History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

646 SCHISMS AND APOSTASIES.
for the supremacy of their leader, and opposition
meetings were organized under the management of
Joseph F., the son of Hyrum Smith. 7 But the
mantle of the prophet had not fallen on his offspring;
they were men almost without force of character, of
lamb-like placidity, and of hopelessly mediocre ability;
not shrewd enough to contend with their opponents,
and not violent enough to arouse the populace. They
accomplished little for the cause of the reorganized
church.
In 1860 the headquarters of the Josephites were
established at Piano, Illinois, where, between 1860
and 1875, was published by this sect The True Latterday
Saint's Herald, and where in 1877 their leader
still resided, 8 Joseph being at that date president of
the church, and Briggs the president of the twelve.
A branch was also established at Malad in Idaho;
a few of the sect gathered at Kirtland, 9 and the remainder
were scattered throughout the states. They
rapidly increased, mustering in 1870 not less than
twenty thousand in the United States, while in Europe
entire churches joined the reformed faith, the name
of the sect, and the more conventional morality of
its doctrines, being among the causes of its success. 10
7 Stenhouse says that debates between the two parties were held in public.
Rocky Mountain Saint*, 629 (note).
B S. Lake Herald, June 6, 1877.
9 Ibid.; McClures Three Thousand Miles, 435.
10 The Josephite creed will be found in Wake's The Mormon Prophet, 130-
1; Utah Scraps, 16. It contains the following: 'We believe that the church
in Utah, under the presidency of Brigham Young, have apostatized from the
true order of the gospel. We believe that the doctrines of polygamy, human
sacrifice, or killing men to save them, Adam being God, Utah being Zion, or
the gathering place for the saints, are doctrines of devils.' In other respects
their creed was almost identical with the Mormon articles of faith. Codman,
who attended their services, remarks: 'They use the same religious books in
their worship, and argue from them the prohibition of polygamy with as
much earnestness as Orson Pratt displays in its advocacy.' The Round Trip,
210.
The second Joseph Smith, junior, was bom at Kirtland Nov. 6, 1S32.
His early life was spent in Missouri and Illinois, whither he went with his
parents. P. G. Mather received a letter from him in 1S79, saying: 'I am
now pretty widely recognized as the leader of that wing of the Mormon
church declaring positive Mormonism, but denying and opposing polygamy
and Utah Mormonism.' I give herewith a copy of an inscription on one
of the pillars of the temple at Kirtland, as reported by Mather, lAppincott'a