In the ancient City of Rome, at the time that St. Paul went there
on an appeal to Caesar's judgment seat, about the year 62 A.D., the
followers of Christ were denominated, "That sect which is everywhere
spoken against." And as it was with the Christians then, so it is with
the "Mormons" now. Everything that is wicked or damnable was once
charged upon the Christians. Even the just historian Tacitus was so far
deceived by the wicked misrepresentations of their enemies, as to speak
of them as "a set of people who were holden in abhorrence for their
crimes, and called by the vulgar 'Christians.'" He also says--speaking
of them as a body--"They were criminals, and deserving the severest
punishment." The same writer calls their religion a "pernicious
superstition." Indeed, we may say to the opponents of "Mormonism,"
however skilful they may be in the use of calumny or the distortion
of facts, it would be difficult for them to charge upon the "Mormons"
more heinous crimes than were charged upon primitive Christians. It
was commonly reported of them that in the celebration of the Eucharist
they were in the habit of slaying a male child, whose flesh they ate,
and whose blood they drank in remembrance of the body and blood of the
founder of their religion. In short, they were held to be the enemies
of mankind, the disturbers of social customs, and a standing menace to
all governments; while their religion was looked upon as the sum of
villainy and absurdity. In the same light the "Mormons" are regarded
to-day. But perhaps I shall be pardoned for suggesting that it is just
possible that the world is as much mistaken respecting the character
and religion of the "Mormons" now, as it formerly was respecting the
"Christians" and their religion.
No prejudice is so cruel as that growing out of religious controversy.
At any rate, we know that the most cruel wars {174} have risen through
a determination to resist religious innovations, or efforts to reform
religious systems. While the acts of inhuman cruelty, which most
disgrace our race, have been perpetrated in vain endeavors to suppress
what have been considered heresies, and silence their advocates. In
short, the most unrelenting hatred, the most lasting prejudices have
grown out of differences in religious opinions. The Messiah, doubtless,
was guided as much by His knowledge of human nature as He was by
inspiration when He exclaimed:
"Think not that I have come to bring peace upon earth; I came not
to send peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man at variance
against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the
daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall
be they of his own household" (Matt. x, 34-36).
It is because "Mormonism" involves a religious controversy that the
prejudices against it are so deep seated, and the misrepresentation of
its devotees so persistent.
Joseph Smith, in his youth, announced a new revelation from God; and as
the Christian world had been, and are, taught that no more revelation
is to be given, that the Bible contains all that God ever did, and all
that He ever will reveal to man, the proclamation that God had again
spoken aroused the ire of the religious teachers of that day, and when,
in spite of their efforts to stay its progress, they saw the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints increasing in numbers and influence,
these pseudo religious teachers sought to overwhelm with falsehood,
misrepresentation and slander what they could not overcome with reason
and fairness. And the absurd, childish stories then invented by
religious opponents of "Mormonism" they still rehashed with variations
to suit ever shifting conditions, the mass constantly growing as fast
as new falsehoods or distorted facts can be marshalled into service.
On this point I quote the following from the _New York World_ of recent
date. The _World_ is one of the leading journals of America, and, in
giving an epitome of the history and faith of the "Mormons," it said:
"In matters of dogma there was little or nothing in its creed to
distinguish it from any other orthodox sect, but its possession of
an alleged addition to the Bible and the austerity and severity
of the code of morals inculcated drew to it immediately a large
following. The same spirit of intolerance which in Massachusetts
slit the ears of Quakers and banished Baptists under pain of death,
blazed forth as fiercely as in the days of Athanasius and Arius.
The pulpit rang with denunciations of the new sect, every calumny
that could be invented was {175} invented and believed, and the
Mormons were driven from place to place, robbed, beaten, imprisoned
and murdered, exactly as the founders of every other Christian sect
were persecuted."