Mormon Article

Mormon Article –tongues

Vol. VII. Wednesday, February 13, 1833. No. 346.

THE MORMONITES.

This singular sect, says the Ohio Atlas, now number about four or five hundred, at Mount Zion, their New Jerusalem in the West. Their possessions are small compared with their numbers, being only about four sections of land. Twenty acres is the portion assigned for each family to improve, but they are to hold no property should they leave the community. Mount Zion is not elevated, and the settlement resembles "new beginnings" generally in the west. They are represented as already suffering for the necessities of life, and by squalid poverty preparing for theor reception of their expected Saviour. Their creed appears to have undergone but very little change -- Originally members of almost every sect, they now cordially unite in destesting all, save Mormonites. They all pretend to the gift of miracles, of tongues, of healing their sick, and of visions, although, like all other modern miracles, often told but never seen. Their Prophet, Smith, is now busy in restoring the present Bible to its primitive purity, and in adding some lost books of great importance. A new Revelation is also forthcoming. The Mormons still profess to walk with angels, visit the third heaven and converse with Christ face to face. Their form of baptism is changed to "I, John the Messenger, baptize thee," &c. The gift of imparting the Holy Ghost is yet professed. They pretend to have discovered where the Ark of the Covenant, Aaron's rod, and the pot of Manna are now hid. At no distant period, they expect Christ will reappear to live and reign on the earth a thousand years. Such are the present Mormons and such is their New Jerusalem. We believe their society in this country numbers something more than one hundred souls, many of whom intend removing to Mount Zion in the spring. Mormonism was was introduced by a few illiterate disciples of Joseph Smith, in the summer of 1831, a time when religious excitements were the order of the day. -- A sort of revival enthusiasm pervaded many neighborhoods, and wherever Mormonism obtained a footing, it spread like wild fire. Scores were awakened, converted, baptized, and endowed with the holy spirit in a few hours at a single meeting, in the midst of shoutings, wailings, fallings, contortions, trances, visions, speaking in unknown tongues and prophesyings. The timid were frightened, the credulous believed, and we were frequently eye witnesses to scenes of strange and unnatural conduct of Mormons, professedly under the influence of the spirit, that staggered the belief of the most stable and incredulous. But the storm passed, a calm followed -- reason triumphed -- and Mormonism waned.

As a curiosity, we have carefully examined the Golden Bible, and pronounce it not even "a cunningly devised fable," Every page bears the impress of its human authorship. -- Though free from vulgar obscenities, it is an absurd collection of dull, stupid and foolishly improbable stories, which no person, unless under the influence of powerfully excited feelings can mistake for truth and inspiration. With its authors, the Book of Mormon cannot survive this generation. And the next will remember it, only to smile at the credulity of the present.

Vol. 2. Westfield, NY, April 23, 1833. No. 21?

Intelligence Respecting Mormonites.

To the Editor of the 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 frunk, 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 later.

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.

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 profess to know where the ark of the covenant, Aaron's rod, the pot of manna, &c. now remain hid.

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.

The possessions here are small, very small compared with their members; 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 necessities 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. Unver 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 fakse 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.

MORMONITES IN MISSOURI.

From the Missouri Republican.
St. Louis, August 9th, 1833.

"Regulating" the Mormonites -- Some very extraordinary proceedings have recently taken place in Jackson county, in this State, against a sect of fanatics called Mormons. These proceedings may find some justification in the necessity of the case, but they are wholly at war with the genius of our institutions and as subversive of good order as the conduct of the fanatics themselves. Perhaps, however, it was the only method which could have been effectually put in practice to get this odious description of population out of the way. Banished as they are from that frontier, it may well be asked to what place will they now remove; and will they enjoy any better security in the new abode which they may select? But to the proceedings.

A meeting of the citizens of Jackson county, to the number of four or five hundred, was held at Independence on the 20th of July. Their avowed object was to take measures to rid themselves of the Mormonites. Col. Richard Sampson was called to the chair, and James H. Flournoy and Samuel D. Lucas appointed Secretaries. A committee was then appointed to report an address to the public, in relation to the object of the meeting. After having retired for some time, they submitted an address, which was unanimously adopted, and in which the conduct and the views of the obnoxious sect were exposed.

They represent, that the Mormonites number 1200 souls in that county, and that each successive spring and autumn pours forth its swarms among them, with a gradual falling off in the character of the people, until they have nearly reached the low condition of the black population. -- That the citizens are daily told that they are to be cut off, and their lands appropriated to the Mormons for inheritances; but they are not fully agreed among themselves as to the manner in which this shall be accomplished, whether by the destroying angel, the judgment of God, or the arm of power. The committee express their fears that, should this population continue to increase, they will soon have all the offices of the county in their hands; and that the lives and property of the other citizens would be insecure, under the administration of men who are so ignorant and superstitious as to believe that they have been the subjects of miraculous and supernatural cures, hold converse with God and his angels, and possess and exercise the gift of divination, and of unknown tongues, and are, withal, so poor as to be unable to procure bread and meat. The committee say, that "one of the means resorted to by them, in order to drive us to emigrate, is an indirect invitation to the free brethren of color in Illinois, to come like the rest to the land of Zion. True, the Mormons say this was not intended to invite, but to prevent emigration; but this weak attempt to quiet our apprehension, is but a poor compliment to our understandings." The invitation alluded to, contained all the necessary directions and cautions, to enable the free blacks, on their arrival there, to claim and exercise the right of citizenship. Finally the committee say --

"Of their pretended revelations from Heaven -- their personal intercourse with God and his angels -- the maladies they pretend to heal by the laying on of hands and the contemptible gibberish with which they habitually profane the Sabbath, (They are saying this was a continuous thing in early Mormon meetings) and which they dignify with the appellation of unknown tongues, we have nothing to say. Vengeance belongs to God alone. But as to the other matters set forth in this paper, we feel called upon by every consideration of self preservation, good society, public morals, and the fair prospects that, if not blasted in the germ, await this young and beautiful country, at once to declare, and we do hereby most solemnly declare --

"1. That no Mormon shall in future move and settle in this county.

"2. That those now here, who shall give a definite pledge of their intention within a reasonable time, to remove out of the county, shall be allowed to remain unmolested until they have sufficient time to sell their property, and close their business without any sacrifice.

"3. That the editor of the 'Star' be required forthwith to close his office, and discontinue the other stores and shops belonging to the sect, their owners must in every case comply with the terms strictly comfortably to the second article of this declaration; and upon failure, prompt and efficient measures will be taken to close the same.

"4. That the Mormon leaders here are required to use their influence in preventing any further emigration of their distant brethren to this county, and to counsel and advise their brethren here to comply with the above requisitions.

"5. That those who fail to comply with these requisitions, be referred to those of their brethren who have the gifts of divination, and unknown tongues, to inform them of the lot that awaits them."

So Jackson County Mo. Passes an ordinance against speaking in tongues, and prophesying in 1833 72 years before the Pentecostal Revival.

Which address being read and considered, was unanimously adopted. And thereupon it was resolved that a committee of twelve be appointed, forthwith to wait on the Mormon leaders, & see that the foregoing requisitions are strictly complied with by them; and upon their refusal, that the said committee do, as the organ of this county, inform them that it is the unwavering determination and fixed purpose, after the fullest consideration of all the consequences and responsibilities under which we act, to use such means as shall insure their full and complete adoption; and that said committee, so far as may be within their power, report to this present meeting. And the following gentlemen were named as said committee -- Robert Johnson, James Campbell, Col. Moses Wilson. Joel F. Childs. Hon. Richard Fristoe, Abner F. Staples, Gart[h] Johnson, Lewis Franklin, Russel Hicks, Esq., Col. S. D. Lucas, Thomas Wilson, and James M. Hunter, to whom was added Col. Sampson, chairman.

And after an adjournment of two hours, the meeting again convened, and the committee of twelve reported that they had called on Mr. W. W. Phelps, the editor of the Star. Edward Partridge, the bishop of the sect, and Mr. Gilbert, the keeper of the Lord's store house, and some others, and that they declined giving any direct answer to the requisitions made of them, and wished an unreasonable time for consultation, not only with their brethren here, but in Ohio.

Whereupon, it was unanimously resolved by the meeting, that the Star printing office should be razed to the ground, and the type and press secured. Which resolution was, with the utmost order, and the least noise and disturbance possible, forthwith carried into execution, as also other steps of a similar tendency; but no blood was spilt, nor any blows inflicted. The meeting then adjourned till the 23d instant, to meet again to know further concerning the determination of the Mormons.
In this same meeting this group decided to abridge the Mormon’s Freedom of religion or their freedom of the Press.

Vol. III. New York City, September ?, 1832. No. ?

[title and first paragraphs are missing]

Bradford county, Pa. August, 1832.
Sir. -- The prayer of my heart to God is, that you may believe the scriptures of the old and new Testament, if you do not believe what I write. But I now tell you what has taken place since I arrived here. On the 30th of July, there was an appointment for preaching, at 4 o'clock P. M. by a Methodist. We went to the place but he did not attend; and we occupied the time by prayer and exhortation. The company were Methodists, and a class of people called Mormonites. (Can one today even imagine a church service where Methodists and Mormans were worshipping together?) After the meeting was over, notice was given that there would be a meeting in the evening at my brother's house. Some of the Mormonites, together with others, collected, and the meeting commenced and went on the same as your meetings do, until about 10 o'clock, when I should say, by what I saw and felt, of a truth the Lord was present with us. The spirit seemed to rest and clothe upon a Mrs. Conkling, and I thought, and think yet, that I heard a few words of a language that I could not understand. You must know that my mind was on the look out. And not long after, perhaps forty-five minutes, she broke forth in prayer to God, in a language that I could not understand, and continued two or three minutes, and then in our language, she gave an interpretation of what she had said. Then she broke out again, in the same language and was more lengthy than the first time. This last prayer or exhortation she did not interpret. I am credibly informed that they have these gifts and all the gifts of the gospel. I trust that I shall see and hear more yet; when I do I will write. I leave all to God whether you believe or disbelieve.

More recently their emissaries have showed themselves in Boston, where the delusion has [seized] several respectable citizens, some of whom were considered worthy members of different churches. The Rev. J. V. Himes makes the following statement.

However strange to relate, about fifteen persons, in this city [Boston] have been led away by these false doctrines, have been baptised and joined the Mormon church. And some of these persons 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 warning and flee thither for safety." Two individuals who have gone, are defenceless females. They had acquired by their hard industry $2300, one of them having $800, the other $1500, which they have given up to go into 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 me, that if she had been buried here, before she had been led away by these errors, and had left satisfactory evidence that she was prepared to die, her grief would have been far less than it is now. The remaining persons who were baptised and joined the church, and contemplate going to the West, possess between $3000 and $4000, which they also are going to put with the general fund, and which they can never draw out again, should they get sick of Mormonism and wish to return home to their friends.
The early Mormons practices also selling all and giving it to the elders and sharing all things in common. And if we trace this in church history we will find dozens and dozens of groups and movements that have also practiced this.

Thus are our friends swindled out of their property and drawn from their comfortable homes to endure the perils of a journey of about two thousand miles, by these ignorant fanatics; and when arrived at their earthly paradise, to become the miserable dupes of these temporal and spiritual lords.
And we can say this same thing of all the Churches that preach giving them tithes and offerings is a vital part of their salvation and those who preach the even more pernicious prosperity gospel – So where today are the preachers that stand up and cry out against these teachings? They are few to be found for the love of money has so great a pull on the hirelings of this day.

Note: The title and the full content of the above article remain unknown. The text is taken from a reprint that appeared in the Oct. 10, 1832 issue of the Boston Recorder. Throughout the 1830s and the early 1840s the New York Evangelist is known to have published numerous articles on the Mormons and their religion. However, the newspaper is today a very obscure and rare title. None of its articles (apart from a few excerpts published in other papers) are yet available for transcription and viewing as web e-texts..

Vol. VI. New York City, April 9, 1836. No. 15.

This is the second era article I have seen that draws a connection between Islam and Mormonism. Frankly I am surprised to see this comparison and when we get through the reset of this historic data we will begin our study of Scripture to ascertain exactly who the Samaritans were and draw concrete links to those groups we have mentioned as being them in our day.

For the New-York Evangelist.

Elyra, Loraine Co., Ohio, April 1, 1836.

Bro. Leavitt -- I have often wondered that so little is said or known of the Mormons, who are now making progress in this country. There certainly has not a more extraordinary religious sect sprung up since the time of Mohamed. They are generally thought too contemptible even to be noticed. But I think this is a mistake. There are some striking features of resemblance between this imposture and that of Mohamed. Both admit the common Bible, but profess to have received a new revelation that entirely supercedes the old. Both owe their origin to a person in the lowest ranks of life, almost totally illiterate, with scraps of religion, and superstition, and mysticism about him, whom his followers regard as a Prophet of God that has direct intercourse with the Deity. Both prophets profess to receive from time to time direct revelations from Heaven, by which they are governed, and govern their followers.

The Kirtland imposture has collected a considerable number of followers, not less, they say, than twenty thousand. I have just made a visit to the settlement at Kirtland, where about one thousand are located. There they have erected, and nearly completed, a huge stone temple at an expense of forty thousand dollars. Its dimensions are sixty by eighty feet, and fifty feet high. It is of no earthly order of architecture, but the Prophet says is exactly according to the pattern showed him, though it is by no means equal to that in splendor from the want of means. It appears to be of two stories, having two rows of gothic windows running round it, besides windows projecting from the roof for the attic story. The first floor is the place of worship, and is completed in a very showy style, with four rows of pulpits at each end, having three pulpits in a row. These 12 pulpits rise behind and above one another, and are designed, the uppermost row, as they say, for the bishop and his counsellors; the second for the priest and his counsellors; the third for the teachers, and the fourth, or lowest, for the deacons. Each end is provided in the same manner. The body of the house is occupied with slips, but the seats in them are moveable, so that the audience can sit facing either end of the room. -- Over the division between each of the rows of pulpits hangs a painted canvass, rolled up to the ceiling, and to be let down at pleasure, so as to conceal the dignitaries behind from the audience. Similar curtains, or as they are called, "veils," are disposed of over the room, so that it can at any time be divided into four apartments, to carry on the objects of the imposture. Every thing about the temple is evidently designed to strike the senses and attract curiosity, and at the dedication, which is to take place next Sabbath, most astonishing "glories" are promised and expected by the faithful. The second floor, and the attic loft are designed for a seminary, literary and theological! which is expected to have the manual labor system attached to it. The Mormons appear to be very eager to acquire education. Men. women and children lately attended school, and they are now employing Mr. Seixas, the Hebrew teacher, to instruct them in Hebrew; and about seventy men in middle life, from twenty to forty years of age, are most eagerly engaged in the study. -- They pursue their studies alone until twelve o'clock at night, and attend to nothing else. Of course many make rapid progress. I noticed some fine looking and intelligent men among them. Some in dress and deportment have all the appearance of gentlemen, yet the majority are exceedingly ignorant. They all profess a great deal of piety. And in this respect they equal the Mohammedans themselves. They abound in prayers and other acts of devotion. Many of them are converts from the Baptist and Methodist sects, but none, or next to none from the Presbyterian church; and aside from the delusion of Mormonism, they have the appearance of being devout Christians. They are by no means, as a class, men of weak minds. Perhaps most fanatics and visionaries have intellects peculiarly though perversely active.

They all have revelations continually, though the prophet alone is authorized to commit them to writing, for fear, undoubtedly, of discrepancies. Besides the Mormon Bible, they already have a Book of Revelations. Every impulse is an immediate revelation, and they answer all difficulties and objections by asserting that they know that they have the truth, for it comes directly from heaven, and the objector is a poor blinded creature in the way to destruction

There is one difference which ought to be mentioned between the revelation of Joseph Smith Jr. and that of Mohammed. The latter had at least, the merit of a flowing and beautiful style. But there never was a more bald, senseless, drivelling collection of trash, put together in the form of a book than the book of Mormon and the Supplementary Revelations. It is really astonishing, and it is humiliating to think that any human beings who have read the Bible can be so far deluded as to believe such a wretched farrago to be a divine revelation.

In proportion to the strength of their faith they have the power of working miracles, healing the sick, &c., of which they relate numberless instances, though no body attests them besides themselves. They have the gift of tongues, which is merely the capacity to scream in an unintelligible gibberish when they are highly excited. The more intelligent place but little reliance upon either miracles or prophecy, for the purpose of convincing unbelievers, as they have so often attempted both without success; but rely chiefly on their own internal experiences. What they know, of course they know, and there is an end of the matter.

That most of them sincerely believe in their mummeries cannot be denied. Some probably have attached themselves from other motives. Many are doubtless pious though deluded men. They furnish evidence of being for the most part men of perverted intellect disordered, unfurnished minds, with no sound principles of religion, inclined to the mystical and dreamy, and ready to seize upon any thing, no matter how crazy or absurd, that will gratify their restless, crazy piety, and bolster up their exorbitant, spiritual pride. Such men always exist in every community, and are always the fit subjects for fanaticism and delusion. They call themselves "latter day saints," and profess to be the only true church, to have the only gospel order, consisting of apostles, elders, bishops, &c. &c., which several orders of the Christian hierarchy have been distinctly brought to light in the Book of Mormon. They believe that there is no true church without apostles, prophets, miracles, tongues, &c. as they existed in the apostles' days, and to which they lay very positive claims. They lay great stress upon the promise, "these signs shall follow those that believe, &c.

The inquiry instinctively arises, are they really so blinded as would seem, or are they a set of impostors? With respect to the great mass, I have before said; that I believe they are no hypocrites, but genuine fanatics, completely blinded and deluded. But of the leaders I do not believe this is true.

I had the honor of making some acquaintance with the illustrious prophet, Jo Smith, and his coadjutor, Rigdon, and the other inferior satellites. Smith is apparently about thirty-five years of age, and is evidently a singular being. He is very plausible and polite in his manners, has an eye that glistens like a serpent's, and is perpetually flying about to find some object on which to rest. His lips are firmly compressed, and he wears an eternal smile of self-complacency on his features, and has all the air of one who is conscious of having communion with invisible spirits, whether good or bad you are at a loss to determine. He has been a money-digger and necromancer from his youth, and his father before him. His character is undoubtedly about an equal compound of impostor and fanatic, and combines all the features of the knave and the dupe.

Rigdon is altogether another sort of man. He has been a Campbellite preacher, of considerable talents and eloquence. He is a large, fat, jolly fellow, who knows how to turn his talents to the best account, and manifestly has not a particle of faith in the imposture, but practices it for purposes which he knows best. He was evidently, as I talked with him, ashamed of the silly fooleries that he was propagating, and took the earliest opportunity to make an excuse and leave the company. What an account such men will have to render to God in the day of retribution!

The rise and progress of this extraordinary delusion shows religious teachers the importance of having sound instruction along with high excitement, that men may have some other evidence on which their faith rests than the impulses of their own unstable minds. And the fact that scarcely a convert has been made from Presbyterian ranks, (a fact which the fanatics ascribe to their pride) is certainly highly creditable to that denomination.
JAMES H. EELLS.

BADGER'S WEEKLY MESSENGER.
Vol. II. New York City, July 4, 1832. No. ?

MORMONISM IS SAID TO HAVE TAKEN DEEP ROOT IN THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN MENDON, MISS. -- a number were redipped a few days ago. The preacher said he would never die, but be translated after the manner of Enoch, and in eighteen months MORMONISM WOULD BE THE PREVAILING RELIGION; and that in five years the wicked would be swept from the face of the earth.

Note 1: The above article is reprinted from the Apr. 14, 1832 issue of the Rochester Liberal Advocate. The place in which these LDS baptisms took place (including that of Brigham Young) should read "Mendon, New York," rather than "Mendon, Mississippi."

Note 2: The final line of the original Abner Cole report in the Liberal Advocate reads: "When we see the degradation to which weak human nature has been reduced of late, we cannot wonder at such fanatical extravagance."

INDEPENDENT MESSENGER.
Vol. ? Boston, Ma., November 29, 1832. No. ?

THE MORMONITES.

To the Editor of the 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 working miracles, healing the sick, &c. &c. These things, however, are not seen to be done, but only said to be done.

This is the testimony of virtually any Pentecostal or Charismatic Church of this day! This is the testimony of the Word of faith Churches that follow Kenneth Hagan, Kenneth Copland, Robert Tilton, Benny Hinn,

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 but 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.

Their 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 with the previous settlers in that place. 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 first published in the Boston Christian Watchman about the middle of November, 1832.

Note 2: Some other papers publishing part or all of Pixley's Oct. 12, 1832 letter include: 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 wrote a second letter, late in 1832 -- this one to the Baptist Weekly Journal. It was published in that paper, early in 1833, under the title, "Mormonites," and was subsequently reprinted in the Apr. 6, 1833 issue of the Christian Register.

Note 4: Rev. Pixley wrote a third letter on Nov. 7, 1833 -- this time to the New York Observer -- stating that the Mormons offered inducements to free negroes every where to join them, etc. That letter was reprinted in the Christian Watchman of Dec. 13, 1833 and the Christian Register of Dec. 21, 1833.

They eat, they drink, are sick, and die, as all others do. When they are sick, unfortunately, they have not faith to be healed. Of the dying they say, their work is done, they must go: they also say, it is self-evident that disease is the natural effect of unbelief. If this be true, I am sure, their faith cannot be as large as a mustard seed, for none are more liable to sickness, and all contagions than themselves, the cholera not excepted, even among their preachers.
(Excerpt from another Pixley article in the Christian Register April 6 1833)