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Show WATCH FOR JESUS' COMING. Iowa Mormons Believe the Savior's Second Advent Is Near at Hand. Lamoni. Ia.. March . Joseph Smith, jr., the son of the discoverer dis-coverer of the Book of Mormon, has aroused this village, the home of the Josephlte Mormons, into a fervor of enthusiasm by hi3 prediction of the near approach of the coming of Christ, on his second visit to earth. Prophet Smith has been preaching in this village vil-lage for weeks, and now every chance visitor to the place is studied eagerly by residents of the village, in the hope that he is the Christ. They do not know the manner of his coming, and it is a common belief that he will not make his presence known until he has been with them for some time. Like the fathers in Ople Read's "Wives of the Prophet," the daily-prayer daily-prayer is offered. . As the peopleof Bolga prayed, so pray the people of Lamoni. Here is the seat, of Mormonism, of a large part of that portion of the church removed from the home of Brigham Young. For miles about are scattered the converts and the disciples of the Book of Mormon, Mor-mon, as revealed by Joseph Smith, the original prophet, and through his son. Joseph Smith, jr. The Mormons of Lamoni, however, are not of the Utah branch of the Church of Latter-day Saints, but have a creed essentially different from that of the westerners. Smith is now 69 years old, and might be mistaken for a retired farmer instead in-stead of the seer of his church. He well remembers the death of his father, fa-ther, who was killed by a mob at Carthage, Ills., and recites the heartrending heart-rending cries of his mother when the news was brought to her by sympathizing sympathiz-ing friends. The Lamoni Mormons have never recognized the head of the Mormon church of Utah, and have always opposed op-posed the practice of polygamy, saying say-ing that thi3 was a practice instituted by Brigham Young. Now that Joseph Smith, jr., has grown old, he has begun be-gun prophesying of the coming of Christ. He ha3 assigned no date for the great event, but has said that it will be soon, and that he will live until un-til the Christ comes again, when he will, as did the prophet of old, die in peace, having seen his Lord. |