ADVERTISEMENT.

THE following work was undertaken with reluctance, at the earnest solicitation of a great number of friends, who had, with the author, long looked upon the subject of which it treats, with mingled feelings of abhorence and pity-the Impostors and their victims of delusion, were viewed through these two different media. The truth, and the whole truth, have been his constant aim: But the difficulty of procuring, or arriving at the whole truth, in relation to a religious imposition, which has from its birth been so studiously vailed in secrecy, and generally under a belief that the judgments of God would follow any disclosures of what its votaries had seen or heard-will be readily discovered. He fears, therefore, that the half is yet untold. He has, in all his enquiries, endeavored to pay the most rigid regard to all the ordinary methods of eliciting truth, from every source within his reach. If he shall have failed in his desires and exertions, in any important particular, it will be a matter of regret. This statements should fully escape censure or contradiction, by a sect whose foundation was falsehood, and which has been built up of the same material, is more than he can expect. He is fully persuaded, nevertheless, that sufficient, and more than sufficient, has been developed by unimpeachable testimony, to satisfy every rational person, whose mind has not already been prostrated by the machinations of the Impostors, that the Supreme Being has had as little agency in the prosperity of Mormonism, as in the grossest works E. D. H.

of Satan.

Painesville, (Ohio,) October, 1834.

INTRODUCTION.

OF all the impositions which "flesh is heir to," none ought to be more abhorred or dreaded, than those which come in the garb of sanctity and religion : But that none are more ardently seized upon and cherished, by a certain portion of mankind, all history goes to substantiate. Absurdities, like comets, move in orbits both eccentric and peculiar. At one time they are obscured and lost in distance; then again they are to be seen shining with a full face, frightening silly mortals from their sphere, and turning into chaos the majesty of mind. Astronomy has scarcely taught us to foretel the appearance of the one; but metaphysics will enable us to calculate the periodical return of the other, when it shall have enabled us to fathom the abysses of the human mind, and discover the srpings of human action.

There is nothing more curious than the connection between passion and credulity-and few things more humiliating and extraordinary, than the extent to which the latter may be carried, even in minds of no vulgar order, when under the immediate influence of any strong interest or excitement. It is also true that we have frequently to encounter a perverse incredulity, and a callous insensibility to evidence, when we attempt to convince any one of what is contrary to his opinions, wishes or interests. But this is only another exemplification of the remarkable fact, that where any object, whether desirable, detestable, or dreadful, agitates the mind to a certain degree, our belief is very far from being regulated by the weight of testimony. In such a frame of mind, men are not in a situation to listen to the sug

gestions of sober reason; their attention is rivited to one particular view; they form their opinions with seeming deliberation, from circumstances which would be little regarded by minds of a sounder state, but which, seen through the medium of a distorted imagination, appear with an overpowering magnitude; and in fact, if a deep impression is made by any recital seriously delivered, or by any idea whose falsehood is not manifest, the strength of the impression is very apt to be mistaken for a sure proof of its reality. Even in cases where the greatest calmness and deliberation might be expected, and among those whose profession it is to investigate truth-the ambition of founding a sect, or displaying intellectual superiority-the veneration for great names, or long established opinions—and the anxiety to penetrate into the mysteries of nature—have sometimes produced, not modest querists and patient inquirers, but zealous preachers and zealous believers of the most fanciful creeds of philosoophy; about the influence of the stars; the whirlpools that guide the planets in their course; about the concavity or internal regions of the earth; and about the formation of the skull as furnishing a sure index to the passions and propensities.

If such dreams are indulged in the calm investigation of philosophy, what are we to expect when the mind is dazzled by supernatural objects, animated by supernatural hopes, and pressed upon the understanding by supernatural terrors? Our wonder therefore ceases, that mankind apparently delight in being misled by the grossest delusions; that the pure truths of Christianity are so strangely mingled with the wildest fancies that can be imagined by the lunatic, or invented by the designing knave.

"Every age of the world has produced impostors and delusions. Jannes and Jambers withstood Moses, and were followed by Pharaoh, his court and clergy. To say nothing