185 years ago today - Feb 14, 1831

[A "Painesville correspondent informs us" that the missionaries in Kirtland] proclaimed that there had been no religion in the world for 1500 years,--that no one had been authorized to preach and teach for that period,--that Joseph Smith had now received a commission from God for that purpose, and that all such as did not submit to his authority would speedily be destroyed. The world (except the New Jerusalem) would come to an end in two or three years. The state of New York would (probably) be sunk: Smith (they affirmed) had seen God frequently and personally--Cowdery and his friends had frequent interviews with angels. ... Smith was continually receiving new revelations, and it would probably take him 1000 years to complete them--commissions and papers were exhibited, said to be signed by Christ himself!!! ... The converts are forming "common stock" families, as most pleasing in the sight of God. They pretend to give the "Holy Spirit" and under its operations they fall upon the floor --see visions, &c. Indians followed Cowdery daily, and finally saw him enter the promised land, where he placed a pole in the ground, with a light on its top, to designate the site of the New Jerusalem.

[Source: Kenney, Scott, Saints Without Halos, "Mormon History 1830-1844," http://web.archive.org/web/20120805163534/saintswithouthalos.com/dirs/d_c.phtml]

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