the name of Colborn, took great apparent satisfaction in exhibiting a blessing he had received from the veritable John Smith, while in Nauvoo in 1835. It covered two pages, and promised him almost every thing, and, among them, freedom from poverty and disease. He had, previous to this, been trying to excite sympathy by complaining of his miserable state of poverty and disease ever since he came to the valley; he was, nevertheless, fully persuaded that the blessing had been fulfilled to the very letter.

Any number of conversions can be traced to the supposed performance of miracles, among which the exercise of the gift of tongues is very conspicuous. One man stated that he was listening to a discourse by a Mormon elder, who all at once let forth a perfect flood of language entirely new to him. It caused "a sudden thrill," as he described it, "from the back of his head down his back-bone;" and, of course, he was converted from that hour. Another compared it to a shock of electricity.

These miraculous powers are generally taken upon trust. A Mormon lady related the case of an elder so ignorant that he could neither read nor write, who was a remarkably fluent preacher, and could repeat the Bible from beginning to end without missing a word. On being asked how he obtained such a knowledge of the Bible, he answered that it was given him of the Spirit while he was preaching. This fellow afterward apostatized, but, notwithstanding, she still persisted in the most implicit faith in his supernatural knowledge.

A Mrs. Western, an old and simple-minded lady, relates that she was dissatisfied with all other doctrines

and preachings because no claim was made to the signs which are to follow those who believe, and that she was converted by the first Mormon sermon she heard because the elder claimed to be in the possession of these proofs of discipleship, and actually joined the Church with no other evidence that he possessed them except his own assertion. She really believes she was healed twice miraculously, once by consecrated oil and the laying on of hands, and once by baptism; and it was a great mystery to her that she could not be so healed at other times. It seems she was at one period very anxious to have a demonstration of the gift of tongues. Lodging one night with a woman who pretended to the gift, her artful companion broke out in her sleep with a song in an unknown tongue, and, after an interval of genuine snoring, tuned up her pipes in English by way of translation. This, with other things, so completely fastened the simple-minded old lady, that the plurality system, though it greatly shocked her when introduced, did not drive her off. She now consoles herself that it was permitted to try the Church, and will eventually be abolished. She became a convert at a time of life when she could not be an object of desire to any of the Latter-day bashaws, and has escaped contamination from the worst pollutions of Mormonism.

So generally diffused is the notion that our bodies are tabernacles for pre-existing spirits to enter into, that mothers pretend to surmise from what particular tribe their children come from. One lady gravely stated that her little Ruth came from the tribe of Joseph. "She is a selfish little thing," said she,

"and, you know, Joseph knew how to feather his own nest."

The Mormons justify slavery, and would be slaveholders upon religious principle if in their power. It will be recollected that, in the grand council of the gods convened to deliberate on the salvation of the human race, the devil and his adherents raised a factious opposition to Christ, and were defeated, cursed, and banished. They believe that the spirit of one of this crew entered into the tabernacle called Cain and committed the first murder, and that the negroes are descendants of Cain, and furnish tabernacles for these pre-existing devils. They believe that they have a black skin because they are under a curse, and that it is perfectly right for those having white skins to carry the celestial sentence into execution by enslaving them. I asked one of the elders how this sable pedigree escaped the flood: his answer was, that Ham's wife was a descendant of Cain, and was saved in the ark, and that the same curse was subsequently pronounced upon Ham.

CHAPTER XIX.

Manner of making Converts.-Doctor Cox.-English Converts.-Continual Loss of Members.-Dissensions.-Gladdenism.-Apparent Decline of Mormonism.-Decrease of Population.-Present Character of its Missionaries.-Conclusion.

THE Mormons have had great success in making converts by the boldness of their pretensions, and the hardihood of their manner of recommending them. Doctor Cox, in his "Interviews," gives us a very characteristic instance of an attempt to convert him on the part of two of Joseph's missionaries. They called one Sabbath morning, and in a very solemn and imposing manner addressed him as "Brother Cox, a man of God, a friend of truth, a lover of righteousness, and a preacher of the Gospel," and announced that they had been sent on a special mission to him; and that he was to become a Latter-day Saint, and rise to great eminence in the new Zion. The doctor called for some miraculous demonstration by way of credential, which they declined exhibiting just then, although they claimed the power to do so. The Saints possess great cunning in adapting themselves to the peculiar temperaments and idiosyncracies of individuals; but in this instance they mistook their man. The interview ran into a dialogue, which warmed into animation, of which the following-No. 1 representing the Doctor, and 2 and 3 his visitors will give the reader some idea:

1. "I shall not stir another step in this business till

I see the evidence on which you rely, as self-vaunted envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary from the court of the King of kings, to sustain your apostolicity and vindicate your claims. Here, then, I take my stand, and call for evidence for proof. How am I to know, gentlemen, that you are not impostors?" 3. "You had better take care, sir, what you say. The evidence may come sooner than you desire, and as you do not expect, and what you will not relish, sure cnough! I would just warn you to beware!"

1. "You mean that the evidence may surprise me, coming in the way and style of some divine judgment?” 3. "Yes, sir, I do; and I hereby warn you against it."

2. "Oh! if it should come now, what would be

1. "Very well, gentlemen, I am ready, and quite content. Send a good rousing judgment along—a little touch of earthquake, some thunder and lightning, cholera morbus, palsy, volcano, avalanche, nightmare, gout, ship fever, neuralgia, or any thing else you please; yes, little or much of it, gentlemen, and the sooner the better, as I am ready, if you are, and quite disposed to be accommodating."

3. "Sir, are you forgetting yourself all the time?" 1. "Not at all; I am only remembering you. Let us have some of the evidence. Come! your testimonials, your seals, your signs, gentlemen."

2. "Why, I never saw or heard such a man as you!" 1. "Nor I ever read or conceived before of such men

or such apostles, exactly, as are you."

2. "I fear you are a hardened old—”