Accord

Smith, Young assumed the office of "prophet." ing to his teaching God spoke through him, as through an oracle, to His chosen people. He claimed to be the successor of Christ Himself, and by the great body of his

adherents was looked upon as being as powerful and glorious as the Redeemer. Christ, they say, was the first, Joseph Smith the second, and Brigham Young the third Messiah. They rely more on the Old than on the New Testament, and Abraham and David are the greatest

of the patriarchs. Although baptism is still performed in the name of the Saviour, still Mormonism resembles Christianity on the whole perhaps rather less than does Mohammedanism.

10. Polygamy.

Young strengthened his own position, and made polygamy a doctrine of the Church, declaring that this dogma had been revealed to Joseph nine years previously. But his wife Emma and other members of Smith's family deny this, and have caused a schism in the church. The recalcitrant Josephites were persecuted, and in 1864-5 withdrew mostly to Iowa. Another schism, occasioned by a certain Joseph Morris in 1866, was stamped out with bloodshed, a few families escaping with their lives to Idaho.

According to Brigham's teaching, the men have divers ranks in heaven. The more numerous his wives and children, the greater his earthly merits and the higher his heavenly dignity after death. The women enter heaven only through their husbands; hence it becomes allimportant for every girl to get married. If her husband has other wives, and if she has to endure many trials. and humiliations on earth, the more glorious will be her position in the heavenly kingdom. Accordingly young women on their deathbed get married, or "sealed" to a man-where possible to a minister of the Church—as she secures through him a higher rank in heaven.

11. Constitution of Mormonism-Schism—Prospects.

Young controlled everything. He was the supreme judge, and also the recipient of the bulk of the revenue and of the tithes. He alone decided what was his and what belonged to the Church; he had the best of

S

everything, the best workshops, farms, mines, and so on. He distributed office, and to the twelve apostles he added the council of seventy, in whose number are the bishops and elders. Besides their official duties these men carry on the most profitable industries in the country, some being merchants, others manufacturers and hotel-keepers, and as they enjoy the largest incomes, they possess also the greatest number of wives.

The needy Mormon has one wife only, their number increasing with his worldly prosperity. Occasionally the wives support by their work not only their children, but their husbands also; but it is a mistake to suppose that the women alone are bound to labour while the men look on. Generally speaking, the whole sect is distinguished by extremely industrious habits, the so-called elders setting an excellent example in this respect. These elders were well schooled by Brigham; they instruct the people, confirm them in the faith, and provide at once for the spiritual and national welfare. Their office carries no direct remuneration with it, but their position is otherwise so good that they can very well afford to dispense with this.

Recently a fresh schism has disturbed the harmony of "the Saints." The Prophet has hitherto in vain attempted to suppress it by sentence of banishment and expulsion from the community, and the latest returns show as many as from 5000 to 10,000 "dissenters" rejecting the doctrine of polygamy in a total population of 150,000 in the State of Deseret. But a still more formidable foe to the community is the Congress of the United States, where the "Mormon Question" now constantly crops up, and must continue to do so till finally set at rest. The Cullom Bill of 1870, aiming at "the suppression of polygamy," was tabled, but next year the Government decided to take summary proceedings

against the Mormons, though nothing could be done in consequence of the unsatisfactory state of the laws affecting such matters.

The

In 1873 Brigham entertained the project of abandoning Salt Lake City, and removing with the greater part of the saints to Arizona, but the unfavourable reports of the Mormon pioneers in that region compelled him to give up this plan. In June 1874 the first serious blow was struck at polygamy, when the Lower House accepted the principle of the Poland Bill, declaring that polygamist judges and juries were incompetent to conduct civil and criminal trials and prosecutions of polygamists. object of this measure is to protect the Mormon women by ensuring to them a fair share of the family effects in case of divorce,-in a word, to alleviate the hard lot of those who have come to be regarded as female slaves. Meantime the Mormon women themselves seem to be anything but grateful to the Government for its efforts on their behalf. In the beginning of 1876 a petition was presented to Congress, signed by 22,626 Mormon wives and daughters, praying for the rejection of the law against polygamy, and for the admittance of Utah as a State of the Union. These female advocates of polygamy declare that no force or other unfair means have been employed to secure their signatures, and that no girls under twelve have been allowed to sign the document.

The

Since the year 1870 the largest accessions to their numbers have come from Denmark and Sweden, and quite recently they have been joined by many energetic East Prussians, possessed of considerable means. Latin races, such as the French, Spaniards, Portuguese, and Italians, seem to be utterly opposed to Mormonism, and we are assured that not a single French woman is found in their seraglios. The great majority belong to the Anglo-Scandinavian races, though the Indian tribes

between California and Utah are also said to become Mormonised very rapidly.

On the other hand in the community itself a tendency is continually showing itself to revert to European views of morality and social habits. This is attributed by Hepworth Dixon not so much to moral motives as to the inherent feminine weakness for vanity, love of finery and dress. But the destruction of Mormonism will probably be ultimately due mainly to the Pacific Railway. Through it the hitherto unknown extravagance of the female fashions has penetrated into Great Salt Lake City, and if a man finds it difficult to indulge the taste of one wife for such things, most of them must shrink from the prospect of having to provide for the caprices of a numerous harem. Not every one is endowed with the colossal wealth of a Brigham Young, which alone could enable them to indulge in such a luxury, and the conviction is slowly gaining ground that from the economical point of view polygamy is a mistake. This idea once thoroughly established, it must gradually die out.