Mormon Classics | Spalding Library | Bookshelf | Newspapers | History Vault
Sidney Rigdon,
The Real Founder of Mormonism
by:
William H. Whitsitt
BOOK THE FOURTH:
THE MORMON PERIOD: Nov. 8, 1830 -- Sep. 8, 1844
(Part A: Sections I and II, pp. 575-664)
Contents | Book I | Book II | Book III | Book IV: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | Book V
"Wm. Whitsitt: Insights into Early Mormonism" | Times & Seasons' Rigdon History
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Leaving the new fledged apostles or elders to provide for the edification and growth of the infant community, the missionaries said their adieux, perhaps on Monday, November 15th, and took their way towards the camps of the Lamanites, employing due care they represented Mr. Campbell and Walter Scott as having a share in the enterprise of translating the "plates," and as believers in the Book of Mormon (Millennial Harbinger, 1831, p. 98). The religious excitement which had been constantly rising since the advent of the missionaries increased after their departure to enormous proportions. Numbers of the people had been immersed to the special end that they might work miracles (Howe, p. 103), and they were highly disposed to try their hands that way (Howe, p. 107), as Mr. Cowdery had attempted to do wonders, but apparently without any success (Howe, p. 114). Nevertheless, there was consolation for this failure in this circumstance that the ceremony of imposing hands for the purpose of conveying the Holy Spirit had been marvelously efficient under Cowdery's administration; the "operation at first produced an instantaneous prostration of body and mind," in many respects like the trouble that had been experienced by Newel Knight under the manipulation of Joseph at Colesville. The contortions of the body during these paroxysms were a prominent feature of early Mormonism, and must have afforded a sight that was horrible to witness (Howe, pp. 188-9). Naturally the community were now much engaged to promote the conversion of the Lamanites or Indians, to whom the four missionaries had gone forth to proclaim the "fullness of the gospel." In the midst of their delirium the gift of tongues would fall upon them, and supporting themselves upon the stump of a fallen tree, on a fence, or other elevation, the poor creatures would harangue an imaginary audience of their red-faced brethren, until assuming them to be all converted, when they would immediately lead them down into the water "for the remission of sins." In this exercise some of the unfortunates were not content without actually descending into the water where they might perform the motions of an imaginary immersion with a closer degree of verisimilitude. Ezra Booth says that, "these actors assumed the visage of the savage and so nearly imitated him, not only in language, but also in gestures and actions, that it seemed the soul and body were completely metamorphosed into the Indian. No doubt was then entertained but that it was an extraordinary work of the Lord, designed to prepare those young men for the Indian mission" (Howe, p. 184). Three of their number, Burr Riggs, Edson Fuller, and another whose name Howe has withheld, possibly for the reason that he was a relative, received a commission to preach the gospel that was inscribed upon parchment and handed down directly from the skies. It was shortly transcribed upon a piece of paper, at the close of which operation it was immediately withdrawn by the celestial visitant. The text of this commission is supplied by Howe (p. 106) and is of considerable interest on account of the signature of the Saviour that is appended. The writer was possibly familiar with Indian pictography, and is supposed to have copied one of its characters for the present use. Booth reports that the transcript was read to the church, and the persons whose names it contained were ordained to the Elder's office and sent into the world to preach" (Howe, p. 185). The Lamanite or Indian trait of Mormonism was now and here improved to its utmost possibilities. Mr. Rigdon would observe this enormous excitement with a degree of complacency. He was aware that his Disciple brethren were looking on with concern and would embrace any fair opportunity that might be offered to expostulate with the church at Kirtland, and bring it back to the position which it held before these movements were inaugurated. Possibly he had information regarding the presence in the vicinity of Elder Walter Scott and Ebenezer Williams, who apparently were hovering about to observe and embrace whatever chance might be offered to resist the tide that was now in flood (Philo Dibble's Narrative, in Early Scenes of Church History, p. 76). Moreover, the appearance of Mr. Campbell himself upon the scene was an emergency which might fall out any day; Sidney could not be sure how soon it would be necessary to encounter his former master, fresh from Bethany and in the towering passion. The church at Wellsburgh, Virginia. where the Campbells had kept their membership, ever since the Red Stone escapade of 1823, was minutely considering the exigency at Kirtland, and possibly already taking counsel regarding the course it would be feasible for them to pursue. Early in January 1831 they prepared a lengthy letter in the name of the society and forwarded it to the Church in Kirtland. It was dispatched by Thomas Campbell, who it was hoped would be able to restore peace and sanity to the perturbed community (Millennial Harbinger, pp. 97-100). Mr. Rigdon could foresee that many expedients would be resorted to, and it was wise in him to provide that the enthusiasm of the Kirtlanders should be so intense that they would not give the messenger from Wellsburgh or any other person an opportunity to present his message or to be heard in relation to it. On the other hand this extraordinary passion would accord with Rigdon's wishes, for the additional reason that it would render more easy the advent of Joseph, a consummation which he had been a long while scheming to effect, and which there was reason to provide for with the utmost caution. According to the testimony of Lucy Smith he arrived at the place where the Smith family were residing in Waterloo township of Seneca county on Sunday the 5th of December, at the moment when Joseph was engaged in preaching (Joseph Smith, p. 197). As a companion for this journey Sidney was honored with the company of Mr. Edward Partridge of Painesville. Howe, who was well acquainted with him, reports that Partridge was "a very honest and industrious hatter, who had withal a comfortable stock of the good things of the world (p. 139). Smith presents a brief biography of Partridge which shows that in the first instance he was an advocate of the tenet of the universal restoration of mankind, but in the year 1828 this belief was altered. Himself and his wife were "baptized into the Campbellite church by Elder Sidney Rigdon" (Tullidge, p. 113). He walked with Rigdon in the Disciple communion until the visit of the four missionaries. When On the Tuesday following his arrival Sidney was provided with a revelation for his private benefit; it bears the date of December 7, 1830 (Howe, p. 107), and is numbered as section 35 in Pratt's edition of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. In addition to the circumstance already adverted to that it addresses Mr. Rigdon in the character of John the Baptist, it also makes allusion to the fine frenzies that had followed the practice of imposing hands by Mr. Cowdery on his recent visit to Kirtland. This new expedient succeeded to so much admiration that Joseph was led to do an injustice to the Disciples who did not require this observance in order to communicate the Spirit. He says: "Thou didst baptize by water unto repentance, but they received not the Holy Ghost; but now I give unto thee a commandment that thou shalt baptize by water, and they shall receive the Hold Ghost by the laying on of hands, even as the apostles of old" (D.&C., 35, 5. 6). It was natural that a new aspirant for public patronage should represent the article he had for sale to be the best in the market-place. The changed aspect of Smith towards the Disciples may likewise be observed in the revelation to Sidney. During the month of October, 1830, when he still believed that the entire community of the Disciples would rush at one impulse into the Mormon fold he handles them with the like distinguished consideration as was noted in the Book of Mormon: "And my vineyard has become corrupted every whit; and there is none which doeth good save it be a few; and they err in many instances, because of priestcrafts, all having corrupt minds" (D.&C., 33, 4). But now after he has received information from Sidney regarding the vigorous opposition that had been presented to the new and more complete reformation by certain Disciples in the vicinity of Kirtland, Joseph assumes a tone of more acerbity declaring "there are none that doeth good except those who are ready to receive the fullness of my gospel" (D.&C., 35, 12). The period for indiscriminate compliments to the Disciples was now passed by. The millennialism which had been transmitted by natural descent from Walter Scott was also enforced (v. 15), and Sidney was specially charged with the function of explaining and defending the prophecies which his new chief should send forth: "And inasmuch as ye do not write, behold it shall be given unto him to prophesy: and thou shalt preach the gospel and call on the holy prophets to prove his words (v. 23). A revelation was also conferred upon Mr. Partridge (D.&C., Section 36), just after his baptism at Fayette on the 11th of December 1830, and just before he had received the grace of the imposition of hands. His sins had been forgiven already in the sacrament of baptism (D.&C., 36, 1), and it was promised that he should speedily obtain the advantage of the Hold Ghost by the laying on of hands through the agency of Sidney (D.&C., 36, 2). He was also called to the ministry, and honored with a number of very desirable promises. Towards the close of December Joseph and Sidney found themselves at Canandaigua, the county seat of Ontario county, a distance of thirty five miles from Fayette (Book of Commandments, Chapter. XXXIX, title), which was in some sort, a hazardous vicinity, for a prophet who might owe a number of trifling debts for which his neighbors would be eager to thrust him into prison. His father had only recently served out a term of imprisonment for debt in the jail at Canandaigua (Joseph Smith, pp. 163-75). It is possible that the couple were studious to avoid travel by daylight while they sojourned in such a perilous situation. The object of the journey to Canandaigua is believed to have been to confer with Mr. W. W. Phelps, a broken-down politician of that part of the country, who may have signified his desire to try his fortune with the "Church of Christ." He was an avowed infidel who having been disappointed in his exertions to procure nomination by his party for the position of Lieutenant Governor of New York, was now involved in financial straits. He had, perhaps only recently, served a term in prison for his inability to discharge a small pecuniary obligation (Howe, p. 274). In a letter dated at Canandaigua, January 15, 1831, Mr. Phelps makes mention of the circumstance that he had lately held a conversation of ten hours duration with Mr. Rigdon (Howe, pp. 273-4). It is entirely likely that the occasion he had in mind, referred to the visit that had been performed in Canandaigua While they were in Canandaigua Joseph obtained the revelation which is marked Chap. XXXIX in the Book of Commandments, and Section 37 in the edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, by Mr. Pratt. Immediately after the arrival of Sidney in Fayette the pair had set their hands to a new translation of the Christian Scriptures, in which work considerable progress had been accomplished. They were now enjoined to lay aside this enterprise, and turn their minds towards the important business that had been so long in contemplation of removing to "the Ohio" (D.&C., 37, 1). But Sidney was still dubious of the consequences that might result from this removal; he was always a coward in action, however courageous his speech might sound. Consequently Joseph got a divine intimation to prepare the way before his footsteps by sending a forerunner to announce and arrange for his coming: "And again I say unto you, that ye shall not go (to the Ohio) until ye have preached my gospel in those parts" (D.&C., 37, 2). Mr. Smith on his part had also become aware of serious objections that were felt by certain New York members of the "Church of Christ," against leaving everything behind and immigrating in a body to Kirtland. The complaints were most pronounced in Colesville, where Joseph Knight, senior, would naturally be averse to surrender his comfortable farm, grist mill and carding factory for a wild goose chase of that complexion at the dead of winter. To the above injunction regarding the propriety of dispatching a forerunner to Kirtland he therefore added on his own account: "and have strengthened up the church, whithersoever it is found, and more especially in Colesville" (D.&C., 37, 2). It is clear to perceive that the act of removal was a ticklish procedure; to Sidney, because he felt apprehensions that the Kirtlanders would reject the rabble that should follow at the heels of the prophet; to Joseph, because he had information that caused him to fear that members who might be comfortably situated, and whose money it was important to finger, would elect to remain in quiet at their Eastern homes. On the faith of the foregoing injunction, John Whitmer was sent forward to Kirtland at the close of the Conference which was held at Fayette, New York, on the 2d of January 1831. He carried with him a letter from Sidney that was written on the 4th of January, 1831 (Howe, pp. 110-111), and especially the revelation which Joseph had obtained for the benefit of the Conference. Sidney mentions a certain passage of that revelation touching the eternal inheritance of the saints in their Kirtland possessions (D.&C., 38, 19, 20). He even went a step farther than the revelation, and for their additional comfort informed them that Kirtland was the land of promise concerning which they had heard so often; that their village was the place of gathering appointed to the faithful, land that God had also dedicated to these uses all the lands situated and lying between Kirtland and the Pacific Ocean (Howe, p. 111). Such glowing assurances carried the point he was in fear of losing; the silly people of Kirtland were immediately filled with impatience to behold Joseph and the scurvy company that should follow in his wake. Arms were now opened that it is possible would have been raised in for nothing but resistance if the advantages of the gathering to Kirtland had been drawn in colors less brilliant. The ends of the earth were upon them and they were in an ecstasy of delight that their retired hamlet should be so highly favored of the Lord. With a view to effect the removal of the New York saints as well as to give fresh delight to the men of Kirtland it was further intimated that the church should speedily set up a government of its own which would be independent of the United States and of the state of Ohio, and over which the Lord himself should be the ruler (D.&C., 38, 21, 22). For this new and independent kingdom the Lord would provide a "Law," soon after the faithful should be established at Kirtland, and in addition all of them should be "endowed with power from on high" (D.&C., 38, 32). Considering these wonderful changes and benefits there is little wonder that the return of Sidney with the prophet should have been awaited with enthusiasm and impatience. The third Conference (Fayette, January 2, 1831) was signalized by a notable event in the capture and conversion of a certain James Covill, who to all appearances might have been a man of prominence and property. In the belief that his adhesion was secure, Joseph hastily obtained a revelation for his special advantage (D.&C., Sect. 39). But the prophet had gone forward in this instance more rapidly than was justified by the result; on second thoughts Mr. Covill was brought round to a different conclusion, and refused to process any farther in the enterprise to which he had given his hand. It was therefore incumbent upon Joseph to obtain a second revelation in which an explanation was supplied alibi of the failure of his previous inspiration and of the defection of Covill (D.&C., Sect, 40). Shortly after the middle of January, John Whitmer who had proceeded to Kirtland to carry the revelation referring to the gathering there, wrote to Joseph announcing the brilliant success of the project, and desiring the immediate presence of the prophet. As early as the required arrangements could be performed he was on the way, carrying with him besides his wife, four other persons, namely Sidney Rigdon, Edward Partridge, Ezra Thayer and Newel Knight. At every station where the company halted they sought opportunity to proclaim the "fullness of the gospel." Lucy Smith says they preached at her house in Waterloo township, also at the house of her son-in-law, Calvin Stoddard in Macedon township of Wayne county, and at the house of Preserved Harris, believed to be a brother of Martin's, who might have resided in the vicinity of Palmyra. Pomeroy Tucker is authority for the statement that Mr. Rigdon, through the influence of Martin Harris was admitted to preach one sermon in the hall of the Young Men's Association, within the limits of Palmyra. The anxiety of Sidney regarding the reception that should be accorded to his new master in Kirtland was very earnest. By consequence he quitted the company at some point on the journey and went forward in order to reach the place several days in advance. According to the representations supplied by Mr. Howe his arrival must have occurred, before the date of January, 1831; he preached in Kirtland on that day, and after a custom he had acquired among the Disciples challenged his opponents to dispute the tenets of Mormonism with him (Howe, p. 117). Perhaps of set purpose and provision Joseph lagged several days in the rear, but he effected his entrance into the village before the first of February (Howe, pp. 112-113), and took up his residence for a season at the home of Newel K. Whitney (Tullidge, p. 112) of the mercantile firm of Gilbert & Whitney, the proprietors of the principal merchants' shop in the community (D.&C., 64, 26). To all appearances the warmth of his welcome was entirely satisfactory. Sidney had effected the design towards which he had long been scheming; he was now prepared to commence a vigorous campaign in favor of a "deformation" which he considered every way more thorough and desirable than the "current information" which Mr. Campbell had been proclaiming and leading. [587]
Being now employed upon a more excellent Reformation than the one that was so dear to Mr. Campbell, Sidney felt himself engaged like all the other "first reformers" to exhibit the purity of his calling by a translation of the scriptures in the tongue of his people. Joseph had received certain intimations touching this project as early as the month of June 1830, and, possibly at the first Conference of the "Church of Christ," had obtained a revelation for the purpose of opening the way towards such an indispensable enterprise. This revelation was in the shape of an introduction to the five books of Moses, and sets forth the incidents of a certain ancient interview between Moses and the Lord in preparation for the labor of composing the Pentateuch. It was never printed in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and may be found nowhere else than in the "Pearl of Great Price," pp. 1-4, and in "the Holy Scriptures, Translated and Corrected by the Spirit of Revelation. By Joseph Smith, Jr., the Seer," pp. 7-9. But Sidney was moved by something more than a desire to walk closely in the footsteps of Mr. Campbell. It is conceived that sometime during the spring of the year 1830 a serious fit of Swedenborgianism had befallen him. Possibly this may have been derived from some wandering preacher of that faith, or it may have come from a stray copy of "The True Christian Religion," or of the Treatise upon "Heaven and Hell." The Book of Mormon would be now too far advanced in the process of printing to admit of a third redaction for the purpose of inserting this Swedenborgian "new light," but it was very desirable that some place might be found where it would be suitable to display its brilliancy. A translation of the entire volume of the scriptures would serve the double end of placing him on a favorable footing with Mr. Campbell among the Disciples, and of supplying a convenient opportunity to give decent airing to his recently acquired ideas. If Mr. Smith had been in a situation to accomplish it he would have gone forward with the task of translating the Bible in the absence of Rigdon, but he did not feel any way equal to that business. In letters from Ohio, it is likely that the valued discoveries were duly explained to him, but as his wits had been too thick to catch a firm hold upon the "ancient gospel," even though it was set down in plain characters before his eyes, he felt sure that an effort to exhibit Sidney's recent fancies by means of a translation of the Book of Genesis would prove a failure. Nevertheless he was bold enough to insert one of the new crotchets in a revelation that was produced at the second Conference on the first of September 1830. With covert, but sufficiently apparent reference to the proposed version, he there says: "But remember that all my judgments are not given unto men: and as the words have gone forth out of my mouth, even so shall they be fulfilled, that the first shall be last, and that the last shall be first in all things whatsoever I have created by the word of my power, which is the power of my spirit; for by the power of my spirit created I them; yea all things both spiritual and temporal: firstly spiritual --secondly temporal, which is the beginning of my work; and again, firstly, temporal -- and secondly spiritual, which is the last of my work" (D.&C., 29, 30-32). These words must have been wholly obscure to the persons who first received them; they were not explained till the translation of the first and second chapter of Genesis were completed several months later in December 1830. Mr. Rigdon's arrival in December was the signal for laying hand to the task which had been planned by divine revelation during the preceding June. In the revelation which greeted him on the 7th of December distinct allusion is had to it: "And a commandment I give unto thee, that thou shalt write for him; and the Scriptures shall be given, even as they are in mine own bosom, to the salvation of mine own elect" (D.&C., 35, 7). The energies of the pair were employed on this concern until near the close of the month, when being in Canandaigua, Joseph had another revelation, which declared: ''Behold, I say unto you that it is not expedient in me that ye should translate any more until ye shall go to the Ohio" (D.&C., 37, 1). After the arrival in Ohio the first word that was uttered related to this enterprise: "and again, it is meet that my servant, Joseph Smith jun., should have a house built, in which to live and translate" (D.&C., 41, 7). No direct information is supplied concerning the amount of progress that was achieved during the month of December 1830; it is clear, however, that they had written as far as the close of the 7th chapter of the Book of Genesis in Joseph Smith's version of the Bible. The revelation that was presented at the third conference on the 2d of January 1831 refers to an incident which is recorded nowhere else than in the 7th chapter of that version, namely: "I am the same which have taken the Zion of Enoch into my own bosom" (D.&C., 34, 4). It is not in the least probable that this expression would have been uttered prior to the production of the "prophecy of Enoch" as recorded in the sixth and seventh chapters of Genesis, according to the rendering of Joseph and Sidney. The fate of Joseph's revision of the scriptures has been of considerable interest. It was never given to the press during his lifetime, and at his death it was left in the possession of his wife, who retained it until the year 1867, when it was at last printed by the authorities of the "Re-organized Church," to which her sons and herself had meanwhile signified their adhesion. Nevertheless the most important portion of it, namely the first seven chapters of the Book of Genesis were circulated in manuscript by which means they became more or less familiar to numbers of the faithful. Portions of these chapters were at last printed at Liverpool by Mr. Willard Richards during the year 1851. They occupy pages 1-17 in the first edition of the Pearl of Great Price. The disposition of Mormon theologians to tinker and tamper with their so-called inspired writings is very active. To appearances it would seem likely that these same theologians have no special confidence in the divine origin of the productions in question; else they would not be so ready to mend and mar them. The first edition of the Book of Mormon has been altered in many parts; the first edition of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants has been so shamefully handled as in several instances seriously to falsify the truth of history. In a word, every sacred text of the Mormons would seem to be more or less corrupted. Glimpses of the original text of the first seven chapters of the Book of Genesis, as they were composed by Joseph and Sidney may be had in the second of the "Lectures on Faith," vv. 6-11; vv. 13-17; vv. 22-24, and vv. 26-29, if one will be at the pains to consult these citations as they stand in the Doctrine and Covenants of the fourth European edition, stereotyped, that was published at Liverpool in the year 1854. Some of these citations were altered a trifle in the first edition of the Pearl of Great Price, but in most instances the two copies agree exactly. In the Josephite Bible that was issued by the "Re-organized Church" in the year 1867, the original text as it stood in the character of Sidney Rigdon has been changed without much scruple. The appearance of this Josephite Bible in 1867 rendered it desirable to issue a second and improved edition of the Pearl of Great Price. In this new edition which was sent forth in the year 1879, the first seven chapters of the Book of Genesis were printed apparently without alteration out of the corrupted Josephite Bible of the year 1867. They occupy 31 pages in the new edition, whereas they had filled only 17 pages in the first edition. One of the most striking peculiarities of the original copy and likewise of the first edition of the Pearl of Great Price was the disuse of the "solemn style" of address; "you" and "your" were substituted for "thee," "thou" and "thine." This substitution occurs uniformly in the original text as seen in the early editions of the "Lectures on Faith"; it occurs very frequently in the first edition of the Pearl of Great Price, throughout the first 17 pages of the book. On the contrary the whole thing is erased from the Josephite Bible, where "thee" and "thine" are always employed, and "you" and "your" are not seen. As was to be expected this peculiarity has likewise been erased from the second edition of the Pearl of Great Price and from the "Lectures on Faith" in Orson Pratt's edition of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. The alteration is unhappy by reason of the fact that it goes far to throw the historical inquirer off the track. Mr. Campbell could not abide the so-called "solemn style" in the Scriptures; he employed "you" and "yours" in the place of "thou" and "thine." This was an item of the dearest consequence to him; in his version of the New Testament it comes to light in a great number of passages. As a pitifully slavish imitator of Mr. Campbell, Sidney also felt a great aversion against the "solemn" style." Consequently when like Mr. Campbell he laid his hand to the labor of translating the Scriptures, it was entirely out of his power to say such words as "thee" and "thou." Hence, it is maintained that his "you" and "your" are highly significant; they are a striking earmark to show the Disciple origin of the Mormon fraternity, and they should not be lightly dispensed with. The other changes which have been made in the Josephite Bible's version of the first seven chapters of Genesis have not often been of a sort to produce any special alteration in the sense. It is therefore considered pertinent at this place to consult that version. It is easily accessible, and may be relied upon to state in the main part at least, such new points of doctrine as were embraced by Joseph and Sidney in the labors which they performed at Fayette during the month of December 1830. [595]
No emendations of consequence are given in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis; it is only when he reached the Jehovistic narrative at Genesis 2, 4, that the theological skill of Sidney displays itself. Moses speaks there of the creation of "every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew." The explanation he was able to propose of this statement was considered by Mr. Rigdon to be a marvel of insight and inspiration. He adds: "For I the Lord created all things of which I have spoken, Spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth" (Genesis 2, 5). In other language Sidney conceived that there was first a spiritual world and secondly a natural world, just as Joseph had remarked in a revelation given at the second Conference (D.&C., 29, 31). It was therefore assumed that every word spoken regarding the process of creation in Genesis 1, 1-2. 4, related to the formation of the spiritual world which was in existence before the natural world. To carry out this idea to more definite proportions Sidney further added: "And I the Lord God created all the children of men, and not yet a man to till the ground, for in heaven created I them, and there was not yet flesh upon the earth, neither in the water, neither in the air" (Genesis 2, 6). Nay he is so positive and persistent in this vagary that notwithstanding the distinct notice that is given of the previous existence of various animals in the first chapter of Genesis, he affirms that Adam was "the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also" (Genesis 2, 8). The intention of this proclamation is to declare that man was the first of the multitudinous aforesaid spiritual substances to be clothed upon with a material covering. To avoid leaving space for a misunderstanding he further specifies: "Nevertheless, all things were before created, but spiritually were they created, according to my word" (Genesis 2, 9). The subject is further mentioned in connection with the history of Enoch, who in his time was honored with permission to "behold the spirits which God had created" (Genesis 6, 38). These spirits had not yet been supplied with a natural body, but their spiritual form was in the same shape as the human body they were destined to receive. The spirits of all the men who ever have been or ever will be in the world were created at the beginning; they must pass the time in the world of spirits until the period when by the operation of the process of generation, bodies or "tabernacles" shall be provided wherein they may find a habitation among men. One of the high boasts of Sidney's new theology was to the effect that God "made the world, and men before they were in the flesh" (Genesis 6, 52). The distinction between the spiritual and the natural estate was of much consequence to Mr. Rigdon. He was not content to draw the line at the human race; animals of the lower grades were just as fortunate as man in that regard, as likewise trees and vegetables. The natural was in each and every case provided with a spiritual counterpart. The good fortune of the vegetable kingdom is set forth at Gen. 2, 11: "And out of the ground, made I the Lord God to grow every tree naturally, that is pleasant to the sight of man, and man could behold it." The intention of the writer is to declare that the spiritual counterpart of every tree was created at the beginning; only at this juncture was its natural counterpart, which was a material substance, was permitted to grow out of the ground. Nay the tree of the field was even more highly favored: "it also became a living soul; for it was spiritual in the day that I created it; for it remaineth in the sphere in which I the Lord created it; yea, even all things which I prepared for the use of man" (Gen. 2, 11). Nothing whatever that was "prepared for the use of man" is without a spiritual to answer to its material substance. It is not singular that a high position should be assigned to the beasts of the field: "They were also living souls, for I God breathed into them the breath of life" (Gen. 2, 26). The spiritual substance in every instance was supposed to correspond to the shape of the material substance, and it is presumed that wherever it was provided the object to which it was joined in case it had life was endowed with the advantages of a "living soul." Sidney exclaims: "Behold all things have their likeness; and all things are created and made to bear record of me; both things which are temporal and things which are spiritual" (Gen. 6, 66). The distinction between the natural and the spiritual world in the sense above inculcated is a prominent feature of the tenets of Emanuel Swedenborg. In explaining the doctrine of "correspondences" that author affirms: "That there is in everything an internal and an external, and that the external depends on the internal, as the body on the soul is evident from every single thing in the world, when rightly viewed. With man this is manifest; his whole body is from the mind, and thence, in everything that proceeds from man there is an internal and an external; in every action of man there is the will of the mind, and in every expression there is the understanding of the mind; in like manner in each of the senses. "In every bird and beast, yea in every insect and worm, there is an internal and an external; and also in every tree plant and twig; yea in every stone and particle of dust... The internal of the small dust of the ground from which its external is inclined, is its tendency to make seeds vegetate; it exhales from its little bosom something which insinuates itself into the inmost parts of the seed, and produces this; and that internal follows its vegetation even to the new seed" (True Christian Religion, n. 785). It was with reference to these "correspondences" that Sidney is believed to have claimed that "all things have their likeness" (Gen. 6, 66). The internal is by Swedenborg designated as the spiritual, but he is careful to guard against the supposition that the spiritual has no body. On the contrary it has a substantial but not a material body: "the substantial is the primitive of the material" (True Christian Religion, n. 79). Such is the similarity of the natural to the spiritual that persons are liable at death to pass a more or less extended period of time in the spiritual world without being aware that they have suffered a change. Respecting the form of the substantial or spiritual element of man, Swedenborg taught that "the soul is a human form, from which nothing at all can be taken away, and to which nothing at all can be added...In a word, the soul is the man himself, because it is the inmost man; wherefore its form is fully and perfectly the human form" (True Christian Religion, n. 697). Sidney seems to hold that the same is true regarding the spiritual likeness of trees and beasts. He was also unable to perceive how anything might possess this spiritual counterpart without having a soul; therefore he does not scruple to attribute to trees and beasts the high distinction of a living soul. It was of little concern to him whether Swedenborg had gone to that extreme or not; to his thinking that was a logical result of Swedenborg's tenets, and he was never in the custom of shunning what he esteemed to be logical results. Swedenborg teaches that "natural things were created that they might clothe spiritual things, as the skin clothes the bodies of men and animals, and the rind and bark clothe the trunks and branches of trees" (True Christian Religion, n. 78). Mr. Rigdon was captivated by that notion, and brings it forward in the suggestion cited above to the effect that God "caused every tree to grow, naturally," for the purpose of clothing the spiritual tree which had been formed by divine wisdom at the beginning of the creation. He was very strenuously assured that the tree "was spiritual in the day that God created it, and that it remaineth in the [spiritual] sphere in which God created it" (Gen. 2, 11), even after the period when it might be clothed with a material form. By consequence of his conception of the meaning of the first chapter of Genesis, Mr. Rigdon felt constrained to hold that all spiritual substances were created in the beginning, before any natural things were formed to clothe them. In this regard he was likely sensible of adding an improvement that "all things were before created, but spiritually were they created" (Gen. 2, 9). One of the main considerations upon which polygamy was supported is that men by the aid of many wives may prepare numerous habitations for the multitudes of spirits that were created in the beginning, but have never yet enjoyed the benefits of walking forth among men (D.&C., 132, 63. Compare also 49, 17). The first undeniable profession of anthropomorphism on the part of Mr. Rigdon may be found in this translation at Gen. 6, 9. The exact words are: "In the day that God created man (in the likeness of God made he him) in the image of his own body, male and female, created he them." From the circumstance that Swedenborg also very decidedly inclines towards that form of thought it has been considered reasonable to suppose that the impulse in that direction may have been derived from him. He remarks: "Unless an idea be formed of God, that he is the first substance and form, and of his form that it is the very human, the mind of man would readily imbibe idle fancies, like spectres, concerning God himself, the origin of man, and the creation of the world" (True Christian Religion, n. 20). In another place he adds: "There can be no conjunction with an invisible God" (as above, n. 786). It is freely allowed that there are numerous sources whence the tendency towards this opinion might be conveyed, but as the earliest notice of it occurs in a document where Mr. Rigdon was evidently taking counsel with Swedenborg upon other points, there can be no valid objection to the supposition that Swedenborg has the honor of supplying the feature of anthropomorphism to the Mormon system. Sidney is also suspected of being indebted to Swedenborg for certain views that were promulgated during the New York visit concerning the future state. In the revelation of the 2d of January 1831, in which Joseph gave himself to the double task of persuading his eastern followers to gather at Kirtland, and the Kirtlanders in their turn to be content with such a highly inconvenient consummation the prophet says: "And I hold forth and deign to give unto you greater riches, even a land of promise, a land flowing with milk and honey, upon which there shall be no curse when the Lord cometh; and I will give it unto you for the land of your inheritance, if you seek it with all your hearts: and this shall be my covenant with you, ye shall have it for the land of your inheritance, and for the inheritance of your children forever, while the earth shall stand, and ye shall possess it again in eternity, no more to pass away" (D.&C., 38, 18-20). Special attention is desired to the circumstance that the Mormons were promised that they should possess their lands again in eternity, which is believed to have been in some sort a corruption of the teachings of Swedenborg touching the future state. He affirms indeed that spaces and times are in the spiritual world, otherwise the whole of it "might be drawn through the eye of a needle or concentrated upon the point of a single hair" (True Christian Religion, n. 29). It was, therefore, in his estimation something more than a mere state. Further, Swedenborg reprobated the opinion that the Lord at his coming will destroy the visible heaven and the habitable earth (as above, n. 789), and affirmed that man is equally a man after death, although he does not then appear to the eyes of the material body (as above, n. 793). With these expressions Sidney might well have connected the innumerable assertions of Swedenborg to the effect that "man lives a man after death, just as he did before in the world; that he sees, hears, speaks as before in the world; that he is clothed and adorned as before in the world; that he hungers and thirsts, eats and drinks as before in the world; that he enjoys conjugal delights as before in the world; that he sleeps as before in the world...in a word that there are all things and everything that there is in the earth" (as above, n. 693). By consequence he did not consider that it was too much for Joseph to promise the Kirtlanders an eternal title to their real estate, and to give covert intimations that all who might go thither to found a home would enjoy the same advantages. Indeed it has been shown how Sidney went even farther than Joseph and assured his brethren that the promised land to which the prophet made allusion, extended from Kirtland to the Pacific Ocean (Howe, p. 111). Great uses were made of the discovery that the promised land existed in the west and was designed to be a place of eternal inheritance. For the purpose of inducing the Mormons of New York to remove thither they were promised upon their arrival the benefits of a theocracy (D.&C., 38, 22); of a divine law under which its affairs should be administered (33, 32), and assured that there they would be a righteous people. In this connection Joseph perpetrated another absurd mistake, which however his claim to divine revelation rendered it inconvenient to correct. The New York Mormons were likewise assured that in "the Ohio" they should be "endowed with power from on high" (D.&C., 38, 32). His intention was to cite the words of Jesus where he bade his disciples to "tarry in Jerusalem until they should be endued with power from on high" (Luke 24, 49). Mr. Smith had never recognized the difference between the words "endued" and "endowed"; it was therefore perfectly natural for him to effect an unlawful exchange of the two. This blunder runs all through the course of Mormon history. The so-called "Endowment House" is one of the prominent buildings at Salt Lake City. Over against these blessings the prophet also places the dangers of continuing in New York, as an additional incitement towards a speedy removal of the faithful. He enjoined upon the missionaries whom he shortly after sent forth from Kirtland to represent that point to their converts: "And let him that goeth to the east teach them that shall be converted to flee to the west, and this in consequence of that which is coming on the earth, and of secret combinations" (D.&C., 42, 64). The Masonic crusade had scarcely yet spent its force in New York, and Joseph warns his people to escape for their lives from a commonwealth that was vexed by "secret combinations" of that complexion. It was not admissible to form a settled church in New York, because of the impending disaster; all of the members of the "church of Christ" in that portion of the earth must make it their earliest care to "gather" at the west. In the west, on the other hand, it was in order to build up churches which should not be required immediately to "gather" with the saints (D.&C., 45, 64). Howe declares (p. 116), that the believers were "privately told that the state of New York would most probably be sunk, unless the people thereof believed in the pretensions of Smith." Joseph never for a moment had any fears of this color; the story was set afloat to procure the speedy removal of his adherents to the west where they would be more nearly under his observation, and more directly subject to his pecuniary levies. The notion of Swedenborg concerning the occupations of the future world appears to have made a profound impression upon the mind of Mr. Smith. Especially his circumstance that man was represented there as being in the enjoyment of conjugal delights just as in this world, was an opinion that tickled his fancy. He dwelt upon it until the year 1843, until he had occasion to send forth his famous revelation regarding plurality of wives. There he stipulated that these parties whose marital union should chance to be "sealed" by the authority of the "church of Christ" would retain that connection in heaven. They were declared to be "married for eternity," while such as had been joined together by any other authority were only married for time, and could not expect to enjoy each others' society in the better land. He further indicated by way of improving the conception of Swedenborg, that married couples in heaven would continue to produce children, just as they had done her on earth (D.&C., 132, 19). [607]
The notion which Mr. Campbell is credited with having borrowed from the Congregationalist Rev. William Cudworth to the effect that all the converting power of the Holy Spirit is exhibited in the written word; which in the dialect of Bethany was known as the "word alone system," had been laid down with sufficient clearness in nine several "Essays on the Work of the Holy Spirit in the Salvation of Men" that were published in the Christian Baptist during the year 1824 and 1825. This subject had been of much consequence in the thought of Campbell, and in the year 1831 he tried his hand upon it a second time in a famous Dialogue between Timothy and Austin touching "The Whole Work of the Holy Spirit in the Salvation of Men." In the former place the positions he is believed to have derived from Cudworth are set forth distinctly enough but somewhat less offensively than as the case in this Dialogue. Traces of this form of thought were pointed out in the Book of Mormon; they are still more evident in the version of Genesis. Mr. Campbell was understood by a number of people who gave themselves much care to study the shape which his opinions were assuming to be an enemy to the doctrine regarding the personality of the Holy Spirit; the Spirit had exhausted itself in the labor of bestowing the scriptures and now exerted nothing beyond a moral influence by means of the written word (Christian Baptist, pp. 124-6). The influence of these speculations upon Sidney appears in the shape of a degradation of the Holy Spirit from his place in the Trinity. It is granted that he still permits the Spirit to "bear record of the Father and the Son" (Gen. 4, 9), just as he did in the Book of Mormon, but that record is conceived to have been performed merely by the agency of the scriptures. Consequently when any council of the persons of the Godhead takes place in his version of Genesis the Spirit is not allowed the honor to attend it. For instance: "And I God said unto mine Only Begotten Son, which was with me from the beginning. Let us make man in our image and after our likeness; and it was so" (Gen. 1, 27). "And I the Lord God said unto mine Only Begotten that it was not good that the man should be alone" (Genesis 2, 23). "And I the Lord God said unto mine Only Begotten, Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil" (Gen. 3, 28). This tendency to degrade the Holy Spirit became still more apparent after the publication of Mr. Campbell's Dialogue between Timothy and Austin. Several years later when Sidney was composing the "Lectures on Faith" he is understood to have driven the Holy Spirit quite outside of the Trinity, and to have left for the worship of the faithful a dual divinity in the place of a Triune God. There the Spirit has entirely lost his personality, and is reduced to the position of being merely the mind of the Father and the Son (Lectures on Faith, 5, 2). Cain as the first murderer is set forth as in the Book of Mormon to be the founder of the Masonic fraternity (Gen. 5, 10). He is even designated by the title of Master Mahan (Gen. 5, 16), which is near enough to "Master Mason" to be easily comprehended. The oath which Wm. Morgan in his revelation of Masonic rituals had attributed to the "Entered Apprentice" is intimated with sufficient clearness at Gen. 5, 14. Lamech is declared to have slain Irad the son of Enoch for the identical same reason as it was given out that Wm. Morgan was slain in the year 1826 (Gen. 5, 35-6). It was a sad inconsistency that gentlemen who did as much to persecute and destroy Masonry in New York should themselves have become so ardently devoted to it ten years later in the state of Illinois. The "language of Adam" is mentioned more than once in the section of Genesis under review. For instance: "And a book of remembrance was kept in the which was recorded in the language of Adam, for it was given unto as many as called upon God, to write by the spirit of inspiration" (Gen. 6, 5. Compare also Gen. 6, 47. 60). When Brigham Young first made his appearance at Kirtland in November 1832, on being called upon to lead in family worship, he fell into the stupid babble that in those days often passed for speaking in tongues, and as soon as the accents came to the ears of Joseph he recognized them as "the pure Adamic language" (Tullidge, p. 146). Brigham, however, lived long enough to become sensible of the silliness of this gift of tongues, and did what lay in his power within the circle of his own family to discourage the practice (Stenhouse, p. 650, note). Attention has just now been cited to the "word alone system" as advocated by Mr. Campbell in the Christian Baptist and still more distinctly in the Dialogue between Timothy and Austin. Having exhausted his force in giving the word, the Holy Spirit has no powers to operate in connection with the reading of the word of truth, but must be content with the moral effect which that reading might produce, in the same manner as any other author of books. Inasmuch as the Spirit was debarred from operating in connection with the reading of the word of God, Mr. Campbell advanced to the conclusion that "evidence alone produces faith, or testimony is all that is necessary to faith" (Christian Baptist, p. 58). Perhaps it was in consequence of this exorbitant estimation of the convincing force of testimony, as the same is delivered in the Scriptures, that Mr. Campbell was induced to cast overboard all those evidences for the existence of a God, which have been supposed by the ablest philosophers to be derived from natural religion, and "boldly took the ground that no one from nature alone could ever acquire the notion of God" (Richardson, p. 230). This thesis, which apparently he had borrowed from his friend the Rev. Dr. Fishback, was defended with much logomachy in the debate he had the honor to hold with Mr. Robert Owen. Almost as a matter of course it was likewise supported by Mr. Rigdon, who was very studious to re-echo the conclusions of Campbell or Scott (Lectures on Faith, 2, 4; 3, 7). The entire knowledge of the existence of God being derived from a personal revelation of the Deity to his creatures, Mr. Rigdon is careful in those "Lectures on Faith" to indicate just how that divine testimony had descended from sire to son; for according to Mr. Campbell it was evidence alone which produced faith. To make sure of this train of succession throughout the ages Mr. Rigdon adopts the fantastic process of making each of the patriarchs, beginning with Adam, to be members of a divine priesthood in whose keeping alone the secret of God's existence since the earliest theophanies could be kept secure (Gen. 6, 7. 70; 8, 7). Chapters six and seven of this version contain the celebrated "prophecy of Enoch," which Mr. Smith, having observed to be mentioned in the Epistle of Jude (v. 14), concluded it would be a meritorious service if he should supply a copy of it by the aid of his inspiration. It is embraced between Gen. 6, 27 and 7, 78, and contains more than one germ that afterwards bore much fruit in Mormonism. For example it somewhat tellingly identified the patriarch Enoch with Joseph Smith (Gen. 6, 32. 33); imparts information to the effect that the said Enoch builded a city which was "called the city of Holiness, even Zion" (7, 25); that this city of Zion, as well as the patriarch who founded it, was taken up to the bosom of God (7, 27. 38. 54); that the Lord would return to the earth in the age of Mr. Smith to bestow the repose of the Millennium upon the earth (7, 65-9); that he would then establish a "holy city" upon the earth, and when this had been accomplished the city of Enoch or Zion should descend from the bosom of God to meet the "holy city" that had been builded on the earth (7, 70-1); that this "holy city" should be called Zion, and "for the space of a thousand years shall the earth rest" (7, 70. 72). It was little wonder that immediately after the arrival of Joseph at Kirtland "the city" was a theme of universal comment, and the place where it should be situated a question of intense curiosity (D.&C., 45, 66-72; 48, 4-6). When the site of it was definitely confirmed at Independence, Missouri, it was naturally called Zion, after the revelations that had come to light so marvelously in the long lost "prophesy of Enoch," concerning which the Apostle Jude had discoursed with so much fervor. It may also be of consequence to observe the conflict that here went forward between Sidney and Joseph regarding the terms of the "ancient gospel." The circumstance will be recalled that on the first of June 1830, when the latter was sending forth what he then designated as the "Articles and Covenants of the church of Christ," he had assumed the liberty to add a sixth to the "Five Points of Campbellism," namely the provision enjoining the imposition of hands between remission and the gift of the Holy Spirit (D.&C., 20, 41. 43). Mr. Rigdon having now come nigh does what he may to ignore that unwelcome innovation; every time in this version when it is necessary to recite the conditions of the "ancient gospel," the item requiring the imposition of hands is quietly ignored, and the five points are given after the model of Disciple orthodoxy. A pertinent illustration may be cited in the baptism of Adam the first man, as follows: "And it came to pass when the Lord had spoken with Adam our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord, and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water; and thus he was baptized. And the spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the Spirit, and became quickened in the inner man. And he heard a voice out of heaven saying, Thou art baptized with fire and the Holy Ghost; this is the record of the Father and the Son, from henceforth and forever" (Gen. 6, 67-69). Again with reference to the curse of Adam: "And he also said unto him, if thou wilt turn unto me and hearken unto my voice and believe and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Gen. 6, 53). Both of these passages are devoted to the elucidation of the "ancient gospel" and in each of them the gift of the Holy Spirit followed baptism without the necessity of imposing any hands; Mr. Rigdon was clear in the conviction that it would be unwise to go back to Kirtland with the alteration of a jot or a tittle of those five points, as the same had been arranged and enforced by Walter Scott. The same purpose is likewise exhibited in the declaration of the items of the "ancient gospel" at Gen. 8, 11. But Joseph had no such piety as Rigdon entertained towards Campbell and Scott. Consequently he insisted upon the alteration he had introduced. In revelations of his own which occurred during Sidney's present visit to New York, he considers that he has a right to his own opinion, and unhesitatingly insists upon the imposition of hands (D.&C., 39, 23). This chapter may be concluded with a singular illustration of the process by which the "ancient gospel" effects salvation, that has been drawn from the facts of natural birth; it would be of interest to be certified whether any others of the early Disciple preachers were in the custom of employing it to enforce the correctness of their theological opinions. It is stated in the following words: "And inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water and blood, and the spirit which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul; even so must ye be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water and of the spirit, and be cleansed by the blood of mine Only Begotten" (Gen. 6, 61-2). |