VII AGNOSTICISM 259 



murder, driven away from the land they had 

 occupied. Harried by these persecutions, the 

 Mormon body eventually committed itself to the 

 tender mercies of a desert as barren as that of 

 Sinai ; and after terrible sufferings and privations, 

 reached the Oasis of Utah. Here it grew and 

 flourished, sending out missionaries to, and receiv- 

 ing converts from, all parts of Europe, sometimes 

 to the number of 10,000 in a year; until, in 1880, 

 the rich and flourishing community numbered 

 110,000 souls in Utah alone, while there were 

 probably 30,000 or 40,000 scattered abroad else- 

 where. In the whole history of religions there is 

 no more remarkable example of the power of faith ; 

 and, in this case, the founder of that faith was 

 indubitably a most despicable creature. It is 

 interesting to observe that the course taken by the 

 great Republic and its citizens runs exactly parallel 

 with that taken by the Roman Empire and its 

 citizens towards the early Christians, except that 

 the Romans had a certain legal excuse for their 

 acts of violence, inasmuch as the Christian 

 " sodalitia " were not licensed, and consequently 

 were, ipso facto, illegal assemblages. Until, in the 

 latter part of the nineteenth century, the United 

 States legislature decreed the illegality of poly- 

 gamy, the Mormons were wholly within the law. 

 Nothing can present a greater contrast to all 

 this than the history of the Positivists. This sect 

 arose much about the same time as that of the 



