Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

"My object in going to inquire of the Lord, was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong), and which I should join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong, and the personage who addressed me said, that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt, they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; they teach for doctrine the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.' He again forbade me to join with any of them: and many other things did he say unto me which I cannot write at this time. When I came to myself again, I found myself laying on my back, looking up into heaven. Some few days after I had this vision, I happened to be in company with one of the Methodist preachers who was very active in the before-mentioned religious excitement, and conversing with him on the subject of religion, I took occasion to give him an account of the vision which I had had. I was greatly surprised at his behaviour; he treated my communication not only lightly, but with great contempt, saying it was all of the devil, that there were no such things as visions or revelations in these days; that all such things had ceased with the apostles, and that there never would be any more of them. I soon found, however, that my telling the story had excited a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the cause of great persecution, which continued to increase; and though I was an obscure boy, only between fourteen and fifteen years of age, and my circumstances in life such as to make a boy of no consequence in the world, yet men of high standing would take notice sufficient to excite the public mind against me, and create a hot persecution, and this was common among all the sects: all united to persecute me. It has often caused me serious reflection, both then and since, how very strange it was that an obscure boy of a little over fourteen years of age, and one, too, who was doomed to the necessity of obtaining a scanty maintenance by his daily labour, should be thought a character of sufficient importance to attract the attention of the great ones of the most popular sects of the day, so as to create in them a spirit of the hottest persecution and reviling. But strange or not, so it was, and was often cause of great sorrow to myself. However, it was nevertheless a fact that I had had a vision. I have thought since that I felt much like Paul when he made his defence before king Agrippa, and related the account of the vision he had when he 'saw a light and

6

heard a voice,' but still there were but few who believed him; some said he was dishonest, others said he was mad, and he was ridiculed and reviled; but all this did not destroy the reality of his vision. He had seen a vision, he knew he had, and all the persecution under heaven could not make it otherwise; and though they should persecute him unto death, yet he knew, and would know unto his latest breath, that he had both seen a light and heard a voice speaking to him, and all the world could not make him believe otherwise -So it was with me; I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two personages, and they did in reality speak unto me, or one of them did; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart, why persecute for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision, and 'who am I that I can withstand God?' or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? for I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dare I do it; at least, I knew that by so doing I would offend God and come under condemnation. I had now got my mind satisfied, so far as the sectarian world was concerned, that it was not my duty to join with any of them, but continue as I was until further directed." *

Without stopping to inquire whether Joseph were a knave or a lunatic-a cool, calculating impostor—or a weak minded enthusiast, who, in the visions of a distempered brain, fancied and believed that he saw things which he has thus reported, we proceed to the next incident. Having seen God the Father and God the Son, he was in a short time afterwards, as he tells the world, favoured with a visit and a communication from John the Baptist! The circumstance is thus recorded by himself in the Millennial Star, vol. iii. page 148:—

"While we (Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery) were thus employed (in the work of translation), praying and calling upon the Lord, a messenger from heaven descended in a cloud of light, and having laid his hands upon us, he ordained us, saying unto us, Upon you, my fellow-servants, in the name of the Messiah, I confer the priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering ́of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.' He said this Aaronic priest hood had not the power of laying on of hands for the gift of

History of Joseph Smith, Millennial Star, vol. iii., No. 2, p. 21.

the Holy Ghost, but that this should be conferred on us hereafter; and he commanded us to go and be baptized, and gave us directions that I should baptize Oliver Cowdery, and afterwards that he should baptize me. Accordingly, we went and were baptized. I baptized him first, and afterwards he baptized me. After which I laid my hands upon his head, and ordained him to the Aaronic priesthood; afterwards he laid his hands on me, and ordained me to the same priesthood, for so we were commanded. The messenger who visited us on this occasion, and conferred this priesthood upon us, said that his name was John, the same that is called John the Baptist in the New Testament, and that he acted under the direction of Peter, James, and John, who held the keys of the priesthood of Melchizedek, which priesthood, he said, should in due time be conferred on us, and that I should be called the first elder, and he the second. It was on the 15th day of May, 1829, that we were baptized and ordained under the hand of the messenger."

The scheme was now ripe for a fuller development; but as we have hitherto had the story as in the words of Joseph himself, and of his ardent disciples, Mr. Orson Pratt and the "witnesses," it is necessary to go back a little, and narrate a few circumstances relative to one of the most important of these witnesses, and to the manner in which he was originally induced to become a believer in the "prophet" and his book. It will also be necessary to inquire whether the statements of Mr. Pratt, with reference to Professor Anthon, were admitted by that gentleman.

Joseph Smith having made known his doctrine to various persons, the wonderful plates began to be talked about. Among the persons who were originally most disposed to join the new sect was the Mr. Martin Harris whose name appears along with those of other witnesses in the above testimony. This Martin Harris was a farmer, who appears to have been possessed of more money than wit, and of more credulity than judgment. His religious opinions were unsettled, as he was at one time a member of the Society of friends, afterwards a Wesleyan, then a Baptist, and, at the time when Joseph Smith made his acquaintance, a Presbyterian. He was at once captivated by the doctrines and pretensions of Joseph, and lent the 'prophet' the sum of fifty dollars to enable him to publish his new Bible. Joseph, though asked by Martin Harris to show the plates, refused, on the pretence that he was not pure of heart enough to be allowed a sight of such treasures; but he generously made a transcript of a portion of them upon paper, which he told him to submit to any learned scholar in the world, if he wished to be satisfied. Martin Harris was an earnest man, and he set out from Palmyra to New

York, to visit Professor Anthon, a gentleman of the highest reputation, both in America and Europe, and well known for his valuable and correct editions of the classics. He found the Professor, and submitted the plates to him. The Mormons at this time were too insignificant to excite attention, and the result of Martin Harris's interview with the learned man was not known until three or four years afterwards, when a report having been spread abroad by the Mormons that the Professor had seen the plates, and pronounced the inscriptions to be in the Egyptian character, that gentleman was requested by a letter, directed to him by Mr. E. D. Howe, of Painesville, Ohio, to declare whether such was the fact? Professor Anthon returned the following answer, detailing his interview with the simple-minded Mr. Harris:—

"New York, Feb. 17, 1834.

"DEAR SIR.-I received your letter of the 9th, and lose no time in making a reply. The whole story about my pronouncing the Mormonite inscription to be 'Reformed Egyptian Hieroglyphics,' is perfectly false. Some years ago a plain, apparently simple-hearted, farmer called on me with a note from Dr. Mitchell, of our city, now dead, requesting me to decypher, if possible, a paper which the farmer would hand me. Upon examining the paper in question, I soon came to the conclusion that it was all a trick, perhaps a hoax. When I asked the person who brought it how he obtained the writing, he gave me the following account:-A 'gold book,' consisting of a number of plates fastened together by wires of the same material, had been dug up in the northern part of the State of New York, and along with it an enormous pair of 'spectacles!' These spectacles were so large, that if any person attempted to look through them, his two eyes would look through one glass only; the spectacles in question being altogether too large for the human face. "Whoever,' he said, 'examined the plates through the glasses was enabled not only to read them, but fully to understand their meaning. All this knowledge, however, was confined to a young man, who had the trunk containing the book and spectacles in his sole possession. This young man was placed behind a curtain, in a garret, in a farm-house, and being thus concealed from view, he put on the spectacles occasionally, or rather, looked through one of the glasses, deciphered the characters in the book, and having committed some of them to paper, handed copies from behind the curtain to those who stood outside. Not a word was said about their having been decyphered by the 'gift of God.' Everything in this way was effected by the large pair of spectacles. The farmer added, that he had been requested to contribute a sum of money towards the publication of the 'golden book,' the contents of which would, as he was told, produce an entire change in the world, and save it from ruin. So urgent had been these solicitations, that he intended selling his farm, and giving the amount to those who wished to publish the plates. As a last precautionary step, he had resolved to come to New York, and obtain the opinion of the learned about the meaning of the paper which he had brought with

him, and which had been given him as part of the contents of the book, although no translation had at that time been made by the young man with the spectacles. On hearing this odd story, I changed my opinion about the paper, and instead of viewing it any longer as a hoax, I began to regard it as part of a scheme to cheat the farmer of his money, and I communicated my suspicions to him, warning him to beware of rogues. He requested an opinion from me in writing, which of course I declined to give, and he then took his leave, taking his paper with him.

"This paper, in question, was in fact a singular scroll. It consisted of all kinds of crooked characters, disposed in columns, and had evidently been prepared by some person who had before him at the time a book containing various alphabets, Greek and Hebrew letters, crosses, and flourishes; Roman letters inverted or placed sideways, were arranged and placed in perpendicular columns; and the whole ended in a rude delineation of a circle, divided into various compartments, decked with various strange marks, and evidently copied after the Mexican Calendar, given by Humboldt, but copied in such a way as not to betray the source whence it was derived. I am thus particular as to the contents of the paper, inasmmch as I have frequently conversed with my friends on the subject since the Mormon excitement began, and well remember that the paper contained anything else but Egyptian Hieroglyphics.'

[ocr errors]

"Some time after the same farmer paid me a second visit. He brought with him the 'gold book' in print, and offered it to me for sale. I declined purchasing. He then asked permission to leave the book with me for examination. I declined receiving it, although his manner was strangely urgent. I adverted once more to the roguery which, in my opinion, had been practised upon him, and asked him what had become of the gold plates. He informed me that they were in a trunk with the spectacles. I advised him to go to a magistrate and have the trunk examined. He said, 'The curse of God' would come upon him if he did. On my pressing him, however, to go to a magistrate, he told me he would open the trunk if I would take the 'curse of God' upon myself. I replied I would do so with the greatest willingness, and would incur every risk of that nature, provided I could only extricate him from the grasp of rogues; he then left me. I have given you a full state.. ment of all that I know respecting the origin of Mormonism, and must beg you, as a personal favour, to publish this letter immediately, should you find my name mentioned again by these wretched fanatics.

"Yours respectfully,

"CHARLES ANTHON."

This letter speaks for itself, and needs no comment. The following summary of the contents of the Book of Mormon, thus strangely issued into the world, is from a publication called the Voice of Warning, by Parley P, Pratt, another apostle :

"The Book of Mormon contains the history of the ancient inhabitants of America, who were a branch of the house of Israel, of the tribe of Joseph; of whom the Indians are still a remnant; but the principal nation of them

« PreviousContinue »