The Mormonites, or Latter-day Saints, are a religious sect which derive their name from the 'Book of Mormon.'
This book was first published in the year 1830. Since that period its believers and advocates have zealously propagated its doctrines through every State in the Union, and in Canada. In England they have made some thousands of converts.
The Book of Mormon purports to be the record or history of a certain people, who inhabited America previous to its discovery by Columbus. This history, containing prophecies and revelations, was engraven (according to it), by the command of God, on small brass plates, and deposited in the hill Comora, in Western New York. These plates were discovered (the Mormons say) by Joseph Smith, in the year 1825; they contain certain hieroglyphics, in the Egyptian character, which Smith, guided by inspiration translated. It purported to give the history of America from its first settlement by a colony from the tower of Babel to the 5th century of our era. It stated that the Saviour made his appearance upon this continent after his resurrection; that he planted the gospel here--had his apostles, prophets, teachers, etc.; that the people were cut off in consequence of their transgressions; and that the last of their prophets wrote the Book of Mormon on the brass plates above named, "which he hid in the earth, until it should come forth and be united with the Bible, for the accomplishment of the purposes of God in the last days."
Smith readily found many to believe his statements, and in 1830 organized his first church of Mormons in Manchester, Ontario county, New York. Other preachers sprang up, who "saw visions and prophesied, cast out devils and healed the sick, by the laying on of hands," and performed other miracles. New churches or societies were formed in other States, until in a few years their number amounted to many thousands. They removed in a body to Missouri, where a most cruel and relentless persecution sprang up against them, which forced them to quit their homes and the State. They then sought a refuge in Illinois, where they founded a city called Nauvoo, in which they erected an immense edifice or Temple, which is thus described in an Illinois paper:
"This temple stands in a prominent position, and is visible from a distance of twenty-five or thirty miles. Viewed from the bank, it is grand and imposing. It is built of white limestone, which has been worked and faced down to a perfect surface. Its length is 128 feet, width 88 feet, height to the roof 77 feet. The walls are two feet thick; and on every side are rows of pilasters, crowned with elaborately carved capitals, showing a man's face and two hands grasping trumpets. The structure is lighted with four rows of windows, two of which are quadrilateral, and two circular. All the entrances are from the West, and the immense doorways we gained by flights of steps. The interior contains a basement, in the centre of which stands the celebrated baptismal font," an immense stone reservoir, resting upon the backs of twelve oxen, also cut out of stone, and as "large as life."
Persecution followed these poor people in Illinois. They were attacked by armed bodies of men by order of the State authorities, driven out by force, and compelled to abandon or sacrifice their property. Such as survived the persecution, after traversing the boundless prairies, the deserts of the far West, and the Rocky Mountains, finally found a resting place near the Great Salt Lake in Oregon, [sic] where some 20,000 of them are now forming a settlement.