MORMONS 



3951 



MORMONS 



and three other witnesses, later solemnly testi- 

 fied that they had seen the plates. When the 

 translation was completed, Martin Harris, a 

 farmer, supplied the money to print the book, 

 and an edition of 5,000 copies was prepared and 

 offered for sale in 1830, at $1.25 a copy. 



The Book of Mormon. This was the name 

 chosen from the title-page, which was given on 

 the plates, "The Book of Mormon: An account 

 written by the hand of Mormon upon plates 

 taken from the plates of Nephi." Mormon was 

 the last of the prophets upon the American 

 continent, and he gave the plates to his son 

 Moroni, who hid them in the hill of Cumorah, 

 about 1,400 years before they were delivered 

 to Joseph Smith, on the eve of the last battle 

 between the Nephites and Lamanites. 



The Book of Mormon purports to be a his- 

 tory of America from its first settlement until 

 the beginning of the fifth century of the Chris- 

 tian Era. According to this account the first 

 settlement was made by a colony of Jaredites, 

 w y ho were driven from the Tower of Babel to 

 America. The Jaredites, in the course of cen- 

 turies, killed one another off, and about 600 

 B.C. a new colony was founded by one Lehi, 

 his wife, his four sons and twelve friends, all of 

 whom came directly from Jerusalem and landed 

 on the coast of Chile. After his death his 

 youngest son, Nephi, was divinely appointed 

 to succeed to his leadership. At this evidence 

 of divine favor his brothers were angry, but 

 they were promptly punished for their show of 

 jealousy by being turned into a dark-skinned, 

 idle people called Lamanites. From them, the 

 narrative states, sprang the North American 

 Indians. 



According to the story, the Nephites, or good 

 Hebrews, gradually fell away from the true 

 faith, in spite of the intercession of Christ, who 

 appeared in America after his resurrection. 

 Finally, the Nephites were practically annihi- 

 lated by the Lamanites in a great battle at the 

 hill of Cumorah, in 384 B. c. Among the few 

 who escaped were Mormon and his son, Moroni. 

 Mormon preserved the records of his people, 

 and Moroni added an account of events within 

 his own memory. This book of records he 

 buried on the hill of Cumorah, with the divine 

 assurance that God's chosen prophet would 

 some day discover it. 



Organization and Growth of the Church. With 

 the Book of Mormon as their authority, Joseph 

 Smith and five others organized a church at 

 Fayette, Seneca County, N. Y., on April 6, 1830, 

 and within a short time were sending forth mis- 



sionaries in all directions. In 1831, guided by 

 a revelation, Smith decided to move to Kirt- 

 land, Ohio, and in the same year the Mormons 

 founded a colony at Independence, Mo., which 

 latter was to become the New Jerusalem. In 

 1835 the Twelve Apostles, including Brigham 

 Young, were chosen. Meanwhile, from the be- 

 ginning the Mormons had been steadily perse- 

 cuted, and the Missouri colony, after being 

 driven out of two localities, was finally as- 

 signed to a thinly-settled region, now part of 

 Caldwell County, where was built the town 

 of Far West. Affairs in Kirtland had not 

 prospered, and there were disputes with the 

 state authorities because the Kirtland Safety 

 Society Anti-Banking Co., controlled by some 

 of the Mormons, had failed. There was also 

 dissension within the Church, for a strong fac- 

 tion tried to remove Smith from the leader- 

 ship. 



Early in 1838 Smith left )hio for the Mor- 

 mon settlement at Far West, Mo. Here, how- 

 ever, the Mormons were already in difficulties 

 with their gentile neighbors. From threats and 

 quarrels they came to blows, from blows to 

 rioting, and from rioting to a state of civil war. 

 The climax came in the autumn of 1838, when 

 a company of militia murdered about twenty 

 Mormons at Hawn's Mills. Smith and Sydney 

 Rigdon, one of his counselors, were later ar- 

 rested and imprisoned for murder, felony and 

 treason. Most of the Mormons, then about 

 15,000 strong, crossed the Mississippi River into 

 Illinois, where they founded the town of Nau- 

 voo. Smith and Rigdon managed to escape 

 from prison, and rejoined their followers in 

 Illinois. 



At Nauvoo the Mormons were welcomed by 

 the leaders of the great political parties and 

 were given a special charter for the city. Here 

 the question of polygamy arose, for it became 

 generally known that Smith was living with 

 several wives and was about to announce a 

 revelation on the subject of "celestial" mar- 

 riages. A number of bitter apostate Mormons, 

 who were indignant at Smith's conduct, estab- 

 lished the Nauvoo Expositor for the purpose 

 of opposition and persecution. Only a single 

 number (June 7, 1844) appeared, and it was 

 filled with calumnies of women and tirades 

 against the Prophet and the orthodox Mor- 

 mons. The city council declared the paper a 

 public nuisance, and three days later the plant 

 was destroyed by the city officials. This led to 

 a general uprising of the gentiles against them, 

 while Joseph Smith, his brother Hyrum and 



