The Rocky Mountain Saints/Chapter 45

The most devoted of the intelligent adherents of the cause of Brigham Young, who dare to look calmly at facts, will hardly dispute that the vitality of the Mormon faith, introduced by its founder Joseph Smith, had reached its climax within the first quarter of a century from the date of its organization, and that from that period onward the Mormon Church has subsisted upon its organization and not upon lifegiving principles.

The believers in the new faith were organized in 1830: they were only six in number, but they were full of their mission, and, in their way, wholly devoted to Christ. Their heroism in the proclamation of their doctrines never was surpassed in any age or in any country, by any other disciples or missionaries of any faith. They were pure in thought, and burned with zeal for the redemption of mankind. The results were a grand increase of numbers of disciples begotten in their own faith, for in nothing probably more than in religious enthusiasm does "like beget like."

As the reader has seen in this review of history, Joseph Smith had ambition enough for temporal aggrandizement and rule, but the people who surrounded him and his were strong enough to resist and repulse the power that insidiously sought ​to crush them. What Joseph might have done with the better "opportunities" of his successor, may be open to question; but it is asserted by the defenders of Brigham that the former would have, in the love of power, which isolation in the Rocky Mountains has so signally favoured in the latter, done more outrageous things than are even charged to the name of Young. Such might have been the case. Joseph Smith had within himself, doubtless, all the ambition for greatness with which his religious fancies clothed his mind, but there was nothing instinctively cruel and remorseless in him. He could personally err, he could repent, confess his wrong-doing, and sue for forgiveness. With such qualities the force of circumstances would have taught him better ways; but the isolation that favoured the weak with protection from "persecution" was equally provident in furnishing the opportunity for the development of whatever was dormant of the quality of aggressiveness.

Mormonism, therefore, may be said to have exhibited in the preceding chapters, commencing with that upon the "Reformation," followed by the dark ways of murder, then rebellion against the Government, what were the first demonstrations of the change from the "love of Christ shed abroad in the heart" to the mad ambition of a temporal, absolute "kingdom" that should crush every opposing power.

Nine-tenths of the Mormons who slaughtered the Arkansas emigrants in 1857, would, ten years before that time, have started on a mission to preach to these same persons at their own firesides in Arkansas, and would have sought by every possible labour and personal sacrifice to imbue them with the faith of Jesus Christ and the blessings which the heavens were pouring out upon the Latter-Day Saints. These Mormon preachers would have suffered hunger and every kind of privation while preaching "without purse and scrip" in order to save those very people of Arkansas, and deliver them from "the wickedness of the Gentiles." How these same men, capable of having been formerly missionaries of peace, were able ten years later to butcher them in Utah, is the evidence of the pernicious teachings of the Salt Lake Tabernacle. With such a reversion in their practical religion, a summary of the original faith and the after-work of the leaders seems here to ​find a place preparatory to a further statement of the development of theocracy in the mountains.

Fully believing in the divinity of his mission, Joseph Smith, in 1842, furnished for publication a sketch of "The Rise, Progress, Persecutions and Faith of the Latter-Day Saints." After threading together the chief incidents of his life, he closes his statement with the following points of faith:

"We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

"We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.

"We believe that through the atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

"We believe that these ordinances are: First, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of Hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

"We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy and by laying on of hands' by those who are in authority to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

"We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive Church, viz.: apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc.

"We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, etc.

"We believe the Bible to be the Word of God, as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the Word of God.

"We believe all that God has revealed, and that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

"We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes. That Zion will be built upon this continent. That Christ will reign personally upon the earth, and that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisaic glory.

"We claim the privilege of worshipping Almighty God according to the dictates of our conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

"We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honouring, and sustaining the law.

"We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul, 'We believe all things, we hope all things,' we have endured many things and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

Respectfully, etc., Joseph Smith."^[1]

​To preach this doctrine he adds:

"Proud of the cause which they have espoused, and conscious of their innocence and of the truth of their system, amidst calumny and reproach have the elders of this Church gone forth and planted the Gospel in almost every State in the Union. It has penetrated our cities, it has spread over our villages, and has caused thousands of our intelligent, noble, and patriotic citizens to obey its divine mandates, and be governed by its sacred truths. It has also spread into England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales; in the year 1840, when a few of our missionaries were sent, over five thousand joined the standard of truth; there are numbers now joining in every land.

"Our missionaries are going forth to different nations, and in Germany, Palestine, New Holland, the East Indies, and other places, the standard of truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independently, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done."

While the Prophet presented these articles of faith for the edification of the general public, he held in reserve "higher "truths" which the Saints at that time alone were entitled to know, and, as it is the privilege of every prophet to receive revelation, Brigham has in some material points greatly added to the original creed promulgated by Joseph.

The Mormon understanding of salvation, glory, and immortality, embraces a general series of compliances with certain laws, and obedience to certain ordinances.

Shortly before Joseph's death he revealed to the faithful that a great work devolved upon the living Saints for their kindred who had gone before them to the other world, and, as the Prophet has laid it out, it was indeed no small undertaking.

First, all men and women must have faith in redemption wrought out by Jesus Christ, and must be baptized by immersion "in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," in order that their own individual sins may be washed away. This being the happy condition of mind, and the ordinances complied with, the hands of the elders are laid upon the heads of the disciples that "they may receive the. Holy Ghost." ​In due time every man is also to receive the priesthood of Aaron and Melchisedec, and thereby become entitled to commune with the heavens, and, when they have accepted the "Celestial Law" of Marriage—i. e., polygamy—and have passed through the ordinances of the "Endowments," they are presumed to be fairly started for "honour, glory, and eternal lives with the gods"—a progression which the apostle Orson Hyde illustrates, as shown in the following chapter.

In all this profession of faith, sincerely entertained by the modern Saint, there is associated the obligation of the substitutional labour of "the living for the dead," in order that the latter, who knew not Joseph Smith and Mormonism, may yet be taken out of the clutches of the devil, and be finally redeemed and glorified with the believing Latter-Day Saints.

All the Mormon elders who leave this mundane sphere, instead of "entering into the rest prepared for the righteous," are understood to go on a preaching mission, on the other side of the veil, in order to wake up all their relatives who have been held for long ages "in prison," because they "obeyed not the Gospel in the flesh."

As the Mormon law takes no account of faith by itself, the spirits of the dead who in that shadowy region accept and believe in the mission of Joseph Smith, from the preaching of these dead elders, are all still accounted to be unbaptized, and consequently cannot be admitted into "the kingdom." To obviate that inconvenience, Joseph received a revelation instructing him that, if the living Saints would go forth into the water and be immersed for their dead relatives and friends, that act, being recorded on the books of the priesthood here below, the transfer of the names to the other world would immediately affect the condition of the converted spirit.

That revelation had a very pleasing effect upon the Saints in Nauvoo. It was very gratifying to be able to help out of "prison" parents, brothers, sisters, relatives of every degree, and near and dear friends who had lived and died before the great Latter-Day work had begun. In their transports, before they had well considered the seriousness of the business, there was an eagerness for the waters of the Mississippi that flowed so majestically past their loved Nauvoo, and there by the ​banks of that river the brethren and sisters gave the names of the dead whom they loved, and by the elders were led into the stream and immersed in their behalf.

Under the most pleasing circumstances of life, difficulties will sometimes occur, and the baptisms in the river were soon discovered to be premature and incomplete. Maidens had gone forth and been baptized for their grandfathers; youths had exhibited an equal affection and interest for grandmothers; widows were baptized for departed husbands; and living husbands were equally delighted to "deliver from their prison-house" those with whom they had had earlier enjoyments in life.

It took but little reflection for Joseph to perceive that that mode of proceeding would work confusion. To say the least of it, there was some awkwardness in laying hands upon Mary Jane to ordain her an elder in the stead of her Uncle James! and sealing upon Mary Jane all the rights and privileges belonging to the manhood of James—embracing therein the addition of other wives, the power to continue lives in spirit, and to become "the father of generations!" It was equally inconvenient to baptize Richard in the name of Martha, and for the former using her name to receive on his head the laying on of hands, and the blessings of the priesthood, conferring upon him, for her, the favours of the heavens—including the greatest of all earthly blessings for a lady who loves her lord. It was confusing for a young man to be appointed to be "a mother in Israel."

Joseph was soon armed with another revelation, and from one of his places of concealment he announced that the work of baptism for the dead should be done in a more perfect way: he had "had a few additional views in relation to the matter." He began to comprehend that it was a task of some magnitude for the living to be baptized for all the dead; and, small as Nauvoo was, in point of population, in 1842, there was too much work for one recorder to do correctly, and as a transcript of the book kept in Nauvoo was to settle the question of imprisonment or glory and salvation in the other world, the machinery of record-keeping ought to be more extensive. Instead of one of the brethren noting imperfectly by the light ​of the moon, or a lantern-candle, who had come to the Mississippi to be baptized that the dead might be delivered, there was to be a recorder appointed in every ward of the city, not a bungling, careless brother, but one "who is well qualified to take accurate minutes, and let him be very particular and precise in taking the whole proceedings." Again, he says: "Let all the records be had in order, that they may be put in the archives of my Holy Temple, to be held in remembrance from generation to generation, saith the Lord of Hosts." Thus, whatsoever the priesthood "record on earth shall be recorded in heaven," and whatsoever the priesthood "do not record on earth shall not be recorded in heaven." In reference to these books he says:

"And, further, I want you to remember that John the Revelator was contemplating this very subject in relation to the dead when he declared, as you will find in Revelation xx. 12: 'And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which was the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.'"

In support of the general principle of this baptizing the living for the dead, he adduced that passage from St. Paul, which has puzzled so many commentators [1 Corinthians xv. 29]: "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?" He also quotes the fifth and sixth verses of the last chapter of Malachi: "Behold, I send you Elijah the Prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse;" and from this passage he argues:

"It is sufficient to know in this case that the earth will be smitten with a curse, unless there is a welding-link of some kind or other, between the fathers and the children, upon some subject or other, and behold, what is that subject? It is the baptism for the dead. For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect. Neither can they or us be made perfect without those who have died in the gospel also; for it is necessary in the ushering-in of the dispensation of the fulness of times; which dispensation is now begin​ning to usher in, that a whole and complete and perfect union, and welding together of dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glory, should take place, and be revealed from the days of Adam even to the present time."

With such a task before them, the Mormons are to trace back all the families of their own names, evidently guided by the adage that "blood is thicker than water," and in due time, under the better registration, brothers will go forth to be baptized for the remission of the sins of all their male progenitors bearing the same name. Each one will also be ordained for all his deceased relatives, that they all, separately and distinctly, may bear the priesthood; and as plurality of wives is the marital condition of "the gods," the living Saint will also have a proper number of wives sealed to him, for each one of his deceased kinsmen, that they may abound in good works as well as in grace. The living sister-Saint has also to pass through all the same ordinances in the same order, and is to go on from the first step at the baptism for her sisterly ancestry, till she has climbed the ladder of salvation, and been blessed and sealed to one of the living brothers, in order that the redeemed sister in the spirit-world may become one of the wives of somebody in eternity.

The magnitude of this work naturally suggested that, while fathers, mothers, grandsires, and grandames, kind uncles and aunts, and promising brothers and sisters, might easily be remembered and traced, there was a great probability of some good souls converted to Mormonism in the other world being left out in the cold from lack of remembrance. The uncertainty, too, as to who would consent to be converted in the other world, and accept all these substitutional ordinances, was very naturally a question for consideration. But Joseph could cut any Gordian knot, and here he gives the trenchant blow:

"The great and grand secret of the whole matter, and the summum bonum of the whole subject that is lying before us, consists in obtaining the powers of the Holy Priesthood. For him to whom these keys are given, there is no difficulty in obtaining a knowledge of facts in relation to the salvation of the children of men, both as well for the dead as for the living."

​Joseph was equal to any emergency, and his people were ready to believe all that he announced.

But the Temple had to be built within a certain time, in order that the baptisms and ceremonies for the dead might be properly administered; and as "the Lord" had announced that, if the Nauvoo Temple was not completed within a specified time, the living Mormons, and their dead also, "would be rejected," the poor, sickly, half-starved, ill-clad citizens of Nauvoo worked like beavers on that Temple, and donated everything they could to rush up the structure; and yet, after all their toil, it is claimed by the Mormons, under the guidance of the son of the Prophet Joseph, that Brigham Young and the people did not finish the Temple, and, as a consequence, the Mormon chief and all the Rocky Mountain Saints, and all the converted in the other world, are directly and unmistakably "rejected." That is pretty hard!

The literal resurrection of the bodies of the Saints, and the after-inhabiting of this world, when purified by fire and celestialized, was also a favourite doctrine among the Mormon preachers for a long period of years. At first, they seemed to know all about these matters to the minutest details, but of late years the subject has been rarely mentioned. The last reference to it was the enunciation of Brigham that "Joseph Smith was to be the first person resurrected," and after his framework was knit together again, and was clothed with immortalized flesh, he was to proceed to "resurrect" those who had laboured valiantly, and died for the Latter-Day faith, each one according to his rank in the priesthood, and then he would, doubtless, at an early day, proceed to "resurrect" all his wives, beginning with the best beloved one, of course, and continuing to the last, "each one in her order," according to the degree of favour with which the suggestive mind of the "resurrected" Prophet regarded her. The children of each of these wives would come next "in their order." The Prophet is to give to the first elders whom he clothes with immortality "the keys of the resurrection," and they will in turn proceed to the pleasant labour of calling forth from the long-silent tomb their own households and particular favourites; and thus the power to "resurrect" is to be handed down from one person to another ​till the grave has given up its dead for "the first resurrection."

After all the Saints have been "resurrected," the best Gentiles will next be attended to, and they will be leisurely brought from their graves. There will, however, be an order for their moving "bone to bone, and sinew to sinew" according to merit. The Gentiles who aided the Prophet in the hour of his trial, as some few did with financial assistance, will be first on the baptismal record, and will be favoured with priority in coming from the tomb; and this is the fulfilling of that text which saith: "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations." Such men as the Honourable Senator of Illinois, who had so long been the friend of the Prophet, would have been early and well cared for in some of Joseph's everlasting habitations, had he not delivered the Springfield speech; and that President of the United States who made Brigham Governor of Utah is certain to be received with the greatest kindness in the kingly domain of the successor of Joseph.

It will be gratifying to the American nation to learn that General George Washington has already been kindly remembered by the Saints, and that he is no longer in "the prison-house" with Hamlet's father—

The "Father of his Country" is now happy in sweet communion with Joseph Smith and the Latter-Day elders.^[2]

The distinguished dead of all nations are thus certain to be awakened early from "their last long slumbers," as the disciples are gathered to Zion from all the kingdoms of the world; ​and, as each nation has its "idols," there will be no possible chance of forgetfulness.

Fully believing in this literal resurrection of the body, the Saints are carried to their graves "clothed with the robes of the priesthood," such as they hope to be seen in when they burst the bands of the tomb, and exclaim: "O grave, where is thy victory?"

About ten years ago, an assistant grave-digger, Jean Baptiste, an Italian by birth, threw the people of Salt Lake City into terrible confusion and excitement. Tempted by the carefully prepared clothing of the interred, he carried on for a long time the disrobing of the dead. The discovery of this fact produced the most painful sensation that any community ever experienced. The fearful grief of mothers at the thought of their sweet little ones lying naked in their graves is beyond description. No language could depict their heartfelt mourning. When Baptiste's house was searched, and the clothing of the dead was taken to a public place for identification, all business was suspended in the city. Nothing was spoken of but the sad outrage. The women in their poignant grief would have torn Baptiste into shreds had he not been protected by the iron bars of a prison. Brigham preached a timely sermon, and assured the heart-bruised and weeping mothers that all would be right, that the power of "the Lord" was equal to everything, and that, in the morning of the resurrection, the mothers would greet their little ones arrayed in suitable garments—all would be well. The people were soothed, though their faith was seriously tried, and in the current of events this painful incident was forgotten. Jean Baptiste was taken somewhere—no one knows whither. Romantic stories of his ears being cut off, of his being branded on the forehead "Robber of the dead," and of his being sent to wander on an island of the Lake, were put in circulation; but the probabilities are that he "ceased to breathe." He was to the community "a monster," and none have cared to ask what had become of him.

A grave difficulty at one time arose as to whether the superficial crust of the earth would be sufficiently extensive for all the inhabitants of the world, when "resurrected," to find standing-room upon it; but that astute philosopher and apos​tle, Orson Pratt, went to work and solved the question. He levelled all the mountains, and raised all the valleys, according to the promise of the ancient Hebrew prophet, who foretold that the hills should be laid low, the valleys exalted, the rough places made smooth, and the crooked places straightened. Without the slightest difficulty he arranged a magnificent and more extended globe, freed from mountains, deserts, and waste-places, and then, to his own satisfaction, demonstrated that there would be ground enough to allow an acre and a quarter for each "resurrected" Saint who had ever lived, from the morning of creation to the day of doom; so that each might be provided with a snug little farm. The best argument, however, was that which was actually advanced by a Mormon elder at a public discussion in England. The Elder was nonplussed by a great array of figures, which his opponent had produced to prove that the surface of the earth was incapable of becoming the everlasting habitation of the "resurrected." While the elder's fingers were trying to "resurrect" an argument from the roots of his hair, another elder gravely whispered to him: "Tell your opponent that if, after all this work of reconstruction, the world is not large enough to contain the teeming myriads which sprang from its bosom, the Lord will build a gallery around it, and thus supply the deficiency." That ended the discussion.

But, with all these beautiful thoughts of a materialized body resurrection, Orson Hyde once well-nigh made sad havoc. This apostle broke in upon the reveries of the resurrection with an argument in favour of a "baby resurrection."

Brother Orson is troubled with a dreamy, speculative mind, and, though he could not comprehend the materialistic philosophy of the decayed particles of the human body, after they had evaporated, and had in turn amalgamated with the earth, the grass, the vegetation, and had been in these forms partaken of by the cow, the ox, and the ass, and in the air had been inhaled by all sorts of mortals—coming together again in human form—he concluded that it was at least within his comprehension that babies were born.

The physical nature of the President of the apostles was altogether harmonious with the practicabilities of this latter ​philosophy; and, besides, he saw in the "baby resurrection" an additional argument in favour of polygamy. But Brigham hastened after Orson and speedily squelched his "baby resurrection." It is very doubtful, however, if Orson does not still believe that David, king of Israel, Moses, Elijah, and other distinguished folks may not yet find a resurrection somewhere within the extensive folds of his numerous family.

The modern Saints' views of Deity were at this time reduced to the greatest simplicity. The "God" of the Universe, in the language of one of the apostles, is "like a well-to-do farmer!" Doubtless, an English farmer—

ruddy in health, with a good roast-beef appetite, and not at all averse to "prime old malt," or, patterned from an earlier day, he might be fond of "sack"—the charm of Falstaff's life.

Consistent with this, the modern apostle has no difficulty in accounting for the second person in the Trinity. The "im​maculate conception" is rudely dispensed with as an unnecessary doctrine. God the Father is credited with being as directly the Father of Jesus Christ as Brigham Young, senior, claims to be the father of Brigham Young, junior.^[4] While no one in the whole Christian world has ever before ascribed to Jesus marital relations, the Mormons have sought in His life for a support for their own plural marriages, and to their satisfaction they have discovered that He had both wives and children. The fruitful apostle Hyde says:

"If at the marriage at Cana of Galilee, Jesus was the bridegroom and took unto him Mary, Martha, and the other Mary whom Jesus loved, it shocks not our nerves. If there were not an attachment and familiarity between our Saviour and these women highly improper, only in the relation of husband and wife, then we have no sense of propriety, or of the characteristics of good and refined society. Wisely then was it concealed; but, when the Saviour poured out his soul unto death, when nailed to the cross, he saw his seed of children, but who shall declare his generation?"

In another part of this work, a quotation has already been made from the apostle Heber C. Kimball, who materialized the Holy Ghost into the person of a man, holding to Jesus the same relation of Counsellor as Heber did to Brigham Young.

With such doctrinal conclusions in his mind, it was easy for Brigham Young to announce:

"Now hear it, O inhabitants of the earth, Jew and Gentile, Saint and sinner! When our father Adam came into the Garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him. He helped to make and organize this world. He is Michael the Archangel, the Ancient of Days! about whom holy men have written and spoken. He is our Father and our God, and the only God with whom we have to do. Every man upon the earth, professing Christians or non-professing, must hear it, and will know it SOONER OR LATER."^[5]

At a later date, he repudiated the Bible narrative of Creation:

"You believe Adam was made of the dust of this earth. THIS I DO NOT BELIEVE. . . You can write that information to the States if you please—that I have publicly declared that I do not believe that portion of the Bible as the Christian world do. I NEVER DID, AND I NEVER WANT TO. Because I have come to understanding, and ​banished from my mind all the baby-stories my mother taught me when I was a child."^[6]

One step more was wanted, and the apostle Heber C. Kimball took it when he announced that Brigham himself was "God" to the people.

Brigham very considerately told his audience only a part of the story of the new deity which he then introduced to the world for worship, as there were terrible consequences following any one's unbelief. He says:

"Let all who hear these doctrines pause before they make light of them, or treat them with indifference, for they will prove their salvation or damnation;"

and, with a consciousness of the estimate that would be placed on such a revelation, he adds:

"Were I to tell you the whole truth, blasphemy would be nothing to it, in the estimation of the superstitious and over-righteous of mankind."

Growing out of this materialized Adam deity of "flesh and bones,"^[7] springs the other doctrine of the Mormons that they are all yet to be gods; for, when this earth is celestialized and is made the home of the resuscitated Saints, it becomes a sort of nursery for the peopling of other worlds.

The marital relation of the Saints existing in the celestialized world is, to the very fullest extent, unrestricted polygamy, and the offspring of the celestialized Saints furnishes the spiritual life of embryo men and women. Brigham in his theory of the Saints making worlds, peopling them, and in due time becoming gods, has entered very clearly into all particulars, ​and taking his own life and progress as an illustration it is very easily comprehended.

Passing over his infantile joys and sorrows, and the brief period of "eleven days and a half" at school, he chose the honest profession of a painter and glazier: in due time he became a Mormon, a preacher, and a prophet. He takes unto himself many wives, and begets many children. If the world holds out long enough, he will probably be "gathered to his fathers," when—like Moses—he has attained the ripe age of one hundred and twenty years. He then goes to the "spirit-world," and engages anew in the missionary business. After a time Joseph Smith becomes "resurrected"—how, when, and by whom this is to be done, is not yet understood, or, if understood, it is preserved among "the mysteries"—he will then "resurrect" Brigham Young, with others, as already stated in a preceding portion of this chapter. When Brigham's wives are resurrected, having been "married to him for eternity" as well as "married for time," their family relations with the Prophet will be renewed, and they will beget millions and myriads of "spirits." Whether these ethereal young folks have apartments with their parents, or float about in space without any particular local habitation, is not of great present importance; they have, however, to themselves, a very tangible existence and opportunities of developing into very excellent men and women, or otherwise, as they may kick up rows, quarrel, and the worst of them be sent to "hell."

In course of time Brigham sees that he has begotten a very respectable family, numbering probably myriads of spirits, and, during that period of family increase, he has himself been progressing extensively in the "knowledge of the gods;" he has been learning how to control the elements, and how to command them to come together and take the shape and form which he may desire. When he has sufficiently mastered this education and become sensible of his power, he will say to some one: "Let us go to, and make a world, upon which the spirits of my family may find the opportunity of living in bodies of grosser matter, and thereby gain valuable experience." The command is given to the elements, and they, obedient to the word, gather together in a globular form, and ​a new world is created. Brigham and his friends who have assisted him to create this world find it rather unfinished in the first stage of its formation, but they continue to make improvements, and in course of time succeed in beautifying and adorning it. They take with them the seeds of trees of every kind, from the celestialized world on which they dwell, and plant them in the soil of the new world, together with the seeds of grasses and of flowers, and of everything that grows which is pleasing to the eye, agreeable to the smell, etc. They control the waters, and direct them where to flow; they place in the rivers and in the seas fish of every kind. Fowls of the air, beasts of the field, and all things and creatures which are necessary to make a world and furnish it—these are brought from the celestialized world upon which Brigham dwells.

The supposition now is, that the task of this new-worldmaking comes to an end, and those who were engaged in the labour are fully satisfied with it, and pronounce it "all very good."

Then Brigham says to his favourite wife: "Let us go down and inhabit this new home;" and they do so. And in this way some future Moses will call them Adam and Eve. For a time the noble pair will get along very well and comfortably; but the "old serpent," or a monkey as some may have it, will creep along and insinuate kindly mischief to Eve, and with the sweetness of her sex she will innocently partake of some forbidden fruit and be expelled from their garden of Eden. Adam [Brigham] up to this time will have done nothing to offend or to incur any one's displeasure, and he very naturally will be troubled about Eve's unpleasant position. The penalty of Eve's transgression will entail her expulsion from the garden, and as a consequence there would be a separation, for Adam [Brigham] has, as yet, done nothing to deserve being driven out of the garden. The situation will be very awkward, but Adam [Brigham] will comprehend it at a glance, will see that it will never do for "man to be alone;" that the object in creating the new world would thus be frustrated; that, if Eve leaves, there will be no possibility of any terrestrial bodies being made for his myriads of spirits that will then be waiting to come down and "tabernacle in the flesh." After mature ​reflection, he will express to Eve how much he loves her, and how much he desires to carry out the original programme for the benefit of their little ones in the celestial world, who were anxiously waiting for earthly tabernacles. The conclusion reached will be that Adam [Brigham], in order to enjoy Eve's society and be driven out of the garden, must also partake of the forbidden fruit. Adam [Brigham] will then taste of it, and share Eve's destiny. The first Adam did taste of it; hence the meaning of that remarkable passage in the Book of Mormon—"Adam fell, that men might be." In other words, if Adam had stopped in the garden, and Eve had been driven out, the chances of family increase would have been very unsatisfactory—men would never have been born; and in this strain argues the American prophet Nephi:

"Now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed, he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state which they were after they were created; and they must have remained for ever, and had no end. And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin."^[8]

The lucidity of this passage is not very remarkable, but the deduction to be made from it in connection with the peopling of worlds, is that when Brigham gets on to the new world which he has yet to make, and his wife eats the forbidden fruit, he will do so also—this is all previously arranged^[9]—and ​as a curse falls upon him, upon her, and upon everything around them, in the course of a thousand years the "cursed" character of their food will tell upon their systems, and they will go down into their graves. They will then, however, have had a lengthened opportunity of preparing numerous earthly tabernacles, and of seeing their spirit-children come from the other world. Brigham by some means will get back to his celestial abode, and will ever afterwards keep an eye upon his children in the new world. They will in process of time forget all about him, whence they came, and whither they are going. He will send messages to some of them occasionally, and keep up as much relationship with them as the will permit. Finally a scheme will be laid to bring them all back again into his presence. The eldest son of the family will be intrusted with the mission, and faith in his name only will secure the favour of the "father."

Brigham, by this time in his progressive life, has become a "god," and is the "Being" whom all the children born on his created world should worship. This is his logic in giving now to the Latter-Day Saints the man Adam of the garden of Eden for their deity.

What has here been stated of Brigham's progressive life, from the dawn of his childhood till he reaches the godhead, is equally the programme of "the least of the Saints." Every one of them is destined, some time or other, to make a world, to go down with an Eve and people it, and pass through all the routine that has here been traced. The Mormon faith is, as the reader will perceive, quite extensive.

To account for the existence of "Lucifer, Son of the Morning," and the variety of races of men upon the earth, springing from the same parents, the Mormon Prophet relates that "the spirits" in their "first estate" held a grand convention to arrange about how they were best to manage the proposed mundane education while in corporeal form. As the story goes, everything in this lower world was to be much as it has been. Jesus, being "the first-begotten of the spirits," was by seniority permitted the leading speech in that convention. He proposed to have Adam his father, and Eve his mother, come down as before related, and do as they did; and that then he ​also would come down among his brothers and sisters, in the fulness of time, and teach them the truths that would elevate and redeem them from their errors, "save them from their sins," and bring them back to his father's presence, purified by the experience of affliction. Lucifer was one of the princes of Adam's spirit-race—the second son of Adam in that world. He was jealous of the popularity which Jesus, his brother, had acquired on account of the scheme proposed by him, and he himself proposed to "save men in their sins." Lucifer appears to have been a jovial but proud personage, who thought that the acquisition of experience and pleasure might go hand-inhand. His proposition was immensely satisfactory to about one-third of the spirits, and they set to work to oppose the scheme of Jesus. Ultimately a fight ensued; the most determined on either side "nailed their colours to the mast," and fought on bravely and without any disposition to surrender. During this contest there were a number of spirits who would not fight on either side, but looked on as neutrals. When the contending parties came to the closing struggle, Lucifer was whipped, and with "a third of the host of heaven" he was driven out of that blessed region and was forced to take up his abode in a place that has since become familiarly known as "hell."

There is no attempt made in this mythological Mormon story to account for all the numerous races of men upon the globe, for that was too great a task even for Joseph's mind. But the modern prophet settled the origin of the Caucasian and the African races. The white race comprises all who fought with or for Jesus in heaven, when Lucifer rebelled and was cast out, and therefore they merited an honourable body. The Africans are the neutrals who did not perform quite enough in the fight to necessitate their being driven into the "nether regions" with Lucifer; neither were they for anything they had done entitled to an honourable body; hence, they came into this world through the lineage of Ham, the son of Noah—for he was a wicked youth.^[10] Africans can enter the Mormon ​Church and can be baptized like white people, but they "are not worthy to receive the priesthood." With such a faith, it was very consistent that slavery and polygamy should exist together in Utah. From this theory of existence, it is very easy to perceive how Brigham Young has made Mormonism a religion hostile to all earthly governments and professions of faith. The following chapter on "the Kingdom of God" brings this subject to its practical results.

The grandeur of the universe, and the infinity of its wonderful and glorious organizations, that have filled the noblest minds with veneration and awe, never disturbed the soul of Brigham Young. The arrogance of unchallenged authority grows rapidly upon its flattered possessor, and easily carries him from the level of human beings. How near must Brigham Young have imagined himself to deification when he announced that Adam was God! And what a humiliating spectacle has the Mormon Church presented to the world, in resting quietly and submissively for nearly twenty years under such threats of damnation! while, to the credit of the Saints, be it said, they have as a people refused to abandon their faith in "the God of their fathers." The mass of the Mormon people do not believe the doctrine of the Adam deity, but of them all, one only, Orson Pratt, has dared to make public protest against that doctrine.

No community of people in Christendom, no church organization upon earth, could have listened to the dogmatic enunciation of a new god for the people's worship, without remonstrance. In Utah some pricked up their ears, but the masses were unmoved.

Orson Pratt, for presuming to teach a deity contrary to Brigham's Adam, was for years upon the point of being severed from the Church; at last, ten years ago, he was tried for rebellion. On that occasion—the Author well remembers it—Orson Pratt showed a manliness and Christian determination to cling to the truth, that earned for him the admiration ​of every soul that dared to think and love the God-given liberty of an untrammelled mind. His defence, his mien, his attitude, when, before Brigham and the apostles, he lifted up his hand, and with upturned face called God and angels to witness that he was ready to meet the doom of his opposition, rather than violate his conscience and his faith, was the sublimest spectacle of humanity in its noblest phase that the Author ever witnessed. It was the grandeur of the martyr's soul made manifest. As the apostle stood in Brigham's little office, surrounded by the other apostles of his quorum, not a voice was heard in his support, not a word was whispered either to encourage him or relieve his racked and harrowed soul as he keenly realized the fact that he risked his apostleship and fellowship with the Church.

When he had expressed his thorough comprehension of the responsibility of his position, he told, in words of unmistakable earnestness, that when the teachings of the Bible, together with the revelations of the Prophet Joseph, came into collision with the teachings of Brigham Young, it was the decision of his soul that, whatever the cost might be, he "would cling to the former."

It was before a small assembly that he was tried, and it was for some a favour to be there; but, small in number as the auditory was, there were hearts moved with admiration for the man who dared to announce, under such circumstances, that truth was to him greater than Brigham, and that his self-respect was nobler than his apostleship. Galileo before the bar of the Inquisition was no grander sight.

Poor Orson! what a sad future was near him.

Brigham branded him with natural stubbornness and told him that he had always been ungovernable, and had given trouble to Joseph in his day, and to that he added that the brave apostle would yet supplicate for forgiveness at his feet. Poor Orson! it was martyrdom to him. One soul, at least, in that auditory felt keenly for him, and, when the council closed, one person rushed after him, to clasp his hands and bless him for his God-fearing independence of soul.

But alas! within thirty-six hours that brave, honest, truthful apostle stood in the Tabernacle before an assembly of thou​sands, and confessed the error of his ways in opposing the head of the Church! Ever afterwards he would keep silence upon the subject! Yet, Orson Pratt is no coward; for his conceptions of truth he would gladly give his life, if duty called for an assertion of that truth; but he had not the faith to sacrifice others. Six or seven wives, a score or more of children, dependent for bread on his apostleship and his relationship with the Church—a long life's labour in the cause of Mormonism, dearer to his soul than all else, all to be thrown to the winds, and for him himself to be branded with the stigma of "apostacy," was more than he could then bear. Those who believed with him in the falsity of Brigham's doctrine, honoured him for displaying the heroism that bearded the lion in his den, and probably some have accepted his Galileo-like submission as a dire necessity, for Orson still clings with unchanging devotion to the faith of the God of his youth.

Orson's submission was painful to his friends, but the thoughtful hoped for the growth and development of his soul outside the iron cast of infallible priesthood. From the hour of that trial he was silently accounted an "Apostate," and for years there was considered to be no temerity in "digging" at him from the pulpit. He was sent to Europe on mission, and treated with marked neglect by the ruling authorities—men far beneath him in moral and intellectual qualities. He bore it all in silence, and returned to Utah determined to stand by his convictions of truth against the Adam deity. His associate apostles tried to shake him out of their Quorum, and in their councils they did everything to bring his "stubbornness" to the point of disfellowship. After two weeks of nightly councils—while Brigham and his twelve were journeying through the northern settlements in 1868—the point was reached. Orson would not, however, recant, even before the threat of disfellowship, but Brigham, at the last moment, entered the council, and arrested the final action. Brigham needs Orson's sermons on the Book of Mormon, Polygamy, and the prophecies, and he fears his influence with the people.