Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1858-03-11

sion, the former OF whom first saw the light
on the 1st, and the latter on the 18th Of
June in the same year, 1901. Joe Smith,
appears to have been a man Of ardent tenn
permanent, vivid imagination and considera-
BILE tact, and intuitive knowledge of man.
kind, accompanied by great self-reliance, or
character of impostor and fanatic have SO
many points of contact and are often so DIFF
fcult to distinguish, that history is nearly
always at fault in endeavoring to decide be-
tween the two in any particular case. The
true character of Mahomet is, even to this
day, matter of controversy, and, clouded
as the early history Of Mornonism and its
founder is, with lies and exaggerations Of
every sort, both by friends and foes, we
leave the question to debating societies, to
discuss whether Joe Smith was, upon the
whole, a hypocrite or an enthusiast. The
events of his career furnish abundant proof
to support either hypothesis.
The modern prophet commenced after the
most approved and orthodox method by see
ling visions and dreaming dreams. He had
a meagre education, but an inquiring and
speculative mind. According to his own
account, he was very early possessed with
strong religious sentiment, but was sore
lly perplexed and embarrassed in his search
for truth, particularly by the diversities and
discussions in the christian church. His
early life seems to have alternated between
spasms of religious frenzy, and fits Of dis
sipation and debauchery. It was at the
age of fourteen, that Smith represents him
self as receiving the first miraculous ultima
ton of the new revelation which he was
destined to be the medium of commnnicat-
ing to mankind. He beheld a prodigy
vast light of extraordinary brilliancy de-
scended from heaven, and without consum-
ing the foliage, completely filled and illu-
minated the grove in which he was praying
Tho vision, as narrated by Smith, is obvi-
ously but clumsy parody upon the Mosaic
account of the burning bush. Two glori-
GUS personages'' then stood forth FROM the
flames and warned him by no means to fol-
low after the false doctrines of any of the
existing religious sects, assured him that
they had all, without exception, departed
''the fulness of the gospel should be man
ifested to him by new inspiration.
The promised dispensat;on was revealed
according to the Mormon account on the
night of the 21st of September, 1923, at
the little village of Palmyra, New York, to
which place Smiths parents had removed
eight years previously. The vision Of the
fiery cloud was repeated, accompanied with
all becoming and suitable sights and sounds
A parsonage" again appeared and disclos-
ed to him that the covenant which God had
made with ancient Israel was about to be
preached in its completeness and power un-
to all nations, to prepare them for the ap-
preaching Millennium. Smith, Of course,
was to be the Instrument to bring about this
glorious consummation. He was informed
that the American Indians were "the rem
nant of Israel descendants Of the lost
tribes That when they first euigrated to
this continent from Asia, they were an en-
1Iiehtened people, having their inspired pro-
phets. and seers and scribes. who kept re-
cord Of the events in their history, as we'll
as of the revelations which were disclosed
to them pertaining to the latter days. p
That these records were handed down from
generation to generation. until the people
relapsed into gross depravity, When they
were engraved on tabl is, aud deposited in
the earth for safe keeping until the ''ful-
ness of time" should be accomplished. He
was then told where the tablets were buried.
and referred for further instructions to the
documents themselves.
! Such is the marvellous account given of
the discovery of the celebrated Mormon
o11fes. Smith, it will be remembered, claim
ed that he dug them out OF a curious stone
chest, buried in the earth somewhere in the
vicinity of Canandaigua, in the State of
New York, where they had been deposited
fourteen hundred years before by the prim-
tive Indians, the posterity of Israel: The
plates are of gold, or Of a composition re-
sembling it, about seven by eight inches in
length and breadth, and bound together by
rings running through them are in char
acter resembling the Egyptian, but by the
miraculous assistance of an enormous pair
of spectacles, which were also found in the
chest, Smith was enabled to decipher them
Of course, the existence of these plates,
Or anything like them, is myth, or in plain
terms, humbug No credible evidence
exists that any mortal eye save Smiths ever
saw them. What ever visions or prodiges
might have been conjurcd up by Smiths
diseased Imagination, under the excitement
of religious delirium, it is quite certain that
the production of the '.Book OF, Mormon"
was an unmitigated imposture. How Smith,
who was an illiterate boy, could have got
hold Of work showing the elaborate re-
search and ingenuity which undoubtedly