe ctable There were reported to be fifteen thous and polygam ists in Utah

8 4 M ORMON SAINTS

the wm a man for the one woman , of one o n u for the one man . From this close nion of interests and affections, this loss of self and intermingling of two lives , sp ring the s highest, holiest ideal that human kind has l ever known . On y from such homes , only ar n l from the nurture of such e ts , on p l y out i of the sunshine of such ideals , can s sue men a nd women great and strong to do h the work of coming time . Without suc men and women the Republic is doom ed, and the Capitol , like the Alhambra, will be to comi ng age s onl y a m elancholy relic of a ruined race . SCHEMING FOR STATEHOOD 8 5

CHAPTER !

Scheming for Statehood

f e auvoo he A ter the collaps at N , t shrewd and far - sighted man upon whom “ had fallen the mantle of Prophet of the ” Lord realized that it was not enough for Mormonism to have its city ; it must have — a holy land all its own not merely

. a s a Jerusalem , but a Canaan So , soon as the region where they settled had he come , through the Mexican war , a part of wa s the Union , independent statehood ever kept in view by the Mormon leaders . The wa s ni shadowy state of Deseret orga zed, but Congress refused to recognize it , and a territorial form of government was ex al tended over the aspiring commonwe th , wa s which ca lled Utah . The Mormons that were driven from Illinois to Utah h a d no very kindl y feel “ ’ s ings toward the United States . There d—d that flag again , cried an elder at landing in California after a trip around B ut the Horn . persistent agitation and scheming now began , to obtain the state wa al hood that s so essenti to the stability

wt . and gro h of the church As long as ai Utah rem ned a territory, Mormonism 8 6 MORMON SAINTS and its leaders would be under Federal ’ tutelage and jurisdiction . Utah s admi s sion to the sisterhood of states , with home l rule , with voice and vote in the counci s of the nation , would make the church impreg wnable . So statehood must be atta ined at hatever price . And the Mormons never hesita ted at any means to achieve that end .

When might did not avail , recourse was h in had to meekness . W ere steel proved e wr a s . a a d o ffective , gold used After b g g cio in failed, systematic deception was a u ur a ted a g , and the remarkable spect cle presented to the world of a great com m u nity playing as one man the role of the hypocrite . From the first memorial to the di last lobby, their plomatic battle for statehood was never relaxed till victory was won . ’ The insuperable obstacle to Utah s a d mission was the institution of polygamy . States had been admi tted with less p opu — lation but public sentiment would not permit an action that would make the gov er nm ent practically powerless in the presence of an offense against society . An application for s tatehood in 1 862 was not only refused , but a stringent law against polygamy in any of the territories was en acted . Nor did the intemperate utter anoe s of prominent Saints tend to improve the sta tus of affairs . SCHEMING FOR STATEHOOD 8 7

It soon became evident that di fferent tactics must be adopted ; the country must be conciliated , and public feeling lulled . E ffusive loyalty was counterfeited ; the unpatriotic utterances of over-zealous elders were carefully suppressed, and those who made them cautioned . Even — this availed nothing a s long as the s Saint upheld and practiced polygamy, no political party dared open the door to them ; and, as Lorenzo Snow , later presi of dent the church , declared, they would di e a thousand deaths sooner than give r up this article of thei creed . Movements ’ on the government s part. to sup press the evil were met with passionate memorials , affirming tha t the church would obey God rather than man . Judicial procedures to enforce existing acts were quashed, or were too spasmodic to be of any effect ; if ws a it came to a trial , this usually a par c a ody upon justi e . E ach party was afr id of the other ; the representatives of the na tion feared to provoke the Saints , While these did not dare openly to defy the na tion . 1 B m In August of 877 righa Young died , fift — leaving seventeen wives , y six children , and an estate val ued at John

Taylor , who had been in Carthage jail and was wounded by the mob that killed Jos c eph Smith , su ceeded to the presidency of 8 8 MORMON SAINTS

’ the church . Under Taylor s regim e the a s troubles of the S int multiplied . He had not the astute mastery, the intuitive knowl of di i edge men , which stingu shed Young . Where a s Young had been a ble to maint ai n the “ divine ” institution of polygamy de spite Gentile persecution, the church was

a . wi now h rd pressed by its foes Still , th a f natical tenacity, they held on to this r e n n u a t . p g tenet Sooner than surrender it , i one colony em grated to Mexico , Where they founded a settlement now pro sperous and growing ; another host invaded Cana da, and gained a firm foothold there . The leaders of the hierarchy, who could not or h a d would not leave Utah , to take to the mountains , or live in concealment , until the day of tribulation should be past . It is told of Wilford Woodruff , the Presi

- dent Prophet who succeeded Taylor , that while hiding from the officers of the law he cut a field of grain by moonlight with a - c i hand si kle , beginning in the m ddle of the t field and working outward, cut ing all but the outer waving walls that hid him . Such was the unbending spirit and nu wearying energy of those men . — Persecutions thickened indeed , the na ti onal government stepped very close to the bounds of constitutional authority in its repressive measures . The Edmunds act of 1 882 resulted in the di sfranchisement of SCHE MING FOR STATEHOOD 8 9 twelve thousand polygami sts within two

. wa s years It even propo s ed to abolish the legislature, and govern Utah by a com m i s sion appointed by the President . New appli cations for statehood were turned down ; appeals to the Supreme Court r e s ulted in nothing . Many Saint s were cast — into prison principally on charges of il a legal cohabit tion, for polygamy, owing to the s secrecy of the marriage rite , coul d rarely be proved ; s till the practice contin ’ ued unabated , hiding from the world s eye in the cloistered chambers of Temple and

Endowment House . Then came the draconian Edm unds 1 Tucker act of 887 . Vast possessions of the church were escheated . Congress wo took the right of suffrage away from men , who , strangely enough , through their implicit obedience to the priesthood , had for seventeen year s formed the mightiest bulwark of polygamy . Then followed a proposition , which passed both houses of 1 i Congress in 890 , to disfranch se all Mor am mons , whether polyg ists or not , as Ida ho a lready had done . ws In this crisis the change of policy a adopted which saved the church from dis integration and gained statehood for Utah . Stubb orn force had fail ed ; resort was now had to hypocrisy and fraud . Prophet Wil ford Woodruff had a revelation as oppor 9 0 MORMON SAINTS

i tune as any that ever came to Sm th . In a petition to the President , asking for par don and restoration of the franchise to the convicted polygamists , the statement “ 1 890 was made that in September, , the present head of the church, in anguish and prayer , cried to God for help for his flock, and received permission to advise the members of the Church of Jesu s Christ of - l w Latter Day Saints that the a command ing polygamy was henceforth suspended . Suspended for how long ! The hypocritical game was played with m A consu mate cunning . ccounts were published abroad of the disfavor with c whi h polygamy was now viewed, and of its decline ; prominent Mormons denoun oed i it ; a pwlank aga nst it , formulated by as Mormons , adopted by a territorial convention ; a prohibition of it was even suggested as an am endm ent to the consti t tu i on of the United States . At the same time the Mormons suddenly became Republican s and Democrats , the ’ old People s party of the church , opposed to the Liberal party of the Gentiles , being n wa s hi aba doned . It nted, even bluntly promised, that whichever party gave Utah statehood would receive its electoral vote and its congressional and senatorial sup port . The ruse succeeded completely . P r esident Harrison extended amnesty to

9 2 MORMON SAINTS

CHAPTER ! I

Acts of the Apostle s The Mormons are the Moravians of e America , by th ir missionary zeal and he r oic sacrifice . This has been the chief secret of their marvelous success and of t the rapid spread of their doc rines . Two m apostles , Hyde and Ki ball , were sent 1 837 wi forth as early as , and thin three years counted over four thousand con s vert in Christian England . For over half a century there went forth on an a v erage a hundred missionaries annuall y ; to day more than three hundred set out each year to preach the latter day gospel , and two thousand elders are busy i n vari ous fields . Any priest is liable at any moment to be sent anywhere by his superiors . Obedience is the cardinal vir tue . The elder so commanded goes forth , and must even provide hi s own support until the contributions of his converts maintain him . There are no Mormon mis s i ona r y debts ! The absolute abnegation of self which characterizes these men is well illustrated by a story told of Martin Harris , in the early days of the church . He pestered ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 9 3

a man to purchase a copy of the B ook of M or m on n , till the man a grily struck him a

blow in the face . Instantly Harri s turned

the other cheek, and at the same time opened the book in hi s hand at the page where Smith ’ s garbled version of the Ser m on on the Mount enjoins this attitude in

persecution . Such incidents could not i fa l of making deep impressions . s The second rea on of their success , given missionary fervor and fanatical de voti on , is found in the recognition of their

limitations . They soon realized that it was almo s t useless to turn to the intelli or - - gent the well to do , so they strove to

win . the ignorant and lowly Men they a were after, not money ; brawn , not br in ; a hi if they g ined these t ngs , as they shrewd l w y foresa , the others would be added unto '

them . In large measure it was a process “ ” of natural selection . The wealthy and educated classes laughed at Mormon pre tensions and were not dazzled by Morm on mi pro ses . The unlearned readily accept s ed the new revelation, with its slavi hly n s wal literal i terpretation of Scripture ; ws lo ed the tories of Mormon miracles , and ’ the prophecies of the world s impendi ng T he doom . poor snapped greedily at the a the wan b it of Mormon paradise , where t wwn al a s un kno , and fabulous we th would

soon abound, and the Lord rained manna 9 4 MORMON SAINTS

down from heaven . The claim to be th e chosen people ” of the Lord also had its unfailing fascination for religious vanity .

Others , especially in foreign lands , where di ssenters from state churches la r a t bored unde many disabilities , were tracted by glowing protestations of liber “ ” li s m a . The kingdom of God, declared f one ef usion , consists in correct princi m t th ’ ples , and it a t er e not what a man s — religiou s faith is whether he be a Presby i B terian or a Method st , or a aptist , or a ‘ ’ Latter Day Saint , or Mormon , or a Camp l bellite , or a Catholic, or Episcopa ian , or h Ma ometan, or even Pagan, or anything hi s else . If he will bow the knee , and with i tongue confess that Jesus is the Chr st , wi and ll support good and wholesome laws hi m for the regulation of society, we hail as a brother , and will stand by him as he stands by us in these things ; for every ’ man s faith is a matte r between his own ” ut soul and his God alone . With such en - ter ce s the down trodden , the illiterate , the di scontented of foreign countries were attracted to “ the land flowing with milk ” and honey . The Perpetual Emigration Fund procured their passage across the ocean , and, once at the seat of Mormon power , they were speedily reconciled to the peculiar doctrines of the Saints . The Mormons saw that immigration was ACTS OF T H E APOSTLE S 9 5

a blessing to be desired, not a curse to be a s turned aside , demagogues a nd deluded l ea dei s labor stigmatize it . This pre empting of immi gration was one of the shrewdest features of Mormon propagan da . They did not send evangelists into city slums and rural settlements after the s stranger had imbibed the air of freedom . They did not lie in wait for the immi

a t c . grants Castle Garden, like other se ts They sent their preachers to foreign a n shores , to preach Mormonism d Ameri s ca, till converts by thousand soon crossed the seas . Over thirty thousand had been won in Engl and alone in the first twenty r years of their activity . They car ied their gospel to Malta , to South Africa, to

India, to the Sandwich Islands . The methods of the early mi s sionaries were much like those of the Salvation A - B rmy to day . eating drums , blowing s trumpet , chanting hymns for which they had appropriated catchy popular tunes , they gathered audiences upon the high n ways and byways , and hara gued them , o r B the B ok of M o m on in hand . eing

American farmers and artisans , the apo s tles were mostly fine spe cimens of man hood, which gave them added standing among the degener a te populations of Eu a d rope . Jules Verne , who doubtless mired ih Joseph Smith a kindred genius , 9 6 MORMON SAINTS

bears witness to this in Une Vill e Fl ot ‘ tante ! W h o is you tall man of haughty ! ’ ‘ ’ mien I asked . He is a Mormon , was ’ ‘ the Doctor s reply . One of their elders , a a great pre cher in the city of the Saints . W h at a splendid type of manhood ! Look

at his proud eye , his noble countenance , his dignified carriage ! ’ That man was A m t bra Ha ch . Here we have the whole Mormon mis s i ona r y scheme . They are pursuing the m - sa e tactics to day, toned down to suit

the times . They are proceeding more i caut ously, but no less determinedly . Though they sometimes attack the cita — dels of culture Congressman B righam H . Roberts was the church ’ s repre sentative ’ at the World s Congres s of Religions in Chicago— their preference is for the more i prim tive communities of the We st , the ’ Northwest , and the South . Paul s motto ”— Thi s one thing I do they have ever in mind . All the eloquence of fanaticism is concentrated upon the task of spreadi ng

- their doctrine . Wily and smooth spoken , with plausible reasonings and ingenious inventions , they soon put to rout the mea

ger theological learning of their victims . The astute Mormon apologist is able to silence his critics by pointing to the va g arie s and superstitions of others that pro

fess to be more enlightened . To the ACT SwOF T H E APOSTL ES 9 Methodist he ould say, Was not JOh! Wesley ’ s lame horse cured by faith ! ’ h r The Lut e an he would ask, Did not th founder of your faith throw an ink -pot a ” the Devil ! Coming down to our OW ! “ im he wl t es, ou d inquire , Did not P athe Ignatius and s even others see the Virgil m e wh Mary on the ado of Llant ony Abbey m r 1 on Septe be 5 , And does no the hr ti i Mrs . Stetson, once leader of C i s a in Newconfid n l ‘ Scientists York City, e t —“ i await the resurrection of Mrs . Eddy ” m ay be to -day ; it m ay b e next week m a stut Pointing to such pheno ena, the Morm on apologist insist s that hi s fait impose s no greater tax upon hum an cred

lity than their s . Not only are the mis sionaries arme m with such edged argu ents , they are ofte proficient in other arts that win favor opinions for them—along with cash r eor their m aintenance . When Elde G '

. m who wa s J Ada s , an actor , was sent hi convert P ladelphia, on arriving there played Ri cha r d I I I for a week to rai se i h e mi ss onary fund . He made S akes p a n a advance agent for Joe Smith . w r e Kno ing the opposition they a lik e the ai s to ncounter, S nt seek to establ m t the selve s in a communi y, an them selve s at the fir esides of before their character and mi s 9 8 M ORMON S AINT S k nown . Not until they are sure of their m i the m victi s s ask removed . Whole mi s in hi s wa be fa lie are gained over t y h wi fore t ey kno t is Morm onism that is i wv ts m h m . ea ing es es about the When h h ha t ey learn it, t e poison s done its work ; h m s ws o t eir ind are saturated ith subtle i ph s tri es , and no reasoning can prevail . m This indefatigable activity, supple ent ed by the missionary literature s ent broad h T he i t e . cast, s bound to tell in end church doe s not endeavor to displace h m com C ristianity, but to supple ent and l ete s the p it . This vweil suspicion ; seed of doctrine once s o n, no opposition can root i ut h it out of simple m nds , b rat er tends to establish and strengt hen it . the m If they ar e persecuted, issionaries wh the bear it it resignation, and so deepen on h m immes si t ey have ade . Every elder beaten and tarred and feathered is an ar gum ent in favor of the church for which he sufl er s indi gni ty .

1 0 0 MORMON SAINTS

even the Gentile elements largely sym pa

thi w. ze ith them The church practically

rul es the state . True , Utah was admitted under the provisions of an enabling act forever prohibiting plur a l marriages ; a m nesty was extended to the polygamous S a ints only upon condition of their dis solving illicit relations— but these provi

sions were disregarded, that condition was not observed . True , the constitution of — Utah itself forbids polygamy but laws ,

t . to be effective , mus be enforced Joseph

F . Smith , the last president of the church , left five widows when he died, and was the

father of 43 children . Heber J . Grant ,

a . the present he d , married three wives There has been no reason for any change in the Mormon attitude towa rd polygamy ex a cept political str tegy . What is to be done ! The question came before the people in 1 89 9 in a form which demanded an im

mediate answer . The people of Utah B elected righam H . Roberts to Congress , despite the storm of protest arising from n all parts of the cou try . He was a con in fessed polygamist , a defender of that s tituti on , and his campaig n was conducted

upon thi s issue . The question was di r ectly put to Utah ! Will you condone and approve polygamy ! The answer was ’ R ob er ts s election by a majority of six WHAT WILL B E T HE E ND 1 0 1

ho t usand, but Congress declared his seat vacant ; agai n the Saints ha d reckone d

without their host . The fantastic accounts of Anti -Mormon “ ” Apostles , like the tales of e scaped nuns n a about Catholic convents , eed not be t ken

too seriously . There are people who de in light being thrilled with horror , and s such lecturers cater to that craving . Fa ct open to the light of day are quite s uffi cient to c onvince rational men that Mor monism is not an illuminating factor in Am erican life nor a purifying influence in B ut American politics . to tar and feather i Mormon m ssionaries is a confession —by rival sectarians that they are fweared a confession neither in accordance ith firm

faith nor Christian charity . To every creed must be granted the right to be — heard truth is impregnable . The Mormon propaganda ca n be coun

ter a cted only by a campaign of education . To spread far and wide the facts as to its

origin, to expose the dubious character of its founders and the absurdity of its doc its trines , to show radical antagonism to modern institutions—this is the only i wai . course that ll prev l There has been too much ignorant denunciation, too much

aggressive malevolence in the past . These have alway s reacted in favor of

Mormonism . 1 0 2 MORMON S AINTS

Mo st important of all would be the po liti cal ah . redemption of Ut This, it would ul seem, co d be accomplished by encour a — g ing the influx of Gentile popul ation by guiding thi ther educated immi grant s from foreign shores and hom es eeker s of our

own . land In the course of two decades the Mormon ascendancy would be de s hi stroyed ; exi ting laws , w ch are ample , could be enforced ; and the great octopus , its shorn of political power , would be obliged to assume its proper station among the ranting sects that come and go — and are forgotten dead sea fruit of ashes , which reason at last will scatter to the

Winds . Mormonism supplies an instructive oh j ect lesson for the lay student of Compara l tive Religion . It shows how easi y a new — religion can be launched an d new reli s gion s are still being launched , as Witnes i Koreshan ty, the Mazdaznan , and others even more popular and hardly less fantas i t c. Of the human species perhaps not more than five per cent . are able to think .

The vast majority only think they think . - i Ninety five per cent are sheep , follow ng some leader , bowing down to some idol , greedily swallowing the predigested men tal food prepared for them by pastors , politicians , professors , and the press , four ’ P s in one pod . Education does not help

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