Nevis

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

Additional Note on the Mormons. — Since our article on this subject was written, the collision between the Mormon authorities and the United States government — which is still the supreme and sole general civil administration in the territory, Congress having steadily refused to admit Utah as a State in the Union without such stipulations to loyalty, as the Mormons are unwilling to accept — has resulted in the federal court taking possession of the Mormon premises in Salt Lake City, practically confiscating, or at least occupying and controlling, them, on the groun of treason; and it is said that the Mormons are secretly preparing for another migration, this time to Mexico, where they have purchased a large tract of land, so as to be beyond our jursidiction. The temple is nearly completed, although likewsie in the hands of the general government; but it is not to be used by the Mormons as a place of worship, for which intended its interior construction is not adapted, but for purposes of ecclesiastical ceremony and general office work. The denunciatory tone of Mormons is now greatly moderated; and although the old style of declamation on the subject of civil power is still maintained, its tone is greatly softened, and all talk of open or forcible rebellion is abandoned. Criminal suits have been instituted, and are still pending before the U.S. courts, also against many leading Mormons for bigamy, adultery, and other unchaste practices, and in consequence polygamy is generally abandoned, at least in public, by the sect as a whole. The general aspect of the situation points to a speedy disruption of the Mormon community in Utah, especially as the influx of non-Mormon immigrants is gradually but surely overpowering them.