History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

METHOD OP TREATMENT. 39
respectful hearing, which they have never had. As
a matter of course, where there is such warmth of
feeling, such bitterness and animosity as is here displayed
on both sides, we must expect to encounter in
our evidence much exaggeration, and many untruth-
ful statements. Most that has been written on either
side is partisan—bitterly so; many of the books that
have been published are full of vile and licentious
abuse—disgustingly so. Some of the more palpable
lies, some of the grosser scurrility and more blasphemous
vulgarity, I shall omit altogether.
Again, the history of the Mormons, which is the
early history of Utah, is entitled in its treatment to
this consideration, as differing from that of other sec-
tions of my work, and to this only—that whereas in
speaking of other and older sects, as of the catholics
in Mexico and California, and of the methodists and
presbyterians in Oregon, whose tenets having long
been established, are well known, and have no immediate
bearing aside from the general influence of re-
ligion upon the subjugation of the country, any anal-
ysis of doctrines would be out of place, such analysis
in the present instance is of primary importance. Ordinarily,
I say, as I have said before, that with the
religious beliefs of the settlers on new lands, or of the
builders of empire in any of its several phases, social
and political, the historian has nothing to do, except
in so far as belief influences actions and events. As
to attempting to determine the truth or falsity of any
creed, it is wholly outside of his province.
Since the settlement of Utah grew immediately out
of the persecution of the Mormons, and since their
persecutions grew out of the doctrines which they promulgated,
it seems to me essential that the origin and
nature of their religion should be given. And as they
are supposed to know better than others what they
believe and how they came so to believe, I shall let
them tell their own story of the rise and progress of
their religion, carrying along with it the commenta-