him by an angel, and that its discovery
will be the salvation of the world. He proclaims these things and
convinces those who hear him, and the Book of the Mormons which he
produces becomes sacred in the eyes of his followers.

In ever-increasing numbers they hasten first to Illinois, then to Utah;
and when Brigham Young, Smith's successor, presents the Mormon colony
with religious and political laws which are a mixture of Christianity,
Judaism and Paganism, and include the consecration of polygamy, they
found a church which claims more than a hundred thousand adherents, and
is ruled by twelve apostles, sixty patriarchs, about three thousand
high priests, fifteen hundred bishops, and over four thousand deans.

After being dissolved by the decree of the 10th of October, 1888, the
Church of the Latter-Day Saints seemed to be lost, without hope of
revival. The State of Utah, where Brigham Young had established it in
1848, was invaded by ever-growing numbers of "Gentiles," who were
hostile to the Mormons, but these latter, far from allowing the debris
of their faith to bestrew the shores of the Great Salt Lake, succeeded,
on the contrary, in strengthening the foundations of the edifice that
they had raised. The number of its adherents increased, and the colony
became more flourishing than ever. If, at one time, it was possible to
speak of its dying agonies, those who visit it to-day cannot deny the
fact of its triumphant resurrection.

Two principal causes have been its safeguard: the firm and practical
working-out of the economic and philanthropic principles upon which its
organisation has always rested, and the resolute devotion and
capability of those who direct it as the heads of one great family.
Every member is concerned to maintain the regular and effective
functioning of its mechanism, and all work for the same ends in a
spirit of religious co-operation.

We must not lose sight of the fact that in addition to the elements
they borrowed from Buddhism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam, the
Mormons introduced into their new Gospel a social ideal inspired by the
Communistic experiments of the first half of the nineteenth century.
The founders of Mormonism--Joseph Smith, Heber Kimball, George Smith,
the brothers Pratt, Reuben Hedlock, Willard Richards, and Brigham
Young--were not visionaries, but men risen from the people who desired
to acquire wealth while at the same time bringing wealth to those who
took pa