Mormon bible was made up of identically | dar given by Humboldt, but copied in the same matter, combined with portions of the true Scripture. Mr. Spalding's business partner, Mr. Miller, testified on oath as follows: 'I have recently examined the Book of Mormon, and find in it the writings of Solomon Spalding, from beginning to end, but mixed up with Scripture and other religious matter, which I did not meet in the 'Manuscript Found.' Many of the passages in the Mormon book are verbatim from Spalding, and others in part. The names of Nephi, Lehi, Moroni, and in fact all the principal names, are brought fresh to my recollection by the gold bible.' Mr. Spalding wrote his manuscript in 1812; he afterwards removed to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1816. His manuscript remained in the printing-office a long time, and in this office Rigdon was a workman. There is the best evidence, therefore, that the so-called Mormon bible had for its basis the matter contained in Mr. Spalding's work. Rigdon, however, had at first no open connection with Smith, and was converted by a special mission sent into his neighborhood in 1830. From the time of Rigdon's conversion, the progress of Mormonism was wonderfully rapid, he being a man of more than common cunning and capacity. It may be of interest here to state, that a transcript on paper, of one of the golden plates, having been submitted to Prof. Charles Anthon, of New York, for his inspection, that eminent scholar gave, as his statement, that the paper was in fact a kind of singular scroll, consisting of all kinds of crooked characters, disposed in columns, and had evidently been prepared by some person who had before him at the time a book containing various alphabets, Greek, and Hebrew letters, crosses and flourishes; Roman letters, inverted or placed sideways, were arranged and placed in perpendicular columns; and the whole ended in a rude delineation of a circle, divided into various compartments, decked with various strange marks, and evidently copied after the Mexican calen such a way as not to betray the source. The Mormon theology teaches that there is one God, the Eternal Father, his son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost; that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgressions; that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel, these ordinances being faith in the Lord Jesus, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, laying on of hands by the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the Lord's Supper; that man must be called of God by inspiration, and Joseph Smithe by laying on of hands from those who are duly commissioned to preach the gospel and administer the ordinances thereof; that the same organization that existed in the primitive church, viz., apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, etc., should be maintained now; that the powers and gifts of faith, discerning of spirits, prophecy, revelations, visions, healing, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues, still exist; that the word of God is recorded in the Bible, and in the Book of Mormon, and in all other good books; that there are now being revealed, and will continue to be revealed, many more great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God and Messiah's second coming; that there is to be a literal gathering of Israel, and the restoration of the ten tribes; that Zion will be estab are divided into societies, called quorums of seventies, and every quorum preserves on its records a complete genealogy of each of its members. Among the dignitaries of the church, the patriarch stands eminent. He holds his office for life; all other stations are filled with candidates nominated by the presidency and elected annually in convention by the body of the church. The bishops also are conspicuous and important officers, for it is their duty to collect the tithing, to inspect once a week every family in their ward or district, and to examine strictly into their temporal and spiritual affairs. In order to do this more thoroughly, each bishop is assisted by two counselors. The bishop also adjudicates and settles all difficulties occurring between persons residing in his ward, though from his decision an appeal can be made to the high council. This is a tribunal consisting of fifteen men selected from among the high priests, twelve of whom sit as jurors and hear the testimony of witnesses in the case, and then by voting make a decision-a majority on one side or the other deciding the question; the remaining three, as judges, render judgment as to the costs or punishment. this court the only appeal is to the presidency. lished upon the western continent; that | regulations. These high priests and elders Christ will reign personally upon the earth a thousand years, and the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory; that there is to be a literal resurrection of the body, and that the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years have expired; that the privilege belongs to all, of unmolested worship of God, according to the dictates of conscience; that all persons are to be subject to kings, queens, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law; that God, having become nearly lost to man, revived his work, by revealing himself to Joseph Smith, and conferring upon him the keys of the everlasting priesthood, thus making him the mediator of a new dispensation, which is immediately to precede the second coming of Christ; that all those who recognize the divine authority of Smith, and are baptized by one having authority, are the chosen people of God, who are to introduce the millennium, and to reign with Christ, on the earth, a thousand years. The doctrine of direct revelation from Heaven was at first applied in a general sense, and any one firm in the faith, and who stood high in the church, received visions and revelations. But this soon became troublesome, the revelations often clashed with each other and led to many annoyances, and the power of receiving revelations. was therefore, in course of time, confined to the presidency, in whom the supreme authority of the church rests. This presidency consists of the president and his two counselors; the First President is, however, supreme, and there is no resistance to his decrees. Next in authority in the church is the apostolic college, which is composed of twelve apostles, who form a kind of ecclesiastical senate, but a portion of them are generally on missions, taking charge of the different branches of the church in other parts of the world. After these come the high priests, who, together with the elders, compose the body politic of the church, whose duty it is to carry out and enforce its decrees and From The first regularly constituted church of the Mormon faith was organized in Manchester, N. Y., April sixth, 1830, and from this time and event dates the Mormon era. It began with six members or elders being ordained, viz., Joseph Smith, sen., Hyrum Smith, Joseph Smith, jr., Samuel Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Knight. The sacrament was administered, and hands were laid on for the gift of the Holy Ghost on this first occasion in the church. The first public discourse was preached by Cowdery, setting forth the principles of the gospel as revealed to Smith, April eleventh; and during the same month the first miracle was performed, "by the power of God," in Colesville, N. Y. On the first of June, 1830, the first conference of the church was held at Fayette, N. Y., and soon after, Messrs. Pratt and Rigdon united publicly with the order. Meanwhile, converts multiplied rapidly. Early in 1831, Smith set out for Kirtland, Ohio, which, for a time, became the chief city of his followers. The elders soon received command to go forth in pairs and preach, the Melchizedek or superior priesthood being first conferred upon them in June. A considerable body of Mormons transferred themselves to Jackson county, Missouri, in the summer of this year. So rapidly did their numbers augment in this region, that the older settlers became alarmed, and held public meetings protesting against the continuance of the sect in their neighborhood. Among the resolutions passed at these meetings was one requiring the Mormon paper to be stopped, but, as this was not immediately complied with, the office of the paper was destroyed. Finally, they agreed to remove from that county into Clay county, across the Missouri, before doing which, an disciples, and, marshaling them as army, in May, 1834, he started for Missouri, which in due time he reached, but with no other result than the transfer of a certain portion of his followers as permanent residents in a section already too full of them. At first, the citizens of Clay county were friendly to the persecuted; but ere long, trouble grew up, and the wanderers were once more forced to seek a new home, to insure their safety. This home they found in Caldwell county, where, by permission of the neighbors and state legislature, they organized a county government, the country having been previously unsettled. In addition to the stirring scenes already recorded, some of the more important events in the history and continued progress of this sect may be stated briefly as follows. The year 1832 was distinguished by the tarring and feathering of Smith and Rigdon by a mob, for attempting to establish communism, and for alleged dishonorable dealing, forgery, and swindling, in connection with the Kirtland Safety Brigham Young however, houses were destroyed, men whipped, and some lives were lost on both sides. These outrages, according to the annals given by Perkins, kindled the wrath of the prophet at Kirtland, who took steps to bring about a great gathering of his Society Bank, founded by them; the conversion of Mr. Brigham Young, and his baptism by Eleazer Millard, also the baptism of Mr. Heber C. Kimball; and the establishment of the first Mormon periodical, by Mr. W. W. Phelps. In 1833, the gift of tongues was conferred; the re-translation of the bible finished; Bishop Partridge became the ecclesiastical head of the church in Zion; the Missouri Enquirer' was established by Messrs. Davis and Kelley. At a conference of elders in Kirtland, May 3, 1834, the body ecclesiastic was first named "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." In 1835, a quorum of twelve apostles was organized, among whom were Brigham Young and H. C. Kimball, the former, being then thirty-four years old, assuming the headship of the apostolic college, and, receiving the gift of tongues, was sent on a missionary tour toward the east. Young, noxious to the hatred of the Missourians; was so devoted a disciple of Mormonism, that he said of Smith, its founder: "The doctrine he teaches is all I know about the matter; bring anything against that, if you can. As to anything else, I do not care if he acts like a devil; he has brought forth a doctrine that will save us, if we will abide by it. He may get drunk every day of his life, sleep with his neighbor's wife every night, run horses and gamble; I do not care anything about that, for I never embrace any man in my faith." Rigdon was equally bold and lawless; who declared, in behalf of the prophet and his followers, in a sermon preached at Far West, to a great concourse, "We take God and all the holy angels to witness this day, that we warn all men, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come on us no more forever. The man, or the set of men, who attempts it, does it at the expense of their lives. And that mob that comes on us to disturb us, it shall be between them and us a war of extermination, for we will follow them till the last drop of their blood is spilled, or else they will have to exterminate us. For we will carry the seat of war to their own houses and their own families, and one party or the other shall be utterly destroyed." On the 20th of July, 1837, Elders Kimball, Hyde, Richards, Goodson, Russell, and Priest Fielding, sailed from New York for Liverpool, to preach and propagate Mormonism, and proselytes multiplied, especially in northern Europe, so plausibly was Smith's imposture set before them; multitudes of these converts, male and female, emigrated to the "promised land." The next year was distinguished by continued scenes of violence, attended with bloodshed and death, between the people of Missouri and the Mormons, among the killed being Captain Fearnot, alias Patten, leader of the Danite band. Smith, and his brother Hyrum, together with such kindred spirits as Young, Phelps, Pratt, Hedlock, Turley, Rockwell, Higbee, were particularly ob and, throughout all the western states, no curse that could come upon a neighborhood was considered so great as that of the advent of Mormon settlers. Early in the summer of 1839, Smith visited the town of Commerce, in Illinois, at the invitation of Dr. Isaac Galland, of whom he obtained, gratis, a large tract of land, to induce the Mormons to immigrate, and upon receipt of revelation called his people around him, and sold them the town lots. This place was afterward called Nauvoo, "the beautiful site," and soon numbered thousands of souls; the building of the famous temple was commenced the next year. Polygamy dates from about this time, being authorized as Smith's privilege, according to a "revelation" received by him. Smith was repeatedly arrested in 1842-3-4, on charges of murder, treason, and adultery, but managed either to escape or be acquitted, until the fatal summer of 1844. The greatest crimes charged against him were those testified to by some of his once devoted but afterwards disgusted and seceding disciples, and who would have been glad to execute summary vengeance upon his head. The exasperation produced by the Mormons murdering Lieutenant Governor Boggs (under Governor Dunklin), of Missouri, in May, 1843, was widespread and most intense, and the swarming of the sect into Illinois, caused the inhabitants of the latter to arm themselves. Governor Ford, of Illinois, persuaded the Smiths, under pledge of his word, to yield up their arms, and sent them prisoners, under the charge of sixty militia men, to Carthage. Here the prisoners were at once arrested for treason. Instead of being confined in cells, the two Smiths, at the instance of their friends, were put into the debtors' room of the prison, and a guard assigned for their security. But, on the 27th of June, 1844, a large body of exasperated and lawless men, with their faces painted and blackened, broke into the jail, and summarily killed both Joseph An address was now sent forth to "all the saints in the world," announcing, with lamentations, the death of "the Lord's Prophet." Brigham Young, a native of Whittingham, Vt., succeeded to the presidency, thus defeating Rigdon, who claimed the office, but who was forthwith cut off, and delivered over to the 'buffetings of Satan.' The next great step was the abandonment of Nauvoo, on account of the bitter hostility of the Illinoisians to the existence of Mormonism in their midst. Nauvoo was a city regularly laid out with broad streets crossing at right angles, and the houses were built generally of logs, with a few frame and brick buildings interspersed. A temple, one hundred and thirty feet long by ninety wide, was MORMON TEMPLE. erected of polished limestone; the baptistry was in the basement, and held a large stone basin supported by twelve colossal oxen. In 1848, this building was set on fire by an incendiary, and all consumed except the walls, which were finally destroyed by a tornado, in 1850. The valley of the Great Salt Lake, in Utah, now became the new "promised land" of the exiled Mormons, and, crossing the frozen Mississippi in the winter of 1846, the exodus began; in the summer ensuing, they commenced to lay the foundations of the city,-the "New Jerusalem." Soon after, the whole of this vast region was surveyed by Messrs. Stansbury and Gunnison, by order of the federal government, and a bill organizing Utah into a Territory having been signed by President Fillmore, Brigham Young was appointed governor, and thus became the supreme head of the church and state. He has ruled with consummate tact and success, overcoming all opposition from "Gentile sources, and even keeping at bay the national government itself. He declared, "I am, and will be, governor, and no power on earth can hinder it, until the Lord Almighty says, 'Brigham, you need not be governor any longer.'" Under his teachings and practice, polygamy became firmly established and universal, the prohibitory laws of the United States in this matter being openly defied. His conduct he defended in powerful harangues to the faithful, who were always ready, at the word of command, to fight or murder, in behalf of their political and spiritual chief, if occasion required. Their sec tarian literature has been very voluminous, and has appeared in almost every language; for even in the old world-throughout Europe, as also in Asia, Africa, Australia, and Polynesia,-scores of thousands of the simple-minded have become dupes of the itinerant impostors sent forth from headquarters to convert the "gentile" world. Of Young, personally, the description usually given is that of a man rather above the medium height and somewhat corpulent, with a face indicative of penetration and firmness; hair parted on the side, and reaching below the ears with a half curl; the forehead somewhat narrow, thin eyebrows, the eyes between gray and blue, with a calm, composed, and somewhat reserved expression; nose, fine and sharp-pointed, and bent a little to the left; lips close, the lower one evincing the sensual voluptuary; cheeks rather fleshy, |