MINISTERIAL ASSOCIATION, SALT LAKE CITY.

FOREWORD.

The following announcement accompanying the publication of the Ministerial Association's Review of the Mormon Address to the World appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune, impression of June 4, 1907:

REPLY TO MORMON ADDRESS TO THE WORLD IS ISSUED BY THE MINISTERIAL ASSOCIATION OF SALT LAKE CITY.—PUBLICATION MISLEADING AND SUPPRESSION OF FAITH.—MINISTERS OF THIS CITY ARE UNIT IN DECLARING AGAINST THE ADDRESS.

The Ministerial association of Salt Lake City has issued a review, in the nature of a reply, to the "Address to the World," put out by the Mormon church at the recent conference held in this city, in defense of Mormonism. The review represents the combined labor of nearly every member of the Ministerial association of Salt Lake, of which there are thirty-three members, and by which it was adopted as a unit.

The review, which is presented elsewhere in this issue of The Tribune, is lengthy, comprehensive and unanswerable, well worthy any and every one's time in reading, studying and digesting. It was unanimously adopted at a meeting of the Ministerial association in its headquarters in the club room of the Y. M. C. A. Monday afternoon. Almost the entire membership of the association was represented at the final meeting and there was not a dissenting voice or vote against the adopting of the review, or reply, as it may aptly be termed.

Within a few days after the publishing of the Mormon Address to the World a movement was started in the association looking to a reply to the so-called Address. Among the ministers the document put forth by the Mormon church was considered in the light of a suppression rather than a confession of Mormon faith, and so most misleading. With the end in view of a reply to the falsified, juggled and deceiving Address, a number of papers were prepared and submitted to the association by several different members. These papers were placed into the hands of the committee, selected by the association for that purpose, which threw them into the form of a report. The report was discussed thoroughly at several different meetings of the association and every member was given an opportunity of suggesting changes, presenting his ideas on the subject for incorporation in the reply, or registering an objection to it. As before stated, there was not a dissenting voice or vote against the reply, the adoption being unanimous.

A STRIKING THING.

One of the striking things in the reply, which covers every point in the Address with convincing thoroughness, is that it sets the teachings of the Mormon leaders, as published in their own works and used in their Improvement Associations, Sunday-schools and the like, alongside of and in direct contrast to the diluted statement of doctrines found in the "Address to the World." It is confidently asserted that there has never been such a published statement by the Mormons, based upon their own publications of the fact that they teach that there are many gods and goddesses, that God, the Father, is married and that the gift of eternal procreation is one of the felicities of paradise, promised, however, only to those who are joined by the priesthood in marriage for eternity.

In the discussion of the several papers that were worked into the reply to the "Address to the World" all the active members of the Ministerial association have been present and have taken an active part in the work that led to its promulgation. The reply represents the combined labors of the members of the Ministerial association. In its drafting the churches of the Presbyterian, Congregational, Methodist Episcopal, Baptist, Lutheran, Christian and Episcopal denominations, through their pastors, are represented. The officers of the Ministerial association are: President, the Rev. S. A. Hayworth, pastor of the East Side Baptist church; vice-president, the Rev. Benjamin Young, of the First M. E. church; secretary and treasurer, the Rev. E. C. Parker, of the Liberty Park M. E. church. The members and their denominations are:

MINISTERIAL DIRECTORY.

The Rev. J. C. Andrews, Baptist; the Rev. A. A. Anderson, Swedish Evangelist; the Rev. J. H. Allen, Calvary Baptist; the Rev. J. Armstrong, Baptist; the Rev. D. A. Brown, First Baptist; the Rev. Benjamin Brewster, St. Mark's Episcopal; the Rev. F. W. Bussard, English Lutheran; the Rev. J. C. Bell, A. M. E.; the Rev. J. G. Cairns, Second M. E.; the Rev. J. F. Baker, Garfield, Baptist; the Rev. D. M. Helmick, Iliff M. E.; the Rev. H. I. Hansen, Norwegian and Danish M. E.; the Rev. H. E. Hays, Third Presbyterian; the Rev. J. S. Hurlburt, Murray, M. E.; the Rev. Jesse Hyde, Murray, Baptist; the Rev. Harold Jensen, Norwegian and Danish Evangelical Lutheran; the Rev. Bruce Kinney, superintendent Baptist work; the Rev. R. G. McNiece, Presbyterian; the Rev. Josiah McClain, superintendent Presbyterian work; the Rev. J. K. McGillivray, Presbyterian: the Rev. C. C. Mclntire, Westminster Presbyterian; the Rev. R. S. Nickerson, Sandy, First Congregational; the Rev. W. M. Paden, First Presbyterian; the Rev. E. C. Parker, Liberty Park M. E.; the Rev. Emanuel Rydberg, Swedish Lutheran; the Rev. P. A. Simpkin, Phillips Congregational; the Rev. R. M. Stevenson, Presbyterian; the Rev. D. B. Scott, M. E.; the Rev. F. S. Spalding, Episcopal Bishop; the Rev. H. J. Talbott, superintendent M. E. work; the Rev. Benjamin Young, First M. E.; the Rev. J. H. Worrall, M. E.

Not only was the "Review" thus heralded in the local columns of the Tribune, but that paper also made the following editorial comment:

THE REVIEW BY THE MINISTERS.

"We print in other columns this morning, in full, the review by the Salt Lake Ministerial association of the declaration made by the first presidency of the Mormon church and sustained by the general conference in April last. This review is calm, deliberate, and temperate in tone; but it is irresistible in force, in logic, and in conclusion. It will, of course, be warmly welcomed and approved by the loyal citizenship of Utah, while to the country at large it will be a good deal in the nature of a revelation.

"It is shown that the Mormon declaration is uncandid in that it suppresses so much of the real beliefs and sentiments of the church; and citations are given from authoritative writers of the church, and from its standard works, showing how serious these omissions are, and how completely their suppression gives a false impression of the whole system. The evidence presented on this point by the Christian ministers of this city is absolutely irresistible.

"The evasions, the duplicity, the hypocrisy, the dishonesty, of the conference declaration are completely shown, in masterly style. The repeated but half-hearted efforts of the church leaders to make the world believe in their patriotism, their piety, their unselfishness, their benevolence, their purity, when they do not believe these things of themselves, knowing their own corruption, treason, blasphemy and corroding selfishness, avarice, lusts of power and of the flesh, are fitly dealt with in this admirable review, which we cannot too highly commend for its spirit and its substance.

"It is shown in it that the hypocritical position of the conference declaration is condemned by the Mormon church's own publications; that the righteousness of polygamy is still upheld by the Mormon leaders and speakers; and the hollowness of the entire pretense through which it is sought to make it appear that the Mormon leaders occupy a position which they do not occupy, is made clear. Not any longer will the hierarchic pretense of being what it is not, serve."

Thus heralded, the "Review" follows.

II.
REVIEW.

An "Address to the World" was issued by the president of the Mormon Church and his counselors, and was adopted by the general conference of that church April 5, 1907. This "Address," evidently prepared for the residents of non-Mormon communities, is being widely circulated. Ostensibly it makes a declaration of the doctrines, asserts the principles and defends the practices of the Mormon Church. It claims supremacy for that body as the only divinely authorized church of Jesus Christ in the earth. It sets forth grievances. It appeals to the candid judgment of mankind for toleration.

For more than a half-century the Mormon Church has been teaching its doctrines. Wherever it has had an organization its practices have been more or less subject to observation. It would seem, therefore, that there should be little doubt as to the nature of the one, or the effect and tendency of the other. Nor would there be much question as to either were the doctrines of that church as fully proclaimed elsewhere as they are in Utah; and were its practices everywhere as transparent as they are in its strongholds. The publication and wide circulation of the aforementioned defense of the Mormon Church is the ground of our communication, in which we join hands with the authors of the defense in "establishing a more perfect understanding respecting" themselves and their religion. We could wish that some of the points touched upon in their paper might have had more ample elucidation, both as ministering to a better understanding on the part of residents of non-Mormon communities, and as forestalling the necessity for this review upon our part. But, since this defense obscures so much that it is necessary for people to know, who would desire to form an intelligent judgment concerning the Mormon Church, we discuss those things alluded to in the "address" that seem to us of the gravest importance.

It will be noted at the very outset that a supreme claim is made for the Mormon Church. Adding no spiritual truth to the aggregate of things already revealed, fostering no virtues not already taught by Christian churches, and exemplified in Christian lives, showing no superiority of Christian ideals or of Christian character, contributing nothing original to civic righteousness, to commercial integrity, to domestic virtue, to reverence for God or to justice and mercy toward men—this sect, whose activities are chiefly confined to a few countries already Christianized, claims to be the only divinely authorized church of Jesus Christ on the earth; its very name, so it is affirmed, being given by divine revelation. In harmony with this claim it sets up a wholly unbiblical test of salvation.

"Joseph Smith is a new witness for God; a prophet divinely authorized to teach the Gospel and re-establish the church of Jesus Christ on earth."—"New Witness for God." by B. H. Roberts.

"Every spirit that confesses that Joseph Smith is a prophet, that he lived and died a prophet, and that the Book of Mormon is true, is of God, and every spirit that does not is of anti-Christ."—Brigham Young, Millennial Star, volume 5, page 118.

"If plural marriage be unlawful, then is the whole plan of salvation through the house of Israel a failure, and the entire fabric of Christianity without foundation."—A compendium of the doctrine of the Gospel published for missionaries. 1898.

"Q. What doth the Lord require of the people of the United States?

"A. He requires them to repent of all their sins and embrace the message of salvation contained in the Book of Mormon, and be baptized into this church, and prepare themselves for the coming of the Lord.

"Q. What will be the consequence if they do not embrace the Book of Mormon as a divine revelation?

"A. They will be destroyed from the land and sent down to hell, like all other generations who have rejected a divine message."—Orson Pratt in the Seer, page 215.

This claim naturally provokes a most searching investigation of the grounds upon which it rests. When it appears that it involves the eternal reprobation of those who finally reject it, there can be no surprise that the claim is very sharply challenged. It is asserted that "the high claim of the church—is declared in its title—the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints;" that "its name was prescribed by Him whose church it is—Jesus, the Christ;" and that, "we affirm that, through the ministration of immortal personages, the holy priesthood has been conferred upon men in the present age, and that under this divine authority the Church of Jesus Christ has been organized." It will be seen that the claim to exclusiveness involves the invalidity of all the church ordinances, and of all ministerial functions, including the right to solemnize marriages, as administered by the Christian church from the second to the nineteenth century.

"It (Mormonism) is entirely unlike all plans and systems ever invented by human authority; it has no likeness, connection or fellowship with any of them; it speaks with divine authority, and all nations, without an exception, are required to obey. He that receives the message and endures to the end will be saved; he that rejects it will be damned."—Pratt's Works, paper 1.

"These claims in behalf of Mormonism presuppose the destruction of the primitive Christian church, a complete apostasy from the Christian religion."—New Witness for God, preface, page 1.

"The very religion of modern Christianity is now about as great a curse as can be inflicted upon its successors without doing violence to their power of free agency. * * *"

"The modern Christians with the Bible in their hands are in as gross darkness as the worshipers of Baal. The god they worship is no more like the person of Christ or the person of man than Baal was. Their order of church authorities and church gifts and ordinances of healing and anointing are probably about as remote from the apostolic pattern as the worship of Mohamet or Vishnu is."—Spencer's letters, pages 119 and 120.

"The power to officiate in the ordinances of God has not been upon the earth since the great apostasy until the present century. Something like seventeen centuries have passed away since the authority was last on the eastern hemisphere to administer in any of the ordinances of God. During that long period marriages have been celebrated according to the customs of human government by uninspired men, holding no authority from God, consequently all their marriages, like their baptisms, are illegal before the Lord. Point out to us a husband and wife that God has joined together from the second century of the Christian era until the nineteenth, if you can. Such a phenomenon cannot be found among Christians or Jews, Mohammedans or Pagans."—Orson Pratt in the Star, page 48.

The further significance of this claim is seen when one considers that it denies that the Christian church has represented Christ in the last seventeen centuries. And this denial stands in face of the testimony that Christian people have borne to Him, the martyrdoms they have suffered to carry His message to benighted peoples, the charities they have organized, the great reforms they have fostered, the general progress of mankind which they, chiefly, have promoted, and the saintly lives nurtured under the teaching of the Christian church. Surely the claim to exclusive divine authorization must rest upon proofs so clear and convincing that no sincere seeker after truth would question their conclusiveness. But no such proofs are presented. Here is the fundamental weakness of the whole system for which this astonishing claim is made—it presents no credentials that would make good a claim to even be numbered among the churches which represent Christ; much less to the only church of Christ on the earth.

It would naturally be expected that, in a communication intended to really enlighten mankind concerning the Mormon faith as the only true religion—the statement of doctrine would be both full and luminous. But in the "Address" it is exceedingly brief—so brief, in fact, that one is driven to the conclusion that, as a basis upon which a candid judgment might be framed, it not only leaves much to be desired, but is positively misleading.

As to divine revelation, it declares "The theology of our church is the theology taught by Jesus Christ and his apostles, the theology of Scripture and reason. It not only acknowledges the sacredness of ancient Scripture, and the binding force of divinely-inspired acts and utterances in ages past, but also declares that God now speaks to man in this final Gospel dispensation." Under this declaration lies the claim of the Mormon Church—constantly insisted upon in its congregations here and in surrounding regions—that the "Book of Mormon," "The Doctrine and Covenants," the "Pearl of Great Price," together with the "Living oracles,"—i.e., certain members of the priesthood—are divinely inspired, and are, therefore, of equal authority with the Bible. This claim, a knowledge of which is so necessary to even a tolerable understanding of their system of belief, is not plainly and explicitly set forth in the declaration of doctrine contained in the "Address," but it has repeated and urgent emphasis in their teachings in Mormon communities.

"The commissioned officers of the church form one part of its motive force. The other is the continual revelation of the will of God to his people. Without the first, disorder and confusion would prevail; without the second, stagnation and death."

"Written revelation is comprised in the four books of Scripture accepted by the church in this dispensation—the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. * * * As far as these revelations are adapted to present conditions, they are binding on the church today."—Young Men's Improvement Association Manual, 1901-2.

"The Book of Mormon claims to be a divinely inspired record, written by a succession of prophets who inhabited ancient America. It professes to be revealed to the present generation for the salvation of all who will receive it and for the overthrow and damnation of all nations who reject it. * * The nature of the message in the Book of Mormon is such that if true no one can possibly be saved and reject it; if false, no one can be saved and receive it. Therefore, every soul in all the world is equally interested in ascertaining its truth or falsity."—Orson Pratt—Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon, page 1.

"Q. Has God given many revelations to men?

"A. Yes, a great number.

"Q. Where have we any account of his doing so?

"A. In the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Book of Doctrine and Covenants and other publications of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints."—Children's Catechism, chapter 3.

"Many hundreds of the servants of God among the Latter-Day Saints keep journals of their travels, and of the miracles which pass under their observation. Hence the Acts of the Apostles of the nineteenth century are recorded as well as the Acts of those in the first century; and the miracles recorded in the latter-day Acts are just as worthy of being believed as the miracles recorded in the former-day Acts."—Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon, page 80.

"The word 'oracle' is instructive. It is derived from the Latin 'Ora,' meaning the mouth. It means, therefore, those whose authoritative teachings are by spoken word as well as by pen and their word takes precedence with their own generation over that which has been written by any previous authority. * * * Their authority also includes the right to interpret the Scriptural writings of previous dispensations. For in case of doubt as to what the law of God is, final appeal is made to the living oracles, who interpret through the authority of the priesthood and the inspiration of the Holy Ghost."—Manual, 1901-2, part I, page 81.

"The standard works of the church form our written authority and doctrine, but they are by no means our only sources of information and instruction on the theology of the church. We believe that God is as willing today as he ever has been to reveal his mind and will to men, and that he does so though chosen and appointed channels. We rely, therefore, on the teachings of the living oracles of God as of equal validity with the doctrines of the living word, and the men in chief authority being acknowledged and accepted by the church as prophets and revelators, and as being in possession of the power of the holy priesthood," etc.—The Articles of Faith, by Talmage, page 5.

"The living oracles that exist in the true church possess and exercise the power of discrimination between obsolete and active commandments. Whenever it is necessary that a decision be made as to the present application of a commandment, or the interpretation of Scripture, the matter is referred to the living oracles and their decision is final. There is no dissipation of energy; no doubt or indecision. * * * The living oracles are a motive force to the church in the fact that they are, as the name implies, mouthpieces of God to his people."—Manual, 1901-2, pages 64-65.

As to the doctrine of Deity, the "Address" declares: "We believe in the God-head, comprising the three individual personages, Father, Son and Holy Ghost." As this declaration stands here, it will not perhaps suggest Tritheism or Materialism to Christians unfamiliar with Mormon theological terms. But when the full doctrine of the Deity, as taught in Mormon congregations, is known, it will at once be seen that no Christian can accept it. In fact, the Mormon Church teaches that God the Father has a material body of flesh and bones; that Adam is the God of the human race; that this Adam-God was physically begotten by another God; that the Gods were once as we are now; that there is a great multiplicity of Gods; that Jesus Christ was physically begotten by the Heavenly Father of Mary, His wife; that, as we have a Heavenly Father, so also we have a Heavenly Mother; that Jesus Himself was married, and was probably a polygamist—at least so it has been printed in their publications and taught among their people; and that the Holy Spirit is of material substance, capable of actual transmission from one person to another.

"We know that both the Father and the Son are in form and stature perfect men; each of them possesses a material body, infinitely pure and perfect, and attended by a transcendant glory, yet a body of flesh and bones."—Talmage, Articles of Faith, page 41. See also Doctrine and Covenants, chapter cxxx, 22d verse.

"Admitting the personality of God, we are compelled to accept the fact of his materiality; indeed, an immaterial being, under which meaningless name some have sought to designate the condition of God, cannot exist, for the very expression is a contradiction of terms."—Talmage, Articles of Faith, page 42.

"Now hear it, O inhabitants of the earth, Jew and Gentile, saint and sinner: When our Father Adam came into the garden 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 Christian or non-professing Christian, must hear it, and will hear it, sooner or later. * * *

"When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness; he was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. And who is the Father? He is the first of the human family; and when he took a tabernacle it was begotten by his father in heaven after the same manner as the tabernacles of Cain, Abel and the rest of the sons and daughters of Eve. I could tell you much more about this; but 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. Jesus, our elder brother, was begotten by the same character that was in the Garden of Eden. And who is our Father in Heaven."—Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, volume 1, pages 50-1.

"Some of the sectarian ministers are saying that we Mormons are ashamed of the doctrine announced by President Brigham Young, to the effect that Adam will thus be the God of this world. No, friends, it is not that we are ashamed of that doctrine. If you see any change coming over our countenance when this doctrine is named, it is surprise, astonishment, that any one at all capable of grasping the largeness and extent of the universe, the grandeur of existence and the possibilities in man for growth, for progress, should be so lean of intellect, should have such a paucity of understanding as to call it in question at all."—Roberts, The Mormon Doctrine of Deity, pages 42-3.

"Q. Are there more Gods than one?

"A. Yes, many."—Catechism for Children, page 13.

"We believe in the plurality of Gods."—Roberts, Mormon Doctrines of Deity, page 11.

"In the beginning the head of the Gods called a council of Gods, and they came together to concoct a plan to create the world and the people in it."—Joseph Smith, quoted by Roberts in Mormon Doctrine of Deity, page 229.

"Without going into the full investigation of the history and excellency of God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in this article, let us reflect that Jesus Christ as lord of lords and king of kings must have a noble race in the heavens or upon the earth, or else he can never be as great in power, dominion, might and authority as the Scriptures declare. But hear: The mystery is solved. John says: 'And I looked and lo, a lamb stood on Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having his father's name written on their foreheads.' Their father's name; bless me. That is God. Well done for Mormonism—144,000 Gods among the tribes of Israel and two living Gods and the Holy Ghost for this world. Such knowledge is too wonderful for men, unless they possess the spirit of Gods."—President Taylor, quoted by Roberts in The Mormon Doctrine of Deity, page 253.

"If none but Gods will be permitted to multiply immortal children, it follows that each God must have one or more wives. God, the father of our spirits, became the father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh. The fleshy body of Jesus required a mother as well as a father. Therefore, the father and mother of Jesus according to the flesh must have been associated together in the capacity of husband and wife; hence the Virgin Mary must have been for the time being, the lawful wife of God the Father.

"As God the Father begat the fleshly body of Jesus, so he, before the world began, begat his spirit; as the body required an earthly mother, so his spirit required a heavenly mother. As God associated in the capacity of a husband with the earthly mother, so likewise he associated in the same capacity with the heavenly one; earthly things being in the likeness of heavenly things, and that which is temporal being the likeness of that which is eternal. Or, in other words, the laws of generation upon the earth are after the order of the laws of generation in heaven."—Orson Pratt in The Seer, page 159.

Eliza R. Snow, the Mormon high priestess and poetess, gives voice to these doctrines in her famous "Invocation; or, the Eternal Mother and Father."

Most of us have heard it in the Tabernacle; many, however, have not understood its teachings. We quote two stanzas:

"In the Heavens are parents single?
No; the thought makes reason stare;
Truth is reason; truth eternal
Tells me I've a mother there."

"When I leave this frail existence—
When I lay this mortal by;
Father, mother, may I meet you
In your royal court on high."

—Latter-day Saints Hymnal.

"Obedience will the same bright garland weave
As it has done for your great mother Eve,
For all her daughters on the earth, who will
All my requirements sacredly fulfill.
And what to Eve, though in her mortal life
She'd been the first, or tenth, or fifteenth wife?
What did she care, when in her lowest state
Whether by fools considered small, or great?
'Twas all the same to her—she proved her worth;
She's now the Goddess and the Queen of the earth."

—Eliza R. Snow's Poems.

"If the men and women are the children of God, sons and daughters of heavenly parents, fashioned in their image, endowed with their attributes and destined to become like them in perfection, why should it startle the world to be told that there is a mother as well as a father in heaven. It is reasonable, philosophical and, like all truth, invulnerable."—Address in Tabernacle, summer of 1906, Apostle Whitney

"The father of our spirits has only been doing that which his progenitors did before him. Each succeeding generation of Gods follow the example of the preceding one; each generation have their wives, who raise up from the fruit of their loins immortal spirits; when their families become numerous, they organize new worlds for them, after the pattern set before them. They place their families upon the same, who fall as the inhabitants of previous worlds have fallen. They are re-redeemed. The inhabitants of each world have their own personal father, whose attributes they worship, and in so doing all the worlds worship the same God, dwelling in all of his fullness in the personages who are the fathers of each." Seer, 135.

"Did the Savior of the world consider it his duty to fulfill all righteousness? And if the Savior of the world found it his duty to fulfill all righteousness to obey a command of far less importance than that of multiplying his race, would he not find it his duty to join with the race of the faithful ones in replenishing the earth?"—Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses, volume II, page 79.

"'He shall see his seed.' If he has no seed how could he see it? 'And who shall declare his generation?' If he had no generation who could declare it?"—Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses, volume II, page 80.

"We say it was Jesus Christ who was married (at Cana) to the Marys and Martha, whereby he could see his seed before he was crucified."—Apostle Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses, volume II.

"Next let us inquire whether there are any intimations in the Scriptures concerning the wives of Jesus. One thing is certain: that there were several holy women who greatly loved Jesus, such as Mary and Martha, her sister, and Mary Magdalene; Jesus greatly loved them and associated with them much; and when he arose from the dead, instead of first showing himself to his chosen witnesses, the apostles, he appeared first to these women, or at least to one of them, namely, Mary Magdalene. Now it would be very natural for a husband in the resurrection to appear first to his own dear wives, and afterwards show himself to his other friends. If all the acts of Jesus were written, we no doubt should learn that these beloved women were his wives. Indeed, the Psalmist David prophesies in particular concerning the wives of the Son of God. 'Kings' daughters were among thine honorable wives; upon thy right hand did stand the Queen in a vesture of gold of Ophir."—Apostle Orson Pratt in The Seer, page 159.

Concerning the doctrine of man it is declared: "We hold that man is verily the child of God, formed in His image, endowed with divine attributes. * * * We believe in the pre-existence of man as a spirit, and in a future state of individual existence, in which every soul shall find its place, as determined by justice and mercy, with opportunities of endless progression in the varied conditions of eternity." This statement cannot be said to fairly represent the precepts of the Mormon Church at this point. For, in addition to the above, they believe and teach in their own congregations: That, "As man is, God once was: As God is, man may be;" that man's disobedience of the first commandment given was commendable, and was the source out of which his chief glory shall arise; that the image of God in which he was made is the material one; that the brightest glory possible to him can be reached only through polygamous living here or hereafter; and that the eternally continued power of procreation forms the basis of this glory.

"The belief of the Latter-day Saints regarding the personality of God and our relationship to him has been crystallized by President Lorenzo Snow into the aphorism, one of the most expressive in the language: 'As man is, God once was; as God is, man may be.' No statement could set forth more clearly the nature of God's exaltation and man's destiny."—Manual, 1901-2, part I, page 17.

"We shall now proceed to show from new revelations that the saints are to have equal knowledge with the Father and the Son * * * The fullness of all truth in us will make us Gods, equal in all things with the personages of the Father and the Son; and we could not be otherwise than equal, for he is the same God who dwells in us that dwells in them. Instead of dwelling in two tabernacles under the names of Father and Son, he will then dwell in the additional tabernacles of the saints. And wherever he dwells in fulness, there would necessarily be equality in wisdom, power, glory and dominion."—Orson Pratt in The Seer, page 121.

"Thus perfected, the whole family will possess the material universe—that is, the earth and all the other planets and worlds, as an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. They will also continue to organize people and redeem and perfect other systems which are now in the womb of chaos, and thus go on increasing their several dominions, till the weakest child of God which now exists upon earth will possess more dominions, more property, more subjects and more power and glory than is possessed by Jesus Christ or by his Father; while at the same time Jesus Christ and his Father will have their dominions, kingdoms and subjects increased in proportion."—Parley P. Pratt, quoted by Roberts in The Mormon Doctrine of Deity, page 257.

"They are capable of receiving intelligence and exaltation to such a degree as to be raised from the dead with a body like that of Jesus Christ, and to possess immortal flesh and bones, in which they will still eat, drink, converse, reason, love, walk, sing, play on musical instruments, go on missions from planet to planet, or from system to system; being Gods or saints of God, endowed with the same powers, attributes and capacities that their Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ possess."—Parley P. Pratt, quoted by Roberts in The Mormon Doctrine of Deity, page 257.

"They who have obeyed the laws of the Gospel received the Holy Ghost, obtained and honored the priesthood and lived lives of righteousness, remaining faithful in spite of persecution and earthly tribulation, shall be admitted to the celestial glory. Here they will enjoy the personal presence and gory of the Father and the Son; they will be kings and priests of the most high, those in the highest degree of this glory shall have thrones, dominion and endless increase; they shall be Gods creating and governing worlds and peopling them with their offspring."—Manual, 1901-2, part I, page 52.

"God always attached a special and honorable distinction to males and females engaged in the sacred system of plurality according to the conditions he laid down for them to observe."—Spencer's Letters, page 195.

"Their great duty was to become the progenitors of the human family—to prepare mortal tabernacles for God's immortal children. It was Adam's privilege and duty to become the patriarch of this earth—the parent of all its inhabitants. In this great labor and destiny his wife, Eve, was to be associated with him. Before them was a future of endless glory, happiness and power, to be gained through the great principle of parentage. To attain this glory, present sorrow, pain and difficulty would have to be experienced and overcome. The other law was negative and prohibitive: 'Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat.' If the fall was essential and it was a part of God's design that a law be broken in order that man might be subject to sin and death, this latter law was well adapted for the purpose. For the consequences of the breaking of this law were such as to fit in with the designs of God, and the breach of the law would not apparently interfere with the accomplishment of any high destiny. If either law was to be broken, it was far better that this negative one be broken than the other.

"Eve was deceived and tempted. * * * She told Adam what she had done and he fully realized the consequences of her act. It meant that he and she could no longer remain together; that they must move in different spheres—he in the higher, she in the lower—she should be cast out of the garden and he should remain. * * * But he remembered that Eve had been given him as an eternal companion. He remembered the great commandment: Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. This he could not obey, for Eve, his wife, was to be separated from him forever. He was therefore under the necessity of deciding which was the greater and more important commandment of the two—the negative one: Thou shalt not eat of the tree; or the positive one: Thou shalt multiply and replenish the earth. And he decided wisely—he would break the negative commandment and keep the positive one."—Manual, 1901-2, Part 1, pages 39-41.

"Marriage thus becomes one of the chief means of man's exaltation and glory in the world to come, whereby he may have endless increase of eternal lives and attain at length to the power of the God-head. It was this glorious doctrine in connection with the baptism, redemption and sealing for the dead, that was the uppermost theme of the Prophet Joseph during the last two years or more of his life."—A Brief History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by Apostle George Q. Cannon, page 138, published 1893.

"I would here say that the promise made to Abraham and to all who are heirs of the same promise through faith extends to all generations in this life and to all generations to come forever and ever. That is, Abraham and Sarah will continue to multiply not only in this world, but in all the worlds to come. And the same is true of all the sons and daughters that obtain the fulness of the promise made to Abraham. * * * Will the resurrection return you a mere female acquaintance that is not to be the wife of your bosom in eternity? No; God forbid; but it will restore you the wife of your bosom, immortalized, who shall bear children from your own loins in all the worlds to come, and that without pain or sorrow in travail. This, sir, was couched in the promise of Abraham; this makes the promise great."—Spencer's Letters, pages 204-5.

"Each pair the Eve and Adam of some world, Perchance unborn, un orbited and unwhirled." (Where they shall) "reign as queens and kings, Where endless union endless increase brings."

—Apostle Whitney, Elijah, pp. 103-4.

"Except a man and his wife enter into an everlasting covenant and be married for eternity while in this probation, by the power and authority of the holy priesthood, they will cease to increase when they die; that is, they will not have any children after the resurrection. But those who are married by the power and authority of the priesthood in this life, and continue without committing the sin against the Holy Ghost, will continue to increase and have children in the celestial glory. * * * In the celestial glory there are three degrees or heavens, and in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood, and if he does not, he cannot obtain it. He may enter into the other, but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase."—Quoted in Young Men's Improvement Manual from Joseph Smith, Mill. Star, page 108.

"I wish to be perfectly understood here. Let it be remembered that the Prophet Joseph Smith taught that man, that is his spirit, is the offspring of Deity; not in any mythical sense, but actually. * * * Instead of the God-given power of procreation being one of the chief things that is to pass away, it is one of the chief means of man's exaltation and glory in that great eternity which like an endless vista stretches out before him. * * * Through that law, in connection with an observance of all the other laws of the Gospel, man will yet attain unto the power of the God-head, and like his Father—God—his chief glory will be to bring to pass the eternal life and happiness of his posterity."—Roberts, New Witness for God, page 461.

"The devil and his angels having forfeited in their first estate all right to enter a second with bodies of flesh and bones, and having lost the privilege of marrying and propagating their species, feel maliciously wicked and envious against the sons of men who kept their first estate and now are in the enjoyment of the second, marrying and increasing their families or kingdoms."—Orson Pratt in The Seer, page 79.

"Parents for the want of that holy and pure affection which exists in the bosom of the righteous, not only destroy their own happiness, but impress their own degraded and unlawful passions upon the constitution of their offspring. It is for this reason that God will not permit the fallen angels to multiply. It is for this reason that God has ordained marriage for the righteous only. It is for this reason that God will put a final stop to the multiplication of the wicked after this life. It is for this reason that none but those who have kept the celestial law will be permitted to multiply after the resurrection. It is for this reason that God has so ordained that the righteous shall have a plurality of wives; for they alone are prepared to beget and bring forth offspring whose bodies and spirits, partaking of the nature of the parents, are pure and lovely, and will manifest, as they increase in years, those heaven-born excellencies so necessary to lead them to happiness and eternal life."—Orson Pratt in The Seer, pages 157-8.

The "Address" has somewhat to say regarding the holy priesthood, but what is said affords one unacquainted with the church but little idea of the relation which this order sustains to the whole ecclesiastical system. In reality everything centers here. Admit the church's contention for its priesthood and you have yielded the most essential things which it claims. "We affirm that, to administer in the ordinances of the Gospel, authority must be given of God; and that this authority is the power of the holy priesthood. We affirm that, through the ministration of immortal personages, the holy priesthood has been conferred upon men in the present age, and that, under this divine authority, the Church of Christ has been organized." So it is declared, but the teaching of the church on this most important doctrine is not herein candidly set forth. The appended extracts will show that the basis for the exercise of arbitrary power of its membership lies in the church's claim for the "holy priesthood," and that their power extends not only to things spiritual, but to secular matters as well. Furthermore, it will be seen that when once the church's claim for its priesthood is allowed, the claim of jurisdiction in civil matters logically follows. The members of the priesthood claim the special power to interpret scriptures, and the president of the church, who is also chief of the high priesthood, is the prophet, seer and revelator of God to the church and to the world.

If it was the purpose of the leaders to keep the mass of the membership under such control as would effectually destroy all liberty of action, and would curb that freedom of thought to which all responsible people are entitled, then it is difficult to see how any better scheme for achieving that purpose could have been devised than the Mormon doctrine of the "holy priesthood." Given a people who endorse its high claims and submit to them, and you have a community which is under the tyranny of arbitrary rulership. That such power should be provided for in any system, civil or ecclesiastical, and should not be used, is incompatible with the known facts in human nature. That the full power of the Mormon priesthood is exercised is not a matter of doubt among well-informed people.

"I shall then define priesthood to be that order of authoritative intelligences by which God regulates, controls, enlightens, blesses or curses, saves or condemns all beings. To it under God all things are subservient in righteousness, whether in heaven or hell."—Spencer's Letters, page 94.

"Men who hold the priesthood possess divine authority thus to act for God; and by possessing part of God's power they are in reality part of God. * * * Men who honor the priesthood in them, honor God, and those who reject it, reject God."—New Witness for God, page 187.

"The priesthood is the authority delegated to men to act in the name of God, and to have those acts approved of him. Whatever is done by this authority is as if God himself had done it. The one holding the priesthood becomes an agent of the Lord. * * * The curse of God on Cain, the flood, the rejection and dispersion of Israel, the destruction of Jerusalem—these are all typical instances of the judgments of God following the lack of reverence for his priesthood. * * * Faith in the priesthood in general must be supplemented by a specific faith in those who hold the keys of the priesthood and preside in its various organizations, Priesthood without presidency would be unorganized and lacking in efficiency. * * * We cannot honor the priesthood if we do not honor those who hold its keys. They are indeed the living oracles of our time, and the voice of inspiration from them is as the voice of God to us."—Manual, 1901-2, part I, pages 81, 82.

"There is also a tendency among the youth, and I am sorry to say among some of the older ones, to show but little regard for the sacredness of the holy priesthood. What I mean by the holy priesthood is that authority which God has delegated to man by which he may speak the will of God as though the angels were here to speak it themselves; by which men are empowered to bind on earth and it shall be bound in heaven, and to loose on earth and it shall be loosed in heaven; by which the words of men spoken in the exercise of that power become the word of the Lord, the law of God, unto the people scripture and divine commands. It is therefore not good that the Latter-day Saints and the children of Latter-day Saints should treat lightly this sacred principle of authority which has been revealed from the heavens in the dispensation in which we live. It is the authority by which the Lord Almighty governs his people, and by it in time to come he will govern the nations of the world."—Report of seventy-second conference, page 2, October 4-6, 1901.

"Before all lands in east or west
We love the land of Zion best;
With God's choice gifts 'tis teeming.
There, prophets, seers, as of old
The mysteries of heaven unfold.
Through holy priesthood streaming."
—Sunday School Hymnal, No. 61.

One other observation must be made before leave is taken of this part of the defense before the world. It touches a matter which in importance dwarfs everything mentioned in the "Address." Apparently the foundation of the Mormon Church is in the "Book of Mormon," the "Doctrine and Covenants," the "Pearl of Great Price," and the testimony of the "Living Oracles," delivered from time to time. But whoever digs down to the lowermost foundation will find that, at last, everything rests upon the reported visions of Joseph Smith. When any matter of vital importance is presented for the belief of mankind, if that matter, either in its nature or the circumstances attending it, lies very much outside the ordinary, a due regard for human intelligence demands that whatever testimony is produced in support of it shall be buttressed by corroborative evidence. But here we have a system of religion which claims sole authority as being alone divinely accredited. It asks for the acceptance of mankind on the ground of being so accredited. It anathematizes all who finally reject it. Yet this religion, making such an astonishing claim, is founded upon the unsupported assertion of a young person whose probity was not yet so well established that his naked word would be taken concerning any matter transcending ordinary observation and experience; and that assertion touches supernatural appearances, and messages which, if true, are of the most profound importance to mankind, and yet that assertion is wholly without corroborating evidence. We are asked to believe that, after seventeen centuries of apostasy on the part of his church, and 1700 years of silence on his own part, God broke this long silence at last with a message to a hitherto unbelieving world, which would determine the destiny of mankind, but that he so discredited human intelligence as to send that all-important message by an ambassador without credentials.

In short, the Mormon Church has not yet given the world any satisfactory evidence that the foundation upon which it rests its enormous claim entitles that claim to any serious consideration. Here is the fatal destitution of the whole system. And no defense that can be set up for the doctrines or practices of the church, or for its history, or for the character of its people, however strong or adroit that defense may be, can veil their mortal weakness.

Attention is called in the "Address" to plural marriages and polygamous living. We have no means of knowing to what extent the practice of plural marriage has been discontinued in the Mormon Church, since no records of such marriages are kept by the church that are accessible to the public. That there have been instances of such marriages, even since the agreement of the church to discontinue them, we know; that they cannot be celebrated without the sanction of the church, through accredited officials, is unquestioned; that, so far as the public knowledge goes, no officials who may have celebrated such marriages have been disciplined therefor, is certain. The doctrine of plural marriage yet appears in the accepted standards of the church unchanged, in face of the promise made by the president of the church that the Woodruff manifesto should be printed, in the later editions of such standards. That the practice is not now as open or as common as in the days of Brigham Young may be conceded. But that it is, at most, suspended by church decree, and not abrogated, is well understood here.

No denial was made of the practice of polygamous living. The "Address" admits that authoritative figures officially collected show 897 such male polygamists in the year 1902. The fact that later reports are not quoted leads to the reasonable belief that since that date the number of male polygamists has not diminished, but rather has increased. But even if this conclusion is not valid, these figures given have a very grave significance. We have this condition before us: In a sect, numbering at the outside some 400,000 souls, many of whom—half or more—are children or mere adherents, at the very least 2,691 persons are living in polygamy. This would be true if each of the 897 male polygamists had only two consorts; but, since in many cases there are more than two, the whole number of persons living in polygamy is considerably larger than the figures just named would indicate. It seems quite probable that far more than 1,800 families in this sect are polygamous families. All of these people are living in violation of the law. Each one of them has a circle of relatives and friends, most of whom will not only condone, but will sympathize with the criminal. These people are rearing children, a majority of whom have been born under ban of the law. Moreover, they are now maintaining their relations against the decree of the church, as interpreted under oath by the church leaders, and yet none of them have been subjected to church discipline for polygamous living. What must reasonable people think of it when such a condition is approved and sustained by a church claiming to be the only church of Christ in the earth—a church strong enough to control all conditions in the state, political, social and civil?

Toleration of these criminals, mercy and charity toward them, is claimed on the ground: First, that toleration has been shown them in the past. It is even said that the "toleration under which the practice of plural marriage became firmly established binds the United States and its people, if indeed they are not bound by considerations of mercy and wisdom, to the exercise and patience and charity in dealing with this question." Second, that wisdom in dealing with the matter in the future prescribes it. But to this it must be replied that the "toleration" of former years was not the toleration of choice, but the endurance of a reprobated condition while there were no adequate means at hand to correct it. And, in the next place, when the church insists upon the doctrine of polygamy as divinely revealed and enjoined; when the governing body of the church publicly honors those who practice it; when its chief officials openly, and with mutual approbation therefor, live in it; when the officials studiously refrain from any public act in restraint of it—when all this is true, we must hold it to be doubtful whether the practice of polygamous living ever will die out under any system of toleration. And thoughtful people will conclude, in the light of these facts, that the only mercy and charity which is logical is that which will, with a strong hand, defend society at large from the taint of such flagitious precepts, examples and practices. Wisdom does not prescribe toleration toward other unlawful conduct; nor does experience show that such a method of dealing with offenders is so conspicuously successful in restraining crime as to encourage that policy. In addition to this, when we consider the fact that men have lived in polygamous relations here for years without the fact being generally acknowledged, or even known; when the church teaches the doctrine of polygamy as a divinely-revealed "principle," such precept being supplemented by the powerful example of its highest officials; and when the president of the church makes a virtue of his contumacy in this regard, we must be pardoned if we declare that no sufficient evidence that polygamous living is dying out, or is likely to die out, has yet been produced.

"For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me. I will command my people; otherwise they shall harken unto these things"—(that is, revelations forbidding polygamy). "Thus we see that a man among the Nephites, by the law of God had no right to take more than one wife, unless the Lord should command, for the purpose of raising up seed unto himself. Without such a command they were strictly limited to the one-wife doctrine. * * * So it is in this Church of Latter-day Saints; every man is strictly limited to one wife, unless the Lord, through the president and prophet of the church, gives a revelation permitting him to take more."—Orson Pratt in The Seer, page 30.

"For, behold, I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if you abide not that covenant then are you damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory. * * * And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthood, if any man espouse a virgin and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent; and if he espouse the second and they are virgins and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified; for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to none else; and if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong unto him; and they are given unto him—therefore, he is justified."—Doctrine and Covenants, chapter 132.

"From the foregoing revelation given through Joseph the Seer, it will be seen that God has actually commanded some of his servants to take more wives. * * Showing still further that, if they refuse to obey this command after having the law revealed to them, they should be damned. This revelation, then, makes it a matter of conscience among all the Latter-day Saints; and they embrace it as a part and portion of their religion, and verily believe that they cannot be saved and reject it."—Orson Pratt in The Seer, January, 1853, page 14.

"Who would suppose that any man in this land of religious liberty would presume to say to his fellowman that he had no right to take such steps as he thought necessary to escape damnation. Or that congress would enact a law that would present the alternative to religious believers of being consigned to a penitentiary if they should attempt to obey a law of God which would deliver them from damnation."—Epistle of the first presidency, October 6, 1885.

In a signed article written by Brigham H. Roberts, one of the first seven presidents of the seventies of the Mormon Church, for the Improvement Era of May, 1898, are found the following statements as the conclusion of an argument on the righteousness of polygamy:

"Therefore, I conclude that since God did approve of the plural marriage custom of the ancient patriarchs, prophets and kings of Israel, it is not at all to be wondered at that, in the dispensation of the fulness of time, in which he has promised restitution of all things, God should again establish that system of marriage. And the fact of God's approval of plural marriage in ancient times is a complete defense of the righteousness of the marriage system introduced by revelation through the prophet, Joseph Smith.

"Polygamy is not adultery, for were it so considered, then Abraham, Jacob, and the prophets who practiced it would not be allowed an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, and if polygamy is not adultery, then it cannot be classed as a sin at all.

"It appears to the writer that modern Christians must either learn to tolerate polygamy or give up forever the glorious hope of resting in Abraham's bosom. That which he approves, and so strikingly approves, must be not only not bad, but positively good, pure and holy."—Improvement Era, May, 1898, pages 472, 475, 478, 482.

We quote from the poem written by Apostle Orson Whitney to the Women of the Everlasting Covenant:

"Up with the guardian of social purity,
The marriage system of futurity—
Asylum of reform and penitence;—
God-given home to homeless innocence;
And down with wayward Rome's economy,
Parent of nameless ills, monogamy;
Concomitant of empire crushing vice,
Immolating virtue at the shrine of price,
Let innocence no more be child of shame;
Let nature's needs the laws of nature frame;
Let marriage vows be honorable in all,
Untrammelled by a monogamic wall
Of selfishness and rank hypocrisy,
The gift of Pagan aristocracy."
—Apostle Whitney's Poems.

The declaration made by B. H. Roberts concerning his determination to continue his polygamous living is of a piece with that made under oath by President Joseph Smith and Apostle F. M. Lyman. Mr. Roberts said:

"These women have stood by me. They are good and true women. The law has said that I shall part from them. * * * But the law cannot free me from the obligations assumed before it spoke." (It spoke before he was born.) "No power can do that; even were the church that sanctioned these marriages and performed the ceremonies to turn its back upon us and say that the marriage is not valid now and that I must give these good and loyal women up—I will be damned if I would."—Case of B. H. Roberts of Utah, page 13.

Considerable space has been devoted in the "Address" to a defense of the loyalty of the Mormon Church to civil government. It is not recalled that any Christian church in this country has found itself under a like necessity, for the teachings and practices of the Christian churches have never been such as to raise an issue between church authority and allegiance to civil statutes. "Gentiles" will bear willing testimony to the fact that the Mormon people, as a body, are by no means naturally disposed to contest civil ordinances.

But it must be clear to all that there is much in their surroundings to contravene their obedience to civil government. We may pass by the history of the church's conflict with the federal government, which is yet well remembered, and may mention these facts as bearing upon the point now under consideration: That the most honored leaders of the church in the past have made an issue between the civil power on the one hand the church authority on the other; that the president of the church today, reverenced by his people as God's deputy on the earth, is living in outlawry; that a number of his chosen associates in the governing body of the church are lawbreakers; that many of the most responsible officers of the church, next to those just referred to, are proscribed by the law; that honors are conspicuously accorded by the highest authority in the church to persons who have the taint of this lawlessness upon them; that these offenders against civil government are not called to account by any church authority for their offenses. Such conduct on the part of the leaders cannot be said to stimulate respect for civil authority, but it must be held to be a stronger deterrent to obedience to the laws of society. So that whatever credit the Mormon people may have as a law-abiding people can scarcely be shared by the governing body of the church, since the weight of their precepts and example is wholly against the validity of any claim to such credit.

This review is issued that the real doctrines, practices and general spirit of the Mormon Church may be known. Whatever the intent of the "Address" may have been, the effect of it will certainly be to deceive all readers who are not intimately acquainted with the teachings and practices of the Mormon Church. We are not unmindful of the fact that we shall be charged with persecution and misrepresentation in issuing this review. But the publication of the truth can hardly be called persecution, and if there be any charge of misrepresentation it must lie against the leaders of the Mormon Church, whose own utterances we have quoted as sustaining what has herein been said about their teachings.

That there may be no misunderstanding of our contention in this paper, we, in conclusion, very frankly declare that not only is the "Address to the World" misleading to the general public, but also that the teachings of the Mormon Church in Gentile communities and through its missionaries are deceptive; that the policy of the Mormon leaders is to keep the people in entire subjection to the priesthood, and that so these leaders seek to control political, commercial and educational conditions in Utah; that their moral influence where such control is maintained is neither complimentary to or commensurate with their power; that their influence is not only subversive of civil authority, but also of reverence for God; that these leaders associate Joseph Smith in dignity and honor with the most eminent of mortals, if not indeed with Christ Himself; that they claim for Brigham Young and Joseph Smith and other "living oracles" the same obedience that is claimed for the very word of God; that whatever spirituality is found in the lives of individual members of the Mormon Church exists in spite of the examples and precepts of their leaders; that the difficulty in the enforcement of the civil law, wherever it affects the practice of polygamous living, is well nigh unsurmountable; that the practice of polygamous living was never held in higher esteem by the governing body of the church than now; that until the practices of the present leaders of the Mormon Church are radically changed there can be no peace between them and pure Christianity; and that until the doctrines of the church are radically modified it can never establish a claim to be even a part of the church of Jesus Christ.