| Show froni from the lie sunday Deh despatch patch sketches of religious sects NS on LATTER DAY SAINTS notwithstanding the general abhorrence and contempt with which the mor mons are regarded by all other religious sects they adhere to their claim to be the true church and are in in no degree daunted or discouraged by the universal hostility which is is manifested toward them their pretensions and the prominent place which they have obtained in in the history of religion false and true in in the united states render it proper that we w 0 should include them in this series series joseph smith the founder of this thin remarkable community was born in in sharon vermont in in december 1805 in his youth his parents removed to palmy ra new york and he be commenced his public carreer in in the vicinity of that place lie ile never enjoyed the benefit of much education to read write and cypher was the extent of his scholastic attainments he pretended that in in september te 1823 1623 lie he was favored with a divine vision vision in which he saw a light brighter than the noonday sun and that an engel from heaven stood before him in in person ni who ho informed him that he ni was as chosen by christ to proclaim a new religion an improvement uron upon the old christianity that the end of the world the latter lat er day glory was approaching 0 of f which lie he smith was appointed to be the herald and aha the forerunner ile he v aas as also informed that certain golden plates containing a new rev revelation elation a record of the history of the of this continent were buried at a certain tal 1 n place under ground and lie he N v as corn com 1 to obtain read and antei them and proclaim their contents to world w orld it is is pretended that these plates contained the book of mormon which since become well known smith began to agne give himself out after this as a teacher erbena ent from god his immediate relations and friends were those to whom he first arst preached and after some time and labor he succeeded in in converting five them to his creed the first regular organization of a mormon church took plaice place in in april 1830 in in the town of manchester new york the tion lion of the contents of the golden plates which were critten in in an unknown and mysterious language smith professed to accomplish by means of the arim and Thum mim the leys keys of light knowledge which were miraculously im imparted to him the opponents of the mormons cormons Mor mons bri however wever assert that the of mormon is is nothing more than a religious history or romance arwen by person named solomon spaulding mg was a graduate of dartmouth college and became a clergyman who afterward re relinquished 1 indu dished the profession and entered into commercial pursuits havin having removed to ohio he conceived the idea writing w i biting such a wor w kand spent pent three in in the execution of it two of the principal personages i in n the story are mormon and moroni and from the former of these the book is la named in 1812 spaulding brought the manuscript to pittsburg and offered it to a bookseller named patterson Pa forthe for the purpose of publication li cation before the matter could be ar ran banged ed spaulding died arid and the work reZa remained ined in in the possession of patterson u who ho paid no further attention to it after his death in in 1836 the manuscript fell into the hands of one sidney rigdon by whose means it came under the he inspection i ot of joseph smith from it smith conceived the idea of a new sect on the basis of the new revelation which this bool was supposed to contain the book of mormon marmon is is an amaina imaginary narrative narn tive of the early history of the american indians who the writer endeavors to show are the descendants the ten lost tribes of the jews it gives a detailed account of their supposed journey from jerusalem both by land and sea till their arrival in in america under the guidance of nephi and leht the identity of these two works was proved by the assertions under oath of several respectable persons who had heard spaulding read portions 0 of his manuscript and who readily disei dincov ered that a perfect sameness and resemblance pervaded them yet the book answered the purposes of smith admirably for it was written in in an antique style was filled with oriental allusions and was singularly adapted to answer the fra posteriors po end to which the prophet pi ophee subsequently appropriated it the great object which smith professed to have in in view view in in the establishment of his new sect was to prepare the way for the second coming of christ to judgment to usher in in the millennium mille mum and to gather around him all those who by belonging to his community should bo be in in a state of preparing to receive receive christ and thus become heirs of heaven his earnestness and zeal soon gathered around him a considerable number of adherents and the first conference of all the saints was held in in june 1830 at fayette N Y the palpable absurdity and falsehood of the whole concern soon surrounded smith and his associates with many and bitter enemies and they found it necessary to remove they first emi emigrated to kirtland ohio but here their sojourn was short after a few weeks they proceeded further west and halted in in jackson county missouri here smith resolved to found the new jerusalem 11 the surrounding country was beautiful game and fish of till all kinds were abundant and everything seemed propitious for the purposes of the new prophet moreover Moreo erthe the almighty had informed smith by a direct revelation that th this is spot pot was has the one which was agreeable to him as the future home of the saints and predestined for that purpose A site for the temple was laid out and dedicated subsequently a printing press was obtained arid and paper commenced called the evening and morning star at this time sin smiths its followers amounted to several hundreds but soon the now new sect was again surrounded and assailed by persecution serious serious charges were made against their moral the people around them i ose in in a an mob ob public indignation meetings were held some ome of f the mormon leaders were taken tarred and feathered and at last the whole community were expelled from the count the greater portion of them took refuge e in in the neighboring county of clay where for a time they obtained a precarious resting resting plire the mormon s remained in this local lity ity about four years ears at the end ot of chich whit h time their enemies enemies became so determined deter roin and andie resolute solute in in their persecutions that a new flight became necessary to their I 1 safety on one occasion occasion they were ati tacked by an armed band of several 1 I hundred persons at a place known as cawns mill when twenty persons were killed and wounded threats were made to exterminate the whole community and it it became biec feces ary for them again to remove e then it w as that these persecuted fanatics selected the place which they afterward after wat waid d wt tinned med nauvoo illinois as their headquarters the saints saints numbered at this period about ten thousand persons including women I 1 and children and soon afterward ard they increased to fifteen thousand by the addition of immigrants from the eastern states a and A england at NAUVOO they immediately commenced to lay out and I 1 build a regular town to erect a temple and provide other edifices suitable to their future plans and purposes they had purchased the land on which the new town was erected and as none but mormons cormons sought a residence among the inhabitants of the place the whole community was of one mind and the mormon leaders possessed not only on supreme religious influence 4 but all the llie secular and political power power s the temple which was erected at nauvoo was w as an extraordinary building the foundations were laid in in april 1841 joseph smith officiating on the occasion occasion it was built of polished limestone being a hundred and thirty eight feet in ir length and eighty 6 eight I 1 I 1 lit in in breadth it was surmounted by a sp i re a hundred and seventy feet high in the course of several years the mormons cormons erected two thousand houses public schools and buildings lars had established a paper known as the times and seasons and had sent forth a large number of missionaries missionaries and elders to europe and other distant countries to make converts the success of some of these emissaries was extraordinary orson hyde and heber C kimball converted and baptized two thousand persons in in england and scotland during the course of a single year though all their converts were among the lowest and most ignorant classes of the community nauvoo and the mormons cormons thus continued to grow at a rapid rate but with prosperity came its usual concomitants I 1 in in such cases spiritual pride and internal dissensions it was about this period that sidney rigdon one of the twelve apostles first proposed and asserted the doctrine of the plurality of wives wives as being a part of the true mormon creed it is is but justice to joe smith cosay to ay that be was opposed to this innovation and that it was not till after his death that it became a fully recognized and admitted principled principle and practice of the mormon community rigdon was subsequently expelled from the church buthe but he hid had gamed gained a large number of followers foll to his views views and a dangerous schism followed his exit but the chief trouble of the mormons cormons at nauvoo arose from the fact that led on by smith and his confederates that they assumed an independent jurisdiction in in nauvoo refusing to acknowledge the authority of the state of illinois within their limits and a law was w as passed by the authority in nauvoo severely punishing any stranger who within the limits of ahe the city should use any disrespectful language language toward the prophet or his religion so 0 o great had the arrogance of these fanatics acs ics 1813 1843 smith sinith was w as ly nominated and proposed by them as a candidate for the presidency of the united states various acts of injustice and tyranny gradually incensed the community in in illinois against against the mormons cormons Mor mons which ultimately ti li led to furious hostilities and to the he death of smith and several of his leading le associates they were arrested and confined at carthage on the charge of destro destroying yin the office onice of a newspaper named the expositor which had been commenced at nauvoo by an anti mormon and also on the charge of treason against the authority of the state of illinois while confined on this charge an infuriated mob attacked the jail firearms were used and smith in in attempt atten pt ing to escape through a window was struck by many balls and fell to the ground a corpse thus ended the life and persona personal career of one of the most extraordinary men mea of the ae age who without leardi learning ng or culture or real ability of any kind but by the mere force of boundless raft craft and impudence succeeded in establishing a sect which lias has obtained no obscure place in in the history in tory of the present century and which bids fair to exist for several generations erat ions to come it was after the death of smith that brigham young the present leader of the mormons cormons Mor mons first assumed a prominent place in their community he succeeded in in being chosen to the presidency of the sect in in the defunct prophets place and he has managed to retain his supremacy ever since since lie he resembles his predecessor in many important respects in in his want of education his impudence his craft a and d cunning and his ability to control T the e opinions and actions of f his co religionists but the death deah of smith did not appease the yen vengeance of the enemies enemies ul af the mormons cormons new persecutions were commenced which resulted finally in in an attack on nauvoo and the expulsion of the from illinois in in january 1816 they now resolved to seek a home beyond the rocky mountains they had heard of the desirable features of a tract in in the distant and unoccupied territory of utah named the great salt lake valley and thither they determined to travel four thousand persons constituted the company who under the guidance of brigham young commenced and completed this long and laborious eurney journey in july 1847 they reached great reat salt lake valle valley and began to build the town which they them still inhabit the career career of the mormons cormons since their removal to utah is is so familiar to the public that it is is unnecessary for us to an dwell ell upon it here we will conclude with a brief statement of their doctrines they believe in in the trim trinity t y entertaining on this point the orthodox christian theory they deny that men will be punished in in anyway any way for adams sin sin or that they fell in m consequence of adams transgression they believe that all mankind may be saved by christs atonement and by the use of the sacraments and ordinances of the mormon church these ordinances they hold to be faith repentance baptism by immersion laying on of hands hands and the lords supper they believe that the true church should be organized like the apostolic church with apostles prophets elders teachers evangelists ac who should possess like them the power to work miracles to heal the sick ac they hold that the scriptures are umpired inspired and that the book ot of mormon is is equally so and possessed of an authority and san sanctity edity similar to that of the bible that israel will i be literally gathered in in that christ chris t iv will ill reign reign in in person a thousand years on the c earth jtb that his head will be with the mormon saints wherever they may be at the time of his advent and that when he be comes there will be a new heaven and a new earth in addition to these points they bold to the literal resurrection of the body a literal I 1 judgment and the reigning reigning of the saints sa ints with christ over the whole earth but the most remarkable feature of the mormon creed is is their spiritual wife doctrine this theory is is based on the idea that the future kingdom of the saints is is to consist solely ot of their own posterity and hence the more children a saint has the more heirs of glory are created and that women may become heirs of heaven also by becoming borning sealed to a saint and entering paradise with him tins this spiritual relation however always involves the usual incidents ants accompany ordinary marriage and is is in in fact nothing but a subterfuge e to excuse and justify the monstrous sensual excesses of polygamous life in in which they indulge some of the saints are said to have hai e as many as twenty others thirty and others even forty wives wives and the having of more than one wife is is tho the generally prevalent custom among the inhabitants of salt lake city it is is probable that the whole hole mormon community now low dwelling in in utah territory may amount to forty thousand persons and the sum total of the sect throughout the world cannot by the most liberal estimate exceed a hundred thousand |
