CHAPTER I.

Alleged origin of Mormonism--Joseph Smith's early life--Finding the peek-stone--Visited by an angel--Received the golden plates--Was Smith a swindler or an enthusiast?--"Book of Mormon" published, and Mormon Church established--Smith's first alleged miracle--Rigdon joins the Mormons--Mormonism compared to Mohammedanism.

It is acknowledged by all who have given careful thought to the subject, that Mormonism presents us with a very extraordinary civilization and the most peculiar religion under the sun; but _its history_ is as unique and peculiar as the system itself, and is well worthy the attention of the philosopher as well as the student of human nature and human history.

Its alleged origin was miraculous, and calculated to inspire its followers with wonder, admiration, and awe. As Moses, the founder of Judaism, received the two tables of the moral law, which constituted the brief Bible of the Israelites, from the hand of God Himself, while the lightning blazed around his head and the earth quaked beneath his feet, so Joseph Smith (it is alleged) received his Golden Bible from the hand of an angel on the Hill Cummorah near Palmyra, N. Y., amid thunder and lightning. He is represented in an old picture as kneeling on the steep incline of that hill, the wind blowing his long hair out in all directions, and his eyes big with surprise. Above him in a cloud is the placid angel, gazing intently upon the future prophet, who is eagerly taking his credentials from a cemented stone chest which had been buried some 1400 years, while out of the overshadowing cloud have come forth zigzags of lightning which are playing around both Joseph and the angel.

The name of the angel was Moroni, and he informed Smith that the fate of the early inhabitants of America was written on golden tablets within that chest, and that these could be read only by the aid of some wonderful stone spectacles called "Urim and Thummim," which were also in the chest. Smith said that on opening the precious box he found six golden tablets eighteen inches square held together by rings at the back, and also the stone spectacles to decipher the tablets; and besides these, the sword of Laban and a "breastplate" which had been brought from Jerusalem by the early inhabitants of our land were inclosed in the chest.

The hill on which these sacred things were found is at present known as Gold Bible Hill, and the true Mormon venerates it as a sacred spot, and travels from afar to see its quiet but not remarkable beauty. It is a conical elevation several hundred feet in height, and in its isolation and peculiar form bears a certain resemblance to an extinct volcano. It is smooth and green to the very top, from which there is a picturesque view of hills and dales in all directions. It is situated in Wayne County, N. Y., four miles from the village of Palmyra and three miles from the home of the false prophet who has given it its present fame.

Like all other prophets, whether true or false, Joseph Smith was of very humble origin. His father was a cooper by trade, and he dug wells and worked on the neighboring farms when he could. His mother washed by the day, but it is said that her employers were careful to have the clothes in before dark, as experience had taught them they would disappear if left on the lines over night. The whole family made baskets and maple sugar, and raised and sold garden vegetables.

The youthful Joseph assisted generally, and (it is alleged) was an adept in robbing hen-roosts and orchards. It seems that when quite young he could read, but not write. His two standard volumes were "The Life of Stephen Burroughs," the clerical scoundrel, and the autobiography of Captain Kidd, the pirate. The latter work was eagerly and often perused. At an early age he committed the following lines to memory, which seemed to give him great pleasure:

"My name was Robert Kidd, As I sailed, as I sailed; And most wickedly I did, And God's laws I did forbid, As I sailed, as I sailed."

A certain superstitious feeling concerning the Smith family existed in the minds of their more ignorant neighbors on account of the reputation which Mrs. Smith had for telling fortunes. She seems to have been a woman full of odd conceits and superstitions, while at the same time she possessed a great deal of natural talent; and Joseph resembled his mother in mental quickness and imaginative power.

When he was scarcely fifteen years old, while he was watching the digging of a well, he said that he found a peculiarly shaped stone that resembled a child's foot in its outlines. It must have resembled the stone foot of Buddha at Bangkok, Siam. At any rate, it has well been said that this foot "has left footprints on the sands of time." This little stone, afterward known as the "peek-stone" and the "Palmyra seer-stone," has been called "the acorn of the Mormon oak."

For some time Joseph Smith obtained a subsistence by means of that stone. In a kneeling posture, with a bandage over his eyes (so luminous was the sight without it), with the stone in a large, white stove-pipe hat, and this hat in front of his face, he claimed to see very remarkable sights, such as buried treasures of gold and silver. He could trace stolen property, tell where herds of cattle had strayed and where water could be found. With the "peeker" he carried a rod of witch-hazel, which assisted him in the discovery of water.

This state of affairs continued for some time. Then he disappeared, and for four years his life is involved in much mystery; but during that time he is known to have been in both Onondaga and Shenango counties, N. Y., since his name appears in the criminal records of both as a vagabond. While he was wandering through the country during those years of mystery, he doubtless heard the theories (as they were a common topic of conversation at the time) that were afloat to account for the peopling of America--the traditions collected from the Indians, the Hebrew traditions among them, the discovery of ruined cities and temples in Central America, the relics of pottery, and the bricks and stumps of axe-cut trees buried far beneath the surface of the Mississippi.

During that time, also, he became interested in the great revivals that prevailed in the churches of the different denominations in the vicinity of his home at Palmyra. In 1821 five of the Smith family were awakened, and united with the Presbyterian Church. Joseph, in his own account of his early life, says that he "became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect," but he was not able to decide which was right. In his bewilderment he gave himself up to prayer for days, that the truth might be made known to him among all the conflicting opinions that he heard among these different sects; and finally a heavenly messenger bade him not to join any sect. And three years afterward, on September 22d, 1823, another celestial visitant outlined to him about the golden plates he was to find and the prophet he was to be. He was told that the North American Indians were a remnant of Israel, the descendants of a certain family of Jews that emigrated from Jerusalem in the time of Zedekiah, and were miraculously led across the Eastern Ocean; and he was also told that before they had fallen off from the faith a priest and prophet named Mormon had, by direction of God, drawn up an abstract of their national records and religious opinions, and buried it, and that he himself was selected to recover and publish it to the world. He was also told that it contained many prophecies relating to these "latter days," and would give instructions as to "the gathering of the Saints" into a temporal and spiritual kingdom, preparatory to the second coming of the Messiah, which was _at hand_.

From that time on he declares that his days and nights were filled with "visions," "voices," and "angels;" and, following the direction of an angel, on the night of September 22d, 1827, amid a grand display of celestial pyrotechnics, he received from the hand of the angel Moroni, the son of Mormon, a chest that contained a number of golden tablets with inscriptions, and with them a pair of stone spectacles by means of which he was to decipher the characters. It is asserted that these plates were seen by eleven persons, but all of them except three were members of Smith's family or his near neighbors. The plates themselves disappeared soon after the publication of the "Book of Mormon," and it is understood that the angel took them again into his custody.

The tablets, Smith said, were covered with hieroglyphics, which he called the "reformed Egyptian" language. A document was actually exhibited as a confirmation of this assertion, and was seen by Professor Charles Anthon, of Columbia College, New York City, who in a letter dated February 17th, 1834, relates that it was in fact a singular scroll, containing a mixture of Greek, Hebrew, and Roman letters, with crosses and flourishes, and a Mexican calendar given by Humboldt, but altered so that it could not be well recognized.

For more than two years, by the aid of the stone spectacles, Smith was engaged in translating the hieroglyphics into English. In March, 1830, the translation was given into the printer's hands, was published under the title of the "Book of Mormon," and that book is the corner-stone of that great MODERN DELUSION called MORMONISM. A _delusion_ the writer prefers to call it rather than "_the Latter-day swindle_," as Joseph Cook and many others denominate it.

There are TWO VIEWS that may be taken of Joseph Smith by the Christian world. One is that he was _a base swindler_, and concocted the Mormon scheme with the express purpose of deluding the people; the other is that he was _a religious enthusiast_, deceived and deluded himself. Arguments may be adduced in support of either theory, and which are the stronger is a question which every man must settle for himself.

1. On the one hand, it may be said that Smith's former life is in strict accord with the theory that his scheme was a deliberate fraud; for he swindled many of his neighbors with his "peek-stone."

But, on the other hand, it may be said that it is not so certain that he was not himself deceived with regard to that matter also. At any rate, his naturally superstitious and imaginative mind, which he inherited from his mother, would strongly favor the idea that he really thought he saw visions and heard voices. Even Joseph Cook says, in an address delivered in Salt Lake City, May 17th, 1884: "I am not sure that he did not have in his experience some spiritistic manifestations, which he mistook for a revelation; but I am sure that if he had any superhuman revelation, it came from below the earth rather than from above it."

2. Again, in support of the swindling theory, it may be said that, apart from the "peek-stone" business, his previous immoral life and ignorance favors the idea that he was a base villain; but, on the other hand, it might be said that that is only another form of the old mistaken notion that "no good thing can come out of Nazareth."

3. Then, too, it might be said that Mormonism was regarded as a swindle by the people generally who lived right around him and were acquainted with him and his character; but, on the other hand, it may be said that that is no proof whatever that the Mormon scheme _was a fraud_, but only another evidence of the truth of the well-known proverb: "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country."

4. Again, it may be said that Joseph Smith was evidently a swindler, because most of the "Book of Mormon" was copied from the manuscript of one Solomon Spaulding, a Presbyterian clergyman of Western Pennsylvania. Between 1809 and 1813 he lived in Northeastern Ohio, and, being fond of the study of archaeology, he became intensely interested in the ancient mounds and fortifications which abound in that region, and he himself opened up one near his own dwelling. Since these mounds gave unmistakable evidences of the existence of an extinct race higher in the scale of civilization than the present American Indians, he adopted the theory that this Continent was peopled by a colony of ancient Israelites, and in a time of infirm health he wrote an historical romance embodying that theory.

The style of the book was a clumsy imitation of our English Bible, and the book originally bore the title of "THE MANUSCRIPT FOUND," the idea at the root of the book being that Mr. Spaulding discovered among other prehistoric mementoes in one of the earth-mounds near his house an ancient manuscript which gave an account of the wanderings and sufferings of the Israelites after coming to America, and he merely translated the story as contained in _the manuscript that was found_. He tried to have it published and took it to a printing-office in Pittsburg, where it remained for some time. It is said that in his book there was much repetition of phrases common in Scripture, such as, "And it came to pass," and also that he used the names Lehi, Nephi, Moroni, Lamanites, etc., which names are all found in the "Book of Mormon."

It is supposed that this manuscript in some way unknown fell into the hands of Smith, and that he and his confederates introduced into it the religious part of the "Book of Mormon" touching the establishment of another church.

But, on the other hand, it may be said that that has ever been strenuously denied by the Mormons, and _has never yet been proved_. The editor of the _Independent_ says, in the issue of January 7th, 1886, that Mrs. Spaulding herself was in total ignorance concerning the fate of "The Manuscript Found." During the year 1834, when the events must have been comparatively well fixed in her memory, "she _thinks_ it was once taken to the printing-office of Patterson & Lambdin [in Pittsburg]; but whether it was ever brought back to the house again she is quite uncertain." The fact is, that from the time it went into the hands of the printer its history is lost. It is true that it _might_ have fallen into the hands of Smith or his confederates, but it is just as likely that it did not. All that we have learned of its contents has been obtained from the memory of persons who had read it or heard it read fifty or more years ago, none of whom are now living. The manuscript itself is not known to have been seen since it was given to the printer. Whether it was destroyed, or is still in existence, no one knows positively.

The only manuscript of Solomon Spaulding's yet found is the one recently discovered in Honolulu, Sandwich Islands; but concerning this, Rev. Sereno E. Bishop, of Honolulu, says: "Unlike the 'Book of Mormon,' the Spaulding manuscript is not sham Hebraistic, but in ordinary English. It contains perhaps no quotations from the Bible, unlike the other, which transfers large portions of Isaiah and other books. Both devise a number of uncouth names for their characters; both record a series of desperate wars; both narrate a voyage across the Atlantic in ancient times and a settlement in North America." Evidently the "Book of Mormon" was not copied from _that manuscript_, and the Mormons welcomed it as disproving the Spaulding origin of their sacred book, and have had an edition of it published.

5. Those who believe in the swindling theory will only say that _Spaulding had more than one manuscript_, and the one recently found is not the one that the "Book of Mormon" was taken from. Besides, the similarity of names and the account of the wars mentioned in this manuscript and the "Book of Mormon" would go far to substantiate the idea that _the "Book of Mormon" was copied from some manuscript of Spaulding's_.

But, again, it may be said that there is no doubt that Joseph Smith was at one time in the employ of the brother of Mrs. Spaulding, at whose house she was then residing, just after her husband's death. Of course he heard all the talk of the house, and much was said concerning the romance by Solomon Spaulding, which all regarded as wonderful both in style and substance. This talk would naturally make a great impression upon the superstitious mind of Smith. He would be very apt to take it as absolute truth, and _without seeing the manuscript at all_, was prepared to use what he knew of it in getting up one of the greatest delusions in the history of modern times.

6. Moreover, there can be no question at all concerning the fact that his mind was strangely exercised by the popular religious movement that swept through the country at that time, and his imaginative and superstitious mind was deeply impressed by the eloquence of the different evangelists. He became familiar with biblical language, and followed the inclination of those about him to listen to any new-fangled doctrine; and surely the religious teachings of the "Book of Mormon" are positive evidence of the strongest character that the mind of Smith and his coadjutors were greatly influenced by the doctrinal questions that were being agitated at that time in Central New York--Calvinism, Universalism, Methodism, Millerism, Romanism, Campbellism, and other _isms_.

Millerism in particular was attracting great attention at that time, and so they incorporated into the "Book of Mormon" its leading tenets--viz.: that the millennium was close at hand; that the Indians were to be converted; and that America was to be the final gathering-place of the Saints, who were to assemble at the New Jerusalem, somewhere in the interior of the Continent.

Perhaps, in the absence of positive proof to the contrary, it is the part of Christian charity to regard the founder of Mormonism as a strange fanatic and _religious enthusiast of the same general type as Mohammed_.

But however that may be, the publication of the "Book of Mormon" created an intense excitement in Central and Western New York; for the public mind was at that time prepared for any new religious sensation.

Soon after the book appeared the Mormon Church was formally organized at the house of one Peter Whitmer in Fayette, Seneca County, N. Y. The membership consisted of only six, all men--the prophet and two of his brothers, two Whitmers, and Oliver Cowdery, a school-teacher of that neighborhood. They said it was 1800 years to a day since the resurrection of Christ, and they professed to believe that their church was the "Church of Christ" once more restored to the earth, holding the keys of authority, and having the power to bind and loose and seal on earth and in heaven.

Within a week or two Smith added to his reputation by performing the first great miracle of the "new dispensation," which was performed on a man whose visage and limbs were frightfully distorted by a demoniacal possession. Smith commanded the evil spirits to leave him in the name of Christ, and the man said: "I see them going right through the roof." This established the fact in the minds of certain people that Smith really had a divine mission; but at the First Mormon Conference in June, Smith found himself at the head of a visible church of only thirty members. This small number of adherents showed that converts were not to be rapidly made in that vicinity. Still, the excitement concerning the new Mormon doctrines spread through Western New York into Northern and Eastern Ohio. Members were sent West to preach and found churches wherever people would listen to them, and they made many converts.

In December, 1830, Sidney Rigdon, a Campbellite preacher near Mentor, O., became a convert. He was erratic, but very eloquent; self-opinionated, but well versed in the Scriptures; and in literary culture and intellectual force was the greatest man among the early Mormons. After this the new sect strengthened and spread.

Joseph was a veritable Numa Pompilius in the frequency and fitness of the "revelations" he received for the guidance of his people in things great and small; and seeing that but few followers were gained by him near his home in New York, while many converts were being gathered in Ohio, he had a revelation that Palmyra was not a place for the Saints to prosper in, and he talked of the New Jerusalem in the West, and announced that it was time for the faithful to remove with him to _Kirtland, O._

Smith has often been called the "American Mohammed," and Mormonism has been compared to Mohammedanism; and in many respects they _are_ strikingly similar, although in so far as Mormonism resembles Mohammedanism it is true, as Dr. Jessup said before the Presbyterian General Assembly at Saratoga, it is only "a pinchbeck imitation of a putty original." In nothing, however, is there a greater similarity between those two religions than in their history. Both Mohammed and Joseph Smith were the subjects of fierce opposition and even persecution, and they both were compelled to flee for their lives. The Mohammedans always reckon their time from the "Hegira," or flight of the Prophet from Mecca to Medina; but while the Mohammedans have only _one Hegira_ in their history, _the Mormons have four_. And, for convenience, we will consider their history under these four divisions.