receive their license from other elders by vote of church or conference. There shall be presidents, bishops, high counsellors, and high priests; the presiding elder shall be president of the high priesthood, and he, as well as bishops, high counsellors, and high priests, will be ordained by high council or general conference. The duty of members is to walk in holiness before the Lord according to the scriptures, to bring their children to the elders, who will lay their hands on them and bless them in the name of Jesus Christ. The bible, that is to say, the scriptures of the old and new testaments, is accepted wholly, save such corruptions as have crept in through the great and abominable church; the book of Mormon is a later revelation, supplementary thereto. Thus is organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,[1] in accordance with special revelations and commandments, and after the manner set forth in the new testament.
The first public discourse, following the meetings held in Whitmer's house, was preached on Sunday, the 11th of April, 1830, by Oliver Cowdery, who the
- ↑ The church was not at that time so called, nor indeed until after the 4th of May, 1834. See chap. iv., note 50; also Millennial Star, iv. 115; Burton's City of the Saints, 671–2. Kidder, Mormonism, 68, affirms that this name was not adopted till some years later. Mather is only a year and a day astray when he says, 'The conference of elders on May 3, 1833, repudiated the name of "Mormons" and adopted that of "Latter-Day Saints."' Lippincott's Mag., Aug. 1880. The term 'Mormons,' as first applied by their enemies to members of the church of Latter-Day Saints, was quite offensive to them, though later they became somewhat more reconciled to it. As at present popularly employed, it is by no means a term of reproach, though among themselves they still adhere to the appellation 'Saints,' just as quakers speak of themselves as the 'Society of Friends.' The term 'Mormon' seems to me quite fitting for general use, fully as much so as presbyterian, reformed Dutch, universalist, and others, few of which were of their own choosing. 'Mormon was the name of a certain man, and also of a particular locality upon the American continent; but was never intended to signify a body of people. The name by which we desire to be known and to walk worthy of is "Saints."' Bell's Reply to Theobald, 2. At the time of the riots in Missouri, in addressing communications to the governor, and in many other instances, they designate themselves as 'members of the church of Christ, vulgarly called Mormons.' See also De Smet's Western Missions, 393; Mackay's The Mormons, 41–2. The term 'gentile' was generally applied to unbelievers of the white race. The Indians, originally, were denominated 'of the house of Israel,' 'of the house of Joseph,' or 'of the house of Jacob,' also the Lamanites.
