The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-03-18
GROWTH OF AN INCUBUS
M0rmoniSm Is One of the Curses
of the Country.
Sermon Delivered Last Night BY
Rev. F. {. R. Miller.
UncIean Life of Joseph Smith, the
First of the Prophets"
Shrewd Fellow Who Played Upon Su-
perstitions of Ignorant.
From Mondays Daily.

Rev. F. E. R. Miller last night delivered
an excellent sermon on "Mormonism,"
before crowded congregation at the
Baptist church. A most complete history
of the founding and growth of "The
Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter
Day Saints was given. Joseph Smith
the founder, was born at Sharon, Wind
sor county, Vermont, Dec. %, 1905. Early
| in the lads life his parents moved to thu
state of New York and there he grew in
to youth and manhood. Among their
neighbors in the towns of Palmyra and
Manchester, N. Y, the reputation of the
Smith family was of the worst kind
Members of the household were intern
perate and unclean, noted for lying and
suspected of sheep stealing and other
minor crimes The mother was an ig-
norant, deceitful, masculine, woman, very
superstitious, the witch or fortune teller
of the community. The parents brought
oIC hihC ChtioicI up " ochcNc tldC ldUoI
is degrading, that education is unneces-
sary to the men whose wits are sharp,
that wise person will live off the toll
of others.
Joseph learned to live by shrewdness,
playing upon the weakness of simple
people, deluding and cheating them. He
could read a little but was never able
to more than write his own name. From
the superstitions Of his mother he de-
rived the rude, sensual, religious turn of
mind His parents, decided that Joseph
should be a prophet and constantly i'm
fourteenth year he began to receive an
gelic visitors and visions. One evening an
angel of God stood in Smiths presence,
and informed him that ''his sins were
forgiven, and his prayers heard; the
covenant which God made with ancient
Israel was at hand to be fulfilled; pre-
paratory work for the second coming of
the Messiah was to be Immediately be-
gun; the Gospel was to be preached in
fullness and power; and Smith was
chosen as Gods agent to bring about
these glorious purposes" The angel also
told him many historical mysteries about
the ancestry of the American Indians,
and that the records, were concealed con
the west side of hill not far from the
top about four miles from Palmyra, in
the county of Ontario, and near the main
road, which leads thence to the little
town of Manchester"
Smith, it is taught, found the book,
consisting of golden plates, and read off
the translation by the aid of a miracul-
lous pair of spectacles, to a man named
Cowdery, who thus. wrote the ''Book of
Mormons." Immediately upon the pub
LEGATION of this work, the preaching of
the doctrine began. Numbers of ignor-
ant, superstitious psople were induced to
form a Mormon community. They were
driven from New York to Ohio, from
Ohio to Missouri and from Missouri to
Illinois by the feroest persecution. The
mysterious custom of sealing wives"
caused most of this persecution, and the
final mobbing and shooting of Joseph and
Hiram Smith in 1874
Brigham Young was elected Smiths
successor and the, exodus to Utah took
place Polygamy was made an insti-
tuition of the church. At present there
are more than 1900 Mormon missionaries
scattered throughout America and
Europe and about 100000 members of
the church enrolled. Their forces are re-
cruited in the main from the poor and
the ignorant.
Rev. Miller dwe1t at some length on
the abominable doctrines and practices
of the Mornons. Into the big hierarch-
ical machine women are fed by the hun
dreds with the result that they are
crushed, their hearts and spirits ground
to powder.
The Mormon hierarchy aspires to see
all peoples converted to its faith and
subject to its pohtico-ecclesiastical rule.
Said Bishop Lund in 1880: ''Today we
hold the, balance of power in idaho, we
rule Utah absolutely and in very short
time we will hold the balance of power
in Arizona and Wyoming. Our vote is
solid and will always remain So 1t will
be thrown where the most good will be
accomplished for the church In some
gyeat political crisis the two present
political parties will bid for our support.
We will then dictate to the country."
Rev. Miller dwelt upon two remedies
for the peril he outlined: Missionary
effort along the line of Christian educa-
ton. and an amendment to the United
States constitution providing for feder-
o,d I1UnroQ