Gleanings by the Way Part 17

Near the close of the recent session of Congress, a pamphlet was printed by order of the United States' Senate, for the use of the members of Congress, ent.i.tled a "Doc.u.ment showing the testimony given before the judge of the fifth judicial circuit of the state of Missouri, at the court-house in Richmond, in a criminal court of inquiry, begun November 12th, 1838." A list of fifty-three individuals is given, as being charged with the crimes of high treason against the state, murder, burglary, arson, robbery, and larceny. Among the number are Joseph Smith, jr., Hiram Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Parley P. Pratt. A copy of this doc.u.ment I succeeded in obtaining, after considerable difficulty, it not having been printed for general distribution.

The first witness produced on behalf of the state was Dr. Sampson Avard, who had been a special teacher among the Mormons. He testifies that a band at first denominated the Daughters of Zion, but afterwards the Danite band, was formed by the members of the Mormon church, the original object of which was, to drive from the county of Caldwell all who dissented from the Mormon church. Joseph Smith, jr., blessed them, and prophesied over them, declaring that they should be the means, in the hands of G.o.d, of bringing forth the millenial kingdom. The covenant taken by this band was as follows, (holding up the right hand:) "In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of G.o.d, I do solemnly obligate myself ever to conceal, and never to reveal the secret purposes of this Society, called the Daughters of Zion. Should I ever do the same, I hold my life as the forfeiture." This band felt themselves as much bound to obey Joseph Smith, jr., and his two counsellers, Hiram Smith and Sidney Rigdon, as to obey the supreme G.o.d.

Joseph Smith, jr., in a public address, told them that they should stand by each other, right or wrong. He declared on another occasion, that all who did not take up arms in defence of the Mormons of Daviess, should be considered as tories, and should take their exit from the county. In reference to taking the property of others, in their expeditions to Daviess county, he told them that the children of G.o.d did not go to war at their own expense. He said it was high time they should be up, as the saints of the most high G.o.d, and protect themselves, and take the kingdom. On some occasions, he said, that one should chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight; that he considered the United States rotten; that the Mormon church was the little stone spoken of by the prophet Daniel; and that the dissenters first, and the state next, was part of the image that should be destroyed by the little stone. In an address to the forces at Far West, about the time that Gen. Lucas appeared in that quarter with the militia, Smith told them, that for every one they lacked in number of those that came out against them, the Lord would send angels, who would fight for them, and that they should be victorious.

This witness (Dr. Avard) received orders from Smith and his counsellors to destroy the paper containing the const.i.tution of the Danite Society, inasmuch as if it should be discovered, it would be considered treasonable.

This order he did not obey, but kept the paper in his possession; and after he was made prisoner by General Clark, he delivered it up to him. The Mormon preachers and apostles were directed to instruct their followers to come up to the state called Far West, and to possess the kingdom, and that the Lord would give it to them.

A paper was draughted by Sidney Rigdon against the dissenters from Mormonism, and signed by eighty-four Mormons. It was addressed to Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, William W. Phelps and Lyman E. Johnson. Of these, Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer were two of the three witnesses that testified to the truth of the Book of Mormon. This will therefore serve to show how much credit is to be attached to their testimony. These eighty-four Mormons, in the letter, say to the dissenters, (Cowdery, Whitmer, &c.) that they had violated their promise, and disregarded their covenant; that Oliver Cowdery had been taken by a state warrant for stealing, and the stolen property was found in the house of William W.

Phelps, Oliver Cowdery having stolen and conveyed it; that these dissenters had endeavoured to destroy the characters of Smith and Rigdon by every artifice they could invent, not even excepting the basest lying; that they had disturbed the Mormon meetings of wors.h.i.+p; that Cowdery and Whitmer had united with a gang of counterfeiters, thieves, liars and blacklegs of the deepest dye, to deceive, cheat and defraud the Mormons out of their property, by every art and stratagem which wickedness could invent, stealing not excepted; that they had attempted to raise mobs against the Mormons; that Cowdery attempted to pa.s.s notes on which he had received pay; that Cowdery, Whitmer and others, were guilty of perjury, cheating, selling bogus money, (base coin,) and even stones and sand for bogus! that they had opened, read and destroyed letters in the post-office: and that they were engaged with a gang of counterfeiters, coiners, and blacklegs.

There, Mr. Editor, is the character of two of the three witnesses who testified that they had seen the plates of the Book of Mormon; that G.o.d's voice declared to them that they had been translated by his gift and power; that an angel of G.o.d laid the plates and engravings before their eyes; and that the voice of the Lord commanded them that they should bear record of it. This is the character of two of the three witnesses, according to the testimony of eighty-four _Mormons_, and not _opposers_ of Mormonism. To how much credit these two witnesses are ent.i.tled, you can judge for yourself.

In the course of my communications on this subject, I shall exhibit the character of the other witness, (Martin Harris,) and likewise of Prophet Smith himself.

From the Baptist Advocate.

FROM OUR LATE WAs.h.i.+NGTON CORRESPONDENT.

MR. EDITOR:

In my first communication on the subject of the Mormon war in Missouri, I showed, by Mormon evidence itself, that two of the three witnesses that testified to the truth of the Book of Mormon, viz: Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer, are utterly unworthy of any credit whatever. In pursuance of my proposal in the same letter, I now proceed to exhibit the character of the remaining witness, Martin Harris; and likewise the character of Smith himself, over and above what has already been shown in relation to him.

STATEMENT OF LUCY HARRIS, WIFE OF MARTIN HARRIS.

_Palmyra, Nov. 29, 1833._

Martin Harris is naturally quick in his temper. At different times while I lived with him, he has whipped, kicked, and turned me out of the house. In one of his fits of rage, he struck me with the b.u.t.t end of a whip, which I think had been used for driving oxen, and was about the size of my thumb.

He beat me on the head four or five times, and the next day turned me out of doors twice, and beat me in a shameful manner. His main complaint against me was, that I was always trying to hinder his making money. One day, while at Peter Harris's house, I told him he had better leave the company of the Smith's, as their religion was false; to which he replied: "If you would let me alone, I could make money by it."

There is the character of the third witness of the trio, on whose testimony the Book of Mormon depends for support. Let us now look a little further at the character of Prophet Smith himself.

Fifty-one of Smith's old acquaintances in Palmyra, declare him dest.i.tute of that moral character which ought to ent.i.tle him to the confidence of any community, spending much of his time in money digging, and being addicted to vicious habits.

Peter Ingersol, of Palmyra, testifies, that Smith acknowledged that he could not see in a stone, as he had pretended.

William Chace, of Manchester, Ontario county, N. Y., testifies, that Smith acknowledged he had no Book of Mormon, and never had any.

Parley Chace, of Manchester, states, that Smith was ent.i.tled to no credit whatever; that he was lazy, intemperate, worthless, and very much addicted to lying, boasting of his skill in it, digging for money, and scarcely ever telling two stories alike in relation to the Golden Bible matter.

David Stafford, of Wayne county, testifies, that Smith used to get intoxicated, on which occasions he would quarrel and fight.

Barton Stafford, of Manchester, testifies, that Smith was very much addicted to intemperance, even after he professed to be a prophet; and when intoxicated, he frequently made his religion his theme.

Henry Harris, of Cuyahoga county, Ohio, testifies, that such was Smith's character for lying, that the jury did not believe him when under oath.

Rev. Nathaniel C. Lewis, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a relative of Smith's wife, testifies, that Smith's general character was that of an impostor, hypocrite, and liar.

Alva Hale, brother-in-law of Smith, testifies, that Smith told him, that his gift in seeing with a stone and a hat, was a gift from G.o.d; but at another time he told him, that this "_peeping_" was all nonsense. He further testifies, that he knows Smith to be an impostor and liar.

Levi Lewis testifies, that he has heard Smith and Harris both say, that adultery was no crime. Lewis further testifies, that he knows Smith to be a liar; that he saw him intoxicated at three different times, while composing the Book of Mormon; that he has heard him use the most profane language; that he has heard him say he was as good as Jesus Christ; that it was as bad to injure him as it was to injure Jesus Christ; and that G.o.d had deceived him with regard to the plates, which was the reason he did not show them.

Let this suffice on this point. And now we have before us the character of this false prophet, and of his three supporters, on whose credibility the fate of the Book of Mormon depends. Not one word of commentary is necessary, after such an exhibition of their worthlessness and vileness; and I shall, therefore, leave it as it is to speak for itself.

CHAPTER x.x.xIII.

CONCLUDING SKETCH IN RELATION TO MORMONISM.

The following letter is the last in the series, originally written for the columns of the Episcopal Recorder.

Although I have occupied your attention so long with the history of the origin and rise of Mormonism, I have a few words more to add before closing the subject. Several facts which have come to my knowledge, since commencing these sketches, lead me to apprehend, that the developments we have been attempting to make are not ill-timed. Is there any one who would have formed so low an estimate of the Christian intelligence of this land, as to have concluded _a priori_ that a deception so barefaced, and, withal, so ridiculous, as the pretended disinterment of the Mormon Bible from one of the hills of Western New York, and _this_--set on foot by an illiterate vagrant hanging on the skirts of society, and of exceedingly doubtful moral character, and backed by the pecuniary means of a man of the most credulous and superst.i.tious cast of character, whose sanity of mind was greatly questioned by all his acquaintance, should have gained in a period of ten years such dominion over human belief, as to be received as the undoubted truth of G.o.d by more than sixty thousand persons. We are surprised to hear of the success of this imposture in the Great Valley of the West, although there is material there for almost every erratic conception of the human mind to act upon. But what shall we say of the success of Mormonism in the Atlantic states,--gathering its converts from orthodox and evangelical churches? Will it not fill intelligent Christians with surprise to learn that the Mormons are establis.h.i.+ng themselves not only in many parts of New England, but that they are spreading through Pennsylvania, and that they already have two churches formed in Philadelphia, and that a portion of the members of these churches, have been regular communicants in the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches? Such, however, is the fact. And we shall not be greatly surprised, if this "mystery of iniquity" continues to work, and that those who have dared to "_add to the words_" of G.o.d's finished revelation, shall receive the threatened curse. We shall not be surprised if "G.o.d shall send upon such, strong delusion, that they should believe a lie," and that they "wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."

One thing however is distinctly to be noted in the history of this imposture. There are no Mormons in Manchester, or Palmyra, the place where this Book of Mormon was pretended to be found. You might as well go down into the Crater of Vesuvius and attempt to build an ice house amid its molten and boiling lava, as to convince any inhabitant in either of these towns, that Jo Smith's pretensions are not the most gross and egregious falsehood. It was indeed a wise stroke of policy, for those who got up this imposture, and who calculated to make their fortune by it, to emigrate to a place where they were wholly unknown. As soon as they had arranged their apparatus for deceiving weak, and unstable souls--as soon as the Book of Mormon was printed and their plans formed, the actors in this scene went off _en ma.s.se_ to a part of the country where their former character and standing were unknown, and where their claim to divine inspiration could be set up with a little more show of plausibility than it could have been any where in the state of New York. Mormonism had to grow a number of years in a western soil, and there acquire a sort of rank and luxuriant growth, before it could be transplanted with any success to a point near its birth-place. And even now it keeps very much in the background its grand pecularities. The Mormon preachers, I am told, in this region, generally dwell upon the common topics of Christianity, rather than upon the peculiarities of their system. The object of this is manifest. They wish to strengthen themselves by a large accession of converts, before they stand on the peculiarities of their system. But all Christians should beware of their devices. Their whole system is built upon imposture. They believe Joseph Smith to be a prophet of G.o.d, when there is not a man in our Penitentiary, that might not with just as much plausibility lay claim to that character. They believe the BOOK OF MORMON to be a divine revelation, when it can be proved, that the whole ground-work of it was written by Mr.

Spalding as a Religious and Historical Romance. They believe that they have the power among them to work miracles, when even "Satan with all" his "power and signs and lying wonders," and with all his deceivableness, has not been able to sustain their claim to in a single instance.

Martin Harris, after he went to Kirtland, Ohio, where, as we have seen, the first Mormon settlement was formed, used occasionally to return to Palmyra. As one of the three witnesses, he claimed divine inspiration, and is, I believe, to the present day regarded by the Mormons, as one of the greatest and best among "_the latter-day saints_." In these visits to the place of his former residence he not only endeavoured to proselyte his old acquaintances to his new faith, but used sometimes to edify them with very solemn prophecies of future events. I was informed by Judge S---- of Palmyra, that he came to his office so much and uttered his prophecies so frequently that he at length told him, that he would not consent to his uttering his predictions any more orally, but that he must write them down and subscribe his name to them, or else seek some other place for the exercise of his prophetic gift. Harris instantly wrote down two predictions, attaching his signature to each.

The one was a declaration that Palmyra would be destroyed, and left utterly without inhabitants, before the year 1836. The other prediction was that before 1838 the Mormon faith would so extensively prevail, that it would modify our national government, and there would at that period be no longer any occupant of the presidential chair of the United States. To these predictions he subjoined the declaration that if they were not literally fulfiled, any one might have full permission to cut off his head and roll it around the streets as a foot-ball. Bear in mind that this was one of the pretended chosen witnesses of G.o.d, to testify to the truth of the Book of Mormon. I need not say that both these prophecies in their entire failure of fulfilment, convicted him of falsehood, and show how little is the value of his testimony.

Another fact worthy of note in this connection is, that as Harris, Smith, Rigdon, &c., all expected to make their fortune out of this scheme. The banking enterprise in which they engaged, as we have seen, liked to have proved a ruinous operation to them all. Ultimately this speculation contributed to sever Harris from Smith and Rigdon, who went farther west, and commenced operations in Missouri. Harris, in one of his late visits to Palmyra, remarked to a friend of mine, that Jo Smith had now become a complete wretch, and that he had no confidence either in him or Rigdon.

Recollect that this is the testimony of one of the three chosen witnesses by which the truth of the Book of Mormon is to be established.

One fact more. You recollect that it was mentioned in a former No. of these sketches, that Martin Harris' wife could not be induced to come over to the Mormon faith. He consequently abandoned her, visiting her only once or twice a year. She at length declined in health, and was evidently sinking down to the grave. A gentleman of undoubted veracity in Palmyra told me that a few days before her death, Harris returned, and on one occasion while sitting in the room with her, appeared to be very much occupied in writing. She inquired what he was writing? He replied that he was writing a letter to a female to whom he was going to be married when she was dead!

And according to his words he was married to her in a very few weeks after his wife's death. What are we to think of Mormonism, when we remember that a man of such feelings and such morality was one of the chosen witnesses to attest its truth.

I have already said, that the Mormons in this region cautiously keep out of sight the peculiarities of their system, and princ.i.p.ally dwell upon the common topics of Christian faith and practice. One proof of this is, the very few copies of the Book of Mormon, that are found among them. I am told that among all the members of the two Churches established in Philadelphia, there are not more than twenty copies of the Book of Mormon. This book I suppose is only for the initiated--for those whose faith is well established.

Another fact in proof of the foregoing position is the effort they use to drop the name of Mormons, and to a.s.sume the more taking one of "Latter day Saints"--and when called upon to state their creed, instead of declaring boldly that Joseph Smith is the prophet of G.o.d, and that the Book of Mormon is his word, they rather dwell upon those points of faith which all Christians hold in common.

In ill.u.s.tration of this last remark, I will here insert a written statement given by Joseph Young, of Kirtland, Ohio, an elder of the Mormon Church, while on a visit to Boston to establish his faith in that city.

"The princ.i.p.al articles of the Latter-day Saints, vulgarly called _Mormons_, are

"1. A belief in one true and living G.o.d, the creator of the heavens and the earth, and in his Son Jesus Christ, who came into this world 1800 years since, at Jerusalem; was slain, rose from the dead, ascended on high, and now sits on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens; that through the atonement thus wrought out, all men may come to G.o.d and find acceptance; all of which they believe is revealed in the holy Scriptures.

"2. That G.o.d requires all men, wherever his gospel is proclaimed, or his law known, to repent of all sins, forsake evil, and follow righteousness; that his word also requires men to be baptized, as well as to repent; and that the direct way pointed out by the Scriptures for baptism, is immersion. After which, the individual has the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit; that this divine communication is absolutely promised unto all men, upon whom "the Lord our G.o.d shall call," if they are obedient unto his commandments. This gift of the Holy Spirit, was anciently bestowed by the laying on the apostle's hands: so this church believes that those who have authority to administer in the ordinances of the gospel, have this right and authority, through prayer; and without this authority, and this gift, the church is not _now_ what it _anciently_ was; consequently, cannot be recognised as the true Church of Christ.

"3. That G.o.d will, in the last days, gather the literal descendants of Jacob to the lands, anciently possessed by their fathers; that he will lead them as at the first, and build them as at the beginning. That he will cause his arm to be made bare in their behalf; his glory to attend them by night and by day. That this is necessary to the fulfilment of his word, when his knowledge is to cover the earth as the waters cover the seas. And that, as men anciently saw visions, dreamed dreams, held communion with angels, and converse with the heavens, so it will be in the last days to prepare the way for all nations, languages and tongues, to serve him in truth.

"4. That the time will come when the Lord Jesus will descend from heaven, accompanied with ten thousand of his saints; that a mighty angel will lay hold on the dragon, bind him, cast him into the pit, where he will be kept from deceiving the nations for a thousand years; during which time, one continued round of peace will pervade every heart. And,

"5. They believe in the resurrection of the body: that all men will stand in the presence of G.o.d and be judged according to the deeds, or works, done in this life; that the righteous will enter into eternal rest, in the presence of G.o.d, but the wicked be cast off, to receive a just recompense of reward; and that, to ensure eternal life, a strict obedience to all the commandments of G.o.d, must be observed, to the end."

You see there is not even a remote allusion to what const.i.tutes the gist of their whole system. But I will here leave the subject for the present.