SENECA  MISSION.

Extract of a letter from Rev. T. S. Harris, superintendent of the Seneca Mission, to the publisher of the Rochester Observer, dated:

                                                        SENECA VILLAGE, Feb. 25, 1828.

You are already apprized that within the year past we enjoyed a little season of revival at the Seneca and Cataraugus stations: -- the fruits of which are precious and still remain. It is, dear Brother, a consoling truth of the Bible, that "with God all things are possible." He is able to renew and purify the most degraded -- and for the honor of the gospel and the glory of his own great name, he has sometimes done it to the no small joy of his servants and to the confusion and vast annoyance of infidel objectors.

The church at Seneca has increased from fourteen to thirty native members. A church has been formed at Cataraugus within the year consisting of nineteen adult native members, principally the fruits of this season of refreshing from the presence of God. A number more at both stations of both sexes and of all ages are still inquiring "what must we do to be saved."

The moral influence of the Gospel on the hearts and habits of this people, since its entrance amongst them, is in many respects most cheering. It has taught them to respect themselves, one another-the commands and institutions of God's word. It has promoted the peace of families; -- cleanliness of person -- an almost universal regard for the Sabbath, except where they are led astray b the remains of paganism, or the still more pernicious example of some of the whites, who are seen frequently coming from [------ ----] on this most sacred day -- either for the purpose of collecting accounts, making bargains in lumber, cattle, swine, or some other inconsistent or less laudable object of pursuit. -- This same moral influence has done away an almost incalculable amount of wretchedness in the desertion of wives, children and parents. If it has not killed the Hydra -- intemperance, it has given him many a wound, which I humbly and fervently pray will prove incurable. A few of the most influential chiefs of the Tribe, who have long been thought incurable drunkards, have refrained astonishingly for some time, and appear to be applying to the only effectual remedy, the help that comes from God only.

The people at this station have recently resolved on erecting by private subscription among themselves a neat little Chapel, to be finished the ensuing summer; which shall cost them when completed, $1700. One chief headed the subscription with $1100 in cash. 41000 in cash was pledged; the rest they agree to pay partly in lumber in one of the saw mills, and partly in cash from a few individuals who are expected generously to assist them in Canandaigua and vicinity. The house is to be 50 feet by 40 -- well seated, painted-with tower, dome, bell, &c. &c.

There is at present a very interesting state of feelings amongst the Alleghenies, a branch of the Seneca family on the Allegheny River below Olean. Four of their number were received into the church at Seneca on their own application, better than a year since. These have been very useful in drawing the attention of a number of their countrymen to the concerns of their souls, & have in fact been their only spiritual guides. About a week since, in company with a delegation from the church at Seneca, I paid them another visit, and to our joy, -- we found quite a number on their knees imploring the infinite Redeemer to enlighten their darkness and save their souls. About 30 appeared to be enquiring for Christ with tears. About 20 of both sexes confessed their sins in public conference, with such solemnity of manner and delicacy of sentiment, and tenderness of feeling, as must have penetrated the most obdurate. To see the trickling tear glisten on the cheek of the silver headed warrior, who has long since buried the hatchet beneath the "tree of peace" as he sat reclining his head upon his staff, listening to the statements of his former companions in arms, or to the still more affecting language of the beloved youth of his tribe -- was to me one of the most interesting scenes I could desire to see on this side of heaven. May it prove the indication of the godly sorrow which worketh repentance into life.

Eight were baptized on the Sabbath, who have some time been considered pious, and will be received into full communion with the church in Seneca in the spring, if they continue to be steadfast.

A goodly number of the people love songs of Zion, and it is one of our most delightful exercises on Sabbath evening, after the more public exercises of the day, to sit down surrounded by a group of these interesting children of nature-sometimes engaged with them in singing, and occasionally listening in tearful silence to their expressions of deep-toned affection and penitence."


Note 1: The news that Christianized Indians were experiencing a "revival at the Seneca and Cataraugus stations" of western New York came from the Rev. Thompson S. Harris, a Presbyterian minister operating out of the United Foreign Missionary Society's "Seneca Mission," on the Buffalo Creek Indian Reservation, on the outskirts of Buffalo, New York. Harris' missionizing efforts among the Seneca were previously much opposed by their primary chief, Red Jacket (see the Apr. 7, 1824 issue of the Gettysburg, PA Adams Centinel). The chief petitioned Gov. Clinton and the New York Legislature and was able to shut down the mission for several months. In 1826 the Seneca sold their lands near Buffalo and agreed to move south to the Cattaraugus Creek Reservation.

Note 2: The "Christian faction" among the Seneca eventually gained the upper hand in tribal affairs, and even Red Jacket's own son was married in a Christian ceremony. The missionaries' new successes among the Seneca were publicized in the newspapers during the late 1820s and, no doubt, the earliest Mormons were aware that, on the former Buffalo Creek Reservation lands there remained a number of Seneca who were baptized Christians and who could read and write English. This fact probably accounts for Parley P. Pratt, Oliver Cowdery, and the other "Missionaries to the Lamanites" stopping over among the Seneca near Buffalo. Pratt identifies the Indians they encountered there as being of the "Cattaraugus tribe," but the Mormons' stopped at the old Buffalo Creek Indian Reservation, and their auditors were probably visitors to the old tribal lands at Buffalo, who had already relocated their homes to the Cattaraugus Creek Reservation.

Note 3: See also Rev. Harris' report of chapel building among the Christianized Seneca Indians, as reported in the June 11, 1828 issue of the Cherokee Phoenix.

INDIANS  IN  NEW  YORK.

Extract from a letter of Mr. Harris to the Corresponding Secretary.

The letter, from which these extracts are made, is dated "Seneca, February 6, 1828."

Cataraugus. -- The Lords Super was administered to the little church at Cataraugus, on the 1st Sab. in Jan. when seven adults were admitted to full communion. One other would have been received, had she not been prevented from attending by sickness...

Ê The church at that station consists in all of twenty-one members. Mr. Thayer has opened his school with considerable embarrassment, owing to the inadequacy of the promised supplies from the Indians. The parents of some have been compelled to withdraw their children, as they are unable to support them. The school contains at present twenty scholars.

Seneca. -- There is one circumstance of recent occurrence at this station, which is not a little gratifying to us, and the friends of the mission hers, and, we doubt not, will be equally so [to] you, The chiefs and people have resolved on building a small but commodious and neat chapel for the worship of Jehovah...

We devoutly thank the God of missions, that his people are disposed to contribute thus willingly to the erection of a house of worship, although of humble structure, to which, we sincerely hope, they and their children, to the last of their race, will be disposed to repair, as did Israel of old "to the place which the Lord chose to set his name there." The chapel is to be situated within a few rods of the mission house.

The school contains near sixty scholars -- all apparently happy and contented.


Note: Since the Book of Mormon promises to deliver a latter day gospel to the remnant of the Lamanites, still living in the "land of promise" when it comes forth during the "fullness of the gentiles," it seems almost inevitable that the early Mormon missionaries would attempt to fulfill that prophecy by (at the very least) making the newly published book available to literate, Christian Indians, like the Seneca of western New York. History does not record that these missionaries made a single convert among the Seneca -- but, of course, the Mormons already had their eyes set upon the great gathering of native tribes then commencing beyond the Missouri River, at the western boundary of the country. See comments appended to the article "The Indians" in the July 20, 1830 issue of the Gettsyburg Adams Sentinel for more discussion of this subject.

From the Monthly Review.

A view of the American Indians. By Israel Worsley. London, 1828.

We shall probably surprise most of our readers when we state the object of this little volume, which is nothing less than to show that the Indians of America are, in all probability the descendants of the lost Ten tribes of Israel. This is an idea which has it seems, of late years occupied some attention on the other side of the Atlantic, the Rev. Dr. Elias Boudinot having published a work in support of it in 1816, entitled A Star in the West, which was followed in 1825 by another written by a Mr. Smith [Ethan Smith] pastor of a church in Poultney. The object of the present writer is chiefly to condense and arrange the facts and reasonings that have been advanced by his predecessors; and to add such additional matter in support of the views which they have advocated, as he has been able to collect in the course of his own reading.

We extract a few sentences from his concluding chapter, in which he give a summary of his argument. -- After contending that the tribes in question must have an existence somewhere, and remarking that in the book of Esdras they are mentioned as having journeyed to a land where no man dwelt, he proceeds in reference to the Indians as follows:

"They are living in tribes-they have all a family likeness, though covering thousands of leagues of land; and have a tradition prevailing universally, that they came into that country at the northwest corner, they are very religious people, and yet have entirely escaped the idolatry of the old words -- they acknowledge On God, the Great Spirit, who created all things seen and unseen-the name to whom this being is known to them all, the old Hebrew name of God he is also called yehowah, sometimes yah, and also abba -- for this Great Being they profess a high reverence, calling him the head of their community, and themselves his favorite people -- they believe that he was more favorable to them in old times than he is now, that their fathers were in covenant with him, that he talked with them & gave them laws -- they are distinctly heard to sing with their religious dances, hallellujh and praise to jah; other remarkable sounds go out of their mouths, as shillu-yo, shillu-he, ale-yo, he-wah, yohewah, but they profess not to know the meaning of these words; only that they learned to use them upon sacred occasions -- they acknowledge the government of a Providence overruling all things,and express a willing submission to whatever takes place -- they keep annual feasts which resemble those of the Mosaic ritual; a feast of first fruits, which they do not permit themselves to taste until they have made an offering of them to God; also an evening festival, in which no bone of the animal that is eaten may be broken; & if one family be not large enough to consume the whole of it, neighboring family is called in to assist: the whole of it is consumed, and the relics are burned before the rising of the next day's sun: there is one part of the animal which they never eat, the hollow part of the thigh; they eat bitter vegetables & observe severe fasts for the purpose of cleansing themselves from sin; they have also a feast of harvest, when their fruits are gathered in, a daily sacrifice, and a feast of love -- their fore-fathers, practiced the rite of circumcision; but not knowing why so strange a practice was continued, and not approving of it, they gave it up -- there is a sort of jubilee kept by some of them -- they have cities of refuge to which a guilt man and even a murderer may fly and be safe." pp. 181, 182.

Another account, we observe of the lost Ten Tribes has lately been given in a German publication, which, on highly probable grounds, makes at least a large portion of them to have established themselves in the district of the great Plain of Central Asia, called Bucharia, where, it appears they amount even at this day to a third part of the population. The traditions preserved among this remnant of the chosen people might perhaps assist in determining whether or not the American Indians are descendants of the same stock.


Note: The "Rev. Dr. Elias Boudinot" referred to in the above article was not the same man as the editor of the Cherokee Phoenix, who was also named Elias Boudinot. Properly speaking, the former Elias Boudinot was not a "reverend," although he wrote as an informed layman on religious subjects. The latter Elias was an educated Cherokee chief.

FOR  THE  CHEROKEE  PHOENIX.

MR. BOUDINOTT. -- I noticed in a late number of your paper a selection from the Monthly Review, containing an extract from Worsley's view of the American Indians, in which he gives a summary view of his argument in favor of the proposition that they are descendants of the long lost ten tribes of Israel. Several statements are there made, as of general application to the Indians, which, being inserted in the "Cherokee Phoenix," if they stand uncontradicted, will be inferred to be true as applicable to the Cherokees. It is doubtless best that the truth should be known, that those, who pursue the inquiry respecting the origin of the Indians, may build their conclusions on only real facts. I therefore, offer a few remarks, promising that my knowledge is limited, and that, if I should make any mistakes, they are made where they are, perhaps, as likely as anywhere to be corrected.

It is said that the Indians have a tradition prevailing universally that they came into this country (America) at the northwest corner. I have not learned that there is such a tradition among the Cherokees. If it exists will not some of your correspondents inform us of it? Some of the aged Cherokees, at least, seem to have understood the tradition to be, that the Indians were created in America.

They have, it is said, entirely escaped the idolatry of the old world. It is true, I believe, that the Cherokees have never worshipped images. Their conjurers, however, address themselves to imaginary beings, who are not God such as the great white dog, the great bear, the lizard, &c. The Osages, it would seem, have regarded earth and the heavenly bodies as gods, and directed their worship to them. (See Miss. Her. pp. 123, 124 of the current volume.)

It is also said that the Indians "acknowledge one God, the Great Spirit, who created all things, seen and unseen."Ê The Cherokees certainly acknowledge one Supreme God, nor do I suppose that their conjurers would consider the white dog and the great bear &c. to whom they direct their prayers, in the light of deities, properly speaking. In regard to the spirituality of God, however, I am not, convinced that they have any correct ideas. Certain it is they have no name for the Deity which signifies the Great Spirit. The same is true of the Choctaws, of whom the Rev. Mr. Wright affirms that "they have no conception of a being purely spiritual," and as I should infer from the account of the religious traditions of the Osages, to which I have already referred, it is true of them also. According to the account of the Rev. Mr. Harris, missionary among the Senecas, it appears that that tribe formerly "regarded God as no other than man," I am apprehensive that, if the point, were investigated, a name for the Deity signifying the Great Spirit, which has, I believe, been generally supposed to be universal among the Indians, would be found among very few. The Cherokees have only two names of God, one of which, [in Cherokee] U-ne-la-nv-hi, signifies the Creator, and the other [in Cherokee] Ga-lv-la-ti c-hi, he who dwells above.

It is asserted, if I understand the language used that the old Hebrew name of God is known to all the Aborigines. I suppose the writer refers to the name El, or Elohim. Certainly this name is not known to the Cherokees.

It is added "He is also called Yehowah, and sometimes Yah, & also Abba." This may be true in regard to tribes with which I am unacquainted. As to Cherokees, the name Yehowah is now known to some, but only to those who learned it by means of Christian missionaries; the name Yah to none, unless a few individuals may have learned that there is such a name in the Hebrews scriptures. As to Abba, it seems to me altogether probable, that it is no other than the Choctaw ubba, which signifies, unless I greatly mistake; above, & is used in connexion with pinke, our father, as a name for the Deity, but probably, according to opinion of the Rev. Mr. Wright, who has the best opportunity of judging, learned from the whites. * (See Miss. Her. vol. xxiv. p. 179.)

Mr. Worsley also affirms, that "they are distinctly heard to sing, with their religious dance, hallelujah, and praise to jah." I believe Cherokee tradition knows nothing of these songs. Mr. Wright informs us that hallelujah is sometimes sung by the Choctaws, who aver that it is not one of their native songs, but was learned from the northern Indians.

"Other remarkable sounds go out of their mouths, as shillu-yo, shil-lu-ho, ale-yo, he-wah, yo-he-wah, but they profess not to know the meaning of these words; &c" -- The Cherokees know nothing of all these.

"They keep annual feasts resembling those of the Mosaic ritual; a feast of first fruits," &c. That a feast of first fruits (the green corn dance) was observed by the Cherokees till within a few years, is certain. They also observed fasts, and had a city of refuge for the manslayer. As to the other feasts mentioned by Mr. Worsley, as also the abstaining from eating the hollow of the thigh of an animal, the former practice of the rite of circumcision &c. if they existed, the traditions have not yet come to my knowledge; but as I am but a white man, and have not yet enjoyed the most extensive means of information, my ignorance of them is not proof that they never existed. If any of your readers can give any information on the subject, I presume the public, as well as your correspondent, will be obliged to him.   W.
________
* Mr. Wright's orthography is Uba pike, but I use that of Ubba pinke, as better adapted to express the sound to mere English readers.


Notes: (forthcoming)

Symmes Ghost. -- The Doctrine of John Cleve Symmes, that the Earth is hollow, is not exploded. The Portsmith [sic - Portsmouth?] Journal states that it yet lives and improves, in the essays of a correspondent of the Gardiner (Me.) Intelligencer. According to the improved theory, the interior is not only inhabitable, but inhabited -- and then, as the Polar ice and winter [snows?] make the entrance somewhat hazardous, he has required a miracle in order to get the people in; and another to get them out.

"The discovery, (adds the Journal,) is happy, on more than one account; for whilst it disposes of the earth's centre in a most pleasant manner, it brings light to the long lost 'Ten Tribes,' (not of the 'Jews' as the author of the essay will have it,) of Israel! Which Tribes, he gravely and soberly locates inside the aforesaid shell of the earth -- building his fabric on a text in the Apocryphal Book of Esdras, which he supposes to mean that these tribes entered the bed of the rivers Gozan and Euphrates, the waters of which dried up before them; that they passed on through the sea on dry land, toward the south pole, and finally reached the inside, where their posterity now live, and from whence at a future time, they will return in a likewise miraculous manner, to take possession of the land of their fathers.

"Now, lest the reader should laugh at all of this, the author anticipates him, and admonishes us all not to think him insane, and then knocks us all on the head with an unanswerable question to this purpose -- If the Ten Tribes be not there, then where are they?"


Note 1: The modern reader can only wonder whether the essays published during the first part of 1831 in the Maine Gardiner Intelligencer influenced the thinking of Joseph Smith, Jr., regarding the latter day location of the Lost Tribes of Israel, their anticipated "return in a ... miraculous manner," from a residence beyond "the Polar ice," and their destined "possession of the land" at Zion and Jerusalem. The notion that the earth's interior, beyond the icy polar openings, was inhabited by an ancient people, was not a new idea in 1831 -- it is, rather, one element of the story told in the 1820 book  Symzonia. See Elder Frederick Culmer, Sr's 1886 book, The Inner World for a Mormon exposition on Symmes' hollow earth, its interior being inhabited by the Ten Tribes, the account of Esdras, Book of Mormon teachings, etc. One piece of "evidence" for Israelites inside the earth, which Culmer might have cited, but did not, was a recollection of a conversation with Joseph Smith, Jr., that Elder Benjamin F. Johnson recorded in his posthumously published 1947 autobiography: "I asked where the nine and a half tribes of Israel were. 'Well,' said [Joseph Smith], 'you remember the old caldron or potash kettle you used to boil maple sap in for sugar, don't you?' I said yes. 'Well,' said he, 'they are in the north pole in a concave just like the shape of that kettle. And John the Revelator is with them, preparing them for their return.'" If this bit of historical conversation does not proved that Smith was an advocate of "Symmes' Hole," it at least lends credibility to the idea that Smith professed that the missing Israelite tribes are within the protective walls of a great concave depression (or enormous cavity) located about where Symmes' placed the vast northern entrance to his hollow earth.

Note 2: The location of the missing Israelite tribes had been a matter of concern for faithful Mormons ever since the publication of the first LDS scriptures in 1830. On Oct. 24, 1831, Joseph Smith, Jr.'s teachings on the subject were allegedly reported by one of his former disciples, Elder Ezra Booth: "The condition of the ten tribes of Israel since their captivity... has never been satisfactorily ascertained. But these [Mormon] visionaries have discovered their place of residence to be contiguous to the north pole; separated from the rest of the world by impassable mountains of ice and snow. In this sequestered residence, they enjoy the society of Elijah the Prophet, and John the Revelator, and perhaps the three immortalized Nephites..." Booth's allegations were largely substantiated a few days later, when the top Mormon leader issued a communication from God (?) at Hiram, Ohio, on Nov. 3, 1831. The official Mormon counterpart to Booth's reporting was first published to the world as a "revelation" in the Church's Evening and Morning Star of May 1833. The Mormon belief in a hidden Israelite nation at or near the North Pole was strengthened by Elder W. W. Phelps' comments, as published in the LDS Messenger and Advocate of Oct. 1835. There Elder Phelps says: "The parts of the globe that are known probably contain 700 millions of inhabitants, and those parts which are unknown may be supposed to contain more than four times as many more, making an estimated total of about three thousand, five hundred and eighty millions of souls: Let no man marvel at his statement, because there may be a continent at the north pole, of more than 1300 square miles, containing thousands of millions of Israelites, who, after a high way is cast up in the great deep, may come to Zion, singing songs of everlasting joy." Phelps' assertion was strengthened, in March, 1867, when LDS Apostle Orson Pratt made a pronouncement in the LDS Millennial Star: "There is a great probability that in that apparently inhospitable solitude will be found the great nation of the ten tribes, not in a barbarous or semi-barbarous state, but in the enjoyment of the Christian religion."

Note 3: The Reorganized LDS Saints' Herald advocated an Arctic home for the Israelites in numnerous articles published from 1864 onwards. As early as 1872 leading RLDS Elders were preaching or speculating that these lost Israelites might be living inside the earth; by 1878 the Saints' Herald was printing letters advocating Symmes' inner world; and in 1881 the same paper published a letter by Americus Symmes, the son of John Cleves Symmes, alleging that "the people" at the Earth's core spoke "the Hebrew language." In the meanwhile the Utah Mormon establishemnt had advanced the polar Israelite claims, by publishing a series of articles during 1878, first in the Deseret News and soon after in the Millennial Star, written by George Reynolds and providing, among other things, a fanciful account of how the lost ten tribes reached the area round about the North Pole in ancient times. Frederick Culmer's 1886 booklet, already mentioned, appears to have been the first publication written by a Mormon that pulled all of this information together and firmly stated that the ten tribes were living inside of Symmes' hollow earth. Thus, what had first been published in the Gardiner Intelligencer in 1831, had become a Mormon tradition within less than three generations. In recent years this farcical theme has been taken up and improved upon by LDS Elders such as Clayton Brough, Rodney M. Cluff and Clay McConkie to a marvelous degree of absurdity.

Mormonites. -- The febrile mania of these madcaps is spreading in Vermont, among the green mountains thereof. The Connecticut Mirror, states, on the authority of the Burlington (Vt.) Sentinel, that some time since a man named Davidson came into the vicinity of Burlington, professing to be a disciple of one Dilks, who has figured in the state of Ohio, for a year or two past. This Davidson impiously pretends that Dilks has Almighty power and is God himself! He has gained an assortment of proselytes in several towns in the neighborhood; endeavors to look Apostolic -- wears his hair long; says that Jesus Christ is a woman, and quite inferior to Dilks -- and that the Millenium is to take place in all next year, 1831 [sic - 1832?] This city of Brotherly Love is the place where the Dilks aforesaid is to assemble his followers, and then all the rest of the inhabitants of the world are to be [taken] away, leaving all sublimnary goods and chattels to Dilks and his disciples. -- We should admire to see Dilks assemble his church militant in this city. He would probably have a speedy opportunity of explaining his tenets before his honor the Mayor. -- Philadelphia Gazette.


Note: This report has an inappropriate heading, as "Mormonites" really do not figure in the story at all.

HUMILIATING OCCURENCE. -- A certain Mr. GREATRAKE (said to be from the upper part of Pennsylvania,) who is at present traversing this state, and professing to be a baptist preacher of the hyper-calvinistic order, has recently visited Georgetown: And as an Editor of a Baptist Journal, we conceive it to be an indispensable duty, to apprise our brethren of the character of his visit here. -- On Sunday night, he was, with much reluctance on the part of the church, until he could produce his credentials (which it seems he had not with him) permitted to preach in the Baptist meeting house. In this discourse his satirical opposition to Fullerites, as he call'd them, and to all the benevolent and moral institutions of the day, satisfied and disgusted many, -- they desired to hear him no more. He, however, made an appointment to "lecture on the times," on the night following, in the Court-house; Which he did. And, shameful to relate, a scene ensued, as we have been informed by many, not being present ourselves, which would disgrace a theatre itself. Several members of the church in Georgetown, and especially the editor of the Chronicle, together with Andrew Fuller, A. Campbell, Sunday Schools, Bible Societies, Missionary Societies, Revivals, &c. &c. were the subject of his lecture. -- A torrent of billingsgate, the lowest sarcastic wit, and the most filthy comparisons, such as we should be ashamed to repeat on paper, interlarded his lecture in thick successive abundance. The ladies present, soon after he commenced, became disgusted and retired. And the gentlemen, who were fond of amusement, among whom were many of the friends of those he was abusing, would frequently suceed his witty expressions and vulgar comparisons, with peals of laughter and cheers of ironic applause, by clapping of hands and stamping of feet, in a manner perhaps not surpassed in any theatre; while some individual would be heard to curse him and give him the lie direct. All, however, was insufficient to modify his career; nor did he for some time, scarcely seem to understand that the applause was ironical, and was intended to bring his pretentions as a minister of the gospel into derision. The lecture, among those fond of amusement, appears to be the principle topic of humerous conversation -- While christians view the occurrence as a matter requiring of them deep humiliation and grief -- a matter tending to promote infidelity, and bring a heavy reproach on the cause of the Redeemer!

We hope he will not suppose that we have been influenced to hand this statement to the public from feelings of resentment: We entertain none. We rather commisserate the puff of billingsgate vanity that can thus insensibly degrade himself, and do violence to the cause that he professes to espouse. But we feel, deeply feel, for the cause he has injured, and is likely to injure -- and we pity the church, if there be any such, that can harbour in her bosom, a man who can thus lose sight of the high character, a minister of the gospel is expected, by the world, to sustain, and transform the labours of a herald of peace at pleasure, on the most sacred subject of the religion of Jesus, into a scene of the lowest ridicule and most vulgar theatrical amusement.


Note: The above report, written by Chronicle editor Uriel B. Chambers, is reproduced from Elder Lawrence Greatrake's 1831 pamphlet, A Miniature Portrait... Greatrake served as Sidney Rigdon's successor in the pastorate of the Pittsburgh First Baptist Church in 1824.

Millenium. -- The Mormonites have announced that the millenium will commence next year at Philadelphia. The New York and Baltimore editors are contending for the precedence. One party insisting it will come to the North, that other that it will first spread to the South.

Note: A totally erroneous report -- see the article reprinted in the Sept. 10, 1831 issue of the Phoenix for an explanation.

From the Boston Courier.

MORMONISM.

A gentleman, of this city has presented for publication, the following extract of a letter from a Mormonite to his friend here. The writer was formerly a respectable citizen of Boston, and we are assured that his credibility and sincerity cannot be obtained.

                                                                Canandaigua, Oct. 9, 1831.
We live in this place, and have ever since the 8th of October last. My mind and time have mostly been taken up in the labor of the new covenant, and I cannot say much which would be interesting either to you or to me, unless I write upon this interesting subject. You must suppose I have had a good opportunity of witnessing much of the proceedings of those who believe in the book of Mormon. The book causes great excitement in these parts, and many [lisp] and foam out their shame, and some believe and become meek and lowly in this region.

There are about one hundred souls who have humbled themselves and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and desired baptism at the hand of Joseph Smith, or some other elder, -- for you must know that there are, in this church, elders, priests, teachers and deacons, each ordained according to the gift and calling of God. Upon him, many have been ordained, and some preach. Four of these only have gone to the Samanites [sic - Lamanites?] (or Indians) to preach the gospel unto them. They passed through Ohio, and preached, and three hundred have come forth; many, on coming, brought all their possessions and gave to the church. One of the first was an old miser, who set the example by throwing in all his property -- eight hundred acres of land under good cultivation. Thus we see, that when the people become right, this will follow, as in the Apostles' days.

There are about four hundred souls, and yet no one has aught he calls his own. This we have not preached; but it is the natural consequence of embracing the Apostolic doctrine, which we have done; for He has visited his people, by the ministration of angels, and by raising up a new seer and revelator, that He may communicate unto us such things as are necessary for our preservation and instruction.

You recollect we were talking of the hill which contained all the sacred engravings; we thought it must be far South. But we were both mistaken; for since I saw you, I have seen the spot, and been all over the hill. The time is short, and this generation will not pass before there will be great and marvellous things take place to the confounding of all false, vain, and pernicious doctrines, and to the bringing to nought the wisdom of the world; for Israel shall be saved with an everlasting salvation, and the day is soon at hand when the wicked shall be cut off and the meek shall inherit the earth, and the Lord God will turn to the people a pure language; this is the first language, and it is still preserved on the plates of Jared, and will be the last language that will be.


Note 1: Inquiry into the back files of the Boston Courier has yet to uncover the original for the above reprinted article.There is no explicit indication as to whether the writer is male or female, but possibly a female -- for there is no mention of an ordination or churchly duties. The writer has lived at Canandaigua since "the 8th of October last," -- evidently since Oct. 8, 1830. Possibly the writer was baptized a Mormon in or near Canandaigua, in late 1830 or early 1831. The writer thus probably knew W. W. Phelps and other Mormon converts living in southern Ontario county, but for some unstated reason has not moved with the New York Saints to Ohio and Missouri.

Note 2: The writer speaks of a time when there was an implicit policy of having new converts donate their worldly possessions to the church -- although the writer points out this was not then an emphatic commandment.

Note 3: The writer says that the "first language" is to be restored -- apparently in the coming millennium. This language is evidently the "pure Adamic tongue" sometimes used by Brigham Young and other early Mormons, when they spoke in "tongues" -- a language in which "Zion" is "Zomas," etc. The "plates of Jared" may refer to the part of the Nephite record which remained untranslated when the Book of Mormon was published; or, perhaps the writer merely confuses the authorship of the "plates of Nephi" with the work of Jared (or the brother of Jared).

                                                            From the Boston Watchman.
The Mormonites. -- It is our humiliating duty to record the fact, that two of the preachers of this fanatical sect have visited our city, endeavoring to propagate their strange doctrines, and it is said that about fifteen persons here have become converts, having been led away by their delusions. Rev. Joshua V. Himes, pastor of a Baptist church in this city, states that he has had several interviews with these men, and has examined their book, which they pretend is a revelation from God. He has acquainted himself with the details of their history and principles, and is satisfied of the delusion and absurdity of their system, and of its evil tendency. One of the leading tenets of these deluded people is, that the promised land is not Palestine, but a tract of country situated in Jackson county, Missouri, ten miles from the town of Independence. Some of these enthusiasts have set out for "the promised land, the place of refuge for the house of Israel, and for all the Gentile world, who will take the warning and flee thither for safety." Mr. Himes says, that two of the individuals who have gone are defenceless females. They had acquired by hard industry $2,300, one of them having $800, the other $1,500, which they have given up to the general stock. One of these females was in a consumption, and her friends thought she would not live to reach her destined place. Her afflicted sister told Mr. Himes, that if she had been buried here, before she had been led away by these errors, and had given satisfactory evidence of grace, her grief would have been much lessened.

Mr. Himes adds "The remaining persons who were baptized and joined the Mormonites, and contemplate going to the West, possess between $3,000 and $4,000, which they also are going to put in the general fund, and which they can river draw out again, should they get sick of Mormonism, and wish to return to their friends." The pretended "promised land" of these ignorant people is about two thousand miles distant.


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE  MORMONS.

                                          From the Boston Christian Watchman.
SIR, -- Dwelling as I do among a people called Mormonites, and on the very land which they sometimes call Mount Zion, at other times the New Jerusalem, and where, at no distant period, they expect the reappearing of the Lord Jesus, to live and reign with them on earth a thousand years, -- I have thought that it might be a part of duty, to inform those who may be interested in relation of this subject, that although there has been from first to last, four or five hundred Mormonites in all -- men women and children -- arrived at this place, yet there is no appearance here different from that of other wicked places. The people eat and drink, and some get drunk, suffer pain and disease, live and die like other people, the Mormons themselves not excepted, They declare there can be no true church, where the gift of miracles, of tongues, of healing, &c. are not exhibited and continued. Several of them, however, have died; yet none of them have been raised from the dead; and the sick, unhappily, seem not to have faith to be healed of their diseases. One woman, I am told, declared in her sickness, with much confidence, that she should not die, but here live and reign with Christ a thousand years; but unfortunately she died, like other people, three days after. They tell indeed of workig miracles, healing the sick, &c. &c. These things, however, are not seen to be done, but only said to be done. People therefore who set their faces for the Mount Zion of the West, (which by the by is on a site of ground not much elevated,) must calculate on being disappointed if they believe all that is said of the place, or expect much above what is common in any new country of the West.

Of the Mormons as a sect, I am prepared to say little, except that they seem to be made up of people of every sect and kind, Shakers, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians and Campbellites, and some have been two or three of these different sects before they became Mormonites. Their best prerequisite for the reception of their expected Saviour, it should seem for the most part, is their poverty. There is no doubt but that some suffer for want of the necessaries of life, and in this respect not a little imitate the good Lazarus. But they have no fellowship for Temperance societies, Bible Societies, Tract Societies, or Sunday school societies.

Their first, best, great and celebrated preacher, Elder Rigdon, tells us the Epistles are not and were not given for our instruction, but for the instruction of people of another age and country, far removed from ours, of different manners and habits, and needing different teaching; and that it is altogether inconsistent for us to take the Epistles written for that people, at that age of the world, as containing suitable instruction for this people, at this age of the world. The gospels, too, we are given by them to understand, are so mutilated and altered, as to convey little of the instruction which they should convey. Hence we are told a new revelation is to be sought; is to be expected; indeed is coming forthwith. Our present Bible is to be altered and restored to its primitive purity, by Smith, the present prophet of the Lord, and some books to be added of great importance, which have been lost.

They profess to hold frequent converse with angels. Some go, if we may believe what they say, as far as the third heaven, and converse with the Lord Jesus face to face. They baptize, saying, "I, John, the Messenger, baptize thee," &c.

More secretly, they are said to impart to their converts the gift of the Holy Ghost. They profess to know where the ark of the covenant, Aaron's rod, the pot of manna, &c. now remain hid. They who can believe all this, will no doubt expect a Saviour soon, and without hestitation will worship the first object that may be proclaimed and presented to them for that purpose.

The last preaching I heard of theirs was a most labored discourse. Its object was to prove that this place, here fixed upon by the Mormons as their location, is the very Mount Zion so often mentioned in scripture. This alone, it should seem, would be a sufficient index to the head or the heart of the preacher, and the belief of it a sufficient index to the reading and understanding of the hearers,

The possessions here are small, very small compared with their numbers; something less, I believe, than four sections of land, which would cost but little more than three thousand dollars. Twenty acres is the portion assigned to each family, to use and improve while they continue members of the society; but if they leave, they are to go out empty. Some in comfortable circumstances at the East have spent or given to the society their little all in coming to this land of promise, and now find themselves in no very enviable circumstances, looking here and there for labor, and women going to wash for their neighbors of the world, to supply themselves with the necessaries of life.

The idea of equality is held forth; but time will show that some take deeds of property in their own name, and those too of the most zealous and forward in the cause and prosperity of the society. And perhaps they do not pretend, like Annanias and Sapphira, to have given all to the society; yet it is a point of duty they most rigidly enjoin on all their proselytes to cast their all into the common stock. Under these circumstances, it needs no prophetic eye to forsee that there will soon be a murmuring of the Greeks against the Hebrews. Indeed there already begins to be some feeling and some defection arising from this subject. There is much reason to believe they cannot hold together long. With Theudas, it is more than probable they will soon be scattered and brought to naught.

The very materials of which the society is composed must at length produce an explosion. Yet judging from the past, and from what our Saviour has told us of the future, that there should be false Christs and false Prophets, showing signs and wonders so as to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect, we may well look on this new sect as ominous of the latter day approaching, and calling upon all to watch and pray, and to give good heed to the word of our Saviour, where he says, "Go ye not after them, nor follow them."   Yours, &c. B. PIXLEY.
Independence, Jackson co. Mo. Oct. 12, 1832.


Note 1: The Rev. Benton Pixley was a Baptist missionary who spent several years with the Osage Indians along the shores of the Missouri. He was living in Jackson Co., Missouri in 1832-34 when the Mormons were gathering to that area and experiencing various difficulties there. Pixley wrote several informative letters regarding the Mormons, to various newspapers during the early 1830s. This appears to have been his first such letter -- it was published in the Boston Christian Watchman about the end of 1832.

Note 2: Some other papers publishing part or all of Pixley's Oct. 12, 1832 letter include: the Boston Independent Messenger of Nov. 29, 1832; the Christian Messenger of Feb. 1833; the Elyria Ohio Atlas of Dec. 6, 1832; and the Missouri Intelligencer of Apr. 13, 1833. A shortened version of Pixley's Oct. 12, 1832 letter was published in the Apr. 23, 1833 issue of the Westfield, NY American Eagle.

Note 3: Rev. Pixley also wrote an 1832 letter to the Baptist Weekly Journal, which was published there under the title, "Mormonites." He then wrote a follow-up letter on Nov. 7, 1833, to the New York Observer. That letter was reprinted in the Christian Watchman of Dec. 13, 1833.

One of the Mormonites has become dissatisfied with his new faith and brethren and has denounced them all, in a Westfield, (N. Y.) paper, in words following:

"And now I testify to you, before God and these witnesses, that I never had any impressions or exercises different from other times, since I joined the Mormons; that the tongues spoken by me are of my own invention, and that, as far as my knowledge extends, the whole is a farce; and may my fate be like that of Annanias and Sapphira if I do not speak the truth honestly before God!"


Notes: (forthcoming)

Extract from Elder Thomas Vandeever of Orange, Ia. to the Editor of the Baptist Chronicle, Aug. 7th 1832.

"We have had some trouble with the Campbellites, Parkerites, Stoneites and Mormonites. But the line is drawn in a number of the churches in this country, and they are on the decline. -- The Mormonites and Mr. Stone's disciples preach and worship together." -- The Editor remarks, "Is this possible! What next?" --

I am as far from believing it a fact that the Christians in Ia., preach and worship with the Mormonites, as that the Campbellites and Stoneites are on the decline in that country, -- It is true the Baptist churches themselves worship with hypocrites, and infidels, and some, probably, with Mormonites in the same house, not from choice, but from unavoidable necessity. But I cannot believe that any of our preachers have, or do deliberately unite with the Mormonites in worship or preaching. Mr. Vandeveer, no doubt, understood the matter as he states: yet when investigated, it will appear, we think, in a different light. It would be humiliating indeed, were it a fact, that men, professing to receive the Bible alone as the rule of their faith and practice, should so suddenly receive another, with no better evidence of its divinity, than the affirmation of poor, fallible men. If any can do this, we may also ask, What next?     B. W. STONE, EDITOR.


Note: This was not the first time the editor of the "Baptist Chronicle" had linked the "Mormonites" with the co-religionists of the Revs. Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell. The Rev. David Staats Burnet, in the Mar. 7, 1831 issue of his Campbellite paper, the Evangelical Inquirer, refers to an article then recently published in "The Baptist Chronicle of Ky." which "endeavored to fasten this imposition upon the current reformation." In other words, Baptists in Kentucky who were unhappy with Alexander Campbell, Barton Stone, and the other "reformers" who sought to change the Baptist religion, were saying that Mormonism had sprung from the work of the Campbellites. Burnet was echoing the Campbellite party line in his editorial reactions to the statements published by the Baptist Chronicle & Literary Register (Georgetown, KY). For an example of Alexander Campbell's own similar response see his Millennial Harbinger Jan. 1831, pp. 38-45 and Feb. 1831, p. 101.

The Mormonites in Missouri. -- It is a painful duty which devolves upon us, to publish in this day's paper, the statements of the atrocious assassination and murder of a number of Mormons, in Jackson county, Missouri. We deprecate, at all times, the unnecessary effusion of human blood, but at such a time, and on such occasion, we deplore the state of society and intelligence of the community, where such outrages are perpetuated. We say, at such a time, when almost the whole people of this vast confederacy are uniting in mighty efforts to educate and moralize the community -- and when intelligence and a correct understanding of the constitution of the United States, prevail among all classes of the community throughout the Union, that such crimes should be committed, is strange to believe.

The occasion is such that, it ought to arouse public opinion into action, and every individual caliming protection under the American constitution should be concerned for the outrages and palpable infraction of the constitution of his country.

We understand the alleged crime of the Mormonites is their religious worship; and for this, they have suffered death by the hand of man, contrary to the principles which were consecrated by the blood of our ancestors.

Each individual has a right to worship God according to the doctrine of his own conscience, and no earthly power (in our happy Government,) has any right to interfer.

Any other religious sect has the same right to be put down and murdered for their religion, as the Mormons. The protection of all religious sects, or rather a constitutional toleration, is one of the greatest privileges of which freemen can boast, and should be held sacred by all.

Should the statements relative to this transaction turn out to be unfounded, we will be glad, for the honor of the present age, to correct the error. -- St. Clair Gazette.


Note: The published reports "relative to this transaction" in Missouri did "turn out to be unfounded," in large measure. The Missourians did not murder Mormons because of their form of worship. On the other hand, the Missourian actions taken in their expulsion of the Mormon were illegal and did result in some loss of life on both sides.

"The Evening and the Morning Star," after rising with some glory in Independence, Missouri, under the authority of the Mormonites, has not been visible here for several months past, and we presume it has gone down [in] the dark regions of the west, to rise no more, when we were admonished with a number by the last mail, that the Starr [sic] of the two hemispheres, has moved with the revelation, and now arises in the north, in Kerkland [sic], Geauga county, Ohio, and this time O. Cowdery, as editor. We shall publish a chapter from the Starr at some other time in our paper.


Note: Perhaps at that point in Mormon publishing history, the old revelation should have been amended, to read: "The Law will go out from Zion -- (or, from the Kirtland Stake of Zion, until Zion is redeemed) -- the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem... etc."

                                                     St. Louis. Jan'y. 30.
THE MORMONS. -- The last Western mail brought us a handbill in defiance of the motives and conduct of the Mormons since their settlement in Jackson county in 1831. It is signed by three individuals of the sect -- Parley Pratt, Newell Knight and John Carrill [sic]; and is dated on the 12th December. This publication describes the persecutions which they have suffered, not to any criminal violation of the laws or the rights of others, but to their religious opinions. These persecutions are said to have been unrelenting, and to have been accompanied by misrepresentation, and serious injury to property and person. Of course, they differ from the opposite party in the details of the disturbances of November last, which terminated in their expulsion from Jackson county. The burden of the blame is thrown upon 'the mob,' as their opponents are called: the writers accuse Lt. Gov. Boggs, Col. Pitcher, and Col. Lucas, of practising a stratagem upon them, and thereby depriving them of their arms. The conduct of the citizens, after the arms of the Mormons had been surrendered, is represented in strong and indifnant terms -- bursting into houses without fear, knowing the arms were secured, frightening the women and children and warning them to flee immediately, or they would tear the house down over their heads, and massacre them before night. -- They accuse the Rev. Isaac McCoy, instead of acting the part of a peacemaker, (as he has stated,) of appearing at the head of a company, with a gun on his shoulder, ordering the Mormons to leave the county forthwith, and surrender what arms they had; and, other pretended preachers, are implicated by them in the persecution.

The writers continue the detail of the flight, subsequent treatment and sufferings of their people, up to the time of publication. The greater portion of them fled to Clay county, 'where the people are as kind and accommodating as could reasonably be expected.' But a number of families -- consisting of about 150 persons -- went into the new county of Van Buren; from whence, the writers state, an express had just arrived, stating, that these families were about to be driven from that county by force, after building their houses and carting grain and provisions for 40 or 50 miles. Several families had already fled. Van Buren county is estimated to contain 30 or 40 families, exclusive of their own sect. In a postcript the writers state, that intelligence had been received from Independence, in Jackson county, of fresh outrages having been committed near the village, on the night of the 2d December, upon four aged and infirm families, who had been suffered to remain there. The houses were injured and the lives of the inmates endangered. -- Republican.


Notes: (forthcoming)

From the St. Louis Republican.

The Mormon Difficulties. -- A late number of the Enquirer -- a paper [just] started at Liberty, Mo., contains a military order from Governor Dunklin to the captain of the "Liberty Blues," commanding him to hold himself in "readiness to assist the civil authorities in apprehending and bringing to trial the persons offending against the Laws, in November, 1833 in Jackson County, in conflicts between the Mormons and a portion of the other citizens of that county." He is commanded to attend the Court in that county, during the trial of the causes, and execute such orders as may be given to him by the Judge or Circuit Attorney. Under these orders, and at the request of Judge Ryland, who stated that a number of Mormons wished to testify before the Grand Jury, Captain Atchison marched his company into Independence, on the day appointed for holding court, having a number of Mormons under his protection. After a stay of about three hours it was concluded by Judge Ryland, the Circuit Attorney, & Attorney General Wells, that "it was entirely unnecessary to investigate the subject on the part of the State, as the jury was equally concerned in the outrages committed and it was therefore not likely that any bills would be found." The Captain was therefore directed to return to Liberty and to discharge his men.

"To see a civil court (the Governor says) surrounded by a military force, is well calculated to awaken the sensibilities of any community;" and the Governor charges his subordinate officer to perform his duties in the mildest manner possible. It is certainly a new thing in this country, to see the military called in to protect the civil authorities in the exercise of their just powers; & goes far to prove how far we have relaxed in virtue and a regard for the laws which ought to govern us. Every patriot must hope, that the occasion may seldom arise when it shall be necessary to surround a judicial tribunal with such guards. It is a pernicious example, but rendered, perhaps, necessary in the present case by the extraordinary circumstances attending the conflict."


Note 1: Although the masthead date reads "May 10, 1834," certain items in the issue's columns indicate that it might have actually been published on May 17th.

Note 2: Six years later the Nauvoo Times and Seasons provided this account of the incident: "The Governor, D. Dunklin, was disposed to bring the mobbers to justice; consequently, ten or twelve, witnesses were subpoened to attend the February term of the circuit court Capt. Atchison was ordered to guard them over to Jackson, and back, with his company of Liberty Blues... after having been there a short time... They informed the witnesses, that such was the excitement prevailing there; that it was doubtful whether any thing could be done to bring the mobbers to justice... in a short time after, they were informed by Capt. Atchison, that the Judge, Mr. Ryland, had sent him word, that the witnesses and guard, were not wanted there any longer; Capt. A. paraded his men, as soon, and as well as he could for the crowd, and immediately marched off, the witnesses following him."

MORMONISM.

The following account of the origin of the Mormons, is copied from a London paper, lately received at New-York. It tallies pretty well with what we remember of their history many years ago.

That many dupes are to be found in the United States to such a combination of folly and knavery, does not augur favorably for the progress of knowledge. But then, again, we must remember that the history of mankind abounds with examples of similar absurdities, whether we turn to the cultivated plains of Hindoostan, the deserts of Arabia, the frozen regions of the north, or the populous towns of France and England. (N. O. Courier.

"In the village of Palmyra, in the western part of the state of New York, an idiot, said to have been dumb from his birth, suddenly gave out a few years ago, that 'one night' he had a visit from an angel, who told him to arise from his bed and follow him. He did so, and was conducted by his visitor to a remote and retired spot, where lay a large flat stone, having a ring in the middle of it. This stone was about five feet long, three broad and eight or nine inches thick. On arriving at the place in question the angel commanded the idiot whose name was Joe Smith, to take up the stone by the ring. Smith, as well he might, hesitated to comply with such an order, when his companion told him to take it up boldly, for, if he only had 'faith,' God would instantly give him strength to perform the herculean task. Having prayed inwardly for some minutes, Joe took off his coat, and was making preparations for the performance; but the angel reproved him for his want of faith, made him replace his coat upon his shoulders, and said that even 'if the stone weighed ten thousand tons, divine assistance, through saving faith, would enable him to lift it.' Joe became passive in the hands of the Angel, grasped the ring and found to his astonishment, that the stone weighed as nothing in his hands! On removing it, the idiot discovered that it had served as a covering to a box or chest of the same material, under which were deposited 'twelve golden plates or tables' engraven all over with mystical characters. Upon the upper plate lay a pair of spectacles, made of freestone (save the mark,) which the angel commanded Smith to place astride of his nose. On doing so, Joe's 'tongue was loosened,' as he himself states and his intellect instantly became like those of other men. He saw though the freestone, and the engraving on the golden plates became perfectly intelligible to him. The angel then commanded him to associate with himself 'twelve other men,' whom he named as 'Scribes,' and to interpret to them the writing on the plates. When the work was completely written out, they took it to a printer who demanded $500 in advance for his share in the business. Hereupon the conclave, by dint of pawning, borrowing, selling, and 'finding,' raised the stipulated sum. The book was left with the printer, and the authors were desired to call at the end of the month, when the work would be completed. They now went and 'voluntarily made oath before a justice of the peace that they had written from the dictation of Smith, who, until the time of the angel's visit, had been dumb and an idiot from his birth, and that they had seen the twelve golden tables and the stone spectacles,' adding, that 'no one except Smith could see through them.'

At he expiration of the month they returned to the man of types and demanded their books. The disciple of Caxton met them with a long face, and told them that the whole of the first sheet (16 pages) had been thrown down: and that the manuscripts not having been preserved, he had not been able to fulfil his agreements by the stipulated time: but that if they would write it over again, he would of course print it at his own expense. The Prophets were astounded at this intelligence, and as they had kept no copy of their work, despaired of replacing the inspired writings -- hereupon the printer, by way of removing the difficulty, advised them to 'take another look at the golden plates '

The despairing Mormonites took the hint, and returned with sixteen pages of fresh matter, which the printer immediately composed.

On the publication of the book, the printer worked off and published the sixteen original pages, which he pretended to have lost, and which were altogether different from those they had brought him the second time. This created a terrible sensation among the scribes, who were now called upon by the perfidious printer to produce the plates.

Twelve golden tablets, each of the size of a large tea tray, are not very easy to be procured -- but the angel was good enough to step in once more to their aid. The conclave made oath that the angel had taken the tablets to heaven, on the completion of the work; -- the stone spectacles, however, and the stone chest were produced in evidence, and multitudes of persons were found to be noodles enough to believe the absurd story.

The writer of this, travelling in 1830 through the State of New York, fell into company with a drover, whose uncle had been choused out of $8000 by these fellows. Multitudes had joined them, selling all their property and throwing the proceeds into the common stock and they have several establishments, one of which is in the State of Ohio, where they herd together after a most edifying fashion. Of course, chastity is not among the number of their cardinal virtues. They profess a hearty contempt for all 'unbelievers' and are noted for the promptitude with which they consign to 'everlasting fire and brimstone' all not of their own persuasion.

The poor drover above alluded to, not being himself a Mormonite and having anticipated coming in as heir to the 'old feller,' could in nowise keep his temper when speaking of the 'new revelation.' He consigned Mormon, Joe Smith, and all their followers, to perdition after a most unseemly fashion; libelled the angel who had thrown Joe the box and observed that 'the angel was sharp enough however, for he took good care to carry off the goold; he didn't leave that behind him.' 'Now,' continued he, 'that old Succubus of an uncle of mine might have remembered that he had ten years of my labor and that no man is called upon to throw away his life for nothing; but then the old chap hadn't got no more gumption than a backwoodsman's bull, nor no more steadiness than a monkey upon a water cock, so that when they came to him he got clean frightened out of the little wits that he had. The first time I went to New York he took the opportunity to sell his farm and his stock and every thing and didn't leave himself more clothes nor plunder than what you might ram into a pedlar's wallet; so when I returned, I found myself master of the outside of the house, and a ready furnished lodging in the forest, where I might pick and choose among the trees and live squirrel fashion, that is, if so be as I could have climbed and made up my mind to dine every day on hazel nuts and raw corn. I only wish I could have knowed what was a going on; I'd have found a way to return home time enough to clear 'em all out with my cudgel and that in a fashion that would have made them tremble all the days of their lives at sight of a hickory tree.'

The doctrinal book of the Mormonites, by them called 'The Bible,' has with them entirely superseded the Old and New Testaments. A copy of this book arrived lately in London and is now in the possession of a gentleman residing at Brompton. It is a tolerable thick and closely printed octavo volume, and is divided into a number of books, called after the names of their supposed authors; of these the first in the Book Of Mormon, which has given its name to the whole volume. It is a singular fact that in the Greek language, the word Mormon signifies a mischievous fool or idiot. -- The style and language of this new Bible are an awkward imitation of those of the Old Testament. The book abounds in grammatical blunders and Yankeeisms, and is by no means sparing in marvellous relation of cruelty, murder and rapine. -- There is hardly a glimpse of meaning in many passages of it and the whole is put together in a rambling, unconnected manner, which plainly evinces it to the work of a person or persons wholly unaccustomed to literary composition. It is too absurd for criticism and too brutishly depraved and ignorant to allow if its giving amusement to the reader by it's folly.


Note: See the Nov. 26, 1838 issue of the Philadelphia American Sentinel and the Boston Columbian Centinel of November 24, 1838 for the same story. The report was printed in several newspapers of the period -- in the eastern USA and also in southeastern Canada. The original article apparently came from a London newspaper published during the fall of 1838. The story is filled with peculiar mistakes and misrepresentations, bearing all the marks of a "twice-told tale."

Mormon Prisoners. -- There are now forty-four Mormons in the Missouri jails, six of them charged with treason, five with murder, four with being accessaries before and after the fact of murder, and twenty-nine with the crimes of arson, burglary, robbery and larceny.

Notes: (forthcoming)

An  Insight  into  Mormonism.

From an article in a secent number of the Mobile Planter's Journal, it appears that a singular development, apparently fully authenticated, has recently been made in the eastern papers, of the origin and history of the Mormon Bible. -- Those who have paid attention to the Mormon delusion, and understood the gross ignorance of the first prophets of the faith, and its earliest teachers, have been surprised to find in that work the wild absurdities, marks of great mental cultivation, and traces of extensive knowledge of history and the classics. No clue has been furnished to this anomaly until within a few months, when attention having been attracted particularly to the subject in New England, from the astonishing fact that even in that region of education and intelligence, Mormonism has made some converts, the authorship has been distinctly traced out. It appears that the portion of the work which claims to be historical, in which the literary merits of the production are confined, was written originally by the Rev. Mr. Spaulding, a New England clergyman, who had removed with his family to North [sic] Salem, in Ashtabula county, Ohio. In that township are many remains of ancient monuments, fortifications, &c., sufficient to show that it was once the seat of empire of a powerful people, long since extinct. It was the occupation of Mr. Spaulding for many years, to write a fanciful history of this nation; and his plan was to adopt an ancient style, and write as though he were himself one of the long lost race. The style of the Old Testament was adopted: and the work, purely a creation of the imagination, was occasionally read to parties of his acquaintances.

At Pittsburg, (Pa.) whither Mr. Spaulding and family subsequently removed, the manuscript was read by his friends, and was for some time in a printing office in which Rigdon, who figured largely among the earliestr Mormons, was employed. It is thought he copied it at that time, which was between 1812 and 1816, at the latter date Mr. Spaulding died. The manuscript fell into the hands of his widow, and has been carefully preserved. On the attempt to get up a Mormon meeting in Ohio, the old acquaintances there of the author, recognised his work. The brother of Mr. Spaulding, also a clergyman [sic], was present at the first reading of the pretended Bible, and knew it at once, although it had been disguised and interpolated, to give it supernatural pretensions. To test the question, application was made to the widow, who had returned to New England, for a comparison of the work; and enough, it is said, has been found to confirm this as the true account of the production, and to demonstrate the wicked frauds that have been practised on a harmless essay of fancy, to delude the ignorant. Mormonism having appeared even in New England, Mrs. Spaulding, who by a subsequent marriage became Mrs. Davison, gives this information in a published letter, accompanied by evidences of her entire credibility and respectability.

The story is a singular illustration of the progress of one of the most astonishing delusions of a civilized age and country.


Notes: (forthcoming)

Mormonism. -- The editor of the New York Commercial Advertiser intimates his intention to write a "History of the Mormons." He says: "So far as we are enabled at present to speak, Mormonism is the baldest and most disjointed, incomprehensible, stupid, unmeaning, ridiculous, and silly, of the isms of the age." While the Colonel is about it why can't he put in a small dose about animal magnetism?


Note: Colonel William Leete Stone (1792 -1844) of Hudson, N. Y., was a proprietor and the editor of the New York Commercial Advertiser from 1821-44. Stone apparently ran the Apr. 1839 statement of Spalding's widow in his newspaper. Previous to that, near the end of Aug. 1836, the Commercial Advertiser ran another, earlier version of the Spalding authorship claims, as offered by one of Col. Stone's "correspondents." See the Sept. 9, 1836 issue of the St. Louis Daily Commercial Bulletin for a reprint of the 1836 piece.

A Mormon female, at Quincy, Ill., is said to have produced some beautiful poetry. Her name is Eliza K. Snow, and some of her minor pieces are said to be perfect gems.

Notes: (forthcoming)

An itinerant Mormon is now holding forth in New York -- more with a view of stating the real or supposed grievances, which the sect has suffered in Missouri, than with a design of making converts.

Note: The preacher was Elder John P. Greene, a brother-in-law of Brigham Young. Greene had earlier sought donations to the Mormon cause in Cincinnati -- where he published his 43 page pamphlet, Facts Relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons.

THE MORMONS. -- Much has been lately said about this modern sect, and much false sympathy expressed for their supposed "persecution for conscience sake," in Missouri. We are in favor of religious liberty in the most extensive sense of the word. We look on it as almost blasphemy to interfere with any man's religious opinions -- as an affirmation of a perogative which peculiarly belongs to the Creator. If we, therefore do not sing our song of sorrow over the Mormon persecutions, our silence must not be presumed to procceed from bigotry or intolerance, to which our mind is a stranger. Nor do we believe that the Missourians were influenced by these unworthy motives, in their disputes and difficulties with the Mormons. With our present ideas of their unsophisticated candor, and generous nature, we cannot believe their opposition to the Mormons sprung from such a source. It would be a dangerous precedent to establish in any part of the country, that a man's religious opinions placed him in a position above the law of the State in which he resided, or not amenable to ita dictum. To such a complexion would the conduct of the Mormons come at last, in Missouri, had not the authorities and people of the State interposed their constitutional powers. If the Mormons suffered under hardships and privations in the contest, the blame rests on their own heads as the aggressors.

About the sympathetic resolutions passed in their favor in New York, we have not a word to utter. They received a one-sided view of the story, and on that they acted. Their proceedings in the premises are more complimentary to the heart than the head of the Gothamites.


Notes: (forthcoming)

Mormonism. -- This religious or fanatical humbug is rapidly gaining ground in Philadelphia. Hundreds of the ignorant, although many of them make pretensions to the possession of sense, are joining the society.

Notes: (forthcoming)

The Mormons. -- These religious humbugs have deputized twelve of their number (answering, we suppose, to the twelve Apostles) to go to the Holy Land, and preach the Gospel to the Jews. John Page and Orson Hyde are two of the number. The head quarters of the Mormons are now at Commerce, Illinois, on the Mississippi river. Their number is increasing.


Notes: (forthcoming)

LATTER DAY SAINTS. -- It is a singular fact that England, with the richest endowed church in the world, propt up by the State -- the best paid ministers of religion that are to be found in any Christian country -- that England, boasting of being in the advance of all other nations in the road of literature, the arts and the sciences, is still, or seems to be, wrapped up in benighted superstition. To support this assertion it is only necessary to point to the thousands who placed implicit belief in the absurd and blasphemous doctrines of Johanna Southcote, Irvine, the Scotch preacher, and mad Courtney.

We perceive that some new sect has sprung up there, which is "going ahead" and coming ahead at the same time.

The late Liverpool papers announce that the New York packet ship North America, Capt. Lowbar, sailed from that port on the 8th September, having on board 200 steerage passengers, the whole of whom were of a sect calling themselves Latter Day Saints, who were bound for Quincy, Michigan, (query, Illinois?) where a large tract of ground was purchased by one of the brotherhood who preceeded them: 2,000 more, says the paper, are in treaty to follow them next spring. Many of them belonged to the total abstinence society.


Notes: (forthcoming)

A Mormon Newspaper. -- The Mormons have recently started a newspaper at Nauvoo, Ill., called "The Times and Seasons."It recognizes the whole of the Scriptures and the doctrine of infinite atonement, and ascribes to both ancient and modern apostles miraculous powers, speaking unknown tongues, &c.


Notes: (forthcoming)

MORMONS. -- The believers in the "Book of Mormon" in the United States number about fifty thousand.

Notes: (forthcoming)

MORMONS. -- Two hundred Mormons arrived in this city a day or two since from England, on their way to the settlement at Nauvoo, Ill.

Notes: (forthcoming)

MORMONISM. -- The Saint Louis New Era of late date says: "A report was in circulation to-day that the Prophet Smith and S. Rigdon lately took a ride together from the city of Nauvoo; that Smith returned without Rigdon, and that, when asked what had become of him, he replied that he had been translated to heaven."


Note: This same report was published in the Apr. 21, 1841 issue of the Warsaw Western World. It probably appeard in the St. Louis paper a couple of days prior to that. Compare this story to a similar account, given in the June 9, 1842 issue of the Washington, D. C. Kendall's Weekly Expositor and a contemporary issue of the Norwalk Gazette.

The Mormons -- The corner stone of the great Mormon Temple, to be built at Nauvoo, Illinois, was laid with imposing ceremonials on the 6th April, in presence of seven or eight thousand persons, and the Nauvoo Military Legion, consisting of six hundred and fifty men.


Notes: (forthcoming)

MORMON CITY OF NAUVOO. -- As this city is, in some respects, a curiosity, we have watched its proceedings with interest. From the "Times and Seasons" we learn the following facts in regard to it:

The City Council have prohibited any person from selling whiskey in a less quantity than one gallon; and any other liquor in less than a quart, unless on the prescription of a physician.

The University of Nauvoo has been duly organized by the election of a Chancellor and Trustees, James Kelley, A. M. an Alumnus of Trinity College Dublin, has been elected President of the University.

The Nauvoo Legion has been also organized, and officers have been elected. The Council have passed a vote of thanks to the State Government, for the favors it had conferred, and to the citizens of Quincy, for the protection received, when driven from Missouri. --   St. Louis Gazette.

Notes: (forthcoming)

THE MORMONS. -- This sect of fanatics seems to be making considerable progress. Two or three months ago the Adjutant General of Illinois joined the Mormons, and now it appears the Governor himself has joined them. The St. Louis Republican of the 1st says: "The fact of the Governor's joining this society was looked upon as an unmeaning 'sign of the times' to come. They are also building an extensive something which they call a temple, but which has very much the appearance of a fort."


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE  MORMONS.

The following extract of a letter to the editor of this paper, though not designed for publication, will, no doubt, be read with much interest, inasmuch as it gives some interesting facts as to the introduction of Mormonism into the State of Missouri. The statements here may be relied on, as they come from a gentleman of respectability and unquestioned veracity.

"Five in number first came to Jackson county during my residence there. They took up their lodgings at a tavern in Independence (the county seat). Not being a tavern.-haunter myself, I formed no personal acquaintance with them. They lived somewhat retired, (having a hired room) for several weeks; presently, however, they made some attempts to negotiate with the neighboring Indians, whom they style their brethren the Canaanites [sic, Lamanites?]. Being repulsed by the agents, they secured several tracts of land in the vicinity of Independence, and a few lots in town. About this time they began to come on by considerable numbers from the east, and settle[d] in little huts which they built on the lands which had been bought, which were cut in very small tracts for each family, under the name of an inheritance. Independence being the then designed site for their New Jerusalem. All except their leaders, being poor people, and of a low class, they employed as many as they needed in building the Lord's Printing Office, as they call it, and the balance were compelled to hire out to the citizens, in order to get sustenance for themselves and families. About this time they opened a store, which they called the Lord's store; and began to publish in the Lord's Printing Office, a paper entitled "The Evening and the Morning Star," W. Philips [sic, Phelps?] editor. In this appeared a great many of their pretended revelations from the Lord, shewing them, (the Mormons, to be the rightful inheritors of the land of Missouri.

"Their number now growing, both from emigration and proselytes, and finding no room in the vicinity of Independence, (about this time I moved to Clay county,) and finding vacant lands from 8 to 10 miles off, on Big Blue river, they pretended to have received a revelation leading them to that part of the country, for the erection of their New Jerusalem. There they settled in considerable numbers, growing all the while still more bold in the publication of their pretended revelations, as having in them promised immense armies for the final subjugation of their enemies (the citizens) and final and complete possession of their inheritance, the land of Missouri. The citizens having, in the mean time, become tired of the repeated pilfering of their poor, and finding legal redress troublesome, if not impracticable, treated a few of them roughly. This, (although their leaders would condemn the [pilfering]) caused them to show still more of their pretended authority, and here the citizens called a council, and agreed to have no more dealings with the Mormons, either buying or selling. This reduced them to straits, and enraged them very much, so that the Mormons, professing to be under the influence of inspiration, and under the immediate protection of the angels of God, defied the citizens to touch or injure them or their property; and about this time, the Mormons on Blue river marched their forces, in obedience to a pretended revelation, to take possession of Independence by force. But I think after the revelation came out, and before the above march, the citizens collected in sufficient numbers around the "Lord's Printing office," to lay it in ruins, and took possession of a number of their papers, &c. Now, the citizens being by this time apprised of the approach of the Mormons, collected their forces and repulsed them without a fight. Then a skirmishing, irregular fight ensued, in which several were killed on both sides, and the Mormons were out to flight, making their escape by crossing the Missouri river into Clay county, into my neighborhood. It was fall, and the fast approach of winter finding a number of fellow-beings without homes or the means of sustenance, called to exercise he clemency of the citizens of Clay county for them. All that would labor, were employed -- but many were gratuitously fed through the winter.

"Having, however, been received here with the express understanding and and agreement that they would leave the county whenever a respectable majority of the citizens became dissatisfied, they remained some months pretty silent, except their threats against the citizens of Jackson county -- generally countenanced as objects of pity. Presently emigration began to flock in from the east. Their prophet, Jo Smith, had information of their defeat in Jackson county, and came on with an armed force of several hundred for the purpose of reinstating them in their possessions in that county by force. This excited considerable alarm, both with the citizens of Clay and Jackson. A consultation of the citizens of Jackson county, by a chosen delegation, was held with the leaders of the Mormons, in Liberty, Clay county, at which the citizens of Jackson, and the Mormons, came upon terms of agreement, and Smith returned to the east, leaving most of his army in Clay county, after having appointed a few apostles. Through these, they began to grow bold again in their threats of possessing their inheritance, and in their denunciations of the dreadful calamities that would befall the citizens of Clay county too, if they did not subscribe to the Mormon faith, &c.

"These threats aroused the citizens to very great dissatisfaction, which gave rise to a general meeting of the Mormons and citizens, the result of which was, the Mormons at a given time, agreed to leave the county. They then went and formed Caldwell county, where they prospered and multiplied by emigration, until (I suppose,) they considered themselves strong enough to take the county; and forming themselves into bands, one called the Danites, or Destroying Angels -- they commenced on Daviess county, entering houses armed, and disarming the men by taking away their guns, took off such household goods as they wanted -- drove off the family, and set fire to the house, moving their property, thus taken, to a fortified bend of Grand river for safe keeping; and in more than one case, drove women out of doors to wade through snow several inches deep but a few days after the birth of the infant which she was compelled to carry in her arms, and leave her to the mercy of the merciless Danites. [This] they did without any provocation that I know of, upon which the militia were ordered against them; and finding themselves out-numbered, they proposed a treaty in which they finally succeeded, and promised to leave the State at a given time, and did not come to a general fight; yet several on both sides had been killed before, and during the time of making the compact or treaty,

"Now they are gone -- and as I have written the account in quite an abridged way, I have no doubt but many important circumstances are left out, which might make this appear less interesting; yet the facts here stated as to their crimes, I will say are not less exaggerated -- and if you request it, I can produce many affidavits of respectable citizens of Daviess county, specifying their crimes separately, and send them to you.

:As to the Mormons attempting to influence the blacks, [it is] a matter that must stand upon circumstantial evidence, as negro testimony is inadmissible; but this I will say, that it is here generally believed.

"N.B. In addition to the Danites, another band was employed in taking and hauling off corn, where they could find it, and another in driving off stock in the same way, and two other bands in smaller matters. Attested by numbers."


Notes: (forthcoming)

MORMONISM IN ENGLAND. -- A late London paper, speaking of the departure of great numbers of deluded people for the Mormon settlements in this country, adds that "some of these unfortunate dupes, who have broken up comfortable establishments at home, are on the brink of the grave, but they believe that on their arrival at the American paradise, they shall be made young again and shall live for a thousand years! On Wednesday about 70 of these people went down to the Gloucester Canal to Sharpness Point, and on Thuesday a waggon-load of the same description of ignorant fanatics took their departure for the same destination, all of them intending to embark at Sharpness for America."


Notes: (forthcoming)

MORE MORMONS. -- A body of Mormons numbering about seventy individuals, passed lately through Montreal, on their way to join their brother religionists at Nauvoo, Illinois. The Montreal Herald says of them: "They were from Gloucester, Eng., and arrived at Quebec in the Collina. They appeared to be quiet, inoffensive people, and possessed of some means. They call themselves 'Latter Day Saints,' or Mormons, from having adopted the book of Mormon as a part of divinr revelation. They believe in the efficacy of prayer as a means of curing all diseases. One of their children, when at the immigrant sheds, was seized with a toothache, and two of them, laying their hands on her head, prayed that the Almighty would be pleased to relieve her. We do not know whether the deluded creatures had their delusion strengthened or weakened by the result.


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE MORMONS. -- Three or four columns of a late number of the Warsaw Signal are occupied with testimony taken in the case of the People against five Mormons charged with stealing a cow. They were acquitted. We notice, says the St. Louis Era, that a strong feeling is getting up, whether well or ill founded we know not, both in Iowa and Illinois, against the Mormons, and many charges of theft are made against them. In some cases, notice to quit particular neighborhoods have been given.


Notes: (forthcoming)