Show A FAIR presentation the following appeared in the newcastle daila chronicle of march lath during the last week or two a mormon elder from salt lake city utah U S A has been conducting services in newcastle in the ana eldon E on hall clayton street on sunday evening last elder A W rankin bankin delivered his last lecture in this city his subject being the divine mission of joseph smith although an elder mr rankin is still a young man his discourse to the score or more of people who were gathered together in the eldon hall was thoroughly earnest and he spoke of the life and character of toke the e fa founder of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints eloquently and well he prefaced his lecture however by numerous arguments drawn chiefly from holy writ with the purpose of demonstrating that mormonism was the true faith of the present generation the people he said had departed from the laws of the gospel and their salvation was pre ordained to be brought about according to the revelation of st john the divine who prophesied in the following verses and I 1 saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and to every nation and kindred and to tongue n ue and people saying with a loud voice year fear god and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment is come this prophecy was fulfilled in the person of joseph smith to whom several angelic visitors appeared the second of these was on n september 1823 at manchester in the state of new york smith was told that the covenant which god made with israel of old was about to be fulfilled that the preparatory work of the second coming of the messiah was to begin that the time was coming for the gospel to be preached iu all its power and falness to every nation and kindred and tongue and people and that this unlettered son of poor farm people was himself to be the instrument in gods hands to bring about some of his purposes in this glorious dispensation smith was also informed where to seek for certain plates lates which had en graven upon them them an abridgment of the records of the ancient prophets to that had lived in america but it was not until four years afterwards that the angel of the lord placed laced these records in his hands we these se records were written by the prophet mormon who had hidden bidden the plates in the earth where they remained until god inspired joseph smith to bring them to light in that they might be made to unite the bible for the accomplishment of his purposes in the last days the plates were seen also by oliver cowdery martin harris and david whitmer S smith iab preached the approach r oa ch oa ta the ne in millennium menn jum in the lace face of bitter persecution and to the peril of his life his courage drew disciples to him and on april ath 1830 the church of jesus christ of latter day saints was organized converts rapidly increased the new sect and a thriving colony was formed in missouri but in 1838 in consequence of continued persecution the whole body of saints numbering about quitted 1 missouri and took refuge in tu illinois s where they founded nauvoo or the city C ity of beauty fresh disturbances arose here and smith was thrown into pris carthage where on june 1844 smith was shot by a mob that broke into the prison and died a martyr to the faith by w which aich b he e had u unflinchingly ingli uch tingly held since it had bad been revealed to him THE INTERVIEW after the lecture a representative of the chronicle had bad a talk with elder rankin who gave him a good deal of interesting information concerning the mormons cormons and their doings doingo it was he said in july 1847 that the first of the mormons cormons Mor mons then under the guidance of brigham young who had succeeded smith arrived in the great salt lake valley the place was then a wilderness and it was believed that the cultivation of cere Is was impossible buethe but the land was reclaimed to cultivation by the industry of the people and it was now as fertile 8 place as one might wish to live and die in the salt lake city was founded an emigration fund was established and settlers poured in from all parts of europe in 1850 the region occupied byth by the mormons cormons was organized as aa a territory under the name of utah and a territory not a state it BOA still remains A territory mr rankin bankin explained stands to the government of the united states very much in the same relation that the dominion Domini Olk of canada bears to great britain the government appoints a governor and district judges thedis the his tory of mormonism had continued mr rankin bankin been one of continued progress forty years ago the mor mons numbered now they counted roughly they had bad three temp temples es in utah and anda a fourth was in course of erection the tn command to preach the gospel to au nations and to all peoples was wing being carried out to the letter and mission arles aries were making converts con verte in every part of the world the first akim preace reach ers ere orson hyde and reber heber coln ball came to england in omd ana maae made many con converts vertA in leeor manchester liverpool Binnin tr ham glasgow and especially in tn 0 80 mining districts of south wales the work had gone on even unto the present day most of the cou converts as soon as the they y were able abio emigrated to utah mr mir bankin furnished our representative w wh exhaustive statistics concerning the cormon onnon mission in europe during ing the year 1888 there had been 94 bl blanches inches KU iches in england with one A A 12 high priests 70 seven oes elders priests 90 teachers eichers 95 deacons 2416 member ws total 3 the number ol of emi pante to utah utah during the year had bad en newcastle had 5 branches 5 seventies 23 elders 3 priests 7 rW teachers hers 7 deacons members 0 o total being in the nether land ds there were 5 branches with M 6 officers and members in tury keyt 3 branches with 15 members Q scandinavia 45 branches with Z 4 coffle officers ers and members and in switzerland and germany 25 26 brkl inches iches with members the totals for europe were branches with officers and members d of these 1014 had already emi to utah there were also colonies ol onles of mormons cormons in some of the states of america the largest umber of them however lived in wh territory N in march 1887 the american congress ress pawed passed a law to confiscate the toe church property of the morns on being asked why they would should jo such gy a thing as this alider mer rankin replied just what we want to know A test 2401 s he said had been heard before the ie judge in utah who of course tl geld the action of the legisla wean appeal had been lodged ra would in due time be heard belbie ore the supreme court there at plezent Er eBent ent the matter rested mer der rankin bankin is by the way a gave of Fife shire in scotland his klier her having been an episcopalian alad his mother a scotch 44 both parents were coave converted arted to w mormonism and elder rankin bankin aa nourished in the bosom of the to tarch but he said when he grew hilans Ws estate he thought out the ater for himself and became con wed of the truth of the faith which kioh he had inherited |