Who introduced polygamy into the Church?
Polygamy was introduced into the restoration by Brigham Young and associates in 1852 at Salt Lake City Utah a full eight years after the death of Joseph Smith Junior on June 27th 1844. There is no verifiable evidence existing that would stand up in court that would indict Joseph for the crime of polygamy. If anyone in the church was secretly teaching or practicing polygamy prior to or after the death of Joseph they were breaking the laws of God and the laws of the land.
Revelation given through Joseph Smith, Jr., prophet and seer to the church, August 1, 1831, in Jackson County, Missouri." Let no man break the laws of the land, for he that keepeth the laws of God hath no need to break the laws of the land; wherefore be subject to the powers that be, until He reigns whose right it is to reign, and subdues all enemies under his feet." RLDS D&C 58:5b; LDS D&C 58:21,22
We, who follow the teachings of the church of Jesus Christ restored under the divine guidance received by the prophet Joseph Smith Jr., wish to inform those who do not already know that the church during Joseph's lifetime, did not preach, teach or allow polygamy as an alternative form of marriage.
As a young man Joseph received a revelation from God informing him that his name would be used for good and evil throughout the world. That prophesy has been fulfilled in part by attributing the nefarious doctrine of polygamy to him after his death when he was not present to defend his good name.
We emphatically state, without reservation, that Joseph Smith Jr., never taught, preached, or received at any time a revelation that approved of a man having more than one wife at any given time!
It has been stated by the leading authorities of the Church in Utah , that Joseph Smith Jr., was the author of polygamy and eight years after his death the Church brought forth a purported revelation that was "kept in Brigham Young's desk under patent lock", which was given a date of July 12, 1843. According to this purported revelation polygamy was made a requirement of the Church. This purported revelation was not included in the Mormon Doctrine and Covenants until 1876, twenty three years after the death of Joseph Smith Jr. It replaced the original section that permitted only monogamy.
If Section 132 was truly a revelation and given of God to the prophet Joseph Smith Jr., then Joseph would have to have been a charlatan, a liar, and a hypocrite.
We believe that he was none of these and submit for your consideration Chapter IV of Brother Willard Smith’s book which will convince the honest inquirer that Joseph was not a polygamist and will separate truth from fiction. It places the authorship of this purported revelation squarely where it belongs, as the invention of Brigham Young and his associates.
“JOSEPH SMITH; WHO WAS HE?
DID HE TEACH OR PRACTICE POLYGAMY?
A book written by Willard J. Smith
Joseph Smith; Who Was He? Was first published by Glad Tidings Publishers of Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1899. In 1904 a second edition was published by Herald House of Lamoni, Iowa. There is no record that a copyright was ever secured, and if it had been, it would now be expired. As a result, this work has fallen permanently into the public domain. This book was re-published by Liahona Research, a Missionary Ministry of South Crysler Restoration Branch, 16101 Salisbury Road, Independence, Missouri 64050.
Chapter IV
We will now take up that so-called revelation of July 12, 1843, for the purpose of examining a few points in it, which seem to us to prove that Joseph Smith was in no way responsible for it, had nothing to do with it, or any knowledge of it. I will, therefore, quote the first four paragraphs of it in order to notice a few things contained therein. They are as follows:
1. Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my servant Joseph, that inasmuch as you have inquired of my hand to know and understand wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as also Moses, David and Solomon, my servants, as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines—
2. Behold, and lo, I am the Lord thy God, and will answer thee as touching this matter.
3. Therefore, prepare thy heart to receive and obey the instructions which I am about to give unto you; for all those who have this law revealed unto them must obey the same.
4. For behold, I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory.
The reader will please bear in mind that Brigham Young said on the twenty-ninth day of August, 1852, that Joseph Smith before he died had more than one wife, and that this was known to the world; also that Wilford Woodruff, president of the Mormon Church, claims that Joseph Smith taught the doctrine of polygamy in 1841 and 1842. This latter claim is quite generally made by the Brighamites, and their boast to-day is that some of the wives that were sealed to Joseph Smith as early as in 1841 are still living in Salt Lake City.
To one unacquainted with the inward corruptions of Brighamism, and unaware that it is held to be a virtue to lie to uphold the priesthood, the above would have considerable weight in establishing the claim that Joseph was thus implicated. But hold a moment! In this revelation God is represented as saying to Joseph: “Therefore prepare thy heart to receive and obey the instructions I am about to give unto thee.” Now we submit for consideration the thought that if God instructed him to prepare his heart to receive and obey the instructions, etc., then Joseph’s heart had not previously been prepared for the same, neither had he yet obeyed, nor embraced it, nor in any way previously received it; and the natural and logical inference from the reading of the revelation itself is that such a thing as polygamy was averse to his religious ideas; hence the Lord is exhorting him to get ready for a change in this matter; to prepare his heart to receive and obey that which he now contemplated revealing to him, and this logically knocks the props from under the Brighamite assertion that Joseph Smith taught and practiced polygamy prior to July 12, 1843. But Elder B. H. Roberts, as also Joseph F. Smith, tells us that “the principle of plural marriage was first revealed to Joseph Smith in 1831,” and that “in 1841 the Prophet introduced the practice of this principle into the Church by taking unto himself plural wives. He also taught the principle to a number of leading elders and they obeyed it.”
Either this revelation wherein the Lord is represented as counseling Joseph to prepare his heart to receive and obey the doctrine of polygamy is a fraud, or else B. H. Roberts and Joseph F. Smith testify falsely, as they declare that Joseph had already accepted and indorsed polygamy by ?taking unto himself plural wives” in 1841. If the latter statement is true, what a blunder the Lord made when giving that revelation! For, according to the revelation, God had either forgotten all this, or else he had not been appraised of the fact of Joseph’s heart having been already prepared to hear anything in favor of polygamy, and that he had, years before that time, entered into the practice of it, and had introduced it into the Church, and “a number of the leading elders” had also “obeyed it;” as the revelation represents the giver of it as saying practically: “Joseph, I am about to reveal to you something new –a new and everlasting covenant—and you must under penalty of damnation, prepare your heart to receive and obey that which I am about to reveal.” We emphasize the thought that if the Lord was about to reveal to Joseph the doctrine of polygamy on the 12th of July, 1843, then B. H. Roberts and Joseph F. Smith—both of whom are polygamous Mormon elders—have told a falsehood in stating that “the principle of plural marriage was first revealed to Joseph Smith in 1831.” If God made known or revealed the doctrine of plural marriage to Joseph Smith in 1831, then this so-called revelation which is claimed was given unto him on the twelfth day of July, 1843, could not have been a revelation unto him at that time, as it was revealed unto him years and years before—ever since 1831.*[add statements by Joseph F. Smith and B. H. Roberts at end of article] To “reveal” means to unveil; to make known; to disclose. And the purported revelation of July 12, 1843, says: “For behold! I reveal unto you [to Joseph Smith] a new and everlasting covenant.”
If the revelation was given in 1843, then they who testified that it was revealed in 1831 are branded by it as false witnesses, as they themselves accept of the revelation of 1843 as being an inspired document sent direct from the courts of glory; and, as we have seen, God is therein represented as saying: “I am about to give unto you”—Joseph Smith—a revelation of my will concerning polygamy; “and if ye abide not” this beautiful (?) system, “then are ye damned.” It could not have been made known to him before, as the word “about,” as used in this connection, signifies: A nearness to the performance of some act; as “Paul was about to open his mouth.” –Acts 17:14; or, “They were about to flee out of the ship.”—Acts 27: 30. And as the act specified as about, or near to be performed, was the revealing, or making known, the doctrine of polygamy—that God looked upon it with favor—it proves conclusively that if God was the author of that revelation, then he had never before revealed the doctrine to Joseph. And if by inspired counsel Joseph was told to prepare his heart to receive and also to obey the doctrine of polygamy, he is thereby exonerated from the charge of having practiced polygamy prior to the reception of the revelation of 1843. Brigham therefore, stands condemned of lying by this abortive revelation, the authorship of which they have sought to fasten upon Joseph Smith; and unless they present some more plausible story regarding Joseph Smith being the author of that fraudulent document which was first “burned up,” then for nine years ‘locked up’ in Brigham’s sacred desk with a ‘patent lock’ before it was sent forth on its mission of sin and iniquity, we shall be constrained to say to Brigham Young and his coadjutors: You lying rascals! Joseph Smith never saw that revelation; but you yourselves manufactured it for personal convenience to gratify your own hearts.
If therefore, this abortive revelation of Brigham Young shows that Joseph Smith at the time it is claimed the revelation was received (July 12, 1843), had not accepted of the system of plural marriage, what importance can we attach to the testimony of those people who affirm that he was practicing it at that time, and had, by precept and example, been teaching it to the leading elders of the Church for years? On the other hand, if he “taught the principle to a number of the leading elders and they obeyed it,” as affirmed by Elders Roberts and Smith, then what will we do with the statement of Brigham Young which he publicly made the twenty-ninth day of August, 1852—which we quoted in a previous chapter—that: “That doctrine has not been practiced by the elders”? Some one has certainly lied concerning this affair; and we pause to ask, Who is it; Brigham Young? Or is it Joseph F. Smith and Brigham H. Roberts? Or are they all guilty of lying?
But, says one, does not that revelation, a little further along, show that Joseph Smith had other wives than Emma? Well, paragraph fifty-two says: And let mine handmaid, Emma Smith receive all those that have been given to my servant Joseph, and who are virtuous and pure before me.
But hold! This statement of Joseph having already had other women given to him contradicts paragraphs three and four which we have already quoted. You see, the lord of this polygamous revelation was rather short-sighted, and accordingly got things mixed up. Unfortunately for him, his memory was somewhat impaired, as he had doubtless forgotten when dictating paragraph fifty-two, implicating Joseph with already existing polygamous relations, that in paragraphs three and four he had told him to prepare his heart to “receive and obey the instructions” which he was “about to give” or “reveal” unto him.
This polygamous revelation certainly bears the marks of deception and fraud,--this paragraph itself branding the whole thing as a clumsy imposition. For with what degree of consistency could the Lord tell him to prepare his heart to “receive and obey” the doctrine of polygamy, which he was “about to reveal” unto him, if he at that very moment knew all about that doctrine, and had already embraced it, and had received unto himself a half dozen or more concubines, or spiritual wives, represented in paragraph fifty-two as holy women who were “virtuous and pure” before God? What a refined, elevating and exalted (?) idea of purity and virtue is maintained in this pretended inspiration!
If the Lord was about to reveal unto Joseph, on July 12, 1843, the principle, or doctrine of polygamy, then, as we have seen, it could not have been made known to him as the mind and will of God prior to that time; for had it so been made known before that time, it would not at that time have been a revelation to him for the reception of which he would need special preparation of heart. Hence, if Joseph had marital relations with other women than his lawful wife, Emma, prior to the 12th of July, 1843, he was guilty of adultery, and thus a transgressor of God’s law. The scholar and orator of Mormonism, Orson Pratt, in his public defense of the doctrine of polygamy as published in the Seer, at Washington, District of Columbia, acknowledges that to have had more than one wife at the time prior to the 12th of July, 1843, would have been a violation of the law of God as obtaining in the Church; and the persons so violating the law, or principle of monogamy would have been guilty of adultery; hence, if Joseph lived with other women as his wives prior to that time, he would in no way be and exception to the rule; and no matter by whom those women were given to hem, that would not change the matter so long as the monogamic principle or rule was in force; the law not having been repealed, the transgressor thereof would be an adulterer. But, notwithstanding God has said: “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” and “Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shall cleave unto her and none else; and he that looketh upon a woman to lust after her shall deny the faith, and shall not have the Spirit; and if he repents not he shall be cast out,” (which was the law obtaining until Joseph Smith’s death.—See Doctrine and Covenants 42:7.) Yet this bungling thing, called a revelation, contradicts all this, and sanctions adultery as pure and holy by affirming that those women with whom Joseph had previously lived, who were given to him to be his wives, were all pure, virtuous, and holy before God.
Mark it well: If Joseph held marital relations with any other woman than his lawful wife, Emma, prior to the receiving of that so-called revelation (or at any time thereafter) he was guilty of adultery; and if God gave that revelation of 1843, as he is represented by Brighamism to have done, then he sanctioned adultery as committed by Joseph with those women with whom he had lived as his wives prior to the time said revelation was given, and indorsed those concubines who had taken the place of Joseph’s lawful and honorable wife, Emma, as creatures of supernatural grace and favor, and pronounced upon their heads the benediction of divine favor, saying: “Emma, it’s all right;” you must “receive all those that have been given to my servant Joseph,” for notwithstanding they have been your husband’s companions in lust, still they are so nice, and so much to be admired because, as any one can see, they are “virtuous and pure before me!” Who is so blind as not to see that the god of this revelation virtually offers a premium on crime? Improper intercourse between the sexes is condoned, by the above, and the participants therein approbated as virtuous and pure before God!
But sometimes said by the enemies of the Church, that Joseph had already entered into polygamy, secretly, and that this purported revelation was gotten up by him as a necessity in order to excuse him in his guilt, which was becoming very apparent, and, hence, in order to throw a degree of sanctity around his polygamic practice, he dodged under the cover of a pretended revelation. Let us see if this is a just criticism or rendering of facts. And in order that we may the more readily get hold of the matter, I quote one or two more paragraphs from this pretended revelation. Paragraphs 34 and 61 read as follows:
34. God commanded Abraham, and Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to wife. And why did she do it? Because this was the law; and from Hagar sprang many people. This, therefore, was fulfilling, among other things, the promises.
61. And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthood--if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery for they are given unto him; for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to no one else.
I have italicized some words to draw especial attention to them. You will notice from these quotations that if a married man desires to take a second wife, or more, the consent of the first wife must first be obtained, otherwise it would be illegal: for “Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to wife, because this was the law.” And, “If any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent,” then the way is clear according to the revelation. Now, as the instruction given here is that in order to take a second wife, the consent of the first wife must be obtained; and as Sarah is referred to as an example, as she gave Hagar to Abraham to wife, and all this “because it was the law,” we have counsel, law, and example—according to this revelation—making it obligatory, in order to make a number two a valid wife, that the consent of the first wife be obtained first; and she—the first wife—must give the second wife in marriage to her husband, “because this is the law.” We will, therefore ask Sister Emma—Joseph Smith’s acknowledged and legal wife—whether or not she gave her consent to his having any other wife than herself, and whether or not she gave any other woman to him? To which, in answer, she emphatically declares:
I know that he had no other wife or wives than myself, either spiritual or otherwise. . . . No such thing as polygamy, or spiritual wifery, was taught, publicly or privately, before my husband’s death, that I have now, or ever had any knowledge of. . . . There was no revelation on either polygamy or spiritual wives.
This looks a little suspicious. There is something wrong somewhere. Either Sister Emma has misrepresented the facts, or this purported revelation has been gotten up by some other parties, after Joseph’s death, who have made him their scape-goat to bear away the odium of its creation and existence. We have already seen that not one syllable can be found in any of the sermons, lectures, revelations or public speeches of Joseph Smith, hinting at such a base, soul-destroying system; but much can be shown over his authentic signature condemnatory of polygamy; and this fact bears up the statement of Sister Emma, as diamond truth, that she was Joseph Smith’s first, last, and only wife, and stamps that so-called revelation of 1843 as an infamous document gotten up, doubtless, by Brigham Young and his colleagues, who, eight years after Joseph was killed—having paved the way with their spiritual wife doctrine, have entered, with ghoulish mendacity the grave of the honored dead, and attempted to fasten the responsibility of their corrupt system on the man who was chosen of God as a leader of his people—one who always set his face as a flint against adultery, polygamy, concubinage, and lust.
There is not one line in all the writings of Joseph Smith that is opposed to the strictest principles of morality and virtue. He ever taught that liars, thieves, murderers, adulterers, whoremongers, and all evil-doers would most certainly be punished of God for these sins; but this bungling revelation which seeks to justify and legalize prostitution and whoredom, and which Brigham Young and his compeers seek to saddle onto Joseph Smith, teach4es that if a man will only engage in and practice polygamy, he is then at liberty to commit almost any crime and still be justified. Though he should swear like a pirate, or steal like a raven, or commit adultery every day; or if he should rob, cheat, and defraud his fellow man, or do any manner of evil save that of shedding innocent blood—human blood, but innocent blood, which, of course, means that they should not kill each other—still he would be a pleasant child, and would come forth in the resurrection of the pure and the just in the morning of the first resurrection, and enter the celestial portals of eternal peace to companionate with the Savior, Peter, and Paul, and all the ancient apostles, prophets, patriarchs, and seers, and dwell in the presence of God while the years of eternity are rolling by. Lest some might think this statement to be an exaggerated one, I quote from paragraph 26 of this so-called revelation:
26. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man marry a wife according to my word, and they are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, according to mine appointment, and he or she shall commit any sin or transgression of the new and everlasting covenant whatever, and all manner of blasphemies, and if they commit no murder wherein they shed innocent blood, yet they shall come forth in the first resurrection, and enter into their exaltation; but they shall be destroyed in the flesh, and shall be delivered unto the buffetings of Satan unto the day of redemption, saith the Lord God.
These statements, with many others contained in that pretended revelation of July 12, 1843, are so opposed to and at variance with all the teachings of Joseph Smith as found in his writings and public speeches throughout his entire life-work, that one is forced, if even approximating fairness or force of logic, to abandon as altogether untenable the idea that he had anything to do with that revelation, or that he had any knowledge of it.
Another point to which I call attention is, that pretended revelation makes Joseph Smith ask the Lord wherein he “justified Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; as also Moses, David, and Solomon,” in their acceptation and practice of polygamy. But Joseph Smith was not a fool. He knew there was not one scrap of evidence anywhere in the Bible to show that either Isaac or Moses were polygamists. He knew that the Bible declares that “Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Elon the Hittite; which were grief of mind [or bitterness of spirit] unto Isaac and to Rebekah.”—Genesis 26: 34, 35. He also knew that God had declared that “David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me saith the Lord;” and that God called it a “crime.” He had also declared, as elsewhere quoted in this book, that the doctrine of having “a community of wives” is an “abomination in the sight of God;” and yet that bungling revelation of Brigham Young’s manufacture which he and his party seek to palm off upon Joseph Smith as a pretext for them to persist in their transgression, has Joseph asking God wherein he justified Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses, David and Solomon touching the principle and doctrine of their having had many wives. Oh, Consistency! Consistency! Thy name is not Brighamism. Joseph Smith’s whole life-work, as also the dying testimony of the Elect Lady—his “beloved Emma”—throws the lie in the teeth of Brighamism, and proves that that pretended revelation of 1843 was the abortive child of Brigham Young; and that Joseph Smith was as far from giving such a blasphemous, fraudulent document to the Church or to the world as a revelation from God as the farthest fixed star is from a gambler’s lamp at midnight. He never saw nor heard of that creature of infamy which was attributed to him by Brigham Young on the twenty-ninth day of August 1852.
Another point to which I direct attention is the statement made in the fourth paragraph of this pretended revelation which makes the Lord to say: “For, behold! I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned,” etc. This statement alone is strong presumptive evidence that Joseph Smith never had that sham revelation, as it clashes with the revelations given to the Church by him, and is opposed to his teachings first, last, and all the time. The “new and everlasting covenant” had been given unto the Church years previous to 1843, the giving of which was but a recommitment of the divine plan, or gospel of Christ. Joseph Smith believed and taught that the “new and everlasting covenant” which was offered to the human family by Jesus Christ, and of which Paul speaks in Galatians 4:21-31 and Hebrews 8: 6-13, had been broken, in consequence of which a universal apostasy had obtained, thereby necessitating a restoration of the gospel plan, or new covenant, that the bride, the Lamb’s wife, might make herself ready, as declared by Apostle John. The new and everlasting covenant has ever been, and ever will be the only gospel plan, as “it is the power of God unto salvation”; therefore, let us briefly examine Joseph’s teaching regarding the new and everlasting covenant. In March, 1831, Joseph gave to the Church the following as a revelation from God:
Hearken, O ye people of my church, and ye elders, listen together, and hear my voice, while it is called today, and harden not your hearts; for verily I say unto you that I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the light and the life of the world; a light that shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not. I came unto my own, and my own received me not; but unto as many as received me gave I power to do many miracles and to become the sons of God, and even unto them that believed on my name gave I power to obtain eternal life. And even so I have sent mine everlasting covenant into the world, to be a light to the world, and to be a standard for my people and for the Gentiles to seek to it, and to be a messenger before my face to prepare the way before me.—Doctrine and Covenants 45:2
Again:
wherefore I say unto you, that I have sent unto you mine everlasting covenant, even that which was from the beginning, and that which I have promised I have so fulfilled, and the nations of the earth shall bow to it;--Doctrine and Covenants 49:2
Once more:
And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received, which vanity and unbelief hath brought the whole church under condemnation. And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all; and they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written, that they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father's kingdom, otherwise there remaineth a scourge and a judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion.—Doctrine and Covenants 83:8
I have italicized some words in these quotations to call attention to them.
The new and everlasting covenant had been given to the Church through Joseph Smith years before the polygamic revelation ever saw the light; and it is declared to be, in the revelations above quoted, “A standard for my [Christ’s] people” to which “the nations of the earth shall bow.” This, therefore, destroys the claim made in the polygamic revelation that it is a new and everlasting covenant designed of God to damn everybody who reject it. The new and everlasting covenant had already been given to the Church, and declared to be “even that which was from the beginning;” and this new and everlasting covenant enjoined the doctrine of monogamy—or the having of but one companion in wedlock at the same time; and it is also therein specifically declared that the nations of the earth shall bow to this covenant; and because they had “treated lightly” this covenant they were “under condemnation,” and should so remain until they should “repent and remember the new covenant” which God had given them, “not only to say but to do according to that which I [God] have written.”
If, then this covenant, which was to be a standard to God’s people “and for the Gentiles to seek to it,” and was to serve as a “messenger” before the Lord “to prepare the way” for his second coming, proscribes the doctrine of polygamy, and declares it to be an abomination before the Lord—a crime—urging that “there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife, and concubines he shall have none;” and , “Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shall cleave unto her and none else;” and was publicly proclaimed by Joseph Smith until the day of his death as the revelation of God through him to the whole world; where is there room for an unprejudiced, sane-minded person to indorse as coming through Joseph Smith a revelation which is directly opposed in almost every detail to the revelations and teachings given the Church through him during his whole life’s work? And this interrogatory is the more significant when taking into consideration the fact that that pretended revelation is designed to establish a system of concubinage, as a “new and everlasting covenant,” and damning all who would not abide the same, affirming as the word of the Lord that “If ye abide not that covenant [which makes it essential to salvation in the celestial realm to have a plurality of wives], then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory.”
It is utterly incredible that Joseph Smith ever saw or heard of that sham revelation. There is not one scintilla of evidence, that would be accepted in any court of equity, connecting Joseph Smith with that base forgery. All the evidence which would be accepted by any court of justice contributes to show the absurdity and folly of the Brighamite claim that Joseph Smith received that revelation of July 12, 1843, or that he taught or practiced polygamy; and this absurdity becomes more and more apparent the further one proceeds in its examination. Not one syllable can be found where Joseph Smith countenanced, sanctioned, or condoned the doctrine of polygamy, aside from that sham revelation; and as we have shown this bungling thing is so unlike him in its verbiage—so unlike any revelation given to the Church, or anything written or spoken by him, and besides, its being opposed in all its essential features to everything he did give to the Church, or the world, and then its being kept securely hid away from the Church, caged up under that “patent lock” for more than eight years after Joseph’s death, and then when introduced, being neither in the handwriting of Joseph Smith, nor in the handwriting of any scribe or secretary employed by him, but in the handwriting of one of Brigham’s colleagues, and no witnesses to it attesting its genuineness as a certified copy of the original—not a thing but the bare, unqualified statement of the polygamist, Brigham Young, to give it validity, and it just seems to me, with this array of facts before us, that it requires more credulity and less brains than are generally needful for ordinary intelligence, to accept such an unreasonable inconsistency.
As we have already seen, the Book of Mormon and the former commandments—or, in other words, the Bible and the Book of Mormon—contain the fullness of the gospel, and therefore constitute the “new commandment.” And the Lord said through Joseph Smith, as early as July, 1828:
And I will show unto this people, that I had other sheep, and that they were a branch of the house of Jacob; and I will bring to light their marvelous works, which they did in my name; yea, and I will also bring to light my gospel, which was ministered unto them, and, behold, they shall not deny that which you have received, but they shall build it up, and shall bring to light the true points of my doctrine; yea, and the only doctrine which is in me; and this I do, that I may establish my gospel, that there may not be so much contention.—Doctrine and Covenants, 3:15.
As the Lord here declares that the Book of Mormon “shall bring to light the true points of my doctrine; yea., and the only doctrine which is in me,” we have a standard by which to test this polygamic revelation; for if the Book of Mormon contains “the only true doctrine,” then if it condemns polygamy, this polygamic revelation is therefore pronounced to be a fraud. And, as Joseph Smith delivered this revelation which declares that the Book of Mormon contains “the only true doctrine which is in me” [Christ], the great preponderance of evidence is against his having received that polygamic revelation. Hearken, therefore, unto the words of the Book of Mormon:
Wherefore, I, the Lord God, will not suffer that this people shall do like unto them of old.
[Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none: For I, the Lord God, delighteth in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me: thus saith the Lord of hosts.—Book of Mormon, p. 116.
This stamps the claim that that polygamic revelation is a “new and everlasting covenant,” as a fraud; and when considered in the light of all of Joseph Smith’s writings, the strong presumptive evidence is that it was gotten up by others, after Joseph Smith’s death, who used the influence of Joseph’s name to give sanctity to their iniquitous schemes, knowing that they themselves were lacking moral influence and power to foist such a system of iniquity upon the people as a revelation from God.
In a open letter to the President of the United States, by Charles Wesley Wendall, it being one of a series prepared by him on the Utah problem, we find the following statement:
These monstrous doctrines are all included in a mock revelation of Brigham Young’s, ascribed to Joseph Smith; but which has never been traced back to him; and, indeed, can not be by any rule of evidence admissible in a court of law or equity.
In so far as polygamy is concerned, its first connection with the Mormons is traceable to Udney R. Jacob’s pamphlet and no further. This man, an elder in the Church in 1843, at Nauvoo, published a pamphlet in which he discoursed of the polygamy of the ancient patriarchs and kings of Judea, and defended the practice on both scriptural and physiological grounds. Joseph Smith, before the congregation and elsewhere, emphatically and unmistakably condemned this pamphlet and its doctrine; as he did also the libertinism of John C. Bennett and others, who were subsequently excommunicated from the Church on that account.—Saints’ Advocate, vol. 3, p. 19
To this we append the testimony of William Marks, who was, at the time of the assassination of Joseph Smith, the president of the church, or stake, at Nauvoo, and was also the president of the High Council. He says:
A few days after this occurrence, I met with Brother Joseph. He said that he wanted to converse with me on the affairs of the Church, and we retired by ourselves. I will give his words verbatim, for they are indelibly stamped upon my mind. He said he had desired for a long time to have a talk with me on the subject of polygamy. He said it eventually would prove the overthrow of the Church, and we should soon be obliged to leave the United States, unless it could be speedily put down. He was satisfied that it was a cursed doctrine, and that there must be every exertion made to put it down. He said that he would go before the congregation and proclaim against it, and I must go into the High Council, and he would prefer charges against those in transgression, and I must sever them from the Church, unless they made ample satisfaction. There was much more said, but this was the substance. The mob commenced to gather about Carthage in a few days after, therefore there was nothing done concerning it.—Herald, no. 1, vol. 1, p. 25.
Joseph Smith is here represented as having said in June 1844, just a few days before he was so cruelly murdered, that polygamy was a “cursed doctrine;” and that it “would eventually prove the overthrow of the Church unless it was put down,” and that he would “go before the congregation and proclaim against it;” and that President Marks “should go into the High Council,” and that he (Joseph) would “prefer charges against those in transgression,” and that Elder Marks must “sever them from the Church,” etc. Is it reasonable to suppose that he would do such a thing, or have talked that way, had he himself been guilty of practicing or teaching polygamy? Well, hardly! The reader will also remember that Charles Wesley Wandell testifies that Joseph did “before the congregation and elsewhere, emphatically and unmistakably condemn this pamphlet [of Udney R. Jacobs which advocated from both scriptural and physiological standpoints the doctrine of polygamy] and its doctrines.” Mark it well, “did condemn this pamphlet and its doctrines.”
A. M .Smucker, who seems to have been bitterly opposed to Mormonism, when considering the statements made concerning Joseph Smith, as a polygamist, says:
It is utterly incredible that Joseph Smith, who, great imposter that he was, never missed an opportunity to denounce seducers and adulterers as unfit to enter into his church, should have been concerned directly or indirectly in proceedings like these; though it is scarcely surprising that when such stories had been circulated by men whom the Prophet had thwarted or reprimanded, there should have been found some persons willing to credit them.—History of the Mormons. P. 174.
Now the facts in the case appear to be as follows: In consequence of the rapid progress the Church was making throughout the world—there being about two hundred thousand members in the Church at that time—the gospel net had gathered some of every kind. Some bad men had gotten into the fold, and by secret combinations, had perforated, or honey-combed the Church with their vicious inconsistencies, among which was the doctrine of spiritual wifeism and polygamy as advocated by J.C. Bennett, Hiram Brown, Udney R. Jacobs, and others; as also the rascality of Doctor Sampson Avard with his organization of Danites, etc., etc. These corrupting principles of doctrine found devotees among the “baser sort”—those who would “love to have it so”—and notwithstanding Joseph publicly proclaimed against these things and tried to stamp them out wherever they raised their deformed heads, yet his work of purifying the Church was prevented by the awful tragedy at Carthage jail. And after his death, these secret maligners, or many of them, rallied their forces, and, following their file-leaders to the great Salt Lake basin, gratified their sensual propensities to the utter disgrace of the sacred name of Saints which they unworthily bore, and thus brought shame and contumely upon the Church of Jesus Christ as organized by Joseph Smith. And that polygamic revelation was, without doubt, the disgraceful culmination of those secret combinations of gross sensualism, and was concocted and put in its present form by the scheming adroitness of Brigham Young and his confederates. That Joseph Smith was free from receiving or giving that so-called revelation is very apparent; and in our next chapter we will furnish testimony from the Brighamites themselves exonerating Joseph Smith from the odium of either teaching or practicing the corrupt system.
END OF CHAPTER FIVE
*Lorenzo Snow, one of the successors of Brigham Young in the Presidency of the Utah Mormon Church, on being examined under oath on the subject of the revelation authorizing polygamy, in the Temple Lot Suit, said:
*Lorenzo Snow became the fifth President of the Church in 1898.
"There was some talk in Nauvoo among the officers of the Church about the practice of plural marriage. There was considerable talk. I have no recollection of the practice being talked of publicly. . . . I did not teach when I went out that time that a man could have more wives than one. No, sir, that doctrine was not talked. It would have been considered that a person teaching such doctrine at that time would be liable to experience church discipline. . . . I never saw the ceremony of sealing performed in the days of Joseph Smith. I never knew anything about the practice of sealing during the days of Joseph Smith. He didn't tell me anything about it at the time I had this conversation with him. . . .Up to the time of the presentation of that revelation to the Church and its acceptance by the Church [in 1852--W.J.S.] the law of the Church on marriage was the same as you have read, and which I referred to in the 1835 edition of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, Exhibit E. That was the law of the church up to the time of the purported revelation and its acceptance by the Church; yes, sir, that is true. And a man that violated this law in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 edition, until the acceptance of that revelation by the Church [ August 29, 1852-E.J.D.], violated the law of the Church if he practiced plural marriage. Yes, sir, he would have been cut off from the Church. I think I should have been if I had. . . . You want to know why this principle of plural marriage was inserted [in the 1876 edition of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants ] instead of the principle of single marriage?"
Q.- Yes, sir why did you take out one and put the other in?
A.- I can not tell you, for I did not do it, nor can I tell why.
Q.- Was it not because this taught or had changed the order in the Church?
A.- Well, it was changed or extended. It was changed from the one to the other.
Q.- It was changed from monogamy to polygamy, was it not?
A.- Yes, sir, you might say it was if it suits you. It was extended from monogamy to polygamy. . . . Yes, sir, it was the introduction of another system besides the original one, or it was the extension of the principle of one wife to more than one wife. . . . To my knowledge this purported revelation of 1843 was never brought before the Church for acceptance during the lifetime of Joseph Smith. It was never brought before the public in any way before the death of Joseph Smith; I do not think it was ever presented to the Church for acceptance until 1852, in Salt Lake. . . .No, sir, the Church never accepted the revelation on polygamy during the lifetime of Joseph Smith, for it was not during his lifetime that it was presented to the Church for acceptance. It was not presented to the Church in the time of Joseph Smith.- Abstract of Evidence, pp.316-323
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Brigham Young's comments on the purported revelation from the Journal of Discourses
"You heard brother Pratt state, this morning, that a revelation would be read this afternoon, which was given previous to Joseph's death. It contains a doctrine a small portion of the world is opposed to; but I can deliver a prophecy upon it. Though that doctrine has not been practiced by the Elders, this people have believed in it for years.
The original copy of this revelation was burnt up. William Clayton was the man who wrote it from the mouth of the Prophet. In the meantime, it was in Bishop Whitney's possession. He wished the privilege to copy it, which brother Joseph granted. Sister Emma burnt the original. The reason I mention this is because that the people who did know of the revelation suppose it is not now in existence.
The revelations will be read to you. The principle spoken upon by brother Pratt, this morning, we believe in. and I tell you--for I know it--it will sail over and ride triumphantly above all the prejudice and priestcraft of the day: it will be fostered and believed in by the more intelligent portion of the world as one of the best doctrines ever proclaimed to any people. Your hearts need not bear (sic); you need not think that a mob is coming here to tread upon the sacred liberty which the Constitution of our country guarantees unto us, for it will not be. The world have known, long ago, even in brother Joseph's days, that he had more waves than one. One of the Senators in Congress knew it very well. Did he oppose it? No: but he has been our friend all the day long, especially upon that subject. He said pointedly to his friends, "If the United States do not adopt that very method--let them continue as they now are--pursue the precise course they are now pursuing, and it will come to this--that their generations will not live until they are 30 years old. They are going to destruction; disease is spreading so fast among the inhabitants of the United States, that they are born rotten with it, and in a few years they are gone." Said he, "Joseph has introduced the best plan for restoring and establishing strength and long life among men, of any man on earth; and the Mormons are a very good and virtuous people."
Many others are of the same mind: they are not ignorant of what we are doing in our social capacity. They have cried, "Proclaim it." But it would not do, a few years ago: everything must come in its time, as there is a time to all things. I am now ready to proclaim it.
This revelation has been in my possession many years; and who has known it? None but those who should know it. I keep a patent lock on my desk, and there does not anything leak out that should not."
Journal of Discourses, Vol.6, p.281 - p.282, Brigham Young, August 29, 1852