Читать книгу The Restoration of the Gospel - Osborne J. P. Widtsoe - Страница 6

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The Smiths little thought when they moved in 1818 to the township of Manchester, that their name would soon become known for good or for ill the world over. The years before had been years of honor and distinction in the community where they had lived. Robert Smith—the first of the family in America—had emigrated from England in the year 1638; and for four generations his posterity lived in the little town of Topsfield,^[A] Massachusetts. They tilled the soil with faithfulness and prospered, and were respected by their neighbors. All of them were patriots, devoted to the cause of American liberty; some of them served with courage and distinction in the great War of Independence. But when the war was over, they retired to their farms—to their daily, honorable toil. The head of the Smith family in 1818 was born in Topsfield, too, in the year 1771. When a young man, however, he moved with his father to Tunbridge, Vermont. There, young Smith acquired a farm of his own, and married. There, through the trickery of his associates in a commercial enterprise, he failed. But he paid honestly every debt. He sold his farm; he sold his horses and his cattle; he sold all that he had, and set out empty-handed for Palmyra, New York, to start life anew. Two hundred acres of forest land he cleared and put under cultivation. Then, in common with many others who were pioneering in New York, Smith lost the newly broken farm because he could not meet the final payment. Nothing daunted, however, Mr. Smith moved with his family to Manchester township. There he secured a comfortable farm of sixteen acres, and prepared to continue the quiet life of honest toil and prosperity that had characterized his family since Robert Smith first set foot on American soil. There was nothing about the Smiths in 1818 to indicate that their name would ever become known beyond their immediate neighborhood.

[Footnote A: Robert Smith purchased two hundred eighty acres of land partly in Boxford township, partly in Topsfield. For this reason he was called Robert Smith of Boxford.]

In the spring of 1820, however, Manchester, with other parts of western New York, was swept by a wave of religious revival. Religious revivals were not uncommon in the century that is past. The people of the Christian world were then more susceptible to religious emotion than they are today. Those of the American frontier were especially very generally devoted to the cause of religion. They read the Bible prayerfully, and they attended to the worship of God on the Sabbath day. But they did not, of course, understand perfectly the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. Disputes arose often among them—disputes on questions of doctrine between the votaries of the various denominational sects. For then, as now, there existed an unauthorized number of differing creeds. And these disputes led often to unfortunate defections. Truly, the house of God should not be a house of turmoil; when strife and confusion arose, it is no wonder that many, who looked for peace and order, should become indifferent to the affairs the Church. When there was but one accepted Christian church, and that one universal in its authority, it was still sufficiently difficult to secure faithful observance of church ritual. When the Christian world became broken into hundreds of contending sects—and no one of them nearly universal in its authority—it became measurably more difficult to hold the religious interest of the people. It was, then, when there occurred a kind of apostasy from spiritual things that religious revivals were held such as that which came to Manchester in the spring of 1820.

The revival movement of that year seems to have originated with the Methodists in the winter of 1819. Rapidly, however, it spread from sect to sect, and from village to village, until every denomination in western New York was affected by it. The ministers—most prominent among whom were the Reverend Mr. Stockton of the Presbyterian church and the Reverend Mr. Lane of the Methodist church—united in the effort to bring about a spiritual awakening. They did what lay in their power to do to inspire religious enthusiasm. They professed that they cared not with what sect a man might later ally himself, so only he "got religion" and became "converted." Thus, the Methodists, the Presbyterians, the Baptists, and all other denominations there represented, seemed to co-operate unitedly, and in love, to bring about the greatest good for the people concerned.

And the people responded encouragingly to the efforts of the ministerial body. Those who lived in the cities attended the revival meetings in throngs; those who lived far away flocked to the larger centers to take part in the spiritual awakening. The leaders preached eloquent, emotional sermons. They marshaled their arguments with masterly skill. They wrought upon the fears of the people till they became stirred to the very depths of their souls. Often these revival meetings were productive of marvelous manifestations. The great revival of Kentucky, in 1800, seems to have been in a way the beginning and inspiration of a long series of revivals in following years. The meetings held there were typical of the revival in general; we turn to descriptions of them to learn how they were conducted, and how they were characterized. Professor J. B. Turner of Illinois College says, "The people were accustomed to assemble, sometimes to the number of ten or twelve thousand, and they often continued together, in devotional exercises, for several days and nights. Here the people were sometimes seized with general tremor, the pulse grew weaker, their breathing difficult, and, at long intervals, their hands and feet became cold, and finally they fell, and both pulse and breath, and all symptoms of life forsook them for nearly an hour, during which time they suffered no pain, and were perfectly conscious of their condition and knew what was passing around them.

"At one time during service, several shrieks were uttered, and people fell in all directions. Not less than one thousand fell at one meeting. Their outward expressions of devotion consisted in alternate singing, crying, laughing, shouting, and every variety of violent motion, of which the muscular system is capable. These violent motions they soon became unable to resist. They were violently thrown upon the ground by the convulsions, where their motions 'resembled those of a fish upon land.' This disease lasted through several years, in some cases, and propagated itself by sympathetic imitation, from one to another,^[B] with astonishing rapidity; in crowds, and often in small assemblies."^[C]

[Footnote B: The italics are the present writer's.]

[Footnote C: Turner, "Mormonism in All Ages" (1842), pp. 272,273.]

Another professor, writing of the same remarkable phenomena, says, "It happened that in the summer of 1799 two McGee brothers, William, a Presbyterian, and John, a Methodist, when crossing the pine barrens in Ohio, determined to turn aside and visit a sacramental solemnity at Red River. * * * Several preachers spoke. First John McGee, the Methodist, and never, as he says himself, did he preach with more light and liberty. Then his Presbyterian brother and the Rev. Mr. Hodge spoke with much animation and power. While the latter was discoursing, a woman in the east end of the house, unable to repress the violence of her emotions, gave vent to them with shoutings loud and long. At the close of the sermon the other ministers went out, but the two McGees and the people seemed loath to depart. 'William felt such a power come over him that he quit his seat and sat down on the floor of the pulpit, I suppose not knowing what he did. A power which caused me to tremble was upon me. There was a solemn weeping all over the house. At length I rose up and exhorted them to let the Lord God Omnipotent reign in their hearts, and submit to Him, and their souls should live. Many broke silence. The woman in the east end of the house shouted tremendously. I left the pulpit and went through the audience shouting and exhorting with all possible ecstasy and energy, and the floor was soon covered with the slain.' * * * Upon the return home, they rushed into the arms of their friends, shouting and telling what wonderful things God had done for their souls."^[D]

[Footnote D: Davenport, "Primitive Traits in Religious Revivals," pp. 69, 70—Resume of a letter written by John McGee.]

It was such a revival movement as this that came to Palmyra and Manchester in 1820. "The seriousness began at Palmyra," we are told. "The youth and children seem to be roused up to enquire, What must we do to be saved? A few drops from the cloud of glory have fallen upon Pittstown. There is uncommon attention to public worship in Canandaigua. It has been difficult during the winter to get places large enough to accommodate, or even contain the people. The countenance of many show how anxious their minds are to know how they may flee from the wrath to come."^[E]

[Footnote E: J. H. Hotchkin, "A History of the Purchase and Settlement of Western New York," pp. 36, 37.]

And thus the revival progressed from day to day, the ministers working harmoniously together in the common purpose of waking the spiritual interests of the people. When, however, the time came for those who had "experienced religion" to profess their party allegiance, it became apparent that the seeming good-will between the sects did not extend below the surface. The ministers began then to contend one with another. The noise and confusion of the sometimes fanatic gospel meetings had been great; but the confusion that followed now was greater and of a more serious kind. Standing in their tent-doors, as it were, the ministers cried to the sorely perplexed new converts, "Lo, here is Christ!" "Lo, here." "The Reverend Mr. Stockton * * * insisted that the work done was largely Presbyterian work as he had been a dominating influence in the movement, and presided at the meetings. The Reverend Mr. Lane of the Methodist church preached a sermon on the subject, 'What Church Shall I Join?' He quoted the golden text of James, 'If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.'"^[F] And to the confusion of the scene was added bitterness; for, not only did the newly converted not know with what church to associate themselves, but the pseudoministers of God strove among themselves, the one maligning the other. From a well-meant spiritual revival, begun in religious zeal and conducted apparently in brotherly love, there resulted finally bitterness and contention because there was no unity among the professing followers of Christ. The newly converted were hardly better off after their conversion than they were before it.

[Footnote F: B. H. Roberts, "History of the Mormon Church," in Americana. Vol. IV, No. 6, p. 614.]

Meanwhile, there was present during this strenuous religious revival in Manchester, a rather serious-minded boy of some fourteen years of age. He was the fourth child of the Smiths. The Smiths themselves were in the main attracted by the doctrines of the Presbyterians. But Joseph did not know what he should do. He attended the revival meetings. He witnessed the violent manifestations of religious emotion. Undoubtedly, he was deeply affected at times by the excessive demonstrations of his associates and friends. But through it all, he maintained a perfect self-control. Never once was he so overcome by his emotions that he took part in the excitement of his friends. He stood calmly, thoughtfully by—a spectator, puzzled, perplexed. "During this time of great excitement," he wrote in his manhood, "my mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness; but though my feelings were deep and often poignant, still I kept myself aloof from all these parties, though I attended their several meetings as often as occasion would permit. In process of time my mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect; but so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong. My mind at times was greatly excited, the cry and tumult were so great and incessant. The Presbyterians were most decided against the Baptists and Methodists, and used all the powers of both reason and sophistry to prove their errors, or, at least, to make the people think they were in error. On the other hand, the Baptists and Methodists in their turn were equally zealous in endeavoring to establish their own tenets and disprove all others."^[G]

[Footnote G: "History of the Church," Vol. I, pp. 3,4.]

Under such conditions it is hardly to be wondered at that the boy was troubled in mind. The wonder is that he, too, was not overcome by the emotional excitement of the day. Perhaps no fact of psychology is better established than this, that the mental and nervous organizations of like-minded people "respond in like ways to the same stimuli." With the religious folk of the Manchester revival this boy was undoubtedly sympathetically like-minded. Yet, he did not yield to the emotional impulses that seized upon his friends; and that, too, in spite of the fact further asserted by psychologists and sociologists, that sympathetically like-minded people "are not likely to have their primitive and instinctive nervous tendencies and mental traits under the governance of the higher inhibitory centers;" and that "the nervously unstable, the suggestible, the inexperienced^[H] [are] affected by the highly emotional revival earlier than the dignified and intelligent people of judgment and standing."^[I] This boy of fourteen years was inexperienced; his standing in the eyes of the world was nil; yet, his primitive and instinctive tendencies and mental traits seemed to be well under the governance of the higher inhibitory centers.

[Footnote H: Italics are present writer's.]

[Footnote I: Davenport, "Primitive Traits in Religious Revivals," pp. 2, 3.]

Professor Frederick Morgan Davenport, whom I have already quoted, says further in his treatise of the primitive traits of religious revivals, that, "we must bear in mind constantly that the effect of a sympathetic religious movement is greatly increased by the massing of men and women in a psychological 'crowd,' a camp meeting for instance. * * The natural result of the assembling of men in crowds, especially when skilful speakers engage their attention and play upon the chords of imagination and emotion, seems to be the weakening of the power of inhibition in each individual, and the giving of free reign to feeling and imitation. * * * This will be most in evidence among primitive, superstitious and unlettered people, of course, for civilization shows itself in nothing more clearly than in the growing capacity for individual self-control, but they will also appear in the relatively high stages of culture and experience if the combination of conditions, physical, mental and social, is strong enough to develop them. In fact there is no population, there are comparatively few individuals in any population who cannot be swept from the moorings of reason and balanced judgment if brought under the mysterious and potent influence of the psychological 'crowd.'" ^[J]

[Footnote J: Davenport, "Primitive Traits in Religious Revivals," pp. 9, 10.]

The boy, Joseph Smith, was present in the massing of men and women, in a "psychological crowd," so-called, in a camp-meeting even. There were skilful speakers present to engage the attention and to play upon the chords of imagination and emotion. While he was neither wholly primitive, nor very superstitious, he was, to be sure, unlettered. He had certainly not passed through the higher stages of culture and experience. Indeed, there was present in him a combination of conditions—physical, mental, and social—that would lead one to expect in him the usual display of emotional excitement in a sympathetic religious movement. Yet, he displayed unusual self-restraint through it all. He was not "brought under the mysterious and potent influence of the psychological 'crowd.'" He confesses to experiencing feelings both deep and poignant, and to becoming excited at times; yet he kept himself aloof from all the contending parties. He seemed to possess a strongly developed "capacity for individual self-control." He became somewhat partial to the Methodists; but since he could not determine, amid such scenes of confusion and strife, whether or not they were wholly right, he refrained from allying himself with any sect. While his friends and associates lost themselves in a kind of religious frenzy, this boy, scarce fourteen years of age, asserted his independence of thought and feeling, and held himself aloof from the religious excitement of his day.

However, it must not be forgotten that his mind was exercised over religious conditions. He longed to know the truth. He sought earnestly to find it out. And in a condition of calmness, clearness of vision and perfect self-control—perplexed in mind, but not weakened by emotion or excitement—Joseph Smith, Junior, sought the Lord in prayer.

From that moment, almost, the name of the Smiths became known the world over for good or for ill.