For more than two years, by the aid of the stone spectacles, Smith was engaged in translating the hieroglyphics into English. In March, 1830, the translation was given into the printer's hands, was published under the title of the "Book of Mormon," and that book is the corner-stone of that great MODERN DELUSION called MORMONISM. A _delusion_ the writer prefers to call it rather than "_the Latter-day swindle_," as Joseph Cook and many others denominate it. There are TWO VIEWS that may be taken of Joseph Smith by the Christian world. One is that he was _a base swindler_, and concocted the Mormon scheme with the express purpose of deluding the people; the other is that he was _a religious enthusiast_, deceived and deluded himself. Arguments may be adduced in support of either theory, and which are the stronger is a question which every man must settle for himself. 1. On the one hand, it may be said that Smith's former life is in strict accord with the theory that his scheme was a deliberate fraud; for he swindled many of his neighbors with his "peek-stone." But, on the other hand, it may be said that it is not so certain that he was not himself deceived with regard to that matter also. At any rate, his naturally superstitious and imaginative mind, which he inherited from his mother, would strongly favor the idea that he really thought he saw visions and heard voices. Even Joseph Cook says, in an address delivered in Salt Lake City, May 17th, 1884: "I am not sure that he did not have in his experience some spiritistic manifestations, which he mistook for a revelation; but I am sure that if he had any superhuman revelation, it came from below the earth rather than from above it." 2. Again, in support of the swindling theory, it may be said that, apart from the "peek-stone" business, his previous immoral life and ignorance favors the idea that he was a base villain; but, on the other hand, it might be said that that is only another form of the old mistaken notion that "no good thing can come out of Nazareth." 3. Then, too, it might be said that Mormonism was regarded as a swindle by the people generally who lived right around him and were acquainted with him and his character; but, on the other hand, it may be said that that is no proof whatever that the Mormon scheme _was a fraud_, but only another evidence of the truth of the well-known proverb: "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country."