Mormons, or, as they call themselves, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The founder of this religious organisation was Joseph Smith, who was born at Sharon, Vermont, on 23d December 1805. He was the son of a farmer, and at the age of ten removed with his parents from the state of Vermont to Palmyra, in the state of New York, and four years later to the neighbouring town of Manchester. It was here, according to his claim, that he received in 1820 his first revelation—his divine call as a prophet of the Most High, with no less authority and power than were wielded by the ancient seers and prophets of biblical fame. Prior to this he had belonged to no religious body, though of a spiritual turn of mind, with a leaning toward Methodism. He declared that no less a visitation than that of the Father and the Son, of two persons of the Trinity, was vouchsafed to him. His second visitation from the unseen world was on the evening of 21st September 1823. A glorious personage appeared at his bedside, and, announcing himself as a messenger from the presence of God, 'called me by name and said unto me . . . that God had a work for me to do, and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues. . . . He said there
Copyright 1891 in U.S.
by J. B. Lippincott
Company. was a book deposited, written upon golden plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprung. He also said that the fullness of the everlasting gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Saviour to the ancient inhabitants. Also, that there were two stones in silver bows deposited with the plates, and the possession and use of these stones was what constituted seers in ancient or former times, and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book. . . . While he was conversing with me about the plates, the vision was opened to my mind that I could see the place where the plates were deposited, and that so clearly and distinctly that I knew the place again when I visited it.' This visitation was supplemented by others, the same angel appearing to him thrice that night, and afterwards paying him several visits and instructing him at length in relation to his prophetic mission. The spot where the records lay concealed was described as being 'on the west side of a hill, not far from the top, about 4 miles from Palmyra, in the county of Ontario, and near the mail-road which leads thence to the little town of Manchester.' Thither the youth repaired the next day, and was shown the plates as he had been promised, but was not permitted to take them. Four years later, however, after due disciplinary probation, on the night of September 22, 1827, the angel of the Lord delivered the sacred records into his hands. They were engraved on plates nearly 8 inches long by 7 wide, a little thinner than ordinary tin, and bound together by three rings running through the whole. The volume was altogether about 6 inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed. The characters, letters, or hieroglyphics upon the unsealed part were small and beautifully engraved. They represented an unknown language, which Mormons have called the 'Reformed Egyptian.' Along with them were found the Urim and Thummim, described by the angel; by means of this instrument, which is said to have borne some resemblance to a pair of spectacles, the Lord enabled the young man to translate the ancient records into English. He read off by the aid of the Urim and Thummim to his associate and scribe, Oliver Cowdery, or other clerks, who wrote down the words exactly as he gave them. The first edition of the Book of Mormon (5000 copies) was published at Palmyra, New York, in 1830. It contained a prefatory testimonial, signed by Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris, to the effect that an angel of God came down from heaven and showed them the plates from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon; and this was followed by the testimony of eight other witnesses, among them Joseph's father and two brothers, who affirmed that 'Joseph Smith, junior,' had shown them the golden plates containing the engravings. These were the only persons who were permitted to see them. They were returned to the angel after the work of translation was done. Only the unsealed portion of the plates was translated, the sealed remainder being reserved, with a promise of translation at a future time.
These records contain the primitive history of America from its settlement by a colony that came from the Tower of Babel, at the time of the confusion of tongues, to the beginning of the 5th century of the Christian era. These primitive colonists of North America were called Jaredites. They were a race highly favoured of heaven, but degenerated and became wicked and corrupt, the sun of their civilisation finally setting in a sea of blood and civil strife, in which millions of souls were slaughtered. But a new race came directly from Jerusalem about 600 B.C., and in time peopled both North and South America. The founders of the new colony were Lehi and his wife, his four sons Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi, with their wives; Zoram, a servant, and his wife; in all sixteen persons. They landed on what is now the coast of Chili, in South America. After Lehi's death quarrels broke out among the brothers. The Lord had appointed Nephi to be the ruler of the new race of colonists, but his jealous elder brothers rebelled, and were cursed by the Almighty for their iniquities, and condemned to have dark skins, this punishment to continue in their posterity. They became 'an idle people, full of mischief and subtlety, which did seek in the wilderness for beasts of prey.' They were known as Lamanites, and, according to the Book of Mormon, were the ancestors of the American Indians. The Nephites became highly civilised and prosperous, were fair and beautiful to look upon, and were greatly blessed of the Lord, though often ungrateful for his goodness. Both Nephites and Lamanites increased and multiplied, but were almost continually at war with each other. About the time of the Crucifixion, awful earthquakes, darkness, and destruction announced that event. Shortly afterwards Christ himself appeared out of heaven to the more righteous Nephites. He showed them his wounded side and the print of the nails in his hands and feet, instructed them in the truths of his gospel, healed the sick, blessed children, administered the sacrament, chose twelve apostles, and gave them power to found his church with the same orders of priesthood, the same ordinances, gifts, powers, and blessings as in the Old World. After a prolonged season of peace, the result of the spread of the work of Christ, which at one time was received by both Nephites and Lamanites, hostilities between the two races were resumed, gradually the purity of their faith declined, and finally, about the year 385 A.D., a decisive conflict, similar to that which had destroyed the Jaredites in the same locality, took place near the hill Cumorah, where the Nephites were almost totally annihilated. The Lamanites remained a dark and benighted race, to people the waste of ruin, and faintly perpetuate in their customs and traditions the story of the illustrious past. Shortly before the battle of Cumorah, a Nephite prophet named Mormon had been commissioned of God to write an abridgment of the history of his people, from the records kept by their various prophets and rulers, to be hidden in the earth till God should see fit to bring it forth and 'unite it with the Bible for the accomplishment of his purposes in the last days.' This abridgment, written upon golden plates, was concealed in the hill by Moroni, a son of Mormon, and one of the survivors of the battle of Cumorah. He it was who appeared as an angel to Joseph Smith and told him where the plates were deposited. Such is the famous Book of Mormon, believed by the Latter-day Saints (hence called Mormons and Mormonites) to be of equal authority with the Jewish and Christian scriptures, and to form an indispensable supplement to them, containing God's revelations to the New, as the others to the Old World.
The work being published, attention was speedily drawn to it. The opponents of the Saints alleged that it was made up from a romance written by a quondam clergyman named Solomon Spaulding (1761-1816). This the Mormons emphatically deny, and the discovery of the original MS. of that romance by President Fairchild of Oberlin College, 1884, corroborates their denial. Undeterred by ridicule and hostility, the Mormon prophet and his associates declared that the millennium was nigh at hand, that the Indians would soon be converted, and that the new Jerusalem, the Zion of the last days, where the Saints would finally gather to prepare for the coming of the Lord in his glory, was to be built in the heart of the American continent. America, they claimed, was the land of Joseph, bestowed upon him and his posterity for ever by the blessing of the patriarch Jacob, as recorded in Genesis and Deuteronomy. The prophet's house was frequently beset by mobs and 'evil-designing persons;' several times he was shot at and very narrowly escaped; but his courage and zeal continued to bring him disciples, and on April 6, 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was legally organised, with six members, at the house of Peter Whitmer, in Fayette, Seneca county, New York. Several months prior to this the Aaronic priesthood, restored by an angel who said that he was John the Baptist, was conferred upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, and later they were ordained to the Melchizedek priesthood by the apostles Peter, James, and John. The new religion spread rapidly and gained many converts. Branches of the church were established in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, the British provinces, and the New England states. The prophet was fiercely attacked by the leaders and preachers of the other religious denominations, but held his ground firmly. Though but poorly educated, he was a formidable opponent in the polemical field. In January 1831, in compliance with revelation, the church removed westward and established its headquarters at Kirtland, Ohio, where it began to thrive amazingly. In the summer of 1831 a colony from Kirtland migrated to Missouri, where they purchased lands in Jackson county, which had been revealed to the Mormon prophet as the chosen site for the city of Zion. At a place called Independence his colonists concentrated themselves, established a printing-press, started a monthly periodical, the Evening and Morning Star, and continued to preach zealously and make proselytes to their faith. Their success and rapid increase here, as elsewhere, raised up enemies. Secret societies were formed to expel them from Missouri, their houses were attacked by mobs, their periodicals were stopped, their printing-press confiscated, their bishop tarred and feathered, and numberless other outrages committed against them. Finally, in the autumn of 1833, the entire community, numbering about 1500 souls, were driven from their homes, whipped, plundered, many of them killed, and the survivors expelled from Jackson and scattered through the adjoining counties. The main body of the refugees found a resting-place and kindly welcome in Clay county.
Meanwhile the Saints in Ohio had suffered some persecution. On the night of March 5, 1832, at Hiram, Portage county, a mob broke into a house where the prophet was sleeping, tore him from the arms of his wife, hurried him to an adjoining meadow, tarred and feathered him, and forced aqua fortis into his mouth. Sidney Rigdon, his associate, was similarly handled and rendered temporarily insane. Later on Smith was assailed by divers vexatious prosecutions, but each time came off victorious. He set up a mill, a store, and a bank in Kirtland, and continued his propagandist labours with great success. In June 1833 the building of a temple in Kirtland was commenced. Shortly afterwards a printing-press was established in the city, and Oliver Cowdery recommenced the publication of the Evening and Morning Star. In July 1834 the Mormon prophet visited for the third time his people in Missouri. He was accompanied by 204 persons, mostly young men. This was the 'Zion's Camp' expedition, the object of which was to relieve the wants of their afflicted brethren who had been driven from their homes in Jackson county, and, if possible, effect a reconciliation between them and their former neighbours. They purchased lands in Caldwell county, Missouri, where they settled and founded the city of Far West. At Kirtland on February 14, 1835, the Twelve Apostles of the church were chosen, and soon after the council of the Seventies, their co-labourers in the ministry, was called into existence, and sent forth with the apostles to begin the work of 'pruning the Lord's vineyard for the last time.'
In June 1837 Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Willard Richards, Joseph Fielding, and others left Kirtland for England, and landed at Liverpool, July 20. Three days later they began preaching in Preston, and met with such remarkable success that within the next eight months, at the expiration of which time Kimball and Hyde returned to America, they had converted and baptised about 2000 people. The British mission was the first foreign mission of the Mormon Church.
On account of apostasy and persecution Kirtland was now pretty much abandoned by the Saints, the main body of them with the prophet and other leading elders migrating to the new 'Stake of Zion' in Missouri. They settled in Caldwell, Daviess, Clinton, Carroll, and Ray counties, where they bought land and improved it. At Far West, Caldwell county, the corner-stone of a temple was laid, a printing-office was established, and a monthly paper, called The Elder's Journal, published. But an election riot in August 1838, in Gallatin, Daviess county, where attempts were made to prevent the Mormons from voting, and some of them were obliged to defend themselves against assailants, was made the pretext for further acts of violence and rapine, from which the Saints in the outlying settlements were sufferers. The mob even burned the houses and laid waste the property of some of their own sympathisers in order to make it appear the work of the Mormons, who were falsely accused of deeds similar to those of which they were the victims. The result was a general uprising. The militia of the state was called out to suppress the riots, but took side with the mob against the unpopular Mormons. Governor Boggs issued an order for them to be 'exterminated or driven from the state,' and commanded Major-general Clark with several thousand troops to proceed at once to Far West and execute the decree. To this overwhelming force the inhabitants of the city peaceably surrendered, though compelled to look on and see their city sacked and pillaged, their wives and daughters outraged and insulted, and a number of their brethren killed by the mob and the soldiery. The Mormon leader and about seventy others were retained as prisoners, and the body of their followers, on penalty of death, ordered to leave the state forthwith. From twelve to fifteen thousand people in the autumn and winter of 1838 crossed the Mississippi, and were kindly received in the neighbouring state of Illinois. Joseph Smith and the other prisoners were tried by court-martial (November 1) and condemned to be shot, but escaped execution.
The Mormon prophet next rallied his people on the banks of the Mississippi, principally at or near Commerce, Hancock county, Illinois, where they again purchased homes and founded the city of Nauvoo (q.v.). This region though naturally fertile was then a mere wilderness, but Mormon thrift and industry soon made it 'blossom as the rose.' The legislature of Illinois granted a liberal charter to Nauvoo, and a body of Mormon militia was formed under the name of the 'Nauvoo Legion,' with the prophet himself as its commander. Meanwhile the Twelve Apostles, with Brigham Young at their head, had preached a wonderfully successful mission in the British Isles, whence they sent many hundreds of converts across the Atlantic. Within five years the Mormons numbered in Illinois about 20,000 souls.
After a few years of comparative peace and prosperity the tempest of persecution again burst upon the Mormon community. Governor Ford ordered into service several hundred men, had Joseph Smith arrested with his brother Hyrum, and immured in Carthage gaol, Willard Richards and John Taylor accompanying them. In the afternoon of June 27, 1844, a mob of about 150 men with blackened faces broke into the gaol and shot the two brothers Smith dead, also severely wounding John Taylor. The assassins were never brought to justice. Mormonism was now thought to be doomed, but under the leadership of Brigham Young it survived the shock of its prophet's martyrdom: 'the blood of the martyrs' proved, as ever, to be 'the seed of the church.' But the anti-Mormons were determined on the removal of the entire community of Latter-day Saints from the state, and the Mormon leaders, seeing no alternative but to comply with this demand or experience a repetition of the murderous scenes of Missouri, finally resolved once more to abandon their homes, and seek a haven of peace and safety in or beyond the Rocky Mountains. Accordingly, on 1st February 1846 a thousand families left Nauvoo, crossing the Mississippi on the ice. At Council Bluffs, on the Missouri River, in the month of July 1846, Captain J. L. Allen of the United States army called on the Mormons to raise a battalion for service in the Mexican war. The exiles speedily raised the five hundred troops required, though it took nearly all their able-bodied men. The families left at Council Bluffs, unable in the absence of the battalion to proceed farther that season, crossed the Missouri and established 'Winter Quarters,' now Florence, Nebraska. Meanwhile the residue of the community left behind in Nauvoo, after a gallant defence of their city against the mob, which in violation of treaty came upon them in overwhelming numbers, were expelled from their homes and thrown shelterless upon the western shore of the Mississippi.
In the spring of 1847 Brigham Young at the head of a picked band of pioneers, 143 men, 3 women, and 2 children, started from Winter Quarters for the Rocky Mountains. They arrived in the valley of the Great Salt Lake, the site of their present beautiful city, on July 24, and began to plough the ground and put in crops the same day. Seven hundred more wagons arrived that autumn, and 1000 wagons in the autumn of 1848. In December 1847 Brigham Young was chosen president of the church—an office left vacant since the death of Joseph Smith—with Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards as his counsellors in the First Presidency. In 1849 the provisional government of the state of Deseret was organised at Great Salt Lake City, a state constitution adopted, and a delegate sent to congress to ask for admission into the Union. The petition was refused, but in September 1850 congress created Utah a territory, and President Fillmore appointed Brigham Young governor, which office he held from 3d February 1851 until 11th April 1858, when he was succeeded in that office by Alfred Cumming. In 1857 the Mormons were falsely charged with being in a state of rebellion against the government, and President Buchanan sent a considerable military force to Utah. Young and his people fearing military excesses, and remembering the fate of Far West and Nauvoo, kept the army east of the Wasatch Mountains until the next spring, when arrangements were made for the peaceable entry of the troops, the Mormons having abandoned their city and surrounding parts and removed south, with the avowed determination of burning every building and reducing Utah to its former condition of barrenness if vindictively pursued. They were not, however, molested. The troops passed quietly through the city and encamped in Cedar Valley, about 40 miles south-west, and the people returned to their homes. Since then their cities and settlements have extended from Idaho through Utah into Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, New and Old Mexico. The Mormons also have a settlement in British America. In Utah they have three temples in St George, Logan, and Manti, and a fourth, an imposing edifice, in Salt Lake City.
The Mormons have sent many missionaries to the British Isles and nearly every other European country, also to Australasia, Africa, Palestine, the East and West Indies, China, Burma, Siam, South America, and the Society, Sandwich, and Samoan Islands, and from most of these places have gathered numerous converts. In 1849 the Perpetual Emigration Fund was established, to assist poor Saints in distant lands to emigrate to Utah. Annual and semi-annual general conferences of the whole church are held, generally at Salt Lake City, and quarterly conferences in the various 'stakes,' and usually in the various missionary fields.
Organisation.—The ecclesiastical authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints comprise two priesthoods—the Melchizedek or High Priesthood, and the Aaronic or Levitical, which is the lesser priesthood. The latter ministers in temporal things, the former in spiritual things, though having general authority and supervision over the whole. Apostles, seventies, high-priests, patriarchs, and elders belong to the Melchizedek priesthood, bishops, priests, teachers, and deacons to the Aaronic. The highest authority in the church is the First Presidency, consisting of the president of the whole church and two counsellors. There have been four of these presidents—viz. Joseph Smith (martyred June 27, 1844), Brigham Young (born June 1, 1801, died August 29, 1877), John Taylor (born November 1, 1808, died in exile July 23, 1887), and Wilford Woodruff (born March 1, 1807). The death of the president dissolves the First Presidency, the authority of which then devolves upon the next highest council, the Twelve Apostles, who nominate his successor. Since the death of Joseph Smith, selection has invariably been made of the president of the Twelve Apostles to preside over the church. The third body is the Seventies, of whom there are one hundred councils (commonly termed quorums), each of seventy members, each council having seven presidents, included in the seventy. The seven presidents of the first council of seventies preside over all the councils of seventies. The duties of the above three bodies are general rather than local. The cities and settlements of the Saints are organised into stakes, each usually covering one county. Each stake has a president, assisted by two counsellors, also a high council of twelve members (who are high-priests), presided over by the president of the stake and his two counsellors. Each stake is divided into several wards, presided over by a bishop and his two counsellors. The high-priests of any stake form a council indefinite in number. A council of elders consists of 96 members; of priests, 48; of teachers, 24; of deacons, 12. An apostle is a special witness to all the world. The Twelve Apostles are a travelling presiding high council, to build up the church and regulate the affairs of the same in all nations, as well as at home, under the direction of the First Presidency, when there is a First Presidency. A seventy's duty is to travel and minister under the direction of the apostles. The special office of a patriarch is to administer patriarchal blessings. Apostles, patriarchs, high-priests, seventies, bishops (if high-priests), and elders can preach, baptise (invariably by immersion), lay on hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and minister in various other ordinances of the church. Neither priests, teachers, nor deacons can lay on hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, but a priest may preach and baptise. Neither a teacher nor a deacon can baptise or administer the sacrament, which all the other officers named may do. The special duty of a teacher is to visit and teach the members in order to promote morality and faithfulness. The special duty of a deacon is to attend to minor temporalities, and to assist the teacher in his duties.
Doctrine.—The articles of faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: 'We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in his Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression. We believe that through the atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. We believe that these ordinances are (1) faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; (2) repentance; (3) baptism by immersion for remission of sins; (4) laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. We believe that a man must be called of God by "prophecy and by the laying on of hands," by those who are in authority, to preach the gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof. We believe in the same organisation that existed in the primitive church—viz. apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, &c. We believe in the gifts of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healings, interpretation of tongues, &c. We believe the Bible to be the word of God, as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. We believe all that God has revealed, all that he does now reveal, and we believe that he will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the ten tribes; that Zion will be built upon this [American] continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth, and that the earth will be renewed and will reach its paradisaic glory. We claim the privilege of worshipping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honouring, and sustaining the law. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we follow the admonition of Paul—"We believe all things, we hope all things," we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is any thing virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things' (Joseph Smith).
They also believed in the patriarchal order of marriage, as practised by Abraham, Jacob, and other ancient worthies; they held that it is right and proper, under certain restrictions, for a man to have more than one wife, providing he is chaste and upright in his conduct and otherwise worthy of the privilege. Their marriages are 'for time and all eternity,' as they believe in the perpetuation of the family relationships hereafter. Joseph Smith received the 'revelation on the eternity of the marriage covenant, including plurality of wives,' July 12, 1843, but it was not published to the world until August 29, 1852. A woman, among the Mormons, who does not marry and bear children is regarded as not having fulfilled all the law of her own being. A defence of the system has been set up on moral grounds, as well as on the ground of revelation. They declare that prior to the advent of the Pacific railroads (which, by the way, the Mormons helped to construct), and the consequent influx of 'Gentile' civilisation, their community was free from the horrible vices and degrading social evils that prevail elsewhere; fornication and adultery were unknown; there were no prostitutes, no vile seducers, no illegitimate children. Their wives are asserted to be happy, virtuous, and healthy, and their social and domestic purity and felicity challenge the highest commendation.
Congress has legislated repeatedly against the polygamic feature of their faith. An anti-polygamy law, passed in 1862, remained practically a dead letter, only one conviction being secured in twenty years, and that in a test case, upon evidence furnished by the defendant. For years after the passing of the act referred to congress permitted a Mormon delegate, who had several wives, to hold his seat in the House of Representatives; but in 1882 he was denied that right, and a monogamic Mormon was sent in his stead to congress. In March 1882 an act supplementing the law of 1862 was passed, making it an offence punishable by fine and imprisonment for a man to marry more than one wife or to cohabit with more than one woman. This act, popularly known as the Edmunds Law, was applied specially against the Mormons, and was rigorously enforced. In July 1887 a constitutional convention, composed entirely of monogamic Mormons, who were vastly in the majority in the church, met at Salt Lake City, and, adopting a constitution for the 'state of Utah,' containing a clause prohibiting and punishing polygamy and unlawful cohabitation, applied once more—the fifth time in the history of the territory—for admission to the Union as a state. Like all the previous applications, however, this was refused. Finally, in September 1890 President Woodruff issued a proclamation declaring that the church no longer teaches the doctrine of polygamy or plural marriages, and accepts the United States law prohibiting such marriages; and this declaration was afterwards confirmed in conference. Following the manifesto by President Woodruff, the Mormons began to divide on political party lines, and to fall into one or other of the two great national parties of the republic. The elections which ensued clearly demonstrated that the Mormon people were about equally divided in their political views and preferences. At the session of the United States Congress for 1893-94 the question of statehood for Utah was early sprung, and an Enabling Act for its admission was passed with but little opposition. In accordance with this act a constitutional convention was held in Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah, in March-May 1895, and a constitution framed for submission to the legal voters of the territory. The chief provisions of the Enabling Act were that perfect toleration of religious sentiment should be secured, that polygamous or plural marriages should be forever prohibited, that provision should be made for the establishment and maintenance of a system of public schools which should be open to all the children of said state and free from sectarian control, and that these provisions should be rendered by ordinance irrevocable without the consent of the United States and the people of the state. The constitution as framed was ratified by a large majority. See UTAH.
[The foregoing article is written from the Mormon point of view by the historiographer of the church. The membership of the church is estimated at 250,000, of whom, according to the United States census of 1890, 117,629 were in Utah. In the same year there were 3000 in New Zealand and 3142 in Great Britain. A body calling themselves the Reorganised Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and presided over by Joseph Smith, son of the founder of the Mormon Church, seceded in 1860. They now number 25,000, and their headquarters are in the states of Iowa and Illinois. They claim to be the orthodox Mormons and repudiate their co-religionists of Utah, on the ground that Brigham Young was a usurper, and that plural marriage is a device of Young and his associates devised after Smith's death and suppressed for a time for politic reasons.—ED.]
The Book of Mormon has been translated into several foreign languages, as also the Doctrine and Covenants, the Hymn-book, and the Voice of Warning. Besides these, the principal Mormon publications are Life of Joseph Smith, Key to Theology, Spencer's Letters, Compendium of the Doctrines of the Gospel, Life of Heber C. Kimball, Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, Story of the Book of Mormon, Catechism for Children, Snow's Poems, Harp of Zion, Correspondence of Palestine Tourists, and many minor works. The Mormon periodicals at present published embrace twenty in the United States, one in England (Liverpool), two in Scandinavia, and one in Switzerland. The territory of Utah supports the university of Deseret; it takes rank, however, as a classical and normal school. Besides the official Mormon literature, J. H. Kennedy's Early Days of Mormonism (1883) and H. H. Bancroft's History of Utah (1889), which contains a full bibliography, may be consulted.