THE SISTERS AS MISSIONARIES--EVANGELICAL DIPLOMACY--WITHOUT PURSE
OR SCRIP--PICTURE OF THE NATIVE ELDERS--A SPECIMEN MEETING--THE
SECRET OF SUCCESS--MORMONISM A SPIRITUAL GOSPEL--THE SISTERS AS TRACT
DISTRIBUTERS--WOMAN A POTENT EVANGELIST.
And what the part of the sisterhood in this great work outlined in
foreign lands?
The sisters were side by side with the most potent missionaries the
Latter-day Church found. They made nearly as many converts to Mormonism
as the elders. They were, often times, the direct instruments which
brought disciples into the Church. The elders riveted the anchor of
faith by good gospel logic, and their eloquent preachers enchanted
the half-inspired mind with well-described millennial views, but the
sisters, as a rule, by the nicest evangelical diplomacy brought the
results about. They agitated the very atmosphere with their magical
faith in the new dispensation; they breathed the spirit of their own
beautiful enthusiasm into their neighborhoods; they met the first
brunt of persecution and conquered it by their zeal; they transformed
unbelief into belief by their personal testimonies, which aroused
curiosity, or made their relatives and neighbors sleepless with active
thoughts of the new, and inspired doubts of the old; they enticed the
people to hear their elders preach, and did more to disturb the peace
of the town than could have done the town-crier; they crowded their
halls with an audience when without their sisterly devising those halls
had remained often empty and cold.
In the British mission--in England, Scotland and Wales--the sisters had
much better missionary opportunities than in America. The vast extent
of country over which the American people were sparsely scattered,
forty to fifty years ago, and the almost immediate gatherings of the
disciples to a centre place, or a local Zion, necessarily confined
the missionary movement at home nearly exclusively to the apostles
and their aids, the "Seventies;" and thus as soon as the disciples
"gathered out of Babylon," American society lost even the little leaven
which the elders had inspired in its midst.
But in England, Scotland and Wales, and at a later period in
Scandinavia, it was very different. Not merely one local Zion and
a score of branches scattered over a score of States, but in the
British mission at its zenith of progress there were over five hundred
branches, fifty conferences, and about a dozen pastorates--the latter
very like Mormon provinces or bishoprics. There the sisters had grand
missionary opportunities. From village to town, and from town to
city, they helped the elders push their work until this vast church
superstructure was reared. With such a leaven as the Mormon sisterhood
in Great Britain, converts were made so fast that it was nearly twenty
years before even the immense yearly emigration of the saints to
America began visibly to tell in weakening missionary operations in
that prolific land.
It has often been a matter of wonder how it happened that Mormonism
was such a mighty proselyting power in England compared with what
it had been in America. The two views presented suggest the exact
reason; and in addition to the gathering genius of the Mormons, the
very "tidal wave" of the country has swept migrating peoples westward.
Three hundred Mormon cities have sprung up on the Pacific slope, just
as five hundred branches did in Great Britain, which has required all
the gathering energies of the Church for over a quarter of a century to
deplete her of these proselyting saints. It was Great Britain that gave
to the sisters their grand missionary opportunities.
Here another view of the sisters presents itself. Much of the success
of "Mormonism" in foreign lands is due to the fact that the elders,
like Christ and his apostles of old, went about preaching the gospel
"without purse or scrip."
This apostolic custom captivated woman at once. Her sympathies were
charmed. She admired the heroic devotion and self-abnegation of such
ministers of Christ. Their examples directly appealed to her, so like
were they to her own faith. The disinterested aims and efforts of these
men for human good so accorded with her own divine aspirations, that
she leapt with a glorious enthusiasm to their side. For once woman had
found the opportunity to exercise her own methods of apostleship.
She saw these elders upon the altar of sacrifice for a Christian cause.
Out in the wilderness of society were they, during the best years of
youth, preaching without purse or scrip, trusting in Providence for
their daily bread as truly as do the sparrows whom the Great Father
feeds. Wandering through the world were these devoted men, often
with blood in their well-worn shoes, preaching the glad tidings of
a new dispensation which the angels had opened to bring immortality
to mortals, and establish the order of heaven on earth. Such were
the examples which the elders presented in their ministry, and such
examples woman loved.
Though they bore the title of elders, these missionaries, especially
the native ones, were generally young men from the age of twenty to
thirty. Scarcely were they converted ere they were sent out to mission
the land. The prophet Joseph had well cogitated on the saying of
Christ, "The harvest is great but the laborers are few;" and it was
at once a bold and happy stroke of genius on his part to leave the
beaten track of choosing only matured and experienced divines, calling
instead a multitude of youths and striplings to aid him in evangelizing
the world. This was much like Mohammed's choosing of the youthful
enthusiast Ali to be his lieutenant in his religious empire-founding
mission. And so at one time might have been found in Europe nearly a
thousand of these young men, out in the ministry, bearing the title of
elders. Strange example! Elders at twenty; veterans at twenty-five, who
had built up their conferences! This pleased woman. It was unique. The
example touched her heart and stimulated her faith through her very
sympathy for and admiration of the heroic.
Into the villages of England, Scotland and Wales these youths made
their way, with hymn-book and Bible in hand, but with no ministerial
recommendation except a forceful, innovative intellectuality, and souls
inspired with the glories of a new and conquering faith.
Alone, at eventide, they would uncover their heads, on some green bit
of common, or, if on the Sabbath day, would daringly near the old
village church, which well might tremble at such sacrilege, as did they
literally in those bold missionary attempts, that never had been made
but for youth's rich unconsciousness of inability. Then would ring out
the hymn of the Latter-day Saints:
"Go, ye messengers of glory,
Run, ye legates of the skies,
Go and tell the pleasing story,
That a glorious angel flies;
Great and mighty,
With a message from on high!"
Or perchance it would be this instead:
"The morning breaks, the shadows flee;
Lo, Zion's standard is unfurled;
The dawning of a brighter day
Majestic rises on the world."
And many a village has been startled with this tremendous proclamation,
from the lips of young men:
"Jehovah speaks! Let Earth give ear!
And gentile nations turn and live!"
First the woman would come out to listen, on the threshold of her
cottage, after supper; then she would draw near, and wonder about this
boy-preacher--to her eyes so much like her own boy, who, perhaps, is
playing at some evening game with his companions, near by. Next comes
her husband, and after awhile the boys themselves leave their games,
and with their sisters, gather to listen. And so are also gathered
other family groups of the village to swell the impromptu congregation.
This is a truthful picture, for the author is describing a literal
experience.
Now comes the supplemental story of this boy-elder, that he is out in
the world preaching the gospel without purse or scrip, that he has
eaten nothing that day since breakfast, that he has journeyed miles and
is tired out, and that he has no place in which to lay his head that
night.
The mother and her daughters whisper. They have conceived an idea that
will exactly fit that poor boy's case. Father is approached. At first
he will not listen to the proposition; but at last he yields. What else
could he do? When did woman fail if her sympathies were enlisted? To
their home the boy-missionary is taken. A supper is gleaned from the
humble peasant's leavings. Water is furnished to bathe the sore and
blood-stained feet. The woman is half converted by the sight of so much
youthful heroism. Mother and daughters dream of the boy-missionary that
night.
'Tis a simple story; but from that house Mormonism is destined to
spread through all the village, until the aged clergyman, educated
at college, in his pulpit which he has occupied for a quarter of a
century, fears that boy as much as a second Goliath might have feared
the stripling David.
And thus Mormonism ran from village to town, and from town to city;
carried, of course, to the larger places by the "veterans;" but in all
cases very similar. How much the sisters--mothers and daughters--had to
do in this work may be seen at a glance.
But the most salient view to be taken of Mormonism abroad is, as the
great spiritual movement of the age. The reader may be assured that it
was the beautiful themes of a new dispensation--themes such as angels
might have accompanied with their hosannas--that charmed disciples
into the Mormon Church. Spiritual themes and the gifts of the Holy
Ghost were what converted the tens of thousands in Great Britain; not
a cold materialism, much less a sensual gospel. Even to the simplest,
who scarcely knew the meaning of idealities, the spiritual and the
ideal of Mormonism were its principal charms. Indeed, it is to the
fact that Mormonism was, in its missionary history, such a unique and
extraordinary spiritual, and yet matter-of-fact, movement, that it owes
its principal and rare successes.
In America, the splendid ambitions of empire-founding, the worldly
opportunities presented by a migrating people and a growing
commonwealth, sometimes charmed the dominating mind; but in the foreign
missions, especially in Great Britain, where it received its highest
intellectual interpretation from elders who championed it on the public
platform against the best orthodox disputants in the land, it was
Mormonism as a great spiritual work that captivated most, and above all
it was this aspect of it that most captivated the sisterhood. In this
view, and in this view only, can the explanation be found of how it
took such a deep and lasting hold upon the female portion of society.
In the early rise of the Church abroad the disciples knew nothing of
the society-founding successes of Brigham Young, which to-day make
Mormonism quite potent in America and a periodical sensation to the
American Congress. Nothing of this; but much of the divine, much of
the spiritual, much of the angels' coming to reign with them in a
millennium, with Christ on earth.
Such was Mormonism abroad. Such has it ever been, with the sisters, at
home. Its success in making converts among women, both old and young,
has no parallel in the history of churches. Its all-potent influence
on the heart and brain of woman was miraculous. She received it in
as great faith as was that of the woman who laid hold of the skirt
of Christ's garment and was healed. She exulted in its unspeakably
beautiful themes; she reveled in its angelic experiences; she
multiplied its disciples.
In some respects Mormonism, in its history and manifestations abroad,
compares strikingly with the more recent history of spiritualism in
America. Their geniuses are undoubtedly very different, but their
potency over society has been similar. The one was apostolic and
Hebraic, with a God as the source of its inspirations, a priesthood
linking the heavens and the earth as its controlling powers, and
another Catholic or Universal Church as the aim of its ministry. The
other has pulled down what it has dared to call the idols of Deity,
makes war on priesthood, and on the Hebrew Jehovah, whom the Mormons
serve, and disintegrates all churches. Yet the themes of both have been
themes of the angels' coming to visit the earth again; "new revelations
to suit the age;" another great spiritual dispensation for the world.
Mormonism abroad, then, was supremely an apostolic spiritual work.
Paul's famous epistle to the Corinthians, upon spiritual gifts,
presents an exact view of what Mormonism has been; and as it was a
chapter often read to the saints--the subject of a thousand sermons--it
may here be fitly quoted to illustrate the view. The apostle says:
"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you
ignorant. * * * *
"Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit.
"And there are differences of administration, but the same Lord.
"And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God
which worketh all in all.
"But the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to
profit withal.
"For to one is given by the spirit the word of wisdom; to another
the word of knowledge by the same spirit;
"To another faith by the same spirit; to another the gifts of
healing by the same spirit;
"To another the working of miracles; to another prophesy; to
another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues;
to another the interpretation of tongues;
"But all these worketh that one and the self-same spirit, dividing
to every man severally as he will.
"For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members
of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
"For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we
be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all
made to drink into one spirit. * * * *
"And God hath set some in the church, first, apostles; secondarily,
prophets; thirdly, teachers; after that miracles; then gifts of
healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
"Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all
workers of miracles?
"Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all
interpret?
"But covet earnestly the best gifts; and yet shew I unto you a more
excellent way."
In another chapter of Paul's epistle to the Corinthians, he presents
another famous spiritual view:
"How is it, then, brethren? When ye come together, every one of you
hath a psalm, hath a doctrine hath a tongue, hath a revelation,
hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
"If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the
most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.
"But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the
church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.
"Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.
"If anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first
hold his peace.
"For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all
may be comforted.
"And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
"For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all
churches of the saints."
This is a very exact picture of the Latter-day Saints' testimony
meetings. It is indeed a striking illustration of the gospel and its
manifestations, as familiar to them as their own faces.
It was this spiritual gospel that the sisters promulgated in Great
Britain, and it was this that made the tens of thousands of converts.
Had not Mormonism been of this kind, and had not such been its
manifestations, woman never would have received it and become its
apostle; nor would it have made such a stir in the world.
The sisters also missioned the land by the distribution of tracts. This
made them to be preachers, in a way; and they carried their sermons to
the homes of rich and poor, to be read at the fireside by those who,
but for this, never would have gone to hear an elder preach.
In all the towns and cities of her Majesty's kingdom the saints
organized tract societies. In London, where many branches flourished,
these tract organizations were numerous; the same was measurably
the case with Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, and the
principal cities of Scotland and Wales. These tract distributers were
numbered by the thousand. They held their monthly meetings, mapped out
their districts and brought in their regular reports. At one time, as
before stated, they had in circulation half a million of Orson Pratt's
tracts. It is scarcely necessary to say that the sisters principally
did this work, to which should be added that they were assisted by the
young men of each branch. In short, the sisters, in the work abroad,
were a great missionary power.
And here it may be observed that all evangelical history proves that
woman is ever the most potent evangelist. She permeates society with
the influence of her church, makes converts in the homes of her
neighbors, where her pastor could never reach without her help, and
inspires the very faith by which miracles are wrought.
Woman has many striking examples of her influence and acts in the
history of religious empire-founding. Miriam charmed the congregation
of Israel with her songs, and strengthened her brother Moses' power by
her prophesies; Esther rendered the captivity of her people lighter by
her mediation; Judith delivered her nation from the Assyrian captain;
the two Marys and Martha seemed to have understood Jesus better than
did his apostles even, and they saw first their risen Lord; St. Helena
did much to make her son, Constantine, the imperial champion of
Christianity; perchance had there been no Cadijah the world would never
have known a Mohammed; the Catholic Church has been more potent through
the sisters of its various orders; and the examples which the Mormon
sisterhood have given are almost as striking as those of the sisters of
that church.
These are some of the views which may be presented of the sisters in
their great missionary work abroad, and they are also fit illustrations
of the spiritual movement, which they represent, in the age.