Mormon History
Letter from Kirtland Christian - 1836
For the Ohio Observer.
MORMONISM.
Mr. Editor.
Dear Sir: -- Having been for the last four years located in Kirtland,
on the Western Reserve, I have thought proper to make some
communication to the public in relation to the Mormons, a sect of
Religious Fanatics, who are collected in this town. This service I have
considered as due to the cause of humanity, as well as to the cause of
truth and righteousness. What I have to communicate shall be said in
the spirit of candor and christian charity.
Mormonism, it is well known, originated with Joseph Smith * in the town
of Manchester, adjoining Palmyra, in the state of New York. Smith had
previously been noted among his acquaintances as a kind of Juggler, and
had been employed in digging after money. He was believed by the
ignorant to possess the power of second sight, by looking through a
certain stone in his possession. He relates that when he was 17 years
of age, while seeking after the Lord he had a nocturnal vision, and a
wonderful display of celestial glory. An angel descended and warned him
that God was about to make an astonishing revelation to the world, and
then directed him to go to such a place, and after prying up a stone he
should find a number of plates of the color of gold inscribed with
hieroglyphics, and under them a breastplate, and under that a
transparent stone or stones which was the Urim and Thummim mentioned by
Moses. The vision and the command were repeated four times that night
and once on the following day. He went as directed by the angel, and
pried up the stone under which he discovered the plates shining like
gold, and when he saw them his cupidity was excited, and he hoped to
make himself rich by the discovery, although thus highly favored by the
Lord. But for his sordid and unworthy motive, when he attempted to
seize hold of the plates,they eluded his grasp and vanished, and he was
obliged to go home without them. It was not till four years had
elapsed, till he had humbled himself and prayed and cast away his
selfishness that he obtained a new revelation and went and obtained the
plates.
The manner of translation was as wonderful as the discovery. By putting
his finger on one of the characters and imploring divine aid, then
looking through the Urim and Thummim he would see the import written in
plain English on a screen placed before him. After delivering this to
his amanuensis he would again proceed in the same manner and obtain the
meaning of the next character, and so on till he came to a part of the
plates which were sealed up, and there was commanded to desist: and he
says he has a promise from God that in due time he will enable him to
translate the remainder. This is the relation as given by Smith. A man
by the name of Harris, of a visionary turn of mind, assisted in the
translation, and afterwards Oliver Cowdery. By the aid of Harris's
property, the book was printed, and it is affirmed by the people of
that neighborhood that at first his motives were entirely mercenary, --
a mere money speculation. The book thus produced is called by them The
Book of Mormon; and is pretended to be of the same Divine Inspiration
and authority as the Bible. The Mormons came in Kirtland about six
years ago; being taught by their leaders that this was one of the
stakes of Zion, -- the eastern border of the promised land. -- Not long
after their arrival in Kirtland, a revelation was obtained that the
seat and centre of Zion was in Jackson county, in the western part of
Missouri; and thither a multitude of them repaired, with Smith at their
head. Soon after they were routed and expelled from the county by the
infidels, and many of them returned to Kirtland. There they have been
gathering their converts from various parts of the United States, until
their present number probably amounts to upwards of one thousand:
besides the transient companies of pilgrims who come here from the East
to inquire the way to Zion, and then pass on to Missouri.
They have built a huge stone temple in this town, 50 feet high, and 60
by 80 on the ground, at an expense of $40,000. On the front is this
inscription, "The House of the Lord, built by the Latter-day-Saints."
The lower story is the place of worship, the middle for the school of
the prophets, and the upper for an academical school; a distinguished
professor of Hebrew is their teacher. He is now giving his second
course, with about one hundred in each class.
While I am exposing these palpable impositions of the apostles of
Mormonism, candor obliges me to say that many of the common people are
industrious, good neighbors, very sincerely deceived, and possibly very
sincere Christians. They seem to delight in the duty of prayer, and the
services of devotion, and their zeal goes far beyond any thing seen
among sober Christians. Some are enterprising and intelligent,
conversant with the Bible, and fond of reading: and here, I apprehend,
many who have heard of them only by common report are mistaken;
supposing them all to be ignorant and degraded and beneath the notice
of all respectable people. The prevalence of religious delusion is not
to be attributed so much to mere ignorance, as to the structure and
prejudices and pernicious habits of the mind, -- a predisposition to be
captivated with any thing that is new or wonderful. It is furthermore
proper to notice that this religious sect have been slandered, and
belied, and persecuted beyond measure. We entirely disapprove of those
violent measures which have been taken with them in Missouri and some
other places; 1st. because it is an outrage upon inalienable rights, --
all men justly claiming to be protected in the enjoyment of
life,liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and 2d. because it is
unwise; persecution being the most effectual way to build up fanatics
in error and delusion. But since there is a certain class in every
community who are predisposed to embrace any wild delusion which
chances to meet them, and since many such have already been deceived
and lured away to Kirtland and to Zion, and have been disappointed and
distressed, and reduced to poverty and want, and, moreover, since there
are now many converts abroad who are looking to this place with longing
eyes, as to a land flowing with milk and honey, and expecting, when
they find the means of getting here, to bid farewell to all earthly
sorrow, we think the world have a right to know the state of things
among them. Many of them live in extreme indigence. They suffer
accumulated evils by crowding a multitude of poor people together,
when, by a wider distribution, they might have better means of
supplying their wants. Some of them are wealthy, and they have
purchased 3 or 4000 acres of land in different parts of this town. A
grotesque assemblage of hovels and shanties and small houses have been
thrown up wherever they could find a footing, but very few of all these
cabins would be accounted fit for human habitations.
About the first of May, 1834, a company of armed men from this place,
about 100 in number, by command of Joseph, commenced a crusade to
Missouri, to expel the infidels of Zion, and to reinstate their
brethren into their possessions; at the same time he assured them by a
revelation from heaven, that the expedition would succeed and the
object be attained. When these gallant knights-errand arrived in
Missouri, they were met by some of the constituted authorities and
warned to desist; and Joseph very prudently had a revelation that the
war was at an end. After spending the hottest part of the season on
this long tedious pilgrimage of 2000 miles, having suffered great
hardships, and numbers having been swept off by the cholera, they
returned in straggling companies to Kirtland. Those of them who
remained here during the campaign, were required to work one day in
each week on the temple; and the poor females were instructed to part
with even the necessaries of life in aid of the same object. They
looked forward to the completion of the Temple as a Grand Era, when
Christ would descend and dwell among them, and commence his reign on
earth. These burdens are severely felt by the poor people among them,
and can only be sustained by the unconquerable strength of their faith.
Last summer a man came to Kirtland and brought among the Mormons four
Egyptian mummies. The exhibition exactly struck their fancy. All the
Mormons flocked to see the wonderful sight; and Joseph deciphered some
of the hieroglyphics, and made known in writing the name and character
and antiquity of some of the mummies; -- this was an additional proof
of his divine inspiration. The man continued with them a week; and then
a command was given them to purchase the whole, which they did for
$2400. The mummies were soon sent out for exhibition by one of their
apostles, but being unsuccessful, he brought them back to Kirtland, and
threw them aside. There is reason to believe, that many who come here
with high expectations, have met with sore disappointment. They
expected to find everything in Apostolic order; but instead of this,
they have found a Whiskey selling tavern, a pugnacious Prophet, and an
inhospitable people. Some poor, families, after long journeys to see
this Promised Land, have met with a cold repulse; have been compelled
to sleep out of doors, and to remain in a community the most
unfavorable to get a livelihood, and under a spiritual hierarchy, who
bind heavy burdens grievous to be borne, but will not touch them with
one of their fingers.
The Mormons to a man all abhor priests, and priestcraft, and societies,
and the whole system of religious institutions among established
churches; and yet they themselves are the most obsequious and abject
slaves to the spiritual rule of their leaders. All their affairs, small
and great, are directed by special revelation. By a miserable attempt
to ape the language and style of scripture, they clothe their commands
with the authority of heaven; and the people have nothing to do but to
hear and obey. If the Prophet demands their money for the Lord's
treasury, he can have it by uttering a Thus saith the Lord. By these
sacrifices, they give what among selfish men would be called a pretty
good proof of sincerity at least. Thus it happens, that those who
complain loudest of priestcraft, are the most woefully priest-ridden of
all men.
In regard to their religious sentiments, the fundamental principle of
Mormonism is, that God continues to hold intercourse with the saints on
earth by visions and revelations, as freely and familiarly as he has
done in any age of the world. That the true church have the same power
to cast out devils, to speak with new tongues, to take up serpents, to
drink poison unhurt, and to recover the sick by laying on of hands.
They make great use of the declaration of our Saviour in Mark xvi. 17,
18, and strenuously contend that the promise applies to all that
believe in every age.
They contend that the God worshipped by the Presbyterians and all other
sectarians is no better than a wooden god. They believe that the true
God is a material being, composed of body and parts; and that when the
Creator formed Adam in his own image, he made him about the size and
shape of God himself. They believe in the final restoration of all men
except apostate Mormons. They blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, and can
never have forgiveness, neither in this world, neither in the world to
come. Their avowed object is to restore hristianity to its primeval
purity. In the true style of fanaticism they regard themselves as the
exclusive favorites of heaven; and the whole religious world as natural
brute beasts that know nothing. After the example of our Saviour they
have recently ordained and commissioned twelve apostles and seventy
elders, to go throughout this heathen country and to give a final call
to repent and be baptized and believe in Mormonism before the wicked
are cut off. The people of this region are viewed by them as standing
in the place of Chorasm and Bethsaida, and Capernaum, unwilling to
believe in spite of all the mighty works they have tried to perform.
They are habitually pretending to speak in tongues, and to the working
of miracles, but nobody can have any evidence of these wonders but
those who have Mormon eyes and Mormon ears. When they first came to
Kirtland, Mr. Rigdon joined them, and a few families followed in his
train; but otherwise of the former inhabitants, scarce a single
conversion has happened since. The fact is that the people are well
assured that all their pretentions to miraculous gifts of every kind
are a sheer imposition. But whenever any miracle fails they have a
convenient salve at hand to account for the failure; that is the want
of faith; a most impudent and officious intruder, always ready at hand
to nullify all their pious efforts, and to render them weak and feeble
as other men. Instances frequently occur which may serve as examples of
their power of healing. A young man lying on a bed of sickness sent
after Smith and his Elders to come and heal him. After praying over
him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, he commanded the
disease to depart; pronounced him healed, and ordered him to rise and
walk. Stimulated by the circumstances and by high expectation, the
youth rose up and attempted to walk; but presently becoming faint, by
the help of bystanders he betook himself to the bed again, and grew
worse. They of course imputed his sudden relapse to the failure of his
faith. He then sent for the regular physician, and by faithful means he
recovered. Another late instance was a young woman lying at the point
of death with the measles. The Elders were called to lay hands on her
in like manner; and very soon afterwards she was a corpse. The prophet
has undergone repeated trials before the church, and has made frequent
confessions; and among the faithful, this is accounted as additional
proof of his humility and divine inspiration. They only class his
failings with those recorded of the ancient prophets. But the faith of
many among them has failed, and they have had honesty enough to confess
it. They have opened their eyes -- the delusion has vanished, and they
have been astonished at their besotted infatuation. -- Frequent
depredations have happened among them, and it has sometimes required
the art and assiduity of all their prophets and priests and elders to
keep the whole babel from tumbling down together.
It is difficult to foretell how long it will take this gust of
Fanaticism to spend itself, and die away, and sink to the oblivion of
the 100 others which have gone before it. Situated as we are, we have
need of patience; and we often realize the truth of Solomon, that
"Though you should bray a fool in a mortar with a pestle, yet will not
his folly depart from him."
On the whole, the vice of Mormonism must be accounted one of the most
palpable and wide-spreading delusions which this country has ever seen;
and nothing can equal the zeal of their leaders in its propagation. The
completion of the Temple, according to the pattern shown to Joseph in
vision, is a monument of unconquerable zeal. The imposing splendor of
the pulpits, the orders of the Melchisedec and the Aaronic priesthoods,
and the vails which are let down or drawn by machinery, dividing the
place of worship into several apartments, presents before us a strange
compound of Jewish antiquity and Roman Catholic mummery. The reproof
which the prophet addresses to ancient Israel that they dwelt in ceiled
houses while the Temple of God was laid waste, can never be applied to
these Mormons. -- Stimulated by strong faith and zeal, you will see
them muster all their forces for miles around to hear the brethren
speak in tongues, and proclaim the wonderful works of God. In this view
they give to those who call themselves sober Christians a most severe
rebuke. If they had half the zeal of these misguided Mormons, the world
would tremble, and the millennial day would speedily be ushered in.
Yours, in the bonds of the Gospel. TRUMAN COE.
_______
* We understand that this same Joseph Smith is now held in bail to
appear before next court for public assault of a respectable citizen in
Kirtland. -- Ed. Ob.