Ben Crowder <crowderb@blankslate.net>
http://www.blankslate.net/lang/etexts.php
This etext was originally transcribed into Palm format by Rick
Owen <rickowen@yahoo.com>.
Reformatted for Project Gutenberg by Ben Crowder
<crowderb@blankslate.net>
THE STORY OF "MORMONISM"
And
THE PHILOSOPHY OF "MORMONISM"
By James E. Talmage, D. Sc., F. R. S. E.
PREFACE
_The Story of "Mormonism"_ as presented in the following pages
is a revised and reconstructed version of lectures delivered by Dr.
James E. Talmage at the University of Michigan, Cornell
University, and elsewhere. The "Story" first appeared in print
as a lecture report in the _Improvement Era_, and was afterward
issued as a booklet from the office of the _Millennial Star_,
Liverpool. In 1910 it was issued in a revised form by the Bureau
of Information at Salt Lake City, in which edition the lecture
style of direct address was changed to the ordinary form of
essay. The present or third American edition has been revised
and amplified by the author.
The "Story" has been translated and published abroad. Already
versions have appeared in Swedish, modern Greek, and Russian.
The subject matter of _The Philosophy of "Mormonism"_ was first
presented as a lecture delivered by Dr. Talmage before the
Philosophical Society of Denver. It appeared later in the
columns of the _Improvement Era_, and translations have been
published in pamphlet form in the Danish and German languages.
The present publication of these two productions is made in
response to a steady demand.
THE PUBLISHERS.
Salt Lake City, Utah,
March, 1914.
THE STORY OF "MORMONISM"
CHAPTER I
In the minds of many, perhaps of the majority of people, the
scene of the "Mormon" drama is laid almost entirely in Utah;
indeed, the terms "Mormon question" and "Utah question" have been
often used interchangeably. True it is, that the development of
"Mormonism" is closely associated with the history of the
long-time Territory and present State of Utah; but the origin of
the system must be sought in regions far distant from the present
gathering-place of the Latter-day Saints, and at a period
antedating the acquisition of Utah as a part of our national
domain.
The term "origin" is here used in its commonest application--that
of the first stages apparent to ordinary observation--the visible
birth of the system. But a long, long period of preparation had
led to this physical coming forth of the "Mormon" religion, a
period marked by a multitude of historical events, some of them
preceding by centuries the earthly beginning of this modern
system of prophetic trust. The "Mormon" people regard the
establishment of their Church as the culmination of a great
series of notable events. To them it is the result of causes
unnumbered that have operated through ages of human history, and
they see in it the cause of many developments yet to appear.
This to them establishes an intimate relationship between the
events of their own history and the prophecies of ancient times.
In reading the earliest pages of "Mormon" history, we are
introduced to a man whose name will ever be prominent in the
story of the Church--the founder of the organization by common
usage of the term, the head of the system as an earthly
establishment--one who is accepted by the Church as an ambassador
specially commissioned of God to be the first revelator of the
latter-day dispensation. This man is Joseph Smith, commonly
known as the "Mormon" prophet. Rarely indeed does history
present an organization, religious, social, or political, in
which an individual holds as conspicuous and in all ways as
important a place as does this man in the development of
"Mormonism." The earnest investigator, the sincere truth-seeker,
can ignore neither the man nor his work; for the Church under
consideration has risen from the testimony solemnly set forth and
the startling declarations made by this person, who, at the time
of his earliest announcements, was a farmer's boy in the first
half of his teens. If his claims to ordination under the hands
of divinely commissioned messengers be fallacious, forming as
they form the foundation of the Church organization, the
superstructure cannot stand; if, on the other hand, such
declarations be true, there is little cause to wonder at the
phenomenally rapid rise and the surprising stability of the
edifice so begun.
Joseph Smith was born at Sharon, Vermont, in December, 1805. He
was the son of industrious parents, who possessed strong
religious tendencies and tolerant natures. For generations his
ancestors had been laborers, by occupation tillers of the soil;
and though comfortable circumstances had generally been their
lot, reverses and losses in the father's house had brought the
family to poverty; so that from his earliest days the lad Joseph
was made acquainted with the pleasures and pains of hard work.
He is described as having been more than ordinarily studious for
his years; and when that powerful wave of religious agitation and
sectarian revival which characterized the first quarter of the
last century, reached the home of the Smiths, Joseph with others
of the family was profoundly affected. The household became
somewhat divided on the subject of religion, and some of the
members identified themselves with the more popular sects; but
Joseph, while favorably impressed by the Methodists in comparison
with others, confesses that his mind was sorely troubled over the
contemplation of the strife and tumult existing among the
religious bodies; and he hesitated. He tried in vain to solve
the mystery presented to him in the warring factions of what
professed to be the Church of Christ. Surely, thought he, these
several churches, opposed as they are to one another on what
appear to be the vital points of religion, cannot all be right.
While puzzling over this anomaly he chanced upon this verse in
the epistle of St. James:
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that
giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and
it shall be given him."
In common with so many others, the earnest youth found here
within the scriptures, admonition and counsel as directly
applicable to his case and circumstances as if the lines had been
addressed to him by name. A brief period of hesitation, in which
he shrank from the thought that a mortal like himself, weak,
youthful, and unlearned, should approach the Creator with a
personal request, was followed by a humble and contrite
resolution to act upon the counsel of the ancient apostle. The
result, to which he bore solemn record (testifying at first with
the simplicity and enthusiasm of youth, afterward confirming the
declaration with manhood's increasing powers, and at last
voluntarily sealing the testimony with his life's blood,) proved
most startling to the sectarian world--a world in which according
to popular belief no new revelation of truth was possible. It is
a surprising fact that while growth, progress, advancement,
development of known truths and the acquisition of new ones,
characterize every living science, the sectarian world has
declared that nothing new must be expected as direct revelation
from God.
The testimony of this lad is, that in response to his
supplication, drawn forth by the admonition of an inspired
apostle, he received a divine ministration; heavenly beings
manifested themselves to him--two, clothed in purity, and alike
in form and feature. Pointing to the other, one said, "This is
my beloved Son, hear Him." In answer to the lad's prayer, the
heavenly personage so designated informed Joseph that the Spirit
of God dwelt not with warring sects, which, while professing a
form of godliness, denied the power thereof, and that he should
join none of them. Overjoyed at the glorious manifestation thus
granted unto him, the boy prophet could not withhold from
relatives and acquaintances tidings of the heavenly vision. From
the ministers, who had been so energetic in their efforts to
convert the boy, he received, to his surprise, abuse and
ridicule. "Visions and manifestations from God," said they, "are
of the past, and all such things ceased with the apostles of old;
the canon of scripture is full; religion has reached its
perfection in plan, and, unlike all other systems contrived or
accepted by human kind, is incapable of development or growth.
It is true God lives, but He cares not for His children of modern
times as He did for those of ancient days; He has shut Himself
away from the people, closed the windows of heaven, and has
suspended all direct communication with the people of earth."
The persecution thus originating with those who called themselves
ministers of the gospel of Christ spread throughout the
community; and the sects that before could not agree together nor
abide in peace, became as one in their efforts to oppose the
youth who thus testified of facts, which though vehemently
denounced, produced an effect that alarmed them the more. And
such a spectacle has ofttimes presented itself before the
world--men who cannot tolerate one another in peace swear
fidelity and mutual support in strife with a common opponent.
The importance of this alleged revelation from the heavens to the
earth is such as to demand attentive consideration. If a fact,
it is a full contradiction of the vague theories that had been
increasing and accumulating for centuries, denying personality
and parts to Deity.
In 1820, there lived one person who knew that the word of the
Creator, "Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness,"
had a meaning more than in metaphor. Joseph Smith, the youthful
prophet and revelator of the nineteenth century, knew that the
Eternal Father and the well-beloved Son, Jesus Christ, were in
form and stature like unto perfect men; and that the human family
was in very truth of divine origin. But this wonderful vision
was not the only manifestation of heavenly power and personality
made to the young man, nor the only incident of the kind destined
to bring upon him the fury of persecution. Sometime after this
visitation, which constituted him a living witness of God unto
men, and which demonstrated the great fact that humanity is the
child of Deity, he was visited by an immortal personage who
announced himself as Moroni, a messenger sent from the presence
of God. The celestial visitor stated that through Joseph as the
earthly agent the Lord would accomplish a great work, and that
the boy would come to be known by good and evil repute amongst
all nations. The angel then announced that an ancient record,
engraven on plates of gold, lay hidden in a hill near by, which
record gave a history of the nations that had of old inhabited
the American continent, and an account of the Savior's
ministrations among them. He further explained that with the
plates were two sacred stones, known as Urim and Thummim, by the
use of which the Lord would bring forth a translation of the
ancient record. Joseph further testifies that he was told that
if he remained faithful to his trust and the confidence reposed
in him, he would some day receive the record into his keeping,
and be commissioned and empowered to translate it. In due time
these promises were literally fulfilled, and the modern version
of these ancient writings was given to the world.
The record proved to be an account of certain colonies of
immigrants to this hemisphere from the east, who came several
centuries before the Christian era. The principal company was
led by one Lehi, described as a personage of some importance and
wealth, who had formerly lived at Jerusalem in the reign of
Zedekiah, and who left his eastern home about 600 B.C. The book
tells of the journeyings across the water in vessels constructed
according to revealed plan, of the peoples' landing on the
western shores of South America probably somewhere in Chile, of
their prosperity and rapid growth amid the bounteous elements of
the new world, of the increase of pride and consequent dissension
accompanying the accumulation of material wealth, and of the
division of the people into factions which became later two great
nations at enmity with one another. One part following Nephi,
the youngest and most gifted son of Lehi, designated themselves
_Nephites_; the other faction, led by Laman, the elder and wicked
brother of Nephi, were known as _Lamanites_.
The Nephites lived in cities, some of which attained great size
and were distinguished by great architectural beauty.
Continually advancing northward, these people in time occupied
the greater part of the valleys of the Orinoco, the Amazon, and
the Magdalena. During the thousand years covered by the Nephite
record, the people crossed the Isthmus of Panama, which is
graphically described as a neck of land but a day's journey from
sea to sea, and successively occupied extensive tracts in what is
now Mexico, the valley of the Mississippi, and the Eastern
States. It is not to be supposed that these vast regions were
all populated at any one time by the Nephites; the people were
continually moving to escape the depredations of their hereditary
foes, the Lamanites; and they abandoned in turn all their cities
established along the course of migration. The unprejudiced
student sees in the discoveries of the ancient and now
forest-covered cities of Mexico, Central America, Yucatan, and
the northern regions of South America, collateral testimony
having a bearing upon this history.
Before their more powerful foes, the Nephites dwindled and fled;
until about the year 400 A.D. they were entirely annihilated
after a series of decisive battles, the last of which was fought
near the very hill, called Cumorah, in the State of New York,
where the hidden record was subsequently revealed to Joseph
Smith.
The Lamanites led a roving, aggressive life; kept few or no
records, and soon lost the art of history writing. They lived on
the results of the chase and by plunder, degenerating in habit
until they became typical progenitors of the dark-skinned race,
afterward discovered by Columbus and named American Indians.
The last writer in the ancient record, and the one who hid away
the plates in the hill Cumorah, was Moroni--the same personage
who appeared as a resurrected being in the nineteenth century, a
divinely appointed messenger sent to reveal the depository of the
sacred documents; but the greater part of the plates since
translated had been engraved by the father of Moroni, the Nephite
prophet Mormon. This man, at once warrior, prophet and
historian, had made a transcript and compilation of the
heterogeneous records that had accumulated during the troubled
history of the Nephite nation; this compilation was named on the
plates "The Book of Mormon," which name has been given to the
modern translation--a work that has already made its way over
most of the civilized world. The translation and publication of
the Book of Mormon were marked by many scenes of trouble and
contention, but success attended the undertaking, and the first
edition of the work appeared in print in 1830.
The question, "What is the Book of Mormon?"--a very pertinent one
on the part of every earnest student and investigator of this
phase of American history--has been partly answered already. The
work has been derisively called the "Mormon Bible," a name that
carries with it the misrepresentation that in the faith of this
people the book takes the place of the scriptural volume which is
universally accepted by Christian sects. No designation could be
more misleading, and in every way more untruthful. The
Latter-day Saints have but one "Bible" and that the Holy Bible of
Christendom. They place it foremost amongst the standard works
of the Church; they accept its admonitions and its doctrines, and
accord thereto a literal significance; it is to them, and ever
has been, the word of God, a compilation made by human agency of
works by various inspired writers; they accept its teachings in
fulness, modifying the meaning in no wise, except in the rare
cases of undoubted mistranslation, concerning which Biblical
scholars of all faiths differ and criticize; and even in such
cases their reverence for the sacred letter renders them even
more conservative than the majority of Bible commentators and
critics in placing free construction upon the text. The
historical part of the Jewish scriptures tells of the divine
dealings with the people of the eastern hemisphere; the Book of
Mormon recounts the mercies and judgments of God, the inspired
teachings of His prophets, the rise and fall of His people as
organized communities on the western continent.
The Latter-day Saints believe the coming forth of the Book of
Mormon to have been foretold in the Bible, as its destiny is
prophesied of within its own lids; it is to the people the true
"stick of Ephraim" which Ezekiel declared should become one with
the "stick of Judah"--or the Bible. The people challenge the most
critical comparison between this record of the west and the Holy
Scriptures of the east, feeling confident that no discrepancy
exists in letter or spirit. As to the original characters in
which the record was engraved, copies were shown to learned
linguists of the day and pronounced by them as closely resembling
the Reformed Egyptian writing.
Let us revert, however, to the facts of history concerning this
new scripture, and the reception accorded the printed volume.
The Book of Mormon was before the world; the Church circulated
the work as freely as possible. The true account of its origin
was rejected by the general public, who thus, assumed the
responsibility of explaining in some plausible way the source of
the record. Among the many false theories propounded, perhaps
the most famous is the so-called Spaulding story. Solomon
Spaulding, a clergyman of Amity, Pennsylvania, died in 1816. He
wrote a romance to which no name other than "Manuscript Story"
was given, and which, but for the unauthorized use of the
writer's name and the misrepresentation of his motives, would
never have been published. Twenty years after the author's
death, one Hurlburt, an apostate "Mormon," announced that he had
recognized a resemblance between the "Manuscript Story" and the
Book of Mormon, and expressed a belief that the work brought
forward by Joseph Smith was nothing but the Spaulding romance
revised and amplified. The apparent credibility of the statement
was increased by various signed declarations to the effect that
the two were alike, though no extracts for comparison were
presented. But the "Manuscript Story" was lost for a time, and
in the absence of proof to the contrary, reports of the
parallelism between the two works multiplied. By a fortunate
circumstance, in 1884, President James H. Fairchild, of Oberlin
College, and a literary friend of his--a Mr. Rice--while
examining a heterogeneous collection of old papers which had been
purchased by the gentleman last named, found the original
manuscript of the "Story."
After a careful perusal and comparison with the Book of Mormon,
President Fairchild declared in an article published in the New
York _Observer_, February 5, 1885:
The theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon in the
traditional manuscript of Solomon Spaulding will
probably have to be relinquished. * * * Mr. Rice,
myself, and others compared it [the Spaulding
manuscript] with the Book of Mormon and could detect
no resemblance between the two, in general or in
detail. There seems to be no name nor incident common
to the two. The solemn style of the Book of Mormon in
imitation of the English scriptures does not appear in
the manuscript. * * * Some other explanation of the
origin of the Book of Mormon must be found if any
explanation is required.
The manuscript was deposited in the library of Oberlin College
where it now reposes. Still, the theory of the "Manuscript
Found," as Spaulding's story has come to be known, is
occasionally pressed into service in the cause of anti-"Mormon"
zeal, by some whom we will charitably believe to be ignorant of
the facts set forth by President Fairchild. A letter of more
recent date, written by that honorable gentleman in reply to an
inquiring correspondent, was published in the _Millennial Star_,
Liverpool, November 3, 1898, and is as follows:
OBERLIN COLLEGE, OHIO,
October 17, 1895.
J. R. HINDLEY, ESQ.,
Dear Sir: We have in our college library an original
manuscript of Solomon Spaulding--unquestionably
genuine.
I found it in 1884 in the hands of Hon. L. L. Rice,
of Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands. He was formerly state
printer at Columbus, Ohio, and before that, publisher
of a paper in Painesville, whose preceding publisher
had visited Mrs. Spaulding and obtained the manuscript
from her. It had lain among his old papers forty
years or more, and was brought out by my asking him to
look up anti-slavery documents among his papers.
The manuscript has upon it the signatures of several
men of Conneaught, Ohio, who had heard Spaulding read
it and knew it to be his. No one can see it and
question its genuineness. The manuscript has been
printed twice, at least;--once by the Mormons of Salt
Lake City, and once by the Josephite Mormons of Iowa.
The Utah Mormons obtained the copy of Mr. Rice, at
Honolulu, and the Josephites got it of me after it
came into my possession.
This manuscript is not the original of the Book of
Mormon.
Yours very truly,
JAMES H. FAIRCHILD.
The "Manuscript Story" has been published in full, and
comparisons between the same and the Book of Mormon may be made
by anyone who has a mind to investigate the subject.[1]
[Footnote 1: For a fuller account of the Book of Mormon, see the
author's "Articles of Faith," Lectures 14 and 15; published at
Salt Lake City, Utah, 1913.]