Mormon Classics | Spalding Library | Cowdery's Bookshelf | Newspapers | History Vault
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I. Woodbridge Riley (1869-1933) The Founder of Mormonism (NYC: Dodd, Mead, & Co., 1903) |
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See also: Daryl Chase Thesis (1931) | Fawn M. Brodie book (1945)
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[ 177 ] CHAPTER VI PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR THE name of author and proprietor of the Book of Mormon was inadvertently assumed and quickly discarded. The title of prophet, seer and revelator was a growth. 1 Joseph's first prophecy, at the age of eighteen, concerned Deacon Jessup and the widow's cow; 2 his last revelation, called the Appendix, concerned the second advent. 3 In their variety Smith's prophetic utterances comprised items on the Ancient of days, Boarding-houses, Celestial glory, the Day of vengeance, Emma Smith, Far West City, -- and so on through the alphabet. As head of the church, Smith once said, 'We never enquire at the hand of God for special revelation only in case of there being no previous revelation to suit the case. 4 The acceptance of these allocutions among his followers passes all understanding, __________ 1 'Book of Commandments,' Chapter xxii, April 6th, 1830. -- Thou shalt be called a seer, a translator, a prophet, an apostle, an elder. 2 'Biographical Sketches,' p. 91 3 'Doctrine and Covenants,' § 133. 4 'Times and Seasons,' 5, 753. 178 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM unless their notions and crotchets are taken into account. Among them there was an underlying belief in the predictive and oracular. Thus Daniel Tyler said that his grandfather prophesied that his father would live to see the true church organized; and he himself joined the Latter-day Saints, because it was predicted that he should become a preacher of the gospel. 5 Wilford Woodruff revolts at the assertions of his Presbyterian friends that there are to be no more prophecies and revelations. In his perturbation he walks by the sea and receives 'the sign of the prophet Jonah: a large fish rises near the shore and looks at him with penetrating eye.' 6 He allies himself to Joseph the wonder-worker because of what old prophet Mason had predicted, years before, about the restoration of primitive gifts. Joseph succeeded in his vaticinations because the ground was prepared; his was a prophetic neighborhood. Jemima Wilkinson, the Sibyl of Crooked Lake, was not disturbed in her mouthings, since she advertised the region opened up by Phelps and Gorham. 7 The Shakers, in Wayne County, were uttering millennial warnings. 8 More rabid Millenarians infested the parts around Rochester, although __________ 5 'Leaves from my Journal,' pp. 1, 44. 6 'Scraps of Biography,' pp. 21, 22. 7 J. M. Parke, 'Rochester,' 1884. 8 'Millennial Church, or United Society of Believers,' Albany, 1823. PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 179 it was not until October 25th, 1844, that the followers of Miller took a red aurora for the final conflagration, and gathered in their ascension robes to meet the last day. 9 But the Mormon prophet did not make the mistake of selecting a date for the end of the world. 10 His eschatology possessed an air of practicality. His millennium was, on the whole, marked by such an indefinite immediateness that there was little to criticize. He gives this confidential statement: -- 'I was once praying very earnestly to know the time of the coming of the Son of Man, when I heard a voice repeat the following: -- Apostle Pratt, who derided the Millerites and their dates, asserted that ' Joseph Smith never was mistaken __________ 9 Parke, pp. 251-3. 10 William Miller, 'Evidence of the Second Coming of Christ about the year 1843.' Troy, 1836. 11 'Doctrine and Covenants,' sec. 130. 180 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM taken in his revelations. 12 Unfortunately ten years before this Smith had made his classic blunder in telling Bishop Whitney to go to New York, Albany and Boston, and 'warn the people of those cities that the hour of their judgment is nigh.' 13 But in general as a prophet of woe, Joseph's forebodings were well timed; he had learned when to get on the bear side of the millennial market. Thus, the persecutions of the Latter-day church and the general financial depression were coincident with this announcement: -- 'Hearken, O ye people of my church, the voice of warning shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days.__________ 12 'Times and Seasons,' 5, 655. Smith's followers, at this time, showed less sense than he; thus Martin Harris prophesied: -- 'Within four years from September, 1832, there will not be one wicked person left in the United States; that the righteous will be gathered to Zion (Missouri), and that there will be no President over these United States after that time. Second: I do hereby assert and declare that within four years from the date hereof, every sectarian and religious denomination in the United States shall be broken down, and every Christian shall be gathered unto the Mormonites, and the rest of the human race shall perish. If these things do not take place, I will hereby consent to have my hands separated from my body.' 13 'Doctrine and Covenants,' sec. 84. PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 181 the Book of my Commandments, which I have given them to publish unto you, O inhabitants of the earth: --__________ 14 'Book of Commandments,' Chapter I. For the orthodox view of these coincidences, compare 'Joseph the Seer,' p. 191: -- 'The persecutions of 1838, in Missouri, were clearly set forth in a 182 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM The voice of warning to all people was accompanied with promises of comfort to the Saints. In January, 1831, there came this message: 'Behold the enemy is combined, fear not for the kingdom is yours and I hold forth and deign to give unto you greater riches, even the land of promise; and that ye might escape the power of the enemy, I gave unto you the commandment, that ye should go to the Ohio.' 15 The spiritual timeliness of the early oracles is in marked contrast to the unedifying definiteness of the later covenants and commandments. One exception should be noted. A month before the founding of the Church 'a commandment, of God and not of man,' was given to Martin Harris. In this it was said: 'Thou shalt not covet thine own property, but impart it freely to the printing of the Book of Mormon. Pay the printer's debt. Misery thou shalt receive, if thou wilt slight these __________ prophecy given through Joseph Smith, at Kirtland, Ohio, July 23d, 1837, one year and more before the persecution occurred. See 'Doctrine and Covenants,' 105: 9. It reads: I Verily, verily, I say unto you, darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face. Behold, vengeance conietli speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth -- a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, of lamentation -- and as a whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth, saith the Lord. And upon my House (the church) shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth, saith the Lord.' 15 'Book of Commandments,' Chapter 40. PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 183 counsels.' 16 As time went on the personal equation and the dollar mark became more conspicuous. On April 26th, 1832, a month after being tarred and feathered by a mob, Joseph received the message beginning, I the anger of God kindleth against the inhabitants of the earth.' On January igth, 1841, at Nauvoo, this advice reached the ears of the prophet: 'And now I say unto you, as pertaining to my boarding house which I have commanded you to build for the boarding of strangers, let it be built unto my name, and let my name be named upon it, and let my servant Joseph, and his house have place therein, from generation to generation.' 17 The Saints have attempted to relieve the bathos of Joseph's revelations, 18 by quoting the so-called __________ 16 'Book of Commandments,' Chapter 16. 17 'Doctrine and Covenants,' sec. 124. Compare the last revelation in the 'Book of Commandments,' Chapter 45: -- 'I willeth not that my servant Frederick should sell his farm, for I the Lord willeth to retain a strong hold in the land of Kirtland.' 18 Comare 'Joseph the Seer,' p. 185: -- 'There is an abundance of documentary evidence of the genuineness of the revelation showing that it was in existence -- in print -- as early as 1851, nine years before the rebellion. Mr. Beadle in his work against the Mormons states that he copied it out of The Seer, a work published by O. Pratt, in Washington, D. C., in 1853, seven years before the rebellion. And Mr. John Hyde who wrote a work against the Mormons entitled "Mormonism," which was issued by Fetridge & Co., of New Vork City, in 1857, cites this same revelation on p. 174, and he did it in order to prove that Joseph was a false prophet.' 184 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 'Prophecy of the Rebellion.' 19 It is indeed a remarkable forecast," but its authenticity is dubious. The most specific revelation of this kind written by Joseph, occurred as early as March, 1831, but it is more pertinent to Armageddon than the Civil War: __________ 19 'Revelation and Prophecy on War,' given through 'Joseph the Seer,' December 25th, i832: -- Verily, thus saith the Lord, concerning the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina, which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls. The days will come that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at that place. For behold, the Southern States shall be divided against the Northern States, and the Southern States will call on other nations, even the nation of Great Britain, as it is called, and they shall also call upon other nations, in order to defend themselves against other nations; and thus war shall be poured out upon all nations. And it shall come to pass, after many days, slaves shall rise up against their masters, who shall be marshaled and disciplined for war: And it came to pass also, that the remnants who are left of the land will marshal themselves, and shall become exceedingly angry, and shall vex the Gentiles with a sore vexation; And thus, with the sword, and by bloodshed, the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and with famine, and plague, and earthquakes, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath, and indignation and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consumption decreed, hath made a full end of all nations; That the cry of the Saints, and of the blood of the Saints, shall cease to come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, from the earth, to be avenged of their enemies. Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen.' PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 185 -- 'ye hear of wars in foreign lands, but behold I say unto you they are nigh even unto your doors, and not many years hence ye shall hear of wars in your own lands.' 20 To turn to Smith's doings as a seer: here was the first of his dabblings with the occult. How far the 'wonderful power' of 'Peep-stone Joe' was fictitious, how far due to unconscious self-suggestion it is hard to decide. The statements of his followers make his actions mystic; the statements of his family suggest the hypnotic; his own description of the Urim and Thummim as 'like unto __________ 20 'Book of Commandments,' Chapter 48, copied from art original copy in the Berrian collection. As regards the Prophecy of the Rebellion in both its enlarged and original form, the following dates should be noted. Smith was killed June 27, 1844. In the 'History of Joseph Smith,' in the 'Times and Seasons' of November 1, 1844, a reference to President Jackson's proclamation of 1832, against the South Carolina Nullifiers is inserted between Smith's revelations of December 6, 1832 and December 27, 1832. The alleged revelation of December 25th is significantly omitted. Again, this latter revelation does not occur in the first and only edition of the 'Book of Commandments,' (1833) nor even in the third edition of the 'Doctrine and Covenants' (1845). The same is true of the shorter revelation of April 2, 1843, as given in 'Doctrine and Covenants,' sec. 140, (later editions than 1845): -- 'I prophesy, in the name of the Lord God, that the commencement of the difficulties which will cause much bloodshed previous to the coming of the Son of Man will be in South Carolina. It may probably arise through the slave question. This a voice declared to me, while I was praying earnestly on the subject, December 52th [sic], 1832.' 186 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM crystal' at once suggests that he was an inadvertent crystal gazer. Although his psychoses may be put in terms of present day experiment, his own notions must be traced to his historic setting. His contemporaries were anachronisms belief in divination, -- both through 'second sight' and the 'shew stone' -- was brought over in the Mayflower along with other antique mental furniture. 21 Without harking back to old-world superstitions, 22 it is a fact that divining rods and seer stones were still used to find springs and locate hidden treasures in the rural districts of America. Especially did money diggers from Cape Cod to Lake Erie have their tales and fables. So Joseph's father was a firm believer in __________ 21 Edward Eggleston, 'The Transit of Civilization from England to America in the Seventeenth Century,' New York, 1901, Chapter 1. Mental Outfit of the Early Colonists. Also Joseph Jastrow, 'Fact and Fable in Psychology,' Boston, 1900, p. 224. 22 Albert Moll, 'Hypnotism,' New York, 1901, pp. 1, 2. 'The fact that particular Psychical states can be induced in human beings by certain physical processes has long been known among the Oriental peoples, and was utilized by them for religious purposes. Kiesewetter attributes the early soothsaying by means of precious stones to hypnosis, which was induced by steadily gazing at the stones. This is also true of divination by looking into vessels and crystals, as the Egyptians have long been in the habit of doing, and as has often been done in Europe: by Cagliostro, for example. These hypnotic phenomena are also found to have existed several thousand years ago among the Persian magi (Fischer), as well as up to the present day among Indian yogis and fakirs, who throw themselves into the hypnotic state by means of fixation of the gaze.' PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 187 witchcraft and other supernatural things, and Joseph himself refers to the divining rod as the rod of nature and informs his friend Cowdery 'behold there is no other power save God, that can cause this rod of nature to work in your hands, for it is the work of God.' 23 The very charges against the Smiths betrayed the credulity of the times. The 'seeing-stone' with which Joseph is alleged to have sought for the Susquehanna silver mine, had previously been used in attempts to trace a lost child. 24 As if it were a __________ 23 'Book of Commandments,' Chapter 7. 24 E. C. Blackman, 'History of Susquehanna County, Pa.,' 1873, p. 477: -- Mr. J. B. Buck narrates the following: -- 'Joe Smith was herelumbering soon after my marriage, which was in 1818, some years before he took to 'peeping," and before diggings were commenced under his direction. These were ideas he gained later. The stone which he afterwards used was then in the possession of Jack Belcher, of Gibson, who obtained it while at Salina, New York, engaged in drawing salt. Belcher bought it because it was said to be "a seeing stone." I have often seen it. It was a green stone, with brown, irregular spots on it. It was a little longer than a goose's egg, and about the same thickness. When he brought it home and covered it with a hat, Belcher's little boy was one of the first to look into the hat, and as he did so he said he saw a candle. The second time he looked in he exclaimed, "I've found my hatchet!" -- (it had been lost two years) -- and immediately ran for it to the spot shown him through the stone, and it was There. The boy was soon beset by neighbors far and near to reveal to them hidden things, and he succeeded marvelously. Even the wanderings of a lost child were traced by him -- the distracted parents coming to him three times for directions, and in each case finding signs that the child had been in the places he designated, but at 188 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM recrudescence of fetish worship, stones of strange shape or peculiar markings were highly prized, as well as those of a mysterious origin. An existing Mormon seer stone, from Missouri, is nothing but an Indian slate gorget. 25 Three generations ago there seems to have been only an inkling of the truth, that the 'influence' was to be attributed rather to the person seeing than to the object, to the seer rather than to the stone. Joseph's own neighbors were particularly in the dark; one Willard Chase sent sixty or seventy miles for a certain conjurer; Chase's sister found a green glass through which she could see very many wonderful things. 26 Whether this was the identical stone which Joseph used is conjectural and immaterial, 27 although there is new information on the point. 28 __________ last it was found starved to death. Joe Smith, conceiving the idea of making a fortune through a similar process of "seeing," bought the stone of Belcher and then began his operations in directing where hidden treasures could be found. His first diggings were near Captain Buck's sawmill, at Red Rock; but, because his followers broke the rule of silence, "the enchantment removed the deposits."' 25 Compare Figure 24, p. 650, 'Handbook of Reference,' United States National Museum, 1888. 26 'Biographical Sketches,' pp. 106, 109. 27 Martin Harris in an interview, in January, 1859, said that Joseph's stone was dug from the well of Mason Chase. Tiffany's Monthly, May, 1859. 28 'On the request of the court, he (Joseph, junior) exhibited the stone. It was about the size of a small hen's egg, in the shape of a PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 189 How early he stumbled on the discovery of his gift' is more important. 29 His father testified that, when a lad, 'Joseph heard of a neighboring girl, who could look into a glass and see anything however hidden from others. He looked into this glass which was placed in a hat to exclude the light. He was greatly surprised to see but one thing, which was a small stone, a great way off. It soon became luminous and dazzled his eyes, and after a short time it became as intense as the midday sun.... He often had an opportunity to look in the glass, and with the same result. The luminous stone alone attracted his attention.' 30 By 1825, Joseph's fame as a 'peeper' was widespread. Josiah Stoal came from Chenango County to get Joseph's 'assistance in digging for a silver mine, on account of having heard that he possessed __________ high instepped shoe. It was composed of layers of different colors passing diagonally through it.... Joseph Smith, senior, was present, and was sworn as a witness. He confirmed at great length all that his son had said in his examination.... He described very many instances of his finding hidden and stolen goods.' From W. D. Purple, manuscript editorial in Norwich, N. Y. Union, April 28, 1877. Purple took notes at the trial of Joseph Smith, senior, in February, 1826, at South Bainbridge, Pa., before Albert Neeley, J. P. 29 The story that Joseph's 'gift' was 'Scotch second sight' is well found but not true; his ancestry was English. 30 W. D. Purple. Compare also 'Book of Mormon,' p. 328. The stone called Gazelem 'a stone which shineth forth in darkness unto light.' 190 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM certain keys, by which he could discern things invisible to the natural eye.' 31 So far the youthful seer had been using a translucent quartz pebble such as was to be found in the glacial drift of western New York. In September, 1827, he procured his 'interpreters.' These he himself described as two transparent stones, 32 and his mother as three-cornered diamonds, which he kept constantly about his person. 33 If one may hazard a guess, these 'curious instruments, called by the ancients the Urim and Thummim,' 34 were probably a couple of prisms from an old-fashioned chandelier. Whatever the object, the purpose was the same, -- to produce a condition suitable for the 'seeing of visions.' What this condition really was, Joseph knew as little as the Specularii of old. But that many people hypnotize themselves, 35 without knowing it, is as true as that Monsieur Jourdain had been speaking prose all his life, without knowing it. Since the classic experiments of Braid, the Manchester surgeon, the means of producing hypnosis are too well known to need description: in a likely subject, steady gazing at anything from a teapot to the tip of the nose will induce the primary state of __________ 31 'Biographical Sketches,' p. 92. 32 'Times and Seasons,' 3, 707. 33 'Biographical Sketches,' p. 106. 34 'Joseph Smith the Seer,' p. 19. 35 Moll, p. 389. PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 191 reverie. Of the scientific procedure Joseph, of course, was absolutely ignorant, yet his method of 'glass-looking,' was, in fact, one of the easiest ways of producing slight hypnotization, namely that by sensorial excitement. He did not need strong or luminous rays, but only that slight and prolonged excitement, gained by fixing the eyes on an object, brilliant or otherwise, placed near the eyes. 36 Unlike some of his followers Joseph does not seem to have been especially liable to what they denominated the 'open vision.' 37 His was not the rarer type of person, who __________ 36 Alfred Binet and Charles Fere, 'Animal Magnetism,' New York, 1898, p. 93. 37, Times and Seasons,' 5, 661. Two instances of the 'open vision' with attendant hallucinations, somewhat similar to Joseph's visions of the plates are as follows: 'Faith Promoting Series,' number 12, p. 79. Amasa Potter, in Picton, Australia, in 1856, said, 'At meeting after speaking a few words I became dumb, -- when I thought I saw several lines of large letters printed on the walls of the house, and I commenced to read them and spoke about one hour. When the letters faded from my sight, I then stopped speaking. I could not tell all that I had said; but my companion told me it was an excellent discourse.'... Littlefield, in his 'Reminiscences,' p. 203, gives this account of an experience of July 13, 1848, on the ship 'Forest Monarch,' from New York, in a fierce Atlantic storm: 4 At 12 o'clock A. M.... I was clinging with both arms clasped tightly around a post.... While in this position a panorama of my life passed in review before me. Two or three words, as if shaped in letters of burnished gold or written by flames of fire, were presented. These words were so chosen as to be indicative of some unwise act or sinful deed. They would remain there, undiminished in brightness, until I had earnestly and humbly implored forgiveness.... 192 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM can call up the hallucinative image, spontaneously and while awake. His acts, as a seer, required time, preparation and some apparatus. An eyewitness thus describes his methods: 'At times when Brother Joseph would attempt to translate, he would look into the hat in which the stone was placed, he found he was spiritually blind and could not translate. He told us that his mind dwelt too much on earthly things, and various causes would make him incapable of proceeding with the translation. When in this condition he would go out and pray, and when he became sufficiently humble before God, he could then proceed with the translation. Now we see how very strict the Lord is; and how He requires the heart of man to be just right in His sight, before he can receive revelation from Him. 38 These fluctuations in the psychological moment -- really due to a restless temperament-were interpreted as due to the alternate granting and withdrawal of the 'gift.' 39 For this reason, there is little __________ When I had duly repented, that set of words would pass away and others take their place, until mental restitution was made as before. These manifestations continued to alternate for a time and then passed away.' 38 David Whitmer, 'Address,' p. 30. 39 Compare 'Book of Commandments,' p. 13. A Revelation, May, 1829, after the loss of the 116 pages of manuscript, you also lost your gift at the same time, nevertheless it has also been restored unto you again.' PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 193 doubt that Joseph, at least at the start, considered his 'transiations'to be inspired. For all that, his mystic writings may be resolved into their elements of Bible knowledge, petty information and every-day experience. It is curious and noteworthy to trace the workings of the seer's imagination in the lather of words given by his devotee: 'I will now give you a description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated. Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man.' 40 That the Book of Mormon was an imaginative elaboration of presentative material, is corroborated by this account of its mystic genesis. Joseph's process of translating by means of his Urim and __________ 40 Whitmer, p. 12. 194 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM Thummim 41 may be compared with a recent experimental study of visions. 42 Although artificially produced they resolved themselves mainly into natural sources, namely, -- what had been previously seen, heard, read and thought, besides representations and revivals of the experience of the hypnotic personality of which the waking consciousness has never had knowledge. All this is applicable to Joseph's first act of 'translating.' To those who care to dig below the threshold of consciousness, the mystic after-image, the recrudescence of the subconscious may be an explanation of the alleged Greek and Hebrew letters in the transcription of the gold plates. One glance at a Bible in the original tongues may have been enough to stamp the visual image on the boy's impressionable mind. This objectification of images, which exist unconsciously in the memory, is a fact in dreams and a likely surmise as to the analogous phenomena of semi-hypnosis. Whatever the explanation, the fact is this, -- Joseph the seer was a good visualizer. 43 __________ 41 In 'Times and Seasons,' 3, 707, Smith gave this fabulous account: -- 'With the records was found a curious instrument which the ancients called "Urim and Thummim," which consisted of two transparent stones set in the rim of a bow fastened to a breastplate. Through the medium of the Urim and Thummim I translated the record by the gift and power of God.' 42 Brain, 21, 528. 43 Joseph's case is curiously like that of a present day sceptic, PROPHET, SEER, AND REVELATOR 195 Smith's method was so far the commonplace method of the trance-medium. The act of fixing the eyes on one particular point, supplemented by a state of quietude through prayer, prepared the way for the influence of self-suggestion. His external acts are one thing, the subtle and self-deceiving nature of his hallucinations another. He knew no more about the subconscious self and the law of association of ideas, than he did of the fact that his 'Reformed Egyptian' resembled the irregular and spasmodic writings of hypnotic subjects. Now that the transcription of the gold plates is a veritable piece of automatic writing, is evident from a comparison __________ who was once an esoteric mystic. It was Alfred Le Baron who claimed he could see 'sentences in English characters among a number of ideographs on an Egyptian slab of stone.' 'Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research,' 12, 287. -- This analogy may be taken for what it is worth. One can prove anything from these modern dabblings in the occult. In the same way, care should be taken in the application of the hypnotic principles of the hysterical school of Charcot. As has been said regarding the choice of hysterical patients, 'Take care, or you will find what you are looking for.' If emphasis is laid on the abnormal side of Joseph Smith's case, his states resemble the not uncommon condition found among hystero-epileptics. As the physiology of the subject is admittedly obscure, in this study, the more normal principles of the suggestion school of Nancy are chiefly utilized. Parsimony demands that the hypnotic aspects of the Mormons should be explained as mental, rather than physical reflexes. Yet, as for Smith himself, the subject is complex and demands compromise; on the one hand, his self-induced states of hypnosis were synchronous with his youthful ill health; on the other hand, his suggestive influence over others began soon after his early epileptic seizures ceased. 196 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM of the reproduction of the 'Caractors' with modern experimental scrawlings. An attempt of a patient, in a semi-hypnotic state, through planchette or a pencil held loosely in the hands, will show equally mysterious figures and back-handed signatures. 44 The relation of Joseph's crystal gazing to the composition of the Book of Mormon, brings more important information. It furnishes an explanation of certain peculiarities in the text. The style of the ancient prophet Mormon is the style of the modern spiritualist. The lack of punctuation may be laid to the fact of dictation, but the slips in grammar and the endless repetition of such phrases as 'came to pass,' resemble the painful errors and damnable iteration of messages from the unseen world." Furthermore, the length and complexity of the Book of Mormon is rendered additionally possible, if one cares to believe the assertion, that hypnotic suggestion arouses into activity the dormant psychic power, -- brings to the subject's fingers' ends all the knowledge that he has ever had, and, finally, inspires __________ 44 Moll, p. 267. 45 At a spiritualistic seance of a Boston medium, in igoo, I noticed a marked difference between the normal and trance states. The set speeches, evidently learned by heart, were johiisonian in their correctness, but the messages from the departed in their grammatical lapses and turns of expression betrayed the rustic origin of the seeress. PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 197 him with an overwhelming confidence in himself. 46 Was it hyperaethesia or hard work that evolved the Record of the Nephites? To those who neither hanker after theories of the subliminal self, 47 nor believe that the Book of Mormon required any quickening of the intellect, 48 the author's crystal gazing may yet have important relations to his writings. At the least, it was a moving cause of the acts of his disciples. Because of their magical guise, his associates believed that they were bound to take down their seer's every utterance; consequently, they gave him abundant help. Emma Smith confessed that she wrote at her husband's dictation day after day; 49 while Christian Whitmer and __________ 46 Compare R. O. Mason, 'Telepathy and the Subliminal Self,' New York, 1896, p. 78, 47 'Harvard Psychological Studies,' September, x896. Experimenters succeeded in reproducing in a walcing state of complete normality, the first three essential elements of the second personality, viz.: -- 1. General tendency to movement without conscious motor impulse; 2. Tendency of an idea in the mind to go over into a movement involuntarily and unconsciously; 3. Tendency of a sensory current to pass over into a motor reaction subconsciously; 4. Unconscious exercise of memory and invention. 48 Moll, p. 268. a The automatic hand writes without concentration of thought on the writer's part.' 49 Wyle, 'Mormon Portraits,' p. 203. Statement of Emma Hale Smith to her son. 'In writing for your father I frequently wrote day after day, often sitting at the table close by him, he sitting with his face buried in his hat with the stone in it.' 198 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM Oliver Cowdery were his scribes for seven solid months. 50 To Joseph's performances as a seer, the usual clairvoyant and telepathic embellishments were added. Martin Harris said that Joseph proposed to bind his 'directors' on his eyes and run a race with him in the woods. 51 David Whitmer avowed that this was the same stone used by the Jaredites at Babel. He relates that he could see nothing through it, but that Joseph, placing it to his eyes, could read signs one hundred and sixty miles distant, and tell exactly what was transpiring there. He then adds the statement: -- 'When I went to Harmony after him, he told me the name of every hotel at which I had stopped on the road, read the signs, and described various scenes without having ever received any information from me.' 52 The most marvelous occurrence is one that is said to have happened about June, 1829. Joseph's __________ 60 The actual writing of the 'Book of Mormon' appears to have taken about seven months. (December, 1827-February, 1828; April 12-June 14, 1828; April 7-June 11, 1829.) Taking the first edition as 588 printed pages, this gives an average of between two and three pages a day. 61 Tiffany's Monthly, May, 1959. Compare 'Joseph Smith the Seer,' p. 19. -- 'With the records was found a curious instrument, called by the ancients the Urim and Thummim. This was in use in ancient times by persons called seers. It was an instrument by the use of which they received revelation of things distant. or of things past or future.' 62 'Address,' p. 11. PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 199 mother recounts that, as he was translating by means of the Urim and Thummim, he received, 'instead of the words of the Book, a commandment to write a letter to a man by the name of David Whitmer, who lived in Waterloo, requesting him to come immediately with his team, and convey himself and Oliver to his own residence, as an evil-designing people were seeking to take away his (Joseph's) life, in order to prevent the work of God from going forth to the world. 53 Of these three occurrences comment is almost superfluous. The running blindfolded is not said to have taken place; if it had, it could be compared to the heightened sense-perception of the hypnotic subject, when he walks about a room with bandaged eyes, or in absolute darkness, without striking against anything. 54 Again Joseph's reading inn-signs, miles away, is no proof of the dubieties of supersensual thought transference. 55 As the added __________ 53 'Biographical Sketches,' p. 135. 54 Moll, p. 115. 55 On the semi-occult aspects of crystal gazing, compare Frank Podinore, 'Apparitions and Thought Transference,' London, 1900, p. 352. Other instances among the Mormons of 'premonitions,' veridical visions' and 'sympathetic clairvoyance,' are as follows: -- (1.) p. p. Pratt, , Autobiography,' p. 368,-- On June 27, 1844, Joseph and Hyrum were killed. I was constrained by the spirit a day or so before to start prematurely for home (Nauvoo) without knowing why or wherefore. As my brother William and I talked, a strange and solemn awe came over me, as if the powers of hell 200 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM details show, the itinerant seer had traveled the same road as his disciple, who took no account of Joseph's naturally retentive memory. Lastly the form of the letter to the Whitmers, and their fulfilling the writer's request implies a previous acquaintance __________ were let loose. I was so overwhelmed with sorrow I could hardly speak. This was June 27tb, in the afternoon, as near as I can judge at the hour Joseph died.'-- (2.) In the Nauvoo Neighbor, March, 1844, Benjamin Andrews reports a vision at the time the Latter-day Saints were driven from Jackson county, Missouri,-- 'I was at the capital of the United States. In the archives of state a man, one of the ancients of the nation, took two or three small boxes and said 'These were the archives of state, but they are turned to blood.' I saw the box turned to blood.'-- (3.) B. Brown, 'Testimonies,' p. 12. -- 'One Sunday morning, while opening the meeting with prayer, the gift of tongues came upon me but I quenched the Spirit. Immediately another broke out in tongues, of which the interpretation was, 'the Lord knew we were anxious to learn of the affairs of our brethren in Missouri, and that if we would humble ourselves, He would reveal unto us.' Missouri was some thousands of miles from Portland. In a fortnight a letter confirmed the message at or about the time of the massacre at Haun's Mill.'-- (4.) The same event in Indiana in 1838, was announced by a variety of the so-called 'simultaneous apparition.' Littlefield, p. 69, quotes the statement of John Hammer: -- 'We were standing there exactly at the time this bloody butchery was committed and of course were all looking eagerly in the direction of the mill. While in this attitude a crimson colored vapor, like a mist or thin cloud, ascended up from the precise place where we knew the mill to be located. This transparent pillar of blood remained.... far into the fatal night. At that hour we had not heard a word of what had taken place at the mill, but as quick as my mother and aunt saw this red, blood-like token, they commenced to wring their hands and moan, declaring they knew that their husbands had been murdered.' PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 201 with that family. In brief, Joseph's failures are in accord with the modern failures in mental telegraphy, through the medium of crystals. 56 The alleged long-distance messages were simply 'reproduced past experiences without recognition.' Other Mormons may furnish telepathic experiences, but they are more curious than convincing. Thus far Smith's occult performances meet with psychological negation; this is not the result in their ethical import, if the inference is allowable. It is somewhere in here that the dividing line must be drawn between self-deception and conscious duplicity. From the silence in his own writings, as to these three episodes, it is evident that the prophet and seer did not believe himself an entire success as clairvoyant and mind reader. And more than that as respects the translating of the plates, there is a suspicion that he early recognized that there was something the matter. To his progenitors anything preternatural was supernatural; to the prophet the supernatural was now merging into the merely abnormal, else he would neither have persevered in his methods of obfustication, nor have tried to monopolize __________ 56 'Society for Psychical Research,' 12, 259. Prof J. H. Hyslop in 'Some Experiments in Crystal Visions,' found 'nothing of an apparently telepathic nature or any other kind of supernormal psychological experience.' 202 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM the use of the seer-stone, 57 nor finally have given it up altogether. 58 The various changes in his methods are especially significant. As money digger, he was wont to hide his face in a hat; as translator, he sometimes kept behind a curtain, 59 dictating to his scribe on the other side; finally by May, 1831, he had a special 'translating room' of his own. 60 There was method in this concealment: it was to keep from the sight of his followers the fixed gaze and the blank expression of the auto-hypnotic. There is here implicated no such mystic paradox as that Joseph was conscious of his unconsciousness; __________ 57 'Book of Commandments,' Chapter 30: Take thy brother Hiram Page between him and thee alone, and tell him that those things which he hath written from that stone are not of me, and that satan deceiveth him: For behold these things have not been appointed unto him, Neither shall anything be appointed to any of this church.' Compare 'Times and Seasons,' 4, 117-119; also 'History of the Church,' p. 123. 58 Whitmer, p. 32: -- 'After the translation of the "Book of Mormon" was finished, early in the spring of 1830, before April 6th, Joseph gave the stone to Oliver Cowdery and told me as well as the rest that he was through with it, and he did not use the stone any more. He said he was through the work that God had given him the gift to perform, except to preach the gospel. He told us that we would all have to depend on the Holy Ghost hereafter to be guided into truth and obtain the will of the Lord. The revelations after this came through Joseph as "mouthpiece;" that is, he would enquire of the Lord, pray and ask concerning a matter, and speak out the revelation.' 59 Whitmer, p. 10. 60 'Times and Seasons,' 6, 784. PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 203 if, at the time, the trance-medium does not know what he has spoken, he yet knows that he has spoken. The light hypnosis is not characterized by entire loss of memory. That the prophet, as early as 1831, was cognizant of the abnormality of the ecstatic condition, is borne out by his disrelish for such excesses as those of the Kirtland convulsionists, their 'wallowing on the ground, their diabolical acts of enthusiasm.' Exactly when the personal discovery was made is a matter of opinion. It may have been with the failure, in October, I825, to find the fabulous silver mine of his father-in-law. It was in October, I825, he relates, that he I prevailed upon the old gentleman to cease digging after it.' 61 __________ 61 'Pearl of Great Price,' p. 100. Compare Blackman, 'History of Susquehanna County, Pa.,' p. 578. (I quote the following affidavit only because I am acquainted with this locality and have personal knowledge of the reliability of Charles Dimon. It should be noted that Hale's dates differ from Smith's.) 'Statement of Isaac Hale. Affirmed to and subscribed before Chas. Dimon, J. P., March 20, 1834. The good character of Isaac Hale was attested to the following day by judges Wm. Thomson and D. Dimock: -- 'I first became acquainted with Joseph Smith, junior, in November, I825. He was at that time in the employ of a set of men who were called Is money-diggers," and his occupation was that of seeing, or pretending to see, by means of a stone placed in his hat, and his hat closed over his face. In this way he pretended to discover minerals and hidden treasure. His appearance at this time was that of a careless young man, not very well educated, and very saucy and insolent to his father. Smith and his father, with several other money-diggers, boarded at my house while they were employed in digging for a mine that they supposed had been opened 204 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM Subjective 'glass looking' was found to be no royal road to objective fortune; but disillusionment of self was not the disillusionment of others. About four years after this, Joseph saw fit to acknowledge, in his own peculiar way, that the power of self-suggestion was not confined to himself. In April, 1829, a revelation came to Oliver Cowdery: 'behold thou hast a gift, if thou wilt inquire, thou shalt know mysteries which are great and marvelous.' 62 This'gift'of Oliver's was shortly afterwards explained as a 'key of knowledge concerning the engravings of old records.' These announcements of mutually shared 'gifts' or 'keys' form one of the dividing lines in Joseph's career. With the discovery that suggestion was a rule that worked both ways, he ceased to be a mere self-centred visionary, and became in truth a revelator to others. Once when his high priests wished to __________ and worked by the Spaniards many years since. Young Smith gave the money-diggers great encouragement at first, but when they had arrived in digging too near the place where be had stated an immense treasure would be found, he said the enchantment was so powerful that he could not see. They then became discouraged, and soon after dispersed. This took place about the 17th of November, 1825....' I told them, then, that I considered the whole of it a delusion, and advised them to abandon it. The manner in which he (Joseph) pretended to read and interpret was the same as when he looked for the money-diggers, with the stone in his hat, and his hat over his face, while the book of plates was at the same time hid in the woods.' 62 'Book of Commandments,' Chapter 5. PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 205 behold 'concourses of angels,' as president of the church, Smith employed the conventional means of inducing the trance vision. There was insistence on faith, fasting and prayer, laying on of hands, fixity of thought, and rigidity of position. 63 The origin of Joseph's functions as a revelator is, like all origins, rudimentary and somewhat obscure. It was, however, natural that the first believers in his visualizing powers should be found among his kith and kin. What he imagined he saw, he got them to imagine they saw. As his mother says of him, during the evening conversations, when 'he Would describe the ancient inhabitants of this continent, -- I presume our family presented an aspect as singular as any that ever lived upon the face of the earth -- all seated in a circle, father, mother, sons, and daughters, and giving the most profound attention to a boy, eighteen years of age.' 64 But Joseph's success was not confined to a family of constitutional visionaries; his sphere of influence soon enlarged. Because he asserted he had seen a vision, he was persecuted ' by the great ones of the most popular sects of the day, and was under the necessity of leaving Manchester and going to Pennsylvania.' 65 Opposition was what he needed; he __________ 63 Compare 'Times and Seasons,' 5, 738, the events of March 18, 1833. 64 'Biographical Sketches,' p. 84. 65 'Pearl of Great Price,' p. 102. 206 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM was advertised by his enemies, until his fame as a beholder of visions was as wide as his early reputation as a 'discerner of invisible things.' 66 Thus the acts of the prophet and seer paved the way for the acts of the revelator. Of these latter acts the most conspicuous was that of the vision beheld by his scribes. It is embodied in this remarkable document accompanying all editions of the Book of Mormon: -- THE TESTIMONY OF THREE WITNESSES. Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, unto whom this work shall come, that we, through the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record, which is a record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites, his brethren, and also of the people of Jared, which came from the tower of which hath been spoken ; and we also know that they have been translated by the gift and power of God, for His voice bath declared it unto us; wherefore we know of a surety, that the work is true. And we also testify that we have seen__________ 64 'Pearl of Great Price,' p. 102: -- 'The excitement, however, still continued, and rumor, with her thousand tongues, was all the time employed in circulating tales about my father's family, and about myself. If I were to relate a thousandth part of them, it would fill up volumes. The persecution, however, became so intolerable that I was under the necessity of leaving Manchester, and going with my wife to Susquehanna County, in the State of Pennsylvania.' PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 207 the engravings which are upon the plates; and they have been shewn unto us by the power of God, and not of man. And we declare with words of soberness, that an Angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon; and we know that it is by the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that we beheld and bear record that these things are true; and it is marvelous in our eyes. Nevertheless, the voice of the Lord commanded us that we should bear record of it; wherefore, to be obedient unto the commandments of God, we bear testimony of these things. And we know that if we are faithful in Christ, we shall rid our garments of the blood of all men, and be found spotless before the judgment seat of Christ, and shall dwell with him eternally in the heavens. And the honor be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which is one God. Amen. |
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Before considering the 'great manifestations of spirits' among the Latter-day Saints, it is desirable to note some of the outward and visible signs of growth, some of the causes of success, and some of the records and documents of the organization. 'We review his career, and behold him from the poor, despised visionary of Manchester, rising in the short space of fifteen years, to the presidency of a church numbering not less than 200,000 Souls.' 1 A gentile visitor at Nauvoo, in 1844, thus eulogized the prophet. His statement was welcomed by the Mormons as proof of their divine origin; for all that their spread was truly remarkable. In the Middle West they had their struggle for existence; the Church was persecuted, its founder killed. Then began the wholesale emigration under Brigham Young. Unusual executive ability was displayed in this flight of the Mormon tribe, and astonishing fortitude in crossing the Rockies and the alkali __________ 1 'Times and Seasons,' 5, 589. 248 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM plains. At last, in the far West there came a chance for unrestricted development. In a secluded valley of Utah the polygamous Saints attached themselves to the soil, and increased with the rapidity of an isolated germ culture. As a bit of historical pathology, the growth of Mormondom is unique and merits thorough investigation. But since a biographical study deals, perforce, with inward causes and individual origins, it is necessary to return to the infant church, as it was affected by the personality of its founder. Mormonism contained, from the start, the elements of denominational success. In the first place, no other American sect could point to a Bible of its own manufacture. As the Latter-day poet exclaimed: 'embalmed records, plates of gold, glorious things to us unfold. 2 But the acceptance of the Book was due to more than the archaic embellishments of the author. It is the old story of a territory already prepared. The locality, where Joseph brought forth the 'ancient engravings of Nephi,' was the locality where the Cardiff giant hoax was perpetrated. But although first readers of the Book of Mormon were credulous, they had a patriotic streak in their archaeological interests. As Oliver Cowdery said 'a history of the inhabitants who peopled this continent, previous to its being discovered __________ 2 'Times and Seasons,' 2, 421. JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 249 to Europeans by Columbus must be interesting to every man. 3 Another element of success was that no other native sect had revelations in such profusion and in such business-like form. As compiled in the Book of Commandments these form the rarest of all original Mormon sources, 4 and, at the same time, the most valued of their inspired writings. It is the Book of Mormon 'backed up' by this 'other book taken to the Lamanites' that forms the real Mormon Canon. 5 As the prophet queried: 'Take away the Book of Mormon and the Revelations, and where is our religion?' 6 As another __________ 3 Cowdery, p. 28. Compare 'Biographical Sketches,' p. 152. Joseph's young brother Samuel, being 'set apart on a mission to sell the books,' asked his customers if they did not wish to purchase a history of the origin of the Indians.' 4 Sabin, 'Bibliotheca Americana,' 12, 384, says this book was never published. There is a copy in the Berrian Collection. The copy here used is the Salt Lake Tribune reprint of 1884. 5 'Times and Seasons,' 6, 762. 6 'Times and Seasons,' 6, 1060. Compare preface to first edition of 4 Doctrine and Covenants,' 1835: -- 'We deem it to be unnecessary to entertain you with a lengthy preface to the following volume, but merely to say that it contains in short the leading items of the religion which we have professed to believe. The first part of the book will be found to contain a series of lectures as delivered before a theological class in this place, and, in consequence of their embracing the important doctrine of salvation, we have arranged them into the following work.... There may be an aversion in the minds of some against receiving anything purporting to be articles of religious faith, in consequence of there being so many creeds now extant; but if men believe a system 250 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM curiosity of Mormon literature the history of this volume may be briefly sketched. Joseph's youthful prophecies have been preserved only in the narrative of his mother; but the vaticinations of the year 1829 proved so successful, that they were thought worth preserving; so on April 6th, 1830, there came this revelation: 'Behold there shall be a record kept among you, and in it thou shalt be a seer, a translator, a prophet.' 7 Within a score of weeks the prophet created a monopoly of oracular responses, -- 'no one shalt be appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church, excepting my servant Joseph.' 8 The Book of Commandments comprises fifty-five chapters and runs to September, 1831. The council ordered that three thousand copies be printed in the first edition. David Whitmer says that he warned Smith and Rigdon against this, 'for the world would get hold of the books and it would not do.' He adds that, from the time some of the copies slipped through the hands of the unwise brethren, the ill-feeling against the saints increased. 9 Whether this is true __________ and profess that it was given by inspiration, certainly the more intelligibly they can present it the better.... We have, therefore, endeavored to present, though in few words, our belief, and, when we say this, humbly trust the faith and principles of this society as a body.' 7 'Book of Commandments,' Chapter 22. 8 'Book of Commandments,' Chapter 30. 9 'Address,' p. 55. JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 251 or not, on July 20th, 1833, the Mormon printing office in Independence, Missouri, was torn down by the mob, but not before the book was completed. 10 The relation of this supplementary brochure to the Book of Mormon has been compared with that of the Talmud to the Old Testament. 11 The comparison is too dignified. The Mormon theocratic code, such as it was, is here presented, but there is besides a welter of undefinable utterances. The Gemara added to the Mishna gives no idea of this curious mixture of religion and business. The Book of Commandments is, in part, a book of discipline, wherein the 'Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ' are given at length. 12 But the __________ 10 'Handbook of Reference,' p. 42. The Berrian Sale Catalogue makes this contradictory statement: -- 'This book was never published, nor even completed. Only two copies are known. The sheets were destroyed by a Missouri mob, etc. For a lengthy description of this rare book see Chas. L. Woodward's "Bibliography on Mormonism.' 11 McClintock and Strong, article 'Mormonism.' 12 Chapter 24. Compare also chapter 20: -- 'It shall be the duty of the several churches composing the church of Christ, to send one or more of their teachers to attend the several conferences held by the elders of the church. With a list of the names of the several members uniting themselves with the church since the last conference, or send by the hand of some priest, so that a regular list of all the names of the whole church may be kept in the book by one of the elders, whoever the other elders shall appoint from time to time.' 252 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM pamphlet offers not only rules of action, but food for thought; in addition to the duties of the Elders or of the Seventies, there are scattered throughout rare bits of scriptural interpretation. An entire alphabet of mystic exegesis is here set forth, from Aaronic Priesthood, Baptism for the Dead, Celestial glory and the Devil before Adam, down to Questions and Answers on the Apocalypse. Thus in its confusion of contents the work has a general semblance to Joseph's former monument of misplaced energy. Its biographical and personal character is also evident from the author's communings with himself. Yet the book is not merely a private journal, it is a sort of public ledger -as the church increased, the prophet opens up an account with each new member. There were in particular celestial orders upon converts with cash; thus: 'My servant Martin should be an example to the church in laying his moneys before the bishop of the church, and my servant Edward should leave his merchandise and spend all his time in the labors of the church.' 13 The names of the ecclesiastical customers were not given in full in the first instance; it is the change towards particularity that denotes the emended edition of the Book of Commandments. The revamped and enlarged edition is entitled The Doctrine and __________ 13 'Book of Commandments,' Chapters 49 and 43. JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 253 Covenants. 14 It consists, for the most part, of revelations to Joseph Smith, junior, 'for the building up of the Kingdom of God in the last days;' it also contains an account of I the martyrdom of the prophet,' and lastly the 'Word and will of the Lord given through President Brigham Young, January 14th, 1847.' The Commandments and the Covettants together give an external history of the Church, while the material alterations of the former into the latter betray some of the state secrets. As usual, many hundred emendations have been discovered. 13 One instance is enough to disclose the trend of these changes; their mercantile purpose is to be seen from a single italicized word. A revelation was given in July, 1830, to the prophet's wife. The first edition reads: 'Emma thou art an elect lady and thou needest not fear, for thy husband shalt support thee from the Church;' 16 the second edition reads: 'thy husband shalt support thee in the Church.' 17 __________ 14 The edition here employed is that I divided into verses, with references,' by Orson Pratt, senior, Salt Lake City, 1883. The revelations from July, 1828, through September, 1831, are, however, quoted from the 'Book of Commandments.' 15 Charles L. Woodward, of New York City, has arranged the two books in the deadly parallel column. Thus the words in italics have been added, in the following revelation to Joseph: 'And you have a gift to translate the plates, and this is the first gift that I bestowed upon you, and I have commanded you that you should pretend to no other gift, until my purpose is fulfilled in this; for I will grant Onto you no other gift until it is 'finished.' 16 'Book of Commandments,' Chapter 26. 17 'Doctrine and Covenants,' sec. 25. 254 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM So much for the significance of the documents. With the Book of Mormon printed and the Book of Commandments started, Mormonism had both canonical and prophetical elements of success. The further causes of its spread may be regarded in so far as they are common to both founder and follower. The hardest thing to grasp in the entire propaganda is that curiously narrow attitude of mind which regarded this as the ushering in, not of a mere new denomination, but of a new dispensation. Perhaps the first thing to appeal to the dissatisfied religionist was the prophet's announcement of a 'plain and simple gospel.' 18 As previous analysis has shown, complexity and not simplicity was the mark of Joseph's doctrine. But to minds whose distinctions comprised no differences, this very confusion was effective. As a magazine of mixed proof texts the Book of Mormon appealed to all sects. To paraphrase the words of Benjamin Franklin, -- the author's heterodoxy was everybody's orthodoxy. So in spite of all the talk about liberality, 19 this unsectarian society was only another sect in process of formation. Its principles were grand enough, but its beginnings were very small. There were eleven __________ 18 This phrase begins in the 'fore part' of the 'Book of Mormon' and runs throughout Smith's writings. 19 For a general tirade against the sects see 'Book of Mormon' p. 566: 'O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, etc.' Compare also 'Pearl of Great Price,' p. 102. JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 255 witnesses to the Record, but only six charter members of the Church. 20 That 'Church of Christ,' as yet without the full title of Latter-day Saints, was organized, according to law, in Fayette, New York, on April 6th, 1830. From that time, says the prophet, the work 'rolled forth with astonishing rapidity.' 21 Of the mental calibre of Joseph's fellow-workers something more must be said, -- something to explain the paradox of their making puny Mormonism equivalent to a new dispensation. An ethical traveler in America remarked that strong interest in religion was popularly held to mean conversion to a __________ 20 'Handbook of Reference,'p. 39: , Names of members: Joseph Smith, junior, O. Cowdery, Hyrum Smith, Peter Whitmer, Samuel H. Smith and David Whitmer. When the Church was organized, the first public ordinations to the Melchisdek Priesthood took place. Hands were also laid on for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and for the confirmation of members of the Church, and the sacrament was administered for the first time.' 21, Times and Seasons,' 3, 708. Compare Cowdery, p. 40: 'Many of the elders of Christ's church have since been commissioned and sent forth over this vast Republic, from river to river, and from valley to valley, till the vast sunny plains of Missouri, the frozen regions of Canada, and the eastern Maine, with the summer States of the South, have been saluted with the sound of the voice of those who go forth for the last time to say to Israel, Prepare for the coming of thy King. Wonderful to tell! Amid the frowns of bigots, the sneers of hypocrites, the scoffs of the foolish, the calumny of slanderers, the ridicule of the vain and the popular prejudice of a people estranged from God, urged on to deeds of villainy by the priests of Baal, the word has been proclaimed with success, and thousands are now enjoying the benign influence of the love of God shed forth by the Comforter upon the pure in heart.' 256 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM particular creed. 22 Such is only a general explanation of the particular fallacy of taking a part for the whole. More precise reasons are to be found. The leanness of understanding in the first believers was to be expected from the poor food their wits were fed on. The blame was not wholly theirs but lay upon their spiritual guides. The education of the backwoods clergy did not extend beyond the elements of a common English education. 23 The most influential class of preachers, the Methodists, relying on the advice of Wesley, gloried in a 'saddle bags' education." It is unjust to disparage the itinerant missionaries who, for the sake of their religion, forded icy rivers and penetrated dark forests. This was the van of the army, there were also the camp followers, -- the sectarian adventurers whom the settled clergy roundly denounced as 'evangelists destitute of classical and theological furniture, of feeble natural abilities, boisterous, vulgar, irreverent, fanatical.' 24 These were the men behind the revivalistic excesses, and yet the people came miles to hear them, hanging on their words day after day, forgetting the cares of business and the very wants of the body. 25 __________ 22 Martineau, 2, 326. 23 Thompson, p. 186. 24 John Atkinson, 'Centennial History of American Methodism,' 1884, p. 143. Compare supplement to Millennial Star, 14, 319. 25 Hotchkin, p. 172. 26 De Tocqueville, 2, 161. JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 257 The eagerness of the people to hear something new and strange was matched by the opposition of the older churches. As Joseph's mother said, even before the Book of Mormon was printed, 'the different denominations are very much opposed to us.' 27 All this fostered the rise of new sects; for the persecution of the larger bodies aroused the spirit of the smaller. The pride of the sectary, the search for novelty, and mental impoverishment were some of the natural reasons magnifying the importance of the Mormon cult in the eyes of its votaries. In addition there were abnormal forces at work; as Joseph described the matter: -- 'Some few were called and ordained by the spirit of revelation, and prophesy, and began to preach as the spirit gave them utterance, and though weak, yet were they strengthened by the power of God, and many were brought to repentance, were immersed in the water, and were filled with the Holy Ghost by the laying on of bands. They saw visions and prophesied, devils were cast out and the sick healed by the laying on of hands.' 28 It is here that Smith added to his previous claims the function of exorcist. His clever opportunism was shown in the natal month of the church. In April, I830, says the official chronicle, 'the devil __________ 27 'Biographical Sketches,' p. 146. 28 'Times and Seasons,' 3, 708. 258 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM was cast out of Newel Knight through the administration of Joseph Smith, junior, in Colesville, Broom County, New York. This was the first miracle which was done in this Church, or by any member of it, and it was not done by men nor by the power of man, but it was done by God, and the power of godliness.' 29 There now begins a series of performances seemingly out of place in nineteenth century America, -- the Salem witchcraft of a century and a half before reappears in the western wilds. There was the same belief in demoniac possession, the same class of neurotic and hysterical sufferers, the same clerical zeal in making capital out of the preternatural. Fortunately Joseph Smith was not a reincarnation of Cotton Mather. The severest mania took place under another's auspices, and, possibly from motives of jealousy, Smith did what he could to suppress this 'work of the Devil.' The preconditions of the first 'miracle' were like those of the previous abnormalities. Reaction brought belief. As fast as apostolic 'gifts' were denied by the orthodox, the Latter-day Saints affirmed their restoration. Such mental habit was found in the first Mormon demoniac. 'By reading and searching the Bible,' says Newel Knight, 'I found that there would be a great falling away from __________ 29 'Handbook of Reference,' p. 40. JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 259 the gospel, as preached and established by Jesus; that in the last days God would set His hand to restore that which was lost.' 30 Soon after hearing the first public gospel sermon of this dispensation," and while in a state of mental and physical prostration, Knight was attacked by the 'power of Satan' and underwent 'curious actions while thus afflicted.' 31 Smith himself tells how he met the crisis: -- I went, and found him suffering very much in his mind, and his body acted upon in a very strange manner, his visage and limbs distorted and twisted in every shape and appearance possible to imagine, and finally he was caught up off the floor of the apartment and tossed about most fearfully. His situation was soon made known to the neighbors and relatives, and in a short time as many as eight or nine grown persons had got together to witness the scene. After he had thus suffered for a time, I succeeded in getting hold of him by the hand, when almost immediately he spoke to me, and with very great earnestness required of me that I should cast the devil out of him, saying that he knew that he was in him, and that he also knew I could cast him out. I replied, "If you know that I can, it shall be done," and then almost unconsciously I rebuked the devil and commanded him in the name of Jesus Christ to depart from him, when immediately Newell spoke out and said that he saw the__________ 30 'Journal,' p. 48. 31 'Handbook of Reference,' p. 40. 32 'Journal,' p. 50. 260 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM devil leave him, and vanish from his sight. This was the first miracle that was done in this church.' Of the therapeutic aspect of this case more will be said later. As the history of obsession shows, it is the exorcist's mental suggestion, conscious or unconscious, that effects these 'miraculous cures.' As regards the psychic state of the patient, the presence of an hallucinatory image was afterwards admitted by Knight himself: Being 'cross-examined as to the devil cast out, I said to the lawyer " it will be of no use for me to tell you what the devil looked like, for it was a spiritual sight and spiritually discerned, and of course you would not understand if I were to tell you of it."' 33 The highly neurotic condition of the young body of believers was manifest in the first conference of the Church, a month later, -- 'many prophesied, others had the heavens opened to their view.' In the nature of things the prophet did not lose the advantage of the Saints' I unspeakable joy.' As Knight recounts, 'to find ourselves engaged in the very same order of things as were observed and practiced by the holy apostles of old, combined to create within fresh zeal and energy in the cause of truth, and also to confirm our faith in Joseph Smith being the instrument in the hands of God, to restore __________ 33 'Journal,' p. 60. JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 261 the Priesthood again to man on earth and to set up the Kingdom of God.' 34 Six months after this came the Kirtland frenzy, when many were 'strangely handled by the spirits.' It must be said that Smith did what he could to suppress the spasmodic attacks. But the people looking on the ecstasy as a 'sign,'the indirect results were of prime importance in the growth of the Church. A backbone was now put into the flabby embryo. One hundred members were added to the struggling Church and, more than all, there was brought on the scene the Reverend Sidney Rigdon, the so-called brains of Mormonism. 35 __________ 34 'Journal,' pp. 52, 53. 35 Compare Appendix III. The following account of Rigdon is compiled from 'Times and Seasons,' 1, 135-6; 2, 429; 5, 6I2, 650-739; 6, 899. Compare also this hitherto unpublished holograph letter, from the Berrian Collection: -- 'Friendship, Alleghany County, New York, May 25, 1873, We are fourscore years old and seriously afflicted with paralysis.... The Lord notified us that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were agoing to be destroyed and for us to leave we did so and the Smiths were killed a few days after we started. Since then I have had no connection with any of the people who staid and built up to themselves churches, and chose to themselves leaders such as they chose and then framed their own religion. The Church of Latter-day Saints had three books that they acknowledge as Canonical. The Bible the book of Mormon and the commandments. For the existence of that church there had to be a revelator one who received the word of the Lord. A spokesman one inspired of God to expound all revelation so that the church might all be of one faith. Without these two men the Church of Latter-day saints could not exist. This order ceased 262 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM A brief history of the latter is called for. An ex-Campbellite preacher and founder of a communistic body in Ohio, Rigdon was deemed learned in history and literature, and gifted in his flowery eloquence. He was first received with open arms by Smith, but became later 'a millstone on his back,' and was finally shaken off in 1843. If the Mormon accounts are further to be believed, Rigdon was the stormy petrel of the Church; -- where he was, there was trouble. It was a Fourth-of-July oration of his that roused to fury 'the uncircumcised Philistines of Missouri.' As to Rigdon's undue influence over Smith much might be said on both sides. 36 On the __________ to exist, being overcome by the violence of armed men by whom houses were beat down by cannon which the assalents had furnished themselves with. Thus ended the , Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and it never can move again till the Lord inspires men and women to do it.' 36 Whitmer, p. 35: -- 'In December, 1830, Sidney Rigdon and Edward Partridge came from Kirtland, Ohio, to Fayette, New York, to see Brother Joseph, and in the latter part of the winter they returned to Kirtland. In February, 1831, Brother Joseph came to Kirtland where Rigdon was. Rigdon was a thorough Bible scholar, a man of fine education, and a powerful orator. He soon worked himself deep into Brother Joseph's affections, and had more influence over him than any other man living. He was Brother Joseph's private counsellor, and his most intimate friend and brother for some time after they met. Brother Joseph rejoiced, believing that the Lord had sent to him this great and mighty man Sidney Rigdon, to help him in the work. Poor Brother Joseph! He was mistaken about this, and likewise all of the brethren were mistaken; for we thought at that time just as Brother Joseph did JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 263 one hand, Joseph announced that Sidney was the messenger 'sent to prepare the way 'before him, and not long after he ordained him prophet, seer and revelator. On the other hand, in 1841, Rigdon was ordered by revelation, to stay in Nauvoo; while in 1844, in the trial before the council, Smith openly charged him with 'wallowing in filthiness and corruption.' On expulsion from the Church, Rigdon withdrew to Pittsburg and published an anti-Mormon paper, the Messenger and Advocate of the Church of Christ. In comparing the two men, a friend of both said that Rigdon I did not possess the native intellect of Smith, and lacked his determined Will.' 37 There is, furthermore, reason for believing that Rigdon was mentally unsound. In old age, he writes that he __________ about it. But alas! in a few years we found out different. Sidney Rigdon was the cause of almost all the errors which were introduced while he was in the church. I believe Rigdon to have been the instigator of the secret organization known as the 'Danites' which was formed in Far West Missouri in June, 1838. In Kirtland, Ohio, in 1831, Rigdon would expound the Old Testament scriptures of the Bible and 'Book of Mormon' (in his way) to Joseph, concerning the priesthood, high priests, etc., and would persuade Brother Joseph to inquire of the Lord about this doctrine and that doctrine, and of course a revelation would always come just as they desired it. Rigdon finally persuaded Brother Joseph to believe that the high priests which had such great power in ancient times, should be in the Church of Christ to-day. He had Brother Joseph inquire of the Lord about it, and they received an answer according to their erring desires.' __________ 37 Burnett, p. 67. 264 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM was afflicted with paralysis; in boyhood, his brother said that he was injured in the head by falling from a horse; in 1832, long before their ecclesiastical partnership was dissolved, Smith described Rigdon as 'delereous.' On March 25th, the two had been'severely mobbed' in Hiram, Ohio. 'The next morning,'narrates the prophet, 'I went to see Elder Rigdon, and found him crazy, and his head highly inflamed, for they had dragged him by his heels, and those too, so high from the earth he could not raise his head from the rough frozen surface which lascerated it exceedingly.' In 1840 Rigdon wrote 'my attendant physician has forbid my using any exertions, either mental or physical, as it will endanger my life.' Rigdon's erratic tendencies were cast in his teeth by his colleagues. Orson Hyde thus apostrophized him, in 1844: 'Mr. Rigdon, do you not remember how you came into a certain council about the 1st of April or latter part of March last, that had been organized by Joseph Smith; and also how you danced and shouted, and threw your feet so high that you came well nigh falling backwards upon the stove? Certainly you must remember this; for you frothed at the mouth like a mad man, and gave glory to God so long and loud that you became entirely hoarse and exhausted.' Whatever judgment may be passed on Rigdon morally, mentally his character was one of extremes JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 265 and, as such, had an abnormal influence on early Mormondom; as Bishop Whitmer put it: 'He was always either in the bottom of the cellar or up in the garret window. At the time his license was taken in Kirtland he was more sanguine than he is now. The people were excited very much at that time.' From all sides it is clear that Rigdon was the moving spirit in the Kirtland frenzy; but there were also deeper underlying causes at work; before considering these, a description of the trouble is needful. Rigdon's colleague, Parley Pratt, another influential Mormon convert, gives this account: -- 'As I went forth among the different branches some very strange spiritual operations were manifested, which were disgusting rather than edifying. Some persons would seem to swoon away, and make unseemly gestures, and be drawn or disfigured in their countenances. Others would fall into ecstasies, and would be drawn into contortions, cramps, fits, etc. Others would seem to have visions and revelations, which were not edifying, which were not congenial to the doctrine and spirit of the gospel. In short, a false and lying spirit seemed to be creeping into the Church.' 38 A general reason for these phenomena was the ubiquitous revival. In New York State the condition __________ 38 'Autobiography,' p. 65. 266 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM of the audience at the protracted meetings is described as a condition of panic. 39 In the West about 1800 the movement was more widespread and more severe. ' It was not confined to one denomination,' says the historian, 'even phlegmatic New England Presbyterians of the Reserve were influenced.' 40 Matters went so far that the convulsions were popularly classified into the falling, jerking, rolling and dancing varieties. The commonest state was one of ecstasy, a loss of muscular power and of consciousness of external objects like protracted catalepsy. The most alarming manifestation was the 'jerking exercise' in which several hundred of both sexes were seized with involuntary contortions, while their bodies hurried over fallen trunks or pews and benches. No one restrained them, for restraint was thought to be resisting the Spirit of God. The spasms were involuntary, because 'wicked men would be seized while guarding against them and cursing every jerk.' 41 Such were the more remote causes of the later mania, for, in the same place, the same conditions were aroused by the frenzied preaching of Rigdon. What occurred in 1830 was stranger than the events of a generation before. An account of an eyewitness presents the whole gamut of abnormal __________ 39 According to Prof. W. H. Brewer of Vale University. 40 Howe, p. 189. 41 Howe, p. 189. JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 267 psychology: 42 -- 'On the conversion of Rigdon, a most successful starting point was thought to have been obtained. Cowdery and his associates then began to develop the peculiarities of the new imposition. Scenes of the most wild, frantic and horrible fanaticism ensued. They pretended that the power of miracles was about to be given to all those who embraced the new faith, and commenced communicating the Holy Ghost, by laying their hands upon the heads of the converts, which operation, at first produced an instantaneous prostration of body and mind. Many would fall upon the floor, where they would lie for a long time, apparently lifeless. Thus they continued these enthusiastic exhibitions for several weeks. The fits usually came on, during or after their prayer meetings, which were held nearly every evening.-The young men and women were more particularly subject to this delirium. They would exhibit all the apish actions imaginable, making the most ridiculous grimaces, creeping upon their hands and feet, rolling upon the frozen__________ 42 Ezra Booth's Letters to the Rev. Ira Eddy from Nelson, Portage County, Ohio, September, 1831; published in the Ohio Star. These letters were quoted by E. D. Howe whose book I Mormonism Unveiled,' was attacked by Smith in 'Times and Seasons,' Volume III. But the letters, although written by an 'Ex-Mormon' have never been impeached, since this account was corroborated by the prophet himself. Compare 'Biographical Sketchcs,' p. 17', etc. 268 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM ground, go through with all the Indian modes of warfare, such as knocking down, scalping, ripping open and tearing out the bowels. At other times, they would run through the fields, get upon stumps, preach to imaginary congregations, enter the water and perform all the ceremony of baptizing, etc. Many would have fits of speaking all the different Indian dialects, which none could understand. Again, at the dead hour of night, the young men might be seen running over the fields and hills in pursuit, as they said, of the balls of fire, lights, etc., which they saw moving through the atmosphere.' 43 The rest of the account may be condensed, for the subsequent 'spiritual phenomena' -- less violent than these, took place under Smith's own auspices. There was first 'the gift of tongues,' -- unconscious articulations declared by Joseph to be 'the pure Adamic,' 44 but by an old trapper to be snatches of Indian dialects." There was next the 'gift of __________ 43 Booth said these accounts were from his own observations in the Western Reserve or from testimonies of persons who still adhered to Mormonism. - Letter III. 44 Cannon, p. 17. 45 'We will first notice the gifts of tongues, exercised by some when carried away in the spirit. These persons were apparently lost to all surrounding circumstances, and wrapt up in the contemplation of things, and in communication with persons not present. They articulated soiinds, which but few present professed to understand; and those few declared them to be the Indian language. A merchant, who had formerly been a member of the Methodist society, observed be bad formerly traded with the Indians, and he knew it to be their dialect.' JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 269 interpretation,' 46 -- carried away in the spirit the subject would profess to read the Bible in different languages. There was also the 'gift of prophecy,' -- mounted on a stump the ecstatic would fancy themselves haranguing their red brethren, and would imitate the Indian in look and manner. Finally there were alleged acts of clairvoyance, -- young men would pretend to read celestial messages on the palms of their hands and the lids of their Bibles.' 47 __________ 46 Booth's Letters: -- 'Being myself present on one of these occasions, a person proffered his services as my interpreter, and translated these sounds to me which were unintelligible, into the English language. One individual could read any chapter of the Old or New Testament, in several different languages. This was known to be the case by a person who professed to understand those languages. In the midst of this delirium they would, at times, fancy themselves addressing a congregation of their red brethren; mounted on a stump, or the fence, or from some elevated situation, would harangue their assembly until they had convinced or converted them. They would then lead them into the water, and baptize them, and pronounce their sins forgiven. In this exercise, some of them actually went into the water; and in the water, performed the ceremony used in baptizing. These actors assumed the visage of the savage, and so nearly imitated him, not only in language, but in gestures and actions, that it seemed the soul and body were completely metamorphosed into the Indian. No doubt was then entertained but that was an extraordinary work of the Lord, designed to prepare these young men for the Indian mission.' 47 Booth's Letters: -- 'Before these scenes fully commenced, however, Cowdery had departed for the country inhabited by the Indians, with the expectation of converting them to Christianity by means of his new Bible, and miracles which he was to perform among them. These pretensions appeared to have 270 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM Another apostate, eight years an elder among the Mormonites, has given an account of similar doings among the Saints in England. 48 He explains 'tongues' as due to ignorance, excitement, and a lack of vocabulary. 49 Physiologically considered, this psychic Volapcik is another case of decentralization: the higher brain centres having temporarily lost their sway, there ensues a loss of rational self-control. __________ taken possession of the minds of the young men in their aspirations. Three of them pretended to have received commissions to preach, from the skies, after having jumped into the air as high as they could.' 48 Hawthornthwaite, 'Adventures among the Mormons,' 1857, pp. 88-91. 'At a meeting in Manchester an elder shuts his eyes and at the top of his voice exclaims: -- 'Oh, me, sontra von te, par las a te se, ter mon te roy ken; ran passan par du mon te! Kros krassey pron proy praddey, sin von troo ta! O me, sontrote krush kraminon palassate Mount Zion kron cow che and America pa palassate pau pau pu pe! Sontro von teli terattate taw!' This was interpreted as an exhortation to be humble and obedient; so was another 'gift of tongues' where a strange woman came in and spoke in Welsh.' 49 Hawthornthwaite says, 'Those who speak in tongues are generally the most illiterate among the Saints, such as cannot command words as quick as they would wish, and instead of waiting for a suitable word to come to their memories, they break forth in the first sounds their tongues can articulate, no matter what it is. Thus - some person in the meeting has told an interesting story about Zion, then an excitable brother gets up to bear his "testimony," the speed of speech increases with the interest of the subject: "Beloved brethren and sisters, I rejoice, and my heart is glad to overflowing, -- I hope to go to Zion, and to see you all there, and to -- to -- O, me sontro von te, sontro von terre, sontro von te. O me palassate te,"' etc. JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 271 In general the psycho-physical state of the Kirtland convulsionists was that to be found in a collection of religious visionaries. 50 One young man admitted that he knew not what he did for two or three weeks. The general mental state is typified in the narrator's case: 'When I embraced Mormonism,' says Booth, 'I conscientiously believed it to be of God. The impressions of my mind were deep and powerful, and my feelings were excited to a degree to which I had been a stranger. Like a ghost it haunted me by night and by day, until I was mysteriously hurried, as it were, by a kind of necessity into the vortex of delusion. -- At times I was much elated; but generally, things in prospect were the greatest stimulants to action.' To turn to Smith's connection with these matters: if he was the originator of the abnormal performances in New York, he was only the director of events in Ohio. Of the Kirtland branch, he says in his Journal, 'strange notions of false spirits had crept in among them. I soon overcame them with some wisdom.' 51 Despite this superior attitude, there is abundant evidence of the primitiveness of his own notions; he held nearly the animistic view __________ 50 A writer in the North British Review, 77, 112, in explaining the excesses of the Mormonites, draws analogies from Hecker's 'Epidemics of the Middle Ages,' and Wilkinson's, 'Revival in its Physical, Psychical and Religious Aspects,' 1860. 51 'Times and Seasons,' 3, 68. 272 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM of the savage: 52 to him, is to the Indian medicine man, it was not the soul of the sufferer but the soul of a demon, which entered in and caused the havoc. The elements of such belief, as sustained by popular mythology, 53 and reinforced by a literal interpretation of Scripture, are present in Mother Smith's account. Speaking of the Kirtland branch of nearly one hundred members she cites, 'The singular power, which manifested itself among them in strange contortions of the visage, and sudden unnatural exertions of the body. This they supposed to be a display of the power of God. Shortly after Joseph arrived, he called the Church together, in order to show them the difference between the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of the Devil. He said, if a man arose in meeting to speak, and was seized with a kind of paroxysm, that drew his face and limbs, in a violent and unnatural manner, which made him appear to be in pain; and if he gave utterance to strange sounds, which were incomprehensible to his audience, they might rely upon it, that he had the spirit of the devil. But on the contrary, when a man speaks by the Spirit of God, he speaks from the abundance of his heart -- his mind is filled with intelligence, and even should he be excited, it does not cause him to do anything ridiculous or unseemly. He then called upon one of the brethren to speak, who arose and made the attempt, but was immediately seized with a kind of spasm, which drew his face,__________ 52 Herbert Spencer, 'Principles of Sociology,' I, 238. 53 Compare Eggleston, pp. 16-23, 'The evils angels... descended from hobgoblins.' JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 273 arms, and fingers in a most astonishing manner. Hyrum, by Joseph's request, laid bands on the man, whereupon he sunk back in a state of complete exhaustion. Joseph then called upon another man to speak, who stood leaning in an open window. This man also attempted to speak, but was thrown forward into the house, prostrate, unable to utter a syllable. He was administered to, and the same effects followed as in the first instance.' 54 Smith the opportunist again stands forth. Out of the morbid anatomy of his followers he drew hicratic authority to himself. He warns the Saints against being 'seduced by evil spirits, or doctrines of devils;' 55 and then goes on to inquire: -- 'Who can drag into daylight and develop the hidden mysteries of the false spirits that so frequently are made manifest among the Latter-day Saints? We answer that' no man can do this without the Priesthood, and having a knowledge of the laws by which spirits are governed.' 56 In the meanwhile, through these signs and wonders in Ohio, and through the exodus of Saints from New York 57 and the surrounding branches, the Church numbered two thousand. The fourth conconference __________ 54 'Biographical Sketches,' pp. 171-2. 55 'Book of Commandments,' Chapter 49. 56 'Times and Seasons,' 3, 746. 57 Compare 'Book of Commandments,' Chapter 40, 'A Revelation to the churches in New York, commanding them to remove to Ohio.' 274 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM was held at Kirtland and several brethren were called by revelation to the office of High Priest. 58 There now occurred further manifestations of the prophet's influence. June 4th, 1831, was set apart for 'mighty works.' The Saints had been prepared by fasting and prayer, and by the prophecy that they would see the Lord face to face. 59 It is not asserted that the theophany came to pass, but other things did. By long speaking Smith and some others became much excited, hands were then laid on Elder Wright who arose and 'presented a pale countenance, a fierce look, with his arms extended, and his hands cramped back, the whole system agitated, and a very unpleasant object to look upon.' 60 Nevertheless, the success in producing the ecstasy was not uniform. Some of the candidates felt the weight of Joseph's hands thrice before the thing was rightly done; finally the work got beyond his control and, as an eyewitness declared, -- 'then ensued a scene, of which you can form no adequate conception; and which, I would forbear relating, did not the truth require it. The elder moved upon the floor, his legs inclining __________ 58 'Handbook of Reference,' p. 40. 59 'Times and Seasons,' 5, 720, 'This is the word of the Lord to us; on condition of our obedience he has promised us great things; yea, even a visit from the heavens to honor us with His own presence.' 60 Booth, Letter iv. JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 275 to a bend; one shoulder elevated above the other, upon which the head seemed disposed to recline, his arms partly extended; his hands partly clenched; his mouth partly open, and contracted in the shape of an italic O.' Without prolonging the agony of quotation it is happily evident that, within two months, Smith had learned how far to go in these matters. On August 3d, at the dedication of the temple, as one of the number relates, I hundreds of Elders spoke in tongues, but many of them, being young in the Church, and never having witnessed the manifestation of this gift before, felt a little alarmed. This caused the Prophet Joseph Smith to pray the Lord to withhold the spirit.' 61 Tracing the inception and development of obsession in the Mormon Church, it may safely be said that, as an exorcist, Smith at last reached the common sense standpoint of repression. It was not so with his followers. From the acts of the Mormon apostles, at home and abroad, a complete popular demonology might be reconstructed. A few examples may be cited to show that, although the prophet had ordained and dispatched his missionaries, 62 he exercised little control over their doings, __________ 61 Benjamin Brown, p. II. 62 Compare 'Book of Commandments,' Chapter 54, -- 'Let them go two by two, my servant Lyman (W.) and my servant John (C.)' -- and twenty-six others. 276 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM But it is better worth while to note how all this was preparatory to a wider role, how it all played into the hands of Joseph the faith healer. From the delusions of the patients and the misconceptions of the operators, one can get an idea of the material there was to work upon. To take certain typical cases, in their order: Parley Pratt narrates that in i836, near Toronto, Canada, he found a woman prostrated by some power and in an agony of distress. She was drawn and twisted in every limb, and, despite repressive measures, would be so drawn out of all shape as to only touch the bed with her heels and head. She often cried out that she could see two devils in human form, who would bruise and pinch her, and she could hear them talk. But as the bystanders could not see them, but only the effects they did not know what to think. I Finally,' says Pratt, 'she runs to me for she said she knew she could be healed if she could but get a sight of the man of God. 63 How the Mormon leaders lugged in an enginery of spirits to explain a group of morbid symptoms is further exemplified in Elder Kimball's letter of 1837, on a 'singular circumstance.' 64 The scene was laid in Lancashire, England; when Kimball __________ 63 Pratt, pp. i67-8. 64 Elders Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1; compare Millenial Star, 16, 31, and also Kimball's Journal, p. 20, -- 'Brother JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 277 attempted to lay hands on a brother afflicted with evil spirits, he began to 'tremble and reel to and fro, and fell on the floor like a dead man.' Then, as another elder explains, 'the devils were exceeding angry because we attempted to cast them out; they made a powerful attempt upon Elder Kimball and struck him senseless. But we laid our hands on him, he recovered his strength in part, and we could very sensibly hear the evil spirits rage and foam out their shame. Br Kimball was quite weak for a day or two after.' The medieval point of view, the utter ignorance of natural causes, the reading in of preconceived notions are all to be found in the parallel accounts. 65 __________ Russell called on Elder Hyde and me to pray for him, for he was so afflicted with evil spirits that be could not live long until he should obtain relief, we arose and laid bands on him and prayed. While I was thus engaged, I was struck with great force by some invisible power and fell senseless on the floor as if I bad been shot, and the first thing I recollected was, that I was supported by Brothers Hyde and Russell, who were beseeching a throne of grace on my behalf. They then laid me on the bed, but my agony was so great that I could not endure, and I was obliged to get out, and fell on my knees and began to pray. I then sat on the bed and could distinctly see the evil spirits, who foamed and gnashed their teeth upon us. We gazed upon them about an hour and a hall... I perspired exceedingly, my clothes as wet as if I had been taken out of the river.... Weakness of body, from shock.' 65 Woodruff, 'Journal,' p. 85, gives a third account of the above episode. He says, in 1840: -- 'I had only just lain down, when it seemed as if a legion of devils made war upon us, to destroy us, 278 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM Moreover the operators were but once on the outskirts of the truth, -- that the mental influence of the bystanders has something to do with the matter. Curiously enough the latter instance happened in the year in which a London physician was utilizing in his practice the suggestive side of mesmerism. 66 In 1839, in his mission to England, Elder Woodruff tried to cast a devil from a woman, I but,' he explains, 'the unbelief of the wicked present was so great that we could not cast the devil out of her, and she raged worse than ever; when the room was cleared I succeeded, she was cured and fell asleep.' 67 It was by virtue of 'faith' that Smith affected some alleviations of non-organic troubles; he had __________ and we were struggling for our lives in the midst of this warfare of evil spirits until we were nearly choked to death.' -- This scene is described a third time, with later embellishments, when Hyde writes to Kimball, May 22d, 1856: -- 'Every circumstance is fresh in my recollection. After you were overcome by them and had fallen, their awful rush upon me with knives, threats, imprecations and hellish grins convinced me that they were no friends of mine, While you were apparently senseless and lifeless on the floor I stood between you and the devils and fought them and contended against them face to face.... The last imp turned and said, "I never said anything against you" -- I replied -- "Depart" -- and the room was clear.' 66 Dr. Elliotson; compare Moll, p. 36i. 67 'Journal,' p. 76. Brigham Young, Journal,' p. 104, alleges the following as results of these 'miracles': -- 'We landed in 1840, strangers and penniless. When we left, in less than two years, we had baptized between seven and eight thousand souls.' JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 279 learned by experience the prime value of the subject's attitude of trust. It was much less so with his ministers of healing. In 1844, in Virginia, 68 after a Sunday service of baptism and confirmation, six elders had a 'contest with evil spirits.' It was presumably a case of hysterics, which ultimately spread and alternately affected three girls for thirty-six __________ 68 'Early Scenes from Church History,' by H. G. B., pp. 13-15: -- There lay the girl stretched upon a bed apparently lifeless, without breath or motion.... As soon as I opened my mouth, I began to cast a devil out of her, which was farthest from my thoughts before I commenced. I commanded, ... the evil spirit immediately departed from her, she being restored to her normal condition, seemingly as well as ever. Not ten minutes after, the same evil spirit entered another girl Elder Hamilton was mouth with myself in casting it out A third young sister was attacked in the same way 'I'his third one was no sooner rid of the evil spirit, than it returned and took possession, the second time, of the one last before relieved of its power; and when it was cast out from this one, it took possession of the third one again, and so on alternately.... for three or four times. But the spirit never returned the second time to the first sister that was attacked that evening. At the end of two or three hours, we separated the two girls,... as far as we could.... There were six of us in attendance.... While possessed with this evil spirit, the girls would sometimes lay in a trance, motionless, and apparently without breathing, till we were ready to conclude they were dead, then they would come to and speak and sing in tongues, and talk about Priesthood and the endowments. At other times they would choke up, ceasing to breathe until they were black in the face, and we thought they would surely die. Sometimes they would froth at the mouth and act like they were in a fit. If standing upon their feet when taken, they would fall to the floor and act like they were struggling for life with some unseen power. Read Mark 18: 14-29.' 280 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM hours. The narrator, at first, blundered into success, -- without thinking, he commanded the devil to depart, and the girl was restored to her normal condition. When the hysteria became collective, and the imps seemed to play tag from one poor creature to another, the Mormon elders were as helpless as were the Puritan divines before the Salem witches. One more example will show the aboriginality of the Latter-day Saints' belief. Elder Hill, while a missionary among the Shoshone and Bannock Indians, found eight or nine of them possessed of the evil one. 69 In attempting to bestow upon the 'baptism for the health,' he found that they had been practicing too much witchcraft and black art. Without entering upon the psychology of the __________ 69 'Faith Promoting Series, No. 2,' pp. 91-2, 'Baptism for the Health':-, There were in this county eight or nine who were possessed of the evil one, or something of that kind. The first of these was a large, strong woman. An Indian is no more afraid of water than a duck is, but when I raised this woman out of the water she wilted and dropped on my arm, as lifeless, to all appearance, as if she had been dead a week.-- The old chief told me that these eight or nine cases bad been practicing their witchcraft and working with their black art so much that be did not expect anything else of them. -- Some of those that were operated upon in this way were men, and when I would raise them out of the water they would bang upon my arm breathless and as limber as a half filled sack of wheat.... The Lamanites are very much like other people: some of them have got faith and will be healed of any sickness, no matter how severe.' JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 281 Lamanites, or citing more of these 'early scenes in church history,' 70 one can understand how a regular Mormon demonology came, after a manner, to be __________ 70 Benjamin Brown, in 'Testimonies for the Truth,' in a later strange account of an exorcism, incidentally touches on the significance of mental suggestion. Speaking of the Pomphret Branch where a 'sister was possessed,' he says: -- 'Directly we entered her room, she called out, 'Take your shoes from off your feet, this is Holy Ground, the Prophet Elijah is here." I saw the spirit by which she was influenced, so I walked up to her and said, "I am a servant of the Lord, I obey no command of the Devil." She became uproarious directly... she arose from the bed, on her feet, without apparently bending a joint in her body, stiff as a rod of iron. (After praying.) The evil spirit then came out full of fury, and as he passed by one of the brethren seized him by both arms, and gripped them violently, and passing towards me, something which by the feel appeared like a man's hand, grasped me by both sides of my face, and attempted to pull me sideways to the ground, but the hold appearing to slip I recovered my balance immediately. My face was sore for some days after this. The other brother that was seized was lame for a week afterwards. As soon as this was done, the sister partially recovered, so much so that she obeyed anything I chose to tell her to do, whereas before she was perfectly ungovernable. Still she seemed to be surrounded by some evil influence. This puzzled us, for we knew the spirit was cast out, but we learned the cause afterwards. just then it was revealed to us that if we went to sleep, the Devil would enter one of the brethren. My nephew, Melvin Brown, neglected the warning, and composed himself to sleep in an armchair, while we were still watching with the sister. Directly he did so, the Devil entered into him, and he became black in the face and nearly suffocated. He awoke immediately, and motioned for us to lay hands on him, for be could not speak. We did so and the evil spirit then left him, and he recovered at once.' 282 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM formulated. Thus Whitmer avowed, 'False spirits, which come as an Angel of Light, are abroad in the world. 71 and Woodruff announced, -- 'after a powerful attack of the enemy, -- I estimate one hundred evil spirits to every person on earth whose whole mission and labor is to lead men to do evil.' 72 __________ 71 'Address,' p. 35. 72 'Journal,' p. 84. |
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Smith's varied activities during the fifteen years of his public life, 1 give a final notion of the restlessness and instability of his character. It is impossible to gather up these scattered threads in one caption, but there is a common principle which binds together the events of 1830 with those of 1844. The prophet began his career with a revelation on communism, he ended it with what may be termed a revelation on matrimonial collectivism. The latter topic, in the nature of the case, can only be touched upon, but the former is important in showing the hap-hazard mental development of the man. Unlike his occultism, Joseph's socialism may be traced to certain formal movements of his day. 2 Besides this source there was another mind as intermediary. __________ 1 Unless otherwise specified, the references hereafter are to the 'Times and Seasons.' 2 The following works have been consulted on this topic: R. T. Ely, 'French and German Socialism in Modern Times,' New York, 1833; H. A. James, 'Communism in America,' New York, 1879; Meredith Nicholson, 'The Hoosiers,' 1900; Charles Nordhoff, 'The Communistic Societies of the United States,' New York. 308 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM But to consider the historic setting in its general aspects. Of the six communistic societies of the United States, considered worth treatment by the authorities a generation ago, only half could have influenced young Mormonism. The Icarians settled at Nauvoo, but that was after the Mormon exodus. In New York State the Perfectionists had their Oneida community, but this combination of polygamy and polyandry was not started until 1848. Six years before the German Inspirationists had their Amana community near Buffalo. These settlements may have given hints to Brigham Young the usurper, they were too late to influence Joseph Smith the founder. Turning to the other communistic societies, it should be incidentally noticed that all but those on the Wabash were celibate in their tendencies. As early as 1828, the United Society of Believers claimed sixteen branches in the land, and four years before the publication of the Book of Mormon, their Groveland Society was started on the Genesee. That these rustic doctrinaires gave hints to young Joseph is an open question. In 1842, he spoke of the Shakers with but half-concealed contempt; at __________ 1875; W. L. Sargent, 'Robert Owen and his Social Philosophy,' London, 1860; Albert Shaw, 'Icaria, A Chapter in the History of Communism,' New York, 1884; Warner, 'Cooperation Among the Mormons,' Johns Hopkins University Studies, 6th series, VII and VIII. FINAL ACTIVITIES 309 any rate, nine years previous they refused to affiliate with the Latter-day Saints. The remaining semi-socialistic groups were of small size, but of great influence on Mormonism -- and that through the medium of Sidney Rigdon. Near Pittsburg, the scene of his earlier activities, the Rappists founded their New Harmony Society, in 1805; they moved from Pennsylvania to Indiana in 1814, and ten years after, sold out to Robert Dale Owen. Here comes in a most curious link between the father of English socialism and the man who was said to have 'invented' Mormonism. 3 Rigdon was at one time hand in glove with the redoubtable Alexander Campbell, the same who had attacked Owen as an infidel, and had called his New Harmony Gazette, 'the focus of the lights of scepticism. 4 That Owen's free and easy ideas on marriage cropped out in the Mormon spiritual wife system is improbable, but his socialistic notions were already common property. In 1824, he made speeches before Congress; in 1829, he held an eight day debate with Alexander Campbell in Cincinnati, Ohio, at which 1,200 persons were said to be present. How the doctrines of Fourier worked their crooked way into Rigdon's cracked skull is a side issue: yet here, in the Western Reserve, there was a diluted __________ 3 New York Times, Saturday Review of Books, January 11, 1902. 4 Venable, p. 222. 310 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM socialism a decade before the Brook Farm experiment. In view of these things, Smith's claim to socialistic originality is absurd; his followers were no more troubled about the theory of the thing than a hive of bees; but the prophet's appropriation of Rigdon's socialistic ideas is as patent as his grafting of Rigdon's Kirtland branch into his own church. The way the seer and revelator put a religious veneer on these borrowings is highly characteristic. Like the Separatists, who settled at Zoar, Ohio, in 1819, a score of families in Rigdon's locality had already formed themselves into a common stock company. Smith says that since Rigdon's Church at Kirtland 'had all things in common, the idea arose that this was the case with the Church of Jesus Christ.' He adds that the 'plan of "Common Stock" which had existed in what was called "the family,"... was readily abandoned for the more perfect law of the Lord.' Of what this 'law for the government of the Church ' consisted, is explained in a revelation of February, 1831: 'If thou lovest me, thou shalt serve me and keep all my commandments. FINAL ACTIVITIES 311 church, after that he has received the properties of my church, that it cannot be taken from the church, he shall appoint every man a steward over his own property, or that which he has received, inasmuch as is sufficient for himself and family; and the residue shall be kept to administer to him who has not, that every man may receive accordingly as he stands in need; and the residue shall be kept in my storehouse, to administer to the poor and needy, as shall be appointed by the elders of the church and the bishop; and for the purpose of purchasing lands, and the building up of the New Jerusalem, which is hereafter to be revealed; that my covenant people be gathered in one, in the day that I shall come to my temple; and this I do for the salvation of my people. And it shall come to pass, that he that sinneth and repenteth not, shall be cast out, and shall not receive again that which he has consecrated unto me; for it shall come to pass, that which I spoke by the months of my prophets shall be fulfilled, for I will consecrate the riches of the Gentiles unto my people, which are of the house of Israel. 5 The form which the law of the Lord ultimately took reads like a page from Gulliver's Travels; it is worth quoting, if only to show that the fancy of the Latter-day prophet was as weird as the mad dean's Kingdom of Laputa: -- 'Revelation given April 23d, 1834, to Enoch, (Joseph Smith, jun.,), concerning the order of the church for the benefit of the poor. Let my servant Pelagoram (Sidney Rigdon) have appointed unto him the place where he now resides, and the lot of Tahhanes (the tannery) for his stewardship, for his support while he is laboring__________ 5 'Book of Commandments,' Chapter 44. For the financial side of these revelations compare 'Doctrine and Covenants,' sects. 19, 24, 43, 58, 63, 84. 312 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM in my vineyard, even as I will when I shall command him; But the prophet's schemes had a serious financial side. The first tithing, in 1834 is said to have been only a 'conditional covenant with the Lord.' This celestial application of the promissory note should be compared with the 'Revelation given at Far West, July 8th, 1838, in answer to the question: O Lord, show unto thy servants how much thou requirest of the properties of the people for a tithing? FINAL ACTIVITIES 313 When Smith ridiculed the Millerites for their millennial fears he had forgotten the early financial panic in his own church. In their haste to escape the wrath to come, many of the Saints sold their eastern possessions at a loss, and hastened to Zion as to the ark of safety, -- 'for after much tribulation cometh the blessings' said the prophet. A revelation of August, 1831, gives the details of the coming feast of fat things:' -- 'And I give unto my servant, Sidney, a commandment, that he shall write a description of the land of Zion, and a statement of the will of God, as it shall be made known by the Spirit, unto him; The project on which the leaders slipped up was the Kirtland Safety Society Bank. There are occasionally to be seen the notes of this institution, signed -- 'J. Smith, Jr., Cashier, Sidney Rigdon, President.' Some one has sardonically called attention to the engraving on these bank notes, representing a fleeced sheep. But the fancy does not come up to the fact. In entire conformity to the wild-cat speculations of antebellum days, the 314 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM prophet announced that this bank would 'swallow up all other banks.' How it failed for $1000,000 6 and how Smith took advantage of the bankruptcy laws is not half so illuminating as the way in which the church conference 'moved and seconded that the debts of Kirtland should come up no more.' Joseph's prophetic financeering was one of the reasons why the Mormons were at last driven from Ohio. But even the seer and revelator could not fool all the people, all the time. He opened up a subscription to the 'Nauvoo House, -- a delightful habitation for man, and a resting place for the weary traveller.' But subscriptions came in slowly, for the thrifty Saints were not yet under the paw of Brigham. As Parley Pratt so plaintively remarked, 'a woman comes here and keeps her money sewed up in her stays, instead of entering into business with it.' These communistic ambitions died hard. Backed up by restorationist expectations, they made an irresistible appeal to Joseph's imagination. Those Utopian schemes, that Josiah Quincy mentioned, had long been fermenting in the prophet's brain, and were now put on paper. If a literary comparison is allowable, Lord Verulam with his New Atlantis, or Campanella with his City of the Sun could not hold a candle to Smith with his new Mormon __________ 6 Millennial Star, 19, 343; 20, 108. FINAL ACTIVITIES 315 Zion, soon to arise on the Western Frontiers. By the revelation of June 25, 1833, a square mile of land was to be obtained and on it were to be built 'a house of the Lord for the presidency of the high and most holy priesthood after the order of Melchisedec; the sacred apostolic repository for the use of the bishop; the holy evangelical house, for the high priesthood of the holy order of God; house of the Lord for the elders of Zion; house of the Lord for the presidency of the high priesthood; house of the Lord for the high priesthood after the order of Aaron; house of the Lord for the teachers in Zion; house of the Lord for the deacons in Zion.' 7 __________ 7 Compare Bancroft, p. 96: -- A plan and specifications for the new city of Zion were sent out from Kirtland. The plot was one mile square, drawn to a scale of 660 feet to one inch, Each square was to contain ten acres, or 660 feet fronts. Lots were to be laid out alternately in the squares; in one, fronting north or south; in the next east or west; each lot extending to the centre line of its square, with a frontage of sixty-six feet and a depth of 330 feet, or half an acre. By this arrangement in one square the houses would stand on one street, and in the square opposite on another street. Through the middle of the plot ran a range of blocks 66o feet by 990 feet set apart for the public buildings, and in these the lots were all laid off north and south, the greatest length of the blocks being from east to west: thus making all the lots equal in size. The whole plot was supposed to be sufficient for the accommodation of from 15,000 to 20,000 people. All stables, barns, etc., were to be built north or south of the plot, none being permitted in the city among the houses. Sufficient adjoining ground on all sides was to be reserved for supplying the city with vegetables, etc. All streets 'were to be 132 feet (eight perches) 316 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM But the work dragged on; eight years later the prophet, writing from the city of Nauvoo, urged the brethren to come in without delay, for this was the cornerstone of Zion; 'here the Temple must be raised, the University built, and other edifices be erected which are necessary for the great work of the last days.' In the meantime, word was sent to 'the Saints in England who are extremely poor and __________ wide, and a like width was to be laid off between the temple and its surrounding streets. But one house was to be built on a lot, and that must front on a line twenty-five feet from the street, the space in front to be set out with trees, shrubs, etc., according to the builder's taste. All houses to be of either brick or stoiie. The house of the Lord for the presidency was to be sixty-one feet by eighty-seven feet, ten feet of the length for a stairway. The interior was so arranged as to permit its division into four parts by curtains. At the east and west ends were to be pulpits arranged for the several grades of president and council, bishop and council, high priests and elders, at the west; and the lesser priesthood, comprising presidency, priests, teachers, and deacons, at the east. Provision was also made to scat visiting officers according to their grades. The pews were fitted with sliding seats, so that the audience could face either pulpit as required. There was to be no gallery, but the house was to be divided into two stories of fourteen feet each. A bell of very large size was also ordered. Finally, on each public building must be written Holiness to the Lord. When this plot was settled, another was to be laid out, and so on. "Times and Seasons," vi. 785-7, 800. Zion City -- its prototype in Enoch's City. Young's "History of the Seventies," 9-15, No. 10, in "Mormon Pamphlets." It was revealed to Smith that the waters of the Gulf of Mexico covered the site of a prehistoric city, built by and named for Enoch; and that it was translated because its inhabitants had become so far advanced that further earthly residence was unnecessary. Zion, Smith's ideal city, was finally to reach a like state of perfection.' FINAL ACTIVITIES 317 not accustomed to the farming business... this place has advantages for manufacturing and commercial purposes, which but very few can boast of; and by establishing cotton factories, foundries, potteries etc., etc., would be the means of bringing in wealth and raising it to a very important elevation.' At this time, the president of the church complained of being overwhelmed with a multiplicity of business. To run over his Journal, and to extract but one event a year, will give an idea of the number of irons he had in the fire. Besides the United Firm and the Safety Bank, he had already started the Literary Firm and the Mercantile Establishment. In 1833, he dedicated the printing office of the Latter-day Saints' Messenger and Advocate. In 1834, he organized the First High Council of the Church of Christ, with himself, Rigdon and Williams as the First Presidency. In 1835, he chose the Twelve Apostles, among whom were Brigham Young, the Lion of the Lord; Parley Pratt, the Archer of Paradise; and Lyman Wight, the Wild Ram of the Mountain. In 1836, Smith organized the several quorums, first the Presidency, then the Twelve, and the Seventy, also the counsellors of Kirtland and Zion. In 1837, he set apart apostles Kimball and Hyde to go to a mission to England, the first foreign mission of the Church. In 1838, 318 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM during the Missouri troubles, he traveled as far away as Monmouth County, New Jersey, to strengthen the new branches. Returning to Missouri, and being confined in Liberty jail, Clay County, he warned his followers against starting any more secret societies. In 1839, the prophet had his hands full in assisting fifteen thousand persecuted saints to escape from Missouri. In 1840, he succeeded in obtaining from the Illinois legislature charters for the City of Nauvoo, the University of Nauvoo, and the Nauvoo Legion. 8 Joseph Smith, junior, now gained a title of which he was immensely proud, -- he became a lieutenant-general. 'Amid loud peals from the artilery,' runs the official account, 'accompanied by his aids-de-camp and conspicuous strangers, he laid the chief corner-stone of the Temple of our God.' Joseph as a military bishop cuts a strange figure. Once when his companions in arms were in dread of the mob, who were disguised as Delaware Indians, 'the prophet came along and said "God and liberty is the watchword. Fear them not, for their hearts are cold as cucumbers."' 9 General Joseph Smith dressed in full uniform standing on the top of a house, brandishing his sword towards heaven, and delivering his last public __________ 8 Compare 'Revised Laws of the Nauvoo Legion,' 1844. 9 Stevenson, 'Reminiscences,' p. 37. 
FINAL ACTIVITIES 319 speech, -- this is Joseph the histrione. 10 But to the rank and file life was not an opera bouffe. Their very enemies acknowledged their terrible sufferings undergone in Missouri, while in 1841 the Chicago Democrat regrets to learn that Illinois is beginning to persecute the saints in the Bounty Tract. 11 Of the way the prophet became involved in politics, only brief notice can begiven. While mayor of Nauvoo, Smith was accused of attempting to found a military church; he replied that the Nauvoo Legion was not got up for sinister or illegal purposes, yet in general orders he invites recruits __________ 10 'The Martyrs,' pp. 59-61. 11 'Joseph the Seer,' p. 191: -- Professor Turner, sometime of Illinois College, an open and bitter opponent of the Church of the Latter-day Saints, in writing of the conduct of Missouri towards the Mormons, says: "Who began the quarrel? Was it the Mormons? Is it not notorious, on the contrary, that they were hunted like wild beasts, from county to county, before they made any desperate resistance? Did they ever, as a body, refuse obedience to the laws, when called upon to do so, until driven to desperation by repeated threats and assaults from the mob? Did the State ever make one decent effort to defend them as fellow citizens in their rights, or to redress their wrongs? Let the conduct of its governors, attorneys, and the fate of their final petitions answer. Have any who plundered and openly massacred the Mormons ever been brought to the punishment due to their crimes? Let the boasting murderers of begging and helpless infancy answer. Has the State ever remunerated, even those known to be innocent, for the loss of either their property or their arms? Did either the pulpit or the press throughout the state raise a note of remonstrance or alarm? Let the clergymen who abetted, and the editors who encouraged the mob answer."' 320 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM from all his friends and adds in italics, -- 'If we desire to avoid insult we must be ready to repel it.' It was as a political agitator that the prophet took up a role that indirectly led to his death. Nothing could show better the reach of his schemes than the following document: -- 'Duty of the Saints in relation to their persecutors, as set forth by Joseph, the Prophet, while in Liberty jail, Clay County, Missouri, March, 1839:-- And again, we would suggest for your consideration the propriety of all the saints gathering up a knowledge of all the facts, and sufferings and abuses put upon them by the people of this state; FINAL ACTIVITIES 321 To sum up Joseph's manifold worldly activities from his community storehouse in Ohio, to his proposition to establish a territorial government, within the bounds of the State of Illinois, 12 to do this -- is to run upon a paradox: he was jack-of-all trades, yet withal master of his followers. His death was counted a martyrdom; his name was speedily canonized; in his portraits a halo was drawn about his head. How the prophet gained his supremacy, how he met disaffection, how at the last his hold on the faithful became absolute, is a story that needs telling. Smith's relations to his aiders and abettors must here be touched upon. One defender says that Joseph's 'easy good-natured way, allowing every one was honest, drew around him hypocrites, false brethren, apostates; for they having mingled in his greatness, knew where and when to take advantage of his weakness.' Relying on statements like these, some critics have explained the success of early Mormonism __________ 12 Compare engrossed petition in Berrian collection, in which it is proposed that the Mayor of Nauvoo, (Joseph Smith, junior) shall have the power 4 to call to his aid a sufficient number of United States forces, in connection with the Nauvoo Legion, to repel the invasion of mobs, keep the public peace, and protect the innocent from the unhallowed ravages of lawless banditti that escape justice on the Western Frontier; and also to preserve the power and dignity of the Union. And be it further ordained that the officers of the United States Army are hereby required to obey the requisitions of this ordinance.' 322 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM as due to Smith's luck in the choice of partners. As Harris had supplied the money, so Pratt supplied the eloquence, and Rigdon the brains. The antithesis is too neat to be true. Smith may have been the unwitting tool of the precious pair from Kirtland, yet from the first the author and proprietor of the Book of Mormon stood in the foreground. Again, to make Rigdon the chief actor, speaking through the mask of the prophet, is a self-contradiction. Thus the revelation of August, 1831, says, in part -- 'And now behold I say unto you, I the Lord am not pleased with my servant Sidney Rigdon, he exalted himself in his heart, and received not my counsel, but grieved the Spirit: wherefore his writing is not acceptable unto the Lord.' A little while after this, Smith thus rebuked, in his own name, another of his associates: -- 'William E. McLellin, the wisest man, in his own estimation, having more learning than sense, endeavored to write a commandment like unto one of the least of the Lord's, but failed.... The elders and all present, that witnessed this vain attempt, renewed their faith in the truth of the commandments and revelations which the Lord had given to the church through my instrumentality. ' But even before Rigdon and Company had appeared in New York State, Smith was asserting his supremacy. In the second conference of the church FINAL ACTIVITIES 323 held at Fayette, while as yet only First Elder, Joseph succeeded in suppressing competition in occult activities. When Hyrum Page received revelations through his rival 'stone,' the prophet was 'in great distress of mind and body, and scarcely knew how to meet the exigency.' Newel Knight, who occupied the same room with him, goes on to say that, after considerable investigation and discussion, the prophet induced 'Brother Page, Oliver Cowdery and the Whitmers to renounce the bogus stone.' 13 Soon after this, the same narrator proceeds, there was a division of feeling in the Colesville branch, because Sister Peck contradicted one of Joseph's revelations. The brethren and sisters were thereupon told that 'they must repent of what they had done, renew their covenants and uphold the authorities placed over them.' But to hurry through the tale: In 1833, Smith was accused of seeking after monarchical power and authority; in pantomimic answer he instituted the ceremony of washing feet, 'girding himself with a towel and washing the feet of the elders.' In 1836, a great apostasy took place in the church at Kirtland, and within three years the Three Witnesses __________ 324 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM were cut off. In the excommunication David Whitmer, the anti-polygamist, is compared to Balaam's ass, Martin Harris is called a negro with a white skin, while all the 'disenters,'says the prophet 'are so far beneath my contempt that to notice any of them would be too great a sacrifice for a gentleman to make.' 14 In view of the fact that most Mormon converts were of Anglo-Saxon stock, it is almost inconceivable that Smith retained any influence over them. 15 Yet in the midst of the Missouri troubles, __________ 14 'Elders' Journal,' 1837. 15 Yet compare Bancroft, p. 82: -- 'The earliest clerk service rendered the prophet Joseph, of which there is any account, was by Martin Harris; Joseph's wife, Emma, then Oliver Cowdery, who, as is claimed, wrote the greater portion of the original manuscript of the "Book of Mormon," as he translated it from the gold plates by the urim and thummim which he obtained with the plates. In March, 1831, John Whitmer was appointed to keep the church record and history continually, Oliver having been ap. pointed to other labors. Whitmer was assisted, temporarily, on occasions of absence or illness by Warren Parrish. At a meeting of high council at Kirtland, Sept. 14, 1835, it was decided that "Oliver Cowdery be appointed, and that he act hereafter as recorder for the church," Whitmer having just been called to be editor of the Messenger and Advocate. At a general conference held in Far West, April 6, 1838, John Corrill and Elias Higbee were appointed historians, and George W. Robinson, general church recorder and clerk for the first presidency." On the death of Elder Robert B. Thompson, which occurred at Nauvoo on the twenty-seventh of August, 1841, in his obituary it is stated: "Nearly two years past he bad officiated as scribe to President Joseph Smith and clerk for the church, which important stations FINAL ACTIVITIES 325 of which the prophet was no small cause, the abnegation of the faithful remnant was well-nigh absolute. Governor Boggs, 'knave, butcher and murderer,' as Joseph called him, had just issued his 'exterminating order,' when the following episode took place, says Elder Stevenson: -- 'In order to show how particular the prophet was regarding the revelations which he received from the Lord, I will relate an incident which occurred in Liberty jail. While the prophet was receiving a revelation, the late Bishop Alexander McRae was writing as Joseph received it. Upon this occasion Brother McRae suggested a slight change in the wording of the revelation, when Joseph sternly asked: "Do you know who you are writing for?" Brother McRae, who at once discovered his mistake, begged the prophet's pardon for undertaking to correct the word of the Lord.' 16 Smith spoke ex-cathedra; he also made assumptions as to temporal power. But theocracy was no sinecure in the far West. From the sentimental point of view, the persecutions of the Saints in __________ he filled with that dignity and honor befitting a man of God." During the expulsion from Missouri, and the early settlement of Nauvoo, James Mulholland, William Clayton, and perhaps others rendered temporary service in this line until the 13th of December, 1841, when Willard Richards was appointed recorder, general clerk, and private secretary to the prophet.' 16 'Reminiscences,' p. 42. 326 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM Missouri mobs deservedly called out sympathetic mass-meetitigs in the East. 17 As to the political merits of the case, the psychologist is obliged to make a Missouri compromise, -- if some of the Borderers were ruffians, some of the Saints were sinners. But as regards the person of the founder of Mormonism, the conflict between church and state must have had far-reaching effects. As some outsider, who saw the prophet at the time, expressed it, 'Joseph Smith then endured bodily affliction and great mental suffering.' But Joseph's struggles with a cruel world were not confined to one year; they were spread over a dozen. From the time he was tarred and feathered in Ohio by 'a banditti of blacklegs, religious bigots, and cut-throats,' to the time he was 'kidnapped in Missouri through the diabolical rascality of Boggs,' -- he was not only pestered with forty-nine civil suits, but was so harried about that once, when moving to a new place, he spoke of being attacked by 'the first regular mob.' A final ticklish question now comes up. Considering Joseph Smith's abnormal ancestry, his emotional __________ 17 Knight, p. 83, 'One large party of women and children, protected only by six men, wandered into the prairie south, and their tracks could be followed by the blood stains on the ground; the prairie grass had been burnt, and the sharp stubble lacerated their uncovered feet, cutting and wounding them in a terrible manner; thus they wandered about for several days.' FINAL ACTIVITIES 327 environment, and his lifelong instability, was not his mind, at the last, seriously affected? The prophet's utterances within a few months of his death read like the utterances of a madman, yet political aspirations may have turned his head in only a figurative sense. His references to 'catamount politicians' and the 'imbecility of American statesmen' may have been the mere pleasantries of the stump-speaker, yet his acts during these times betoken more than a restless fancy. Again and again he went far out of his way in pursuit of his visionary aims. He called on President Van Buren, with a claim on the public treasury amounting to $1,381,044.55 1/2, Having failed to obtain redress from Congress, Smith penned a letter of inquiry to Henry Clay, asking: I What will be your rule of action relative to us as a people, should fortune favor your ascension to the chief magistracy?' 18 The reply from Ashland was courteous, but non-committal. Smith thereupon retorted with an abusive letter, called the Whig candidate a black-leg, and-ran for President himself. The Times and Seasons pushed the Smith-Rigdon ticket, and urged the Saints to vote for 'Joseph Smith, the smartest man in the United States.' On February 7th, 1844, the prophet completed his address entitled, Views of the Powers and Policy of __________ 18 'The Martyrs,' p. 50. 328 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM the Government of the United States, reinforcing his arguments with quotations from various documents, authors and languages, -- among others the Constitution, Addison, French, Webster, Italian, Adams the elder, Thomas Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Hebrew, the Magna Charta, Adams the younger, Jackson, Latin, Chaldean, Dutch and Greek. Whether Smith was now actually demented is for the alienist to decide. But adding his latest utterances to his earliest visionary seizures, it is not too much to say that psychic coordination had disappeared, and that heredity had passed down those abnormal tendencies which mark the degenerate. 19 One is not obliged to believe that Joseph's 'visions' were due to epilepsy of a masked variety. Heredity, as understood by the alienist, ignores any definite type of disease, yet it makes much of mental stigmata. Chief among these are marked sensuality, and exaggerated traits of vanity and self-conceit. In Smith's case there is abundant evidence of the former in his polygamous practices, but only the latter need here be instanced. The same visitor at Nauvoo, who had given a not unfavorable opinion of the prophet, speaks of him as a great egotist. He touched as usual on his peculiar doctrines,... became much excited, talked incessantly about himself, what he had done __________ 19 Compare Thomas Ribot, 'The Diseases of Personality,' 1894. FINAL ACTIVITIES 329 and could do ignore than other mortals, and remarked that he was 'a giant, physically and mentally.' This utterance was reported to have been made about a year before Smith's assassination, which occurred June 27th, 1844. But the prophet's own written words are the final test of his mental condition. The statement of April, 1844, would be incredible, were it not corroborated by the statement of November, 1843: --
I know more than all the world put together.'
I combat the error of ages; I meet the violence of mobs; I cope with illegal proceedings from executive authority; I cut the Gordian knot of powers, and I solve mathematical problems of universities WITH TRUTH, diamond truth, and GOD IS MY RIGHT-HAND MAN.' |
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[ 369 ]
__________ 1 References: -- H. H. Bancroft, 'History of Utah,' 1890; 'Handbook of Reference,' 1884; E. D. Howe, 'Mormonism Unvailed,' 1834; J. H. Kennedy, 'Early Days of Mormonism,' 1888; 'The Manuscript Found'... From a Verbatim Copy of the Original... including correspondence,' 1885; R. Patterson, 'Who Wrote the Book of Mormon?' 1882; A. T. Schroeder, 'The Origin of the Book of Mormon,' 1901; 'Times and Seasons,' 4, 179 ff.; B. Winchester, 'The Origin of the Spaulding Story,' 1840. 370 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM which the famous Golden Bible was brought before the world. To which are added, inquiries into the probability that the historical part of the said Bible was written by one Solomon Spaulding, more than twenty years ago, and by him intended to have been published as a romance.' According to the account of his widow, 2 Solomon Spaulding was born in Connecticut in 1761, and was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1785. Becoming a Congregational minister, in 1809 he removed to New Salem, now Conneaut, Ohio. Being of a lively imagination and with a great fondness for history, he became interested in the numerous mounds and forts of Ohio, supposed to be the works of an extinct race. To beguile his invalidism he took three years in writing a historical sketch of this long lost race. Their extreme antiquity led him to write in the most ancient style, his sole object being to amuse himself and his neighbors. The book claimed to have been written by one of the lost nation, and to have been recovered from the earth. It assumed the title of the 'Manuscript Found.' Its date was 1812, about the time of Hull's surrender of Detroit. In that year Mr. Spaulding removed to Pittsburg and offered the manuscript to the printer Patterson, in whose office it was copied by an employee, Sidney Rigdon. At length the __________ 2 Boston Recorder, May [sic, Apr. 19] 1839. THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 371 manuscript was returned to its author.... In 1834, at New Salem, Ohio, a Mormon preacher read copious extracts from the Book of Mormon. The historical part was recognized by the older inhabitants as the identical work of Mr. Spaulding. 'Thus an historical romance, with the addition of a few pious expressions and extracts from the sacred scripture, has been construed into a new Bible.' Of the ultimate fate of this manuscript, nothing is said by Spaulding's widow, but Howe claimed to have found, among Spaulding's literary remains, -- 'a single manuscript book, containing about one quire of paper. It was a romance purporting to have been translated from the Latin, found in twenty- four rolls of parchment in a cave, on the banks of Conneaut Creek, but written in modern style, and giving a fabulous account of a ship being driven upon the American coast, while proceeding from Rome to Britain, a short time previous to the Christian era; this country being then inhabited by Indians. This old manuscript has been shown to several of the foregoing witnesses, who recognize it as Spaulding's, he having told them that he had altered his first plan of writing by going further back with dates, and writing in the old scripture style in order that it might appear more ancient. They say that it bears no resemblance to the 'Manuscript Found.' 372 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM It should here be noted that, as early as 1834 there appear to enter into the problem two distinct Spaulding manuscripts, -- one primary, which may be called the 'Latin version' (L), the other subsequent and secondary, the 'Hebraic version' (H). These, and possibly other manuscripts, are also referred to in the testimonies of the 'older inhabitants,' which Howe cites, and which will be scrutinized later. Howe's book, with its double form of the Spaulding theory, was of course criticised in the Mormon Church organ. 3 It was answered at length, in 1840, by B. Winchester's, 'The origin of the Spaulding story concerning the 'Manuscript Found'; with a short biography of Dr. p. Hulbert, the originator of the same; and some testimony adduced, showing it to be a sheer fabrication so far as its connection with the 'Book of Mormon' is concerned.' The hypothesis of the agency of Hulbert (or Hurlburt) rests chiefly on the testimony of one Jackson, who, having read both the Book of Mormon and Spaulding's manuscript, said that there was no agreement between them, for 'Mr. Spaulding's manuscript was a very small work, in the form of a novel, saying not one word about the children of Israel, but professed to give an account of a race of people who originated from the __________ 3 'Times and Seasons,' 3, 906. THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 373 Romans, which Mr. Spaulding said he had translated from a Latin parchment that he had found.' 4 For almost fifty years the treatises of Howe and Winchester contained the most valuable first-hand information. Other works, on both sides, simply rehashed the old arguments. A possible exception is the pamphlet, in 1882, of Robert Patterson, son of the Pittsburg printer. In attempting to prove that Rigdon was the connecting link between Spaulding and Smith, he acknowledged that he could find only five witnesses who could testify to Rigdon's residence in Pittsburg before 1816, and that none of these could speak from personal knowledge of Rigdon's possible employment in Patterson's printing office. Patterson yet asserts 'that Rigdon as early as 1823 had possession of Spaulding's manuscript. How he obtained it is unimportant; that during his career as a minister of the Disciples' Church in Ohio, he devoted an absorbed attention to it; that he was aware of the forthcoming Book of Mormon and its contents long before its appearance; that the said contents were largely Spaulding's romance, and partly such modifications as Rigdon had introduced, and that during the preparation of the Book of Mormon, Rigdon had repeated and long interviews with Smith, thus __________ 4 Compare Scribner's Magazine, October, 1881, p. 946. 374 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM easily supplying him with fresh installments of the pretended revelation.' In 1885 came an apparent settlement of the question, by the discovery of the alleged original of Spaulding's 'Manuscript Found' in Honolulu. Despite its acceptance by Latter-day Saints and their critics alike it appears a dubious production for a graduate of Dartmouth. It does not seem to have occurred to either side that this may be like McPherson's Ossianic poems -- after-thoughts made to order; that the 'Conneaut' story which purports to have been translated from parchment in 'Roman Letters in the Latin Language' may be only another example of the literature of disguise; that with Howe's classic description of this Latin version (L) before them, the Mormon missionaries in the Sandwich Islands -- such as W. F. Cluff and G. Q. Cannon -- may have forged this document to fit the case, and to divert attention from the complexity of the problem. However that may be, the characteristics of both form and matter may be learned from a few excerpts and also from the correspondence relative to its discovery: -- 5 'Near the west bank of the Coneaught River there are the remains of an ancient fort. As I was walking and __________ 5 Words and sentences underlined were stricken out in the manuscript. Places marked thus... the copy was illegible. THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 375 forming various conjectures respecting the character situation & numbers of those people who far exceeded the present Indians in works of art and inginuety, I hapned to tread on a flat stone. This was at a small distance from the fort, & it lay on the top of a great small mound of Earth exactly horizontal. The face of it had a singular appearance. I discovered a number of characters, which appeared to me to be letters, but so much effaced by the ravages of time, that I could not read the inscription. AN EPITOME OF THE AUTHOR'S LIFE & OF HIS ARIVAL IN AMERICA. As it is possible that in some future age this part of the Earth will be inhabited by Europians & a history of its present inhabitants would be a valuable acquisition I proceed to write one & deposit it in a box secured.... so that the ravages of time will have no effect upon it that you may know the author I will give a succint account of his life and of the cause of his arrival which I have extracted from a manuscript which will be deposited with this history. * * * * * Not far behind appeared Ramack, the King of Geneseo. 376 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM move. At the head of ten Thousand bold & robust wariors, he appeared at the place of general rendezvoz, within one day after the King of Cataraugus had arrived. He bosted of the rapidity of his movements & tho he commanded the smallest division of the grand army, yet he anticipated distinguished laurels of glory, not less than what would be obtained by their first commanders. When these kings with their forces had all arived at Tolanga, the Emperor Rambock ordered them to parade on a great plain. They obeyed 'Brave warriors. It is with the greatest satisfaction & joy, that I now behold you assembled to revenge Ex-President J. H. Fairchild, of Oberlin College, in the library of which this document now rests. has compared the manuscript with the Book of Mormon and sees no reason to doubt this is the long THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 377 lost story and yet can detect no resemblance between the two in general and in detail except that each professes to set forth the history of lost tribes. 6 A letter of the finder, dated Honolulu, March 28th, 1885, to Mr. Joseph Smith, president of the Reorganized Church of L. D. S., gives further details: -- 'The Spaulding Manuscript in my possession came into my hands in this wise. In 1839-40 my partner and myself bought of E. D. Howe the Painesville Telegraph, published at Painesville, Ohio. The transfer of the printing department, types, press, &c., was accompanied with a large collection of books, manuscripts, &c., this manuscript of Spaulding among the rest. So, you see, it has been in my possession over forty years. But I never examined it, or knew the character of it, until some six or eight months since. The wrapper was marked, 'Manuscript Story -- Conneaut Creek.' The wonder is, that in some of my movements, I did not destroy or burn it with a large amount of rubbish that had accumulated from time to time. It happened that Pres't Fairchild was here on a visit, at the time I discovered the contents of it, and it was examined by him and others with much curiosity. Since Pres't Fairchild published the fact of its existence in my possession, I have had applications for it from half a dozen sources, each applicant seeming to think that he or she was entitled to it. Mr. Howe says when he was getting up a book to expose Mormonism as a fraud at an early day, when the Mormons had their headquarters at Kirtland, he obtained it from some source, and it was inadvertently __________ 6 'Bibliotheca Sacra,' January, 1885, p. 173 ff. 378 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM transferred with the other effects of the printing office. A. B. Deming, of Painesville, who is also getting up some kind of a book I believe on Mormonism, wants me to send it to him. This Manuscript does not purport to be 'a story of the Indians formerly occupying this continent;' but is a history of the wars between the Indians of Ohio and Kentucky, and their progress in civilization, &c. It is certain that this Manuscript is not the origin of the Mormon Bible, whatever some other manuscript may have been. The only similarity between them, is, in the manner in which each purports to have been found -- one in a cave on Conneaut Creek -- the other in a hill in Ontario County, New York. There is no identity of names, of persons, or places; and there is no similarity of style between them. As I told Mr. Deming, I should as soon think the Book of Revelations was written by the author of Don Quixotte, as that the writer of this Manuscript was the author of the Book of Mormon. Deming says Spaulding made three copies of 'Manuscript Found,' one of which Sidney Rigdon stole from a printing office in Pittsburg. You can probably tell better than I can, what ground there is for such an allegation. In a postscript Mr. Rice says he found the following endorsement on the Manuscript: 'The writings of Solomon Spaulding proved by Aron Wright, Oliver Smith, John N. Miller and others. The testimonies of the above gentlemen are now in my possession, (Signed) D. p. HURLBUT.' Rice's subsequent conclusion that his find was 'the only writing of Spaulding,' is contradicted by THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 379 the testimony of the 'living witnesses' of 1833, quoted by Howe. The affidavits of the three endorsers of the Honolulu document are as follows: Aaron Wright said Spaulding possessed beside 'many other manuscripts, a history of the lost tribes of Israel... their journey from Jerusalem to America, as it is given in the Book of Mormon, excepting the religious matter.' Oliver Smith said Spaulding 'was writing an historical novel founded upon the first settlers of this country,... their journey from Jerusalem till their arrival in America. No religious matter was introduced.' John N. Miller said, 'In 1811 Spaulding had two or three books or pamphlets on different subjects... one called the "Manuscript Found," -- a history of the settlement of America... from Jerusalem. I have recently examined the Book of Mormon, and find in it the writings of Solomon Spaulding, from beginning to end, but mixed up with scripture and other religious matter, which I did not meet with in the "Manuscript Found." Many of the passages in the Mormon book are verbatim from Spaulding, and others in part.' These three witnesses identify the Book of Mormon with the Hebrew version (H). Of the other witnesses only one would seem to refer to (L). He said 'I have lately read the Book of Mormon, and believe it to be the same as Spaulding 380 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM wrote, except the religious part.' Now Howe's witnesses later contradict themselves. When the Latin version (L) was subsequently shown to 'several of the foregoing witnesses' they said that it 'bears no resemblance to the "Manuscript Found" in the old scripture style.' In other words the 'original autographs' of Spaulding were at least two, which of these, if either furnished matter to Smith for the Book of Mormon, it is now impossible to discover. In like manner it appears impossible to show how, when or through whom, Smith obtained a Spaulding document which became the 'source, root and inspiration' of the Book of Mormon. The general formula for the anti-Mormon theory is that through Patterson, Rigdon obtained a copy of a Spaulding document, and transmitted the contents to Smith, before the publication of the Book of Mormon. As the question of date is all important, the statements of the parties concerned should first be given and a chronological table compiled therefrom. Howe having had recourse to the firm of Patterson & Lambdin, Pittsburg, 'Mr. Patterson said he had no recollection of any such manuscript being brought there for publication. Now, as Spaulding's book can nowhere be found, or anything heard of it being carried to this establishment, there is the strongest presumption THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 381 that it remained there in seclusion, till about the year 1823, or 1824, at which time Sidney Rigdon located himself in that city. [In] about three years he left there, and came into Geauga County, Ohio... and commenced preaching some new points of doctrine, which were afterwards found to be inculcated in the Mormon Bible. He resided in this vicinity (as a minister of the Disciples' Church) about four years previous to the appearance of the book, during which time he made several long visits to Pittsburg, and perhaps to the Susquehanna, where Smith was then digging for money, or pretending to be translating plates.... About the time Rigdon left Pittsburg, the Smith family began to tell about finding a book that would contain a history of the first inhabitants of America, and that two years elapsed before they finally got possession of it.' Robert Patterson, the son of the Pittsburg printer says: -- 'The theory hitherto most widely published... has been that Rigdon was a printer in Patterson's printing office when the Spaulding manuscript was brought there in 1812-14, and that he either copied or purloined it. Having it thus in his possession, the use made of it was an afterthought suggested by circumstances many years later. More recently another theory has been advanced, that Rigdon obtained possession of the Spaulding manuscript 382 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM during his pastorate of the First Baptist Church or soon thereafter, 1822-4,... the friends of Rigdon, in response to the first charge, deny that he ever resided in Pittsburg previous to 1822, or that he ever was a printer, and in general answer to both charges affirm that he never at any time had access to Spaulding's manuscript.' In the Boston Journal, May 27, 1839, Rigdon says: 'There was no man by the name of Patterson during my residence at Pittsburg who had a printing office; what might have been before I lived there, I know not. Mr. Robert Patterson, I was told, had owned a printing office before I lived in that city.... This Mr. Patterson, who was a Presbyterian preacher, I had a very slight acquaintance with during my residence in Pittsburg. He was then acting under an agency in the book and stationery business, and was the owner of no property of any kind, printing office or anything else, during the time I resided in the city.' The date of Rigdon's Pittsburg residence, is not given specifically here or elsewhere in his writings, 7 __________ 7 Compare holograph letter, Berrian collection. There is also no Pittsburg Directory for 1823-24, but compare the seventy-fifth anniversary of the First Baptist church, now the Fourth Baptist church, Pittsburg, 1812-87: -- Sydney Rigdon was born in Allegheny County, Pa. and was reared on a farm about twelve miles from the city of Pittsburg. He learned the printer's trade, When quite a young man he was THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 383 According to one who knew him late in life, as an ex-Mormon, Rigdon was extremely reticent as to his early movements. 8 Joseph Smith in his Autobiography, inserted a life of Rigdon and prefaced it with the following remarks: 9 'As there has been a great rumor, and many false statements have been given to the world respecting Elder Rigdon's connection with the Church of Jesus Christ, it is necessary that a correct account of the same be given, so that the public mind may be disabused on the subject. I shall therefore proceed to give a brief history of his life down, from authentic __________ baptized into the fellowship of the Peter's Creek Baptist church by Elder David Phillips. He afterwards moved to Warren, Ohio, "from which," says Rev. S. Williams, in his pamphlet, "Mormonism Exposed," "he came to this city, and connected himself with the first regular Baptist church, then in its infancy, on the 18th day of January, 1822. He took the pastoral charge of the church, but before the close of one short year he began to advance sentiments not in accordance with divine truth." He held to "baptismal regeneration."... For this, "and many other abominable errors, he was condemned by a council of ministers and messengers from neighboring churches, which convened in Pittsburg on the 11th of October, 1823."... "By this decision he was excluded from the Baptist denomination." He died at Friendship, a village in Allegheny County, N. Y., July 14th, 1876.' 8 'Times and Seasons,' 4, 172 ff. April, 1843, to end of Vol. iv. 9 Compare manuscript editorial by Dill, Aug. 5, 1876. The writer merely adds confusion to the chronology. He says that the Spaulding manuscript was within the reach of Rigdon between 1811 and I819, and of Smith between 1819-1826. He adds that Rigdon preached at Mentor, Lake County, Ohio, 1821-1829; and at Palmyra, New York, 1830. 384 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM sources, as also an account of his connection with the Church of Christ.' Joseph Smith, in 1843, also said of Rigdon that he was pastor of the First Baptist church in Pittsburg from Feb., 1822, to August, 1824. In 1826 he went to Bainbridge, Ohio, preaching there and at Mantua his own and Alexander Campbell's doctrines of repentance and baptism for the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost. In 1827 he went to Mentor, thirty miles from Bainbridge, and near Lake Erie. The doctrines he there advanced were new, especially the Biblical prophecies concerning the Literal Restoration of Israel. The eight months he was there he baptized many. In the Fall of 1830, Parley Pratt, Oliver Cowdery and Peter Whitmer baptized and ordained Rigdon as a Mormon Elder. Previous to this Pratt had been a preacher in the same church with Rigdon in Amherst, Lorain County, Ohio, and had been sent to New York State where he met Joseph Smith, junior. Rigdon's prevailing characteristic was his entire freedom from any sectarian bias. After a fortnight's reading of the Book of Mormon he was converted. In December, 1830, came the first revelation to Joseph and Sidney at Fayette, New York, saying that Sidney had prepared the way, and in the same month, the second, saying that 'it is not expedient that ye should translate any more, until ye shall go to the THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 385 Ohio.' In January, 1831, Joseph went with Sidney to the branch of the church in Kirtland, Ohio.
__________ 10 P = Patterson; H = Howe. 11 Kennedy, p. 66. 12 Compare 'Times and Seasons,' 'Handbook of Reference,' 'Book of Commandments,' 'Biographical Sketches,' 'Pearl of Great Price.' 386 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM
By comparing the above tables, it is seen that the Mormon sources do not account for Rigdon's movements from about September, 1827, to October, 1830, during which time Howe supposes the visits were made to Smith at Harmony, Pennsylvania. Another supposition is that if Rigdon had no direct connection himself, it may have been through this Ohio associate Pratt. According to Smith's account, 'Elder Parley Pratt had been a preacher in the same church with Elder Rigdon, and resided in the town of Amherst, Lorain County, in that state, and had been sent into the State of New York, on a mission, where he had become acquainted with the circumstances of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and was introduced to Joseph Smith, junior, and others of the Church of Latter-day Saints. After listening to the testimonies of the "witnesses," and reading the THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 387 "Book," he became convinced ... and was baptized. Now the witnesses 'viewed' the plates some time in June, 1829, while the Book of Mormon was copyrighted the 11th instant. From the approximation of dates, it is difficult to see how Pratt could have had time to be the go-between. Thus, judging from the time of Pratt's mission, the period of Rigdon's direct collusion is likewise narrowed. If he had personal intercourse with Smith, it must have been between September, 1827, and June, 1829, but these are the dates, respectively, of the obtaining of the plates and the copyright of the book. In other words the period of manufacture of the Book of Mormon coincides with the period in which Rigdon's movements are unaccounted for. The gap in the Mormon sources is significant and much has been made of it by the opposition. For example, it was 'afterwards discovered that Rigdon's occasional business calls from Kirtland and Mentor tallied with the visits of the mysterious stranger at the Smith residence.' To uphold this double assumption, no dates are given except that, in March, 1828, Rigdon was at Warren, Ohio, and this was over two hundred miles from Smith's itinerary. In fine, Rigdon is a doubtful connecting link; the presumption of collusion is only negative; the argument from silence is strong, but the 388 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM case falls, if an alibi can be proved for Rigdon, -- if he was not at Harmony, Pennsylvania, or Fayette, New York, during the six actual months of translating, Smith is justly entitled to the authorship of the Book of Mormon. The external evidence leaves the battle drawn; it is not so with the internal evidence. Judging from the characteristics of the book, the proof of authenticity is decisive. In form it has no resemblance to the Honolulu manuscript; in matter it needs neither Rigdon's personality nor Spaulding's romances to account for itself. Take the four marks of the book, and compare them with what is known of Rigdon. In old age his style was redundant, 13 while in 1821 Alexander Campbell called him 'the great orator of the Mahoning Association,' 14 and, as a minister of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, he was described as fluent in utterance and copious in language. 15 If Rigdon's style, at this time, was better, so with his twelve years of seniority over Smith, his knowledge was wider. 16 In particular, in the Western Reserve, __________ 13 Rigdon's holograph letter (Berrian collection). 14 Millennial Harbinger, 1848, p. 523. 15 A.S. Hayden, 'Early History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve,' 1876, p. 191. 16 Compare Overland Monthly, December, 1890. Charlotte Haven's letter, March 5th and 6th, 1843: 'Sidney Rigdon, the most learned man among the Latter-day Saints.... He has an THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 389 he was counted learned in the history of the world. Moreover as to archaeology, he seems to have taken no interest in Americana; the only point of resemblance is in his unsystematic theology. His frequent sectarian changes were unique even for that day. In 1819, he was an old school Baptist; in 1821, he came under the influence of Alexander Campbell the 'new light'; with him he ultimately differed on communistic ideas, which he had meanwhile absorbed, from a leader of the Disciple church in Ohio. The so-called Campbellite baptism for the remission of sins does not occur in the Book of Mormon, while the insistence on faith 17 is partly plagiarized from Scripture, partly due to Smith's dabbling with the occult. Smith's creed of 1844 18 __________ intelligent countenance, a courteous manner, and speaks grammatically. He talks very pleasantly about his travels in this country and Europe, but is very reticent about his religion. I have heard it stated that he was Smith's chief aid in getting up the "Book of Mormon" and creed. He is so far above Smith in intellect, education, and secretiveness, that there is scarcely a doubt that he is at the head in compiling it. I looked over his library -- it was a very good student's collection, -- Hebrew, Greek, and Latin lexicons and readers, stray volumes of Shakespeare, Scott, Irving's works, and a number of other valuable books ... ['The Book of Mormon"] we find no creed in it, no article on which to found a religion. It might have been written by a much less intelligent man than Sidney Rigdon.' 17 'Book of Mormon,' pp. 246, 329, 332, 333, 597-9, 614; compare also the 'Seven Lectures on Faith,' in 'Doctrine and Covenants.' 18 'Times and Seasons,' 3, 709. 390 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM promulgates these among his five ordinances: faith; repentance; baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. Again, in 1832, Alexander Campbell sharply attacked the Book of Mormon and its contents. 19 The alleged Discipleism inherent in Mormonism is still denied by the more orthodox apologists. 20 __________ 19 'Delusions; an Analysis of the "Book of Mormon," with an Examination of its Internal and External Evidences, and a Refutation of its Pretense to Divine Authority,' Boston, 1832. 20 F. McDowell, 'Discipleism, or the Claims of Alexander Campbell to a Restored Primitive Christianity Examined,' 191, p. 12: 'We have therefore weighed this church in the balance of God's word and found it wanting, rendering the following count of indictments against it: 1. They have no apostles. 2. They have no prophets. 3. No seventies. 4. No priests. 5. No bishops. 6. No teachers. 7. The signs or gifts of Mark 16: 17, 18, do not follow them. 8. They do not lay on hands, after baptism, for the gift of the Holy Spirit. 9. They do not call the elders for the sick, as directed in James 5: 14, 15. 10. They do not teach the resurrection of the dead as taught in the Bible. 11. They do not teach the Bible doctrine of eternal judgment. 12. They claim to teach baptism for remission of sins, but contradict themselves by taking people into their fellowship from other churches who have not been so baptized, without rebaptism. 13. They do not lay on hands for the blessing of little children. 14. They teach that the church existed for the first time on the day of Pentecost. 15. They believe and teach that the gospel was never taught, in fact, until the day of Pentecost. 16. They do not teach the baptism of the Holy Spirit, We will now let the reader decide how far Mr. Campbell and THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 391 But the question of the injection of these doctrines into the Book of Mormon, through the agency of Rigdon, is again a question of date. The Declaration of the two Campbells against 'the divided and disturbed condition of the religious community,' came out in 1809, 21 but before Rigdon came over from Ohio, Campbell's teachings were spread broadcast over the country, 22 and Discipleism had spread northeast into New York. 23 Already in the days of Joseph's money digging there existed these Disciples of Christ near Ithaca, through which ran the State road from Binghampton to the Susquehanna. Yet there are three special doctrines which Rigdon is said to have taught among the Disciples in Ohio, and then put into the Book of Mormon. __________ his successors have been successful in restoring primitive, original Christianity. The Bible does teach the probability and possibility of a restoration of the gospel and kingdom of God in the latter days, as foreshadowed in Matthew 24:14; Malachi 3: 1-3; Revelation 14: 6, 7; and that after the restoration had occurred some would depart from the faith, as note 1 Timothy 4: 1. The words "the faith," evidently have reference to the entire gospel scheme, as implied by Paul in Ephesians 4: 5.' 21 Rupp, p. 209. 'The Disciples of Christ,' 'Analysis of the Great Salvation,' 'the sole principle is faith and the prime meant baptism by immersion.' 22 Venable, p. 220. Between 1823 and 180, A. Campbell issued 46,000 'volumes' of his works. Bethany, Ohio, near Wheeling, was made a post-office on account of the extensive mail he received and dispatched. 23 It was at Enfield, that these Christians, a variety of 'New Lights,' flourished. Also, Lorenzo Young speaks of a Campbellite revival in Schuyler County, 392 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM The first of these, Communism, is not mentioned in the text, while new revelations and miracles and gifts of the Spirit are not unusual recrudescences due to a literal interpretation of scripture. 24 Without penetrating further into the wilderness of minor sects, 25 it is the historic background of western New York, in the third decade, more than any 'mysterious stranger' from the West, that acts for the Book of Mormon and its doctrinal contents. The proof of authenticity is cumulative: especially do the minor movements, reflected in the narrative, show that the book is in accordance with its supposed historical position, as to time, place and circumstances. Thus the Morgan excitement by fixing the lower limit of date as 1826, excludes the Spaulding theory in its crudest form of entire incorporation. Even if any Spaulding manuscript were used as a mere basis and slight framework, it would not invalidate __________ 24 Private Bible reading brought out these ideas. Compare 'Biographical Sketches,' p. 21. Joseph's uncle, Jason Mack, as a Seeker, believed 'that my prayer and faith, the gifts of the gospel, which were enjoyed by the ancient disciples, might be attained.' Also compare p. Pratt, 'Autobiography,' p. 31, who said of Rigdon's preaching, 'here was the ancient gospel in due form; his views were mine, -- baptism for the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost.' Finally compare A. Campbell, 1824, 'We neither advocate Calvinism, Arminianism, Socinianism, Arianism, Trinitarianism, Unitarianism, Deism, nor Sectarianism, but New Testamentism.' 25 Compare 'Book of Mormon,' 56, 124, 235, 327, 369, 370, 379, 468-470, 503, 566. THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 393 the essential integrity of the work. Although this purported series of plates 26 cannot be called the product of one mind 'as an organic whole,' 27 yet the integrity of the Book of Mormon is not thereby impaired; the discrete parts are bound __________ 26 Viz.: 1. of Laban; 2. of Lehi; 3. do. abridged by Nephi; 4. do. containing 'more history part'; 5. do. 'more ministry part'; 6. do. 'mine own prophecies'; 7. of Zarahemla; 8. of Mormon abridging 5; 9. from Jacob to King Benjamin; 10. of Zeniff; 11. of Ether; I2. of Alma and his afflictions; 13. of Jared; 14. Copies of 'Scriptures'; 15. Records of emigrants to North; 16. Epistles of twelve prophets at various times. 27 The alleged Cowdery interpolations seem impossible when compared with this Johnsonese passage of his, describing the scene of Joseph's money digging. 'Letters,' p. 38: -- 'Some forty miles south, or down the river, in the town of Harmony, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, is said to be a cave or subterraneous recess, whether entirely formed by art or not I am uninformed, neither does this matter; but such is said to be the case, -- where a company of Spaniards, a long time since, when the country was uninhabited by white settlers, excavated from the bowels of the earth ore, and coined a large quantity of money; after which they secured the cavity and evacuated, leaving a part still in the cave, purposing to return at some distant period. Along time elapsed and this account came from one of the individuals who was first engaged in this mining business. The country was pointed out and the spot minutely described. This, I believe, is the substance, so far as my memory serves, though I shall not pledge my veracity for the correctness of the account as I have given. Enough, however, was credited of the Spaniard's story to excite the belief of many that there was a fine sum of the precious metal lying coined in this subterraneous vault, among whom was our employer; and accordingly our brother was required to spend a few months with some others in excavating the earth, in pursuit of this treasure.' 394 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM together, as it were, by a single cord. It is the line of life, the thread of autobiography, that discloses the real origin of the book. The various experiences of the various American prophets, could almost be said to form a 'Biographical Sketch of Joseph Smith the Prophet and his Progenitors, for many Generations.' If the discovery of the gold plates was suggested by the paternal dream of the Magic Box, and the beginning of the Book of Mormon incorporates the dream of the Fruit Tree, so the cord of Joseph junior's experience runs unbroken from 1 Nephi to Moroni. Without the aid of the commentator to explain the prophecies of the 'coming laborer in the vineyard' as Joseph Smith, one can read between the lines the meanings of the frequent visions, of the stones for interpreting, of the visits of the angels which strike the beholder 'dumb, weak and helpless.' 28 To sum up: These marks of the book are not the marks of the man Rigdon. Negatively, -- there is but slight coincidence in career with that of the visionary, crystal-gazing youth, and there is as little resemblance in temperament; positively, -- the similarity of style is exact between the 'Account written by the hand of Mormon' and Joseph's synchronous __________ 28 'Book of Mormon,' 144, 228, 346, 225, 349. For other biographical hints compare 15, 20, 21, 34, 38, 44, 45, 114, 115, 180, 181, 291, 292, 324, 559, 570, 576, 581, 574, 598, 603, 613. THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 395 writings contained in the Book of Commandments; finally on the title page of the first edition of the Book of Mormon is that inadvertent admission of authorship. |
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Confronted with the task of making a final estimate of the personality of the founder of Mormonism it may not be amiss to review some details of his life and times, to show what his followers thought of him and to note his influence on the later development of the church. The 'dull-eyed, flaxen-haired, prevaricating boy,' 1 with an ancestry morbid, superstitious, diseased, was bound to exhibit erratic tendencies varying with the abnormal conditions of physique, temperament and environment. Living in a village provincial to a degree, where as yet there was no foreign element to influence the civilization, the mental activities of the unlettered country lad found their chief outlet in religious matters. When a farmer might gather together his neighbors for a circuit of thirty miles and talk about the deadness and unworthiness of all churches; when an itinerant preacher might point to a November fall of meteors as a sign of the speedy ending of the world it was not strange that a local prophet should try to start a __________ 1 Tucker, p. 16. 430 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM millennial movement of his own. As an acquaintance of Smith's said, 'I never knew so ignorant a man as Joe was to have such a fertile imagination. He never could tell a common occurrence in his daily life without embellishing the story with his imagination.' 2 Since Joseph's most intelligent neighbors knew nothing of the influence of crystal gazing in quickening the flights of fancy, it is almost impossible to draw the line between real delusion and artful design in the concoction of the Book of Mormon. That the peek stone became in turn a seer stone and the Urim and Thummim, that there were different accounts of the revelation of a bible and changing descriptions of the gold plates may point to the collusion of an older accomplice like Sidney Rigdon. Yet this 'Record of the American Indians' may be more simply traced to the boy's imaginative gifts and his life on the western frontier. As to the contents of the Golden Bible there is likewise room for a variety of opinion: there is an element of fraudulent pretension, there is also the unthinking reproduction of current notions. On the one hand the book was alleged to be 'revealed by the spirit of one of the Saints who was on this continent previous to its being discovered by Columbus.' On __________ 2 St. Louis Globe-Democrat quoting a letter of D. L. Hendrix, February 2, 1897. SUMMARY 431 the other hand there are parts of the book which are not deliberate fabrications but mere reflections of the topics of the time. Thus the total abstinence sentiments of the Lamanites were borrowed from the so-called Washingtonian temperance movement. Finally the style of Joseph's sacred book is but another sign of the imitative and uncritical mind of its author. Its pomposity is like that of another work of the day on the aborigines of America with its 'copious description of their stupendous works now in existence.' 3 Assuredly it is a vain thing to attempt to elevate the Mormon bible to a higher source than the mind of Joe Smith. 4 There may be quotations from Shakespeare and Pope but their triteness points to the rustic copy book. 5 The reception of the Book of Mormon as an 'historical record of an ancient people' has been compared to that of the American glyphs of Rafinisque who claimed that the so-called Tablet of the Cross, found at Palenque, Mexico, was written in a Lybian alphabet. In the same way the abnormal mentality __________ 3 Priest's 'American Antiquities,' sub-title. 4 In Jackson's 'Concise Dictionary of Religious Knowledge,' New York, 1891, Professor Whitsitt presents his theory of Rigdon's various redactions of the 'Book of Mormon.' 5 Compare 'Book of Mormon,' p. 61, 'Hear the words of a trembling parent, whose limbs ye must soon lay down in the cold and silent grave, from whence no traveller can return.' The phrase 'From Nature up to Nature's God' has been attributed to the 'Essay on Man.' 432 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM of the Mormon leader has been recently described 6 as similar to the case of the revelator of 'From India to the Planet Mars' so carefully detailed by Professor Flournoy: 'In both cases we have the same fantastic explorations of the imagination; the same assumptions of narrative, incidents and style apparently foreign to the subject's normal intelligence; the same invention of fictitious names, persons, places and things; the same possibility of tracing many of the incidents and details of the document to authentic experiences of the subject, but experiences which may have been subconsciously realized and are certainly recorded while in an abnormal state of dissociation; the same periods of incubation preliminary to the further development of a new stage in the automatic revelations; the same participation of the suggestions of others and of the clever adaptation to actual circumstances and incidents, in the subsequent revelations; and soon. The striking differences between the two cases are external and not psychological. In the one case, the revelations are given out as real and inspired, find a congenial soil in which to flourish, and so attain practical significance. In the other case they remain the purely personal expression of a luxurious imagination.' The performances of Joseph the occultist exhibit the credulous materials he had to work upon and the means he took to become the sole oracle of the church. Before the prophet's arrival at Kirtland the __________ 6 Joseph Jastrow in the Psychological Review, January, 1903, p. 70. SUMMARY 433 followers of Rigdon had been receiving commssions directly from heaven, one claiming to see mystic writings upon the palm of his hand, another upon the lid of his Bible. The visionary also imagined he saw the city of the New Jerusalem. Heavenly visitants also made their appearance to certain individuals who seldom made any communications but presented themselves as spectacles to be gazed upon in silent admiration. In the Spring of 1833, tongues again reappeared and Smith wound up the day's performance with this specimen of automatic utterance: 'Ah man ob son ob man ab ne commene en holle goste en esac niilkea, Jeremiah, Ezekial, Nephi, Lehi, St. John.' 7 The Mormon exorcist and faith healer stands out against a background of human gullibility similar to that of another American wonder worker.' Andrew Jackson Davis, the 'Poughkeepsie Seer,' tells how he had received an impression in his interior state that he would be the instrument of communicating a work to the world entitled The Principles of Nature, her Divine Revelations and a Voice to __________ 7 Booth's third letter. 8 Compare Alfred Lehmann 'Aberglaube und Zauberei,' Stuttgart, 1898, and Frank Podmore 'Modern Spiritualism,' London, 1902, I, 158-176. 434 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM Mankind. In a fatuous betrayal of his morbid self-deception Davis adds that, at the age of sixteen, 'I had a tendency to spontaneous somnambulism, an ear for what I then called imaginary voices, a memory defective as to dates, a mind nearly barren of ordinary education, a heart very sympathetic in cases of trial and suffering, and lastly I was disposed to meditation and the freedom of solitude.' 9 This supernormal condition, continues the author of the Philosophy of Spiritual Intercourse, leads to independent clairvoyance and intuitional wisdom. Meanwhile the new fangled doctrines of animal magnetism had come in from New England 10 and in 1843 Dr. Grimes lectured on phrenology and mesmerism in Poughkeepsie. Davis, it was asserted, proved susceptible to magnetism, was put at once into the clairvoyant state and began to see through his forehead without the use of his natural eyes. His newly developed powers took a medical turn and after a few weeks of experimenting, to satisfy the curiosity of himself and his friends, he conmmenced practising as a clairvoyant physician. 'His descriptions of various ailments and his prescriptions __________ 9 'The Magic Staff,' New York, 1857. 10 Charles Poyen, in his 'Progress of Animal Magnetism in New England,' Boston, 1837, claims that he learned animal magnetism in Paris in 1832, becauSe it alleviated a complicated nervous disorder of his. SUMMARY 435 for cure,' concludes the account in the Magic Staff, 'were truly wonderful and astonishing to all who knew him.' If these preposterous claims of the 'Swedenborg of the New World' were received in the more settled parts of the country, there is little wonder that the Mormons in the far west were staunch believers in faith cure and accepted the advice of Smith to 'trust in God when sick, and live by faith and not by medicine or poison.' To get an idea of what outsiders thought of the prophet one is tempted to quote a phrenological chart taken three years before his death. In this curious document there was offered what purported to be an explanation of the 'development of his much-talked-of brain.' 11 It runs thus: -- 'Amativeness. -- Extreme susceptibility; passionately fond of the company of the other sex. Adhesiveness. -- Solicitous for the happiness of friends, and ardent attachments to the other sex. Secretiveness. -- Great propensity and ability to conceal feelings, plans, etc. Acquisitiveness. -- Strong love of riches; desire to make and save money. Veneration. -- Religion without great awe. Marvellousness. -- Wonder; credulity, belief in the supernatural. Ideality. -- Lively imagination.' The phrenologist knew his business when he gave this half-suggestive, half-flattering picture of __________ 11 The Nauvoo Wasp of July 2, 1842, prints this chart taken in June, 1841. 436 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM Smith. That there was an easy going, jovial streak in the prophet of the Lord he himself was perfectly willing to acknowledge. Once when he was taken in by a swindler he said before a church conference, 'I am not so much of a "Christian" as many suppose I am. When a man undertakes to ride me for a horse I feel disposed to kick up, and throw him off and ride him.' At another time, when a disciple asked him what was to be done in case the Church was overthrown, he replied that they would all go to hell together and convert it into a heaven by casting the devil out, for, he added, 'hell is by no means the place this world of fools supposes it to be but, on the contrary, it is quite an agreeable place.' 12 It may appear that when Smith dealt with the su- blime he was ridiculous, when he addressed the world he was a vulgar braggart. But thus to pass judgment by calling names is as superficial as the attempt of the phrenologist to explain the prophet's character by feeling of his bumps. Unfortunately there is nothing material left by which to learn whether his physiognomy was abnormal in the modern sense. 13 In the determination of Smith's real mental __________ 12 Nauvoo Expositor, June 7, 1844. 13 A death mask of the martyr Joseph was taken by order of John Taylor. If it is still in existence it is not to be touched by profane hands. The only portrait which betrays a lack of symmetry SUMMARY 437 condition the Latter-day Saints of course give no help. The mere idea of a naturalistic explanation is scouted by them. As one of their papers has said, the theory of the epilepsy of the prophet 'is a new one and will be received with a smile of amused unbelief by those who knew Joseph Smith, the Martyr, as a man in robust manhood's health and never had a fit in his life.' 15 Again the Mormons repudiate the report that the prophet's wife asserted that she never believed in what her husband called his apparitions or revelations, as she thought him laboring under a diseased mind. 15 Direct evidence is lacking, indirect is not. The words and deeds of Joseph Smith in his last days offer ground for the belief that he was, at times, actually demented. If the case be brought into harmony with his previous pathological experiences -- color sensations, dizziness, vacuity, coma and bodily bruises -- the prophet's final activities suggest epileptic insanity. In general such a patient shows marked narrowness of mental horizon, with limited ideation and imperfect association of ideas. In conversation and writing there is a strong tendency to detail and circumstantiality. The vocabulary __________ of the skull is a line engraving of a daguerrotype. The apparent malformation of the right jaw may here be due to the engraver. 14 Saints' Herald, March 13, 1903. 15 New York Sun, December 30, 1845. 438 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM consists largely of set phrases, platitudes and passages from the Bible.16 These symptoms may be deemed too inclusive to be conclusive. There are to be added more particular marks suggesting a tendency to pronounced mental aberration. Such are the facts that the epileptic insane betray an abnormal prominence of the self; that the most senseless and fantastic schemes are devised in which the patients do not fully recognize the incongruity between their grandiose plans and their limited ability; finally, that the judgment is impaired in proportion to the amount of mental deterioration. How far such deterioration extended in the case of Joseph Smith the reader must decide for himself. As a basis for the decision may be given these last acts and utterances of the prophet. As an example of Smith's judgment he proclaimed at Nauvoo, 'I therefore warn the lawless not to be precipitate in any interference in our affairs, for as sure as there is a God in Israel we shall ride triumphant over all oppression.' As an example of Smith's fantastic __________ 16 A. Ross Defendorf, 'Clinical Psychiatry,' 1902, p. 329 ff. In the Revue Philosophique, April, 1903, p. 448, it is suggested that Smith's case may be explained under the hypothesis of hysteria. But in hysterical insanity, says Defendorf, p. 345, consciousness is less deeply disturbed in the seizures and almost never are there sudden involuntary falls and serious injuries. There may be contractions of the entire body and rolling on the ground, but consciousness is never abolished. Compare W. Bevan Lewis, 'A Text Book of Mental Diseases,' p. 272. SUMMARY 439 schemes he asserted, during the Missouri troubles, that the Saints, if they but tried, could annihilate the bands of the enemy in succession, march across the state and capture St. Louis. As an example of Smith's egomania, during his final legal difficulties he boasted, 'I am a big lawyer, I comprehend heaven, earth and hell.' What the followers of Joseph thought of him in the face of all this is anomalous. 'Every Mormon,' it has been said, 'if true to his faith believed as freely in his holy character as they did that God existed.' 17 Such an opinion makes it difficult for one who knows the faults and failings of Smith to give a fair estimate of his practical influence on later Mormonism. If a comparison is made with his successor the decision is not in favor of the first head of the church. As a prophet Smith once urged the Saints to betake themselves to the Rockies 'where the devil cannot dig us out.' It was the 'hard-working' Brigham Young who organized the expeditions which took them there. As a seer Smith believed in publicity and averred that Mormondom would some day rule the world. Young opposed the building of the Union Pacific into Utah on the policy that 'railway communications corrupt good Mormons.' As a revelator Smith produced a new American bible which __________ 11 Lee, 'Mormonism Unveiled,' p. 76. 440 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM few read. Young published but a single revelation, yet established a city which was outwardly a model of thrift and industry. Mormonism might never have started without a visionary founder such as Joseph Smith, but Young had more public influence when he usurped the headship of the church and disregarded its mystic functions. Smith may have seen visions of gold plates, but Young, without dabbling in the occult, amassed a fortune estimated at four million dollars. He did not attempt to exorcise evil spirits but he knew the value of a shot-gun in keeping out the invading Gentiles. If Smith was a faith healer, Young was a financier; if the former suggested the tithing of the faithful, the latter developed it with such success that even federal legislation against polygamy was blocked. If Smith boasted that he would 'become the second Mohammed to this generation,' it was Young who was the real founder of a 'despotic and religious empire.' But the development of Mormonism is beyond the scope of this study, for another has at last told with thoroughness and impartiality the strange story of the Mormons, 18 -- how Young received the mantle of the prophet and a number of his wives, how he put down all rivals, including Joseph Smith the third, how he prepared for the long march __________ 18 William Alexander Linn, I The Story of the Mormons,' New York, 1902. -. SUMMARY 441 across the plains, how he founded the state of Deseret, deficd the national government, taught blood atonement, instigated the Mountain Meadows massacre and left behind him a hierarchy with a power as yet unbroken, a theocracy with ambitions to political dominance, a theology with polygamy as a still living doctrine. |
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