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Church of the Firstborn (Morrisite)
Encyclopedia
The Church of the Firstborn was a sect of the Latter Day Saint movement
that formed as an offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1861 and was involved in the Morrisite War
. Its adherents were known as Morrisites, and schismatic sects that emerged from it were extant until 1969.
. He wrote Brigham Young
, seeking recognition of his calling from the church. Young did not respond to Morris's request.
In 1860, Morris began to collect followers to a group that became known as the Morrisites. In February 1861, John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff
excommunicated Morris from the LDS Church. On April 6, 1861, Morris and his followers organized the Church of the Firstborn and called all of his followers to gather at Kingston (Kington) Fort, a 3 acres (12,140.6 m²) fort on the Weber River which had been abandoned in 1858. By Fall 1861, the group contained several hundred followers.
Morris told his followers that the Second Coming
was imminent and not to bother with planting crops. They may have trampled some of their crops into the ground as evidence of their faith. The group pooled available supplies and waited at Kingston Fort.
includes notations in pencil identifying those in positions of authority next to the following individuals:
John Banks, Prescy.; John Cook, Apostle; Richard Cook, Presidency; James Cowan, Apostle; James Dove, apostle; John R. Eardley, Apostle; Mark Hill Forscutt
, Apostle; Gudmund Gudmundson, Apostle; William Harris, Bishop; Niels Jacobson, Apostle; John E. Jones, Apostle; William Kendell, Apostle; R. J. Livingstone, Apostle; James Mather, Apostle; John Parson, Apostle; Abraham Taylor, Apostle; John Trolsen, Apostle.
With the steady outflux of members the question of property entitlement became contentious. Those who stayed behind felt those who left were taking better stock and other items than they had initially contributed to the community pool. Soon after three departing members — William Jones, one of Morris's first converts, John Jensen, and Lars C. Geertsen — vowed revenge after what they perceived as an unfair reckoning, they seized a load of wheat en route from Kingston to Kaysville for milling. The Morrisites sent a group of men after them, and the group soon captured the three and the wheat. The church held the men prisoner in a small cabin, to be "tried by the Lord when he came."
Eventually, the Utah territorial militia was ordered to arrest Morris and the other leaders of the church. On June 15, 1862, Morris was killed in a skirmish and other Morrisite leaders were taken prisoner.
A monument commemorating the Morrisite War stands in South Weber, Utah.
Although seven Morrisites were convicted of murder and 66 others were convicted of resisting arrest, territorial governor Stephen S. Harding pardoned them all three days after being convicted, and the Morrisites scattered across the western United States
. Ultimately, many of the members of the church began to regather in Deer Lodge County
, Montana
, under the leadership of George Williams, who declared himself to be the "Prophet Cainan" and Morris's rightful successor. In January 1879, Williams prophesied that Deer Lodge County would be the site of the Second Coming of Christ.
Williams was frequently away from Montana, living mostly in Salt Lake City, Utah
and England
. Williams recorded many revelation
s that he said he received from God, and also authored St. Ann's Hill Record, which he claimed was a record of ancient origin.
Like most Latter Day Saint denominations, the Church of the Firstborn taught that Joseph Smith, Jr. was a prophet
of God. The church taught that Smith's rightful successor after his death
was James J. Strang, and that Strang was succeeded by Joseph Morris.
What set the Church of the Firstborn apart from the majority of Latter Day Saint sects was its belief in reincarnation
. Called "baby resurrection" by the church, Morris and Williams taught that reincarnation was taught by Joseph Smith, Jr. and that the majority of other Latter Day Saint sects are in apostasy for rejecting these teachings. Each of the successive leaders of the church were believed to be the reincarnation of a significant prophet of old: Joseph Smith was the reincarnation of Mormon
and the Apostle Paul; Joseph Morris was the reincarnation of Moses
; and George Williams was the reincarnation of Cainan
. Morris prophesied that Jesus
would be reincarnated and born to an Arab
in Jerusalem in 1909; some have identified Dr. Dahesh
as the fulfilment of this prophecy.
The Church of the Firstborn rejected other teachings of Brigham Young
and the LDS Church, including plural marriage
, restrictions on the priesthood being given to black people, temple
ordinances, and blood atonement
.
would be the site of the Second Coming of Christ. This prophecy was discovered by leaders of the Bahá'ís Under the Provisions of the Covenant
(BUPC) founded by Leland Jensen
and was considered a confirmation of Jensen's prophetic calling. Jensen taught that the Montana State Prison
in Deer Lodge, where he had been incarcerated, was actually Ezekiel's Temple. In a 1991 press release the BUPC explained: "The appointment of the Second IBC (International Baha'i Council) is an epic-making event that parallels the announcement of the return of Jesus in Ezekiel's Temple in Deer Lodge. This event was heralded by the migration of the Morrisites to Deer Lodge, Montana under the direction of the Mormon prophet, George Williams, as John the Baptist heralded Jesus on his first coming. In April of 1863, about the same time Bah'u'llah made his proclamation in Baghdad, Iraq the Morrisites came to Deer Lodge by the instruction of George Williams to 'prepare the way of the Lord,' the second coming of Jesus whose mission is to establish the New World Order..."
Latter Day Saint movement
The Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members...
that formed as an offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1861 and was involved in the Morrisite War
Morrisite War
The Morrisite War was a skirmish between a Latter Day Saint sect known as the "Morrisites" and the Utah territorial government.-Morrisites:In 1857 Joseph Morris, an English convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah, reported receiving revelations naming him the Seventh...
. Its adherents were known as Morrisites, and schismatic sects that emerged from it were extant until 1969.
Origins
In 1857, Joseph Morris, an English convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, reported receiving revelations naming him the Seventh Angel from the Book of RevelationBook of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
. He wrote Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
, seeking recognition of his calling from the church. Young did not respond to Morris's request.
In 1860, Morris began to collect followers to a group that became known as the Morrisites. In February 1861, John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff
Wilford Woodruff
Wilford Woodruff, Sr. was the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1889 until his death...
excommunicated Morris from the LDS Church. On April 6, 1861, Morris and his followers organized the Church of the Firstborn and called all of his followers to gather at Kingston (Kington) Fort, a 3 acres (12,140.6 m²) fort on the Weber River which had been abandoned in 1858. By Fall 1861, the group contained several hundred followers.
Morris told his followers that the Second Coming
Second Coming
In Christian doctrine, the Second Coming of Christ, the Second Advent, or the Parousia, is the anticipated return of Jesus Christ from Heaven, where he sits at the Right Hand of God, to Earth. This prophecy is found in the canonical gospels and in most Christian and Islamic eschatologies...
was imminent and not to bother with planting crops. They may have trampled some of their crops into the ground as evidence of their faith. The group pooled available supplies and waited at Kingston Fort.
Membership
An eight-page Roll of Membership, Names of Persons Baptized into the Fulness of the Gospel was published in San Francisco in 1886. An introduction to the roll reads: "Names of persons baptized during the administration of Joseph Morris, at South Weber, Utah Territory, in the years of 1861 and 1862." The Roll of Membership then lists alphabetically the names of 430 individuals. At the conclusion of the list the publisher notes: "All the names that we found in the record book are in this list. We feel assured that there were many persons baptized whose names were not recorded."Leadership
A copy of the Roll of Membership housed in the Archives of the Community of ChristCommunity of Christ
The Community of Christ, known from 1872 to 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , is an American-based international Christian church established in April 1830 that claims as its mission "to proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love, and peace"...
includes notations in pencil identifying those in positions of authority next to the following individuals:
John Banks, Prescy.; John Cook, Apostle; Richard Cook, Presidency; James Cowan, Apostle; James Dove, apostle; John R. Eardley, Apostle; Mark Hill Forscutt
Mark Hill Forscutt
Mark Hill Forscutt was an English hymn writer and a leader in several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. A convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , Forscutt broke with that denomination for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the practice of plural...
, Apostle; Gudmund Gudmundson, Apostle; William Harris, Bishop; Niels Jacobson, Apostle; John E. Jones, Apostle; William Kendell, Apostle; R. J. Livingstone, Apostle; James Mather, Apostle; John Parson, Apostle; Abraham Taylor, Apostle; John Trolsen, Apostle.
Morrisite War
By spring 1862, food was scarce and some members were becoming discontented. Morris repeatedly designated certain days for the Second Coming, only to have those days pass uneventfully. Each time this happened, a handful of members would recover their possessions from the community pool and leave the congregation.With the steady outflux of members the question of property entitlement became contentious. Those who stayed behind felt those who left were taking better stock and other items than they had initially contributed to the community pool. Soon after three departing members — William Jones, one of Morris's first converts, John Jensen, and Lars C. Geertsen — vowed revenge after what they perceived as an unfair reckoning, they seized a load of wheat en route from Kingston to Kaysville for milling. The Morrisites sent a group of men after them, and the group soon captured the three and the wheat. The church held the men prisoner in a small cabin, to be "tried by the Lord when he came."
Eventually, the Utah territorial militia was ordered to arrest Morris and the other leaders of the church. On June 15, 1862, Morris was killed in a skirmish and other Morrisite leaders were taken prisoner.
A monument commemorating the Morrisite War stands in South Weber, Utah.
Scattering and regathering
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Ultimately, many of the members of the church began to regather in Deer Lodge County
Deer Lodge County, Montana
-National protected areas:*Beaverhead National Forest *Deerlodge National Forest -Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 9,417 people, 3,995 households, and 2,524 families residing in the county. The population density was 13 people per square mile . There were 4,958 housing units at an...
, Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, under the leadership of George Williams, who declared himself to be the "Prophet Cainan" and Morris's rightful successor. In January 1879, Williams prophesied that Deer Lodge County would be the site of the Second Coming of Christ.
Williams was frequently away from Montana, living mostly in Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Williams recorded many revelation
Revelation
In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing, through active or passive communication with a supernatural or a divine entity...
s that he said he received from God, and also authored St. Ann's Hill Record, which he claimed was a record of ancient origin.
Schism and extinction
After Williams died in 1882, the church divided into a number of schisms, each claiming to be led by Williams's rightful successor. The largest group, based in Montana, were led by John R. Eardley, who renamed the church the Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Most High. By the 1950s, most of the members of the church had died and it was officially disbanded in 1969.Teachings
Twenty-four years after the death of Joseph Morris a collection of his "Revelations, Articles, and Letters" were published by George S. Dove & Company in 1886 under the title The Spirit Prevails. The revelations were recorded between 1857 and 1862 and constituted sacred scripture for Morris's followers.Like most Latter Day Saint denominations, the Church of the Firstborn taught that Joseph Smith, Jr. was a prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
of God. The church taught that Smith's rightful successor after his death
Death of Joseph Smith, Jr.
The death of Joseph Smith, Jr. on June 27, 1844 marked a turning point for the Latter Day Saint movement, of which Smith was the founder and leader. When he was attacked and killed by a mob, Smith was the mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois, and running for President of the United States...
was James J. Strang, and that Strang was succeeded by Joseph Morris.
What set the Church of the Firstborn apart from the majority of Latter Day Saint sects was its belief in reincarnation
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
. Called "baby resurrection" by the church, Morris and Williams taught that reincarnation was taught by Joseph Smith, Jr. and that the majority of other Latter Day Saint sects are in apostasy for rejecting these teachings. Each of the successive leaders of the church were believed to be the reincarnation of a significant prophet of old: Joseph Smith was the reincarnation of Mormon
Mormon (prophet)
Mormon is believed by followers of Mormonism to have been the narrator of much of the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which describes him as a prophet-historian and a member of a tribe of indigenous Americans known as the Nephites...
and the Apostle Paul; Joseph Morris was the reincarnation of Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
; and George Williams was the reincarnation of Cainan
Kenan
Kenan , , or Cainan, was a Biblical patriarch first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible Book of Genesis as living before the Great Flood.- Family :...
. Morris prophesied that Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
would be reincarnated and born to an Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
in Jerusalem in 1909; some have identified Dr. Dahesh
Dr. Dahesh
Dr. Dahesh was the name-title and pen name of Salim Moussa Achi founder of Daheshism.-Life:...
as the fulfilment of this prophecy.
The Church of the Firstborn rejected other teachings of Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
and the LDS Church, including plural marriage
Plural marriage
Polygamy was taught by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890.The Church's practice of polygamy has been highly controversial, both within...
, restrictions on the priesthood being given to black people, temple
Temple (LDS Church)
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , a temple is a building dedicated to be a House of the Lord, and they are considered by Church members to be the most sacred structures on earth. Upon completion, temples are usually open to the public for a short period of time...
ordinances, and blood atonement
Blood atonement
In mormonism, blood atonement is a controversial doctrine that teaches that murder is so heinous that the atonement of Jesus does not apply. Thus, in order to atone for these sins, the perpetrators must have their blood shed upon the ground as a sacrificial offering...
.
Bahá'ís Under the Provisions of the Covenant
One of Williams' prophesies was that Deer Lodge, MontanaDeer Lodge, Montana
Deer Lodge is a city in and the county seat of Powell County, Montana, United States. The population was 3,421 at the 2000 census. The city is perhaps best known as the home of the Montana State Prison, a major local employer...
would be the site of the Second Coming of Christ. This prophecy was discovered by leaders of the Bahá'ís Under the Provisions of the Covenant
Bahá'ís Under the Provisions of the Covenant
The Bahá'ís Under the Provisions of the Covenant is a small Bahá'í sect founded originally by Leland Jensen in the early 1970s. The claims of the BUPC focus on a dispute in leadership following the death of Shoghi Effendi in 1957, and a subsequent dispute among the followers of Mason Remey...
(BUPC) founded by Leland Jensen
Leland Jensen
Leland Jensen was the founder of a Bahá'í sect called the Bahá'ís Under the Provisions of the Covenant . Jensen initially supported the claim of Mason Remey to be the successor to Shoghi Effendi in 1960, resulting in his excommunication from the mainstream Bahá'í community...
and was considered a confirmation of Jensen's prophetic calling. Jensen taught that the Montana State Prison
Montana State Prison
The Montana State Prison is a men's correctional facility of the Montana Department of Corrections in unincorporated Powell County, Montana, about west of Deer Lodge...
in Deer Lodge, where he had been incarcerated, was actually Ezekiel's Temple. In a 1991 press release the BUPC explained: "The appointment of the Second IBC (International Baha'i Council) is an epic-making event that parallels the announcement of the return of Jesus in Ezekiel's Temple in Deer Lodge. This event was heralded by the migration of the Morrisites to Deer Lodge, Montana under the direction of the Mormon prophet, George Williams, as John the Baptist heralded Jesus on his first coming. In April of 1863, about the same time Bah'u'llah made his proclamation in Baghdad, Iraq the Morrisites came to Deer Lodge by the instruction of George Williams to 'prepare the way of the Lord,' the second coming of Jesus whose mission is to establish the New World Order..."