Arizona weekly enterprise., 1890-08-30

thereof the most absurd conceptions. As
 we have said before, this book is the most important documentary chronicle Of the Mormons It Is written in a style closely initiating that of the bible, although lack ing much of the simplicity and power of the latter It tells the history of Lehi and his descendants; Lehi was a pious
 Israelitic patriarch who with his sons Lamar, Lemuel, Sam and Nephi, ac- companied by one lshmael and his daughters in the time of king Zedekia, left Jerusalem and, travelling eastward, went into the wilderness or desert After countless wanderings they arrived at the coast of great sea where Nephi, ,impelled by divine revelation, built a ship that carried him and his followers to the Hand of promise" America. Like Noah they also had with them ali sorts of animals and seeds Upon Nephis reaching Ameri- ca he found that the Jaredites Baby lonian tribe who, on account of their ex- ceptional good behavior, had been spared 1 by the Lord in the general confusion at | Babylon, had already arrived in the coun- | try. Nephi now made number of plates up- on which he on engraved description of his voyage and adventures together with several revelations received by him and in which God informed him of the future desting of his tribe and of all mankind Before his death Nephi annointed his son Jacob as chief of the Nephites who now multiplied themselves rapidly, fourished and called themselves Christians even be- fore Christ came upon earth. After the resurrection of Christ in the old country he came in the year 31 from the celestial mansions and appeared to the Nephites in America to whom he preached the gos- pei in like manner as he had preached it in Palestine. Then he ascended to Heaven again leaving the Nephites pious people that lived under the guidance of their patriarchs in manner worthy the holy teachings they had rec 3ive1. In the begin ming of the 4th century A. D., however, dis sensions arose among them causing trouble and war during which their morals and virtuous tendencies sadly degenerated: : the people was fast approaching it's disso- lutiop by mutual destruction when, like new redesmsr, there appeared upon the scene one Mormon" pious hero of the faith and powerful warrior. At the head of an army of 42000 men he conquered, A. D. 330, the Lamanites who were cursed by Heaven for their iniquity and fell into utter barbarism; they even lost the white color of their skins which changed into a
 
 Indians whose ancestors they became
 To Mormon succeeded his son Moroni; he continued the history begun by his father on the brass plates up to the year 400 About this time his people once more gave themselves up to vice and impiety to such a degree that the angry Diety gave them into the hands of the Lama mites who smote them into destruction. Moroni alone escaped. completed the his tory of his people, sealed up the plates with the stones trim and Thumim which had been used by the then injust Jaredites as windows of their ark while traversing the sea, and hid them Ill hiii situated near the Manchester of to- day ill the county of Ontario, state of New York.
 These are the content of the book Mormon" whose so-called discovery by Joseph Smith ip the hill Camorra must be considered as the first event in the his tory of the Mormons. Smith had come at the age of eleven with his parents to Palmyra, Wayne Co. New York. As he grew up his mind became deeply impress ed with frequent readings Of the bible, especially of the books of prophets, and assumed at an early day strong tenden- cy to religious extremes. While digging a well in 1919 he found stone of remark able form and peculiar transparency, whereupon he forthwith declared that this stone gave him the faculty to read intQ the secrets of the present t-and to fore see the happenings os the futule. Already at this early period he found a number of followers who listened with attention to the preachings, revelations and annunci- ations of the youth who soon bestowed upon himself the attribute of Prophet" As such, the history of the Mormons tells us, he received on Sept 22q le4t ,fFQm th,, angel of the Lord the chronicles of Mof- mon and Moroni, written upon gold gilt tering plates and with them a pair of spectacles made from the stones Urim and Thumim, which enabled him to decipher the peculiar writing of the curious docu- menf The contents tl.qs FeYealed he dictated from behind dhftain to ali as sistant. One year after the finding of the ! plates they were shown by J. Smith to eleven selected witnesses In order to make away forever with any doubt that might be eptertained as to their existence. Soon there after the manuscript of the..writln g engraved upon the plates was destroyed by an accident. A new translation was therefore made, this time in a cave of the mentioned hill and the book was then priHted by one Martin Harris, and i'm iaedlateiy afterNards, + 1gne 1880 the | first meetlng of the members of the new church was held at the house ofJ Smiths father, on which occasion the first hap | tisms by immersion took place. About this time one Sidney Rigdon, formerly a | Baptist preacher. made his appearance and began to preach the new gospel. | Many went to hear him and he succe eded by his eloquence to inorsase the number of Smith h'sifollowers tC So considerable an extent that the non -adherents td the new religion became alarmed. This class of the surrounding population would hear nothing of "these lew-fangied notions; they declared the finding of the golden
 plates to be a fable, bold faced humbug, and the book of Mormon the literary pro- duct of one Solomon Spaulding who had
 already produced quite large number of I1dlan- I.oRels aLQ whose FeMsntie fantasy had beeh ths atther of the lew bible as
 accepted by Smiths followers. They
 further avered that the manuscript there
 of had fallen into the hands of Rigdon
 who had formerly been printer in the
 apiploy Of Spaqldlng ana NAo Lag glGsn
 the writing to J. Smith at whose house he
 had formerly appeared as mysterious
 stranger" that Smith then had dictated it ftdm behind the curtain to his assistant
 as the new doGument of Sd lYation, RigdoI
 was from Mentor Ohio. About coineident
 with his coming was the arrival of Farley
 Pratt from Kirtland, in the same State
 whose sudden conversion created aalsid
 erable excitement He and Rigdon mus
 be considered as the leaders of the exodu:
 which took place in January, 1881, to wards Kirtland, Ohio, Pratt's former home. Rigdon's tewIship sEaedilY em trated tie new faith ana MdfMoGism be Qaa to spread rapidly and extensively The most important event of this peri6(
 Is the joining of Brigham Young, Yer monter like Smith, with the community } This Brigham Young was then 3l years o , age, lie extraoFdilqry will power c , this mari, together with an almost intgitiyt
 knowledge of mankind and his talent fo l ruling the masses, placed him speedy II the front ranks of his CO believers; h ? soon became one of the l2 apostles in tn 3 aew organization and already in 1S3 chairthan of this iiilportal,t body. Al r though the Morfnons succeeded in con g vefting at Kirtland a great many person e to their faith, they soon began to expo , E;egee' serious trouble and controvers with those whG ref4seq sq accept tie ne, 1. religion, in conseqdenee Of which iie1 ;, exodus was determined upon. Rigdo ! and another dignitary of the church wer ' aeni westward to look for land wher