516 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF FACTS. 



shipped to Palestine from Brindisi, and about 

 5,000 of the French children were shipped from 

 Marseilles, and all who survived the voyages 

 were sold as slaves to the Turks. Of the 70,- 

 000 children who joined this crusade, it is 

 probable that less than 20,000 were ever heard 

 of afterward by their parents. 



Liatter-Day Saints, or Mormons, were 

 founded by Joseph Smith, the son of a Ver- 

 mont farmer, who claimed to have received 

 from the hands of an angel of the Lord certain 

 plates, on which were engraved God's revela- 

 tion to the New World. This was the famous 

 Book of Mormon, believed by the followers of 

 Smith to be of equal authority with the Jewish 

 and Christian scriptures, and to form an indis- 

 pensable supplement to them. It was published 

 in 1830, with the names of Oliver Cowdery, 

 Martin Harris, and David Whitmer appended 

 to a statement that an angel of God had come 

 down from heaven and shown them the original 

 plates. Eight other witnesses testified that 

 they had been shown the plates by Smith. 

 These, however, are the only persons who 

 have been so privileged. The first Mormon 

 settlement was at Manchester, N. Y., in 1830, 

 but the following year Smith and his followers 

 moved to Kirtland, Ohio. Their missionaries 

 were full of zeal, converts were made in great 

 numbers, and churches were established in 

 Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, and 

 Missouri. Toward the close of 1838, the whole 

 body of Saints, about 15,000, took refuge in 

 Illinois at a place which they called Nauvoo, 

 or the City of Beauty. Here, for a space of 

 years, the Mormons lived in quietness, gather- 

 ing to themselves many new converts ; but, 

 ultimately, the doctrine of "sealing wives" 

 aroused the wrath of the neighborhood, and 

 Smith and his brother Hiram were thrown 

 into prison at Carthage, where, on June 27, 

 1844, they were shot by a mob who broke into 

 the jail. Previous to this event, however, the 

 main body of the Mormons had removed to 

 Salt Lake City, Utah, and upon Smith's death 

 Brigham Young was chosen to succeed him. 

 The points of the belief of the Mormon Church 

 have been somewhat altered since first received 

 from Joseph Smith, that teacher having taught, 

 for instance, the dogma of a Trinity, while 

 modern Mormonism holds that there is a dual- 

 ity of persons in the Godhead, the Holy Ghost 

 being merely a spiritual soul. They also 

 teach that God has parts resembling the body 

 of man, and not materially differing from him 

 in size. They deny the doctrine that " all 

 men sinned in Adam," but accept the atone- 

 ment through Christ for sins committed by 

 men. They hold that the ordinances of the 

 gospel are : (1) Faity in Christ ; (2) Re- 



pentance ; (3^) Baptism by immersion for 

 remission of sins ; (4) Laying on of hands for 

 the gift of the Holy Ghost. They believe that 

 a man is called to preach by " prophecy and 

 the laying on of hands," and claim to have 

 the same organization in respect to teachers 

 that the primitive church held. They further 

 hold a twofold priesthood, which they call the 

 Melchizedek and the Aaronic, and they believe 

 in a "baptism for the dead" ; that is, that a 

 living person may save a dead friend by being 

 immersed for him, unless he has committed 

 the unpardonable sin. They believe that the 

 gift of tongues, revelations, visions, etc., is 

 still granted to men, and that many things are 

 still to be revealed concerning the kingdom of 

 God. They further believe in the literal gather- 

 ing of the tribes of Israel and in the restoration 

 of the Ten Tribes ; that Zion will be built 

 upon this continent ; that Christ will reign per- 

 sonally upon this earth, and that the earth will 

 I be renewed and receive its paradisal glory. 

 The doctrine of polygamy was not a part of 

 the original revelation of Mormonism, but was 

 j introduced later, and came to be not simply 

 j tolerated, but enjoined as a positive duty, a 

 'man's rank in heaven being alleged to be 

 ! largely dependent on the number of his chil- 

 dren. Children are taken into the church at 

 the age of eight years ; never before. 



Leaning: Tower of Pisa. This cele- 

 brated and beautiful bell-tower is situated in 

 the city of Pisa, Italy, and was built during 

 the twelfth century by the German architect 

 William of Innspruck. It is cylindrical in 

 shape, 50 feet in diameter, 180 feet high, and 

 leans about 14 feet out of the perpendicular. 

 It is entirely of white marble, and consists of 

 seven stories, divided by rows of columns. 

 The top, which is surmounted by a flat roof 

 and an open gallery, commanding a splendid 

 view of the surrounding country, is reached by 

 300 steps. The tower was not originally in- 

 tended to lean, but the foundation settled 

 more on one side than on the other until it 

 reached the present inclination, which it has 

 maintained with scarcely any perceptible in- 

 crease for hundreds of years. The upper part 

 of the structure was built in a manner to 

 counteract in part the inclination ; and the 

 grand chime of bells, seven in number, of 

 which the largest alone weighs 12,000 pounds, 

 is mounted with reference to counteract this 

 fault still further. 



Ark of the Covenant. Previous to the 

 destruction of the Temple of Solomon by the 

 Babylonians the Ark of the Covenant was 

 contained therein, but what became of it after 

 that time is unknown. It is believed by some 

 to have been ta,ken away or destroyed by 



