In Conclusion,
I want to say that what is here presented does not err from truth and was not written with either knowledge or consent of any member of the Mormon church. It stands upon my personal knowledge. I am not a member of any church, and view all sects philosophically. I cannot perceive that any religion has been of divine origin, in the theological sense of the terms. To my mind they are all human, very human, in their origin. But, conceding to all the rights of intellectual liberty I claim for myself, I question not the right of the people to any religion that satisfies them. In so far as creeds and dogmas impose upon credulity, I claim the right to protest. Thus I have long protested against Calvanism in all its varieties as a wholly unjustifiable cruelty forced upon humanity through its ignorance and fear. I gladly admit that theology, like everything else, is subject to the progressive influence of the ages, and realize that the God of Calvin is not as mean as he was 400 years ago—has been much improved in the last 100 years under our free government and public education. I cheerfully concede that all theologians mean to be honest in the dogmas they create, and I believe that all churches sincerely endeavor to hold their people to defined standards of moral life. But I lay this against them—that they would have men and women practice moral living, not for itself, but to secure a definite reward after we have ceased to live here, a reward called "salvation" from threatened ills and horrors that exist only in the excited imagination of ignorance and superstition. It is childish—it is the mother bribing her boy with bread and jam, or frightening him with threats of "the bad man."
You see, then, that I am one of that class of persons called by all the professors of all the thousand and one varieties of so-called Christianity "an infidel." It is the easiest thing in the world to call people by opprobrious names, as the history of these unpopular Mormons makes manifest. In fact, no new thought appears that is not infidelity to some older one—no new issue that is not maligned by the satisfied believer in some old one. The term "infidel," as applied to persons who think for themselves, do their own business with the Infinite, and decline proffered rewards based on fear of God, is one of merit rather than reproach. Jesus was the great infidel of his time—crucified for truth derided by the prevailing orthodoxy of his day.
There are two kinds of infidelity in the world. One comes by growing up out of existing beliefs, the other by falling below them. The only harmful infidelity exists in the churches, and consists of professing one code of morals and living another. For instance, all Christians call Sunday the Lord's day and pretend to keep it holy, a sacred day devoted to the worship of God. Yet half of them, in this country, keep it as a day of frolic and dissipation. That does not harm the day, does not injure God, but it makes hypocrites of professing Christians. They are infidels who have fallen below their religion. For instance, again, take the seven million names of American people who petitioned congress to expel the Utah congressman. It is safe to say a large percentage of the signers were children who did not know what they were doing, but whose names were taken by Christian adults with intent to deceive.
A long study of religions convinces me that all mean to do good, yet fail, in great part, because they work for a wrong purpose. That is, they work, not for this life, but for one to be sometime somewhere "above the stars," in a locality that has never been more than a myth; and the object of working for that unreality is to escape another mythical locality below the earth, in the earth, or somewhere else equally uncertain. This would do in a world peopled with ignorant savages, but will not do for intelligent men and women. This fact is recognized by the churches. They spend their money chiefly to carry their religion to the "heathen," realizing that it is useless at home. The religions of the world need reconstructing. They have much to learn and unlearn. I know of no church working so zealously for what it believes to be the good of humanity as Mormonism. I know its leaders, its system, its work. Its directors, as a whole, are sincere, conscientious, clean, honest men. If they err, it is not from evil intent. To them the presence of God is a living faith. It may be an error, but the faith is there, and the work is the result.
Mormonism is peculiar in this: it does not regard this life as a preparation for an eternity of idle psalm-singing in a future existence Lord-knows-where, but a school of moral training for an eternal life right here after "the resurrection." To this end it aims to make its people intelligent, capable, honest, moral, successful now, as the proper means of reaching the greatest happiness then. This may be a practical basis for a possible end. Its enemies say it is based on fraud. Well, it is said they cannot demonstrate that Christianity was not based on fraud—cannot demonstrate that Jesus ever existed. But Christianity is here, and, whether He lived or not, it will remain. If it should transpire that Joseph Smith was not the founder of Mormonism, that the engraved "plates" had no existence, Mormonism is here, the faith is here, and it too will remain. We can only dismiss all questions of "fraud" and choose—the best. The best is that which is most beneficent in practical helpfulness. Tried thus, Mormonism possesses merit that cannot be ignored by any who would concede equal rights—fair field and no favors—to all. I see in it what to me are weaknesses, but in what system do they not exist? They are the weaknesses of its youth and are being outgrown—would be outgrown faster but for the malevolent opposition that drives it back upon itself. But let no enemy of Mormonism flatter himself that it can be killed by vituperation. It is the most remarkable movement in the religious world since the days of Mahomet—the most wonderful religious movement in forty generations. The thunder and lightning of its enemies cannot strike it down. It must fall, if fall it must, as other religions have fallen—by its own decay after it has lived its natural life. Keeping Roberts out of congress will not arrest its course, and it is highly probable that the time will come when the American people who want no church interference with our national government may be glad to have the aid of the now maligned Mormons.
Consider that there are today 1,700 young Mormons tramping over this continent in city, town and hamlet—young men who are so circumspect in all their deportment that not even the most bitter enemies of their faith have the hardihood to raise their voices against them—young men who are steadily making the fundamental principles of their faith known to the people. There has been nothing like it in the world for hundreds of years, nothing in so-called Christian countries since the steady persistence of the Protestants on the continent and in Great Britain, and it is going to produce great results. The Mormons might be called the non-Conformists of this country and in spite of all efforts to the contrary they are going to wield an influence upon its future. One of the Utah men in Washington fighting the Mormons was honest enough to tell the truth when he said in a public meeting: "It is not polygamy but Mormonism we want to check." But it won't check or warp and is growing, and I write with a growing interest in its success. In 1718 there came 900 non-Conformists from Ulster county, Ireland, to Boston. They were Scotch-Irish Protestants seeking religious freedom. They introduced the Irish potato in New England. Some of them gave to older Yankees a few potatoes with instructions for planting them. They grew, blossomed, and bore fruit, but the Yankees cooked the seed balls and said they found them anything but good. Next spring when spading up their gardens they found the potato crop. Mormonism presented to Christian sects a new theological potato, so to speak. They tried it, ate the wrong end of the growth and denounced it. But there will come a new spring in which old sectarian gardens will be plowed up and then the real fruits of Mormonism will be discovered—and will be found to be both palatable and healthful.
"Where there is no change of priesthood, there is no change of ordinances, says Paul. If God has not changed the ordinances and the priesthood, howl ye sectarians! If He has, when and where has He revealed it? Have ye turned revelators? Then why deny revelation?"
—Joseph Smith, The Prophet.
"All who live according to the best principles in their possession, or that they can understand, will receive peace, glory, comfort, joy, and a crown that will be far beyond what they are anticipating. They will not be lost."
—Brigham Young.