Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1884-04-29

WORK pflntcI. III Caln3 from the
press in 1880, with the names of Oil
vr Cowdcry, Martin Harris and
David Wilmer appended to state
mcnt that an angel Of God had come
down from Iclven and shown them
the original p'atCs. These three,
Smith himself, and eight other per-
sons, three of whom were Smiths
f"hnr AMI two brothers, were the on
" mortals who ever enjoyed that
privilege. The plates mys eiCu ly
disappeared when the translation
was completed, and have never been
s 'cn again to this day.
Directly after the appcarin &c of the
Book Of Mormon it was clearly
shown by competent critics that the
portions that were not clumsy pla-
giarisms from the Old and New
Testament Scriptures were stolen
bodily from a manuscript religious
romance written by one Solomon
Spalding, whilom preacher. who
died in 1916, which was known as
late as 1899 to be in the possession of
one Sidney Rigdon, originally a
printer, but afterwards the founder
of and preacher to a sect of his
founding. whose tcnets were sug-
"csIivc Of Mormonism. There is bur
little doubt that. with the all If
Spaldings manuscript and the Bible.
those two concOctcd the Book of
Mormon. This is clearly proven
rom the fact that in :hat portion of
the Took of Mormon corresponding
with the New Testament of the
Scriptures, the principal references
are to Calvinism, Universalism,
Melhodism, Millerism and Roman
Catholicism, all of which are dis
cusScd in reality if not by name.
none of which were dreamed of at
the supposed date of the sealing of
the plates by Moroni. Infant bap-
tism is condemned in this book, and,
strangely enough, so are polygamy
and trccmasOnry.
On the 9th day Of April the fir,
congregation Of the Church of the
Latter Day Saints was organized in
the town of Manchester, Ontario
county, New York, by Joseph Smith,
prophet, AMI Sidney Rigdon, high
priest. At once all the religious de-
nominations wageI fierce warfare
upon the new church, but Smith met
vehement arguments with still fiercer
arguments, and. when these failed.
resOrtGd to Il species Of Jealous
prophetic asscvcration that was gen
orally irresistible with the weak and
ignorant Of the community. HIS
opponents then rcsortcd to every ar
tilice to inilamc the popular mind
against the new sect. Smiths house
was bcset by mobS, his person AS
Saultcd, scvcra, times he was shot at,
more than once escaping narrowly
q violent death. But his courage
was not Of quality to be daunted.
The hostile feeling gathered such
force, however, and danger to the
persons and property Of Smith and
his adherents grew so imminent that,
in January, 1881, they considered it
prudent to abandon Western New
York and set up their temple in a
new and distant part Of the country.
Consequently they established them
selves at Kirkland, Ohio, which
Smith proclaimed had been pointed
out to him 10y the Lord, in a rcvela.
ton, as the seat of the New Jcru-
salem. Here they made wonderful
progress. Their missionaries were
tirelcsS and Jealous, converts were
numbered by hundreds and thou.
sands and churches established IN
States of Ohio, Pennsylvania, New
York, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and al
one or two points IN Western Mis-.
souri,.
But persecution again beset tho
prophet in his Ohio home. A mol
broke into his house one night al
Kirkland, tore him from the arms o.
his wife, carried him into an ada
cent meadow, and treated him to {
coat of tar and feathers. So fal
from being intimidated, he preached