The following is a transcription of the article, “Mormonites,” From the A. M. Intelligencer, repr. The Sun 2, no. 82 (August 18, 1831): 1. The Sun was a newspaper published in Philadelphia.
From the A. M. Intelligencer.
MORMONITES.
We have always laid it down as a maxim, “Let superstition alone, and
it will do no harm.” Keeping this saying in view, we have heretofore forborne
to mention a sect of religious fanatics known by the name of Mormonites. But,
as this new sect has been introduced to the attention of the public, through
the medium of the contemporary press; and as we are personally acquainted with
its history from the commencement, we have concluded to give our readers a
brief account of Mormonism.
In the year 1828, one Joseph Smith, of Palmyra, Wayne county,
New-York, pretended to have found a number of gold plates, from which, by
assistance of a pair of spectacles found with the plates, he said he could read
certain revelations from God. He said these plates contained what he termed the
Book of Mormon;—which consisted of several unpublished books of the Holy
Scriptures, such as the Book of Mormon; the Book of Nephi, &c. &c.
This Jo Smith was a young man, so illiterate that he could not read
his own name in print. But being a person of some natural talents, he could,
with his spectacles on, read so fluently from his plates, by placing them in
his hat, and his hat over his eyes, that he succeeded in gulling an honest,
wealthy farmer of Palmyra, of the name of Martin Harris, into the belief, that
these plates contained a revelation from Heaven; and Jo Smith was at least a
prophet, who only was “worthy to open the book.” Jo once showed one of the
plates, (or said he did, but no one ever pretended to have seen them,) and the
result was, he was deprived, for six months, of the power of reading them.
Finally, after frequent and fervent prayer, Jo’s spectacles were
restored to sight, and he again permitted to open the book. — Jo had, during
his spiritual blindness, by the assistance of some one, committed several
chapters of the New Testament to memory; and, the better to carry on his
deception with the deluded Harris, had inquired and found out the words
inserted by the translators; (which are distinguished by Italics, both in the
New Testament and the Old.) So, that in order to convince Harris that he could
read from the plates, Jo deposites them in his hat applies spectacles, and
refers Harris to a chapter in the Bible which he had learned by rote: and which
he read from the plates with surprising accuracy; and what astonished Harris
most was, that Jo should omit all the words in the Bible that were printed in
Italic. And, if Harris attempted to correct Jo, he persisted that the plates
were right, and the Bible was wrong.
Jo possessed a remarkably retentive memory; and having convinced
Harris beyond the shadow of a doubt, that he was commissioned by the Almighty,
to reveal some hidden mysteries, he commenced translating, and Harris commenced
transcribing, as Jo dictated; and to avoid mistakes, Jo required his amanuensis
to read what he had written; and nothing was allowed to pass, until Jo
pronounced it correct. It must go as Jo said,—sense or nonsense.
But before a translation was completed, the Lord informed Jo, (or, at
least, so Jo said,) that the work must be published. As Jo was possessed of no
funds, the expense, of course, must fall upon Harris; who accordingly made
application to the printers in Palmyra. One of them refused to have any thing
to do with the concern. The other made a charge, which Harris’ unfledged zeal
could not, at first, encompass, with his purse, without too hard a stretch of
the strings. But, as he grew in faith, his purse-strings became more elastic;
and, in 1830, the Book of Mormon was published.
As is usually the case with new systems, however absurd, Mormonism
found quite a number of deluded followers.—Jo and Martin, of course, were the
principal leaders. Jo, by some revelation from above, as he pretended, was
informed that there was a ‘Promised Land’ for him and his disciples, in the
West. This information was communicated to the deluded Mormonites, who
immediately took up a line of march for New-Connecticut, or the Western
Reserve, in the State of Ohio.
There they found a tract of land which they deemed the “Land of
Promise.” But some of the wicked owners refused to sell it; and thus the
Mormonites were deprived of their ‘inheritance.’ They however, occupied what
part of it they were able to obtain, living, and sharing all their goods in
common.
Many miracles were pretended to be wrought among them. They professed
to receive direct communications from the Deity. At one time, a young man gave
information to his brethren, that he was about to receive a message from
heaven; and specified the time and place.
At the appointed time, they repaired to the spot designated; and
there, they solemnly assert, a letter descended from the skies, and fell into
the hands of the young man who was expecting to receive the message;—the
purport of which was, to inform him that he was about to be called to preach
Mormonism, and to exhort him to increase his faith. The deluded Mormonites
declare their most solemn belief that this letter was written in heaven, by the
finger of the Almighty: and the youth who pretends to have received it, says,
the writing was in a round Italian hand, and the letters were in gold;—he
attempted to copy it; but, as fast as he wrote, the letters disappeared from
the original, until it entirely vanished.—Some of them pretend to have received
a ‘white stone, on which is written a new name, which no man knoweth save him
that receiveth it.’ (Revelations, ii, 17.)
Some of them pretend to see these stones moving about in the air, and
others to hear them rolling about the floor; at such times, they spring and
jump about, trying to catch them,—till some one, more fortunate than the rest,
succeeds. But, when one of these stones is caught, no man can see it “save him
that receiveth it.”
The Mormonites have among them an African, (or, Garrison, would say,
an Africo-American,) who fancies he can fly.—Caesar at one time, took it into
his head to try his wings: he accordingly chose the elevated bank of Lake Erie
as a spring place, and, spreading his pinions, he lit on a tree-top some fifty
feet below, sustaining no other damage than the demolition of his faith in
wings without feathers.
The land of promise in Ohio, not exactly suiting Martin Harris and Jo
Smith, they have lately discovered another Promised Land in the valley of the
Mississippi; whence they, together with most of their followers, some 50 or 60
in number, have departed.
As most of the Mormonites have emigrated to their new “Land of
Promise,” in the “far west,” it is to be hoped that we shall hear from them but
very seldom; and, as the wilderness to which they are bound, is an ample field
for meditation and reflection, our earnest desire is that they may be restored
to right reason.
— — —
*The Editor of the Hartford Times, last week, classed the Mormonites
with the Antimasons. We therefore mention the fact, that the Antimasonic
printer in Palmyra, refused to print the Mormon Bible; and it was printed by
the publisher of the Wayne Sentinel, a masonic paper.
*The reader in here referred to the Mark Master’s degree in
Freemasonry — We are of the opinion that even Gideon will confess the striking
resemblance between Mormonism and Masonry. What say you, Brother Jachin?
