MORMON CENTENARY

Evening Star, Issue 19722, 24 November 1927, Page 9

MORMON CENTENARY

A VANISHED ESGI! Among the literary centenaries of 1927 should, bo reckoned the “discovery ” of the Book of Mormon. This, according to Joseph Smith, was unearthed on September 22, 1827. Obedient to the directions of the angel Moroni, who had, as lie said, appeared to him, Smith dug at a certain place in a hill not far from the town where lie lived, the name of which, it is interesting to note, was Manchester (New York State). There lie found a stone box, in which was a volume size eight by seven inches, and six inches think, composed of gold leaves fastened by throe gold rings, and a pair of spectacles, called “Brim and Thnmmim,” by mean of which Smith was able to decipher the strange characters, said to ho of “reformed Egyptian typo.” The spectacles were evidently a happy thought on the part of the angel, for Ihc worthy Joseph Smith was unable, in the ordinary 'way, to read or write at all (says the ‘Manchester Guardian’).

Smith had the bool; transcribed, dicta (hip its contents to amanuenses from behind a curtain, for it was evidently too sacred an object for other eyes than his own to see. When that was done tlit; book disappeared, having been taken away by the good Moroni, the angel. 'Che book contains a carious account of the origin of the American nation, winch it attempts to lijnk up with the Hebrew race, but its main object appears to have been to authenticate Joseph Smith as the divinely appointed prophet of these latter days. Unfortunately the prophet had a violent end. After gathering a large following and obtaining the charter of a city, ho had a “revelation” sanctioning polygamy. A revolt was led by a doctor who suspected Smith of coveting his wife, and Joseph Smith and his brother, aft’er being imprisoned, were shot hy the mob.