1840-11-13-Christian Secretary-Mormonism
Mormonism
Christian Secretary, v3 n35, 13 November 1840, p. 3.
Strange as it may appear, the knavish retailers of Joe Smith's vagaries have found adherents even in Connecticut. Verily it would seem that Satan's work must be easy indeed, when so gross and palpable a delusion, so miserable an imposition as Mormonism can gain converts so late in the nineteenth century, and amidst the full blaze of light enjoyed in this portion of our country. Yet so it is. Some travelling eleemosynaries from the "promised land," of which Nauvoo (we believe that is the name,) is the capital, have made their appearance among us, and under pretence of possessing miraculous powers, by stealing into the borders of certain towns, and telling their wonderful stories, intermixed with a smattering of truth taken from the Bible, they have found persons ready to swallow their absurdities, and quite a number have been baptized on profession of the Mormon faith! Many of the tales which these imposters tell in the course of their "preaching," can hardly be called "cunningly devised" fables, for they have scarcely so much of an air of probability as some of the "Arabian Nights Entertainments," and we should almost as soon have expected to see people of common sense embracing a system of doctrine founded on the story of "Sinbad the Sailor," or "Baron Munchausen," as upon this Mormon fiction. And yet there is some art displayed in their operations. They profess to believe the Bible, but they say the church has been in the wilderness, or rather there has been no true church on earth, since the Apostles' days or very shortly after. The succession of the ordinances also having been lost, no one had any authority to administer them, until the revelation so wonderfully made to the renowned Joseph Smith! and he has now been commissioned to restore the ordinances, and to gather the true church from among all denominations of Christians. This is to be done in the course of two or three years, during which the elect are to be removed to the promised land, somewhere in Missouri, and then, in the year 1843, the rest of the world is to be destroyed, with all its inhabitans!—So it seems they have taken a part of Mr. Miller's theory, and added it to their system.
Errors so preposterous are hardly to be grappled by reason or argument; but if, with all their grossness, they can find believers, are not Christians, and especially Christian ministers, peculiarly called upon to be earnest and faithful in spreading the light of truth? If such darkness still rests upon the minds of even a few in our midst, it is a loud call upon the people of God to "let their light shine."
-->Will the Editor of the Baptist Record have the kindness to forward us the numbers of that paper containing the history of Mormonism? The papers which we filed, in order to publish that history, are missing.
