Mormonism: Its Leaders and Designs/Chapter 1

by John Hyde, Jr.

CHAPTER I.

The Author.

• Mormonism in England and America
• Embraces Mormonism
• Is ordained and preaches
• Goes as a missionary to France
• Leaves England for America
• Visits Carthage and Nauvoo
• The Smiths
• Icariens
• The plains
• Indians
• Arrives at Salt Lake
• Initiated into the Mormon mysteries
• Efforts to leave Salt Lake City
• Appointed a missionary to the Sandwich Islands
• Leaves for California
• Doubts and difficulties
• Pacific ocean
• Arrives at Sandwich Islands
• Renounces Mormonism
• Brigham's certificate
• Motive for active conduct of the Church toward him.

Books require to be instructive and credible. These qualities altogether depend on the opportunities of the author to obtain corrrect information, and the purity of his motives in imparting it. To have been a Mormon, is to be an object of suspicion. To be an apostate, is to be regarded with distrust. To be an apostate Mormon, is to be doubly suspected. As the weight of testimony entirely depends on the credibility of the witness, I therefore commence my evidence with a statement as to myself. Who I am, how I became what I am, and why I write, are questions every one should ask. I endeavor to reply. Mormonism in England and Mormonism in Utah are two very different systems. In England all its objectionable principles were not only ignored, but denied. Its Apostles and Elders not only uttered negative but also positive falsehoods, in order to induce belief. They not only denied many things that were true, but stated many things that were utterly false. As a sample of their falsehoods, I will instance polygamy. This was practiced by Smith in 1838, and the Mormon Apostles knew it. Yet, when the Church was charged with its adoption, Parley P. Pratt, in Manchester, England, before the general conference of the European churches, and in the Millennial Star of 1846, thus publicly denounced it: "Such a doctrine is not held, known, or practiced as a principle of the Latter-day Saints. It is but another name for whoredom; and is as foreign from the real principles of the Church, as the devil is from God; or as sectarianism is from Christianity" (Millennial Star, vol. vi., p. 22). And yet this man knew that Smith and others had children living who were the offspring of this very practice! John Taylor, another Mormon Apostle, in a discussion held at Boulogne, France, in July 1850, was charged with the belief of this doctrine, to which accusation he thus replied: "We are accused here of polygamy and actions the most indelicate, obscene and disgusting, such as none but a corrupt heart could have conceived. These things are too outrageous to be believed; therefore I shall content myself with reading our views of chastity and marriage, from a work published by us, containing some of the articles of our faith." He read in the Book of Smith's Revelations, p. 330, the marriage covenant: "You both mutually agree to be each other's companion, husband and wife; observing all the legal rights belonging to this condition; that is, keeping yourselves wholly for each other, and from all others during your lives!" And on p. 331: "Inasmuch as this Church of Jesus Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication and polygamy, we declare that we believe that one man should have one wife, and one woman but one husband, except in case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again!" And again, on p. 124: "Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shall cleave unto her, and none else; and he that looketh on a woman to lust after her, shall deny the faith, and not have the spirit, and be cast out." "There," exclaimed Elder Taylor, triumphantly, "that is our doctrine on this subject" (Taylor's Discussion at Boulogne, p. 8). And this man had four wives wrangling and quarreling at Utah, and was paying attentions to a girl at Jersey, Channel Islands, at the very moment he uttered these willful, intentional falsehoods!

The illustrious examples of such pseudo-inspired Apostles were industriously imitated by similarly inspired Elders. Where the former were content with mere affirmation or denial, the latter blasphemously called on God to attest their veracity; and challenged the Almighty to disprove their statements. Some of them denounced their accusers with bitter curses, and threatened them with all kinds of spiritual horrors. From the lips of such men, and others who had been deceived by such men, did my father and myself first hear of Mormonism. The character of Smith, his many mighty miracles, his profound sagacity, his inspired teachings, the love of the Saints, the purity of their Zion, their frequent tribulations and sufferings, their uncomplaining submission and uncompromising virtue, came forth resplendent from their testimonies. Such statements, repeated constantly, and by different individuals, accompanied by vigorous attacks on the divisions, dissensions, and acrimony exhibited in too many sectaries, spiced by the empty bombast and cant of all pretended moral, political, and religious reformers, apparently sustained by positive practice; added to these incentives, a bewildering method of using, and an extensive acquaintance with passages of Scripture; novel dogmas sincerely believed and enthusiastically taught, for which they claimed special revelation as their origin; all this, heightened by the most barefaced assertions of predictions accomplished, of singular healings certainly performed, of positive promises of conviction following obedience, of the ancient signs, and of the old priesthood—all this uttered by men who hesitated at almost no falsehood "which should convert a soul," could not but arrest our attention. "To doubt is to be damned already," said Paul; and he was right. Into this whirlpool of enthusiasm we, with many others, were insensibly borne. Very little attention was paid to the subject by the conservators of religious truth. Despised, it was neglected; and because neglected, it continued to grow. With little or no contradiction, and the little that was made, readily silenced by these men, they made themselves believed. All that was known of Mormonism was known from their statements; positively thinking it something holier, purer and truer, it was embraced by hundreds. To fervently embrace a delusion, is to more sincerely believe it. They clothed it in the drapery of warm emotions; and good men, in their desires for something more exalted and God-like, viewed it through the distorted medium of their own wishes; not knowing it as it was, they thought it was what they hoped it to be. When they began to see the difference between their conception and the reality, many were too enmeshed to forsake it. Men always strive to make that appear true which they conceive it their interest to be true; because they like to have for their actions the sanction of their own consciences. Nor is this mental process very difficult; and it easily and satisfactorily accounts for glaring absurdities, and yet actual sincerity. It is thus with many of the Mormons. They were sincere in embracing Mormonism; and when their minds began to doubt, if they ever had sense enough to doubt, the weight of interest crushed down the resistance of conscience; and, although ceasing to be true to themselves, they became true to their system. The dread of being called inconsistent induced sincere consistency to their religion, while sacrificing the only real consistency, that of man with himself.

I had an ideal of what religion and the worship of God might be; I imagined that this system, as I then heard it expounded, realized that ideal; and, in the love of that ideal, I embraced it and was accordingly baptized, on the 4th of September, 1848, being then a boy of fifteen years. Since proving that that ideal religion is fallacious, and that the reality of Mormonism is depraving, I have abandoned it.

That I was sincere in my faith and conscientious in my conduct, I believe no one will attempt to dispute. In the December of the same year, I was ordained a Priest, and commenced to preach Mormonism as I had received, and then believed it to be. This I continued to do in various places in England till, in June, 1851, I was appointed to join the French mission, as it was called, and then under the direction of Elder John Taylor, who had, in 1850, left Salt Lake, expressly to commence preaching Mormonism in that country.

On the 1st of August, 1851, I was ordained, as the following certificate shows, to be "one of the Seventies," an office of equal power but inferior jurisdiction to that of "one of the Twelve."

CERTIFICATE.

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To All to whom these Presents shall come:

This certifies that JOHN HYDE has been received into the CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, organized on the SIXTH DAY OF APRIL, 1830, and was ORDAINED into the EIGHTH QUORUM of SEVENTIES, the First day of August, 1851, and by virtue of his OFFICE he is authorized to PREACH THE GOSPEL, and officiate in all the ordinances thereof, in all the world, agreeable to the authority of the HOLY PRIESTHOOD vested in him; we, therefore, in the name, and by the authority of this CHURCH, grant unto this our BROTHER this LETTER OF COMMENDATION unto all persons wherever his lot may be cast, as a proof of our esteem, praying for his prosperity in the Redeemer's cause.

Given under our hands at Great Salt Lake City, this Fifteenth day of June, 1854.

JOS. YOUNG, President.

Robert Campbell, Clerk.

I remained engaged in the French mission till January, 1853: a portion of which time I was in the Channel Islands, and a portion I spent at Havre-de-Grace.

On February 5th, 1853, I sailed from Liverpool, in company with nearly four hundred passengers for New Orleans. The passengers were exclusively Mormons, and all bound to the Great Salt Lake Valley; indulging high hopes of there realizing all that is desirable in holiness, purity, and brotherhood. We were organized in the Mormon fashion, with a President and his two Councilors, one of which I was chosen to be. After an ordinary passage to New Orleans, we ascended the magnificent Mississippi, to Keokuk, Iowa. From Keokuk, I paid a visit to Nauvoo, in company with an estimable and talented gentleman, then a Mormon, but whom a view of Salt Lake doings has since caused to apostatize and return to England. The Temple that the Mormons had built and completed in 1845, was in ruins, a savage specimen of modern Vandalism. (See engraving.)

I spent several days conversing with J. Smith's mother, wife, and family, and heard many charges against Brigham and his associates for actions in which, according to the Smiths, they had disobeyed the injunctions, contradicted the teachings, and maligned the memory of their late Prophet.

From this place I visited the Carthage jail, where J. Smith and his brother, Hiram, were assassinated in cold blood; and the wall against which he was placed, and barbarously shot at, after his death. (See engraving.)

The camp was thronging with life, there being nearly two thousand five hundred Mormons preparing to start for the plains. It presented a very pleasing view, and was delightfully situated on a hill overlooking the thriving city of Keokuk on the one side, and the majestic Mississippi on the other.

On June 1st, the company with which I traveled left for Council Bluffs City, crossed the river Missouri, on the 12th, saw the last civilized habitations that we were to see for months, and were fairly en route for Salt Lake. The scenery on the road, the incidents of camp life, with stampedes of cattle, toiling along by day, uncomfortable watchings by night, bad roads to mend, bridges to build, the sense of freedom exciting the mind, till the monotony becomes tedious and wearisome; all this has been so ably and so often described, as to be familiar to every one. We met a large party of Pawnee-Loups, on the Platte. They had just come from a battle with the Sioux; they were decked in all the glory of Indian warpaint, were well mounted and armed, and with their ferociously-daubed faces, heads shaved bare except the feathered scalp-lock, their threatening gestures, screaming tones, and insolent conduct, were very formidable fellows. We made them a large present of flour and other edibles for their "hungry papooses," or, strictly speaking, they levied the tax, and we paid it.

We arrived at Salt Lake City, in October, just in time for the Fall Conference. I married a young lady to whom I had been engaged in London, and began to teach school. Of course I was not long at Salt Lake before discovering the difference between what I had been taught to expect and what I saw. It may be asked why did I not immediately leave Salt Lake, and forsake Mormonism? Convictions received in boyhood, and that have been maturing and deepening with one's development, are not to be overturned by one disappointment or by one discovery. Inconsistency and contradiction do much to destroy belief; but these inconsistencies might be imaginary. Every tie that could bind any one to any system, united me to Mormonism. It had been the religion that my youth had loved and preached; it was the faith of my parents; of my wife and her relatives; my mind had been toned with its views, and my life associated with its ministers. I knew little or nothing of any other faith, and I clung with desperate energy to the system, although I repudiated the practices.

On Friday, February 10, 1854, I was initiated into the mysteries of the "Mormon endowment." What was the nature of those mysteries, none, before initiation, could have an idea. To understand, it was necessary to receive them. His is a strong mind over whom a mass of ceremonies could have no influence, in which representations of the most august beings are made to move and talk, and which included the most solemn oaths, accompanied by frightful penalties. The obligations of Free-masonry and Odd-fellowship exercise no small influence over the initiated; nor am I surprised that a superstitious terror, in many instances, enchains these endowed Mormons, at Salt Lake, in complete subjection to their Prophet Brigham, and his coadjutors.

In the spring of 1854, I determined to leave Salt Lake for California, but had not, neither could I obtain the means to do so. I candidly wrote and stated my views, however, to Orson Pratt, one of the Twelve Apostles, with whom I was intimate, and we frequently conversed on the subject. I had then resolved to leave in 1855, if possible, but was still prevented by poverty. At the conference held in April, 1856, I was publicly appointed, without any previous intimation, to go on a mission to the Sandwich Isles, and was instructed to leave by the May following. I accepted the appointment. I thought that perhaps, as I was told, I had "grown rusty;" that my waning faith was the result of inaction; that to be actively employed in the ministry might waken up my old confidence; that in the effort to convince others, I might succeed in reconvincing myself. The religion of my youth was still so enwrapped around my habits of thought, that I was desirous rather to prove it true, than demonstrate it to be false. I tried hard to believe it true, endeavored to act as though I did believe it, in the hope of producing conviction. In renouncing it, I have done so in spite of my prejudices.

In May, accordingly, I left Salt Lake City for the Sandwich Islands, having been chosen as president over the missionaries destined for that location. None of the missionaries to the Sandwich Islands were allowed to take their wives; this and other reasons compelled me to leave Mrs. Hyde with her relatives at Salt Lake. Besides this, my mind was at sea, floating in darkness and indecision. Ignorant of my real position, I knew not whither I should go if I were to turn; I therefore went straight on. I had to leave, for to remain was to abjure Mormonism; and I was not fully prepared for final and permanent apostacy. "I had seen Rome, was disgusted. with Rome, and still tried to disconnect Romanism from Rome;" and as it was with another, to some extent it was with me, it needed time, it needed thought, it needed collating my recollections, that I might feel the force of their sum. The opportunity for this thought and collation could not be obtained at Salt Lake City, nor in the business of crossing the plains. I endeavored to view Mormonism objectively, for theoretically it assumes to be the religion of human progress, apart from Mormonism subjectively, as it was then existing. I tried and failed. On the Pacific ocean, in communion with God and my own soul, the darkness of doubt that had blinded my eyes, and the mists of indecision that had paralyzed my energies, left me, and I resolved not only to renounce Mormonism, but also to tell the world freely, fully, and fearlessly, as well my reasons, as my experience.

To this end I have labored in the Sandwich Isles, California, and elsewhere; and to this object do I determine to devote myself. If Mormonism as it is be true, the better it is understood the better will it be for the world. If it be false, it is the duty of every man to endeavor to manifest its errors. To deter persons from embracing delusion, and to rescue from complete self-sacrifice any who have already embraced it are my only motives for adopting my course.

My opportunities for knowing Mormonism as it is, will not, I think, be disputed by any of its believers. My motives for revealing that knowledge are open to God and the world. Ever since my first connection with the Church, honors and authority have been heaped upon me. Increased and increasing honors were before me when I abandoned it. I could not have been actuated by disappointed ambition, therefore, because they never gave me any neglect to avenge. Nor could it have been from personal pique, as I know of no antipathy felt toward me. That my secession was entirely voluntary, and my reputation unquestioned, the subjoined document, handed to me immediately previous to leaving Salt Lake, will prove.

The tone adopted by the Mormon authorities toward me, subsequent to my secession, may be judged by the following extract from a sermon, preached by H. C. Kimball, at Salt Lake City, January 11, 1857:

"There is a little matter of business that we want to lay before this congregation in regard to John Hyde, who went to the Sandwich Islands on a mission. There are a couple of letters that the brethren have received; we shall read a little from them, and give you to understand the course he is taking. (The letters were read.) You hear the letters and the testimony of our brethren in regard to John Hyde. Such matters, many times, have passed along, and we have not noticed them, but have let men deny the faith, speaking against it, and deliver lectures through the world. Many times we have let them run at large, but the time is now passed for such a course of things. By the consent of my brethren, I shall move that John Hyde be cut off from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I will put the motion in full; that is, that he be cut off, root and branch; that means pertaining to himself. When this motion is put, I want you to vote, every one of you, either for or against, for there is no sympathy to be shown unto such a man. Br. Wells has seconded the motion I have made. All that are in favor that John Hyde be cut off from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and that he be delivered over to Satan to be buffeted in the flesh, will raise their right hands. (All hands were raised.)

A motion has been put, and unanimously carried, that

ELDER'S CERTIFICATE.

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To All persons to whom this Letter shall Come:

This certifies that the bearer, Elder JOHN HYDE, Jun., is in full faith and fellowship with the CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, and by the General Authorities of said Church, has been duly appointed a MISSION to SANDWICH ISLES to PREACH THE GOSPEL, and administer in all the ordinances thereof pertaining to his office.

And we invite all men to give heed to his teachings and counsels as a man of Gon, sent to open to them the door of life and salvation—and assist him in his travels, in whatsoever things he may need.

And we pray God the Eternal Father to bless Elder HYDE, and all who receive him, and minister to his comfort, with the blessings of heaven and earth, for time and for all eternity, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Signed at Great Salt Lake City, Territory of Utah, April 10th, 1856, in behalf of said Church.

First Presidency.

John Hyde be cut off root and branch; that is, himself, and all the roots and branches that are within him. This has no allusion to his family. He has taken a course by which he has lost his family, and forfeited his priesthood; he has forfeited his membership. The limb is cut off, but the priesthood takes the fruit that was attached to the limb and saves it, if it will be saved. Do you understand me? His wife is not cut off from this Church, but she is free from him; she is just as free from him as though she never had belonged to him. The limb she was connected to is cut off, and she must again be grafted into the tree, if she wishes to be saved; that is all about it."—Deseret News, January 21st, 1857.

Not only was I not influenced by prejudice, pique or disappointment in my secession from the Mormon Church; but, in spite of all prejudices, at the sacrifice of all friendships, at the hazard of breaking every tie that united me to happiness and the world, and at the risk of life itself, I have acted as I have. That I have done right I am convinced. God knows I have done it in the love of right. To be able, in how slight degree soever, to expose error and yet to remain silent is to connive at and share the responsibility of that error. While deploring that my best years for improvement have been squandered in delusion, it is a duty I owe to others similiarly circumstanced, to endeavor to convince them of their true position. Less than this is less than right. For as the subject is of paramount importance to the world if true, and to the Mormons themselves if false, so its correct exposure must therefore be equally important, and consequently, so far obligatory.

If in the succeeding pages I may have been guilty of exaggeration, I am not aware of it; I certainly do not intend it. Mormonism licenses too much corruption under the name of religion, to need any exaggeration to make it atrocious. The Mormons are guilty of too many crimes to need any addition to them to render them abominable.