The Story of the Mormons, from the Date of Their Origin to the Year 1901Linn, William Alexander
History
The Story of the Mormons, from the Date of Their Origin to the Year 1901
Linn, William Alexander
Latter Day Saints -- History; Utah -- History
meaning bugbear, hobgoblin. In the form of "mormo" it is Anglicized with
the same meaning, and is used by Jeremy Collier and Warburton.* The word
"Mormon" in zoology is the generic name of certain animals, including
the mandril baboon. The discovery of the Greek origin and meaning of the
word was not pleasing to the early Mormon leaders, and they printed
in the Times and Seasons a letter over Smith's signature, in which he
solemnly declared that "there was no Greek or Latin upon the plates from
which I, through the grace of God, translated the Book of Mormon," and
gave the following explanation of the derivation of the word:
* See "Century Dictionary."
"Before I give a definition to the word, let me say that the Bible, in
its widest sense, means good; for the Saviour says, according to the
Gospel of St. John, 'I am the Good Shepherd'; and it will not be beyond
the common use of terms to say that good is amongst the most important
in use, and, though known by various names in different languages, still
its meaning is the same, and is ever in opposition to bad. We say from
the Saxon, good; the Dane, god; the Goth, gods; the German, gut; the
Dutch, goed; the Latin, bonus; the Greek, kalos; the Hebrew, tob; the
Egyptian, mo. Hence, with the addition of more, or the contraction mor,
we have the word Mormon, which means literally more good."
This lucid explanation was doubtless entirely satisfactory to the
persons to whom it was addressed.
In the early "revelations" collected in the "Book of Commandments" the
new church was not styled anything more definite than "My Church,"
and the title-page of that book, as printed in 1833, says that these
instructions are "for the government of the Church of Christ." The name
"Mormons" was not acceptable to the early followers of Smith, who looked
on it as a term of reproach, claiming the designation "Saints." This
objection to the title continues to the present day. It was not until
May 4, 1834, that a council of the church, on motion of Sidney Rigdon,
decided on its present official title, "Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints."
The belief in the speedy ending of the world, on which the title
"Latter-Day Saints" was founded, has played so unimportant a part in
modern Mormon belief that its prominence as an early tenet of the church
is generally overlooked. At no time was there more widespread interest
in the speedy second coming of Christ and the Day of Judgment than
during the years when the organization of the Mormon church was taking
place. We have seen how much attention was given to a speedy millennium
by the Disciples preachers. It was in 1833 that William Miller began his
sermons in which he fixed on the year 1843 as the end of the world, and
his views not only found acceptance among his personal followers, but
attracted the liveliest interest in other sects.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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