The Genius of “Mormonism”

THE GENIUS OF "MORMONISM." BY F. W. COPE. Today, as I sat in the tabernacle listening to the strains of the great organ, it pealed forth an old melody. As I enjoyed the beautiful harmony, a vista opened, and I watched an interesting panorama unfold before my eyes. I saw a city, built upon the banks of a majestic river, busy with the hum of peaceful industry, homes filled with a happy. God-fearing people. Then the scene changed: I saw men, women and children running too and fro, and I heard the sounds of war echoing through the once peaceful city. I saw the ransacking of the town, and its citizens fleeing from the mob. It was Nauvoo. I next saw a road leading towards the setting sun, crowded, with men and women forced to turn their backs on all their posses- sions, snatch the meagre necessities, and flee into the vi^ilderness, to escape the fury of wicked men. My eyes then beheld a scene saddest of all: I looked among the reeds along the river banks. They sheltered those of the city who were too poor, either in purse or body, to get away. They lay there under the burning sun, racked with hunger and fever; left to live or die, while in the city yonder, the mob descereated their Temple and their homes. The next picture presented to my view a settlement on the banks of another river; log huts took the place of the palaces, and dug-outs the place of the more humble homes. I saw a sturdy band of men and women turn their backs upon the rising sun and set out on a dreary march, whither they knew not, except that it was to the tops of the mountains; and I gazed upon the picture dis- closing their wandering through a thousand miles of virgin country, broken only by a few trappers' cabins and temporary villages of

684 IMPROVEMENT ERA. red men. At last I saw them standing in the canyon, having pierced the majestic wall of rock, and I beheld with them the scene that met their gaze. A beautiful valley lay before them, completely encircled by mountains. In the west lay, shimmer- ing and sparkling in the noon-day sun, a shining sheet of water. Thev gazed in silent admiration, and I rejoiced with them when the strong man at their head, who had cheered them through all their trials and wanderings, uttered the historic words 'This is ' the place, drive on." I next saw this little band busying themselves with the labors incident to home-making, and my gaze was centered on the man, still the leader, and I watched him as he walked a little way from the camp. I felt the spell that was upon him. He stopped upon a spot of ground, and in my eagerness I anticipated his words. After so tedious a journey, after such a labor, I thought I should hear him say: "Here we will rest; here we will build our homes, safe from molestation. We will settle and be content;" but listen, striking his cane in the ground, he utters these words instead: ''Here we will build the Temple of our God." Imagine the genius that could prompt such utterances as these. With life a dire struggle, its very necessaries at a tragic premium, yet this man could think of temples! Later, I saw this temple begun, its majestic proportions eclipsing anything the builiiers had known, and I noted the same personage who had de- signated the spot on which the building stood, watching the pro- gress of the workmen. Something is wrong, someone has made a mistake. Months passed in the labor of its construction but the building was not perfect. Too bad, I uttered, and it is too late to remedy now, but it will not be noticed when the walls are com- pleted. But this thought did not find response in the mind of the builder. They were building a temple to their God, that must stand for ages, and at the leader's command, out came the massive stones. Months of labor wasted; but the building was made perfect! What an example of the character of the man. My gaze was directed a little to the west and I beheld the little band gathered together to pay their homage to the God who had been their guide by day, their refuge by night, and I was im- pressed with the building that sheltered them. It was the bowery, formed of upright posts, covered with green branches to shield

THE GENIUS OF "MORMONISM." 685 them from the sun. While I gazed on this building my vision changed and I saw massive stone walls taking the place of the posts of the old bowery. I saw a majestic dome replace the leafy roof, a structure taking its place with the wonderful buildings of the world. I saw a caravan coming from the west, laden with the woods of foreign climes to furnish material for a glorious organ to sound pseons of praise to the Mighty God of Israel. The strains of the old melody ceased, and I awoke from my dreaming to find myself in the building I was dreaming of, and I began to reflect upon the genius that had prompted the action of this panorama I had beheld. I thought of the men and women who had given their all for the building of this commonwealth which we, their sons and daughters, to-day enjoy. I thought of the faith that underlay the magnificence which I beheld; the faith that upheld a people in their hours of need, at a time when they counted their nearest kindred a thousand miles away, when the locomotive was unthought of. As I reflected upon the picture, I turned to make an inspection of my own life, and I felt how little I had appreciated what the gospel of Jesus Christ means to me. If it urged those sturdy pioneers to build better than even they knew, how should its promptings affect me, you? Let us, the partakers of the fruits of the genius of the Latter- day Saints, awake to our possibilities; honor those who have al- ready pirtaken of its spirit; and take upon our shoulders the work awaiting, so that our children, listening to the strains of some old melody, may picture our actions and marvel at the accomplish- ments, not only of the pioneers, but of the children of the pioneers. And let those accomplishments differ only in kind, not in degree. Forest Dale, Utah.