Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/856

Rh 826 M O R M O N S his alleged visions, in one of which on the night of 21st September 1823 the angel Moroni appeared to him three times, and told him that the Bible of the Western Continent, the supplement to the New Testament, was buried in a -certain spot near Manchester. Thither, four years later and after due disciplinary probation, Smith went, and had delivered into his charge by an angel of the Lord a stone box, in which was a volume, 6 inches thick, made of thin gold plates 8 inches by 7, and fastened together by three gold rings. The plates were covered with small writing in the &quot; reformed Egyptian &quot; tongue, and were accompanied by a pair of supernatural spectacles, consisting of two crystals set in a silver bow, and called &quot; Urim and Thummim ; &quot; by aid of these the mystic characters could be read. Being himself unable to read or write fluently, Smith employed as amanuensis one Oliver Cowdery, to whom, from behind a curtain, he dictated a translation, which, with the aid of a farmer, Martin Harris, who had more money than wit, was printed and published in 1830 under the title of The Book of Mormon, and accompanied by the sworn statement of Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris that an angel of God had shown them the plates of which the book was a translation. This testi mony all three, on renouncing Mormonism some years later, denounced as false ; but meanwhile it helped Smith to impose on the credulous, particularly in the absence of the gold plates themselves, which suddenly and mysteri ously disappeared. The Boole of Mormon, in which Joseph Smith was declared to be God s &quot; prophet,&quot; with all power and entitled to all obedience, professes to give the history of America from its first settlement by a colony of refugees from among the crowd dispersed by the confusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel down to the year 5 A.D. These settlers having in course of time destroyed one another, nothing of importance occurred until 600 B.C., when Lehi, his wife, and four sons, with ten friends, all from Jerusalem, landed on the coast of Chili. All went well until the death of Lehi, when the divine appointment to the leadership of Nephi, the youngest son, roused the resentment of his elder brothers, who were in consequence condemned to have dark skins and to be an idle mischievous race, hence the North-American Indians. Between the Nephites and the bad Hebrews a fierce war was maintained for centuries, until finally, in spite of divine intervention in the person of the crucified Christ, the Nephites fell away from the true faith, and in 384 A.D. were nearly annihilated by their dark-skinned foes in a battle at the hill of Cumorah, in Ontario county, New York. Among the handful that escaped were Mormon and his son Moroni, the former of whom collected the sixteen books of records, kept by suc cessive kings and priests, into one volume, which on his death was supplemented by his son with some personal reminiscences and by him buried in the hill of Cumorah, he being divinely assured that the book would one day be discovered by God s chosen prophet. This is Smith s account of the book ; but in reality it was written in 1812 as an historical romance by one Solomon Spalding, a crack- brained preacher ; and the MS. falling into the hands of an unscrupulous compositor, Sidney Rigdon, was copied by him, and subsequently given to Joseph Smith. Armed with this book and with self-assumed divine authority, the latter soon began to attract followers. On 6th April 1830 the first conference of the new sect, called by their neighbours Mormons, but by themselves subsequently Latter -Day Saints of Jesus Christ, was held at Fayette, Seneca county, New York, and in the same year another revelation was received by Smith, proclaiming him &quot; seer, translator, prophet, apostle of Jesus Christ, and elder of the church.&quot; Smith now began to baptize ; but, his character, which was none of the best, being too Avell known in Fayette, he found it convenient to remove with ILLS followers, now thirty in number, to Kirtland, Ohio, which was to be the seat of the New Jerusalem. Here he had another revelation, directing the saints to consecrate all their pro perty to God and to start a bank. This being done and Smith appointed president of the bank, the country wa.s soon flooded with worthless notes, which fact, added to other grievances, so enraged the neighbouring Christian settlers that on the night of 22d May 1832 a number of them dragged Smith and Rigdon from their beds and tarred and feathered them. One year later, the church was fairly organized, with three presidents, Smith, Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams, who were styled the first presidency, and entrusted with the keys of the last kingdom. About this time the licentiousness of Smith might have led to the dissolution of the church but for the accession of Brigham Young, a Vermont painter and glazier, thirty years old, who turned up in Kirtland in 1832, and was immediately ordained elder. Young s indomitable will, per suasive eloquence, executive ability, shrewdness, and zeal soon made their influence felt, and, when a further step was taken in 1835 towards the organization of a hierarchy by the institution of the quorum of the &quot; twelve apostles,&quot; who were sent out as proselytizing missionaries among the &quot; gen tiles,&quot; Young was ordained one of the &quot; twelve &quot; and de spatched to preach throughout the eastern States. In 1836 a large temple was consecrated in Kirtland, and in the follow ing year Orson Hyde and Heber C. Kimball were sent off as missionaries to England, where, among the labouring masses in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, and the mining districts of South Wales they achieved a remarkable success. Early in 1838 the Kirtland bank failed, and Smith and Rigdon fled to Caldwell county, Missouri, where a large body of the saints, after having been driven successively from Jackson and Clay counties, had taken refuge and flourished. Smith s troubles, how ever, continued to increase. His gross profligacy had repelled many of his leading supporters and bred internal dissensions, while from the outside the brethren were harassed and threatened by the steadily growing hostility of the native Missourians. To counteract the efforts of his enemies, a secret society was organized in Smith s favour in October 1838, called the Danites, with the avowed purpose of supporting Smith at all hazards, of upholding the authority of his revelation and decrees as superior to the laws of the land, and of helping him to get possession, first of the State, then of the United States, and ultimately of the world. To such a height did the inner dissensions and the conflicts with the &quot;gentiles&quot; grow that they assumed the proportions of a civil war, and necessitated the calling out of the State militia. Defying the legal officers, Smith fortified the town and armed the saints, but finally had to succumb to superior numbers. Smith and Rigdon were arrested and imprisoned on a charge of treason, murder, and felony, and their followers to the number of 15,000 crossed over into Illinois and settled near Commerce, Han cock county. Here they were shortly afterwards rejoined by Smith, who succeeded in escaping from prison, and, having obtained a charter, they founded the city of Nauvoo. Such were the powers granted them by this charter as to render the city practically independent of the State Government, and to give Smith all but unlimited civil power. He organized a military body called the Nauvoo legion, of which he constituted himself commander with the title of lieutenant-general, while he was also president of the church and mayor of the city. On 6th April 1841 the foundations of the new temple were laid, and the city continued to grow rapidly in prosperity and size. But Smith s vices were beginning to bear frait. Some years previously he had prevailed on several women to cohabit