Of a directly opposite character was Jedediah M. Grant, first mayor of Salt Lake City, founder, or at least chief preacher, of the "reformation" whose blood-stained annals we are approaching; and proponent of the doctrine of "blood atonement," which has done more than any other thing save polygamy to bring Mormonism into disrepute. Grant became counsellor to Brigham upon the death of Willard Richards. Grant was a tall, thin, cadaverous-looking man, whose utterly undisciplined nature was inspired by an utterly unquestioning zeal. He was an ignorant Cotton Mather, a polygamous du Chayla. His church biographer paints him as striding over the fields of the South, preaching with flaming appeal and threat his favorite gospel. And the picture is symbolic. He seemed to delight in the ferocities of his religion; to welcome opposition that he might feed the fires of his fanaticism. He was incapable of doubt and insensible to fear. That he was sincere is beyond question. He has been called the "sledge-hammer of Brigham," but in truth he was the one man in the valley whom Brigham could not manage. He was described by a contemporary as "the most essential blackguard in the pulpit," but blackguardism–even if this charge were true–is a mild offense compared to his thirsty teaching of blood atonement.