1845-02-11-Newark NJ Centinel of Freedom—Mormonism

Mormonism

Newark NJ Centinel of Freedom, vXLVIII n33, p3.

Mormonism. —Shocking Disclosures. — Elder Rigdon’s Magazine for January, published at Pittsburg, gives some disclosures of corruption and licentiousness among the Mormons, in New York, New Jersey, &c. It appears that the degrading Polygamy founded by Joe Smith, and established at Nauvoo a short time before his death, has been encouraged and sustained by people of intelligence. Rigdon gives the following account of a recent visit to the Mormon Churches, and of his own efforts to arrest the corruption that was rapidly spreading among the deluded followers. He says:

Among the churches we visited, there was a great deal of excitement; many of the principal members had either withdrawn from the church or had been cut off, and of this number were the presiding elders of the church of Philadelphia, New York, Boston, New Egypt, N. J. and Woodstown, N. J. On inquiring into the cause of the difficulties, in every instance, it was the spiritual wife system which had caused the separation, and exclusion. The course pursued by the advocates of this system, who were the traveling elders, was, that as soon as a man became dissatisfied with the teachings of those believers in polygamy, and was bold enough to express his dissatisfaction, call the doctrine incestuous, and adulterous, he or she was immediately arraigned before the church, and charged with disobedience to the authorities; and with slandering the heads of the Church; an awful appeal was made to the members of the church, at the time of the trial, and. every one who dared vote in favor of the person charged, was threatened with immediate exclusion from the church by these tyrants, and thus intimidated, and compelled to obey the mandate of their masters. A notable instance of this was related to me while in Boston. Old Elder Nickerson, a man highly esteemed in Boston, and the father of the church there, when this system of a plurality of wives first made its appearance there, rose up against it, as every man of virtue would, and was so deeply affected with it, that he wept over the corruption that was creeping into the church, and declared his intention and determination, to lift his voice against it; this was no sooner known, than he was besieged by two of the, so called authorities, and threatened with exclusion, if he dare give testimony against those whom he had declared he knew were guilty of great improprieties, such as called for the interference of every virtuous man; and the old gentleman was so intimidated by their threats, he shrunk from his duty, and instead of discharging it with a manly boldness, actually lifted his hands in favor of those whose conduct he had previously deprecated in the strongest terms. Every effort of this kind was made that the most corrupt could invent, to conceal this system, from the public view. Others were cut off in private meetings, without their having any knowledge of it, till they were informed by some runner sent out for the purpose, that at such a meeting they had been-cut off from the church.

"Everyone who was known to be opposed to this svstem, if he or she could not be won over, or make to succumb by threats, was excluded, and their characters assailed in a most outrageous manner, in order to destroy their influence, that their testimony might not be believed.