The years of the Civil War passed by, and the prayer of Joel Rae was answered.  But the time was now rapidly approaching when the Son of Man was to come in person to judge Israel and begin his reign of a thousand years on the purified earth.  The Twelve, confirmed by Brigham, had long held that this day of wrath would not be deferred past 1870.  In the mind of Joel Rae the time had thus been authoritatively fixed.  The date had been further confirmed by the fulfilment of Joseph’s prophecy of war.  The great event was now to be prepared for and met in all readiness.

It was at this time that he betrayed in the pulpit a leaning toward views that many believed to be heterodox.  “A likely man is a likely man,” he preached, “and a good man is a good man—­whether in this Church or out of it.”  He also went so far as to intimate that being in the Church would not of itself suffice to the attainment of glory; that there were, to put it bluntly, all kinds of fish in the gospel net; sinners not a few in Zion who would have to be forgiven their misdeeds seventy times seven on that fateful day drawing near.

Bishop Wright, who followed him on this Sabbath, was bold to speak to another effect.

“Me and my brethren,” he insisted, “have received our endowments, keys, and blessings—­all the tokens and signs that can be given to man for his entrance through the celestial gate.  If you have had these in the house of the Lord, when you depart this life you will be able to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels that stand as sentinels; because why?—­because you can give them the tokens, signs, and grips pertaining to the holy priesthood and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell.  But how about the likely and good man outside this Church who has rejected the message of the Book of Mormon and ain’t got these signs and passwords?  If he’s going to be let in, too, why have doorkeepers, and what’s the use of the whole business?  Why in time did the Lord go to all this trouble, any way, if Brother Rae is right?  Why was Joseph Smith visited by an angel clad in robes of light, who told him where the golden plates had been hid up by the Lord, and the Urim and Thummim, and who laid hands on him and give him the Holy Ghost?  And after all that trouble He’s took, do you think He’s going to let everybody in?  Not much, Mary Ann!  The likely men may come the roots on some of our soft-hearted Elders, but they won’t fool the Lord’s Christ and His angel gatekeepers.”

Elder Beil Wardle, on the other hand, showed a tendency to side with the liberalism of Brother Rae.  He cited the fact that not all revelations were from God.  Some were from perverse human spirits and some from the very Devil himself.  There was Elder Sidney Roberts, who had once suffered a revelation that a certain brother must give him a suit of finest broadcloth and a gold watch, the best to be had; and another revelation directing him to salute all the younger sisters, married or single, with a kiss of holiness.  Urged to confess that these revelations were from the Devil, he had refused, and so had been cut off and delivered over to the buffetings of Satan in the flesh.