THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
at any time. It is true only in the vaguest sense that the church's creed, belief, aims, and purposes have remained the same. The Mormons, acknowledge as the word of God the Bible " in so far as it is correctly translated," the Book of Mormon, and the revelations contained in Doctrine and Covenants and in later publications. So far as the Bible is concerned, Joseph Smith and his successors have taken such liberties with its meaning, and even with its text, that it can not be said to have any authority for a Mormon. The Book of Mormon, so important historically, is not comparable, in doctrinal significance, with the Book of Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. In the year 1S42 Joseph Smith published a short outline of Mormon belief. In it the doctrine of the Trinity was acknowledged, while punishment of the race for Adam's fall was denied. Through Christ's propitiatory sacrifice salvation is possible for all men, on condition of obedience to the ordinances of the Gospel. These are: faith, repentance, baptism for the remission of sins; the laying on of hands for the receiving of the Holy Ghost. The true church must have the same institutions and the same spiritual gifts as the Apostolic Church. There is taught further the gathering together of Israel and the restoration of the ten tribes. Zion will be built somewhere on the American continent and Christ will rule in person upon the earth, which will be renewed to paradisiacal glory. All men should be in possession of religious liberty. Obedience and reverence should be accorded to kings and all in authority. A pure, honest, chaste, and beneficent life is a holy duty. This, however, affords only a faint notion of what Mormonism was then, to say nothing of its later manifestations. Its doctrine of God, for example, is widely different from that of the Christian Church. The Mormon conception of deity rather resembles that of Buddhism. From it a system of anthropomorphisms has been developed, which far exceeds that of any Christian sect in any age. The Mormons teach that nothing is created, everything is begotten. The supreme God (himself brought forth in some way by eternal, selfmoving, and intelligent matter) begot other gods. All have bodies, parts, and passions, for " man is made in the image of God." A chief occupation of these gods is to produce souls for the bodies begotten in this and other worlds. The sex idea runs through the whole Mormon conception of the universe. Each world has its own god; ours is none other than Adam — who gradually attained his present glory. "He is the only God with whom we have to do." All gods are in a progressive development, and all Saints will advance to the dignity of gods. Justification by faith as taught by Evangelical churches is a " destructive doctrine." Submission and obedience to the commandments of the church is the essential thing in faith. Baptism, through which sins are washed away, is unconditionally necessary to salvation. Infant baptism is a " solemn mockery," for little children have no sins to repent of and are not under the curse of Adam. An essential feature of the Mormon system is the doctrine and practise of baptism for the dead. As the true Church was extinct upon earth since
shortly after the days of the apostles until Joseph Smith, no baptism in all that time was valid. Saints, however, may be baptized for the dead and thus insure the salvation of the latter. The most notorious of the Mormon doctrines is that of celestial marriage, or marriage unto eternity. All marriages entered into without divine sanction, such as is given only to the Saints, are dissolved by death. Those, on the other hand, who wed in accordance with the true Gospel are married for eternity. I{ a wife thus sealed precedes her husband in death, he may in like manner marry another, and, if tin second should die, a third, and so on. In the resur rection all are to be his. Moreover, inasmuch as in eternity a man may have many wives, so may he even in this world, and at one time, if God and his Church sanction it. As many women as God thus gives a man are his and his alone, and cohabitation with them is right and holy. In its behalf the Mormons claim that this doctrine strongly tends to exclude adultery and prostitution.
In close relation to the doctrinal system stand
the church commandments, ordinances, and public
worship. Only believers are baptized, and that by
immersion, and it is followed immedi-
17. Ordi- ately by the laying-on of hands. The
nances in celebration of the Lord's Supper takes Theory and place every Sunday. By special reve-
Practise. lation the use of fermented wine was forbidden; now even the unfermented juice of the grape gives place to water. The Saints have certain secret rites or mysteries, the most important of which are those connected with the marriage ceremony, known as going through the Endowment House. In Salt Lake City all secret rites are now performed in the temple. No non-Mormon may enter the temple, whereas access to the great tabernacle is free to all. Public worship consists of 6ong, prayer, sermon, celebration of the Lord's Supper, and sometimes the dispensing of blessings by a patriarch. In the tabernacle at Salt Lake the music is excellent and impressive. Generally two persons preach in a single service. The sermons are for the most part mere harangues, usually without a text, and a mixture of the religious and the secular. Everything, however, is manifestly adapted to the end in view. Regarded as an organism Mormonism strives to realize the ideal of a pure theocracy based on prophetism and mediated by a hierarchy. In its beginnings a free prophetism ruled; but as it was perceived what confusion must arise if every man were his own prophet, there early developed a great hierarchical system. While every member of the church may enjoy the blessings of divine communion and revelations for his own comfort and guidance, revelations affecting the whole church are given only through the president, although his counselors may share illumination with him. The priesthood is of two orders: the Aaronic (charged with secular affairs) and the Melchisedec (charged with spiritual affairs). The latter is the higher and may overrule the former. Every worthy adult male member has a place in one or the other of these orders. There is no salaried preaching class. It is expected of each member that he will serve in any work to which he may be assigned, at