Essays ecclesiastical and social. Reprinted, with additions, from the Edinburgh review. [incl. Mormonism, no. 202, Apr. 1854]

xi, 440 p.; 23 cm. -- `Mormonism', p. [280]-376. (Flake, Mormon bibliography 2482) General preface -- Essay I. The church in the mountains [of Wales] 1853 -- II. Church parties [high, low, broad] 1853 -- III. Ecclesiastical economy, 1854 -- IV. Vestries and church-rates, 1854 -- V. Mormonism, 1854 (History and character of the Book of Mormon, Early life of Joseph Smith, Foundation and early struggles of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith's reign at Nauvoo; his imprisonment and death, His character, Exodus of the Mormons, and colonisation of Utah, Mormon emigration from Europe, Theology of Mormonism, and its recent development, Mormon polygamy, Other ethical peculiarities, Their public worship,and ecclesiastical constitution, Their present chiefs, Mormon missions, Causes of the success of Mormonism, Its future prospects, Practical inferences) -- VI. Agitation and legislation against intemperance , 1854. -- `.a manuscript was lying neglected on the dusty shelves of a farmhouse in New England.the production of one Solomon Spalding. It seems inconceivable how any man could patiently sit down, day after day, to weary himself with writing sheet after sheet of such sleep-compelling nonsense. Yet this worthless book.is regarded by proselytes.as a revelation from heaven. This extraordinary change of fortune was brought about by the successful roguery of a young American named Joseph Smith.' (281-83) -- `Yet when we consider the audacious blasphemies in which he had traded for so many years.in making the voice of Heaven pander to his own avarice and lust, we cannot deny that, in his punishment, the wrath of lawless men fulfilled the righteousness of God.' (307) Good orig. brown cloth, tear across backstrip repaired.…