In concluding this chapter, I shall make some remarks on the Mormons, that being one of the last sects, of any importance, which have arisen, professing the Christian faith. They also profess, or their leaders, at least, to be specially moved by the Holy Spirit; in other words, that they are the recipients of divine inspiration. Whatever other denominations of Christians may think of their claims to supernatural gifts, they are founded on quite as reasonable grounds as were the pretensions of the prophets of old, not even excepting Moses, the Jewish legislator; as a brief history of their rise and progress will prove. The following account, the writer had from some of the principal preachers of the Mormon faith:—“About the year 1827, or ’28, Joseph Smith, a young man of obscure parentage, presented to the world a production which he called the Book of Mormon, or the Golden Bible; and of which, according to his own account, he became possessed in the following manner:—When about fifteen years of age, being under religious impressions, he used to retire to the fields and thickets in the neighborhood of his home, to exercise himself in prayer. One day, while thus engaged, an angel appeared to him, and informed him that the Lord had a great and important work for him to perform, but that the time had not yet arrived for its consummation. Then, after telling him that he would be again visited, and urging him to pursue a godly life, disappeared. A few years after this, the angel re-visited Joseph, repeating his declaration respecting the contemplated work, and disappeared as before. At length, on a third appearance, the angel directed Joseph to go to a certain spot and dig in the earth, telling him that he would there find something of vast importance. Joseph did as the angel commanded, and found a number of golden plates, on which were impressed characters in a language to him altogether unknown. Having copied a portion of the characters, he sent the copy, by a friend, to a teacher of the dead languages, in New York, in order to ascertain the meaning; but his friend returned without having obtained the desired information. The Holy Spirit then enabled Joseph to translate the inscriptions, and the translation is, denominated the ‘Book of Mormon,’ being named after the person who, fourteen hundred years before, had, by Divine command, deposited it in the earth.” This book can be obtained of the Mormon preachers.
The progress of the Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints, as they designate themselves, has been astonishingly rapid, their number being computed at no less than two hundred thousand, of whom about ten thousand are congregated in the city of Nauvoo, (or Joseph,) in the State of Illinois. This portion of the Mormons had previously located themselves in the State of Missouri, but after suffering great persecution, were driven out of that State by the inhabitants. They then settled in the western part of Illinois, and built the city of Nauvoo, and have nearly completed a splendid temple of unique architecture. They, like the Jews, believe that they are God’s chosen people, and that, as the earth is the Lord's, they shall have the honor of calling together the Jews, the former chosen people of God, and that all who have not then embraced the Mormon faith will be speedily cut off. As the Mormons make the Bible the ground-work of their religious belief, and are sparing in their allusions to the Book of Mormon, they are likely to become permanently established, as a portion of the Christian world, and will probably become not only a very numerous, but also a powerful sect.
But the demon of religious persecution—let me pause for a moment. I would not knowingly libel any thing, not even religion. Am I not mistaken? Not in the personage, most certainly, but I may be in error with respect to his official character. Perhaps I owe an apology to the religious world. It may be the demon of fraud. At all events, a demon of some description is hovering over this remarkable people, and threatening them with vengeance. Their smoking and desolate homesteads will furnish matter for the future historian, who, with indignation, will record, that in the nineteenth century, in the favored land of Illinois, the ennobling principles of liberty could boast of no better recognition than an empty name. Give ear, ye advocates of liberty in the down-trodden nations of Europe! A voice would address you from the land of promise. Ten thousand men, women, and children in the State of Illinois, can receive no protection from the Genius of Liberty, but in the coming spring are to be driven from their peaceful happy homes, to wend their way through a dreary wilderness, and seek a resting place on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. “Oh! shame! where is thy blush!” Cannot even tottering age, and helpless infancy, arrest the fell purpose?
The present position of the Mormons, with respect to the rest of the world, so nearly resembles that of the Jews when they were leaving Egypt, that it is not unlikely for them to assimilate their movements in a measure to those of the Israelites, and, believing, as they do, that they are influenced by the Holy Ghost, their historians some centuries hence will probably record miracles as having been performed by the Mormons, similar to what are said to have taken place among the Jews, when travelling under the guidance of Moses, to the promised land. Feebleness of body reminds me that Death is shaking his arrow over me, but surely my mind remains unclouded. Am I really living in the enlightened nineteenth century? And if so, am I on the free soil of America, or in barbarous Russia, and a subject of the Emperor Nicholas?
The Mormons are to be driven out of the United States. Why? “Because they believe themselves to be God’s chosen people, and that all other nations must become subject to them.” Indeed! and do not the Jews entertain the same belief with respect to their nation? Are they to be driven out along with the Mormons? The Mormons are to be driven out. Why? “Because they speak in an unknown tongue.” But a few years ago, the disciples of Irving, a celebrated preacher in London, spoke in an unknown tongue; but so far from their being driven out of the country in consequence, the ministrations of Irving were attended by the principal nobility and statesmen of Great Britain. The Mormons are to be driven out. Why? “Not on account of their religious faith, but because they are a community of thieves.” In the English navy the seamen have a very contemptuous idea of the marines, and when a very improbable story is told by any one, they say, “Tell that to the marines,” intimating that they are weak enough to believe any thing.
We are told that a religious community which numbers ten thousand persons is composed of incorrigible rogues. And yet it is well known that they are very industrious, have well cultivated farms, have built a city, and nearly completed a splendid temple. What says the experience of the world with respect to thieves—that they have been usually found among the industrious, or the idle? What are we called upon to believe? That a highly industrious religious sect, numbering ten thousand souls, manifests such a total disregard of all moral principle that its existence cannot be allowed in civilized society? Tell it not in Gath! Oh! no; better tell it to the marines.
I do believe that I am in America, and not in Russia, after all. The film is departing from my mental vision. An idea strikes me. It is this. In this country, under certain circumstances, well understood by the public, bills of exceptions are frequently filed. Aye, now I have it This is a Republic; and a Republic is a government intended for the benefit of all, with the exception of the Mormons to-day, and of some other religious sect to-morrow; and so on, as avarice, or bigotry, or the tyranny of a moneyed aristocracy may dictate, to the end of the chapter.
The republicans of the State of Illinois have determined that the Mormons shall not remain among them. “Oh! consistency, thou art indeed a jewel” For the benefit of persons visiting Illinois, I shall close with a quotation from the Old Testament, not remarkable, perhaps, for elegance of diction, but having a claim to attention for its truthfulness. It is this:—-“It is useless to search for a jewel in a swine’s snout.”
END OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.