Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1899-12-30

cording to the Mormon" belief. as I
understand IL. the spirits We dead
who have died In sin can aved u
their friends who are In tnu Church
will be baptized In their stead In the
Temple here, and they. the dead. ac-
ccpt the gift OF salvation from the
Lord. Mrs. Smith says as many as
700 dead per week are being 50 bap-
tiled by proxy at the present time. II
Is also possible for a woman. while
alive In this world. to have herself
sealed or married to some one who has
passed away for the next world. i
suppose In this case the departed has
some right to say whether he VIII ac-
cept the consort thus sealed to him. !
do not know.
THE MORMON" CREED.
The main principles Of the Mormon
religion, outside matters like the above.
are not different from those OF other
faiths. They believe In God the Father.
Jesus Christ. His Son. and the Holy
Ghost. They believe In the atoncmcnt
and In the forgiveness Of sins. They
use the Bible and believe In II, but also
In the Book OF Mormon. They believe
Christ will come again personally to
reign .pon earth. and that this CONT
ncnt viii be the Zion OF the future.
They believe also In the gift OF tongues.
In revelations. prophecies, the laying ON
OF hands. baptism. etc. etc.
The last three verses Of their creed
read as follows.
I'VE claim the privilege OF worship
ing Almighty God according to the
dictates of our conscience. and allow
all men the same privilege. let them
worship how, where or what they may.
we believe in being subject to
kings. prcsidenta. rulers and magis-
trates. In obeying. honoring and sus-
tanning the law
1--WE believe In being honest. true.
chaste. benevolent. virtuous. and In do
Ing good TO all men; indeed. we may
say that we follow the aimonitlon OF
all things. we have endured many
things and hope to be able TO endure
all things. II there Is anything virtu-
ous, lovely or OF good report or praise
worthy. we seek after these things"
JOSEPH SMITH AND THE BOOK OF
MORMON.
After leaving President Snow. his
secretary sent me book giving the
doctrines and covenants OF the Church,
and also one entitled "Reminiscences OF
Joseph the Prophet" In the latter
md a picture OF Joseph Smith and n
fac simllc OF one OF the pages OF the
gold plates OF the Book OF Mormon.
Joseph Smith. according to this, was
I
mont When he was boy his father
moved TO Palmyra, N. ". and Il was
there that he had his first vision. wher
he was seventeen years old he had an
other vision. In which he saw the Lord
ana when he was twenty-five, accord
Ing to this Mormon" belief. he dis
covered the golden plates on which
were printed the Book OF Mormon. III
translated these by means OF u pair o
diamond spectacler,. called the Urin
and Thummim. by looking through
| which he was able to understand an,
dictate the English OF the strange char
acters. Upon the basis OF this and hi
revelations he founded the Mormon
Church In 1880. and fourteen year
later. while acting US Its leader. wa
killed by a mob In tae jail at Carthage
Mo.
The gold plates referred TO came from
n hill about thirty miles from Roches
ter. ~. Y. They were given to tn
Prophet by an angel They were abou
as thick as tin plates. and this bool
says they were pure gold md weighe'
forty pounds. II this Ia 80 they woul
now be worth about $4,000, The plate
were fastened together on rings. an
the diamond spectacles were wit
them. Each plate was covered wit
characters. and the whole OF ther
made the Book OF Mormon. volum
OF 623 pages. now about equal with IN
Bible as a holy book OF the Mormon
Church. II has been translated int
fifteen different languages.
FRANK q. CARPENTER.