202 JOE smith's doctrines. 



Joseph Smith does not affect In this gospel of his to 

 bring in any new doctrine, or to supersede the Bible, 

 but to restore " many plain and precious things which 

 have been taken away from the first book by the 

 abominable church, the Mother of Harlots." It is full of 

 sillinesses, follies, and anachronisms ; but I have not dis- 

 covered, in my cursory review, any of the immoralities or 

 positive licentiousness which he himself practised, directly 

 inculcated. He teaches faith in Christ, human depravity, 

 the power of the Holy Ghost, the doctrine of the 

 Trinity, of the atonement, and of salvation only through 

 Christ. He recommends the sacraments of baptism and 

 the Lord's Supper ; and, whatever his own conduct and 

 that of his people may be, certainly in his book 

 prohibits polygamy and priestcraft. 



The wickedness of his book consists in its being a lie 

 from beginning to end, and of himself in being 

 throughout an impostor. Pretending to be a " seer" — 

 which, h€ says, is greater than a prophet — he puts into 

 the hands of his followers a work of pure invention as a 

 religious guide inspired by God, and which, among his 

 followers, is to take the place of the Bible. Though an 

 ignorant man, he was possessed of much shrewdness. 

 He courted persecution, though he hoped to profit, not 

 to die by it. Unfortunately, his enemies, by their 

 inconsiderate persecution, have made him a martyr for 

 his opinions, and have given a stability to his sect which 

 nothing may now be able to shake. It was urged by 

 Smith himself that the New World was as deserving of 

 a direct revelation as the Old ; and his disciples press 

 upon their hearers that, as an American revelation^ this 

 system has peculiar claims upon their regard and 

 acceptance. The feeling of nationality being thus 

 connected with the new sect, weak-minded native-born 

 Americans might be swayed by patriotic motives in 

 connecting themselves with it. But it is mortifying to 



