Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Franklin Langworthy (critic), "Scenery of the Plains" (1855) Reporting LDS Belief that the U.S. Government will Soon be Overthrown

  

VISIT FROM A MORMON

 

July 12th. [1850].—Still lying by, at the entrance of the canon. A Mormon elder came to our camp, who was a zealous follower of the Prophet of Nauvoo. He talked loud and long. The information I obtained from him, may be summed up as follows:

 

1st. The number of Mormons in the valley, he did not know, but their settlements extend forty-five miles to the north, and an hundred and seventy to the south of the city.

2d. The city is divided into nineteen Wards, in each of which a Bishop is the presiding officer.

3d. Plurality of wives is practiced in the city, and throughout the valley. This, he contended, is right, according to the practice of the holy Saints of old. He was of opinion, that about every fourth man among the Mormons has more wives than one. He also said it was no one's business how many wives a man had, and he did not wish to keep this part of Mormonism a secret.

4th. He believed, without a doubt, that the Mormons will soon overthrow the present Government of the United States and ultimately all other human governments, and then there will be "peace on earth," and good will amongst men."

5th. He said the Mormons pay tithes to the Church, of the tenth part of the products of their stores, shops, fields, and flocks; and those who go to the California mines, pay for the proceeds of their labors in the same ratio.

6th. The largest amount of gold that any one Mormon has obtained by mining in California in a year, is seven thousand dollars.

7th. He expects that the Saints, as he styled the Mormons, will yet be persecuted and driven from the obscure retreat.

8th. He says the Mormons know they are right—other sects believe or guess they are—but we know it! We have the witness—our doctrine is attested by prophecy, tongues and miracles—and we, said he, shall hold fast the faith, whatever the persecution or opposition.

9th. He argued that the more the Mormons are persecuted and driven about, the more rapidly the doctrine will prevail. He thought this the very means by which Mormonism is to be spread over the whole world. Here the "Saint" took his leave of us, and we moved on to the great Salt Lake City. (Franklin Langworthy, Scenery of the Plains, Mountains and Mines: Narratives of the Trans-Mississippi Frontier [1855; repr., Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1932], 72-73)

 

In the context of the July 24th, 1850 (Pioneer Day) celebration in Salt Lake City:

 

There was shouting, and firing of cannon, mingled with the flourish of trumpets, and strains from the brass band. They said many hard things against the Government and people of the United States, and heaped the most withering curses upon the States of Missouri and Illinois. They prophesied that the total overthrow of the United States was near at hand, and that the whole nation would soon be at the feet of the Mormons, suing for mercy and protection. (Ibid., 80)

 

Further Reading:


Notes on the "Grease Spot" Prophecy


Resources on Joseph Smith's Prophecies