Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/858

Rh 828 M O R M O R it was asserted, four wives. Later in the same year the Utah Judiciary Bill, attacking the very foundation of Mormonism, passed the House in spite of the eloquent opposition of Cannon. Other steps in the same direction have since been taken, and bills passed, having for their object the extirpation of polygamy, but all without imme diate and practical effect. It is, however, a question of time merely; polygamy is doomed. The secession, chiefly because of his opposition to the practice, of Brigham Young s son, a Christian preacher, and of a large body of other anti-polygamists who claim to be the true Latter- Day Saints, represents not an individual opinion but the deep-rooted conviction of a great party, and the day is not far distant when the Mormons who acknowledge John Taylor as chief prophet must consent to lop off polygamy or cease to exist as a corporate body of the United States. Already there are not wanting signs of approaching dis solution, of which perhaps the most significant is the con ference of the &quot;Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints,&quot; held on 6th April 1883, at Kirtland, Lake county, Ohio. This sect originated in 1851, seven years after the death of Joseph Smith, when several officers of the church met and claimed to have received a revelation from God, directing them to repudiate Brigham Young, as not being the divinely-appointed and legitimate successor of Joseph Smith, and as being the promulgator of such false doctrines as polygamy, Adam-God worship, and the right to shed the blood of apostates. Nothing of special importance occurred, however, until 1860, when Joseph Smith jun., the eldest son of the founder of the faith, became identi fied with the Reorganized Church as its president. Since then the seceders have prosecuted missionary work through out the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Scandinavia, Switzerland, Australia, and the Society Islands, until their communicants are said to number over 27,000. Their headquarters are at Piano, Illinois, to which place they removed from Lamoni, Iowa, in 1881. The Reorganized Church holds that the legitimate successor to Joseph Smith was his eldest son, that the allegation that Smith intro duced polygamy on the strength of divine revelation was an invention of Brigham Young, that the Utah Church has departed grievously from the faith and practices laid down in the Book of Mormon and subsequent revelations to Joseph Smith, and that the Reorganized Church is the only true and lawful continuation of, and successor to, the original church, and as such is legally entitled to all that church s property and rights. And it was to celebrate the decision of the United States Court of Ohio confirming this last claim, and vesting in them the right to the temple consecrated in Kirtland, Ohio, in 1836, and for nearly forty years disused owing to litigation, that the Reorganized Church met in that temple on the 6th of April 1883. Returning to the main body, it may be added that the population of Utah is 147,000, of whom 123,000 are Mormons ; but as the saints are scattered over the globe it is difficult to arrive at a just estimate of their complete numerical strength. In Idaho, Arizona, Washington, Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming they have of late years made great progress, and their number in the United States outside of Utah cannot fall much under 27,000. In Europe they have also many adherents, and a careful study, based on recent official statistics, would place their entire number at 213,000. Government. At the head of the body is a president, who pos sesses supreme authority, supported by two counsellors. These three are supposed to be the successors of Peter, James, and John, and constitute what is known as the &quot;first presidency.&quot; Then comes the &quot; patriarch,&quot; whose chief duty is to bless and lay on hands, and after him the &quot; twelve apostles,&quot; forming a travelling high council, and receiving a salary of $1500 a year each. Of these the president is ex officio one, and endowed with authority equal to the other eleven. Their duties are important. They ordain all other officers, elders, priests, teachers, and deacons, lead all religious meetings, and administer the rites of baptism and sacrament. Fourth come the seven presidents of the &quot;seventies,&quot; each body comprising seventy elders ; there are eighty seventies in Utah, each of which has seven presidents, and every seven one president. These seventies make annual reports, and are the missionaries and propagandists of the body. Fifth come the &quot;high priests,&quot; whose chief duty is to officiate in all the offices of the church in the absence of any higher autho rities. After them comes the presiding bishop, who superintends the collection of tithes, which amount to $1,100,000 annually. The church is made up of 23 stakes, each having a president, and is divided into wards, which are subdivided into districts, each of which has a certain number of teachers, a meeting-house, Sunday school, day school, and dramatic, debating, and literary societies. Doctrine. The Mormons no longer claim to be a Christian sect, any more than do the Mohammedans. A system of polytheism has been grafted on the original creed, according to which there are grades among the gods, the place of Supreme Ruler of all being taken by the primeval Adam of Genesis, who is the deity highest in spiritual rank, while Christ, Mohammed, Joseph Smith, and Brigham Young also partake of divinity. The business of these deities is the propagation of souls to people bodies begotten on earth, and the sexual relation permeates every portion of the creed as thoroughly as it did that of ancient India or Egypt. The saints on leaving this world are deified, and their glory is in proportion to the number of their wives and children, hence, the necessity and justification of polygamy, and the practice of having many wives sealed to one saint. Their distinguishing points of faith are : religiously, a belief in a continual divine revelation through the inspired medium of the prophet at the head of the church ; morally, polygamy, though this is expressly condemned in the Book of Mormon, and was grafted on the original faith by Smith ; and, socially, a complete hierarchical organization. They believe in the Bible as supplemented by the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine ; in the gift of prophecy, miracles, and casting out devils ; in the imminent approach of the end of the world ; in their own identity with the apocalyptic saints who shall reign with Christ in a temporal kingdom, either in Missouri or Utah ; in the literal resurrection of the body ; in absolute liberty of private judgment in religious matters ; and in the salvation of a man only if he believes in Christ s atonement, repents, is baptized by immersion by a Christ-appointed apostle, and receives the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost by duly authorized apostles. Among their minor rules as laid down in A Word of Wisdom, supposed to have been revealed to Joseph Smith, 27th February 1833, are these recommendations : that it is not good to drink wine or strong drink, except at the Lord s Supper (and even then it should be home-made grape-wine), or to use hot drinks or tobacco, the former being meant for the washing of the body, and the latter for the healing of bruises and sick cattle ; man s proper food is herbs and fruit, that for beasts and fowls, grain ; and, except in winter and in case of famine and severe cold, flesh should not be eaten by man. Infant baptism is also condemned, but the children of the saints who have reached their eighth year should be baptized. The deceased, also, can be baptized by proxy, and in this way &quot;Washington, Franklin, and others have been vicariously baptized into the church. See Book of Mormon (1879); Book of Doctrine and Covenants (187 6); John Hyde jun., Mormonism, its Leaders and Designs (1857); B. G. Ferris, Utah and the Mormons (1854); N. W. Green, Mormonism (1870); T. B. II. Stenhouse, llocky Mountain Saints (187, i) ; H. Mayhew, The Mormons ; Elder John Jaques, Cate chism for Children (1877); John W. Gunnison, Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints (1852); Hepworth Dixon, Spiritual Wives (18(38); J. H. Beadle, Life in Utah (1870). (J. FR.) MORNAY, PHILIPPE DE (1549-1623), Seigneur du Ples- sis-Marly, very generally known as Mornay Du Plessis or Du Plessis-Mornay, one of the most distinguished members of the Protestant party in France, was born at Buhy in Normandy on 5th November 1549. As a younger son he was destined for the church, and with this view was sent to the College de Lisieux in Paris, but in his eleventh year, along with the rest of his family, he abandoned Roman Catholicism, continuing, however, with zeal and success his studies not only in classical and general litera ture but also in theology. In the autumn of 1567, on the outbreak of the second religious war, he joined the army of Conde, but was prevented from taking an active part in the campaign by a fall from his horse, which broke his leg. In the following year he went abroad, and, after spending the winter at Heidelberg, travelled extensively in Italy, Germany, the Low Countries, and England, learning the languages and acquiring the friendship of many of the distinguished men of all these countries. In