mons found their way to Quincy, Ill., where public meetings were held and measures adopted for their benefit; and of these some, on a return of prosperity, joined the Mormons at Nauvoo.

While the Saints were at Independence a "Book of Commandments," for the government of the Church of Christ, organized according to law, on the 6th of April, 1830, was partly written, but not published, as the following extract will show :

A "Book of Commandments," for the government of the Church of Christ, organized according to law, on the 6th of April, 1830. 32mo, pp. 160, boards, Zion, Published by W. W. Phelps & Co., 1833.

This book was never published, nor even completed. Only two copies are known. The sheets were destroyed by a Missouri mob. People who know just enough of Mormonism to call the "Book of Mormon" the " Mormon Bible'-to think they know that it was written by Solomon Spaulding, and stolen from a Pittsburg printing-office by Sidney Rigdon, and handed over by him to Prophet Joe-and who measured the evils of Mormonism only by the number of defections from their own particular sect-and I have never conversed with an anti-Mormon, other than an apostate, whose knowledge or interest extended much farther-will read with distrust or indifference, if they read at all, the assertion which I unhesitatingly make, that this book, if valued by its importance, would bring a larger price than was ever paid for a single volume. People who think they know all about it, suppose the "Book of Mormon'' to be to Mormonism what the Bible is to Christianity. Nothing could be farther from the fact. Mr. Stenhouse, who was for many years one of their leading men, and probably the most intelligent man that they ever had among them, once told me that he never read the "Book of Mormon' through in his life, and that he did not believe anybody else ever did.

In a roundabout manner, not a peculiarity of Mormons, but a characteristic of churchmen, the Mormons, in their articles of belief, say, and the elders never tire of repeating, that they believe in the Bible, the "Book of Mormon," and the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants." To know their crooked ways, which, I repeat, are not peculiar to themselves, is to know that they would place the book which they attach the least importance to in the front rank, and that which

This they would be cer-
As the "Book of Com-

they regard as most important in the rear. tain to do, and this they have always done. mandments" is really the first edition of the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants," one must be made acquainted with the general character and standing of the book before he can understand the special importance attaching to this edition. In short-for I do not propose to write a treatise upon Mormonism, lest from lack of literary ability I should make as miserable a failure as most writers have made from ignorance of the subject-the book is composed of what purport to be "revelations" straight from God to Prophet Joe! Professor J. B. Turner, one of the best-informed of the anti-Mormon writers, says of the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants": "It has really exerted a thousand-fold more influence on the doctrines and destinies of the Mormon Church than all other books put together, still it is usually kept in the background, and the Book of Mormon ' thrown forward as their main authority, next after the Bible." This is perhaps plain enough ; but in view of the fact that among all classes of people less is known of Mormonism than of the sea-serpent, I will add, in my own plainer if not stronger words, that the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants" is the whole of Mormonism. Counting deaths and defections, not less than half a million people (mostly fools, as Carlyle said of the population of the British Islands) have been bamboozled, first into a belief that God is the Author of the miserable trash, and, as necessary correlatives, that the Mormons are the Saints, and hell the portion of all others. During forty-five of the fifty years of Mormonism, from the moment the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants" was issued in 1835, there has existed in the "Book of Commandments" proof of the very kind which the circumstances seemed to demand-i.e., proof, plain and convincing, to the meanest understanding, of the fraudulent character of both versions. The proposition could hardly obtain credence, even among the kind of timber from which Mormons are made, that an All-wise Being could, in one hundred and sixty pages 32mo, make so many blunders as have been corrected--if the alterations may be called correctionsin the next following and first known edition of these precious revelations."

"When Joe was getting up the Book of Mormon' he loaned a portion of the manuscript to Martin Harris, the man who was fool enough to pay for printing it. Mrs. Harris got hold of it and secretly burned it. Joe, who, being fearful that Mrs. Harris had not destroyed it, but still had it in her possession, dared not go through with the farce of pretending to re-translate it, lest Mrs. H. should

upset his pretensions by printing his first version, which he knew hɔ could not make his second version conform to, left it out altogether, and commenced his book where the lost portion ended; and so much was forever lost to religion. On that occasion he made a mistake by over-caution. When, under somewhat similar circumstances, he was again called upon to act, he made a still worse mistake by taking the opposite course. One day, while this edition was being printed at what is now Independence, Mo., the anti-Mormon border ruffians pounced upon Zion,' as the Mormons called their settlement, and in next to no time their two-story brick printing-office, with all that it contained-building, press, type, sheets, paper and all-were converted into a mass of ruins, and the Saints were running away with nothing but their lives. There can be no doubt that Joe and his lieutenants felt confident that not a copy of the sheets had been preserved. When, in 1835, the book was first given to a wicked world, two years' experience had enabled Joe to make numerous amendments. In some cases he modified or curtailed his revelations; in some cases they are considerably amplified; but in all cases the actions are made to meet the requirements of 1835. That Joe was shameless, audacious, brazen-faced, and would not have risked these alterations had he not felt very certain that every printed copy of the original version had been destroyed, is proved to the satisfaction of people of ordinary intelligence by his conduct in relation to the lost translation of the manuscript of the Book of Mormon ;' but what renders the conclusion absolutely inevitable is the fact that after the revelations were actually published beyond recall they were never again, even in the slightest degree, subjected to the Almighty revision."

CHAPTER VIII.

The Mormons at Nauvoo-Description of the Temple-The Death of the Prophet.

JOSEPH SMITH was now approaching the zenith of his fame and power. He had arrived in Illinois from his imprisonment in Missouri, so far the darkest period of his history. The injustice with which he and his people (as it was at the time generally considered) had been treated served to awaken pity in their behalf.

The Prophet's prospects at once brightened when Dr. Isaac Gallard, a notorious character, presented a part of a large tract of land to him in Carthage County, with a view of making a market for the remainder.

Immediately Joseph had a "revelation" that this was the "centre spot," and he commanded the Saints to assemble there to build a city, a temple, etc. The city, the angel told him, was to be called "Nauvoo," which, he said, means "the Beautiful." It is located on the east bank of the Mississippi River, forty miles above Quincy, Ill., and twenty miles west of Burlington, Iowa, at a bend of the river, on rising ground, commanding a magnificent view of the "Father of Waters" for many miles.

The land given to Joseph was divided into lots and sold to the Mormons, by which he realized over one million of dollars. The Saints from all quarters responded to the call to hasten to the new city, and it immediately grew into importance.

Fifteen years before Smith had been known as a com

mon vagrant; now he was known as a mayor, a pontiff, and as a very rich man, the legislature having granted the city a charter with extraordinary privileges, including the authorization of a military body, afterward known as the "Nauvoo Legion," of which he was the lieutenant-general-a corps to which all the male Mormons capable of bearing arms belonged.

Nauvoo became the capital of the world to the Mormons, and attracted general attention. This new "everlasting residence" of the Saints was changed from a desert into an abode of plenty and luxury. Gardens sprang up as if by magic, plethoric with the most beautiful flowers of the New and the Old World, whose seeds had been brought from distant lands as souvenirs to the new "Zion ;" broad streets were laid out, houses erected, and the busy hum of industries was heard in the marts of commerce. Steamboats unloaded their stores, and passengers came and departed for fresh supplies of merchandise; fields waved with golden harvests, and cattle dotted the neighboring hills. The new settlement was increased by horse-thieves, house-breakers, robbers, and people of the most disreputable character, who joined the community to cloak their villainous deeds in mystery. Speculators, too, came and bought property with the hope of remuneration. Some of these people were baptized, but being unwilling to pay full tithes, were "ousted" from the ranks, which were again quickly filled.

An intelligent officer of the United States Army, who visited Nauvoo in the height of its prosperity, gives an account of the city and its institutions as he saw them at this time: "Yesterday," he says, "was a great day among the Mormons. Their legion, to the number of two thousand men, were paraded by Generals Smith, Bennett, and others, and certainly made a very fine ap