Morlot, Francois Nicolas jMadeleixe, a French prelate of note, was born at Langres (department Ilaute- Marne) Dec. 28, 1795. His father, a modest mechanic, sent him to the college of his native town. Having afterwards passed through the course of theological studies at Dijon, before reaching the age required for priesthood, young Slorlot was for some time private tutor. In 1825 he was appointed vicar of the diocese of Dijon, where, after the revolution of 1830, he made himself conspicuous by his resistance to bishop Key, who was obnoxious to the clergy and legitimist party for having accepted his see from Louis Philippe. Dis- carded from the grand vicariate, but supported by the A mi de la Religion and other papers of the same party, he repeatedly refused an appointment as curate, and accepted only the place of canon. He iniMislicd, un- der the title oi Remonstrance, a censure <>!' \\\- lii-liii|i's acts, and was foremost in the attacks which at last Icinid the liishop to resign iu 1838. In 1839 Morlot was ap- pointed bishop of Orleans. He was also for his valua- ble services decorated with the cross of the Legion of Honor on tlie occasion of the baptism of the comte de Paris, and in 1842 was elevated to the archiepiscop.il see of Tours. Created cardinal Jlarch 7, 1853, he took as such his seat in the senate of the new empire, and Jan. 24, 1857, he was promoted to the archbishopric of Paris. The same year he was also put at the liead of the grand Aumonerie, and at the beginning of 1858 he was called to the counsel of regency and to the private council. Cardinal Morlot died in 1870. His literary activity was very limited. Besides his Aftinde- ments and Circidaires, or Lettres Pasturales, all of them written with great simplicity, he edited Erplicntion de la doctrine Chretienne, en forme de lectures (2 vols. 12mo) : — Caiechlwie, du diocese de Dijon (18mo) : — the Jleures choliie-i de la Marquise d'Andelarre (1825, 12mo). See Diet, d/s Cardinaur, s. v. ; Hoefer, Xoui: Jiiof). Generale, xxxvi, G14-15 ; Yapereau, Diet, des Con- temporains, s. v.
Mormons, the usual name of a religious sect which was founded in this country A.D. 1830, and claims to be called of God to gather within its fold the people of this universe, by authority of a new dispensation, which is to be the last given to man in his present existence. They style themselves " The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," or briefly, '• Latter-day Saints," and object to the popular designation, Jlormons, derived from the name of one of their sacred books (i. c. The Book of Mormon). Though this word is derived from the Greek {fiop^u'ov), and literally signifies a lamia, ma- niola, female spectre (the mandrill for its ugliness was called Cynocephalus Mormon), the Saints, according to Joseph Smith, the lirst ])rophet and originator of Mor- monism, treat its etymological origin thus extravagant- ly: " We say from the Saxon f/ood, the Dane (jod, the Goth f/oden, the German gut, the Dutch goad, the Latin bonus, the Greek kuXo^, the Hebrew 21::, and the Egyp- tian mon. Hence, with the addition of more, or the con- traction mor, we have the word mormon, which means literally more good." According to anti-Mormons, the name Latter-day Saints was assumed in 1835 by the Mormons, at the suggestion of one of their leaders, Sid- ney Kigdon, and the word "Mormon" is more distasteful to them than is the word "Mohammedan" to the Muslim or "Jew" to the Hebrew. In accordance with our gen- eral practice to let each religious body speak for itself in these pages, we insert here the history of the organiza- tion of the Church of these " Saints" as furnished by their apostle Orson Pratt, the ablest living exponent of Jlormonism, and George A. Smith, the tirst counsellor of president Brigham Young.
I. IJistorg. — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints was founded by Joseph Smith, who was born in the town of Sharon, Windsor County, Vt., Dec. 23, 1805. When ten years old his parents, with their famih', moved to Palmyra, N. Y., in the vicinity of which he resided for about eleven years, the latter part in the town of jNIanchester. He was a farmer by occupation. His advantages for acquiring scientific knowledge were exceedingly small, being limited to a slight ac(iuaintance with two or three of the common branches of learning. He coidd read without much dif- ficulty, and write a very imperfect hand, and had a very limited understanding of the elementary rules of arith- metic. These were his highest and only literary attain- ments, while the rest of those branches so universally taught in the common schools throughout the United States were entirely unknown to him. When about fourteen or fifteen years old, he began seriously to reflect upon the necessity of being jjrcpared for a fut- ure state of existence; but how or in what way to prepare himself was a question as yet undetermined in ids own mind : he perceived that it was a question of infinite importance, and that the salvation of his soul depended upon a correct understanding of it. He saw that if he understood not the way, it woulil be impossi- ble to walk in it except by chance, and the thought of resting his hopes of eternal life upon chance or un- certainty was more than he could endure. If he went to the religious denominations to seek information, each pointed to its own particular tenets, saying, "Tiiis is the way — walk ye in it ;" while at the same time the doctrines of each were in many respects in direct oppo- sition to the rest. It also occurred to his mind that God was the author of but one doctrine, and there- fore could acknowledge but one denomination as his Church, and that such denomination must be a people who believe and teach that one doctrine (whatever it may be) and build upon the same. He then reflected upon the immense number of doctrines now in the world, which had given rise to many hundreds of dilTcrent de- nominations. The great question to be decided in his mind was: If any one of these denominations lie the Church of Christ, which one is it? I'ntil he could become satisfied in relation to this question he could