established among their neighbors in those states was not changed simply by their removal to a wilderness all by themselves. They had no longer the old excuse that their misdeeds were rep

n in an address to the Conference of October 9, 1852, when he said: "You Elders of Israel will go into the canyons, and curse and swear-damn an

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as the insecurity of property. This became so great an annoyance that Young spoke out plainly on the subject, an

the vacant land is substantially enclosed. Some persons will perhaps say, 'I do not know how good or how high a fence it will be necessary to build to keep thieves out.' I do not know either, except you build one that will keep out the devil."* On another occasion, with a personal grievance to air, he said in the Tabernacle: "I have gone t

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, Vol. I

to show that Bishops have taken in thousands of pounds in weight of tithing which they have never reported to the General Tithing Office. We have documents to show that Bish

Vol. II

un away with them, if you do not watch them closely. Do they all do this? No, but many of them will try to do it."* And again, a month later: "What previous characters some of you had in Wales, in England, in Scotland, and perhaps in Ireland. Do not be scared if it is proven against some one in the Bishop's court that you did steal the poles from your neighbor's garden

Vol. II

, Vol. I

., Vol.

bear it, and, if you will not, make up your minds to go to hell at once and have done with it." * On another occasion he said, "You need, figuratively, to have it rain pitchforks, tines downward, from this pulpit, Sunday after Sunday

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id, p

to them the latitude which the church proposed to take in applying punishment. In a remarkable sermon on October 6,

d Massachusetts should they hear that the Latter-day Saints had received a revelation or commandment to 'lay judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet'? What would they say in old Connecticut? They would raise a universal howl of, 'How wicked the Mormons are. They are killing the evil doers who are among the

Isaiah xxviii. 17, a

eme punishment which the

offe

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owing month he told his congregation: "The time is coming when justice will be laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet; when we shall take the old broadsword and ask, Are you for God? And if you are not heartily on the Lord's side, you will be hewn down."** Heber C. Kimball was equally plain spoken. A year earlier he had said in the Tabernacle: "If a man rebels, I will tell him of it, and

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id.,

d., pp,

another as "a fanaticism at once blind, dangerous, and terrible." During its continuance the religious zealot, the amorous priest, the jealous lover, the man covetous of worldly goods, and the framers of the church policy, from acknowledged Apostle to secret Danite, all had their own way. "Were I counsel for a Mormon on trial for a crime committed at the time under consi

was the actual origin of the movement, as has been stated,** cannot be accepted as proven, in view of the preparation made for the era of blood, as indicated in the ch

the New York Times

n, repulsive-looking

ced scoundrel, and the m

sometimes called Bri

ountain Sai

led 'The Laws of the Lord,' which has been given by revelation and not promulgated, the people not being able quite to bear it, or the organization still too imperfect. It is to be put in force, however, befor

he Mormons," Bo

ystem was so generally talked of some four years before it was put

hese confessors was so indelicate that it was suppressed in later years. These prying inquisitors found opportunity to gain information for their superiors about any persons suspected of disloyalty, and one use they made of their visitations was to urge the younger sisters to be married to the older men, as a readier means of salvation than union w

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nounced the sinners in scathing terms, Young ending his remarks by saying, "All you who have been guilty of committing adultery, stand up." At once more than three-

n Salt Lake City stat

lled at this sight as wa

ching on to Dunsinane.

misunderstanding among

t that perhaps the elde

ir conduct before they

ed Mormonism; but upon

mmitted since they had

l stood up:"-"Rocky Mo

he street by men who then robbed his store and defiled his household goods, giving him as the cause of the visitation the explanation that he had spoken evil of

untain Sain

ent, they angered the church officers; when they indicated their purpose to leave the valley, they alarmed them. Anything like an exodus of the flock would have broken up all of Young's plans, and have undone the scheme of immigration that had cost so much time and money. Accordingly, when this movement for "reform" began, the church let it be known that any desertion of the flock would be c

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ject for the novelist, and has seemed to many persons, as described, a probable exaggeration. But, while Young did not narrate in his pulpit th