Boston investigator

              FOR THE INVESTIGATOR.
MORMONISM— PARLEY P. P R A T T , &c.
MR. EDITOR,— In endeavoring to fulfil my prom-ise
in furnishing a little portable laughing- gas for
the columns of the Investigator, I have met more
difficulties than I at first anticipated; not from the
want of material, but having too much of it. I
am bewildered, like Francis the waiter, in Shak-speare's
tragedy of Henry the Fourth, or to use a
Patlander^ s similitude, " like a cow between many
hay- stacks "— at a loss which to begin at.
However, the most conspicuous personage in
the field at present is, ( to use the Reverend gen-tleman's
own words,) " 1, Parley P. Pratt, being
duly appointed by the first Presidency of the whole
Church, ), o the official Presidency of the churches
in the Eastern States " ! By this very astounding
Proclamation, published in the " Prophet " of the
4th inst., yoli may guess I have to deal with the
" Goliah of Mormonism," and in point of fact,
one of the very few scientific men that the church
can boast of. I have nothing to say to him per-sonally
but as a gentleman; it is the doctrine he
advocates that I war with; and in endeavoring to
paint the " light and shade" of Mormonism, I
must set out in "[ basso relievo," the grent pilbrs
of that conspicuous edifice, and he is one of them.
I said in my communication, published in the
Investigator of January 15, that " Mormonism
out- humbugs humbug," an assertion which re
quires proof: therefore, " i f strong circumstan-tial
evidence, which leads directly to the door of
truth, will satisfy, you shall have it "— and more
than that, if obtaining money under false pre-tences,
be swindling, I call the leaders swindlers*
If preaching one thing and practising the oppo-site
in substance, be hypocrisy, then are they
hypocrites>' and if teaching and promulgating the
sacred mysteries of " spiritual wife " doctrine, be
" whoredom"— to use the very expressive word
of Elder Leach—( who was " cut off" for oppos-ing
that doctrine) then are they libertines.
To prove my first assertion, of " swindling," I
need only refer to Pauley P. Pratt's proclamation,
before mentioned, which says—" Great Apostles
of the Gentiles, falsely so called, Great Lions of
Mormonism, Big Guns, etc., etc., will no longer
run from church to church, from city to city, from
State to State, contrary to the Council of the
Twelve, teaching false doctrine, professing pow-ers
which they do not hold, sealing people to eter-nal
life, [ a la spiritual,'] which they themselves
do not possess, and SWINDLING the saints out of
MONEY which ought, to be given to the modest,
unassuming and faithful laborers who are labor-ing
among them." Here, Mr. Editor, is a " cut
direct" at Elder Adams, known ( by his roaring)
as the Lion of Mormonism, and one of the favor-ites
of the late Prophet Smith, rest his ashes!—
known also as the " Great Apostle to the Gen-tiles."
Here, Sir, is one " h e a d " accusing the
other " h e a d " plainly of " swindling " " sealing
up," & c., & c. Yet, in the aforesaid proclama-tion,
the Rev. President Pratt condemns in Elder
Adams what he and his brothers, the Twelve,
openly call for; for it is apparent to the meanest
understanding, that it is the spirit of covetousness
which speaks; they are jealous of Elder Adams's
success at the same game, and want to turn it into
their own coffers. For proof, read the following
extract from the proclamation in question:—" And
for this purpose, and for the support of the Priest-hood,
the Lord has given a law of tything; mak-ing
it the duty of each member to pay one- tenth
of all his property and earnings, and after that,
one- tenth of his income. This law always was,
is now, and always will be, a standing law in
connection with the Melchizedeck Priesthood,
to be observed by every member of the king-dom
forever. It is the portion which belongs to
the Lord for the service of the temple and sanc-tuary
and priesthood, and is as much binding and
as necessary to salvation as baptism or any other
law of the Kingdom of God." Again—" No. per-sons
need expect to receive their endowment in
this world, or their exaltation in the next, short
of a strict and full observance of this law." Here,
Sir, is a fac simile of the Rev. gentleman's in-spired
writings, which say—
" Money I want, money I crave,
If ye do n't give me money, I ' 11 sweep ye all to the
grave." 1
Listen to the inspired exclamation of Saint
President Parley P. Pratt:—" Brethren! awake
to your duties on this all- important subject, and
bring A L L your tythings into the storehouse, and
praise the Lord therewith; and see if he will not
pour you out a blessing, that there will not be
room enough to receive it." What humbuggery
this is! I marvel much if that Reverend gentle-man
does not " blush to think of such monstrous
devices." If this is not obtaining money under
false pretences, " then I am no two- legged crea-ture."
Fie upon such a God that would require
the honest earnings of the laborer to support a
set of hypocritical, ignorant, lazy loafers, or build
" a mouldering dome " at the expense of the toil
and sweat of honest, deluded ignorance, to be a
source of wealth to hypoerit. es-
" Wretches, that, send their lust to heaven,
And make a pander of their God."
What man, I ask, possessed of one grain of
common sense, that will not pronounce their book
of " Doctrines and Covenants " a compound of
the most barefaced impositions? Herein is a rev-elation
for every purpose. Herein has Joseph
Smith and his " Twelve " made their " Christ " a
mere pander; they have made Christ say what
they wanted him to say. He is made the tool of
the leaders— not their God. Read the following,
from the book of " Doctrines and Covenants,"
and then judge:—
" SECTION XLIX.— Revelation to Joseph Smith,
Jr., Oliver Cowdrey, and JohnWhitmer, Given
July, 1830.
" I, Behold, I say unto you, that you shall let
your time be devoted to the studying of the Scrip-tures,
and to preaching, and to confirming the
Church at Colesville; and to performing your la-bors
on the land, such as is required, until after
you shall go to the West to hold the next Con «
ference; and then it shall be made known to yotl
what ye shall do. And all things shall be done
with common consent in the Church, by much
prayer and faith, for all things'ye shall receive by
faith. Amen!"
Hojtv like the words of a Supreme Being, is the
following " revelation " to Mrs. Emma Smith,
telling her she is a " Lady elect," and giving her
a " caution " " not to murmur at the things which
she has not seen, for they are withheld from the
world, which is wisdom in me for time to come " 1
The things here referred to are some of the
" spiritual mysteries,". which I will dispose of
anon. But think what a reverence the divinely
inspired " T w e l v e " must have forthe\ vord of
their God, for the " Elect Lady," and for their
Prophet— he being scarcely two months' dead
when the Council sat on his " better half," cut
her off from the church, and confiscated her prop'
erty to their own uses! This is what I call Di-vine
Inspiration! this is comforting and protecting
the widow and the orphan! These are the men
whom God holds communion with, and has given
the " sealing power " to, and also the keys of the
Kingdom!
I shall now leave the subject, Mr. Editor, for
your comments. I expect a torrent of abuse from
them— but I care not, I have proofs they little
dream of—" Elegant Extracts" from the church-books.
By the by, there is a " revelation " given
also to pay the printer, which would be accepta-ble
to the editoral department generally. I only
pray that a certain presiding Elder, not a thou-sand
miles from New Bedford, would receive a
" revelation " to pay your obedient servant what
he earned by the sweat of his brow.
I fear. Sir, 1 have intruded on your time, space,
and good nature. In my next, I shall be more
brief and to the point. Yet I am not done with
Mr. Pratt and the other " bright particular stars "
that shine along the Mormon firmament, not for-getting
the mirth- provoking lesser lights. So, in
the words of Pollonius, at present " I humbly take
my leave," remaining your obedient servant,
H. ROWE.
Portland, Jan. 20, 1845.
[ We take this opportunity to state, that any
Mormon wishing to offer a reply to the above
article, will be cheerfully allowed the use of our
columns.— ED.]