The Mormons

Foreword

To know the history of our Church in our land is to be interested in Home Missions.

Our Board of Home Missions and the Woman's Board of Home Missions are therefore placing before our young people — for general reading or for use in study classes — a series of sketches which trace the planting and progress of gospel truth among our Indians, Mexicans, Mormons, Mountaineers of the South, Alaskans, and the dwellers in Porto Rico and Cuba. A seventh book in this series introduces its readers to seven typical home mission heroes.

This little library of seven volumes, written by those who know the work, is warmly commended for accuracy and attractiveness.

SO

AUTHOR'S PREFATORY NOTE

I hate been asked to write_a brief history of our home mission work in Utah. It can not be done, however. The shades of light and gloom can not be written. The solicitudes, the prayers and heart throbs that have been wrought into these years of toil by mission teachers and ministers can not be traced. The joy that has come to the laborers as precious souls have been gathered and lives changed is known only to those whose prayers have been answered. The gray dawn of the coming day in Utah brings with it abundant regard for all the days of anxious burden bearing.

The benediction of service is enough. We prayerfully and patiently wait for the full noon.

S. E. WlSHARD.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Looking Back — Virgin Utah — Fremont and Whitman — A Cloud in the East — The Mormon Hegira — Isolation — Mountain Meadows Massacre . . 1 II. The First Gospel Note— Prayer on the Mount — A Presbyterl\n Church Born in Utah— The Irate Prophet— The Work Goes on — Work at Evanston. . 9

III. An Advance — The Rev. Josiah Welch —

Chapter I

Looking Back — Virgin Utah — Fremont and Whitman — A Cloud tn the East — The Mormon Heghia— Isolation — Mountain Meadows Massacre.

One looks back through the years when Utah lay undisturbed by the fretting, pushing life of to-day. Her mountains were sleeping in quiet. Her valleys, decked in their floral robes, were smiling back to the heavens. The wealth of soil and mine were untouched because unknown. The Middle West was then the Far West. Our nation was clinging to the Atlantic coast, and slowly creeping toward the sunset. Steam and electric power were waiting the coming Fulton and Morse.

Utah was here, virgin, untouched. God was piling his treasures of snow on these lofty summits and in the deep canyons. He had cleft these mountains with the living streams of water, that like cords of silver 1 bound their heights to the lakes below. He was tending the flowers of mountain and valley, making life possible for the Red Man and his prey. God was here. These vast solitudes were in his keeping. He knew what was coming, and was "making everything beautiful in its time." The starlit nights came and went as the years swung by. There were no such stars as those that gleamed in the Utah sky. The altitude and clear atmosphere gave Utah nights a singular glory in those far-away times. Later came the trappers and hunters to disturb the Indian's quiet possession. They were a sort of gobetween-white-men in Indian garb, with Indian life and habit. By their superior cunning they managed to keep the peace, and by their art in traffic enriched themselves. The untutored savages were no match for the shrewd manoeuvres of the trading trappers.

In the forties two important events occurred— important for our country and for Utah. The Government employed Captain John Charles Fremont to explore the territory west of the Missouri River to the Pacific. He opened the way into Utah, and spent some time investigating the region of the Great Salt Lake. He passed on thence over the Sierras, reaching the coast near the mouth of the Columbia River. He had pierced the continent, so that light must inevitably break through. The other event was the heroic achievement of Dr. Marcus Whitman, by which his colonization scheme secured to our national domain the northwestern territory of Oregon and Washington.

In the mean time a storm cloud had been gathering in the East. It had quietly moved out from New York State to Kirtland, Ohio. Thence it passed on to Missouri in the form of an organized hierarchy whose head claimed authority over all men and all civil government. The antagonism of this ecclesiastical organization, the Mormon Church, resulted in its departure from the State, and its settlement at Nauvoo, Illinois. Here were repeated again the experiences passed through in Missouri. This led the Mormon people to seek a home beyond the jurisdiction of the United States. In the accomplishment of this feat Brigham Young led a few thousand Mormons into this beautiful region, then in the domain of Mexico, but destined on the close of the Mexican War to be a part of United States territory.

The Mormon Hegira landed that ecclesiastical power in conditions most favorable for the genius of its development. Here was a region easily made fruitful by a people without resources. Here was isolation from the claims of government, and from the demands of better social and religious conditions. The man of iron will, of organizing power, with boundless ambition for himself, fired by a consuming and subtle selfishness, and uncurbed covetousness, found himself in most favorable conditions to achieve all that he could desire. Removed from the interference of the outside world, from every touch of truth and righteousness, Brigham Young had time to lay his plans with none to contradict or criticise. There was ample time to crystallize his system of self-aggrandizement and subjugation of the people. He lost no time in riveting the chains that his predecessor had forged. The superstitious and fanatical people willingly surrendered themselves to his power. They even vied with each other in their effort to make that surrender the most abject possible.

There is not space to trace the servile yielding of the people, through all the downward steps which could make possible the iniquities of that period, culminating finally in the crime of the Mountain Meadows Massacre in 1857. The doctrines of the Mormon Church made possible that atrocious crime, and led up to it. Joseph Smith taught that "God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens." * Brigham Young was even a little more specific,, and taught that

"He (Adam) is our father and our God, and the only God with whom we have to do. . . . When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the father (Adam) had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost." f

Apostle Parley Pratt taught, and it is still published and sent forth to the world, that

"There are several subtle fluids, as animal magnetism, electricity, and the Holy Spirit."

These blasphemous doctrines concerning God prepared the way for their unscriptural doctrines of salvation by works, baptism for the dead, pre-existence of spirits, the domination of the priesthood over all civil governments, and their control of the people in all things temporal and spiritual; because the priesthood "by possessing part of God's power, are in reality part of God." £

The pretended revelations of Joseph Smith sent forth the spawn of heathen polytheism, as taught in his preaching and in the "Millennial Star," §

"That Adam fell, but his fall became a

* Journal of Discourses, Vol. VI., p. 6. t Journal of Discourses, Vol. I., p. 50. $ New Witness for God, p. 187. § Vol. XV., p. 801.

matter of necessity that he might be the father of an innumerable race of beings who would be capable of becoming Gods."

As the Mormon God, Adam was the first sinner, and a sinner of necessity, personal responsibility was lifted from the human race. There was no place left in Mormon experience for the consciousness of sin. Hence the first ten years of their history in Utah, from 1847 to 1857, developed alarming conditions. In the latter part of that period, in 1856 and 1857, fierce scenes of fanaticism broke out among the people. That was called the time of the "Reformation," when great multitudes of the people were rebaptized, and some of them asked to be blood-atoned — that is, to have their blood shed as the only means of saving their souls. This doctrine had been preached and practised prior to this time. It was taught that apostasy from the Mormon Church was a sin so heinous that pardon could be obtained only by shedding the blood of the person — that is, taking the life of the sinner.*

It was during this period, in September, 1857, that a large emigrating party was passing through Utah to California. Messengers were sent out to the Mormon people prohib-

* See Journal of Discourses, Vol. IV., pp. 53 and 54.

iting them from selling provisions to the emigrants. The emigrants moved on toward southern Utah, encamping at what was known as "The Mountain Meadows." A company of Mormons, led by Bishop John D. Lee, Colonel Dame, and others, attacked and murdered one hundred and twenty men, women, and children, on the fifteenth of September, 1857. Brigham Young was governor at the time. For twenty years the crime went unpunished. The United States Government finally secured the conviction and execution of Bishop Lee in 1877. Before he was executed he made a full confession of his crime, in which he said:

"I know all were acting under orders and by the command of the Church leaders." *

Lee also says he reported the butchery to Governor Brigham Young, as he had been directed. The only punishment he received was the gift of several additional wives, and the position of probate judge. He further stated in his confessions, before his execution:

"I believed then, as I do now, that it was the will of every true Mormon in Utah that the enemies of the Church should be killed as fast as possible, and that . . . the killing

* See Lee's Confessions, p. 213.

them would be keeping our oaths and avenging the blood of the prophets." *

With this brief statement of conditions in Utah at that time, the reader will understand how important it was that the Home Mission Board should send missionaries to the people. A gentleman who has spent his life here, and was finally delivered by the gospel from the thraldom of the Mormon system, has said:

"If the Christian missionaries had not come to us with the Christian school and the Church of Christ, we would have gone into barbarism in the next forty years."

* See Lee's Confessions, p. 221.

Chapter II

The First Gospel Note — Prater on the Mount — A Presbyterian Church Born in Utah — The Irate Prophet — The Work Goes on — Work at Evanston.

The stirring political events that were occupying the nation from 1856, culminating in 1861 in four years of unparalleled civil war, gave the Mormon hierarchy further opportunity to organize, to get control of the people, and possession of the Territory of Utah.

It should be put on record that the man who laid the deep and broad foundations of Home Missions for our Church was the first Presbyterian* minister to raise his voice with the gospel message before a Mormon audience in Utah. While on his way to the coast, in those perilous days in 1864, Dr. Henry Kendall passed through Utah. He spent some days in Salt Lake City investigating with his keen insight the conditions prevalent, holding conferences with some of the United

* In January, 1864, Rev. Norman McLeod, a Congregational minister, had commenced religions services in Daft's Hall, in the city.

States officials. He was introduced to Brigham Youngs who invited him to preach in the Tabernacle.

At this time the Mormon prophets were predicting and praying for the downfall of our Government. Hence Brigham's invitation to Dr. Kendall had in it the taunt of the old mockers who said to God's captive people,

" Sing us one of the songs of Zion."

Dr. Kendall's courage was equal to the occasion. He struck the gospel note that went echoing through these mountains until it was taken up in full chorus by our Board of Home Missions.

It is the popular belief that the politeness of Brigham, in his mild treatment of Dr. Kendall^ was somewhat due to certain military aspects up at Fort Douglas. However that may be, Dr. Kendall had made some discoveries, and his gospel message had been heard by the tabernacle congregation. He had taken in the situation, and that was something gained.

On the tenth of May, 1869, the Union Pacific Railroad was completed to Ogden, but no organized Presbyterian work had been accomplished up to this time. The saloon had planted itself and opened its doors. The billiard-hall, the dance-hall, and gamblinghouses had located in all the towns in these western territories. It is stated by the clerk of the Presbytery of Colorado that

"In the vast territory of Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Arizona there was not a single Presbyterian organization at this time, and in New Mexico but one of our name/'

The same historian informs us that the Presbytery of Missouri River was to meet on the twenty-ninth of April, 1869;, at Sioux City, Iowa. On the afternoon of that day Thomas Cleland, Jr., J. C. Elliott, and Sheldon Jackson, of the Presbytery, were prompted to ascend the high bluffs to the north of the city and look abroad over the land. Their hearts were saddened and their spirits were stirred within them by the thought that for two thousand miles onward there was not a single Presbyterian church. Before they left the spot earnest prayer was made for those destitute regions beyond. The result of that little meeting on the Mount of God was that the three Presbyteries of the Synod of Iowa appointed the Rev. Sheldon Jackson Superintendent of Home Missions for Iowa, Nebraska, Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Utah.

When the Home Mission Board came to the rescue a year later, Iowa was dropped from the field, and Colorado and New Mexico were added, and later still Arizona was included.

With the completion of the Union Pacific road to Ogden, the intrepid Jackson entered Utah, and Dr. Kendall's anticipation was to be realized. We find the missionary at Corinne in June, 1869, a month after the first engine came.

Corinne is an American town, twenty-five miles northwest of Ogden, on the Central Pacific Railroad. It is at the head of Great Salt Lake, at the point where the Bear River enters the lake. It had promise of large development, being at the terminus of all the freighting lines into Idaho and Montana. It was especially obnoxious to Brigham Young, because it was built and owned by non-Mormons, and at that time had a large and prosperous business. Dr. Jackson secured the assistance of the Rev. Melancthan Hughes at this point for three months, and began regular services on the thirteenth of June, 1869- Mr. Hughes did not remain through the winter. The infant congregation had neither habitation nor shepherd, until the spring-time brought the Rev. Mr. Bayliss. He came to the work April tenth, 1870, with Superintendent Jackson. The thawing-out process took place, and on the fourteenth of July, 1870, the church was organized, and one elder elected. This was the first Presbyterian Church organized in Utah. The indignation of the Prophet Brigham was aroused against the whole community. The erection of a large church building and the musie of a church-bell still further disturbed the Prophet. A gentleman who spent years at Corinne and in that vicinity writes :

"The Gentile town of Corinne was an eyesore to Brigham Young, and he assiduously plotted to destroy it. He had his son John, then president of the Utah Northern Railroad, build the narrow-gauge road from Logan to Franklin, Idaho, in order to intercept the travel northward at that point. He then formally cursed the town, its business and people, from the rear platform of his private car, and had the depot, track, and bridge across the Bear River removed to Franklin, Idaho.

"This not succeeding, the curse not being executed by Providence, he had the Utah Northern sold to the Union Pacific, and the junction of that with the Central Pacific removed to Ogden, and thus Corinne was left a mere way station on the Central Pacific. Still the people clung to their homes, though doing business at Franklin and Ogden. In the fall of 1875 Brigham had the Bannock and Shoshone Indians, to the number of three thousand, come down from Ross Fork Agency, all armed and painted for war. They camped near the town, threatening all the non-Mormon inhabitants of Bear River Valley. General Phil Sheridan was then in command at Cheyenne, and ordered all the troops up from Fort Douglas at Salt Lake, where for three days we had them camped between us and the Indians. Brigham at length came up and made a lengthy talk to the Indians, telling them the Great Spirit had not yet spoken to him, and to return to the agency until he had use for them as 'The Battle-Axes of the Lord.' "

It is stated that at this time the doctrine of "Blood Atonement," which has been explained, was openly preached, and cases were constantly reported of the execution of the doctrine upon apostates.

It will be readily understood that these first years of home missions at Corinne, though a non-Mormon town, were full of trial. The work was carried on in the face of serious apprehension and great difficulties.

In May, 1872, the Rev. L. B. Crittenden took the work at this pioneer post for one year ; then followed a period of vacancy until August, 1874. At that time the Rev. S. L.

Gillespie, a returned missionary from Africa, with his family, entered upon the work in this difficult field. He was a man of great physical and moral courage, having served as lieutenant in Company A, Fifth Ohio Cavalry, during the Civil War, and having acquitted himself honorably in more than fifty skirmishes and battles. After peace had been concluded he took his seminary course, and for a time did missionary work in Africa. He was made of the stuff to take the work at Corinne, never having turned his back upon any foe. For four years he resided on the field, and after his removal to Brigham City, five miles away, he continued to supply at Corinne until October first, 1895, giving a little more than twenty-one years to his work.

The house of worship at Corinne was destroyed a few years ago by a wind storm, and the town itself has suffered a heavy depletion from various causes. Dr. Rankin, however, Mr. Gillespie's successor, is giving the few remaining members one service a week, while carrying on the work at Brigham City.

In the spring of 1871 Dr. Jackson visited Evanston, Wyoming, and canvassed the town. He held a service in a hall over a saloon. In July he organized a church. A house of worship was erected and dedicated April twenty-eighth, 1872. The Rev. F. L. Arnold supplied the church monthly during 1871, while preaching at Laramie, more than four hundred miles distant. Mr. Arnold settled at Evanston later, and served the church for ten or twelve years, until he came to the Westminster Church in Salt Lake City.

Rev. Josiah Welch

Chapter III

An Advance — The Rev. Josiah Welch — Church Organized — Conflict with Government — Second Pastor — Third Pastor — Salt Lake Collegiate Institute — Prof. John M. Coyner — His Successors — Women of Pennsylvania.

The Home Mission Board proposed to push on into Salt Lake City. The work at Corinne, among the non-Mormons, was only the beginning. It was to be followed by a direct effort in the headquarters of Mormonism. Since the visit of Dr. Kendall in 1864, the reunion of the two branches of the Presbyterian Church had taken place. Dr. Kendall had been re-enforced in his work by the coming of Dr. Dickson into the secretaryship. The united church was now in a position to take an advance step. Dr. Dickson visited Utah, and most heartily joined Dr. Kendall in the purpose to plant our Church in Salt Lake City.

Sheldon Jackson was instructed to investigate the situation, which he did very soon after the organization of the work at Corinne. IT

He saw that it was of the utmost importance that a minister should enter the city at once, and come prepared to stay.

It is of divine wisdom, that when a work is to be done, God always has a man prepared for it. The clock of time struck the hour, and the Rev. Josiah Welch answered to the call of Providence. He had recently graduated at the Theological Seminary, and had been commissioned by the Board of Home Missions to take work in Montana. But the Synodical Missionary stepped across his path, and onfronted him with the claims of the people of Utah, emphasizing his plea with a revelation (non-Mormon) to the young preacher of the deep spiritual darkness that had settled down upon Salt Lake City, like the pall of an unbroken night. It would have been easy, and no doubt agreeable, for Mr. Welch to have pushed on into Montana, and to have taken work among American people and American homes, as many of our young men insist on doing to-day. Fortunately for our Church, and for Utah, he was made of different stuff. He saw the situation, heard the call of God, and like the loyal old prophet of God said:

"Here am I, send me."

Mr. Welch had the wisdom to see the opportunity, and to interpret it as the voice of

God. He obeyed that voice, though it remained for those of us coming after him to realize the heroism of his decision and its value to the cause of Christ.

On the first of October, 1871, Mr. Welch began his work, but not without some embarrassment. Brigham Young had closed against Christian work every hall, every place of public concourse. Mr. Welch finally rented the hay loft of a livery stable at an expense of fifty dollars per month. A church of eleven members was organized (tradition says in the skating rink) on the Sabbath, November twelfth, 1871. This was accomplished by Mr. Welch, Sheldon Jackson, and Dr. George S. Boardman, who was providentially present.

The work was carried on for a time under the embarrassment which the conditions produced. The want of a suitable place of worship was the great hindrance to progress. The few members of the church were not in a financial condition to provide themselves with facilities for a successful prosecution of their work. During the winter the skating rink furnished amusement for the people during the week, and a place of worship for the church on the Sabbath.

"The ox and the ass yoked together" were not adapted to secure the highest achievement. It was therefore resolved by the congregation to abandon the place of amusement, and seek a home adapted to the work they had undertaken. An appeal was made to the women of our Church in the East, asking five thousand women to make a Christmas gift of five dollars each for the purpose of building a house of worship. A lot was secured on the corner of Second East and Second South streets at the cost of eleven thousand dollars. Messrs. J. J. Critchlow, E. H. Parsons, and M. B. Osborne had been chosen as elders, and set apart to their work. With great unanimity and zeal the little company of believers took up the burden laid upon them. Mr. Welch was a leader whom it was easy and safe to follow. He drew the people to himself, stimulated their zeal, encouraged their faith, and exemplified his own faith by his life.

The Sabbath school had been organized a week before the church took form, and now the whole machinery of the church was in play. In due time a house of worship was secured costing $18,500 and an immense outlay of toil and self-sacrifice, all of which was valuable to those taking part in it. In October, 1874, the church building was dedicated. The sermon was preached by Dr. Scott, of San Francisco. Pastor Welch toiled laboriously until his health failed in 1876, when he went East in June. He found no relief, and on the eighteenth of March, 1877, he entered into rest, while at his mother's home in Ohio. Mrs. Welch had passed to her reward six months before.

The Rev. D. J. McMillan, D.D., supplied the church for a time, until the Rev. R. G. McNiece, D.D., was invited to the field, which he reached June first, 1877. Two months later, August twenty-first, he was installed as pastor of the church. Previous to the coming of the railroad and the non-Mormon people, and up to the coming of the missionaries, there was not a paved street or sidewalk in the city. Salt Lake City was in the rough, materially, educationally, and morally. The first Congregational pastor had found it safe not to return to the city after giving his testimony in Congress as to conditions in Utah. The superintendent of his Sabbath school was assassinated, and the conflict was on between the Mormon hierarchy and the Government of the United States as to which owned this Territory and had the right to control it.

The pastor of our church entered upon his labors during those days of trial and verified Daniel's prophecy —

"The streets shall be built again and the wall, even in troublous times."

m THE MORMONS

Times of trial proved to be times of progress. Conflict and discipline wrought together to unify and energize the Christian people. Our Home Mission Board had set its hand to the work and with persistent courage furnished the sinews of war. For ten years of Dr. McNiece's pastorate the conflict was waged. The Territory was shaken by the attempt of the Mormon priesthood to suppress the small minority of Christians who stood for American homes and institutions. While preaching the gospel with no uncertain sound the pastor's pen was busy in defending truth and righteousness here, and arousing the Church in the East to the perils confronting the nation.

After almost twenty years of arduous toil, Dr. McNiece was succeeded in the pastorate by Dr. William M. Paden, who came from the Holland Memorial Church, of Philadelphia. The church had become self-supporting several years before the termination of Dr. McNiece's pastorate.

With a church membership of nearly five hundred, and a Sabbath school of five hundred members, the congregation has entered upon the work of building a new house of worship adequate to the wants of the growing population. Dr. Paden, by his versatile ability and abundant labors, has enlarged the spiritual influence and power of the First Churchy and encouraged his co-laborers and made himself felt far beyond the bounds of our own State.

To trace more accurately the influence of the gospel in Salt Lake City, we must go back to the beginning of our Christian educational work; which dates almost from the beginning of the work of our Church. At that time there was no public school system in Utah. The Mormon schools provided only the crudest form of instruction. They were schools for training their children in the Mormon doctrines and practices. Early in the history of Mr. Welch's work it became apparent that something must be done for the education of the non-Mormon children.

Professor J. M. Coyner's attention was called to the importance of this work while on his way to take charge of the mission school among the Nez Perces Indians. The proposition to enter Christian educational service in Salt Lake City took such hold upon him that he offered to return to it if the people would undertake it.

The result was that in a short time he came with his wife and daughter, who later became Mrs. Welch, to take up the labor that demanded his best service. Without promise of support from the East he organized a school and began teaching in the basement of the church. This beginning of the noble career of the Salt Lake Collegiate Institute was made on the twelfth of April, 1875. The story of this institution, that enrolled the first year sixty-three pupils, and within the next two years one hundred and sixty-five, would furnish data for a history of its own. Christian education in the Collegiate Institute has advanced step by step from the day of small beginnings until two commodious buildings are demanded, and have been furnished to meet the necessities of the educational wants of the people.

There were two Christian schools here, the Episcopalian and the Methodist, when Professor Coyner entered the field. For two years he assumed the financial responsibility, and "Never asked the church or community for a cent to aid in carrying on the current expenses of the school." The history of those years was a history of faith and answered prayer. Finally, through an overture to the General Assembly from this Presbytery, the Woman's Executive Committee was organized and came to the rescue with financial aid. Mrs. Coyner was the first teacher commissioned by the Board. The Board of Home Missions granted commissions to two other teachers, and from that time the Woman's Executive Committee continued aid to the school.

Having outgrown the basement of the church, Professor Coyner secured another building, and twice added to the capacity of the same. At the close of ten years of service he retired from the school in July, 1885, on account of Mrs. Coyner's declining health and removed to California. Dr. J. F. Millspaugh succeeded Mr. Coyner and carried on the school successfully with his assistant teachers until 1890, when he was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction in the city.