God; sworn to by himself to be everlasting; as a blessing to all
nations--if we find these have to do with exceeding multiplicity of
race, and with family and national organization and increase--if such
institutions are older than Moses, and are found perpetuated and
unimpaired by Moses and the prophets, Jesus and the apostles, then it
will appear evident that no merely human legislation or authority,
whether proceeding from emperor, king, or people, has a right to
change, alter, or pervert them.”
[MORMON MATERIALISM.]
The third epoch is that of Materialism. In this the Mormons are
preceded, to quote but a few schools, by the classic Academics--by
the Jews, who believed in a material and personal Demiurgus, and by
many fathers of the Christian Church, who held the soul of man, while
immortal, to be material. Matter with them, as with Newton, is an
aggregate of “solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, and movable particles.”
Respecting the intelligence of its units and molecules--the test of
true materialism--they are somewhat hazy; they deride the peripatetic
dogma of perception by species or phantasms, and at the same time
ignore the doctrine of Hobbes, Spinoza, Priestley, and others, who
recognize no separate existence for the mind or spirit[206] except
as a union of atoms or particles, which, unorganized, have neither
feeling nor thought. They define matter as a something that exists in
and occupies space between any two instants, and is susceptible of
division, and of being removed from one portion of space to another.
Unlike other metaphysicians, who confess ignorance as to the substratum
of mind and matter, they boast acquaintance with the essence of all
substances, solidity, which with them is not a mere property. Although
the ultimate atoms of matter can not come under the cognizance of
the senses, they are none the less assured of their solidity, viz.,
that they fill a certain amount of space, and are unable ever to
fill a greater or a lesser--in fact, to believe otherwise would be
impossible. They hold to different kinds of matter, for instance, the
fleshly body and the spiritual body, which differ in quality as iron
and oxygen. Mind and spirit, therefore, are real, objective, positive
substances, which, like the astral spirit of the old alchymists, exists
in close connection with the component parts of the porous, material
body. Immaterialism is, with them, simply absurd; it is a belief which
requires a man to put faith in a negation of time, space, and matter;
in fact, in the zero of existence, in an entity whose ens admits no
proof, and which can be described only by negative conditions and
qualities, by saying what it is not. They contend that the materiality
of spirit once taken away would negative its existence; that an
“immaterial being” is a contradiction in terms; and that immateriality
is another name for nothing; therefore, that the spirituality of spirit
“is an unphilosophical, unscriptural, and atheistical doctrine.” The
theses supported by Mr. Orson Pratt, the apostle of materialism, are
the following:
[206] “If man,” says Dr. Priestley, “be a material being, and the
power of thinking the result of a certain organization of the brain,
does it not follow that all his functions must be regulated by the
laws of mechanism, and that, of consequence, all his actions proceed
from an irresistible necessity?” It is the glory of the present
age, the highest result of our nineteenth century physiological and
statistic studies, brought to bear by a master-mind of the age upon
the History of Civilization--to establish the fact that mankind
progresses by investigating the laws of phenomena; in fact, to prove,
not to conjecture, that such mechanism really exists. I need hardly
name Mr. Buckle.
I. That Immaterialism is irrational opposed to true philosophy.
II. That an Immaterial substance (_i.e._, a something existing which
is not matter and is distinct from matter, which is not dependent upon
matter for its existence, which possesses no properties nor qualities
in common with matter, and which possesses properties and qualities all
entirely different from those of matter) can not exist.
III. That a real material unchangeable spirit, possessing parts and
extension, inhabits the body.
Immaterialists who believe in “an inexplicable, incomprehensible,
imaginary something without extension or parts, as taught in the first
of the Thirty-nine Articles,” are therefore the worshipers of an
immortal Nihil--of a Nothing clothed with almighty powers.
It is abundantly evident that the partition between the spiritualist
and the materialist is mainly philological, a dispute of words, a
variation of terms, spirit and matter differing about as much as azote
and nitrogen. The deductions, however, from the Mormon’s premises lead
him, as the following extracts prove, far.[207]
[207] From Mr. Apostle Orson Pratt’s “Absurdities of Immaterialism,”
and his treatise on the “Kingdom of God.” It is hardly possible not
to believe that the author has borrowed most of his theories from Mr.
Carlyle’s “Republican.”
“The Godhead consists of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The
Father is a material being. The substance of which he is composed is
wholly material. It is a substance widely different in some respects
from the various substances with which we are more immediately
acquainted. In other respects, it is precisely like all other
materials. The substance of his person occupies space the same as other
matter. It has solidity, length, breadth, and thickness, like other
matter. The elementary materials of his body are not susceptible of
occupying at the same time the same identical space with other matter.
The substance of his person, like other matter, can not be in two
places at the same instant. It requires _time_ for him to transport
himself from place to place. It matters not how great the velocity of
his movement, _time_ is an essential ingredient to all motion, whether
rapid or slow. It differs from other matter in the superiority of
its powers, being intelligent, all-wise, and possessing the property
of self-motion to a far greater extent than the coarser materials of
nature. ‘God is a spirit;’ but that does not make him an immaterial
being, a being that has no properties in common with matter.”...
“All the foregoing statements in relation to the person of the Father
are equally applicable to the person of the Son.
“The Holy Spirit, being one part of the Godhead, is also a material
substance, of the same nature and properties in many respects as
the Spirits of the Father and Son. It exists in vast, immeasurable
quantities, in connection with all material worlds. This is called
God in the Scriptures, as well as the Father and Son. God the Father
and God the Son can not be every where present; indeed, they can not
be even in two places at the same instant; but God the Holy Spirit is
omnipresent: it extends through all space, intermingling with all other
matter, yet no one atom of the Holy Spirit can be in two places at
the same instant, which in all cases is an absolute impossibility. It
must exist in inexhaustible quantities, which is the only possible way
for any substance to be omnipresent. All the innumerable phenomena of
universal nature are produced in their origin by the actual presence
of this intelligent, all-wise, and all-powerful material substance
called the Holy Spirit. It is the most active matter in the universe,
producing all its operations according to fixed and definite laws
enacted by itself, in conjunction with the Father and the Son. What
are called the laws of nature are nothing more nor less than the fixed
method by which this spiritual matter operates. Each atom of the Holy
Spirit is intelligent, and, like other matter, has solidity, form, and
size, and occupies space. Two atoms of this Spirit can not occupy the
same space at the same time, neither can one atom, as before stated,
occupy two separate spaces at the same time. In all these respects it
does not differ in the least from all other matter. Its distinguishing
characteristics from other matter are its almighty powers and infinite
wisdom, and many other glorious attributes which other materials do not
possess. If several of the atoms of this Spirit should exist united
together in the form of a person, then this person of the Holy Spirit
would be subject to the same necessity” (N.B., this out-anagkes anagke)
“as the other two persons of the Godhead--that is, it could not be
every where present. No finite number of atoms can be omnipresent. An
infinite number of atoms is requisite to be _every where_ in infinite
space. Two persons receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit do not
receive at the same time the same identical particles, though they each
receive a substance exactly similar in kind. It would be as impossible
for them to receive the same identical atoms at the same instant as it
would be for two men at the same time to drink the same identical pint
of water.”
[MIND AND MATTER.]
I will offer another instance of the danger of meddling with such edged
tools as mind and matter--concerning which mankind knows nothing beyond
certain properties--in the following answer addressed by Mr. Pratt
to the many who have been “traditionated in the absurd doctrines of
immaterialism.” “The resemblance between man and God has reference, as
we have already observed, to the shape or figure: other qualities may
or may not resemble each other. Man has legs, so has God, as is evident
from his appearance to Abraham. Man walks with his legs; so does God
sometimes, as is evident from his going with Abraham toward Sodom. God
can not only walk, but he can move up or down through the air without
using his legs as in the process of walking (Gen., xvii., 22, and xi.,
5, and xxxv., 13)--‘a man wrestled with Jacob until the breaking of
day;’ after which Jacob says, ‘I have seen God face to face, and my
life is preserved’ (Gen., xxxii., 24-30). That this person had legs is
evident from his wrestling with Jacob. His image and likeness was so
much like man’s, that Jacob at first supposed him to be a man. God,
though in the figure of a man, has many powers that man has not got. He
can go upward through the air. He can waft himself from world to world
by his own self-moving powers. These are powers not possessed by man,
only through faith, as in the instances of Enoch and Elijah. Therefore,
though in the figure of a man, he has powers far superior to man.”
This part of the subject may profitably be concluded by quoting the
venerable adage, “_Qui nescit ignorare nescit sciri_.”
[MORMON DOXOLOGY.]
I now offer to the reader a few remarks upon the fourteen articles
of the Mormon doxology,[208] leaving him to settle whether it be a
kakodoxy or a kakistodoxy.
[208] From an article published in the “Frontier Guardian,” then
edited by the Apostle Orson Hyde.
I. “WE BELIEVE IN GOD, THE ETERNAL FATHER, AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST,
AND IN THE HOLY GHOST.”--Of the thousand sects and systems that have
used this venerable Kalmah or formula of Christian faith, none have
interpreted it more peculiarly than the Mormons.
The First Person is a perfected man, once a dweller upon earth:
advancing in intelligence and power, he became such that in
comparison with man he may be called the Infinite. Mr. Joseph Smith,
in his last sermon preached at Nauvoo, thus develops his remarkable
anthropomorphosis: “First, God himself, who sits enthroned in yonder
heavens, is a man like one of yourselves; that is the great secret.
If the veil was rent to-day, and the great God who holds this world
in its orbit, and upholds all things by his power, if you were to see
him to-day, you would see him in all the person, image, and very form
as a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion and image of God;
Adam received instruction, walked, talked, and conversed with Him, as
one man talks and communes with another.”
The Second Person is the “Son Jesus Christ,” the material offspring
of the First by the Virgin Mary, who was duly married, after
betrothal by the angel Gabriel, to the Eternal Father, on the
plains of Palestine: the Holy Babe was the “tabernacle” prepared
for and assumed by the Spirit Son. The Son is the Creator: when in
the material spirit still, he took of the “unformed chaotic matter
element which had an existence from the time God had, and in which
dwells all the glory,” and formed and peopled this planetary world,
which he afterward redeemed. He is to be worshiped as Lord of all,
heir of the Father in power, creation, and dominion. “What did Jesus
do?” “Why, I do the things that I saw my Father do when worlds came
rolling into existence. I saw my Father work out his kingdom with
fear and trembling, and I must do the same.” (“Last Sermon,” p. 61.)
The Paraclete has already been described: it differs from the other
two Persons in being a merely spirit-material soul or existence
without a “tabernacle.” Thus the Mormons mingle with a Trinity a very
distinct, though not a conflicting Duality.
The Mormon Godhead may be illustrated by a council composed of
three men, possessing equal wisdom, knowledge, and truth, together
with equal qualifications in every other respect: each would be a
separate person or a substance distinct from the other two, and
yet the three would compose but one body. This body consists of
three, viz., Eloheim, Jehovah, and Michael, which is Adam. From the
Christian apostles and the Apocalypse, the Mormons deduce the dogma
of gods in an _ad infinitum_ ascending series: man, however, must
limit his obedience to the last heavenly Father and Son revealed by
the Holy Spirit. And as God is perfect man, so is perfect man God:
any individual, by faith and obedience, can, as the Brahminical
faith asserts, rise to the position of a deity, until, attaining
the power of forming a planet, peopling, redeeming it, and sitting
there enthroned in everlasting power. The Mormons, like the Moslems,
believe that--“things of earth, customs, and ceremonies, being
patterned after things in the Spirit world and future abodes of the
gods”--there are inferior glories and pleasures for “hewers of wood
and drawers of water.” In the eternal heavens there are three great
mansions, the celestial of the sun, the celestial of the stars, and
the terrestrial: the other state is called the Lake of Fire, or the
Burning Caldron.
II. “WE BELIEVE THAT MEN WILL BE PUNISHED FOR THEIR OWN SINS, AND
NOT FOR ADAM’S TRANSGRESSIONS.”--Yet the Mormons hold the Son to
be necessary to reconcile fallen man to the Father and the Holy
Spirit, to sanctify and purify the affections of men, and also to
dwell in them as a teacher of truth. “The spiritual substance of man
was formed in the beginning after the same image as the spiritual
substance of the persons of the Father and the Son. Previously to
the fall, these spirits were all moral in their nature; by the fall
the spirits of men lost their morality and virtue, but not their
essence--that continued the same: by the new birth man regains
his morality and virtue, while the essence remains the same; it
now becomes a moral, virtuous image, whereas the same substance
was before immoral. Paul (1 Cor., xv., 49), in speaking of the
resurrection, says, ‘As we have borne the image of the earthly, let
us bear also the image of the heavenly!’” Unlike the more advanced
faiths--El Islam and Unitarianism--the Mormons retain the doctrine
of a “fall.” It contrasts strangely with their dogma of man’s
perfectibility. They have not attempted to steer clear between the
Scylla and Charybdis of predestination and free will.
III. “WE BELIEVE THAT THROUGH THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST ALL MANKIND
MAY BE SAVED BY OBEDIENCE TO THE LAWS AND ORDINANCES OF THE
GOSPEL.”--After Adam had fallen from his primal purity, a council was
held in heaven to debate how man should be saved or redeemed from the
state of evil. The elder brother Lucifer, son of the morning, the
bright star in glory, and the leader of heavenly hosts, declared,
when appealed to, that he would save man in his sins. But he who is
emphatically called “the Son”--Christ--answered, I will save him
_from_ his sins. Lucifer, the “archangel ruined,” rebelled, was cast
out from the planetary abode of the Father, and became, under the
name of Satan, the great ruler and “head devil” of evil spirits, and
of the baser sort of imps and _succubi_. I can not say whether in
their mysteries the Mormons represent Sathanas as the handsome man
of El Islam, or the horned, tailed, and cloven-footed monster which
monkish Europe fashioned probably after pagan Pan.
IV. “WE BELIEVE THESE ORDINANCES ARE, 1ST. FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS;
2D. REPENTANCE; 3D. BAPTISM BY IMMERSION FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS;
4TH. LAYING ON OF HANDS BY THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT; 5TH. THE
LORD’S SUPPER.”--Faith is not only the “evidence of things that
appear not, the substance of things to be hoped for,” the first
principle of action, and an exercise of the will in intelligent
beings toward accomplishing holy works and purposes, with a view to
celestial glory; it is also the source of power both on earth and
in heaven. We find that by faith God created the world (Heb., xi.,
3); and, “take this principle or attribute away from the Deity, he
would cease to exist.” (“Lectures on Faith,” sec. 1.) “Faith, then,
is the first great governing principle which has power, dominion,
and authority over all things.” (Ibid.) Of the second ordinance,
it was revealed, “Say nothing but repentance unto this generation”
(“Covenants and Commandments,” sec. 37); a very comprehensive and
valuable rule to those under whom their brethren must sit. As regards
the third, the child succeeds its parent in moral responsibility
at eight years of age, when it must be baptized “in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen,” into the
Church. Infant baptism is regarded as a Bida’at or innovation--a
sin. Baptism by immersion--any other method being considered a
vain ceremony--remits our peccata, but it must be repeated after
each mortal act. (“Covenants and Commandments,” sec. 2, par. 21.)
Vicarious baptism for the dead is founded upon St. Paul’s saying
concerning the fathers, that they can not without us be made perfect,
and “otherwise what shall they do that are baptized for the dead,
if the dead rise not again at all? Why are they then baptized for
them?” (1 Cor., xv., 29.) Immersion in water is the symbol of death,
emersion of the resurrection, and the baptismal font is a simile
of the grave; but baptism for the dead is acceptable only in the
Temple. (“Covenants and Commandments,” sec. 103.) There being a
probationary state while the earth endures in the Spirit world--the
purgatorial doctrine of Virgil and others--the dead can by proxy
“fulfill all righteousness;” and the Saints are enjoined that “the
greatest responsibility that God has laid upon us is to look after
our dead;” so Mr. Joseph Smith, in his “Last Sermon,” says, “Every
man who has got a friend in the eternal world can save him, unless he
has committed the unpardonable sin; so you can see how you can be a
Savior.” A man baptized for deceased relations traces back the line
to one that held the priesthood among his progenitors, who, being a
saint, will take the place of sponsor, and relieve him of farther
responsibility. All thus admitted to salvation will be added at the
resurrection to the household of the baptized person, who will reign
as a patriarch forever, his rank and power among kingly spirits being
proportioned to his wives and his children--adopted or begotten--and
his baptizées. The fourth ordinance, or laying on of hands by the
water’s side, is a perfection of the regeneration begun in baptism,
and whereby the recipient is promoted to the Melchisedek priesthood;
the order was revealed, or rather renewed, in 1831. (“Covenants and
Commandments,” sec. 66.) The fifth ordinance, touching the Eucharist,
is instituted “in remembrance of the Lord Jesus:” the elder or priest
administers it kneeling with the Church, praying and blessing first
the bread and then the wine. (“Covenants and Commandments,” sec.
2.) The second element was changed by a direct revelation (Sept.,
1830), saying, “You shall not purchase wine nor strong drink of your
enemies,” since which time water has been substituted. Mormons, young
and old, equally take the sacrament every Sabbath.
V. “WE BELIEVE THAT MAN MUST BE CALLED OF GOD BY INSPIRATION, AND BY
LAYING ON OF HANDS FROM THOSE WHO ARE DULY COMMISSIONED TO PREACH THE
GOSPEL AND ADMINISTER IN THE ORDINANCES THEREOF.”--The Mormons hold
to a regular apostolic succession. “Every elder” (which includes the
apostles), “priest, teacher, or deacon, is to be ordained according
to the gifts and callings of God unto him; and he is to be ordained
by the power of the Holy Ghost, which is the one who ordains him.”
VI. “WE BELIEVE IN THE SAME ORGANIZATION THAT EXISTED IN THE
PRIMITIVE CHURCH, VIZ., APOSTLES, PROPHETS, PASTORS, EVANGELISTS,
ETC.”--The proper signification of these words will be explained when
treating of the Mormon hierarchy.
VII. “WE BELIEVE IN THE POWERS AND GIFTS OF THE EVERLASTING
GOSPEL, VIZ., THE GIFT OF FAITH, DISCERNING OF SPIRITS, PROPHECY,
REVELATIONS, VISIONS, HEALING, TONGUES, AND THE INTERPRETATION OF
TONGUES, WISDOM, CHARITY, BROTHERLY LOVE, ETC.”--The everlasting
Gospel means the universal order and arrangement of things springing
from the “two self-existing principles of intelligence and element,
or matter,” and forming the law under which the primordial gods
came into being. According to Mr. Joseph Smith, “God himself could
not create himself,” and “Intelligence exists upon a self-existent
principle: it is a spirit from age to age, and there is no creation
about it.” In the far eternity two of the elementary material æons
met, compared intelligence, and calling in a third to council, united
in what became the first power, superior because prior to all others,
and ever-enduring by the union of other æons. Under this union arose
a “law governing itself and all things”--the everlasting Gospel.
The seer has not left on record the manner in which the head god
originated: the other gods, however, sprung from him as children.
Heaven has not only kings, but queens--the Sakti of Hindooism, and
the various Ario-pagan faiths--who are the mothers of gods, of men’s
souls, and of all spiritual existences. St. John saw a portion of
the everlasting Gospel in the “little book” in the hand of the angel
“coming down from heaven” to proclaim again on earth the Church of
Christ, a type of Moroni, who taught the fullness of knowledge to
Joseph the Seer, that the gladder tidings might be preached to men
with the “signs following” which were promised to the primitive
apostles.
As regards the discerning of spirits, the human soul is not visible
to mortal eyes without a miracle, nor is it ponderable: it passes
through the body as the electric fluid through the earth. Yet, in
reality, it is more substantial than the body, for it can not be
changed nor destroyed; it “coexisted equal with God,” and had no
beginning, which would argue the possibility of an end, and “it is
immortal as God himself.” It is uncreate: “God never did have power
to create the spirit of man at all--the very idea lessens man in
my estimation--I know better.” (“Last Sermon,” p. 62.) Spiritual
existences have a choice of two paths. Either they must remain
cribbed, cabined, and confined in their own ethereal order and proper
sphere, to be called and sent as angels, heralds, or ministers from
one planet or planetary system to another; and thus the Mormon, as
the Moslem, places angelic nature below human, saying with St. Paul
(1 Cor., vi., 3), “Know you not that we shall judge angels?” or they
may choose, like the precreated spirits of El Islam in the Yaum i
Alast--the Day of Am-I-Not (thy God)?--the probation of an earthly
tabernacle; and, ignoring their past existence, descend below all
things to attain a higher than celestial glory, and perfection in
the attributes of power and happiness. As with the metempsychosist,
there are grades of tabernacles. The lowest of humans is the African,
who, being a “servant of servants unto his brethren,” is “cursed as
to the priesthood,” and therefore can not “attain to any thing above
a dim-shining glory.” Above him is the Indian, for the Red Men,
through repentance, obedience, and acceptance of the new Evangelism,
can rebecome a “fair and delightsome people,” worthy of their Hebrew
sires. Below the negro is the brute tabernacle, into which the still
rebellious spirit descends, until, yielding to Gospel law, it is
permitted to retrace its course through the successive changes to
splendor and perfection. So, “when we are tormented by a refractory
horse or an obstinate ass, it may not be amiss to reflect that they
were actuated by an apostate soul, and exemplifying a few of the
human infirmities.” The same words might be spoken orthodoxically by
a Jain or a Banyan.
The soul is supposed to take possession of the tabernacle at the
quickening of the embryon. At baptism the Saint may ask in faith for
some particular spirit or genius--an idea familiar to the adepts and
spiritualists of this generation. Every one also has evil, false,
and seducing spirits at variance with the good, a fancy reminding
us of the poetical Moslem picture of the good guardian sitting upon
man’s right shoulder, and whispering into his ear suggestions against
which the bad spirit on the left contends. Revelations are received
by prayer and mighty faith, but only when diligence and sagacity fail
to secure the desired information--where God has appointed means he
will not work by miracles, nor will a “_de profundis_” act without a
more concrete action. Heavenly communications vouchsafed to the seer
must be registered, and kept for promulgation when the Saints can
bear them; for many “would be offended and turn back if the whole
truth”--polygamy, for instance--“were dashed down in a mass before
them.” Of prophetic times it may be observed that the habitat of
God the Father is the planet Kolob, whose revolutions--one of which
is the beginning and the end of a day equal to 1000 terrestrial
years--are the measure of heavenly time. The Deity, being finite,
employs agents and auxiliaries, _e. g._, light, sound, electricity,
inspiration, to communicate knowledge to his world of worlds. An
angel commissioned as a messenger to earth is taken either from the
chief or from a minor planet, and it naturally measures time by the
days and weeks, the months and years, of its own home--a style of
computation which must not a little confuse our poor human chronology.
“Tongues” does not signify, as at the date of the first Pentecost,
an ability to address heteroglottists in their several languages,
which would render the gift somewhat too precise and Mezzofantian
for these days. It means that man moved by the Spirit shall utter
any set of sounds unintelligible even to himself, but which, being
known to the Lord, may, by special permission to exercise the “gift
of interpretation of tongues,” be explained by another to those
addressed. The man gravid with “tongues” must “rise on his feet,
lean in faith on Christ, and open his lips, utter a song in such
cadence as he chooses, and the Spirit of the Lord will give an
interpreter, and make it a language.” The linguistic feat has of late
years been well known in England, where it was, of course, set down
to imposture. It may more charitably be explained by an abnormal
affection of the organ of language on the part of the speaker of
“tongues,” and in the interpreter by the effect of a fervent and
fooling faith.
[INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.]
VIII. “WE BELIEVE THE WORD OF GOD RECORDED IN THE BIBLE; WE ALSO
BELIEVE THE WORD OF GOD RECORDED IN THE BOOK OF MORMON, AND IN ALL
OTHER GOOD BOOKS.”--Some Christians have contended that the Biblia
of the Jews have been altered; that the last chapter (verse 5) of
Deuteronomy, for instance, recording the death and burial of Moses,
was not written by Moses. The Moslems assert that the Scripture of
both Hebrew and Christian has not only been misunderstood, but has
designedly been corrupted by Baulús (St. Paul) and other Greekish
Jews; that the Gospel of Infancy, and the similar compositions now
banished into the apocryphal New Testament, are mere excrescences
upon the pure commands of Jesus. The Mormons hold with the latter.
They believe, however, that the infinite errors and interpretations
have been removed by “Joseph the Seer,” to whom was given the “key
of all languages”--he has quoted in his writings only 15 out of
3500--and the following specimen of his ultra-Bentleian emendations,
borrowed from the “Last Sermon,” may suffice:
“I will make a comment on the very first sentence of the history of
the creation in the Bible” (_i.e._, “in King James’s version;” he
had probably never seen even the Douay translation). “It first read,
‘The head one of the gods brought forth the gods.’[209] If you do
not believe it, you do not believe _the learned_ man of God. And,
in farther explanation, it means, ‘The head god called together the
gods, and sat in grand council. The grand councilors sat in yonder
heavens, and contemplated the worlds that were created at that time.’
The Bible is, therefore, held to be the foundation book.” Mr. Joseph
Smith’s inspired translation or impudent _rifacciamento_ is believed
to exist in MS.: in due time it will probably be promulgated. But
the Word of God is not confined to the Bible; the Book of Mormon and
the Doctrines and Covenants are of equal authority, strands of the
“three-fold cord,” connecting by the Church God and man. If these
revelations contradict one another, the stumbling-block to the weak
in faith is easily removed by considering the “situations” under
which they were vouchsafed: “heaven’s government is conducted on
the principle of adapting revelation to the varied circumstances of
the children of the kingdom”--a dogma common to all revelationists.
Additional items may be supplied to the Mormons from day to day, a
process by which a “flood of light has poured into their souls, and
raised them to a view of the glorious things above.” The present
seer, revelator, translator, and prophet, however, shows his high
wisdom by seeing, revealing, translating, and prophesying as little
as possible. Yet he even repeats, and probably believes, that
revelation is the rock upon which the Church is founded.
[209] I need hardly say that in the original the words are “at its
head (beginning) the gods (he) created the earth and the heaven.”
IX. “WE BELIEVE ALL THAT GOD HAS REVEALED, ALL THAT HE DOES NOW REVEAL,
AND WE BELIEVE THAT HE WILL REVEAL MANY MORE GREAT AND IMPORTANT THINGS
PERTAINING TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND MESSIAH’S SECOND COMING.”--Much of
this has been explained above. The second coming of Christ is for the
restoration or restitution of all things, as foretold by the prophet
Isaiah. When the living earth was created, the dry land emerged from
the waters, which gathered by command into one place. The “Voice of
Warning” draws an interesting picture of a state of things hitherto
unknown to geologist and palæogeographer. “There was one vast ocean
rolling around a single immense body of land, unbroken as to continents
and islands; it was a beautiful plain, interspersed with gently rising
hills and sloping vales; its climate delightfully varied with heat and
cold, wet and dry; crowning the year with productions grateful to men
and animals, while from the flowery plain or spicy grove sweet odors
were wafted on every breeze, and all the vast creation of animated
beings breathed naught but health, peace, and joy.” Over this paradise,
this general garden, “man reigned, and talked face to face with the
Supreme, with only a dimming veil between.” After the diffusion of
sin, which followed the fall, came the purification of the Noachian
cataclysm, and in the days of Peleg “the earth was divided,” _i.e._,
the Homeric circumambient sea was interposed between portions of land
rent asunder, which earthquakes and upheavals subsequently broke into
fragments and islands. We learn from the whole and varied Scriptures
that before the second coming of Christ the several pieces shall be
dovetailed into one, as they were in the morn of creation, and the
retiring sea shall reassume its pristine place, when Samudra Devta
was enthroned by the Rishis. The earth is thus restored for a people
purified to innocence, and is fitted for the first resurrection of the
body to reign with the Savior for a thousand years.
[RESTORATION OF THE TEN TRIBES.]
X. “WE BELIEVE IN THE LITERAL GATHERING OF ISRAEL, AND IN THE
RESTORATION OF THE TEN TRIBES; THAT ZION WILL BE ESTABLISHED UPON THE
WESTERN CONTINENT; THAT CHRIST WILL REIGN PERSONALLY UPON THE EARTH
A THOUSAND YEARS; AND THAT THE EARTH WILL BE RENEWED AND RECEIVE
ITS PARADISIACAL GLORY.”--The only novelty in this article is the
“location” of Zion, which has already been transferred from Palestine
to the celestial regions in the Valley of the Mississippi; this, in
the present era, when the old cradles of civilization upon the Ganges
and Indus, the Euphrates and the Nile, have been well-nigh depopulated
or exhausted, promises to become one of the vast hives from which
the human swarm shall issue. The American continent, as the Book of
Mormon informs us, was, at the time of the Crucifixion, shaken to its
foundation: towns and cities, lakes and mountains, were buried and
formed when “the earth writhed in the convulsive throes of agonizing
nature.” After all the seed of Israel shall have been raised from the
dead, they shall flock to Zion in Judea, and the saints of other races
shall be gathered to New Jerusalem in America: both these cities shall
be “built with fine stones, and the beauty of all precious things.”
At the end of the millennium comes the great sabbath of rest and
enjoyment; the earth shall become celestial through the baptism of
fire, while the two holy cities shall be caught up (literally) into
heaven, to descend with the Lord God for their light and their temple,
and shall remain forever on the new earth “under the bright canopy of
the new heavens.”
XI. “WE BELIEVE IN THE LITERAL RESURRECTION OF THE BODY, AND THAT
THE REST OF THE DEAD LIVE NOT AGAIN UNTIL THE THOUSAND YEARS ARE
EXPIRED.”--Man, it has been shown, is a duality of elements. The body
is gross, the spirit--under which the intellect or mind is included--is
refined matter, permeating, vivifying, and controlling the former:
the union or fusion of the two constitutes the “living soul” alluded
to by Moses (Gen., ii., 7) in the Adamical creation. Death followed
the fall of the great patriarch, who, we are told, is called in
Scripture Michael, the Ancient of Days, with hair like wool, etc. But
in technical Mormon phrase, “Adam fell that man might be,” and ate the
forbidden fruit with a full foreknowledge of the consequences--a Shiah
belief. The “fall,” therefore, was a matter of previous arrangement,
in order that spirits choosing to undertake their probations might be
fitted with “tabernacles,” and be born of women. Death separates the
flesh and the spirit for a useful purpose, but the latter keeps guard
over every particle of the former, until, at the fiat of resurrection,
the body is again “clothed upon,” and perfect man is the result--a
doctrine familiar to the mediums. Such is also the orthodox Sunnite
faith. The heretical peculiarity of the Mormon resurrection is this:
the body will be the same as before, “except the blood,” which is
the natural life, and, consequently, the principle of mortality. A
man restored to flesh and blood would be subject to death; “flesh
and bones,” therefore, will be the constitution of the “resurrected”
body. This idea clearly derives from the Genesitic physiology, which
teaches that “the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Levit., xvii.,
14); life being, according to the moderns, not an absolute existence
nor objective entity, but a property or condition of the corporeal
mechanism--the working, as it were, of the engine until arrested by
material lesion. It is confirmed in the Mormon mind by the Savior
bidding his disciples to handle his limbs, and to know that he had
flesh and bones, not blood.
XII. “WE CLAIM THE PRIVILEGE OF WORSHIPING ALMIGHTY GOD ACCORDING TO
THE DICTATES OF CONSCIENCE UNMOLESTED, AND ALLOW ALL MEN THE SAME
PRIVILEGE, LET THEM WORSHIP HOW OR WHERE THEY MAY.”--This article
embodies the tenets of Roger Williams, who, in establishing his simple
democracy, provided that the will of the majority should rule, but
“only in civil things.” The charter of Rhode Island (1644) contains the
memorable words: “No person within the said colony shall be molested,
punished, disquieted, or called in question for any differences of
opinion in matters of religion who does not actually disturb the public
peace.” But how often has this been mouthed--how little it has affected
mankind! Would London--boasting in the nineteenth century to be the
most tolerant of cities--allow the Cardinal of Westminster to walk in
procession through her streets?
XIII. “WE BELIEVE IN BEING SUBJECT TO KINGS, QUEENS, PRESIDENTS,
RULERS, AND MAGISTRATES, IN OBEYING, HONORING, AND SUSTAINING THE
LAW.”--When treating of the hierarchy, it will be made apparent that
subjection to temporals and Gentiles must be purely nominal. At the
same time, it must be owned that, throughout North America, I may
say throughout the New World, the Mormon polity is the only fixed
and reasonable form of government. The “turnpike-road of history,”
which Fisher Ames, nearly a century ago, described as “white with the
tombstones of republics,” is in a fair way to receive fresh accessions,
while the land of the Saints promises continuance and progress.
XIV. “WE BELIEVE IN BEING HONEST, TRUE, CHASTE, TEMPERATE, BENEVOLENT,
VIRTUOUS, AND UPRIGHT, AND IN DOING GOOD TO ALL MEN; INDEED, WE MAY
SAY THAT WE FOLLOW THE ADMONITION OF PAUL; WE ‘BELIEVE ALL THINGS,’
WE ‘HOPE ALL THINGS,’ WE HAVE ENDURED VERY MANY THINGS, AND HOPE
TO BE ABLE TO ‘ENDURE ALL THINGS.’ EVERY THING LOVELY, VIRTUOUS,
PRAISEWORTHY, AND OF GOOD REPORT, WE SEEK AFTER, LOOKING FORWARD TO
THE ‘RECOMPENSE OF REWARD.’ BUT AN IDLE OR LAZY PERSON CAN NOT BE A
CHRISTIAN, NEITHER HAVE SALVATION. HE IS A DRONE, AND DESTINED TO BE
STUNG TO DEATH, AND TUMBLED OUT OF THE HIVE.”--All over the American
Union there is an apotheosis of labor; the Latter-Day Saints add to it
the damnation of osiosity.
[MORMON “AGGLOMERATION.”]
This brief outline of Mormon faith will show its strange, but, I
believe, spontaneous agglomeration of tenets which, were its disciples
of a more learned and philosophical body, would suggest extensive
eclecticism. But, as I have already remarked, there is a remarkably
narrow limit to religious ideas: the moderns vainly attempt invention
when combination is now the only possible process. In the Tessarakai
Decalogue above quoted, we find syncretized the Semitic Monotheism,
the Persian Dualism, and the Triads and Trinities of the Egyptians and
the Hindoos. The Hebrews also have a personal Theos, the Buddhists
avataras and incarnations, the Brahmans self-apotheosis of man by
prayer and penance, and the East generally holds to quietism, a belief
that repose is the only happiness, and to a vast complication of
states in the world to be. The Mormons are like the Pythagoreans in
their precreation, transmigration, and exaltation of souls; like the
followers of Leucippus and Democritus in their atomic materialism; like
the Epicureans in their pure atomic theories, their _summum bonum_, and
their sensuous speculations; and like the Platonists and Gnostics in
their belief of the Æon, of ideas, and of moving principles in element.
They are fetichists in their ghostly fancies, their evestra, which
became souls and spirits. They are Jews in their theocracy, their ideas
of angels, their hatred of Gentiles, and their utter segregation from
the great brotherhood of mankind. They are Christians inasmuch as they
base their faith upon the Bible, and hold to the divinity of Christ,
the fall of man, the atonement, and the regeneration. They are Arians
inasmuch as they hold Christ to be “the first of God’s creatures,” a
“perfect creature, but still a creature.” They are Moslems in their
views of the inferior status of womankind, in their polygamy, and in
their resurrection of the material body: like the followers of the
Arabian Prophet, they hardly fear death, because they have elaborated
“continuation.” They take no leap in the dark; they spring from this
sublunary stage into a known, not into an unknown world: hence also
their worship is eminently secular, their sermons are political or
commercial, and--religion being with them not a thing apart, but a
portion and parcel of every-day life--the intervention of the Lord
in their material affairs becomes natural and only to be expected.
Their visions, prophecies, and miracles are those of the Illuminati,
their mysticism that of the Druses, and their belief in the Millennium
is a completion of the dreams of the Apocalyptic sects. Masonry has
evidently entered into their scheme; the Demiurgus whom they worship is
“as good at mechanical inventions as at any other business.” With their
later theories, Methodism, Swedenborgianism--especially in its view of
the future state--and Transcendentalism are curiously intermingled.
And, finally, we can easily discern in their doctrine of affinity of
minds and sympathy of souls the leaven of that faith which, beginning
with the Mesmer, and progressing through the Rochester Rappers and the
Poughkeepsie Seer, threatens to extend wherever the susceptible nervous
temperament becomes the characteristic of the race.
The Latter-Day Saints do not deny this agglomeration.[210] They
maintain that, being guided by the Spirit unto all truth, they have
sifted it out from the gross mass of error that obscures it, and
that whatever knowledge has been vouchsafed to man may be found in
their possession. They assert that other sects were to them what the
Platonists and the Essenes were to Christianity. Moreover, as has been
seen, they declare their faith to be still in its infancy, and that
many dark and doubtful subjects are still to be decided by better
experience or revelation.
[210] “One of the grand fundamental principles of Mormonism” (says
Mr. Joseph Smith in his sermon preached on the 9th of July, 1843) “is
to receive truth, come whence it may.”... “Presbyterians, Baptists,
Methodists, Catholics, Mohammedans, etc., are they in possession of
any truth? Yes, they have all a little truth mixed with error. We
ought to gather together all the good and true principles which are
in the world, and keep them, otherwise we shall never become pure
Mormons.”
I borrow the following _résumé_ of Mormonism from Lieutenant
Gunnison--a Christian writer--of course, without endorsing any one of
his opinions.
“In Mormonism we recognize an intuition of Transcendentalism--intuition,
we say, for its founder was no scholar in the idealistic philosophy. He
trampled under foot creeds and formulas, and soared away for perpetual
inspiration from the God; and by the will, which he calls faith, he won
the realms of truth, beauty, and happiness. Such things can only be
safely confided to the strong and pure-minded, and even they must
isolate themselves in self-idolatry, and be ‘alone with the alone,’ and
seek converse with the spirit of man’s spirit.
“But this prophet was educated by passion, and sought to be social
with the weak; he therefore baptized spiritually in the waters of
materialism. Instead of evolving the godlike nature of the human
spirit, he endeavored to prove that humanity was already divinity by
investing Deity with what is manlike--men were to be like gods by
making gods men.”
[MELCHISEDEK PRIESTHOOD.]
The form of Mormon government is not new: it is the theocracy of the
Jews, of the Jesuit missions in Brazil, Paraguay, and elsewhere, and
briefly of all communities in which, contrary to the fitness of things,
Church is made to include, or, rather, exclude State. In opposition to
El Islam, they maintain that a hieratic priesthood is necessary to the
well-being of a religion. They divide it into two grand heads, of which
all other officers and authorities are appendages. The first is called
the Melchisedek priesthood, “because Melchisedek was such a great
high priest.”[211] The second, which is a supplement to the former,
and administers outward ordinances, is the Aaronic or Levitical,
“because it was conferred upon Aaron and his seed throughout all their
generations.” To the Melchisedek belong the high priest, priests, and
elders; to the Aaronic the bishops, the teachers or catechists, and the
deacons.
[211] These and the following quotations are borrowed from sections 2
and 3 of “Covenants and Commandments.”
“The power and authority of the higher, or Melchisedek priesthood, is
to hold the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the Church, to have
the privilege of receiving the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, to
have the heavens opened unto them, to commune with the general assembly
and Church of the first-born, and to enjoy the communion and presence
of God the Father, and Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant.
“The power and authority of the lesser, or Aaronic priesthood, is
to hold the keys of the ministering of angels, and to administer in
outward ordinances the letter of the Gospel--the baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins--agreeable to the covenants and commandments.”
The apex of the Mormon hierarchy is the First Presidency, now Messrs.
Young, Kimball, and Wells, who have succeeded to Peter, James, and
John in the Gospel Church, and who correspond on earth to the Trinity
in heaven--_numero Deus impare gaudet_. The presiding high priest over
the high priesthood of the Church--_par excellence_, “_the_” President,
also _ex-officio_ seer, revelator, translator, and prophet, is supreme.
The two sub-chiefs or counselors are _quasi_-equal: the first, however,
takes social precedence of the second. This quorum of the presidency
of the Church, elected by the whole body, is the centre of temporal as
of ecclesiastical power. It claims, under God, the right of life and
death; it holds the keys of heaven and hell, and from its decrees there
is no appeal except to the general assembly of all the quorums which
constitute the spiritual authorities of the Church.
The second in rank is the Patriarch. The present incumbent is a nephew
of the first seer, who succeeded Mr. Joseph Smith, sen., the father of
Mr. Joseph Smith, jun.[212] As the sire of the Church, his chief duty
is to administer blessings: it is an office of dignity held for life,
whereas all others expire after the semestre.
[212] So called in revelation until the death of Mr. Joseph Smith,
sen.
Follows the “Second Presidency,” the twelve traveling counselors,
“called to be the twelve apostles or special witnesses of the name of
Christ in all the world,” modeled with certain political modifications
after the primitive Christian Church, and abbreviatively termed “The
Twelve.” The President of the High Apostolic College, or, in his
default, one of the members, acts as coadjutor, in the absence of a
member of the First Presidency. The Twelve come nearer the masses, and,
acting under direction of the highest authority, build up the Church,
ordain and set in order all other officers, elders, priests, teachers,
and deacons: they are empowered to baptize, and to administer bread and
wine--the emblems of the flesh and blood of Christ; to confirm those
who are baptized into the Church by the laying on of hands for the
baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost; to teach, expound, exhort, baptize,
and watch over the Church, and to take the lead in all meetings. They
preside over the several “Stakes of Zion;” there is one, for instance,
to direct, under the title of president, the European, and another the
Liverpool mission. If there be several together, the eldest is the
standing president of the quorum, and they act as councilors to one
another.
The fourth body in rank is the Seventies. The “Seventy” act in the
name of the Lord, under direction of the “Twelve,” in building up
the Church, and, like them, are traveling ministers, sent first to
the Gentiles, and then to the Jews. Out of the “Seventy” are chosen
seven presidents, of whom one presides over the other six councilors:
these seven choose other seventy besides the first seventy, “and
also other seventy, until seven times seventy, if the labor in the
vineyard of necessity requires it.” In 1853 the minutes of the Mormon
General Conference enumerated the “Seventies” at 1572. Practically
the seventy members are seldom complete. The chief of these traveling
propagandists, the working bees of the community, is the “President of
all the Seventies.”
The fifth body is composed of “high priests after the order of the
Melchisedek priesthood, who have a right to officiate in their own
standing, under the direction of the Presidency, in administering
spiritual things,” and to “officiate in all the offices of the Church
when there are no higher authorities present.” Thus charged with the
execution of spiritual affairs, they are usually aged and fatherly
men. Among the high priests are included, _ex-officio_, the bishops and
the high council.
[THE MORMON BISHOP.]
The Mormon επισκοπος is a steward, who renders an account of his
stewardship both in time and eternity, and who superintends the
elders, keeps the Lord’s store-house, receives the funds of the
Church, administers to the wants of those beneath him, and supplies
assistance to those who manage the “literary concerns,” probably
editors and magazine publishers. The bishopric is the presidency of
the Aaronic priesthood, and has authority over it. No man has a legal
right to the office except a literal descendant of Aaron. As these,
however, are _non inventi_, and as a high priest of the Melchisedek
order may officiate in all lesser offices, the bishop, who never
affects a _nolo episcopari_, can be ordained by the First Presidency,
or Mr. Brigham Young. Thus the episcopate is a local authority in
stakes, settlements, and wards, with the directorship of affairs
temporal as well as spiritual. This “overseer” receives the tithes on
the commutation-labor, which he forwards to the public store-house;
superintends the registration of births, marriages, and deaths, makes
domiciliary visits, and hears and determines complaints either laical
or ecclesiastic.
[THE HIGH COUNCIL.]
The High Council was organized by revelation in Kirtland (Feb. 17,
1834) for the purpose of settling, when the Church or the “Bishop’s”
council might fail, important difficulties that might arise between two
believers. Revelation directed it to consist of twelve high priests,
ascertained by lots or ballot, and one or three presidents, as the case
might require. The first councilors, when named, were asked if they
would act in that office according to the law of heaven: they accepted,
and at once, _more Americano_--“voted.” After deciding that the
President of the Church should also be President of the Council, it was
laid down that the duty of the twelve councilors should be to cast lots
by numbers, and thereby ascertain who of the twelve shall speak first,
commencing with number one, and so in succession to number twelve. In
an easy case only two speak; in a difficult one, six. The defendant has
a right to one half of the council, and “those who draw even numbers,
that is, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12, are the individuals who are to stand
up in behalf of the accused, and to prevent insult or injustice.” After
the evidence is heard, and the councilors, as well as the accuser
and the accused, have “said their say,” the president decides, and
calls upon the “twelve” to sanction his decision by their vote. When
error is suspected, the case is subject to a “careful rehearing;” and
in peculiar difficulties the appeal is to revelation. I venture to
recommend this form of special jury to those who have lost faith in a
certain effete and obsolete “palladium of British liberty” that dates
from the days of Ethelbert. After all, it is sometimes better, _jurare
in verba magistri_, especially of an inspired master.
The High Council is a standing council. It bears the same relationship
to the federal power as the university Sex viri to a court of civil law
in England, and it saves the saints the expense of Gentile proceedings,
which may roughly be set down at fifty per cent. The sessions take
place in the Social Hall. Such an institution, which transfers to St.
Peter all the duties, salaries, and honors which Justinianus gives,
is, of course, most unpopular among the anti-Mormons, who call it
Star-Chamber, and other ugly names. I look upon it rather as the
Punchayat (_quinque viri_) Court of East India, a rough but ready
instrument of justice, which, like spontaneous growths generally, have
been found far superior to the exotic institutions forced upon the
popular mind by professional improvers.
The Latter-Day Saint, when in a foreign land, can be punished for
transgression by his own people. The presiding authority calls a
council to examine the evidence for and against the offense; and if
guilt be proven, the offender, after being officially suspended from
his missionary functions and the fellowship of the Church, is sent,
with a special report, to be tried by his own presidency at Great Salt
Lake City.
The elders are those from whom the apostles are taken; they are, in
fact, promoted priests charged with all the duties of that order, and
with the conduct of meetings, “as they are led by the Holy Ghost,
according to the commandments and revelations of God.” They hold
Conferences once in every three months, receive their licenses from the
elders or from the Conferences; they are liable to be sent on missions,
and are solemnly enjoined, by a revelation of January, 1832, to “gird
up their loins and be sober.”
The priest is the master mason of the order. It is his duty to preach,
teach, expound, exhort, baptize, administer the sacrament, visit
domiciliarily, exhort the saints to pray “vocally and in secret,”
ordain other priests, teachers, and deacons, take the lead of meetings
when there is no elder present, and assist the elder when occasion
requires.
Of the Aaronic order, the head are the bishops; under them are two
ranks, who form the entered apprentices of the Mormon lodge.
1st. The teachers, who have no authority to baptize, to administer the
sacrament, or to lay on hands, but who “warn, expound, exhort, teach,
and invite all to come unto Christ, watch over the Church, and take
the lead of meetings in the absence of the elder or priest.” Of these
catechists one or two is usually attached to each bishop.
2d. The deacon, or διακονος, an assistant teacher. He also acts as
treasurer to the missions in the several branches of the Church,
collects money for the poor, and attends to the temporal wants of
converts.
The rise of the “Church of Christ in these last days dates from 1830,
since the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ:” thus, A.D.
1861 is Annus Josephi Smithii 31. In that year Mirabilis the book
of Mormon appeared, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
was organized, and the Body Ecclesiastic, after the fashion of those
preceding it, was exodus’d or hegira’d to Kirtland, Ohio.
[“UPPER CRUST.”]
The actual composition of the Mormon hierarchy is that of a cadre
of officers to a skeleton army of saints and martyrs, which may be
filled up _ad infinitum_. It is inferior in simplicity, and therefore
in power, to that which the Jesuit organization is usually supposed
to be, yet it is not deficient in the wherewithal of a higher grasp.
It makes state government, especially that of Gentile communities,
an excrescence upon the clerical body. The first president is the
governor; the second is the lieutenant governor; the third is the
secretary of state; the High Council is the Supreme Court; the
bishops are justices of peace: briefly, the Church is legislative,
judiciary, and executive--what more can be required? It has evidently
not neglected the masonic, monotheistic, and monocratic element, as
opposed to, and likely to temper the tripartite rule of Anglo-American
civil government. The first president is the worshipful master of the
lodge, the second and third are the senior and junior wardens, while
the inferior ranks represent the several degrees of the master and
apprentice. It symbolizes the leveling tendencies of Christianity
and progressiveism, while its civil and ecclesiastical despotism and
its sharp definition of rank are those of a disciplined army--the
model upon which socialism has loved to form itself. In society,
while all are brothers, there is a distinct aristocracy, called west
of the Atlantic “upper crust;” not of titles and lands, nor of bales
and boxes, but of hierarchical position; and, contrary to what might
be expected, there is as little real social fusion among Mormons as
between the “sixties,” the “forties,” and the “twenties” of silly
Guernsey.
Having now attempted, after the measure of my humble capacity, to
show what Mormonism is, I will try to explain what Mormonism is not.
The sage of Norwich (“Rel. Med.,” sect. vi.) well remarked that
“every man is not a proper champion of truth, nor fit to take up the
gauntlet in the cause of verity;” and that “many, from the ignorance
of these maxims, have too rashly charged the troops of error, and
remain as trophies to the enemies of truth.” The doctrine may fitly be
illustrated by pointing out the prodigious aid lent to Mormonism by the
self-inflicted defeats of anti-Mormonism.
[THE JAREDITE EXODUS.]
The Jaredite exodus to America in dish-like “barges, whose length was
the length of a tree,” and whose voyage lasted 344 days, is certainly a
trial of faith. The authority of Mormonic inspiration is supposed to be
weakened by its anachronisms and other errors: the mariner’s compass,
for instance, is alluded to long before the fourteenth century. The
Mormons, however, reply that the “Liahona” of their Holy Book is not
a compass, and that if it were, nothing could be said against it: the
Chinese claim the invention long before the days of Flavio, and the
Moslems attribute it to one of their own saints.[213] The “reformed
Egyptian” of the Golden Bible is ridiculed on the supposition that
the Hebrew authors would write either in their own tongue, in the
Syrian, or in the Chaldaic, at any rate in a Semitic, not in a Coptic
language. But the first disciples of the Gospel Church were Jews,
and yet the Evangel is now Greek. As regards the Golden Plates, it
is contended that the Jews of old were in the habit of writing upon
papyrus, parchment, and so on, not upon metal, and that such plates
have never been found in America. But of late years Himyaritic
inscriptions upon brass tablets have been forwarded from Yemen to
the British Museum. Moreover, in 1843, six brass plates of a bell
shape, covered with ancient glyphs, were discovered by a “respectable
merchant” near Kinderhook, United States, proving that such material
was not unknown to the ancient Semites and to the American aborigines.
The word “Christ” often occurs (“Book of Mormon,” p. 8, etc.) long
before the coming of the Savior. But the Book of Mormon was written in
the “reformed Egyptian:” the proper noun in question was translated
“Christ” in English by the prophet, an “unlearned young man,” according
to his own understanding, and for the better comprehension of his
readers. The same argument applies to such words as “synagogues,”
“alpha and omega,” “steel,” “S.S.E.,” etc.; also to “elephant,” “cow,”
“horse,” “ass,” “swine,” and other pachyderms and solidunguls, which
were transported to America after the Columbian discovery: they are
mere translations, like the fabulous unicorn of the Old Testament and
the phœnix of the apocryphal New Testament (Clement I., xii., 2):
elephant, for instance, manifestly means mastodon, and swine, peccary.
Ptolemy’s theory of a moving earth is found anticipated. But who shall
limit revelation? and has not the Mosaic Genesis, according to a
multitude of modern divines, anticipated all the latest discoveries?
The Lord describes America to Jared (“Book of Mormon,” p. 78) as an
“isle of the sea,” and the accuracy of the geography is called in
question. But in the Semitic and other Eastern tongues, insula and
peninsula are synonymous. Moreover, if Dr. Kane’s open circumpolar
ocean prove aught but a myth, the New World is wholly insulated even by
ice from the Old. Other little contradictions and inaccuracies, which
abound in the inspired books, are as easily pooh-pooh’d as objections
to the conflicting genealogies, and the contradictory accounts of the
Crucifixion by the professors of the elder faith.
[213] First Footsteps in East Africa, chap. i.
[OBJECTIONS TO MORMONISM.]
The “vulgarity” of Mormonism is a favorite theme with the anti-Mormon.
The low origin and “plebbishness” of the apostles’ names and of their
institutions (_e. g._, the “Twelve,” the “Seventies”), the snuffling
Puritanic style which the learned Gibbon hated, and execrable grammar
(_e. g._, in the first page, “Nephi’s brethren rebelleth against him”),
and the various Yankeeisms of the New Scriptures, are cited as palpable
proofs of fraud. But the primitive apostles of Christianity were of
inferior social rank and attainments to the first Mormon converts,
and of the reformers of Luther’s age it may be asked, “Where was
then the gentleman?” The Syriac-Greek of the New Testament, with its
manifold flaws of idiom and diction, must have produced upon the polite
philosophers and grammarians of Greece and Rome an effect even more
painful than that which the Americanisms of the Book of Mormon exercise
upon English nerves. These things are palpably stumbling-blocks
disposed sleeper-wise upon the railroad of faith, lest Mr. Christian’s
progress should become a mere excursion. Gentiles naturally feel
disposed to smile when they find in the nineteenth century prophets,
apostles, saints; but the Church only gains by the restoration and
reformation of her primitive discipline. The supernatural action of the
Holy Spirit believed in by the Mormons as by the Seekers (1645), the
Camisards (1688), the Leeites and Wilkinsonians (1776), is the best
answer to that atheistic school which holds that God who once lived is
now dead to man. As of the Ayat of El Islam, so of the revelations with
which Mr. Joseph Smith was favored, it is remarked that their exceeding
opportuneness excites suspicion. But of what use are such messages
from Heaven unless they arrive _à propos_? Mr. O. Hyde contends, after
the fashion of wiser men, that ambiguity, and, if I may use the word,
a certain achronology, characterize inspired prophecy: it is evident
that only a little more inspiration is wanted to render it entirely
unambiguous.
The other sentimental objections to Mormonism may briefly be answered
as follows:
“_That the holiest of words is profanely applied to man._” But as
Moses (Ex., iv., 16) was “instead of God to Aaron” (Ex., vii., 1),
and was “made a god” to Pharaoh, and as the Savior declared that “he
called them gods unto whom the word of God came” (John, xi., 35), the
Mormons evidently use the word in its old and scriptural sense. Thus
they assert that Mr. Joseph Smith is the god of this generation, Jesus
is his god, Michael or Adam is the god of Jesus, Jehovah is the god of
Adam, and Eloheim is the god of Jehovah.
“_That credible persons have testified to the bad character of Mr.
Joseph Smith, junior, as a money-digger, a cheat, a liar, a vulgar
impostor, or, at best, a sincere and ignorant fanatic._” The Mormons
reply that such has been the history of every prophet. They point
with triumph and yearning love to the story of their martyr’s life,
to his intense affection for his family, and to their devotion to
him. They boast of his invincible boldness, energy, enthusiasm, and
moral courage; that he never flinched from his allotted tasks, from
the duties which he was commissioned to perform; that he was fifty
times dragged by his enemies before the tribunals, and was as often
acquitted; that he never hesitated for a moment, when such act was
necessary, to cut off from the Church those who, like Oliver Cowdery,
had been the depositaries of his intimate secrets; that his career
was one long Bartholomew’s Day, and that his end was as glorious
as his life was beautiful. In America Mr. Joseph Smith has by the
general suffrage of anti-Mormons been pronounced to be a knave, while
his successor, Mr. Brigham Young, has been declared by the same high
authority--_vox diaboli_, the Mormons term it--to be a self-deluded
but true man. I can scarcely persuade myself that great events are
brought about by mere imposture, whose very nature is feebleness:
zeal, enthusiasm, fanaticism, which are of their nature strong and
aggressive, better explain the abnormal action of man on man. On the
other hand, it is impossible to ignore the dear delights of fraud and
deception, the hourly pleasure taken by some minds in finessing through
life, in concealing their real selves from the eyes of others, and in
playing a part till by habit it becomes a nature. In the estimation of
unprejudiced persons Mr. Joseph Smith is a man of rude genius, of high
courage, of invincible perseverance, fired by zeal, of great tact, of
religious fervor, of extraordinary firmness, and of remarkable talent
in governing men. It is conceded that, had he not possessed “strong
and invincible faith in his own high pretensions and divine mission,”
he would probably have renounced the unprofitable task of prophet, and
sought refuge from persecution and misery in private life and honorable
industry. Be that as it may, he has certainly taken a place among the
notabilities of the world--he has left a footprint upon the sands of
time.
“_That Mr. Joseph Smith prophesied lies_,” and that “_through greed of
gain he robbed the public by appropriating the moneys of the Kirtland
Bank_.” The Mormons reply that many predictions of undoubted truth
undeniably passed their prophet’s lips, and that some--_e. g._, those
referring to the Mormon Zion and to the end of the world--may still
prove true. With reference to the fact that Martin Harris was induced
by the seer to pay for the publication of the Book of Mormon, it is
pleaded that the Christian apostles (Acts, iv., 35) also received
money from their disciples. The failure of the Kirtland Bank (A.D.
1837) is thus explained: During the Prophet’s absence upon a visit
to the Saints at Toronto, the cashier, Warren Parrish, flooded the
district with worthless paper, and, fearing discovery on his master’s
return, decamped with $25,000, thereby causing a suspension of payment.
Regarding other peccadilloes, the Mormons remark that no prophet was
ever perfect or infallible. Moses, for instance, was not suffered for
his sins to enter the Promised Land, and Saul lost by his misconduct
the lasting reign over Israel.
“_That the three original witnesses to the ‘Book of Mormon’ apostatized
and denied its truth._” To this the Mormons add, that after a season
those apostates duly repented and were rebaptized; one has died; the
second, Martin Harris, is now a Saint in Kirtland, Ohio; and the third,
Sidney Rigdon, to whom the faith owed so much, left the community after
the Prophet’s martyrdom, saying that it had chosen the wrong path,
but never rejecting Mormonism nor accusing it of fraud. The witnesses
to those modern tables of the law (the Golden Plates) were but eleven
_in toto_, and formed only three families interested in the success
of the scheme. The same paucity, or rather absence of any testimony
which would be valid in a modern court of justice, marks the birth of
every new faith, not excluding the Christian. And, finally, wickedness
proved against the witnesses does not invalidate the value of their
depositions. The disorders in the conduct of David and Solomon, for
instance, do not affect the inspiration of the Psalms and Canticles.
“_That Mormon apostles and elders, as Parley P. Pratt and John Taylor,
denied the existence of polygamy, even after it was known and practiced
by their community._” The Mormons reply that they never attempted to
evade the imputation of the true patriarchal marriage: they merely
asserted their innocence of the “spiritual wifedom,” the Free Loveism
and the Fanny Wrightism of the Eastern States--charges brought against
them by the anti-Mormons.
Having thus disposed of the principal allegations, I will more briefly
allude to the minor.
“_That the Mormons do not allow monogamy._” This I know not to be the
fact, as several of my acquaintances had and have but one wife. “_That
a multitude of saints, prophets, and apostles are in full chase after
a woman, whom the absence of her husband releases from her vows; that
the missionary on duty appoints a proxy or vicarious head to his house,
and that his spouses are married_ pro tempore _to elders and apostles
at home_.” Mrs. Ferris has dreamed out this “abyss of abomination,”
and then uses it to declaim against. But is it at all credible? Would
not such conduct speedily demoralize and demolish a society which
even its enemies own to be peculiarly pure? “_That the Mormons are
‘jealous fellows’_”--a curious contradiction of the preceding charges.
The Saints hold to the semi-seclusion of Athens, Rome, and Syria,
where “she was the best of women of whom least is said, either of
good or harm,” believing with the world generally that opportunity
often makes the thief. “_That the Mormons ‘swap,’ sell, exchange, and
transfer their wives to Indians._” Mrs. Ferris started the story,
which carries its own refutation, by chronicling a report of the kind;
and Mr. Ward improves upon it by supplying false instances and names.
“_That the utmost latitude of manners is allowed in the ballroom
and the theatre_,” which are compared to the private _réunions_ of
Rosanna Townsend and other Aspasias. The contrary is notoriously the
case. “_That the young Mormons are frequently guilty of the crimes of
Absalom and other horrible offenses._” Unprejudiced Gentiles always
deny the truth of such accusations. “_That the Mormon has no home, and
that Mormon houses are dirty, slovenly, and uncomfortable._” The Far
West is not remarkable for neatness: the only exceptions to the rule
of filth which I have seen are in the abodes of the Mormons. “_That
‘plurality-families’ are in a state of perpetual storm._” I believe
that many a “happy English home” is far stormier, despite the holy
presence of monogamy. Even Mrs. Ferris tells of two wives, one young,
the other old, “who treated each other with that degree of affectionate
cordiality which properly belongs to the intercourse between mother
and daughter,” and--naïvely wonder-struck by what she could not
understand--exclaims, “What a strange spectacle!” “_That women must
be married to be saved._” The orthodox Mormon belief is that human
beings are sent into the world to sow seed for heaven; that a woman
who wittingly, and for stupid social Belgravian-mother motives, fails
in so doing, neglects a vital duty, and that whoso gives not children
to the republic has lived in vain--an opinion which the Saints are
contented to share with Moses and Mohammed, Augustus Cæsar and Napoleon
Bonaparte. “_That the Mormons marry for eternity._” They believe that
Adam and Eve, when wholly pure, were so married, and that redemption
signifies a complete restoration to all the privileges lost by the
fall. “_That Mormons are ‘sealed’ to rich old women._” The _vetula
beata_ exists, I believe, almost universally. “_That Mormons marry and
seal for the dead._” As has been seen, it is a principle of faith that
all ordinances for the living may vicariously be performed for those
departed. “_That Mormon women are pale, thin, badly and carelessly
dressed, and poorly fed--that they exhibit a sense of depression
and degradation._” I found them exceedingly pretty and attractive,
especially Miss ----. “_That it is dangerous to be the rival of a
Mormon elder in love and business._” This is true only so far that the
Saint is probably a better man than the Gentile. I have been assured by
Gentiles that they would rather trust the followers of Mr. Joseph Smith
than their own people, and that, under Mormon rule, there never has
been, and never can be, a case of bankruptcy. The hunters and Indian
traders dislike the Saints for two chief reasons: in the first place,
the hunting-grounds have been narrowed; and, secondly, industry and
sobriety have taken the place of rollicking and dare-devilism. “_That
the Mormons are bigoted and intolerant._” The Mormon’s golden rule is,
“Mind your own business, and let your neighbor mind his.” At Great Salt
Lake City I found all the most violent anti-Mormon books, and have
often heard Gentiles talk in a manner which would not be tolerated in
Paris, London, and Rome. “_That the Church claims possession of, and
authority over, a dead disciple’s goods and chattels._” This is done
only in cases when heirs fail. “_That it is the Mormon’s duty to lay
all his possessions at the apostles’ feet._” The Mormons believe that
the Lord has ordered his Church to be established on earth; that its
success involves man’s salvation; that the apostles are the pillars
of the sacred edifice, and that the disciple is bound, like Barnabas,
when called upon, to lay his all at the apostles’ feet; practically,
however, the measure never takes place. “_That the high dignitaries
are enriched by tithes and by plundering the people._” I believe, for
reasons before given, this assertion to be as wholly destitute of fact
as of probability. “_That the elders borrow money from their Gentile
disciples, and that the Saints ‘milk the Gentiles.’_” The Mormons, like
sensible men, do not deny that their net has drawn up bad fish as well
as good; they assert, however, and I believe with truth, that their
community will bear comparison in point of honesty with any other.
[POLITICAL OBJECTIONS.]
I have already remarked how thoroughly hateful to the petulant
fanatical republican of the New World is the Mormon state within state,
their absolute aristocracy clothed in the wolf-skin of democracy; and I
have also shown how little of that “largest liberty,” concerning which
the traveler in the United States hears so often and sees so seldom,
has been extended to them or to their institutions. Let us now consider
a few of the political objections to Mormonism.
“_That the Mormon Church overshadows and controverts the actions
and opinions, the property, and even the lives of its members._”
The Mormons boast that their Church, which is their state, does so
legitimately, and deny any abuse of its power. “_That the Church
usurps and exercises the legislative and political business of
the Territory._” The foregoing pages disprove this. “_That the
Church organizes and commands a military force._” True, for her own
protection. “_That the Church disposes of public lands on her own
terms._” The Mormons reply that, as squatters, they have earned by
their improvements the right of pre-emption, and as the federal
government delays to recognize their title, they approve of the
Church so doing. “_That the Church has coined money and forced its
circulation._” The former clause is admitted, and the excellence of
the Californian gold is warranted; the latter is justly treated with
ridicule. “_That the Church levies the tenth part of every thing from
its members under the charge of tithing._” The Mormons derive this
practice from the laws of Moses, and assert that the gift is purely a
free-will offering estimated by the donor, and never taken except from
those who are in full communion. “_That the Church imposes enormous
taxes upon Gentile citizens._” The Mormons own that they levy a large
octroi, in the form of a regulated license system, upon ardent spirits,
but they deny that more is taken from the Gentile than from the Saint.
“_That the Church supervises and penetrates into the domestic circle,
and enjoins and inculcates obedience to her own counsels, as articles
of faith paramount to all the obligations of society and morality,
allegiance and law._” The Mormons reply that the counsel and the
obligations run in the same grooves.
Mormonism in England would soon have fallen to the level of Leeism
or Irvingism; its teachers to the rank of the Southcoteans and
Muggletonians. Its unparalleled rise and onward march could have
taken place only in a new hemisphere, in another world. Its genius is
essentially Anglo-American, without one taint of Gallic, Teutonic, or
Keltic. It is Rationalistic: the analytic powers, sharpened by mundane
practice, and wholly unencumbered by religious formal discipline,
are allowed, in things ultra mundane, a scope, a perfect freedom,
that savors of irreverence: thus the Deity is somewhere spoken of
as a “right-hand man.” It is Exaggerative in matter as in manner:
the Pentateuch, for instance, was contented with one ark, Mormonism
required eight. It is Simplificative: its fondness for facilitation
has led it through literalism into that complete materialism which,
to choose one point only, makes the Creator of the same species as
his creature. It is Imitative to an extent that not a vestige of
originality appears: the Scripture names are carefully moulded in
Hebrew shape; and, to quote one of many instances, the death-bed of
the first patriarch (“Life of Joseph Smith, the Prophet,” chap. xlii.)
is a travestie of that of Israel, with his prayers, prophecies, and
blessings; while the titles of the apostles, _e. g._, Lion of the Lord,
are literally borrowed from El Islam. It has a mystic element the other
side of its severe rationalism, even as the American character mixes
transcendentalism with the purest literalism, as Mr. Emerson, the Sufi,
contrasts with the Pilgrim fathers and Sam Slick. It is essentially
Practical, though commonplaces and generalisms are no part of its
composition. Finally, it is admirably puffed, as the note upon Mormon
bibliography proves--better advertised than Colonel Colt’s excellent
revolvers.
I had proposed to write a chapter similar to this upon the Mormon
annals. After sundry attempts, the idea was abandoned in despair.
It would be necessary to give two distinct or rather opposite
versions--according to the Mormons and the anti-Mormons--of every
motive and action which have engendered and produced history. Such a
style would not be lively. Moreover, the excessive positivism with
which each side maintains its facts, and the palpable sacrifice of
truth to party feeling, would make it impossible for any but an
eye-witness, who had lived through the scenes, and had preserved his
impartiality, to separate the wheat from the chaff. The Mormons declare
that if they knew their prophet to be an impostor, they could still
love, respect, and follow him in this life to the next. The Gentiles,
I can see, would not accept him, even if he were proposed to them by a
spirit from the other world. There is little inducement in this case to
break the scriptural injunction, “Judge not.”
Under these considerations, I have added to the Appendix (No. V.) a
detailed chronological table of Mormon events: it is compiled from both
parties, and has at least one merit--impartiality.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENTS RECORDED IN THE BOOK OF MORMON.
[MORMON CHRONOLOGY.]
(_By Elder James Marsden, and printed in the Compendium of Faith and
Doctrines._)
B.C.
600. Lehi, Sariah, and their four sons, Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and
Nephi, left Jerusalem by the commandment of God, and journeyed into
the wilderness of Arabia (p. 17, 44, 97, pars. 3, 47, 4).
592. Lehi and his family arrived at the land Bountiful, so called
because of its much fruit. Its modern name is Arabia Felix, or Arabia
the Happy (p. 36, par. 17).
570. Jacob and Joseph were consecrated priests and teachers over the
people of Nephi (p. 66, par. 5).
560. Nephi was commanded to make a second volume of plates (p. 67,
par. 6).
545. Nephi commanded Jacob to write on the small plates such things
as he considered most precious (p. 114, par. 1).
421. Jacob having committed the records into the hands of his son
Enos, and Enos being old, he gave the records into the hands of his
son Jarom (p. 133, 136, pars. 9, 7).
400. The people of Nephi kept the law of Moses, and they rapidly
increased in numbers, and were greatly prospered (p. 137, par. 3).
362. Jarom being old, delivered the records into the hands of his son
Omni (p. 138, par. 6).
324. Omni was a wicked man, but he defended the Nephites from their
enemies (p. 138, par. 2).
280. Amaron delivered the plates to his brother Chemish (p. 139, par.
3).
124. After Abinadom, the son of Chemish, Amaleki,[214] the son
of Abinadom, King Benjamin, and Mosiah had successively kept the
records, Mosiah, the son of King Benjamin, was consecrated king (p.
157, par. 2).
121. Mosiah sent sixteen men to the land of Lehi-Nephi to inquire
concerning their brethren (p. 158, par. 2).
91. Mosiah died, having conferred the records upon Alma, who was the
son of Alma. Mosiah also established a republican form of government,
and appointed Alma the first and chief judge of the land (p. 205, 209,
pars. 1, 7).
90. Nehor suffered an ignominious death for apostasy and for killing
Gideon (p. 210, pars. 3, 4).
86. The usurper Amlici was slain by Alma. In this year many battles
were fought between the Nephites on the one hand, and the Amlicites,
who were Nephite revolutionists, and the Lamanites on the other. The
Nephites were mostly victorious (p. 215, 217, pars. 14, 18).
85. Peace was restored and many were baptized in the waters of Sidon,
and became members of the Church (p. 218, par. 1).
84. Peace continued, and three thousand five hundred became members of
the Church of God (p. 218, par. 2).
83. The members of the Church became proud because of their great
riches (p. 218, par. 3).
82. Alma delivered up the office of chief judge to Nephilah, and
confined himself wholly to the high priesthood, after the holy order of
God (p. 219, par. 5).
81. Alma performed a mission to the land of Melek, and to the City
Ammonihah (p. 230, pars. 2, 3).
80. Alma and Amulek were delivered from prison by the mighty power of
God (p. 251, par. 11).
79. The Lamanites destroyed the people of Ammonihah (p. 253, par. 2).
76. There was peace during three years, and the Church was greatly
prospered (p. 254, par. 8).
75. Ammon performed a successful mission among the Lamanites (p. 288,
par. 10).
73. Korihor, the great anti-Christ, made his appearance (p. 290, par.
2).
72. Alma committed the record to the keeping of his son Helaman, and
commanded him to continue the history of his people (p. 310, par. 5).
71. The Nephites obtained a complete victory over the Lamanites in the
borders of Manti (p. 331, par. 16).
71. Helaman performed a successful mission among the Nephites (p. 333,
par. 4).
69. Moroni commanded that the Nephites should fortify all their cities.
They also built many cities (p. 346, par. 1).
68. This was the most comfortable, prosperous, and happy year that the
Nephites had ever seen (p. 348, par. 3).
65. The people of Morianton prevented from escaping to the North or
Lake Country. Also Nephilah died, and his son Pahoran succeeded him as
chief judge of the land (p. 348, pars. 5, 8).
64. A contention between the advocates of monarchy on the one hand,
and of republicanism on the other, was peaceably settled by the voice
of the people. But 4000 of the monarchy men were slain for refusing to
take up arms in defense of their country against the Lamanites (p. 350,
par. 3).
63. Preparations for war between the Nephites and the Lamanites were
made (p. 354, par. 4).
62. The same continued (p. 355, par. 4).
61. Moroni retook the city of Melek, and obtained a complete victory
over the Lamanites (p. 356, par. 12).
60. Moroni, by stratagem, overcame the Lamanites, and liberated his
people from prison (p. 363, par. 7).
59. Moroni received an epistle from Helaman, of the city of Judea, in
which is set forth the wonderful victories obtained in that part of the
land over the Lamanites (p. 364, par. 1).
58. Moroni obtained possession of the city of Nephilah (p. 386, par.
18).
54. Peace having been restored, the Church became very prosperous, and
Helaman died (p. 387, par. 3).
53. Shiblon took possession of the sacred records, and Moroni died (p.
387, pars. 1, 2).
52. 5400 men, with their wives and children, left Zarahemla for the
North country (p. 388, par. 3).
50. Shiblon conferred the sacred records upon Helaman, the son of
Helaman, and then died (p. 388, par. 5).
49. Pahoran, the chief judge, having died, his son Pahoran was
appointed to succeed him. This Pahoran was murdered by Kishkumen, and
his brother Pacumeni was appointed by his successor (p. 389, par. 3).
48. Coriantumr led a numerous host against Zarahemla, took the city,
and killed Pacumeni; but Moronihah retook the city, slew Coriantumr,
and obtained a complete victory over the Lamanites (p. 390, par. 5).
47. Helaman was appointed chief judge, and the band of Gadianton
robbers was organized (p. 392, par. 8).
46. Peace reigned among the Nephites (p. 393, par. 1).
45. Peace continued (p. 393, par. 1).
44. Peace continued (p. 393, par. 1).
43. Great contention among the Nephites; many of them traveled
northward (p. 394, par. 2).
36. Helaman died, and his son Nephi was appointed chief judge.
31. The Nephites, because of their wickedness, lost many of their
cities, and many of them were slain by the Lamanites (p. 397, par. 8).
28. The Nephites repented at the preaching of Moronihah (p. 397, par.
10).
27. Moronihah could obtain no more possessions from the Lamanites.
Nephi vacated the office of chief judge in favor of Cezoram (p.
398, 399, pars. 11, 13). The greater part of the Lamanites became a
righteous people (p. 403, par. 25).
26. Nephi and Lehi went northward to preach unto the people (p. 404,
par. 26).
23. Cezoram was murdered by an unknown hand as he sat on the
judgment-seat. His son, who was appointed to succeed him, was also
murdered (p. 404, par. 28).
22. The Nephites became very wicked (p. 406, par. 31).
21. The Lamanites observed the laws of righteousness, and utterly
destroyed the Gadianton robbers from among them (p. 406, par. 32).
20. Men belonging to the Gadianton band usurped the judgment-seat (p.
407, par. 1).
18. Nephi prophesied many important things against his people (p. 416,
par. 15).
14. Three years’ famine brought the people to repentance, and caused
them to destroy the Gadianton robbers (p. 417, pars. 2,3).
13. Peace being restored, the people spread themselves abroad, to
repair their waste places (p. 418, par. 4).
12. The majority of the people, both Nephites and Lamanites, became
members of the Church (p. 418, par. 4).
9. Certain dissenters among the Nephites stirred up the Lamanites
against their brethren, and they revived the secrets of Gadianton (p.
419, par. 5).
5. The Lamanites prevailed against the Nephites, because of their great
wickedness (p. 420, par. 7).
4. Samuel the Lamanite performed a mission among the Nephites (p. 422,
par. 1).
1. Great signs and wonders were given unto the people, and the words of
the Prophets began to be fulfilled (p. 431, par. 10).
Lachoneus was the chief judge and governor of the land. Nephi gave the
records into the hands of his son Nephi (p. 432, par. 1).
The Lord revealed to Nephi that he would come into the world the next
day, and many signs of his coming were given (p. 433, par. 3).
A.C.
3. The Gadianton robbers committed many depredations (p. 434, par. 6).
4. The Gadianton robbers greatly increased (p. 434, par. 6).
9. The Nephites began to reckon their time from the coming of Christ
(p. 435, par. 8).
13. The Nephites were joined by many of the Lamanites in defense
against the robbers, who had now become very numerous and formidable
(p. 436, par. 9).
15. The Nephites were worsted in several engagements (p. 436, par. 10).
16. Gidgidoni, who was a chief judge and a great prophet, was appointed
commander-in-chief (p. 438, par. 3).
17. The Nephites gathered themselves together for the purpose of mutual
defense, and provided themselves with seven years’ provisions (p. 439,
par. 4).
19. A great battle was fought between the Nephites and the Gadianton
robbers, in which the latter were defeated, and their leader,
Giddianhi, was slain (p. 440, pars. 6, 8).
21. The Nephites slew tens of thousands of the robbers, and took all
that were alive prisoners, and hanged their leader, Zemnarihah (p. 441,
442, pars. 9, 10).
25. Mormon made new plates, upon which he made a record of what took
place from the time Lehi left Jerusalem until his own day, and also a
history of his own times (p. 443, par. 11).
26. The Nephites spread themselves abroad on their former possessions
(p. 445, par. 1).
30. Lachoneus, the son of Lachoneus, was appointed governor of the
land. He was murdered, and the people became divided into numerous
tribes (p. 446, 447, pars. 3, 4).
31. Nephi having great faith in God, angels did minister to him daily
(p. 449, par. 8).
32. The few who were converted through the preaching of Nephi were
greatly blessed of God (p. 449, par. 10).
33. Many were baptized into the Church (p. 449, par. 10).
34. A terrible tempest took place, which changed and deformed the whole
face of the land. Three days elapsed during which no light was seen.
The voice of Jesus Christ was heard by all the people of the land,
declaring that he had caused this destruction, and commanding them to
cease to offer burnt-offerings and sacrifices (p. 453, pars. 7, 8).
35. In this year Jesus Christ appeared among the Nephites, and unfolded
to them at large the principles of the Gospel (p. 455, pars. 11, 1).
The apostles of Christ formed a Church of Christ (p. 492, par. 1).
36. Both the Nephites and the Lamanites were all converted, and had all
things in common (p. 492, par. 2).
37. Many miracles were wrought by the disciples of Jesus (p. 492, par.
3).
59. The people rebuilt the city of Zarahemla, and were very prosperous
(p. 493, par. 3).
100. The disciples of Jesus, whom he had chosen, had all gone to
Paradise except the three who obtained the promise that they should not
taste of death (p. 493, par. 5).
110. Nephi died, and his son Amos kept the record (p. 493, par. 6).
194. Amos died, and his son Amos kept the record (p. 494, par. 7).
201. The people ceased to have all things in common; they became proud,
and were divided into classes (p. 494, par. 7).
210. There were many churches who were opposed to the true Church of
Christ (p. 494, par. 8).
230. The people dwindled in unbelief and wickedness from year to year
(p. 494, par. 8).
231. A great division took place among the people (p. 495, par. 8).
244. The wicked part of the people became stronger and more numerous
than the righteous (p. 495, par. 9).
260. The people began to build up the secret oaths and combinations of
Gadianton (p. 495, par. 9).
300. The Gadianton robbers spread themselves all over the face of the
land (p. 496, par. 10).
305. Amos died, and his brother Ammaron kept the record in his stead
(p. 496, par. 11).
320. Ammaron hid up all the sacred records unto the Lord, and gave
commandment unto Mormon concerning them (p. 496, pars. 11, 1).
321. A war commenced between the Nephites and Lamanites, in which the
former were victorious (p. 497, par. 2).
325. Mormon was restrained from preaching to the people, and because
of their wickedness, and the prevalence of sorceries, witchcrafts, and
magic, their treasures slipped away from them (p. 497, par. 2).
326. Mormon was appointed leader of the Nephite armies (p. 498, par. 3).
330. A great battle took place in the land of Joshua, in which the
Nephites were victorious (p. 498, par. 3).
344. Thousands of the Nephites were hewn down in their open rebellion
against God (p. 499, par. 4).
345. Mormon had obtained the plates according to commandment of
Ammaron, and he made an account of the wickedness and abominations of
his people (p. 499, par. 5).
346. The Nephites were driven northward to the land of Shem, and there
fought and beat a powerful army of the Lamanites (p. 500, par. 6).
349. The Nephites obtained by treaty all the land of their inheritance,
and a ten years’ peace ensued (p. 500, par. 6).
360. The king of the Lamanites sent an epistle to Mormon indicating
that they were again preparing for war (p. 501, par. 7).
361. A battle took place near the City of Desolation. The Nephites were
victorious (p. 501, par. 8).
362. A second battle ensued with the like result (p. 501, par. 8).
Mormon now gave up the command of the Nephite army (p. 501, par. 9).
363. The Lamanites obtained a signal victory over the Nephites, and
took possession of the City of Desolation (p. 502, par. 1).
364. The Nephites retook the City of Desolation (p. 503, par. 2).
366. The Lamanites again took possession of the City of Desolation, and
also succeeded in taking the City of Teancum (p. 503, par. 3).
367. The Nephites avenged the murder of their wives and children, and
drove the Lamanites out of their land; and ten years’ peace ensued (p.
503, par. 3).
375. The Lamanites came again to battle with the Nephites, and beat
them (p. 504, par. 3).
The Nephites from this time forth were prevailed against by the
Lamanites; Mormon therefore took all the records which Ammaron had hid
up unto the Lord (p. 504, par. 3).
379. Mormon resumed the command of the Nephite armies (p. 504, par. 4).
380. Mormon wrote an abridged account of the events which he had seen
(p. 505, par. 5).
384. The Nephites encamped around the hill Cumorah. Mormon hid up in
the hill Cumorah all the plates that were committed to his trust,
except a few which he gave to his son Moroni (p. 507, pars. 1, 2).
The battle of Cumorah was fought, in which two hundred and thirty
thousand of the Nephites were slain (p. 507, pars. 2, 3).
400. All the Nephites, as a distinct people, except Moroni, were
destroyed (p. 509, par. 1).
421. Moroni finished and sealed up all the records, according to the
commandment of God (p. 561, par. 1).
[214] While Amaleki was keeping the records, Mosiah, the father of
King Benjamin, and as many as would hearken to the voice of God, were
commanded to go into the wilderness, and were led by the power of the
Almighty to the Land of Zarahemla, where they discovered a people who
left Jerusalem at the time that Zedekiah was carried away captive
into Babylon. They were led by Mulek, the only surviving son of
Zedekiah; and on their arrival in America, met with Coriantumr, the
late king of the Jaredites, who were slain a little previous to the
immigration of Mulek and his people (p. 139, 40, 411, 549, pars. 6,
9).