“Mormonism.” Christian Watchman (Boston) 21, no. 39 (25 September 1840).
This absurd delusion finds converts rapidly in some places, notwithstanding the opposition which it has met with, as appears by the following extract of a letter from a minister in Chester Co., Pa. published in the Baptist Record. This goes a little beyond the wildest notions about “Women’s Rights,” “Nonresistance,” and “Abolitionism” in the North, or the “Divine Institution of Slavery” in the South, which we recollect to have seen.
“The Mormons are going ahead—baptizing every week; they heal the sick, cast out devils, &c.! One of their preachers cast out a devil a few days past, and two men have certified that they saw the devil run away! He of course had feet and hands, head and eyes, &c.! We have documents from the Recorder’s office in the county where Mormonism first commenced, which prove the wickedness of Smith. We likewise can prove that Mormonism has been four times publicly discussed and proved to be false, twice legally investigated and proved to be a delusion, yet men are so infatuated as to be led away by it. Surely we must be drawing near the last days.”
Our friend of the Record is about to show up this “cunningly devised fable” by facts, particularly concerning the origin of “the wily Jo Smith, of vagrant memory, their high prophet,” who he says came from “a shiftless family, renowned for their love of the marvellous, and for their money digging propensity.”