The Vitality of "Mormonism" _An Address_ BY JAMES E. TALMAGE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE TWELVE, CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS PUBLISHED BY THE CHURCH Salt Lake City 1917 PREFATORY NOTE The following pages embody an address delivered by invitation at a meeting of the Denver Philosophical Society, at Denver, Colorado, December 14th, 1916, by Dr. James E. Talmage. The address has already been printed through the daily press and in magazine pages; and it is presented herewith in convenient form, suitable for preservation. The conciseness, clearness, and accuracy with which the subject is treated commend it to the attention of interested and studious readers. THE PUBLISHERS. Salt Lake City, Utah, January, 1917. The Vitality of "Mormonism" Why does "Mormonism" persist? Determined attempts were made both openly and by stealth to strangle the system at its birth, to destroy the mustard seed at the time of the planting; and, as the fact of its survival has become prominent the certainty of its impending demise has been announced time and again; the fall of the umbrageous tree, amidst whose branches the birds of search continue to find food and shelter, has been often predicted. On the 6th of April, 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized as a body corporate at Fayette in the State of New York; and the names of but six persons are of record as those of actual participants. True, by that time a few times six had identified themselves with the new and unprecedented movement; but, as the laws of the State specified six as the required number of incorporators, only that number took part in the legal procedure. And they, save one, were relatively unknown and in fact obscure. The name of Joseph Smith had already been heard beyond his home district. He was at the time a subject of rapidly spreading notoriety if not of enviable fame. The Book of Mormon, purporting to be a record of the aboriginal peoples of the Western Continent, particularly an account of the dealings of God with those peoples, in short the Scriptures of what came afterward to be called the New World, had already been published. It was in reference to the title page of this work that the appellation "Mormon," first given in derision as a nickname, was fastened upon the members of the Church. Such a beginning as that of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may seem to afford little ground of either hope or fear as to future developments; nevertheless, the newly established Church was made the subject of assault from its inception. What was there to cause hostile concern over the voluntary association of six men and a few of their friends in an organization of openly expressed purpose, and that purpose the peaceful promulgation of what they verily believed to be. the uplifting religion of life, the Gospel of Jesus Christ?