Utah and the Mormons/Chapter 13

In the summer of 1852, discourses were delivered by Orson Pratt and Brigham Young, in which some of the eccentric features of the Mormon creed, in reference to the salvation and glory of the Saints, are distinctly set forth.

They believe, it appears, that by the sin of Adam eating the fruit contrary to the divine command, the penalty of the death of the body was brought upon all men; and that, without any future redemption, the soul and the body would eternally lie in the grave. The death of Christ, however, satisfied the original sin, and by it man will have a resurrection from the grave only.

"You will be redeemed from the original sin with no works on your part whatever. Jesus had died to redeem you from it, and you are as sure to be redeemed as you live upon the face of the earth." "If you have murdered all the days of your life, and committed all the sins the devil would prompt you to commit, you will get a resurrection—your spirit will be restored to your body; and if Jesus had not come, all of us would have slumbered in the grave." (Pratt's Sermon, Deseret News, Aug. 21, 1852.)

​It is the general belief of Christendom that man, on the dissolution of the body, must bid a final adieu to his earthly riches. But this forms no part of the Mormon faith. After the earth has been purified by fire, and after the resurrection, each Saint is to have a good farm:

"O ye Saints, when you sleep in the grave, don't be afraid that your agricultural pursuits are forever at an end; don't be fearful that you will never get any more landed property; but if you are Saints, be of good cheer; for when you come up in the morning of the resurrection, behold, there is a new earth," &c. "We are looking for things in their immortal state, and farmers will have great farms upon the earth when it is so changed." (Idem.)

But the sequel shows that the size of these farms depends very much upon the length of time the earth shall escape the fiery purification. If the universal conflagration should happen to be postponed for 8000 years, there will have to be close engineering to make out a decent-sized lot, leaving out of the estimation salt lakes, deserts, and cañons.

"But don't be so fast, says one; don't you know that there are only about 197,000,000 of square miles, or about 126,000,000,000 of acres upon the surface of the globe? Will these accommodate all the inhabitants after the resurrection? Yes; for, if the earth should stand 8000 years, or eighty centuries, and the population should be a thousand million in every century, that would be 80,000,000,000 of inhabitants, and we know that many centuries have passed that would not give the tenth part of this; but supposing this to be ​the number, there would then be over an acre and a half for each person upon the surface of the globe." (Idem.)

The wicked, however, being excluded from the promises, gives the Saint the reasonable expectation of a good farm, even though the earth should jog on in the old way a little over the time limited. Upon the assumption that one out of a hundred is brought into the fold, each Saint "would receive over 150 acres, which would be quite enough to raise manna, and to build some habitations upon and some splendid mansions; it would be large enough to raise flax to make robes of, and to have beautiful orchards of fruit-trees; it would be large enough to have our flower-gardens, and every thing the agriculturist and the botanist want, and some to spare."

It seems, too, each man is to rise with his wives and children, and the work of generation is still to go on; and when the house gets too full, the surplus population are to be sent forth to new worlds, to be created for their especial benefit. This, however, is not to be the end of his progress; he is even to become a god, and a creator of worlds on his own hook.

"The Lord created you and me for the purpose of becoming gods like himself. We are created, we are born for the express purpose of growing up from the low estate of manhood, to become gods like unto our Father in heaven. The Lord has organized mankind for the express purpose of increasing in that intelligence and truth which is with God, until he is capable of creating worlds on worlds, and becoming gods." (Brigham Young, Deseret News, Oct. 2, 1852.)

​"After men have got their exaltation and their crowns—have become gods, even the sons of God—are made King of kings and Lord of lords—they have the power then of propagating their species in spirit, and that is the first of their operations with regard to organizing a world. Power is then given to them to organize the elements, and then commence the organization of tabernacles. How can they do it? Have they to go to that earth? Yes, an Adam will have to go there, and he can not do without Eve; he must have Eve to commence the work of generation; and they will go into the garden, and continue to eat and drink of the fruits of the corporeal world, until this grosser matter is diffused sufficiently through their celestial bodies to enable them, according to the established laws, to produce mortal tabernacles for their spiritual children." (Brigham Young, Deseret News extra, September 14th, 1852.)

"But I expect, if I am faithful with yourselves, that I shall see the time with yourselves that we will know how to prepare to organize an earth like this—know how to people that earth, how to redeem it, how to sanctify it, and how to glorify it, with those who live upon it who hearken to our counsel. The Father and Son have attained to this point already; I am on the way, and so are you, and every faithful servant of God." (Idem.)

The Father and Son, therefore, must have been mortals once, like the redoubtable Brigham, and have worked their way to their present condition!

This, however, does not tell the whole story. Each and every Mormon has had a pre-existence. The ma​terial body is a tabernacle produced by natural generation, into which the pre-existing spirit is inserted. But to create a spirit every time a natural body is created is considered too irksome a business for the Almighty. The following reasoning is considered very conclusive at Salt Lake:

"Do the Scriptures declare that the spirit was formed at the time the tabernacle was made? No. All the tabernacles of the children of men that were ever formed, from remote generations, from the days of Adam to this time, have been formed out of the earth. We are of the earth, earthy. The tabernacle has been organized according to certain principles and laws of organization, with bones, and flesh, and sinews, and skin. Now where do you suppose all these tabernacles got their spirits? Does the Lord make a new spirit every time a tabernacle is made? if so, the work of creation, according to the belief of Christendom, did not cease on the seventh day. If we admit their views, the Lord must be continually making spirits to inhabit all the tabernacles of the children of men; he must make something like one thousand millions of spirits every century; he must be working at it every day, for there are many hundreds of individuals being born into the world every day. Does the Lord create a new spirit every time a new tabernacle comes into the world? That does not look reasonable, or God like." (Orson Pratt, Des. News extra, Sept. 14th, 1852.)

But, happily, the Lord is relieved of this daily drudgery by a discovery which solves the whole difficulty. These pre-existing spirits were no other than the sons of God who shouted for joy on a certain memorable oc​casion: "The Lord told Job that all the sons of God shouted for joy, and the morning stars sang together, when the foundations of the globe were laid. The sons of God, recollect, shouted for joy, because there was a beautiful habitation being built, so that they could get tabernacles and dwell therein; they expected the time; they looked forward to the period; it was joyful for them to reflect that the creation was about being formed, the corner-stone of it was laid, on which they might, in their times and in their seasons, go forth and receive tabernacles for their spirits to dwell in." (Idem.)

How the penalty of death, which is claimed to be brought upon all men by the sin of Adam, could attach to those sons who had not at the time entered tabernacles, does not appear to be explained. One would think, with such a punishment staring them in the face, to say nothing of Missouri mobs and other casualties, they would be somewhat shy of entering such rickety and exposed habitations. But that they did pre-exist is proved to the satisfaction of all good Saints: "We find that Solomon, that wise man, says that when the body returns to the dust, the spirit returns to God who gave it. Now all this congregation very well know, that if we never existed there we could not return there. I could not return to California; why? because I never have been there." (Idem.)

Why Solomon's declaration will not as well apply to the daily creation of spirits to be inserted in the tabernacles, as well as to the supposed case of the sons being created in a batch before the foundation of the world, is not explained.

​Some of these pre-created sons are more noble and intelligent than others, which fact is made satisfactorily to appear by "the Book of Abraham, translated from the Egyptian papyrus by the prophet Joseph Smith." And what is still more wonderful, the scurvy ones have been sent into the bodies of Hottentots, negroes, &c., while the most noble have been reserved for these latter days, for the distinguished honor of being inserted into tabernacles prepared by the consecrated concubines of Utah.

According to the Brahmin, Vishnu, from a little fish, became a big fish, and from a big fish, a giant, and from a giant, a boar, and with his tusks raised the earth from the bottom of the waters. This was a feat sufficiently marvelous; but the Mormon has proved himself a match for the East Indian; the latter never dreamed of making human beings the raw material for manufacturing gods. The former have fairly bridged over the impassable gulf which separates the finite from the infinite. These strange mutations from weakness to omnipotence, which, in this case, may not irreverently be compared to that which begins in a tadpole and ends in a bullfrog, are effected by the all-powerful instrumentality of faith, which, like the intrusive young of the cuckoo in the sparrow's nest, has crowded out or made subordinate every other doctrinal principle.

So far the system would seem to be Polytheism, differing from that of the ancients, inasmuch as each man is to become a god and creator. These wild notions lift up the Mormon in his own conceit, and invest him with superior privileges. Being a god in embryo, he ​feels the right to anticipate the privileges of divine royalty; and as he has no idea of heavenly happiness, except from that which springs from the unlimited enjoyment of the senses, he has already legalized adultery, and is fast running into kingly enormities equal to any of which history has yet spoken.

As before stated, the Mormons have floated off strangely from their original anchorage. On the subject of the Trinity, the Book of Mormon recognizes the common doctrine of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and it is fair to believe that the early converts were not disturbed in their faith on this point; but they have since adopted notions on this subject which would more appropriately apply to the fabled gods of antiquity. They now believe that God the Father was originally a spirit propagated by a previous God or Father; that he was at first a disembodied spirit, and, to obtain a body or clothing to his spirit, passed through a probation upon some earth like a human being. The Father of God, they say, was the grandfather of Christ. Of course, the grandparent must have been propagated by some prior Deity. How far back this theocratic pedigree runs, does not appear to be definitely settled. Some of the Saints, in conversation, express the belief that each earth in the universe has its own separate God, exercising his omnipotent functions independent of the rest; that other earths have probably passed through the purifying process which is yet in store for this earth; and that some of the earths have been created by mortals, who had become gods. There would, therefore, seem to be no danger of a failure in this theocratic lineage for the government of the universe; and ​if there were, the improved machinery at Salt Lake would insure a supply of the genuine article.

The term "only-begotten" appeared to be somewhat at war with this theory, but is now satisfactorily explained. It is alleged that, after Christ was chosen a delegate at the grand council before mentioned, the Father begat a tabernacle for him, through a human mother, and that this was the only instance of that description.

The Holy Ghost is a disembodied spirit, and it is believed he will at some period pass through a human probation and obtain a body. Some believe that this has already been done, and that he occupied the body of the prophet Smith; but this has not yet received the stamp of authority, and must be regarded as one of the ten thousand wild notions floating through Mormon brains. This personage has a kind of shadowy existence in Latter-day theology, appearing and disappearing with all the eccentric shiftings of an Aurora Borealis. Probably Shakspeare's Ariel, in the Tempest, is as nearly an embodiment of the character as can well be conceived. His pedigree remains in still greater obscurity. Who was his sire, and who his dam, is a point to be explained by some future revelation.

It is an important point in Mormon belief, that the "sons" or spirits who have been begotten in heaven should have natural bodies, as a kind of shield for protection; otherwise, each one is like a body without a skin, or a clam without a shell. Why, being material in the first instance (as will appear in the sequel), it should be necessary to dip them, like candles, into the grosser parts of nature, to crust them over, is a point ​to be yet canvassed and settled. Satan and his party are doomed to remain without bodies, or take up with very vile ones, on account of their factious opposition at the time the celestial election was held. Had he obtained a majority on that occasion, the position of the parties would have been changed.

On the subject of Angels, too, the Saints have departed from common belief in assigning them a much lower position in the supernal regions. These beings—who have heretofore been so brightly colored with the hues of a heavenly morning—whose very name has presented a perfect ideal of the highest degree of happiness and goodness which can be secured to created beings—have failed somehow to reach the highest position in the Mormon heaven. They are regarded as ministering spirits, messengers, or traveling agents, to do the bidding of those who are above them in the scale. One of them, for instance, was ordered to appear to the prophet Joseph, and point out the locality of the golden plates. They are alleged, indeed, to be happy in their sphere, but they can never be invested with the paraphernalia of celestial royalty, like the most favored of the Latter-day Saints. The fair Cyprians of Salt Lake feel themselves quite superior to angels. He or she who can only be an angel is considered decidedly below par. Why any of the Saints should be reduced to this dilemma is not very clear; but the best opinion seems to be, that angels are those who have not been married or sealed; and it is an argument for silly and deluded females that they must lengthen out the tail of some harem in order to reach a higher degree of salvation.

​"I will tell you what revelation says, not only concerning them that reject these things, but concerning those that, through their carelessness, or want of faith, or some thing else, have failed to have their marriages sealed for time and for all eternity; those that do not do these things, so as to have the same ordinances sealed upon their heads by divine authority, as was upon the head of old father Adam—if they fail to do it through wickedness—through their ungodliness—behold, they also will never have the privilege of possessing that which is possessed by the gods that hold the keys of power, of coming up to the thrones of their exaltation, and receiving their kingdoms. What will be their condition? the Lord has told us. He says these are angels; because they keep not this law, they shall be ministering servants unto those who are worthy of obtaining a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; wherefore, saith the Lord, they shall remain singly and separately in their saved condition, and shall not have power to enlarge themselves, and thus shall they remain forever and ever." (Orson Pratt, Des. News extra.)

Another important departure from the primitive faith is their doctrine of Materialism. They have revived the old atomic theory of the ancient Greeks, with improvements, and teach that matter is eternal and intelligent. They believe that all things, divine or human, are material; and, as a sequence, they negative the omnipresence of God, and eventually make the Saints every way the equal of God.

"God the Father is material; Jesus Christ is material; angels are material; men are material; the ​universe is material. Nothing exists which is not material." (Millennial Star, vol. vi., p. 19.)

"What is God? He is a material organized intelligence, possessing both body and parts. This being can not occupy two distinct places at once, therefore he can not be every where present." (P. 20.)

Of Christ they say, "He, too, can traverse space, and go from world to world like the Father, but can not occupy two places at once."

Of the Spirits they say, "They are material organizations, intelligences possessing body and parts, but not composed of flesh and bones, but of some substance less tangible to our gross senses in our present life, but tangible to those in the same element as themselves. In short, they are men in embryo—intelligences waiting to come into the material world, and take upon them flesh and bones, that, through birth, death, and the resurrection, they may also be perfected in the material organization. Such was Jesus Christ, and such were we before we came into this world, and such we will be again in the intervening space between death and resurrection."

Of Men they say, "They are the offspring of God the Father, and brothers of Jesus Christ. They were once intelligent spirits in the presence of God, and were with him before the earth was formed. 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, being gods or sons of God, endowed with the same powers, attributes, and capacities that their heavenly Father and Jesus Christ possess."

​Matter they claim to be eternal, and intelligence to be "either a property of material atoms, or a result of the combination or contact of these atoms." (P. 159.)

Matter could not have been created by any being, because that would suppose the existence of such being prior to the matter, which could not be, inasmuch as such being consists of matter.

This whole doctrine of matter seems to be compacted in the following intricate weaving of Orson Pratt. (Idem, p. 173.)

"The only sound answer that can be given to these intricate inquiries is, that these atoms must be intelligent, having self-moving powers, limited to contain spheres and modes of action according to the nature and degree of their intelligence; and that this intelligence is not the effect, but the cause of combination; not derived from experience, but self-existent and eternal."

This is as clear as mud. According to this, the first being was created by a chance combination of matter; or else, these atoms being intelligent, squads of them got together and formed themselves into a being. Was there any wrangling among them as to which should be elevated to the head, and which depressed to the nether extremities? which should be hide, and which hair? which should tamely form the portion of a basement wall, or shine gloriously in a Venus de Medici or Greek Slave? Of course, all organized forms had a beginning—gods, men, and devils being on a par in this respect, except that the former got the start in this combining process. How it chanced that some ​of these atoms were of finer quality than others, or why each, being intelligent, it became necessary for them to be organized into combined forms, are things which do not distinctly appear.

This author continues his speculations, and ruthlessly overthrows long-cherished opinions in this wise: "Attraction is said to be a property of matter. It is said that every atom attracts every other atom with a force varying inversely as the square of the distance. But attraction is impossible, for any atom can not act where it is not." He explains the phenomena usually attributed to attraction as follows: "It is evident that intelligent self-moving atoms, confined in their movements within the necessary limits, can produce all these effects. These self-moving atoms are regulated by the following law, namely, Every atom moves itself toward every other atom with a force varying inversely as the square of the distance." (P. 174.)

Newton would seem to have made a grand mistake. His theory of gravitation is effectually exploded, and at Salt Lake has become an obsolete idea. The apple will hereafter fall to the ground because it is intelligent, and prefers a downward motion. It is to be hoped that our Spitzenbergs, and our pippins, and all their relations, will continue in that happy form of mind, and not "shoot madly from their spheres" in another direction.

But the principle of gravitation is not the only cherished idea which the world must give up. There are other and more important sequences from these startling propositions. If each atom be intelligent, self-existent, and eternal, there must be as many first ​causes as there are atoms in the universe, and the idea of a Great First Cause must share the fate of the Newtonian theory. It has been shrewdly remarked by some one, that "if all men were kings, there would be no subjects." Upon this principle, one would naturally suppose that these first causes, or gods, would scarcely find elbow-room for each other. Some would call this atheism, but why does it not come nearer pantheism? Each atom is a god by itself, because it is "intelligent, self-existent, and eternal," and each Saint is consequently a conglomeration of gods. The subject naturally provokes some queries, which may, perhaps, be satisfactorily solved at some future revelation from the celestial atoms above. Atoms, as organized into men, quarrel and fight with each other; was there any fighting between them before men were created? Who confined these atoms "within the necessary limits?" was that a matter of chance, or did the leaders of the godocracy get together in atomic caucus, and cut and dry the business for the multitude after the fashion of modern politicians? Why is the boy less wise than the gray-beard, and why is it necessary to build up schools and seminaries of education?

This whole doctrine of the eternity of matter and the origin of the gods is in direct contradiction to the Book of Mormon and of Smith's early revelations.

"By these things we know that there is a God in heaven, who is infinite and eternal, from everlasting to everlasting, the same unchangeable God, the framer of heaven and earth, and all things which are in them." (Doctrines and Covenants, p. 92.)

​"There is a God, and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that are in them." (Book of Mormon, p. 69.)

Afterward we find the prophet, in the very last sermon he preached, using the following language: "The head God called together the gods, and sat in grand council. The grand counselors sat in yonder heavens, and contemplated the creation of the worlds. that were created at that time." (Times and Seasons, p. 614.)

But Mormonism claims to be a progressive Church, and what was truth yesterday is discovered to be false to-day, and the new principle is destined to be exploded to-morrow.