07b Mormons Church Latter Day Saints
Chapter 7 The Mormons or Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (Part b)
"During the evening of the day they first met, Joseph called upon Brother Brigham to pray. While doing so, he spoke in tongues. The prophet declared that he spoke in the pure Adamic language." 1
Brigham Young had formerly been a painter and glazier. John P. Green, a relative of Young, also spoke in tongues, as did also, we are told, Smith himself. The success of the Mormons in Kirtland came to an abrupt end with the failure of the Kirtland Safety Society Bank, which Smith and his associates had founded. The affairs of the bank at first appeared to be in a very prosperous condition. The general respect in which the Mormons were at one time held in Kirtland is shown in the fact, it has been pointed out, that the currency notes of the bank circulated very readily at par in that town and its immediate vicinity and as far east as Pittsburgh. It is believed that there was practically no reserve and no capital back of the bank. It is stated by Cyrus Smalling of Kirtland that when:
"The inhabitants holding their bills came to inquire into the Safety Society precious metals, the way that Smith contrived to deceive them was this: he had some one or two hundred boxes made, and gathered all the lead and shot that the village had, or that part of it that he controlled, and filled the boxes with .lead, shot, etc., and marked them, one thousand dollars each. Then, when they went to examine the vault, he had one box on a table partly filled for them to see, and when they proceeded to the vault, Smith told them that the church had two hundred thousand dollars in specie, and he opened one box and they saw that it was silver and they hefted a number
1 From Pamphlet Entitled "Death of President Brigham Young." Salt Lake City, Utah, 1877. An extract copied from the obituary appearing in "The Deseret Evening News" of Aug. 30, 1877. and Smith told them that they contained specie. They were seemingly satisfied and went away for a few days." 1
Finally, however, when a banker from Pittsburgh presented a considerable quantity of the notes for redemption, the prophet was unable to make settlement. Troubles increased, with the result that in January, 1 838, Smith and Rigdon were both arrested. Both, however, escaped, and joined the settlement at Independence, Missouri where had gathered already the majority of the Latter Day Saints. To Independence, another of the "stakes of Zion," Smith had been gradually transferring the people and the things that belonged to his church possibly anticipating the financial troubles at Kirtland.
Coming to Missouri, however, meant only a temporary refuge for the Mormons. Even before Smith himself came there from Kirtland, persecutions had broken out and resolutions had been adopted prohibiting Mormons forever from settling in this "young and beautiful country." These resolutions adopted by the citizens of Jackson County at a meeting held on the 20th day of July, 1833, further stated:
"That those who fail to comply with the above requisitions, be referred to those of their brethren who have the gifts of unknown tongues, to inform them of the lot that awaits them." 2
Various attempts were made by the Mormons at the making of a permanent settlement. In Davies County, they established a city called "Far West." At Far West, on the 2Oth day of April, 1838, the prophet received a revelation "making known the will of God concerning
1 Clark: op. cit., p. 334. See also Smith, Lucy: op. cit., p. 210, and Hall, William: "The Abominations of Mormonism Exposed." Cincinnati, 1852; pp. 18-22.
2 Howe: op. cit., p. 141. the building up of this place, and of the Lord’s House." In this revelation it was stated that the saints should "let the beginning be made on the 4th day of July next" (1838) and:
"Verily I say unto you, let not my servant Joseph, neither my servant Sidney, neither my servant Hyrum, go in debt any more for the building of an house unto my name/’ x But before the end of the year 1839, the Mormons had been driven out of Missouri. Their next settlement was at a point on the Mississippi on the Illinois bank, which they named Nauvoo. Stenhouse writes thus of the new location:
"The east bank of the Mississippi, forty miles above Quincy and twenty miles southwest of Burlington, Iowa, was the favoured spot. Here on a bend of the river, upon rising ground that commanded a magnificent view of the winding Mississippi, for many miles was to be the new home of the Saints. A group of huts and houses called ’Commerce.’ was the place selected; but the name was an every-day word. The ’Reformed Egyptian* of the Book of Mormon supplied a better name ’Nauvoo/ the beautiful." 2
Here the Mormon cause prospered at first greatly and Smith enjoyed what might be looked upon as the best years of his career. The church and the city grew rapidly. As a result of the tireless preaching of Mormon missionaries in Great Britain and in European countries, a constant stream of enthusiastic immigrants poured into the city until its population grew to be about fifteen thousand. Coupled with this growth in population there was in the
1 "Doctrines and Covenants." Sec. 115, 10 and 13.
2 Stenhouse, Thomas G. H.: "Rocky Mountain Saints." New York, 1873; P. 123. early days a comparative freedom from persecution due to the fact that the people of Illinois looked upon the Mormons as having been wrongfully used by the Missourians. By special state legislation unusual powers such as the right to organise the famous Nauvoo Legion were conferred upon Smith and his associates.
Two important building projects were undertaken one that of a new temple, the other that of a hotel or boarding-house, to be called Nauvoo House, in which by revelation it was commanded that Smith and his family for all generations should be given a home. The temple, which was built of light grey limestone, was, when finally completed, 128 feet long, 88 feet broad, and 60 feet high. The towers were 200 feet high. It had thirty hewn pilasters which cost about three thousand dollars each. The whole cost of the building is said to have been a million dollars. The Baptismal Font supported on twelve carved oxen was intended to be gilded. The cornerstone was laid April 6, 1841. The building was subsequently destroyed by fire. The Rev. Henry Caswell, M.A., who was in Nauvoo in April, 1842, tells us that he attended a Sunday morning service in a grove near the new temple, then in course of building. There was singing and then followed a long prayer by a man in a blue coat; then a sermon by a "stout, intemperate-looking man ... in a thick jacket of green baize.
". . . Afterwards a tall, thin, New England Yankee, with a strong nasal twang and a provincial accent, rose up, and leaning forward on the railing, spoke for half an hour with great ease and volubility. He said that his office required him to speak of business. They were all aware that God had by special revelation appointed a committee of four persons, and had required them to build a house unto his name, such a one as his servant, Joseph, should show them. That the said house should be called the ’Nauvoo House/ and should be a house of boarding: that the kings and nobles of the earth, and all weary travellers might lodge therein, while they should contemplate the word of the Lord, and the corner-stone, which he had appointed for Zion. . . . But only a small amount of stock had hitherto been taken, and the committee appointed by the Lord have had to go on borrowing and borrowing, until they can borrow no longer. In the meantime the mechanics employed on the house want their pay, and the committee are not able to pay them." 1
It was while at Nauvoo that Smith began to take an active interest in American politics, addressing a questionnaire to the candidates for the presidency, and finally announcing his own candidacy for that position. The famous revelation on polygamy was granted at Nauvoo. There are well substantiated rumours as to irregularities in the family life of Smith and some of his leading associates as far back as when he lived in Palmyra. The same charges followed them to Kirtland, to Missouri, and to Nauvoo. The charge that Smith in Nauvoo maintained adulterous relationship with, or contracted spiritual marriages with between twenty and thirty different women rests upon very substantial ground, in spite of the interesting denial of this charge on the part of the Reorganized Church of the Latter Day Saints of Jesus Christ, the branch of the church founded by Smith’s legitimate family and descendants. It was some years later after the church had become firmly established in Utah that the system of polygamy and of spiritual wives became the publicly avowed doctrine of the church.
1 Caswell, Henry: "The City of the Mormons, or Three Days at Nauvoo in 1842." Second Edition. London, 184^ pf. 13-14.
Edmund De Leon, who visited Smith’s home in Nauvoo, informs us that
"At that time the Prophet had not publicly promulgated the doctrine of polygamy, and professed to live with one wife only ’Sister Emma/ as she was called, a gaunt, stern, hard-visaged woman of middle age. There were, however, several young women in the house, whom he termed his nieces, but who probably bore a closer relationship than was avowed at that time. The face of Sister Emma was not a happy one, and her treatment of her nieces "that "of an unhappy, soured and jealous woman.”1 A few pages further on in his autobiography, De Leon continues:
"I even ventured when I became familiar with ’the Prophet,’ to comment on the curious variety among his nieces and te want of any family resemblance among. There was a sly twinkle in his prophetic eye, as he poked me in the ribs with his forefinger, and rebuked me, exclaiming, ’Oh, the carnal mind!’ and I thought it discreet not to press the subject.
"On another occasion he took us to see what he called the Mormon Temple, in imitation of Solomon’s. But on my observing that the windows of the Temple bore a suspicious likeness to the embrasures of a fort which the whole solid stone structure resembled, dominating as it did the Mississippi River I again received a poke in the ribs and a repetition of my possessing ’a carnal mind.’" 2
Nauvoo, the beautiful, the city of Smith’s glory, was to be in like manner the scene of the beginning of the end. The "mysteries" of Mormonism, particularly 1 De Leon, Edmund: "Thirty Years of My Life." London, 1890. Vol. I, PP. 55-6.
2 Same: pp. 60-1. those relating to the vita sexualis, the prosperity of the Mormons, their dishonesty, their confident and constant; assertions of their own righteousness, all contributed to a growing opposition and hatred on the part of neighbouring gentile settlers, with the result that the prophet was finally lodged in Carthage jail, where he and his brother, Hyrum, were murdered by Missouri militiamen. The story of the final migration of the Mormons to Utah is well known. As in the Shakers, Mother Ann Lee found a successor to whom as much of the success of her church is due as to herself Joseph Meacham, the organiser and " theologian so in Brigham Young, Mormonism found a leader whose astuteness and organising ability have done much to make Mormonism the power that it is to-day. But it is absolutely safe to predict that just as Shakerism gradually died out when it became no longer a haven of refuge for the sexually perverted, so when polygamy is actually stamped out and Utah is no longer the safe harbour for all to whom excess in venery is life’s summum bonum, the day of Mormonism will be done.
"Joseph Smith, Jr., was at least six feet high’ according to P. H. Burnett, "well formed and weighed about one hundred and eighty pounds. His appearance was not prepossessing and his conversational powers were not extraordinary. You could see at a glance that his education was very limited. He was an awkward but vehement speaker. In conversation he was slow, and used too many words to express his ideas, and would not generally go directly to a point. But, with all these drawbacks, he was much more than an ordinary man. He possessed the most indomitable perseverance, was a good judge of men, and deemed himself born to command, and he did command. His views were so strange and striking, and his manner was so earnest, and apparently so candid, that you could not but be interested. ... He had "the capacity for discussing a subject in different aspects, and for proposing many original views, even of ordinary matters. His illustrations were his own. He had great influence over others. ... In the short space of five days he had managed so to mollify his enemies that he could go unprotected among them without the slightest danger." 1 The characteristics which seem most apparent in Smith are his shrewd common sense and his ability to handle men. We are indebted once again to De Leon for the following incident which probably occurred only about six weeks before Smith was assassinated:
"We were sitting with him on the public green, where the people were amusing themselves with rustic sports, and exhibitions of strength, when a man came up and asked permission to use the courthouse for an exhibition of strength that night.
’Do you want the people to pay you for seeing them?’ asked the Prophet. ’Yes’ was the answer. ’Do you know I never allow public exhibitions for pay?’ asked the Prophet. The man muttered that this was not a show. ’Are you so much stronger than other people?’ inquired the Prophet. The man replied in the affirmative. ’Well, then,’ repeated the Prophet, ’if you can throw me right here, in a wrestle on the green, I will give you permission.’ The man looked anxiously at the girth and bulk of the head of the Mormon Faith, felt the muscles of his arm, and declined the proposition. Then arose the Prophet in great wrath, saying, ’You impostor! if you don’t leave this place right away, I will make the boys duck you in the lake yonder.’ And the man departed without further orders." 2
1 Burnett, P. H.: "Recollections and Opinions of an Old Pioneer." New York, 1880; pp. 66-7.
2 De Leon: op. ctt., Vol. I, pp. 58-9.
Smith’s lack of education has often been noted. In contrast to this lack of the sort of knowledge which schooling brings, stands out his claim, accepted by Mormonism, to a knowledge by supernatural means, of all languages. The Rev. Mr. Caswell tells us the now classic story of his own experience with the prophet. In April, 1842, he went on business to St. Louis, Missouri. While there it occurred to him that it would be of interest to visit the "City of the Saints." With him he took a "venerable Greek manuscript of the Psalter." We will now let Mr. Caswell tell his own story:
"Having arrived at the city, I passed along a straggling street of considerable length, bordering on the strand. Perceiving a respectable looking store (or shop), I entered it, and began to converse with the storekeeper. I mentioned that I had been informed that Mr. Smith possessed some remarkable Egyptian curiosities, which I wished to see. I added that, if Mr. Smith could be induced to show me his treasure, I would show him in return a very wonderful book which had lately come into my possession. The storekeeper informed me that Mr. Smith was absent, having gone to Carthage that morning; but that he would return about nine o’clock in the evening. He promised to obtain for me admission to the curiosities, and begged to be permitted to see the wonderful book. I accordingly unfolded it from the many wrappers in which I had enveloped it, and in the presence of the storekeeper and many astonished spectators, whom the rumours of the arrival of a strange book had collected, I produced to view the covers of worm-eaten oak, its discoloured parchments, and its mysterious characters. Surprise was depicted on the countenances of all present, and after a long silence one person wiser than his fellows, declared that he knew it to be a revelation from the Lord, and that probably it was one of the lost books of the Bible providentially recovered. Looking at me with a patronizing air, he assured me that I had brought it to the right place to get it interpreted, for that none on earth but the Lord’s Prophet could explain it, or unfold i its real antiquity and value. ’Oh/ I replied, ’I am going to England next week, and doubtless I shall find some? learned man in one of the universities who can expound it. To this he answered with a sneer, that the Lord had chosen the weak things of the world to confound the mighty, that he had made foolish the wisdom of this world, and that I ought to thank Providence for having brought me to Nauvoo, where the hidden things of darkness could be revealed by divine power." 1
After some further conversation, Mr. Caswell states that he was led behind the store in which they were talking to a room:
"on the door of which was an inscription to the following effect: ’Office of Joseph Smith, President of the Church of Latter Day Saints/ Having introduced me, together with several Mormons, to this sanctum sanctorum, he locked the door behind him, and proceeded to what appeared to be a small chest of drawers. From this he drew forth a number of glazed slides, like picture frames, containing sheets of papyrus, with Egyptian inscriptions and hieroglyphics. These had been unrolled from four mummies, which the Prophet had purchased at a cost of twenty-four hundred dollars. By some inexplicable mode, as the storekeeper informed me, Mr. Smith had discovered that these sheets contained the writings of Abraham written with his own hand while in Egypt. Pointing to the figure of a man lying on a table, he said, ’That is the picture of Abraham on the point of being sacrificed. The man standing by him with a drawn knife 1 Caswell: op. cit., pp. 20-1. is an idolatrous priest of the Egyptians. Abraham prayed to God, who immediately unloosed his bonds and delivered him.’ Turning to another of the drawers, and pointing to a hieroglyphic representation, one of the Mormons said, ’Mr. Smith informs us that this picture is an emblem of redemption. Do you see those four little figures? Well, those are the four quarters of the Earth. And do you see that big dog looking at the four figures? This is the old Devil desiring to devour the four quarters of the Earth. Look at this person keeping back the big dog. That is Christ keeping the devil from devouring the four quarters of the earth. Look down this way. This figure near the side is Jacob, and those are his two wives. Now do you see those steps?’ ’What?’ I replied, ’do you mean those stripes across the dress of one of Jacob’s wives?’ ’Yes/ he said, ’that is Jacob’s ladder.’ " 1
It was not until the next day that the Rev. Mr. Caswell met the prophet himself. But let Mr. Caswell continue the story himself:
"I met Joseph Smith at a short distance from his dwelling, and was regularly introduced to him by the storekeeper. I had the honour of an interview with him who is a Prophet, a Seer, a Merchant, a ’Revelator,’ a President, an Elder, an Editor, and the Lieutenant-General of the ’Nauvoo Legion.’ He is a course, plebeian sensual person in aspect, and his countenance exhibits a curious mixture of the knave and clown. His hands are large and fat, and on one of his fingers, he wears a massive gold ring, upon which I saw an inscription. His eyes appear deficient in that open and straightforward expression which often characterizes an honest man. His dress was of coarse country manufacture, and his white hat was enveloped by a piece of black crape as a sign of mourning for his deceased brother, Don Carlos Smith, 1 Caswell: op. cit., pp. 22-3. the late editor of the ’Times and Seasons.’ His age is about thirty-seven. He led the way to his house, accompanied by many elders, preachers and other Mormon dignitaries. On entering the house, chairs were provided for the prophet and myself, while the curious and gaping spectators remained standing. I handed the book to the prophet, and begged him to explain its contents. He asked me if I had any idea of its meaning. I replied, that I believed it to be a Greek Psalter, but that I should like to hear his opinion. ’No/ he said, ’it ain’t Greek at all, except, perhaps, a few words. What ain’t Greek is Egyptian; and what ain’t Egyptian is Greek. This book is very valuable. It is a dictionary of Egyptian Hieroglyphics/ Pointing to the capital letters at the commencement of each verse, he said: ’Them figures is Egyptian hieroglyphics; and them which follows, is the interpretation of the hieroglyphics, written in the reformed Egyptian. Them characters is like the letters that was engraved on the golden plates.’ " 1
Mr. Caswell continues his narrative by stating that the prophet, after remarking "That book ain’t of no use to you, you don’t understand it," took him into the office where he had been the previous day.
"He produced the glass frames, which I had seen on the previous day, but he did not appear very forward to explain the figures. I pointed to a particular hieroglyphic, and requested him to expound its meaning. No answer being returned, I looked up, and behold! the prophet had disappeared." 2
Mr. Caswell’s reference to the Egyptian mummies brings us to another remarkable achievement of the prophet’s in the realm of languages his translation of the 1 Caswell: op. cit., pp. 35-6. 8 Same: p. 37.
Book of Abraham. While the Mormons were at Kirtland, a Mr. M. H. Chandler came to town to exhibit some Egyptian mummies. These mummies, he said, his uncle had secured with much personal danger, "in one of the catacombs near the city of Thebes in Egypt, in the year 1831. . . . In his will he left these valued remains of Egyptian art to his nephew." Attached to two of the bodies were rolls of linen in which were enclosed rolls of papyrus, on which were Egyptian hieroglyphics. Mr. Chandler came to Kirtland with his mummies on July 3, 1835. The prophet in writing afterwards about the events says that a few days later:
"Some of the saints purchased the mummies and papyrus, and I with W. W. Phelps and O. Cowdery as scribes, commenced the translation of some of the characters or hieroglyphics, and much to our joy found that one of rolls contained the writings of Abraham, another of the writings of Joseph the Egyptian." 1
These mummies were held in high esteem by Smith and his followers. So highly were they valued that according to Lucy Smith, an effort was made in Kirtland to attach them for the prophet’s debts. The late Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Utah, the Rt. Rev. F. S. Spalding, D.D., took the trouble to have the hieroglyphics which the prophet translated, submitted recently to prominent Egyptologists both in this country and abroad, and published the results in a pamphlet called "Joseph Smith, Jr., as a Translator." 2 The consensus of scholarly opinion in the matter was that the Prophet, Seer and Revelator, knew absolutely nothing about the language which he pretended to translate.
1 Reynolds, George: "The Book of Abraham," etc. Salt Lake City, Utah, 1879.
2 Spalding, F. S.: "Joseph Smith, Jr., as a Translator." Salt Lake City, Utah, 1912.
Smith appeared to have a fondness for unusual words, as well as a great knowledge of the languages. Professor Riley comments:
"The form which the law of the Lord ultimately took reads like a page from Gulliver’s Travels; it is worth quoting, if only to show that the fancy of the Latter-day prophet was as weird as the mad dean’s Kingdom of Laputa:
’ ’Revelation given April 23d, 1834, to Enoch (Joseph Smith, Jun.), concerning the order of the church, for the benefit of the poor. Let my servant Pelagoram (Sidney Rigdon) have appointed unto him the place where he now resides, and the lot of Tahhanes (the tannery) for the stewardship, for his support while he is laboring in my vineyard, even as I will when I shall commend him;
" ’And let my servant Mahemson (Martin Harris) devote his moneys for the proclaiming of my words, according as my servant Gazelam (Joseph Smith, Jr.) shall direct.
" ’And let my servant Olihah (Oliver Cowdery) have the lot which is set off joining the house, which is to be for the Laneshine-house (printing office), which is lot number one, and also the lot upon which his father resides.
" ’After you are organized, you shall be called the United Order of the Stake of Zion, the city of Shinehah (Kirtland).’" 1
Swartzel, in his Journal under date of June n, 1838, tells his story of the naming of one of the Stakes of Zion. This was a place about twenty miles from Far West, located on the north side of the Grand River, in Davies County, Missouri. It bore, prior to the prophet’s revelation, the plebeian name "Spring Hill."
1 Riley: op. cit., pp. 311-12.
"Brothers Joseph Smith, Martin Harris and myself," writes Swartzell, "went to digging a spring and walling it in. . . ."
After prayer that:
"The spring might everlastingly send forth an abundance of good water," (in two or three days the spring began to fail, and in about one week it went entirely dry) "I observed to Joseph Smith that this city should have a new name. Brother Joseph placed his back against a small shady tree near the spring, and then said, ’we shall alter the name of this stake’ (every city being called a stake), and looking towards heaven for a short time, said, ^It does not take me long to get a revelation from heaven, and this stake, or city, shall be called Adam-on-Diammon/ He assigned as a reason for calling it so, that there was no place by that name under heaven." 1
Swartzell’s orthography, at least as far as names given by inspiration is concerned, may have been a trifle irregular, or there may have been a great variety of spellings for this important name, for we find it also appearing, inter alia, as "Adam Ondi Ahman," 2 and "Adam-onDiahmon." 3 The translation of these names is given as 4 "The valley of God in which Adam blessed his children," and the place thus named is "said to be the identical spot where Adam and Eve first sought refuge after their expulsion from Eden." When Swartzell was initiated into what he calls the
1 Swartzell, William: "Mormonism Exposed, being a Journal of a Residence in Missouri from the 28th of May to the 2oth of August," etc. Pekin, O., 1840; pp. 11-12.
2 Stenhouse: op. cit., p. 79.
3 Bennett, John C: "The History of the Saints; or an Expose of Joe Smith and Mormonism." Boston, 1842; p. 319.
4 Young, Ann Eliza: "Wife No. 19," etc. Hartford, 1876; p. 47. See also Howe: op. cit., p. 199.
"Daranites," 1 he tells us, under date of July 21, 1838, that after various ceremonies and the giving of the signs:
"He (the high priest) then gave us the pass-word which was to be spoken at the moment of giving the hand of fellowship ’Who be you?’ Answer ’Anama! ’ This word "anama" he further informs us, is, by interpretation, a "friend" The remarkable etymological origin of the word "Mormon" is another familiar subject for interest and notice. It is said that it was W. W. Phelps who evolved this learned etymology, which is stated by Smith to be as follows:
"Before I give a definition, however, to the word, let me say, that the Bible, in its widest sense, means good; for the Saviour says, according to the Gospel of John, ’I am the Good Shepherd’; and it will not be beyond the common use of terms to say that good is among the most important in use, and though known by various names in different languages, still the meaning is the same, and is ever in opposition to bad. We say from the Saxon, good; the Dane, god; the Goths, goda; the German, gut; the Dutch, goed; the Latin, bonus; the Greek, Kalos; the Hebrew, tob; and the Egyptian, mon. Hence, with the addition of more, or the contraction mor, we have the word Mormon, which means literally more good.
"Yours, "JOSEPH SMITH."
"Nauvoo, May 19, 1841." 2
Burton, 3 who spent a short time in the "City of the Saints," gives us an account of the Deseret 4 alphabet to
1 Danites. For Danites see Hall: op. cit., pp. 30-1; 65-6-7.
2 Hyde, John, Jr.: "Mormonism." New York, 1857; pp. 273-4- Cf. Stenhouse: op. cit., p. 421 (footnote).
3 Op. cit., p. 419.
4 By interpretation, "The Land of the Honey-Bee." be used in the land of promise. Evidently the linguistic fondness of the saints was of a persistent nature, something possibly of the "Esperanto" sort recently perpetrated upon the kindly general public.
Much might be said about Mormon prophecies, about Mormon miracles, and about Mormon theology. The same characteristics which we have seen appear in all the sects which we have been studying, in respect to the charismata appear in Mormonism. The miracles, when not actually fraud, are at least coincidences capable of very simple explanations. Like the miracles of the French prophets, they are substantiated only by interested parties. The theology, of later development, is of interest to those who care to study theology. It will be found to be characterised by an exceedingly materialistic millennial tendency. In that theology, polygamy takes on an eschatological aspect which makes it logical for a woman to consent to becoming a party to the relationship. But when all is said that can be said in favour of Mormonism, when all the kindly words that charity can command have been uttered, it still remains that, ethically speaking, Mormonism is no purer than its source. He that is filthy is filthy still.