1844-07-29-New York Herald-The Mormons

The Mormons

New York Herald, 29 July 1844, issue 209, col C

The Mormons.—A good deal of curiosity has been excited relative to the disposition of the mantle of the late Prophet of the Mormons, and how they mean to conduct their religious movements hereafter. Some said that Joe Smith had left a will appointing his successor; and others that Sidney Rigdon was to be the second prophet of the faithful. We now find from a Boston paper that there is to be no legitimate successor, but that the "twelve apostles" are to take that position, and exercise the whole power of the church without any prophet. This appears to be the most rational course, and will likely be adopted.

We find in the paper alluded to—the Daily Mail—a very curious account of the present views of the Mormons, and we annex it:—

Mormonism in Boston—Eulogy on Joseph Smith.—It being given out that Elder Adams would pronounce an eulogy upon the deceased Mormon Prophet, on Thursday evening, the hall of the Suffolk hotel, opposite the Boylston market, was densely crowded at an early hour. After the singing of a hymn, the Elder mounted the rostrum and began. He selected for a text the 12th and 13th verses of the 14th chapter of Revelations, which read as follows:

"Here is the patience of the Saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

"And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them."

The Elder remarked that the room was exceedingly crowded and warm, and he should therefore put it through as soon as possible. He really wished that the owners of some one of the large churches which are not filled from one end of the week to another, could have roused liberality enough to bestow its use upon the Latter Day Saints, at least for the present occasion; but as no such liberality had been extended to them, they must make the best of their present circumstances. he then launched into a general view of the Mormon system of religion, and attempted to apply the text to it. He took the ground that, soon after the death of the Apostles, the Church of Christ was "driven into the wilderness;" in other words that the Church had become disorganized and impure, and so remained until the new Revelation was delivered to Joseph Smith! who brought the true Church out of the wilderness, built it upon the rock of ages, so that "the gates of hell could not prevail against it." The persecutions, and trials, and tribulations which the Latter Day Saints had undergone, constituted the "patience of the Saints," spoken of in the text.

The Elder did not pretend that there were not some good men out of the pale of the Mormon Church; but while the Latter Day Saints were to be saved whether or no, and their "works" follow them, other good men were only to be saved "as by fire;" they were to come in as by the skin of their teeth, to a secondary sort of salvation, and all their "works" were to be left behind! All the various sects and isms—"Millerism and foolisms," and all (these were the Elder's words)—went to show that there was no true church except that of the Latter Day Saints. They only had one Lord, one Faith, and one Baptism."

After, as we thought, a very faint eulogy upon the Prophet, General Joseph Smith, the Elder went into a history of the settlement of the Mormons at Nauvoo, the circumstances of their government, and the facts connected with the death of the Prophet. He said very truly, that the city Charter of Nauvoo, containing extraordinary powers, which they never ought to have had, was forced upon them by the Legislature of Illinois, in order to secure their votes for the dominant party. The State arms, too, with which they had been furnished, had given them a great deal of trouble, and he wished the politicians had kept their infernal old muskets and their charters to themselves. He (Elder Adams) was in England at the time, and when he heard what had been done for Nauvoo, with extraordinary, and no doubt prophetic foresight, he remarked to a friend that it was all a "snare of the devil."

He was with Joseph and Hiram Smith previous to their ill-fated journey to Carthage. The prophet seemed to be aware of the danger, and declared that he should die a martyr to the cause. But if he refused ot go, he believed the mobs which had collected at three places in the neighborhood, would utterly destroy the city. The time had come when his blood was called for, in order to renew the perseverence and "patience of the saints." He took a solemn leave of his wife and family, placed his hand upon the head of Elder Adams, and commissioned him to preach the church out of the wilderness, and then took up his melancholy journey to Carthage, in company with his brother Hiram and others. The circumstances of his death were related very nearly as they were given in the Nauvoo Neighbor, from which we copied them some days since. That the killing of the Prophet was a cool and deliberate murder, we believe there is little doubt; and Elder Adams did not do justice to the public feeling,which has every where stamped it as such.

As a speaker, Elder Adams has some good points, but very few, if any, as a reasoner. His whole mind, instead of exhibiting the kindness which a pure Gospel would naturally inspire, seems to be surcharged with the bitterest invective; and the terms he used in speaking of the enemies of the Mormon faith, were of the coarsest and most vulgar description—evincing very little of that charity which thinketh no evil, but endureth all things.—For instance, he spoke of a Dr. Ringers, who had been active against the Mormons, as a "long faced, white handkerchief, hypocritical, Campbellite preacher," and with a malicious grin declared that he should have the satisfaction of handing his name down to posterity. Of John C. Bennet he said he did'nt know whether the scamp had "gone to the devil or not," and when some of the audience hissed at the expression, he remarked that there were "two animals only that hissed," geese and serpents;" and he did'nt care for either of them. If indeed the audience (which was apparently mixed up with a little of every thing—masculine, feminine, neuter, and asinine)—could relish such a harum-scarum discourse as this, and pin their faith upon such preaching, the heaven to which they aspire must be a very different one from that which they pure light of the Gospel holds out as a reward to the good and faithful.