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"A revelation of Jesus Christ unto his servant Joseph Smith, jun., and six elders, as they united their hearts and lifted their voices on high; yea, the word of the Lord concerning his Church, established in the last days for the restoration of his people, as He has spoken by the mouth of his prophets, and for the gathering of his saints to stand upon mount Zion, which shall be the city New Jerusalem, which city shall be built, beginning at the temple lot, which is appointed by the finger of the Lord, in the western boundaries of the State of Missouri, and dedicated by the hand of Joseph Smith, jun., and others with whom the Lord was well pleased.

"Verily this is the word of the Lord, that the city New Jerusalem shall be built by the gathering of the saints beginning at this place, even the place of the temple, which temple shall be reared in this generation; for verily, this generation shall not all pass away until an house shall be built unto the Lord, and a cloud shall rest upon it, which cloud shall be even the glory of the Lord, which shall fill the house."-Covenants and Commandments, Sect. iv. § 1, 2.

the elders, or high priests, such as he shall or has appointed and set apart for that purpose.

"And it shall come to pass, that after they are laid before the bishop of my church, and after that he has received these testimonies concerning the consecration of the properties of my church, that they cannot be taken from the church agreeably to my commandments; every man shall be made accountable unto me, a steward over his own property, or that which he has received by consecration, inasmuch as is sufficient for himself and family.

"And again, if there shall be properties in the hands of the church, or any individuals of it, more than is necessary for their snpport, after this first consecration, which is a residue to be consecrated unto the bishop, it shall be kept to administer to those who have not, from time to time, that every man who has need may be amply supplied, and receive according to his wants. Therefore, the residue shall be kept in my store-house, to administer to the poor and the needy, as shall be appointed by the high council of the church, and the bishop and his council, and for the purpose of purchasing lands for the public benefit of the church, and building houses of worship, and building up of the New Jerusalem which is hereafter to be revealed, that day when I shall come to my temple. And that my covenant people may be gathered in one this I do for the salvation of my people.

And in the month of December, 1833, a commandment went forth for a general gath-in ering in all the churches in every part of the world, in order to collect funds for "the redemption of Zion."*

How far the investments in Missouri may have helped to embarrass the finances of the "Church" at Kirtland, it is impossible to say. The probability, however, is, that they had no small share in the catastrophe which eventually accelerated the transfer of the centre of Mormonism to the spot prophetically pointed out as the place in which the New Jerusalem should be erected. And certain it is that the most stringent measures were taken to levy contributions upon the members of the Church, by a system of enforced donations, which had much more the character of confiscation than of taxation. The principle of complete surrender of private property was laid down broadly, soon after the removal to Kirtland, in the first instance under the guise of securing support for the poor, but in reality for enriching the Church, and placing all the property of the members at the disposal of the leaders.

"If thou lovest me, thou shalt serve me and keep all my commandments. And behold, thou wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support that which thou hast to impart unto them with a covenant and a deed which cannot be broken; and inasmuch as ye impart of your substance unto the poor, ye will do it unto me, and they shall be laid before the bishop of my church and his counsellors, two of

*Covenants and Commandments, Sect. xcv. §§

9, 10.

"And it shall come to pass, that he that sinneth and repenteth not, shall be cast out of the church, and shall not receive again that which he has consecrated unto the poor and needy of my church; or in other words unto me; for inasmuch as ye do it unto the least of these, ye do it unto me; for it shall come to pass, that which I spake for I will consecrate of the riches of those who by the mouths of my prophets, shall be fulfilled; embrace my gospel among the Gentiles, unto the poor of my people who are of the house of Israel.

xiii. 8-11.

Covenants and Commandments, Sect.

However unpalatable this system might prove, and undoubtedly did prove, to many of the members, and especially the new comers, it was constantly enforced by "revelations," and carried out with greater rigor than ever, after the removal from Kirtland, as appears from a "revelation" given at Far West, Missouri, July 8, 1838, in answer to the question, "O Lord, show unto thy servants how much thou requirest of the properties of thy people for a tithing." The

answer is as follows:

"Verily, thus saith the Lord, I require all their surplus property to put into the hands of the bishop of my church in Zion, for the building of mine house, and for the laying the foundation of Zion and for the priesthood, and for the debts of the presidency of my church; and this shall be the beginning of the tithing of my people; and after that, those who have thus been tithed, shall pay one-tenth of all their interest annually, and

this shall be a standing law unto them forever, for my holy priesthood, saith the Lord.

"Verily I say unto you, it shall come to pass, that all those who gather unto the land of Zion shall be tithed of their surplus properties, and shall observe this law, or they shall not be found worthy to abide among you. And I say unto you, if my people observe not this law, to keep it holy, and by this law sanctify the land of Zion unto me, that my statutes and my judgments may be kept thereon, that it may be most holy; behold, verily I say unto you, it shall not be a land of Zion unto you; and this shall be an ensample unto all the stakes of Zion. Even so. Amen." Covenants and Commandments, Sect. cvii.

and authorities, even what shall befall them in a time to come. For, behold, I am about to call upon them to give heed to the light and glory of Zion, for the set time has come to favor her."Covenants and Commandments, Sect. ciii. § 1.

At Nauvoo the wickedness of the Mormon

system reached its climax. Flushed by his success, after the most fearful reverses, the prophet now overleapt all the bonds of selfrestraint, and in more than one sense carried himself as the Mahomet of the West. A full, and to all appearance authentic, account of the state of affairs at Nauvoo,* and of the private as well as public conduct of Joseph Smith, at this period, is given by one whose testimony it is hardly possible for a follower of the prophet to repudiate, considering the reception which was given him, the estimation in which he was for a long time held by the prophet, and the position which he occupied at Nauvoo, where he continued to live as a Mormonite, for the space of eighteen months, holding, during the greater part of that time, a high station in the sect, which gave him admission to all its mysteries, and a knowledge of all its secrets ;-we allude to General J. A. Bennet, whose " Exposé of Joe Smith and of Mormonism" is quoted (No. 3) at the head of this article. According to J. A. Bennet's own account, he never was a believer in Mormonism, but having reasons to suspect the Mormon leader of "a daring and colossal scheme of rebellion and usurpation throughout the Northwestern States," having in fact documents to show a scheme for conquering Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri, and creating a despotic military and religious empire, with Joe Smith at the head, he determined to spy out the land, and for this purpose feigned himself a convert to Mormonism. However questionable the morality of this proceeding may be,t certain it is that the "I say unto you, that you are now called imme-inspiration of Joseph did not serve him to diately to make a solemn proclamation of my gos- discern the traitor in the camp. So far from pel, and of this stake which I have planted to be a corner-stone of Zion, which shall be polished discovering Bennet's real intentions, Joseph

The settlement of Zion, however, notwithstanding the most confident predictions, and the most positive and explicit "revelations," proved an utter failure. One short year was sufficient to provoke the Missourians to a war of extermination against the sect, which ended in its expulsion from the State,* and its removal to the State of Illinois, where, on the banks of the Mississippi, the foundations of the famous city of Nauvoo were laid in 1839. To avoid the confession of failure, the prophet boldly asserted, that notwithstanding all that had passed, Independence in Jack son County, Missouri, was the place where Zion should be built; but in the mean time, Nauvoo, "the beautiful city," was to be their principal "stake," until "the time of the Gentiles should be fulfilled." No one could suspect the straits to which the sect had been reduced, the sufferings which its members had undergone, or the damage which the character of the prophet had sustained, from the tone of gratulation and of triumph, and of arrogated supremacy over all the nations and kingdoms of the earth, which pervades the "revelation" given at Nauvoo in January, 1841 :—

with that refinement which is after the similitude of a palace. This proclamation shall be made to all the kings of the world-to the four corners thereof to the honorable president elect, and the high-minded governors of the nation in which you live, and to all the nations of the earth scattered abroad. Let it be written in the spirit of meekness, and by the power of the Holy Ghost which shall be in you at the time of the writing of the same; for it shall be given you by the Holy Ghost to know my will concerning those kings

*For an account of the wars between the Missourians and the Mormonites, see Caswall, The Prophet of the Nineteenth Century, ch. ix. x.

* See also Caswall's City of the Mormons; or, Three Days at Nauvoo in 1842.

Bennet himself offers a kind of apology for it. "Persons unacquainted," he says, "with the subject, can scarcely imagine the baseness and turpitude of Mormon principles, or the horrid practices to which these principles gave rise. When they learn how habitually the Mormons sacrifice to their brutal propensities the virtue and happiness of young and who refuse to join them, and how they murder those innocent females; how they cruelly persecute those who attempt to expose them; they will look with indulgence upon almost any means employed to thwart their villanous designs, and detect and disclose their infamy."

distinguished him by "revelation" as a valuable accession to the staff of the Church.

"Let my servant James A. Bennet, help you in your labor in sending my word to the kings of the people of the earth, and stand by you, even you my servant Joseph Smith, in the hour of affliction, and his reward shall not fail if he receive counsel; and for his love he shall be great, for he shall be mine if he do this, saith the Lord. I have seen the work which he hath done, which I accept, if he continue, and will crown him with blessings and great glory."-Covenants and Commandments, Sect. ciii. § 6.

Such a

"revelation" in the standard book of the sect, the record of the prophet's "inspired" utterance, bestowed upon a man who himself openly declares that he never was anything but a spy and a traitor among the "saints," is the most conclusive evidence, if any were needed, that Joseph Smith has no pretensions whatever to be accounted a prophet. The mistake which he made in pronouncing Mr. Caswall's manuscript of the Greek Testament a dictionary of Egyptian hieroglyphics, is a mere trifle compared with the moral mistake of his reposing, and that professedly while under the influence of inspiration, the greatest confidence in an individual who was in fact at that very moment planning his destruction. Nor was this want of discernment confined to the one instance of the "revelation" quoted above; Bennet had not been much more than six months in Nauvoo, where Smith was then omnipotent, before he combined in his person the offices of Mayor of the City, Major-General of the Nauvoo Legion, and First President of the Church of the Latter Day Saints; and it is worthy of remark, that when he determined to leave Nauvoo, he withdrew with the full knowledge and consent of Joseph, and received a vote of thanks from the City Council. All these circumstances, as well as his standing in society, which is attested by a number of testimonials of the first respectability, impart a degree of credibility, and an air of authenticity, to the report of General Bennet, to which few of the other opponents of Mormonism can lay claim.

Having, then, made our readers acquainted with the history and character of our witness, we now proceed briefly to sum up the most important points of his evidence. According to General Bennet's statement, the whole community at Nauvoo was nothing more than a huge organization for the gratification of the rapacity, the lust, and lawless

* Caswall's History of the Mormons, pp. 35-37. VOL. XXI. NO. III.

| ambition of Joseph Smith and his associates. While these were accommodated with comfortable quarters at the public expense, and lived in ease and comparative luxury, their deluded followers were exposed to every species of privation. This Bennet states, both upon his own authority, and upon that of others whose evidence he quotes; and, in illustration of the spirit in which the prophet acted, he adduces the following anecdote:

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"At the very time that the elders of this Church, and indeed the poorer class were suffering from the want of the common necessaries of life, Smith demanded at the hands of the people 1200 dollars per year, in order to aggrandize himself and enable him to live in luxury. And when some complained that this would be a violation of the rules of the Church, he remarked that if he could not obtain his demand, his people might go to h-, and he would go to the Rocky Mountains."—Bennet's History of the Saints, p. 60.

While the general multitude of believers in Mormonism were thus left to toil and to starve, being deprived of their property by "revelations," under the plea of its being devoted to the service of the Most High, there was an extensive organization, under the name of the Order Lodge, to which those who were thought worthy of it were initiated, by the most ridiculous, profane, and indecent mysteries*. Among the ceremonies which took place at these secret rites, was a blasphemous personation of the Holy Trinity, in which, in General Bennet's time, God the Father was represented by Joseph, God the Son by his brother Hyrum Smith, and God the Holy Ghost by one George Miller. One of the most horrible features of this secret organization was the spiritual seraglio, formed for the gratification of the profligate propensities of the prophet, and of the other leaders of that sect. We cannot pullute our pages with any of the details given by General Bennet; suffice it to say, that a regular course of initiation took place, of both married and unmarried females, through three degrees, or orders, that of the "Cyprian Saints," or the "Saints of the White Veil,"-that of the "Cham

*The account given by Bennet of this Order Lodge is confirmed by a curious Tract, republished by Arthur Hall (London), entitled, "Sketch of the John Thomas, M.D., Author of " Elpin Israel," VirRise, Progress, and Dispersion of the Mormons. By ginia, U. S. of America; to which is added, An Account of the Nauvoo Temple Mysteries, and other Abominations, practised by the Mormons previous to their Emigration for California. By Increase M'Gee Van Dusen, formerly one of the Initiated."

27

or

"The standard of morality and Christian excel

bered Sisters of Charity," or "Saints of the Green Veil," and, lastly, that of "Clois-lence with them is quite unstable. Joe Smith has tered Saints," "Consecratees of the Closter," "Saints of the Black Veil;" the adepts of the last and highest degree in this ascending scale of corruption being exempted from any restraint, and living in the indulgence of the grossest debauchery wth the leaders of the sect, and especially with the prophet himself, who in this select circle assumed the familiar soubriquet of the "Old White Hat."

Another and most frightful part of this secret organization was the body of desperadoes, incorporated originally at Zion, in Missouri, under the mysterious name of the Daughter of Zion," otherwise called "the Danites; men who were solemnly bound under a fearful oath, and under the penalty of instant and certain death, to execute the decrees of the leaders, and especially of the prophet himself, whatever they might be robbery, perjury, murder, or whatever other crime it was desirable to commit, in furtherance of the interests of the ruling body, these Danites" were ready to execute. At the time of General Bennet's sojourn at Nauvoo, their number was 1200, and out of them the twelve most desperate characters were selected, and distinguished by the appellation, the" destroying angels," or, less obviously to the uninitiated, the "flying angels." Most daring assassinations, at great distances, as well as at the Mormon city itself, were planned and carried into effect; among them that of Governor Boggs of Missouri, whose violent death Smith had the audacity to predict.

Bennet himself was in no small danger from these emissaries of death, after his separation from the sect; but being thoroughly aware of the system, he was on his guard and managed to escape:

"Nine hundred and ninety-nine thousandths of all the faithful," says General Bennet" of the Mormon Church, regard Joe Smith as God's vicegerent on earth, and obey him accordingly; and all the Danites of that Church (and, by-the-by, they compose no very inconsiderable proportion of their mighty hosts), are sworn to receive him as the supreme lord of the Church, and to obey him as the supreme God. If therefore, any state officer, in the administration of public justice, happens to give offence to his Holiness the Prophet, it becomes the will of God, as spoken by the mouth of his prophet, that that functionary should DIE; and his followers, the faithful saints, immediately set about the work of assassination, in obedience, as they suppose, to their Divine master; and for which NOBLE DEED they expect to receive an excellent and superior glory in the cejestial kingdom . . . . .'

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but to give the word, and it becomes the LAW which they delight to obey-BECAUSE IT COMES FROM GOD!!! Acts, therefore, which but yesterday were considered the most immoral, wicked, and devilish-to-day are the most moral, righteous, and God-like; because God, who makes right, has so declared it by the mouth of his anointed prophet.”—Bennet's History of the Saints, pp. 148, 149.

Although, after all that has been stated respecting the character and carreer of the founder of Mormonism, it is impossible that he should be regarded in any other light than that of a daring impostor, yet the following anecdotes are not without interest, as showing the tone of his mind.

"One day, Joe, the prophet, was gravely dictating to George Robinson a revelation which he had just received from the Lord. Robinson, according to custom, wrote down the very words the Lord spake to Joe, and in the exact order in which the latter heard them. He had written for some considerable time, when Smith's inspiration began to flag; and to gain breath, he requested Robinson to read over what he had written. He did so, until he came to a particular passage, when Smith interrupted him, and desired to have that read again. Robinson complied; and Smith, shaking his head, knitting his brows, and looking very much perplexed, said-That will never do! you must alter that, George.' Robinson, though not a little surprised at the Lord's blunder,' did as he was directed, and changed the offensive passage into one more fit for the inspection of the Gentiles."-Bennet's History of the Saints, p.

176.

Upon another occasion:

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"As General Bennet and Smith were walking together on the banks of the Mississippi, Smith suddenly said to him, in a peculiarly inquiring manner General, Harris says that you have no faith, and that you do not believe that we shall ever obtain our inheritances in Jackson County, Missouri.' Though somewhat perplexed by the prophet's remark, and still more by his manner, Bennet coldly replied: What does Harris know about my belief, or the real state of my mind? I like to tease him now and then about it, as he is so firm in the faith, and takes it all in such good part.' Well,' said Joe, laughing heartily, 'I guess you have got about as much faith as I have. Ha ha! ha!' I should judge about as much,' was Bennet's reply."-Bennet's History of the Saints, p. 176.

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It is no wonder that a community governed upon a system of such daring iniquity should have been torn by internal dissensions, and regarded with suspicion and hostility by

all around. Many of those whom the prophet associated with himself in the government of Nauvoo, separated from him; among them some of his early accomplices, and even Sidney Rigdon himself, the partner of his fraud from the beginning-the feelings of the father overcoming every other consideration, on his making the discovery that Smith had attempted to add his daughter to the number of his "spiritual wives." The depredations of the Mormonites, and their lawless conduct, soon rendered them as obnoxious in Illinois as they had been in Missouri, and after another Mormon war, in the course of which Joseph himself, with his brother Hyrum, lost his life, being shot by an armed mob, in Carthage gaol, the remnant of the Nauvooans migrated still further west, and effected a settlement in California, where they cut a conspicuous figure, in that entertaining and instructive work, recently published; Life in the Far West, by G. F. Ruxton.

given to the "Latter Day Saints" by the vilest religious impostor which the world has seen since the days of Mahomet. At this present moment we have reason to believe that the number of Mormonites in England is not much under 30,000. In London and the suburbs alone they have near upon twenty different meeting-houses, though all of very moderate dimensions. With fanatical expectations of worldly prosperity and temporal glory, the professors of Mormonism combine the most bitter hostility against every existing religious system, and especially against the true Catholic and Apostolic Church, whose commission they deny, and whose ordinances they revile in the grossest

and most offensive terms. Their creed is a tissue of ignorance and profaneness, founded upon the most palpable perversions of Holy Scripture, and characterized by the most carnal conceptions of things spiritual. We had intended to have given an outline of the doctrines of the sect as they are set forth at the present time by the preachers of Mormon

But what is truly surprising, is that, notwithstanding all the reverses which the lead-ism in Europe and in America; but we have ers of the sect suffered, their dissensions among one another, and the exposure of the fraud and imposture of the prophet himself, thousands should still be found who regard Joseph in the light of a martyr; who receive the "Book of Mormon" and the "Doctrine and Covenants" as inspired writings; and who look for the fulfillment of the promises

already so far exceeded our limits, that we must adjourn this part of our proposed labors to a future opportunity, if, indeed we shall ever be able to afford leisure and space to revert to a subject which would be altogether unworthy of serious attention, but for the extensive spread among our benighted populations of so fearful a spiritual pestilence.

THE AUTHOR OF "THE AMBER WITCH."

ation, and not as almost all the German critThe Pomeranian pastor, Meinhold, whose sin-ics believed it to be when it first appeared, gular romance, the Amber Witch, is well known in England through more than one translation, has just been condemned to three months' imprisonment, and a fine of one hundred thalers, besides costs, for slander against another clergyman, named Stosch, in a communication published in the New Prussian Zeitung. The sentence was rendered more severe than usual in such cases by the fact that Meinhold had previously been condemned for the same offence against another party. The Amber Witch is one of the "curiosities of literature," for in the last German editition the author is obliged to prove that it is entirely a work of imaginings in the world."

the reprint of an old chronicle. "It was, in fact," says the correspondent of the Times, "written as a trap for the disciples of Strauss and his school, who had pronounced the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be a collection of legends, from historical research, assisted by internal evidence.' Meinhold did not spare them when they fell into the snare, and made merry with the historical knowledge and critical acumen that could not detect the contemporary romancer under the mask of the chronicler of two centuries ago, while they decided so positively as to the authority of the most ancient writ

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