The Mormons .

BY

Rev E. O, Guerrant, l). D

THE MORMO

BY

REV. E. O. GUERRANT, I). I).

L!EP■

YGF 7 .iE

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

RICHMOND, YA. :Pkesbytekian Committee of Publication.

Copyrighted

by

JA.S. K. HAZEN, Secretary of Publication,

1899.

Printed by

Whittet & Shepperson,Richmond, Ya.

Ss'g

Q9^vn

THE MORMONS.

My reply to your request to write somethingabout the Mormons has been delayed by other

matters, and the hope that more competenthands would do it. The conviction that some-

body should expose this monster iniquity ofthe cehtury, only, impels me to comply with

your kind request.I shall have time now only to give an outline

'{of their origin and teachings. It would take<fvolumes to fully set forth the history of thisImodern abomination.

I feel confident that many of our people donot know the character of this body, nor the

magnitude of the effort it is making to spreadits doctrines. General Eaton (Ex-Commis-sioner of Education of the United States) saysv that their missionaries are estimated to num-i-L

iDer two thousand , three hundred,

i I know they are travelling all over our land,2^two by two, canvassing every school district,

distributing their literature, and preaching in

933 i 86

4 The Mormons.

public school-houses, contrary to our law,which says, No sectarian , infidel or immoraldoctrine shall be taught in our school-houses/’I have met them in the most distant and in-accessible parts of the mountains. "They com-pass sea and land to make one proselyte.”They have more missionaries in Kentucky(and probably in every Southern State) thanall other denominations together. They havemembers in every State and Territory but five,and have scores of missionaries in foreignlands, and are winning perverts to their faithby thousands. Of course, they are mostlyamong the poor and ignorant classes, but theyhave souls , and constitute the mass of man-kind.

Origin.

As is well known, the founder of this sectwas Joseph Smith, who was born in Vermontin 1805, but brought up in New York, at Pal-myra. His mother was an ignorant and super-stitious fortune-teller, and his neighbors pro-nounced him “an ignorant, idle youth, givento chicken stealing.” He could not write,though he could read, and his favorite bookswere “Capt. Kidd, the Pirate ” and “Stephen

The Mormons. 5

Burroughs , the Clerical Scoundrel” How nat-

urally his after life took the complexion of

his early companions. His associates in start-ing his Church were Sidney Bigdon, a back-

sliding preacher, and Parley P. Pratt, a travel-ling tin-peddler—all unscrupulous, cunningand characterless. They were followed by

Brigham Young, whom Judge Goodwin (edi-tor of the Salt Lake Tribune) describes as“the worst of men ; intellectually he was notbright, but he was full of animal magnetism;and though his heart was that of a sheep, there*

was a great deal of wolf in his forehead ; pos-sessing a stubbornness that never yielded, and

a plausible tongue. His avarice was measure-less. He never looked on without coveting hisneighbor's fair wife, good horse, or profitableinvestments." Prom such a source nothingbut Mormonism could proceed, and it isworthy of its parentage.The so-called “Book of Mormon," is a ro-mance entitled “The Manuscript Found,"written by an invalid Congregational preachernamed Solomon Spaulding, of Ohio, butnever published. It gives in Biblical style afanciful history of the Mound-builders, a peo-

The Mormons.G

pie who are supposed to have preceded the In-dians in the Ohio Valley. This manuscriptfell into the hands of Smith or Rigdon (stolenprobably) , and was grossly altered to suit theirpurpose. This is the Book of Mormon. TheMormon Bible is a sacrilegious imitation ofthe Holy Bible—changed to suit the revoltingdoctrines of the new faith of its founders.“Joe” Smith was killed by his indignant andoutraged neighbors, at Carthage, 111., in 1844.Pratt was killed in Arkansas in 1856 for'stealing a man’s wife. Rigdon was expelledfrom the Mormon Church and given over toSatan by Brigham Young !

Doctrine.For doctrine the Mormon Church rests ontwo pillars Polytheism and Polygamy—twinrelics of heathenism, many gods and manywives. Take these away, and it falls like thetemple of Dagon.Adam is the Mormon God, and all the restof their gods were men, and became gods bypracticing polygamy. They teach that “God,angels and men are all of one species.”They teach that the “Holy Ghost is a man ,

The Mormons. 7

one of the sons of our Father and our God.”I quote their own language.Their whole system is idolatrous man wor-

ship. They teach that their gods are polyga-mists; that Jesus Christ had three wives.

Again^ their chief god changes his mind

when it suits him (or them); as he did in oncedenouncing polygamy (in 1830); and after-wards recommendilig it (in 1843) to accom-modate Joseph Smith.

It is the fashion of their missionaries todeny these well-known facts; and especiallytheir well-known practice of polygamy. Butthis is of a piece with their whole system ofdeception in beguiling the ignorant into theirnet. They are “wolves in sheep’s clothing.”Rev. Dr. Wishard; of Salt Lake City, saysthat polygamy is fundamental to the system;that “it is now taught and practiced in all thetowns of Utah; where it has ever been prac-ticed.” “The assertion that polygamy is deadwould produce a smile on the face of an honest

Mormon.” This is the recent testimony of a

distinguished clergyman who knows them

well. “To live our religion; is to live in polyg-amy/’ said their priest; McAlister.

8 The Mormons.

John D. Lee, for thirty-seven years a Mor-mon Bishop land priest, who was executed formurder, confessed that he had nineteen wives,and sixty-four children.“The (Mormon) Saints

”(they call them-

selves the “Latter-day Saints”) “have madeUtah a modern Sodom, and the paradise oflibertines.” This is the testimony of JudgeBoreman, for eight years associate judge ofthe Supreme Bench of Utah, and before whomBishop John D. Lee was tried before he wasexecuted. It was Lee that led the MountainMeadow Massacre, in which more than onehundred and twenty innocent emigrants were

murdered, and their property taken in 1857.Of course, you would not expect to findtruth or sobriety or other virtues in such com-

pany. So we are told that profanity and per-jury are almost universal. A resident of SaltLake City challenged any Mormon to producea single case where a Mormon was ever cut off

from his Church for murder, theft, lying,drunkenness, fornication, profanity, or Sab-

bath breaking. Miss Mary Cort (who taughtfive years in Utah) told me she never knew aMormon who would tell the truth when itwould convict another Mormon.

The Mormons. 9

Prof. Coyner, for many years superinten-dent of Salt Lake Collegiate Institute, says,“Business has thrown me among all classes of

society in various parts of the world, but themost profane and vulgar address I ever lis-tened to, I heard delivered by BrighamYoung”—the Mormon high priest andprophet.“No pen can describe the demoralizing effectupon the young, nor adequately set forth thelack of morality on the part of a vast majorityof young men and women who are brought upin connection with it. In fact, they don’tseem to know what the term morality means !’So says Rev. Dr. McNiece, for many years pas-tor of the First Presbyterian church of SaltLake City.Of course, hatred and persecution naturallybelong to such a system. And from the begin-ning they have waged an unrelenting warfare

against all others.

Their creed teaches disloyalty to all civil

government, and the President of the UnitedStates had to remove Brigham Young from

being Governor of Utah, and appoint a law-

abiding citizen of Georgia in his place.

10 The Mormons.

Private murder by their “blood avengers/’culminated at last in the “Mountain Meadow

Massacre/’ when John D. Lee, a Mormonelder, with a band of Mormons and Indians, inSouthern Utah, murdered, in cold blood, onehundred and twenty men, women and chil-

dren, emigrating from Arkansas to California.This .man, inspired by Brigham Young, wasshot at last by the United States authorities,after twenty years’ delay by the Mormons, who

prevented his earlier conviction. The penaltyfor revealing the secrets of the EndowmentHouse, where all marriages are celebrated, isto “have your throat cut from ear to ear, and

your tongue torn from your mouth.”

Their vindictive spirit may be learned fromthis expression of one of their apostles, “I dopray for our enemies. I pray that God willdamn them and send them down to hell.” Such

is the spirit of Mormonism.“The degradation of Mormonism falls more

heavily upon woman than upon man,” saysGeneral Eaton. She is made the tool and the

slave of his greed and lust. She cannot live

on earth except as a concubine, nor enter

heaven at all, except by marriage. “I have

The Mormons. 11

shed tears enough since I have been in polyg-amy to drown myself twice over.” This is thelanguage of a Mormon wife—of the Prophethimself. Another said, “The plains from Mis-souri to this valley are strewn with the bonesof those whom this system has killed, and the

cemetery on the hill is full of them, but everyone of these women is now wearing a martyr’scrown.”Is anything else necessary to damn such asystem? You wonder that it could exist at allin this country of ours. But remember, the

great majority of its adherents are very igno-rant and poor people, and many are foreignerswho cannot read our language ; many are sin-

cere and honest in their belief because they areenslaved by wicked and designing teachers.But I weary you, and have no space to sayanything of the tyranny of their priesthood,nor the greed of their tithing system, with anincome of a million a year and no accountgiven of it

,

nor of their celestial marriages (ofthe living to the dead), nor their baptism forthe dead—nor their doctrine of “blood atone-ment” which taught that a man might be mur-dered to save his soul. These are some, not all,

12 The Mormons.

of the tenets of this monstrous crime of thenineteenth century—this open sore of theworld!

I do not wonder that Rev. Dr. McNiecesays, “Let Paganism, Judaism, Jesuitism,Protestantism and Diabolism be shaken upand the result is Mormonism.”

God’s description of this abomination isfound in 2 Peter ii.To his hands we confidently commit itsoverthrow, and pray for our country and ourchildren.

LIBRARYOF TbE

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS