not necessary, in the inscrutable purposes of the Lord, that he should write or speak correct English; or that he should not make a few human mistakes in his rendering of the divine word. All such objections they laugh to scorn.

Joseph Smith, who, on all occasions of doubt, silenced the uninformed, and amazed the educated, by the boldness of his own selfsufficiency, and the boundless resources of his impudence, was often asked, both by friends and foes, the meaning of the word " Mormon." The following reply, as published in a letter to the editor of the Times and Seasons is highly characteristic :—

"SIR,-Through the medium of your paper, I wish to correct an error among men that profess to be learned, liberal, and wise; and I do it the more cheerfully, because I hope sober-thinking and sound reasoning people will sooner listen to the voice of truth, than be led astray by the vain pretensions of the self-wise. The error I speak of is the definition of the word 'Mormon.' It has been stated that this word was derived from the Greek word mormo. This is not the case. There was no Greek or Latin upon the plates from which I, through the grace of God, translated the Book of MorLet the language of that book speak for itself. On the 523rd page of the fourth edition, it reads:-'And now behold we have written the record according to our knowledge in the characters, which are called among us the Reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us according to our manner of speech; and if our plates were sufficiently large, we should have written in Hebrew. Behold ye would have had no imperfections in our record, but the Lord knoweth the things which we have written, and also, that none other people knoweth our language; therefore he hath prepared means for the interpretation thereof.

mon.

"Here, then, the subject is put to silence, for none other people knoweth our language;' therefore the Lord, and not man, hath to interpret, after the people were all dead. And, as Paul said, 'the world by wisdom know not God,' and the world by speculation are destitute of revelation; and as God, in his superior wisdom, has always given his saints, wherever he had any on the earth, the same spirit, and that spirit (as John says) is the true spirit of prophecy, which is the testimony of Jesus, I may safely say that the word Mormon stands independent of the learning and wisdom of this generation. Before I give a definition, however, to the word, let me say that the Bible, in its widest sense, means good; for the Saviour says, according to the Gospel of St. John, I am the good shepherd;' and it will not be beyond the common use of terms to say, that good is amongst the most important in use, and though known by various names in different languages, still its meaning is the same, and is ever in opposition to bad. We say from the Saxon, good; the Dane, god; the Goth, goda; the German, gut; the Dutch, goed; the Latin, bonus; the Greek, kalos; the Hebrew, tob; and the Egyptian, mon. Hence, with the addition of more, or the contraction mor, we have the word Mormon, which means, literally, more good. Yours JOSEPH SMITH."

CHAPTER II.

THE BOOK OF DOCTRINES AND COVENANTS; OR, THE "REVELATIONS" OF JOSEPH SMITHMORMON HYMNS AND POEMS-MATERIALISM-THE AARONIC AND MELCHIZIDEK PRIESTHOOD-CONFESSION OF FAITH-MORMON CLAIMS TO WORK MIRACLES AND TO CAST OUT DEVILS-SCENES IN LEAMINGTON AND WALES.

In addition to the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith originated and partly composed a book of Doctrines and Covenants, purporting to be direct revelations from heaven upon the temporal government of their church, the support of the poor, the tithing or taxation of the members, the establishment of cities and temples, the allotment of lands, the emigration of the "saints," the education of the people, the gathering of moneys, and other matters. This book abounds in grammatical inaccuracies, even to a greater extent than the Book of Mormon :-"God, that knowest thy thoughts"-" a literal descendant of Aaron"-"an hair of his head shall not fall"- -"your Father who art in heaven knoweth"-" and the spirit and the body is the soul of man"-" the stars also giveth their light as they roll upon their wings in glory"- 'her who sitteth upon many waters"-"thou shalt not covet thine own property, but impart it freely to the printing of the Book of Mormon"-form but a sample of hundreds of similar phrases that might be culled, were it worth while. A few specimens of

the kind of "Revelations," and of the style in which Joseph Smith represented the Almighty as speaking to him in his early revelations, will show what men will assert and believe under the influence of fanaticism. The following is part of a revelation purporting to have been given by Jesus Christ, in February, 1831. In these revelations God the Father and God the Son are invariably represented as giving Joseph his proper designation of Smith, junior, that he might not be mistaken for his father, Joseph Smith, senior :

"Hearken, oh ye elders of my church, who have assembled yourselves together in my name, even Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, the Saviour of the world. Behold, verily I say unto you, I give unto you this first commandment, that you shall go forth in my name, every one of you, except my servants, Joseph Smith, jun., and Sidney Rigdon. If there shall be properties in the hands of the church, or any individuals of it, more than is necessary for their support, it shall be kept to administer to those who have not."

The following is part of a revelation given to Joseph Smith in March, 1829, when Martin Harris desired to see the golden plates, and before he was deluded with the paper transcript, which he showed to Professor Anthon. It will be seen that Joseph was not at a loss to parry the inconvenient curiosity of his then doubting, but afterwards faithful, disciple:

"Behold, I say unto you, that as my servant Martin Harris has desired a witness at my hand, that you my servant, Joseph Smith, jun., have got the plates of which you have testified and borne record that you have received of me; and now, behold, this shall you say unto him-' He who spake unto you said unto you, I the Lord am God, and have given those things unto you, my servant, Joseph Smith, jun., and have commanded you that you should stand as a witness of these things; and I have caused you that you should enter into a covenant with me that you should not show them except to those persons that I commanded you; and you have no power over them except I grant it you. And now, again I speak unto you my servant Joseph, concerning the man that denies the witness. Behold, I say unto him, he exalts himself, and does not sufficiently humble himself before me. But if he will bow down before me, and humble himself in mighty prayer and faith, in the sincerity of his heart, then will I grant unto him a view of the things which he desires to see."

Poor Martin Harris never got the promised glimpse of the plates. He did not behave himself properly; and Joseph found an opportunity to reprimand and quarrel with him. But, in fact, Joseph and his principal assistant, Sidney Rigdon, appear to have quarrelled with all the "witnesses." The first witness to the truth of this Book of Mormon was declared by Smith himself, in a revelation given in November, 1831, to be unfit to be trusted with "moneys:"

"Hearken unto me, saith the Lord your God, for my servant Oliver Cowdery's sake. It is not wisdom in me that he should be entrusted with the commandments, and the moneys which he shall carry into the land of Zion, except one go with him who shall be true and faithful."

In a paper drawn up by Sidney Rigdon in June, 1838, when the great schism took place in the church, which led to the secession of Dr. Hurlbut, and the exposure made by Mrs. Davison, it is stated that Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and another, were united with a gang of "counterfeiters, thieves, liars, and blacklegs of the deepest dye, to deceive, cheat, and defraud the saints." Martin Harris, the last of the three, is spoken of, at the time of the schism, by Joseph himself, in the following terms, in a paper called the Elder's Journal::-"There are negroes who wear white skins, as well as black ones. Grames Parish and others who acted as lackies, such as Martin Harris, &c., but they are so far beneath contempt that a notice of them would be too great a sacrifice for a gentleman to make.”

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While, by means of "revelations," those who were not longer to be trusted were pointed out to the notice and condemnation of true believers, Joseph Smith took care to have special "revelations" upon matters relating to his own comfort. "It is meet," says a reve lation" of the Lord in February, 1831, that my servant Joseph Smith, jun., should have a house built, in which to live and translate." A second "revelation" of the same month says: "If ye desire the mysteries of my kingdom, provide for him (Joseph Smith, jun.) food and raiment, and whatsoever thing he needeth." Nor was Joseph, according to the "Revelations," to labour for his living. "In temporal labours," says another "revelation" of July, 1830, "thou shalt not have strength; for that is not thy calling. Attend to thy calling, and thou shalt have wherewith to magnify thine office, and to expound all scriptures."

In a revelation given to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, in December, 1830, when the scheme was yet in its first infancy, the Lord is represented as saying:

“Behold, verily, verily, I say unto my servant Sidney, I have looked upon thee and thy works. I have heard thy prayers, and prepared thee for a great work. Thou art blessed, for thou shalt do great things. Behold thou wast sent forth, even as John, to prepare the way before me, and before Elijah, which should come, and thou knew it not. Thou didst baptize by water unto repentance, but thou receivedst not the Holy Ghost; but now I give unto thee a commandment, that thou shalt baptize by water, and they shall receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, even as the apostles of old.

"And it shall come to pass, that there shall be a great work in the land, even among the Gentiles: for their folly and their abominations shall be made manifest in the eyes of all people; for I am God, and mine arm is not shortened, and I will show miracles, signs, and wonders, unto all those who believe in my name. And whoso shall ask in my name, in faith, they shall cast out devils, they shall heal the sick, they shall cause the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak, and the lame to walk; and the time speedily cometh, that great things are to be shown forth unto the children of men; but without faith shall not anything be shown forth, except desolations upon Babylon-the same which has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And there are none that doeth good, except those who are ready to receive the fulness of my Gospel, which I have sent forth to this generation.

"Wherefore, I have called upon the weak things of the world-those who are unlearned and despised, to thresh the nations by the power of my Spirit: and their arm shall be my arm, and I will be their shield and their buckler, and I will gird up their loins, and they shall fight manfully for me, and their enemies shall be under their feet; and I will let fall the sword in their behalf, and by the fire of mine indignation will I preserve them. And the poor and the meek shall have the Gospel preached unto them, and they shall be looking forth for the time of my coming, for it is nigh at hand: and they shall learn the parable of the fig-tree: for even now already summer is nigh, and I have sent forth the fulness of the Gospel by the hand of my servant Joseph and in weakness have I blessed him, and I have given unto him the keys of the mystery of those things which have been scaled, even things which were from the foundation of the world, and the things which shall come from this time until the time of my coming, if he abide in me; and if not, another will I plant in his stead.

:

"Wherefore, watch over him, that his faith fail not; and it shall be given by the Comforter the Holy Ghost, that knoweth all things: and a commandment I give unto thee, that thou shalt write for him: and the Scriptures shall be given, even as they are in mine own bosom, to the salvation of mine own elect; for they will hear my voice, and shall see me, and shall not be asleep, and shall abide the day of my coming, for they shall be purified, even as I am pure. And now I say unto thee, tarry with him, and he shall journey with you;—forsake him not, and surely these things shall be fulfilled. And inasmuch as ye do not write, behold it shall be given unto him to prophesy: and thou shalt preach my Gospel, and call upon the holy prophets to prove his words, as they shall be given him. Keep all the commandments and covenants by which ye are bound, and I will cause the heavens to shake for your good: and Satan shall tremble, and Zion shall rejoice upon the hills and flourish; and Israel shall be saved in mine own due time. And by the keys which I have given, shall they be led, and no more be confounded at all. Lift up your heads and be glad your redemption draweth nigh. Fear not, little flock-the kingdom is yours until I come. Behold, I come quickly : even so. Amen."