The other, and by far the most
numerous class of Smith’s followers, are those who are truly deluded. They have
little intellectual capacity and are wonderfully given to the marvellous. They are
children of gullibility, and may be said to be born Mormons. Many of them are
but little advanced beyond the galley slave, and it is their business to labor
and obey. These unfortunate creatures are the more dangerous to society of the
two. They are taught that implicit obedience to their leaders is a duty to
their God, and they regard this doctrine with still more reverence, all they
believe these leaders to hold direct communication with the Almighty. Hence,
they conscientiously consider themselves bound to do whatever they are told by
those to whom they are accustomed to look up for direction, and in the hands
which wield them, they are weapons of fearful power. If I should be told they
are not to be condemned for their ignorance, I answer it is that very
ignorance, when controlled, as it is, by shameless guilt, that makes them the
terror of their neighbors; stains their hands with blood; pollutes their lips
with perjury, and fills their coffers with unshallowed gain. They are mere
machines, without any independence of character or thought, and when floated
together in a mass, are as great a nuisance to society as a drift upon the
bosom of a river, and this will explain why every community in which they have
resided has shaken them from her encumbered lap. (“Retribution;
or, the Death of Joe Smith. A True Narrative,” Quincy Whig 9, no. 3
[May 6, 1846]: [1])
