Mormon History
Letter from Kirtland Christian - 1836
The Ohio Observer – August 11, 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.
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* 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.