--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Whitney, Orson F. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 19 number: 4 published: 1916-02 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Orson F. Whitney, "What Is Mormonism?," *Improvement Era* 19, no. 4 (February 1916): 300–301.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1904unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1904unse start_page: 300 end_page: 301 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1916-02) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1904unse publication_year: 1916 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1916, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # What Is Mormonism? What is "Mormonism?" BY ELDER ORSON F. WHITNEY, OF THE COUNCIL OF THE TWELVE "Mormonism" is not, as most people supppose, a newreligion. It is not a product of the nineteenth century. Itproclaims itself the everlasting gospel, the religion ofJesus Christ, restored to the earth after ages of absence;and this message, that God has raised up a Prophet andrestored the ancient faith, has brought from various na-tions the men and women who have given their allegianceto what is called "Mormonism." It is no new thing; itis as old as eternity. All that I or any other elder can dois to present the same old doctrines that go to make upthe gospel of our Redeemer. What was the origin of "Mormonism?" If it didnot originate in the nineteenth century, when did it origi-nate? The earthly founder of our faith, Joseph theProphet, taught that it was framed in the heavens, beforethis world was created. He says: "God, finding him-self in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was moreintelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the restmight have the privilege to advance like himself." Here we have the key to the great problem, the firstreference to those principles that we denominate faith,repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, withother laws and ordinances of the gospel. It is a planwhereby God's children may progress, eternally, and ithas been on the earth at different times and in various places, pleading with man, by the Holy Ghost, for his sal-vation. It has gone by various names, according to thewhim or caprice of man. At the time of its restorationthrough Joseph Smith, it was nicknamed "Mormonism,"because of the Book of Mormon, in which many of itsdoctrines are found. It teaches us that we lived before we came upon theearth ; that we were spirits in the presence of our Fatherin heaven, yes, and of our Mother in heaven, for we also"have a Mother there." In that spirit life, our firstestate, where we walked by sight, seeing as we were seen.we learned all that we could, or all that was necessary,before we were permitted to come upon this earth, whichwas created for us and for all the children of God, thatthey who kept their first estate might have the oppor-tunity to pass through an experience that would developand educate them, even though part of the discipline liethrough pain and sorrow, disappointment and tribula-tion. We were promised that if we would bear thesethings patiently, and steadfastly adhere to the saving prin-ciples of the gospel, we should become like our Fatherand Mother, in heaven, and inherit eternal life and never-ending glory. This is the purpose of our mortal proba-tion. We came here, primarily, to get these bodies inwhich our spirits are clothed, for a spirit without a bodyis imperfect and cannot be glorified, while a body withouta spirit is dead—nothing but a lump of clay, thoughmarvelously wrought, a wonder of design. The spirit andthe body constitute the soul, and it is the soul that is re-deemed from the grave and goes on to perfection.