Much has been said as to his sincerity in his religious professions and belief. In his younger days he may have been sincere; doubtless was. The character of his religion, and the degree of his sincerity, at the present time, may be inferred from the following incident. A physician at Salt Lake was urged by Brigham to join the church. He had lived in the city several years, and was doing a good business, and it was pressed upon him as a reciprocal duty. The Doctor, like too many of his profession, was tainted with infidelity. "I wouldn't mind joining your church," said he, "but I don't believe in your religion. In fact," he added, with emphasis, "I don't believe in _any_ religion." "Oh," replied Brigham, "that don't make any difference. Come and be baptized, and it will all be right!" The Doctor _was_ baptized, and became a good enough Mormon. He received as his reward, from the hand of Brigham, a beautiful young lady as a "second wife." Young's talent is all of a practical character,--his shrewdness is ever ready to extricate him from any difficulty or emergency. As a financial and political leader, he is far superior to Joseph Smith. As a religious leader, he is much his inferior. Smith was brave; Young is cowardly. Smith was enthusiastic and impetuous, while Young is cool and calculating. Brigham is a good speaker. Oratory, however, he uses as a means to accomplish certain ends; and he seldom, even when most excited, says anything that has not its object. His manner in the pulpit is impressive and authoritative; and he sometimes rises to a high degree of eloquence. His illustrations are apt, his sentences frequently pungent and sarcastic. He is lamentably deficient in moral sense. No falsehood staggers him, no blasphemy shocks him. Why, then, should he hesitate at the perpetration of any crime which will conduce to the accomplishment of his life-purpose. Even the traveller Burton, his admirer and panegyrist, thus frankly expresses his doubts as to this phase of his character: "I cannot pronounce about his scrupulousness; all the world over, the sincerest religious belief, and the practice of devotion, are sometimes compatible not only with the most disorderly life, but with the most terrible crimes; for mankind mostly believes that '_Il est avec le ceil des accomodements_.' He has been called hypocrite, swindler, forger, murderer. No one looks it less." This is, perhaps, true; but therein lies his hypocrisy.