PERILS. — mormo:nism. 113 



look after a Mormon population of 165,218 there are 31,- 

 577 officials, or one to every five persons.^ And, so 

 highly centralized is the power, that all of these threads 

 of authority are gathered into one hand, that of the pres- 

 ident. The priesthood, of which he is the head, claim the 

 right to control in all things religious, social, industrial, 

 and political. Brigham Young asserted his right to 

 manage in every particular, " from the setting up of a 

 stocking to the ribbons on a woman's bonnet." Here is 

 a claim to absolute and universal rule, which is cheer- 

 fully conceded by every orthodox ''saint." Mormonism 

 therefore, is not simply a church, but a state ; an " im- 

 perium in imperio " ruled by a man who is prophet, 

 priest, king and pope, all in one — a pope, too, who is not 

 one whit less infallible than he who wears the tiara. 

 And, as one would naturally expect of an American 

 pope, and especially of an enterprising Western pope, he 

 out-popes the Roman by holding familiar conversations 

 with the Almighty, and getting, to order, new revelations 

 direct from heaven ; and, another advantage which is 

 more material, he keeps a firm hold of his temporal 

 power. Indeed, it looks as if the spiritual were being 

 subordinated to the temporal. Rev. W. M. Barrows, 

 D. D., after a residence at the Mormon capital of nearly 

 eight years, said : ^ " There is no doubt that it is becom- 

 ing less and less a religious power, and more and more a 

 political power. The first Mormon preachers were ig- 

 norant fanatics, but most of them were honest, and their 

 words carried a weight that sincerity always carries, 

 even in a bad cause. The preachers now have the rav- 

 ings of the Sibyl, but lack the inspiration. Their talk 

 sounds hollow ; the ring of sincerity is gone. But their 

 eyes are dazzled now with the vision of an earthly em- 



1 In 1889 the ]\Iormon Church officially reported its officers and member- 

 ship in all the world as follows: Apostles, 12; patriarchs, 70; higrh priests, 

 3,919; elders, 11,805; priests, 2,069; teachers, 2.292; deacoij^, ll.filO; families, 

 81,899; children under eight years of age, 49.303; total Mormon population 

 (which does not include the " Josephites "), 165,218. 



2 Address at the Home Missionary Anniversary, in Chicago, June 8, 1881. 



