Title:  The Mormon Prophet

Author:  Lily Dougall

Release Date:  December 11, 2005 [EBook #17279]

Language:  English

Character set encoding:  ASCII

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The Mormon Prophet

BY

LILY DOUGALL

Author of The Mermaid, The Zeitgeist, The Madonna of a Day, Beggars All, Etc.

TORONTO

The W.J.  Gage company (limited)
1899

Copyright, 1899,
by D. Appleton and company.

All rights reserved.

PREFACE.

In studying the rise of this curious sect I have discovered that certain misconceptions concerning it are deeply rooted in the minds of many of the more earnest of the well-wishers to society.  Some otherwise well-informed people hold Mormonism to be synonymous with polygamy, believe that Brigham Young was its chief prophet, and are convinced that the miseries of oppressed women and tyrannies exercised over helpless subjects of both sexes are the only themes that the religion of more than two hundred thousand people can afford.  When I have ventured in conversation to deny these somewhat fabulous notions, it has been earnestly suggested to me that to write on so false a religion in other than a polemic spirit would tend to the undermining of civilised life.

In spite of these warnings, and although I know it to be a most dangerous commodity, I have ventured to offer the simple truth, as far as I have been able to discern it, consoling my advisers with the assurance that its insidious influence will be unlikely to do harm, because, however potent may be the direful latitude of other religious novels, this particular book can only interest those wiser folk who are best able to deal with it.

As, however, to many who have preconceived the case, this narrative might, in the absence of explanation, seem purely fanciful, let me briefly refer to the historical facts on which it is based.  The Mormons revere but one prophet.  As to his identity there can be no mistake, since many of the “revelations” were addressed to him by name—­“To Joseph Smith, Junior.”  He never saw Utah, and his public teachings were for the most part unexceptionable.  Taking necessary liberty with incidents, I have endeavoured to present Smith’s character as I found it in his own writings, in the narratives of contemporary writers, and in the memories of the older inhabitants of Kirtland.