The Founder of Mormonism

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Please do not assume that a book's appearance in 'The Builder' library means it can be used in any manner anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe. The Webmaster ifii-l:!: B©Dlilliii«iiBmiWi Cornell University Library The original of tliis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924082449616 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM A Psychological Study of Joseph Smith, Jr, by I. WOODBRIDGE RILEY ONE-TIME INSTRUCTOR IN ENGLISH NEW YORK UNIVERSITY WITH AN INTRODUCTORY PREFACE BY Prof. GEORGE TRUMBULL LADD % NEW YORK. DODD, MEAD ts" COMPANY 1902 ^-f^f7--T Copyright, jgoa Bv DoDD, Mead & Company First edition published in May, 1902 THE CAXTON PRESS NEW YORK. Introductory Preface The rise and growth of Mormonism is one of tiie most remarkable phenomena of the nineteenth century. It is deserving of thorough investigation, whether the investigation be conducted from the point of view of the sociologist, the psychologist, or of the student of politics or of religion. But from whatever point of view it is re- garded, a correct understanding of its origin and development can be gained only by the method which is applicable to all similar phases in the life of man; and this method may be described, although somewhat unsatisfactorily, as that of historical and comparative psychology. In Mormonism, as in all religions and religious communities, we have to deal only with pecdliar and complex combinations of the same ideas, feelings, motives and deeds, that are common to the entire human race. This essay of Mr. Riley is a conscientious and painstaking study of the founder of Mormonism, as one among not a few instances of the astonishing results that follow from the concurrent action of the individual man and the favoring opportunity afforded vi INTRODUCTORY PREFACE by the prevalent intellectual and social environment. Without Joseph Smith's personality being taken largely into the account, no account can be given of the rise and growth of the religious movement which he started. But Joseph Smith, under other conditions than those which actually surrounded him in the first third of the last century, or Joseph Smith under the conditions actually existing anywhere in the country in the last third of the same century, could not have become the founder of Mormonism. Man and environment were neces- sary for a new religion that should claim to be based upon a succession of revelations and miracles, recorded for the world to pass judgment upon, in the form of printed books. Hence the necessity for studying the man, not only in his own inherit- ance and personal characteristics and experiences, but also in his surroundings—the people of his neighborhood and time. The material for this study in psychology has been somewhat peculiarly difficult to acquire and to handle. At the time when the subject of the study lived, there was little or no disposition or fitness for considering such manifestations of abnormal psy- chical development from the scientific point of view. And so far as I am aware no very thorough attempt at such a study of the personal sources of Mor- monism has hitherto ever been made. This should INTRODUCTORY PREFACE vii be borne in mind by the reader who is fitted to form an expert opinion upon the success of the author in his effort to explain the facts from points of view now somewhat firmly held by the modern student of physiology and psychology. There is plainly room for a justifiable difference of opinion as to the relative amounts of shrewd insight, self-deception, disease of imagination and judgment, and conscious, intentional fraud, which must be admitted. Un- doubtedly, the mixture of all these factors varied greatly from time to time, —as in the career of all men who at all resemble Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. I am sure, however, that no student of such phenomena can fail to appreciate the value of the services rendered by the author. The larger circle of readers, who make no claim to a special interest in abnormal psychology, even when it manifests itself within the sphere of man's religious life, will find much to interest and instruct them in this volume. I take pleasure, therefore, in thus briefly introducing Mr. Riley's essay to all classes of readers. George Trumbull Ladd. Yale University, New Haven, May, igos. Author's Preface This study has been offered to the Philosophical Faculty of Yale University as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Materials 1 gathered at Salt Lake City in 1894 were utilized in 1898 for a Master of Arts thesis on the ' Metaphysics of Mor- monism.' The sources employed in the present work, as given in the appended Bibliography, are, in the main, to be found in the Berrian collection of the New York Public Library. Beside rare first editions and Church publications suppressed by the Utah Saints, use is here made of some hitherto unpublished manuscripts. For these 1 am indebted to various correspondents, and es- pecially to Mr. William Evarts Benjamin of New York City. For suggestions and criticisms my thanks are also due to Prof. William H. Brewer, of the Sheffield Scientific School, and to Prof. Charles J. Bartlett of the Yale Medical School. The aim of this work is to examine Joseph Smith's character and achievements from the stand- X PREFACE point of recent psychology. Sectarians and phrenol- ogists, spiritualists and mesmerists have variously interpreted his more or less abnormal performances, —it novi^ remains for the psychologist to have a try at them. New Haven, Conn., May, igo2. — Contents CHAPTER I Ancestry and Dreams Partisan Treatment of Joseph Smith's Character. Advantages of the Standpoint of Physiological Psychology.—The Man in His Maturity Described — by Eye-witnesses. ' A Phenomenon to be Ex- plained.'—Smith's Ability and His Absurdities. His Writings Supplemented by Suppressed Sources. —The Origin of Mormonism.—Its Impelling Forces in the Eighteenth Century. — Joseph's Strange Ancestry.—His Grandfather Mack's Nar- rative.—The Latter's Life of Adventure and Hard- ship. —The Old Soldier's Ailments and His Re- ligious Experiences.—He Sees Visions and Hears Voices. —Similar Experiences of the Grandson. Mack's Belief in Faith Healing and Miraculous Cures. —Erratic Tendencies Transmitted.—The Prophet's Mother.—Her Book, and its Works of Wonder.—Her Revivalistic Dream.—The Smith Pedigree Traced Back to 1666.—The Prophet's Father, His Restlessness of Mind and Body.—His Seven Dreams.—Their Local Color. —Their In- corporation Into the Book of Mormon.—Their — xii CONTENTS Mystic Interpretation.—Their Physiological Basis. Elements of Illusion and Hallucination.—They Re- flect the Dreamer's Notions and Beliefs. —Relation to the Visions of Joseph, Junior ... CHAPTER II Environment and Visions Western New York in 1815. —Backwardness of the Country. —Mental Effects : Lack of Education, Scarcity of Books Religious Literature Predomi- nant. —Some Rationalism, More Sectarianism. Fanatic Sects. —Revivals, Their Unnatural Meth- ods and Abnormal Results.—The Young Be- wildered From the Clash of Creeds, Depressed From the Sombre Theology. —Joseph Smith's Ac- count of His First Three Visions.—-The Psycho- logy of Such Religion.—Emotional Pressure and Resultant Hallucinations. —Religious Hypnosis and the Abnormalities of Conversion. — Parallel with John Bunyan.—Joseph Smith's Greater Abnormal- ities Due to Heredity.—His Neuropathic Ancestry. —His Grandfather's ' Fits.'—Neural Instability of the Second Generation. —^Joseph's Juvenile Ail- ments.—Causes Provocative of His First Seizure. Intoxication and the Second Seizure.—Psycho- physical Description of the First Two 'Visions.' Melancholic Depression and Infernal Phantasms.

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