--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Evans, John Henry collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 28 number: 2 published: 1924-12 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "John Henry Evans, “The Heritage and Promise,” *Improvement Era 28, no. 2 (December 1924)*: 129–134." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2802unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2802unse start_page: 129 end_page: 134 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1924-12) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2802unse publication_year: 1924 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1924, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Heritage and Promise THE HERITAGE AND PROMISE By John Henry Evans, Author of "One Hundred Years of Mormonism" "And it shall come to pass that in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the tops of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths." — The Prophet Isaiah. I To begin with, the "Mormons" are the most composite people in the world today, since they have drawn, and continue to draw from the best nations of Northern Europe and from the most substantial citizenry of composite America. It is by no means an accident that the greatest nations of the past and of the present are of a mixed blood. The Greeks and Romans were. In both of these peoples the bottom population was the Pelasgians, who were themselves com- posite, for they had been conquered by a race from the Central Ape- nines. This Pelasgic population was absorbed by the Hellenes, who acquired strains from imigrants to their state. The Romans were not, as is commonly believed, descended from a single pair, but were the product of two principal races, not to speak of later accre- tions— the Pelasgians, who, as we have already stated, were a mixed people, and colonists from Troy. An even more complex people are the English. The Celts of Scotland and Wales and Ireland were not the first inhabitants of Great Britain. These, it appears, absorbed the population they found there. In the fifth century of our Era some barbarian tribes — the Jutes, the Angles, and the Saxons — came down from the stormy shores of the Baltic and invaded England. And these, after they had driven the Welsh into the mountain fastnesses, were in turn overcome politi- cally by the Normans, who were a mixture of Scandinavians and French, although in language and manners they overpowered their conquerors. Then, too, there is a strain of Danish blood in the English, acquired in the ninth century and after, as well as a Celtic strain along the west borderline of what was the Danelaw, where the newer English and the Welsh intermingled freely and where Shake- speare was born. Without question, however, the most composite nation in all history is the United States of America. It has long been the melting 132 IMPROVEMENT ERA pot of races, the crucible into which has been thrown the metals of all nations, the great amalgam of the world. Its vast virgin territory, its unbounded opportunities, its comparative freedom of thought and deed, have called loudly to the adventurous, the aspiring, and the free- thinking of all peoples, who have flocked here in sailing-vessel and ocean-liner by the hundred* of thousands every year; and here they have been allowed to intermarry almost without let or hindrance. As a result we have, not a new nation merely, but a new people — young, vigorous, powerful beyond precedent. Just why a composite people should be greater than one of unmixed blood ought not to be difficult to see. Inbreeding in man, as in the lower animals, tends to a duplication over and over again of the same traits of character, whereas outbreeding, as it may be termed, tends to a variety of traits. Thus a sluggish-minded race, marrying only within itself, is apt to reproduce sluggish-mindedness. And similarly a sprightly, vivacious people, unmixed, is likely to continue this characteristic in itself. If, however, the two are inter- mingled, the result will be modification of both — which is an im- provement. There is no doubt that the rapid ascendency of the United States among the powers of the world is due in part to this admixture of blood in its people. Its fertile inventive genius, which has produced three-fourths of the world's inventions, and its develop- ment of the principles of democracy give the American nation a place by itself in the history of the world. Now the "Mormon" people, occupying in the main the greater part of Utah and southeastern Idaho, with sprinklings in Wyoming, Colorado, California, and Arizona, are the most composite people in the most composite nation in the world. The West has always been composite, in a sense that has hardly been the case in the East. New York City, for instance, is more cos- mopolitan than composite. Its population is heterogeneous, made up of people from all parts of the world, but this population is not com- pounded of these different elements. There are in that great city Irish quarters, Russian quarters, Austrian quarters, Italian quarters, and so on. But these peoples do not mix, to speak of, either with one an- other or with Americans. And then again there has often been a tendency in eastern sections of the country to settle in groups from this or that nation; as for example, New England by the English, New York by the Dutch, Minnesota by the Swedes, Wisconsin by the Ger- mans, and so on. But in the West there has been pretty generally a fusion of blood from the best of the European nations, due chiefly to the purpose for which men and women came here originally. Even in the West, however, there is nothing like the mixture of blood that can be found in "Mormon" communities. A teacher in a class in one of the seminaries of the Church in a rural settlement tested out his pupils in this respect. He found that the parents and THE HERITAGE AND PROMISE 133 grandparents of his boys and girls represented twenty-three different nationalities. Nor is this a rare condition. It is to be met with in every community throughout "Mormondom." All the best nations of Europe have contributed their quota to the "Mormon" compound. On the fiftieth anniversary of the Church's birthday, in 1880, there were represented in a parade in Salt Lake City twenty-five dif- ferent nations whose people had accepted the Book of Mormon. Chief among these, to be sure, were the Americans, the English, the Germans, the Scandinavian peoples, the Welsh; but the Irish, the Scotch, the Dutch, and the French were also represented, as were many other peoples of lesser importance nationally. These various nationalities, drawn to this Western Mecca by the magnet of the gospel, have come to "Zion" in response, as they believe, to the ancient prediction of a modern call, "I will gather you out from all nations." And under the democracy of the New Revelation these have intermarried — the nimble-witted Celt and the heavy-minded Teuton, the fair-haired Scandinavian with the dark- haired Welsh, the adaptable Yankee with the intractable Scotch, the chivalrous man of the Southern States with the hardy daughter of the Western pioneer, and so on without limit. "Mormonism" has sup- plied something, namely the religious spirit, by means of which the varying elements have been fused into one people in a way that is true in no other part of the United States. For this new population, the recruits of the "Mormon" missionaries which have been sent out every- where by thousands, 'is woven at once into the fabric of the community. They are not employed by the community; they are married to the community." II Not only are the Latter-day Saints a highly composite people, but in the scriptural phrase they are also a chosen people. For the processes by which "Mormonism" came into existence and by which it continues are selective to a rare degree. From the very first this religion has been extremely unpopular. In millions of minds all over the world the name "Mormonism" is to this day, notwithstanding the easy modes of travel and the accessi- bility of accurate information, associated with whatever is vulgar — even criminal. Often it is used to point a jest at the dinner table, on the public rostrum, and in general literature. At one time the "Mormons" were popularly thought to have horns, and some who do not know any better still think so. In the average social circle a Latter-day Saint, if he does so incognito, may mix freely with the company and be generally regarded as a "good fellow," but as soon as the fact is known that he is a "Mormon," presto! all his fine social and intellectual qualities vanish like spirit, and every one with- draws from him as from a foul contagion. 134 IMPROVEMENT ERA This unpopularity comes from three sources: For one thing, "Mormonism" professes to be a New Revelation. Now anything new is opposed, whether it be a revelation or not. There is something in the human mind that repels what is new in thought or practice. It has been so in all ages. The ancients cruci- fied Christ, the men of the middle ages imprisoned Galileo, and the moderns laughed at Columbus and put him in chains. And opposition to new revelation is more violent than to anything else that is new because it comes in conflict with forms and habits of mind that are more deep seated in the emotions. For another thing, "Mormonism" has always waved the red flag in the face of the wild bull. Its first utterance was antagonistic. It characterized all the churches as apostate. Certainly this was stroking modern Christianity the wrong way, if it was intended to be concili- atory. Then again, its views on the Bible and how it is to be understood, on revelation and visions and miracles, on marriage, on the relation of the Church to material affairs, and especially on Priesthood — these filled the cup to overflowing. And for still another thing, men have not been above making up and broadcasting falsehood about the "Mormon" people. Some have done this unwittingly, but others have done it from malice and for gain. Ministers of religion have wrought up the feelings of their congregations against "Mormonism," because like the silversmiths of Ephesus their craft was in danger. Politicians, especially in .the United States, have agitated the public mind against the Saints because they could better gain their end that way. And the press, always greedy for salacious news, has dished up for the unthinking masses the lies that have been concoted by designing preachers and politicians. But whatever the cause, it has come about that a "Mormon" is more or less of a social outcast, depending on the part of the world he lives in. On occasions to be a Latter-day Saint has meant to take your life in your hands. Joseph Smith was murdered by an angry mob in Illinois. "Mormon" leaders have at various times been imprisoned for their religious convictions, and "Mormon" property has been pil- laged and confiscated. "Mormon" converts and missionaries have been pretty generally subjected to abuse, even physical violence. Four times in their history have the "Mormons" been driven from their homes by their neighbors in different States of the Union. The unpopularity of "Mormonism" has proved a distinctly selective process. It has been the means of determining who should be "Mormons" and who should not. It has been a Hand reaching down out of the ether and picking now this one, now that, and placing them within the fold, as a shepherd chooses his sheep. Those who have embraced the "Mormon" Church have therefore manifested cer- tain traits of character in general. They have had independence of spirit — a spirit that does not THE HERITAGE AND PROMISE 135 lean too heavily on the past and the has-been-said, that does not derive its strength from the words and deeds of others, that does not fear to break away from old moorings and pioneer a new way over land and sea, that can look into the mists of the future with steady penetration which is not to be diverted by anything others may say or do. They have had convictions of truth and duty — a vision to see a general purpose running through life, a power to grip the bit of iron rod that connects the present with the past and the future, and that is visible only to the seriously purposeful, a determination to hold fast that which to them seems good. They have had moral courage to act upon their convictions at all hazards. They have not been dreamers merely, content with turn- ing over in their mind a beautiful thought with no intention of em- bodying it in a deed. But they have been in general, of the kind that act upon a conviction, to whom a thought is synonymous with an act. It is not meant, of course, that all the people of independence, convictions, and courage are in the "Mormon" Church, nor that all the "Mormons" possess these traits of character. But they have them — that is the main point. To be sure, there have been persons who embraced "Mormonism" from motives that do not involve these characteristics, but they have usually fallen by the wayside. Neverthe- less it cannot be disputed that to go against the current of public opinion, to break with the past where one's roots have gone down into the soil, to take up a new life in a strange land — this demands inde- pendence and courage of a high order. A single instance given in some detail will place concretely before the reader what heroism is often required of the convert to this New Revelation. It is the case of a master of one of the English universities, a clergyman in the Church of England. Digging in his garden one morning, he was handed a tract by a "Mormon" missionary. He read not only this tract but other liter- ature that was given him by the elder. Through reading and conver- sation, coupled with prayer, he became convinced that "Mormonism" is in truth a New Revelation. Meanwhile, to clarify his mind on the subject, he presented the doctrines of "Mormonism" to his congre- gation week after week. Not knowing the source of his ideas nor his motive for preaching them, they received them with surprise and pleasure. In the last of those discourses, he announced that he had been preaching to them the doctrines of the despised "Mormon" religion. Not only so, but he announced that he had decided to abandon his pastorate, sever his connection with the Episcopal church, and cast his lot with the Latter-day Saints. The effect was much like that produced by a sudden electrical storm. His congregation was overwhelmed with astonishment and 136 IMPROVEMENT ERA chagrin. They did not reason with him, they did not sympathize with him as over a misfortune, they did not plead with him on the basis of his past services. They spurned him as they would a leper or a man who had suddenly gone mad. They scorned and despised him. His wife and daughters turned away from him as if he had done some enormous wickedness. His occupation gone, like Othello's, he finally left England and came to Utah, where he picked up such odd jobs as opportunity threw in his way. He never rejoined his family, nor did they even inquire after him. His name was literally blotted out from the book of their remembrance, as from that of his congregation. Thousands of instances might be told to the same effect. For the sake of "Mormonism" men and women have lost the means by which they earned their bread, husbands have been separated from their wives and wives from their husbands, children have been denied the protec- tion of their home and disowned by those whose natural duty it was to guide them over the rapids and through the flood., Still, to para- phrase a remarkable passage in Paul, under somewhat similar conditions, neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, has been able to separate men and women from "Mor- monism," once they were converted and had the courage of their convictions. It is commonly believed, at least asserted, by outsiders whose information comes to them second-hand, that only the lower orders socially are attracted to the "Mormon" faith. But men and women of low ideals, persons of inferior character, and moral cowards do not as a rule join an unpopular cause. These usually have no convictions. They do not think for themselves. They follow the crowd. The unpopular cause is generally in the van of thought and deed and goes begging for adherents. At all events, those who fly in the teeth of public disfavor have convictions of their own and the courage to do what they deem to be right. They may, and often do, have failings, but they also have character, for these things are the unfailing signs of character. They may lack the polish that comes from contact with the schools; but this is their misfortune not a defect of character. The unpolished diamond is still a diamond. No amount of scintillation in the paste can take the place of the real gem. When a person actuated by a conviction sacrifices the pleasure of home, forfeits the esteem of his dearest friends, abandons voluntarily the means by which he gets his bread, tears himself up by the roots from the soil that has been sanctified by age-long memories to try a new life in a strange land — these acts imply character. (To be continued)