Part 13 (1/2)

The first edition was full of grammatical errors and amusing phrases.

Thus we are told, in Ether xv. 31, that when Coriantumr smote off the head of s.h.i.+z, the latter ”raised upon his hands and fell.” Among other examples from the first edition may be quoted: ”and I sayeth”; ”all things which are good cometh of G.o.d”; ”neither doth his angels”; and ”hath miracles ceased.” We find in Helaman ix. 6, ”He being stabbed by his brother by a garb of secrecy.” This remains uncorrected.

Alexander Campbell, noting the mixture of doctrines in the book, says, ”He [the author] decides all the great controversies discussed in New York in the last ten years, infant baptism, the Trinity, regeneration, repentance, justification, the fall of man, the atonement, transubstantiation, fasting, penance, church government, the call to the ministry, the general resurrection, eternal punishment, who may baptize, and even the questions of Freemasonry, republican government and the rights of man.”*

* ”Delusions: an a.n.a.lysis of the Book of Mormon” (1832). An exhaustive examination of this Bible will be found in the ”Braden and Kelley Public Discussion.”

Such is the book which is accepted to this day as an inspired work by the thousands of persons who const.i.tute the Mormon church. This acceptance has always been rightfully recognized as fundamentally necessary to the Mormon faith. Orson Pratt declared, ”The nature of the message in the Book of Mormon is such that, if true, none can be saved who reject it, and, if false, none can be saved who receive it.” Brigham Young told the Conference at Nauvoo in October, 1844, that ”Every spirit that confesses that Joseph Smith is a prophet, that he lived and died a prophet, and that the Book of Mormon is true, is of G.o.d, and every spirit that does not is of Anti-Christ.” There is no modification of this view in the Mormon church of to-day.

CHAPTER XII. -- ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH

The director of the steps taken to announce to the world a new Bible and a new church realized, of course, that there must be priests, under some name, to receive members and to dispense its blessing. No person openly connected with Smith in the work of translation had been a clergyman.

Accordingly, on May 15, 1829 (still following the prophet's own account), while Smith and Cowdery were yet busy with the work of translation, they went into the woods to ask the Lord for fuller information about the baptism mentioned in the plates. There a messenger from heaven, who, it was learned, was John the Baptist, appeared to them in a cloud of light, ”and having laid his hands on us, he ordained us, saying unto us, 'Upon you, my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering angels, and of the Gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins.'” The messenger also informed them that ”the power of laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost” would be conferred on them later, through Peter, James, and John, ”who held the keys of the priesthood of Melchisedec”; but he directed Smith to baptize Cowdery, and Cowdery then to perform the same office for Smith. This they did at once, and as soon as Cowdery came out of the water he ”stood up and prophesied many things” (which the prophet prudently omitted to record). The divine authority thus conferred, according to Orson Pratt, exceeds that of the bishops of the Roman church, because it came direct from heaven, and not through a succession of popes and bishops.*

* Orson Pratt, in his ”Questions and Answers on Doctrine” in his Was.h.i.+ngton newspaper, the Seer (p. 205), thus defined the Mormon view of the Roman Catholic church:--

Q.”Is the Roman Catholic Church the Church of Christ?” A.”No, for she has no inspired priesthood or officers.”

Q.”After the Church of Christ fled from earth to heaven what was left?”

A.”A set of wicked apostates, murderers and idolaters,” etc.

Q.”Who founded the Roman Catholic Church?” A.”The devil, through the medium of the apostates, who subverted the whole order of G.o.d by denying immediate revelation, and subst.i.tuting in place thereof tradition and ancient revelations as a sufficient rule of faith and practice.”

Smith and Cowdery at once began telling of the power conferred upon them, and giving their relatives and friends an opportunity to become members of the new church. Smith's brother Samuel was the first convert won over, Cowdery baptizing him. His brother Hyrum came next,* and then one J. Knight, Sr., of Colesville, New York.** Each new convert was made the subject of a ”revelation,” each of which began, ”A great and marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men.” Hyrum Smith, and David and Peter Whitmer, Jr., were baptized in Seneca Lake in June, and ”from this time forth,” says Smith, ”many became believers and were baptized, while we continued to instruct and persuade as many as applied for information.”

* Hyrum wanted to start in to preach at once, and a ”revelation”

was necessary to inform him: ”You need not suppose you are called to preach until you are called.... Keep my commandments; hold your peace”

(Sec.11).

** Colesville is the towns.h.i.+p in Broome County of which Harpursville is the voting place. Smith organized his converts there about two miles north of Harpursville.

By April 6, 1830, branches of the new church had been established at Fayette, Manchester, and Colesville, New York, with some seventy members in all, it has been stated. Section 20 of the ”Doctrine and Covenants”

names April 6, 1830, as the date on which the church was ”regularly organized and established, agreeable to the laws of our country.” This date has been incorrectly given as that on which the first step was taken to form a church organization. What was done then was to organize in a form which, they hoped, would give the church a standing as a legal body.* The meeting was held at the house of Peter Whitmer. Smith, who, it was revealed, should be the first elder, ordained Cowdery, and Cowdery subsequently ordained Smith. The sacrament was then administered, and the new elders laid their hands on the others present.

* Whitmer's ”Address to Believers in the Book of Mormon.”

”The revelation” (Sec. 20) on the form of church government is dated April, 1830, at least six months before Rigdon's name was first a.s.sociated with the scheme by the visit of Cowdery and his companions to Ohio. If the date is correct, it shows that Rigdon had forwarded this ”revelation” to Smith for promulgation, for Rigdon was unquestionably the originator of the system of church government. David Whitmer has explained, ”Rigdon would expound the Old Testament Scriptures of the Bible and Book of Mormon, in his way, to Joseph, concerning the priesthood, high priests, etc., and would persuade Brother Joseph to inquire of the Lord about this doctrine and about that doctrine, and of course a revelation would always come just as they desired it.”*

* Whitmer's ”Address to Believers in the Book of Mormon.”

The ”revelation” now announced defined the duty of elders, priests, teachers, deacons, and members of the Church of Christ. An apostle was an elder, and it was his calling to baptize, ordain, administer the sacrament, confirm, preach, and take the lead in all meetings. A priest's duty was to preach, baptize, administer the sacrament, and visit members at their houses. Teachers and deacons could not baptize, administer the sacrament, or lay on hands, but were to preach and invite all to join the church. The elders were directed to meet in conference once in three months, and there was to be a High Council, or general conference of the church, by which should be ordained every President of the high priesthood, bishop, high counsellor, and high priest.

Smith's leaders.h.i.+p had, before this, begun to manifest itself. He had, in a generous mood, originally intended to share with others the honor of receiving ”revelations,” the first of these in the ”Book of Doctrine and Covenants,” saying, ”I the Lord also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things to the world.” In the original publication of these ”revelations,” under the t.i.tle ”Book of Commandments,” we find such headings as, ”A revelation given to Oliver,”