He was, however,
allowed to make a "translation" of what was written in the book.
This he did, publishing it as "The Book of the Mormons" or "The
Golden Bible." But it seems very likely that part of this so-called
translation was really copied from a story written by a man named
Spaulding which had never been published. A great deal of it was,
however, copied from the Bible.
Smith, who was at this time living in the State of New York, now
declared that the religion which had been revealed to him was the
only true religion. He founded a Church of which he was head or
"prophet" and under him were twelve apostles and other dignitaries.
A few people soon joined him and gradually their numbers increased
until at last they numbered several thousand.
They now became a community by themselves, they moved about from
place to place, and at length settled in Illinois where they built
a city called Nauvoo.
Smith had many revelations. If he wanted a horse or cart he had a
revelation saying that it was to be given to him. If he wanted his
followers to do anything, again he had a revelation saying it was
to be done. So he ruled like an autocrat and did whatever he chose.
And while at Nauvoo he had a revelation which said it was quite
lawful for men to marry as many wives as they wanted.
Soon the people of Illinois began to dislike the Latter-day Saints,
as they called themselves.
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