XX
POLYGAMY
1.
The wrath of a people who believed themselves to be a Christian nation in the last quarter of the Nineteenth century put a stop to the practice of polygamy among the Mormons and halted the progress of one of the most interesting experiments in all the history of human genetics.
The same class of national moralists who had successfully fought the battle against Negro slavery turned their guns of righteousness against the "sinful" Mormons and their system of plural marriage that was "degrading to womanhood." The situation was made to order for the type of yellow journalism that flourished at the time. As late as the first decade of the present century, even the respected Collier's Magazine indulged in a campaign of muckraking against the Mormons.
The tone of all this was the same. The writers worked from the original assumption that polygamy was wrong and un-Christian. The attitude of their readers thus assured, it remained only for the scribes to point the finger of scorn and to fill in all the lurid sexy details. This was done, evidently, by drawing heavily upon their imaginations, their intimate knowledge of erotic literature, and the ordinarily suppressed pornographic tendencies of their own self-righteous minds. As long as they prefaced their work with a reformatory attitude, these writers were free to indulge in the vilest sort of filth on such subjects as white slavers and the Mormons, which they believed to be practically synonymous. An almost complete collection of all their works, in the Mormon church library, has been placed at my disposal in the gathering of material for this book. I'm sorry to have to say that most of this "literature" is a discredit to my profession. Its writers, for the most part, were not leaders, seeking out truth and pointing the way to a better course of life, but mere panderers to the more base emotions and lusts of their readers.
Kept at white heat by well-meaning Christian leaders, as well as by bigots and intolerant ranters, public opinion pressed in on the Mormons from all sides. Political opportunists made the most of a situation in which they could appear to be heroes, knights errant in a righteous cause, by baiting and embarrassing the Mormons.
Under such conditions of aroused public sentiment, which an impartial sociologist would label almost mob violence, the calm appraisal and careful evaluation of any social institution is impossible. And so it was with the institution of plural marriage among the Mormons. Pressure from outsiders forced its abandonment before the world had an opportunity to see what effects it would have upon society if practiced over a long period of time.
It is not my proposal here to hold a brief either for, or against, polygamy as it was practiced during the first half century of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I do point out, however, that the science of eugenics might profit immeasurably from a thorough-going, impartial study of this social experiment. Such a study has never been made. Whenever Mormons have approached the subject, it has been with a belligerent feeling of loyalty to their forebears, and of the divine infallibility of any revelations announced by their prophet. Most non-Mormons who've had occasion to view the subject, do so from a hope of finding some historical justification for hidden base desires in their own lives, or with pre-conceived moral ideas that prevent their accepting a truth that might contradict teachings of their own society.
Theologically speaking, there probably is as much quotable Bible material to prove that the Mormons were right in their early polygamous marriages, as there is to support the Protestant contention that Christianity is a purely monogamous religion, or that Roman Catholic adherence to the ideal of celibacy for the priesthood is a Christian doctrine. Nearly every non-Mormon theologian would deny this, of course, but that is because they are theologians, and not social scientists.
Mormon polygamous marriages of the early days had many sociological advantages that could not be appreciated by persons who did not possess the fundamental philosophical conception upon which the institution was based.
Far from degrading womanhood, as was charged by its bitterest opponents, it seems to have had exactly the opposite effect.
By making it economically and socially possible for every woman to bear children if she wanted to, and were able physically to do so, this institution exalted the privilege of motherhood to an eminence greater than it has enjoyed anywhere else in history. By making it possible for a woman to mate herself with one of the leaders or stronger men of the community, even though he already had a wife, this institution opened the way for the improvement of human racial stock that has been possible under no other form of marriage. A woman who was hungering for the opportunity to bear children found no necessity for mating herself with a sot, or a ne'er-do-well, merely because he was a man, and the only available male of the species in her community. This, in turn, provided the incentive to greater competition among men, with more striving to be superior beings. There appears to have been no illegitimacy among early-day Mormons. There, also, appeared to be absolute honesty and a high moral standard in sexual relationships. Once the premise of the social correctness of plural marriage was accepted, absolute purity of family relationships was demanded and enforced by the community and the church. For the first time in history, human beings had conquered the evil of extra-marital love affairs that is condemned emphatically by some American churches, winked at by others, but indulged in, apparently, by a majority of the nation's population. It is the most popular sermon theme of protestant preachers throughout the land, and the ground upon which they most frequently wrestle with the devil. The main body of our modern literature, even, is debased into a stereotyped form, build around the love-triangle plot, with the main characters for the most part being this side of innocence in their actions.
It is ironical that sexual promiscuity was introduced into Utah by camp followers of the United States Army detachments that were sent west to protect those who would "convert" the Mormons!
The early day polygamous households seem to have been very successful. Among my close friends are many who were born in such families, and who have been able to give me first hand accounts of the emotions involved in such a marital system. Curiously, of all those living today who are most familiar with the polygamous system that formerly was practiced by the Mormons, it is the women who speak most highly of it. One of these women described the matter to me in this way, "The craving of a woman for motherhood is greater, when given a normal means of expression and security for her offspring, than her desire to selfishly possess a man. This pure love for children is a higher love than that which exists between men and women, and its cultivation represents a step upward in the social scale for human beings. Therefore, the primary duty of a man on earth is not to satisfy the bodily lusts of a woman, but to be the means of giving her children, and of sheltering and protecting them to maturity."
There appears to be a very sharp contrast between the plural marriage system formerly practiced by the Mormons, and those of Mohammedans, ancient Hebrews, and the Chinese. This is most apparent in their attitudes toward women. Lust or desire on the part of men for the physical possession of women seems to have played a very minor role. In fact, some of the early day leaders of the church refused to take additional wives until the presidency directly ordered them to do so.
There also is a very sharp contrast between the social conditions of Mormondom when polygamy was practiced, and those of the rest of the country at the same time. The comparison, when reduced to cold, factual figures, is not very flattering to the rest of the country that was trying to "reform" the Mormons without removing the mote from its own eye.
Heber J. Grant, a grand old man who lived within the memory of most of us who are here today, having died only in 1945, was known throughout the world for his fine personal qualities. Typical of the esteem in which he was held was an article in American Magazine which extolled him for his expanding the church Welfare plan as an example to the nation to help whip the depression. There was no doubt of his great worth to modern society. Yet, horror of horrors! Heber J. Grant was born in a family where his father had other wives besides his mother, all living under the same roof at the same time! Yes, and Heber J. Grant was himself a polygamist, contracting plural marriage with three women who were his wives at the same time, when such marriages still were legal. The records are open for any who care to examine them, and no snooping or whispering is necessary to discover this fact. As late as the 1944-1945 issue of Who's Who in America, you can find the record of President Grant's three marriages. Two of them were performed on successive days.
However, the Mormon church today takes the lead in combatting polygamous marriages, in its zeal to uphold the law of the land. Several who have taught polygamy within the church have been excommunicated, and even prosecuted in the courts of the state and federal governments, at the instigation of the church.
Many volumes and pamphlets have been written on the subject of Mormon polygamy, and many writers have catered to the lusts of a sex-reading public by harping upon this theme in fiction, as well. However, the clearest expression of the Latter-day Saints motives and reasons for plural marriage that I have found is set forth in an article on the subject that appeared recently in an official organ of the church. This essay was written by one of the foremost L.D.S. theologians of today, a member of the council of twelve apostles. This pronouncement, therefore, can be taken as the official view of the church, today. Its presentation here constitutes the first opportunity that non-Mormons at large have ever had to study at first hand this strange doctrine of celestial marriage that is based upon the fundamental concept that the Mormon priesthood has full authority to make contracts upon this earth that are binding throughout all eternity. Previous publication of this doctrine has been confined to channels that normally reach only Mormon readers.
The same class of national moralists who had successfully fought the battle against Negro slavery turned their guns of righteousness against the "sinful" Mormons and their system of plural marriage that was "degrading to womanhood." The situation was made to order for the type of yellow journalism that flourished at the time. As late as the first decade of the present century, even the respected Collier's Magazine indulged in a campaign of muckraking against the Mormons.
The tone of all this was the same. The writers worked from the original assumption that polygamy was wrong and un-Christian. The attitude of their readers thus assured, it remained only for the scribes to point the finger of scorn and to fill in all the lurid sexy details. This was done, evidently, by drawing heavily upon their imaginations, their intimate knowledge of erotic literature, and the ordinarily suppressed pornographic tendencies of their own self-righteous minds. As long as they prefaced their work with a reformatory attitude, these writers were free to indulge in the vilest sort of filth on such subjects as white slavers and the Mormons, which they believed to be practically synonymous. An almost complete collection of all their works, in the Mormon church library, has been placed at my disposal in the gathering of material for this book. I'm sorry to have to say that most of this "literature" is a discredit to my profession. Its writers, for the most part, were not leaders, seeking out truth and pointing the way to a better course of life, but mere panderers to the more base emotions and lusts of their readers.
Kept at white heat by well-meaning Christian leaders, as well as by bigots and intolerant ranters, public opinion pressed in on the Mormons from all sides. Political opportunists made the most of a situation in which they could appear to be heroes, knights errant in a righteous cause, by baiting and embarrassing the Mormons.
Under such conditions of aroused public sentiment, which an impartial sociologist would label almost mob violence, the calm appraisal and careful evaluation of any social institution is impossible. And so it was with the institution of plural marriage among the Mormons. Pressure from outsiders forced its abandonment before the world had an opportunity to see what effects it would have upon society if practiced over a long period of time.
It is not my proposal here to hold a brief either for, or against, polygamy as it was practiced during the first half century of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I do point out, however, that the science of eugenics might profit immeasurably from a thorough-going, impartial study of this social experiment. Such a study has never been made. Whenever Mormons have approached the subject, it has been with a belligerent feeling of loyalty to their forebears, and of the divine infallibility of any revelations announced by their prophet. Most non-Mormons who've had occasion to view the subject, do so from a hope of finding some historical justification for hidden base desires in their own lives, or with pre-conceived moral ideas that prevent their accepting a truth that might contradict teachings of their own society.
Theologically speaking, there probably is as much quotable Bible material to prove that the Mormons were right in their early polygamous marriages, as there is to support the Protestant contention that Christianity is a purely monogamous religion, or that Roman Catholic adherence to the ideal of celibacy for the priesthood is a Christian doctrine. Nearly every non-Mormon theologian would deny this, of course, but that is because they are theologians, and not social scientists.
Mormon polygamous marriages of the early days had many sociological advantages that could not be appreciated by persons who did not possess the fundamental philosophical conception upon which the institution was based.
Far from degrading womanhood, as was charged by its bitterest opponents, it seems to have had exactly the opposite effect.
By making it economically and socially possible for every woman to bear children if she wanted to, and were able physically to do so, this institution exalted the privilege of motherhood to an eminence greater than it has enjoyed anywhere else in history. By making it possible for a woman to mate herself with one of the leaders or stronger men of the community, even though he already had a wife, this institution opened the way for the improvement of human racial stock that has been possible under no other form of marriage. A woman who was hungering for the opportunity to bear children found no necessity for mating herself with a sot, or a ne'er-do-well, merely because he was a man, and the only available male of the species in her community. This, in turn, provided the incentive to greater competition among men, with more striving to be superior beings. There appears to have been no illegitimacy among early-day Mormons. There, also, appeared to be absolute honesty and a high moral standard in sexual relationships. Once the premise of the social correctness of plural marriage was accepted, absolute purity of family relationships was demanded and enforced by the community and the church. For the first time in history, human beings had conquered the evil of extra-marital love affairs that is condemned emphatically by some American churches, winked at by others, but indulged in, apparently, by a majority of the nation's population. It is the most popular sermon theme of protestant preachers throughout the land, and the ground upon which they most frequently wrestle with the devil. The main body of our modern literature, even, is debased into a stereotyped form, build around the love-triangle plot, with the main characters for the most part being this side of innocence in their actions.
It is ironical that sexual promiscuity was introduced into Utah by camp followers of the United States Army detachments that were sent west to protect those who would "convert" the Mormons!
The early day polygamous households seem to have been very successful. Among my close friends are many who were born in such families, and who have been able to give me first hand accounts of the emotions involved in such a marital system. Curiously, of all those living today who are most familiar with the polygamous system that formerly was practiced by the Mormons, it is the women who speak most highly of it. One of these women described the matter to me in this way, "The craving of a woman for motherhood is greater, when given a normal means of expression and security for her offspring, than her desire to selfishly possess a man. This pure love for children is a higher love than that which exists between men and women, and its cultivation represents a step upward in the social scale for human beings. Therefore, the primary duty of a man on earth is not to satisfy the bodily lusts of a woman, but to be the means of giving her children, and of sheltering and protecting them to maturity."
There appears to be a very sharp contrast between the plural marriage system formerly practiced by the Mormons, and those of Mohammedans, ancient Hebrews, and the Chinese. This is most apparent in their attitudes toward women. Lust or desire on the part of men for the physical possession of women seems to have played a very minor role. In fact, some of the early day leaders of the church refused to take additional wives until the presidency directly ordered them to do so.
There also is a very sharp contrast between the social conditions of Mormondom when polygamy was practiced, and those of the rest of the country at the same time. The comparison, when reduced to cold, factual figures, is not very flattering to the rest of the country that was trying to "reform" the Mormons without removing the mote from its own eye.
Heber J. Grant, a grand old man who lived within the memory of most of us who are here today, having died only in 1945, was known throughout the world for his fine personal qualities. Typical of the esteem in which he was held was an article in American Magazine which extolled him for his expanding the church Welfare plan as an example to the nation to help whip the depression. There was no doubt of his great worth to modern society. Yet, horror of horrors! Heber J. Grant was born in a family where his father had other wives besides his mother, all living under the same roof at the same time! Yes, and Heber J. Grant was himself a polygamist, contracting plural marriage with three women who were his wives at the same time, when such marriages still were legal. The records are open for any who care to examine them, and no snooping or whispering is necessary to discover this fact. As late as the 1944-1945 issue of Who's Who in America, you can find the record of President Grant's three marriages. Two of them were performed on successive days.
However, the Mormon church today takes the lead in combatting polygamous marriages, in its zeal to uphold the law of the land. Several who have taught polygamy within the church have been excommunicated, and even prosecuted in the courts of the state and federal governments, at the instigation of the church.
Many volumes and pamphlets have been written on the subject of Mormon polygamy, and many writers have catered to the lusts of a sex-reading public by harping upon this theme in fiction, as well. However, the clearest expression of the Latter-day Saints motives and reasons for plural marriage that I have found is set forth in an article on the subject that appeared recently in an official organ of the church. This essay was written by one of the foremost L.D.S. theologians of today, a member of the council of twelve apostles. This pronouncement, therefore, can be taken as the official view of the church, today. Its presentation here constitutes the first opportunity that non-Mormons at large have ever had to study at first hand this strange doctrine of celestial marriage that is based upon the fundamental concept that the Mormon priesthood has full authority to make contracts upon this earth that are binding throughout all eternity. Previous publication of this doctrine has been confined to channels that normally reach only Mormon readers.
2.
The essay, with permission of the author, is presented here verbatim, just as it appeared in the L.D.S. publication. It was written for a Mormon audience, which accounts for its slightly "slanted" method of approach to the subject.
"Moral purity is required of all Latter-day Saints. Men must be as clean as women, and both must be free from any violation of the moral law. That is the basis of all marriages performed under the authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"The Church solemnizes two kinds of marriages. First, those that unite husband or wife for the duration of mortal life. These marriages end with death. Second, those that continue the family relationship after death, in the hereafter. This is often known as eternal, or celestial marriage.
"Faithful members of the Church seek to enjoy both of these kinds of marriages. They wish to be wedded for time and eternity, that is, to continue their association forever. To be able to do this is one of the happiest privileges of Church membership. Such marriages, usually called sealings, must be performed in the temples, whenever they exist.
"Several approaches to eternal marriage may be made: Two living persons may be sealed to each other for time and eternity. A living man may be sealed for eternity to a dead woman; or a living woman to a dead man. Two dead persons may be sealed to each other. It is also possible, though the Church does not now permit it, to seal two living people for eternity only, with no association on earth.
"Further, under a divine command to the Prophet Joseph Smith, it was possible for one man to be sealed to more than one woman for time and for eternity. Thus came plural marriage among the Latter-day Saints. By another divine command, to Wilford Woodruff, a successor to Joseph Smith, this order of marriage was withdrawn in 1890. Since that time the Church has not sanctioned plural marriages. Anyone who enters into them now is married unlawfully, and is excommunicated from the Church.
"That Joseph Smith actually was the person who introduced plural marriage into the Church and that he practised it himself are amply proved by existing facts.
"1. The revelation known as section one hundred thirty-two in the Doctrine and Covenants, which contains the doctrine of celestial marriage and also the practice of plural marriage, was dictated to his scribe, William Clayton, by Joseph Smith on July 12, 1843, a year before the martyrdom of the Prophet. It had been received by the Prophet some years before, and taught to many, but was not reduced to writing until 1843. William Clayton lived as an honorable citizen, of the highest character, until December 4, 1879, thirty-six years after the revelation was written. He never wavered in his simple declaration that the revelation as now found in the Doctrine and Covenants, was dictated to him, sentence by sentence. He adds that 'after the whole was written, Joseph asked me to read it through, slowly and carefully, which I did, and he pronounced it correct.
"On the day the revelation was written, or the day after, Joseph C. Kingsbury was asked to make a copy of it. This copy was carefully compared with the original, by Bishop Newell K. Whitney, and preserved by him. Elder Kingsbury, of unblemished character and reputation, lived fifty-five years after this event (diedOctober 5, 1898), and always bore solemn testimony to the written origin of the revelation in 1843, through the lips of the Prophet. In further corroboration of the claim that the revelation came from the lips of the Prophet, are the statements of numerous men and women, then living, who either saw the revelation or heard it read. In fact, the document was read to the high council in Nauvoo.
"2. A number of men, who in their lives showed themselves honest, have testified that they actually performed the ceremonies that united Joseph Smith to plural wives. Among these were Joseph B. Noble, Hyrum Smith, James Adams, Newell K. Whitney, Willard Richards, and others. Several of these men lived long after the Prophet's death and always declared that they officiated in marrying the Prophet to a plural wife, giving place, date, and the witnesses present.
"3. Many of the women who were thus sealed to Joseph Smith lived long after his death. They declared that they lived with the Prophet as husband and wives. These women were of unblemished character, gentle and lovely in their lives, who spoke with loving respect of their martyr husband. They substantiated in detail the statements of those who performed the ceremonies.
"4. Many of the elders in Nauvoo entered into plural marriage, under the authority of Joseph Smith who was yet living, as certified to by the men and their wives. Among these were William Clayton, Orson Hyde, Hyrum Smith, John Smith, Erastus Snow, Lyman Wight, James J. Strang, Gladden Bishop, William Smith, Heber C. Kimball, and Brigham Young. These men and their wives who survived the Prophet, made affidavits of their marriages in Joseph's day in answer to the charge by enemies of the Church that plural marriage was not instituted nor practised, neither authorized by the Prophet. These men and women were good citizens, so well known over such long periods of time that their concordant declarations cannot be gainsaid.
"5. The Nauvoo Temple records, which are in the possession of the Church, likewise furnish evidence that Joseph Smith practiced plural marriage. Before the completion of the temple, marriage sealings were usually performed in rooms in the home of the Prophet. When the temple was dedicated in 1846 for such ceremonies, the plural marriages of Joseph were given temple sanction, and where the marriages were for time only, they were often made to continue through eternity.
"This was done within a year and a half of the assassination of the Prophet. Many received plural wives in the Nauvoo Temple. It is utterly improbable, if not impossible, that such a new doctrine could have been conceived and carried out by the men who succeeded the Prophet. There would have been a serious resentment among those who entered the temple, if the teachings of the Prophet had been violated. Such criticism would have overflowed to the outside.
"6. After the death of the Prophet, women applied for the privilege of being sealed to him for eternity. They felt no doubt that in the eternal ages they would then share the companionship of the Prophet. They wanted to enjoy eternity with the man whom they revered as chosen of God to open the last dispensation of the gospel on earth. To these requests, assent was often given. Such action by women who lived in the days of the Prophet implies a belief in plural marriage. These women, who were not in any sense earthly wives of the Prophet, have been counted by uninformed or antagonistic writers as wives of the Prophet.
"Women no longer living, whether in Joseph's day or later, have also been sealed to the Prophet for eternity. The request for such unions has usually come from relatives or friends who would have their loved ones share eternity with the Prophet, rather than with anyone else. Unscrupulous and unreliable writers have even added such marriages to the list of Joseph's wives.
"7. Another kind of celestial marriage seems to have been practised in the early days of plural marriage. It has not been practised since Nauvoo days, for it is under Church prohibition. Zealous women, married or unmarried, loving the cause of the restored gospel, considered their condition in the hereafter. Some of them asked that they might be sealed to the Prophet for eternity. They were not to be his wives on earth, in mortality, but only after death in the eternities. This came often to be spoken of as celestial marriage. Such marriages led to misunderstandings by those not of the Church, and unfamiliar with its doctrines. To them marriage meant only association on earth. Therefore any ceremony uniting a married woman, for example, to Joseph Smith for eternity seemed adulterous to such people. Yet in any day, in our day, there may be women who prefer to spend eternity with another than their husband on earth.
"Such cases, if any, and they must have been few in number, gave enemies of the Church occasion to fan the flaming hatred against the Latter-day Saints. The full truth was not told. Enemies made the most of untruth. They found it difficult to believe that the Church rests on truth and virtue.
"The literature and existing documents dealing with plural marriage in Nauvoo in the day of Joseph Smith are very numerous. Hundreds of affidavits on the subject are in the Church Historian's office in Salt Lake City. Most of the books and newspaper and magazine articles on the subject are found there also.
"The careful study of all available information leads to but one conclusion. Joseph Smith received the revelation in question, and practised plural marriage. The issue is not one of doctrine but of history. No honest student can declare the host of witnesses, hundreds of them, from Nauvoo days, 'Mormon' and non-'Mormon' of various residence, pursuits and temperaments to have united in lying about the matter. The evidence is confirmed by those who place the introduction of plural marriage on others, for they seek feeble, unworthy shelter in the statement that Joseph Smith did practise plural marriage, but later repented of it. That is throwing dust in the eyes of seekers after truth. The case is clear. Authentic history says that plural marriage originated with Joseph Smith the Prophet. And so it did. The apparent denials by Church leaders in Nauvoo days that the Church practised plural marriage were correct. At that time, the Church members as a whole had not heard the revelation, nor had they been given an opportunity to accept it. But many of the leaders knew of it and were polygamists.
"The chaotic conditions of the years immediately following the Prophet's death delayed the formal presentation of the revelation. Soon after the Church was established in the Great Salt Lake region, at the conference in 1852, the doctrine of celestial and plural marriage was accepted as a whole. During the intervening years, however, it was taught and practised."
"Moral purity is required of all Latter-day Saints. Men must be as clean as women, and both must be free from any violation of the moral law. That is the basis of all marriages performed under the authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"The Church solemnizes two kinds of marriages. First, those that unite husband or wife for the duration of mortal life. These marriages end with death. Second, those that continue the family relationship after death, in the hereafter. This is often known as eternal, or celestial marriage.
"Faithful members of the Church seek to enjoy both of these kinds of marriages. They wish to be wedded for time and eternity, that is, to continue their association forever. To be able to do this is one of the happiest privileges of Church membership. Such marriages, usually called sealings, must be performed in the temples, whenever they exist.
"Several approaches to eternal marriage may be made: Two living persons may be sealed to each other for time and eternity. A living man may be sealed for eternity to a dead woman; or a living woman to a dead man. Two dead persons may be sealed to each other. It is also possible, though the Church does not now permit it, to seal two living people for eternity only, with no association on earth.
"Further, under a divine command to the Prophet Joseph Smith, it was possible for one man to be sealed to more than one woman for time and for eternity. Thus came plural marriage among the Latter-day Saints. By another divine command, to Wilford Woodruff, a successor to Joseph Smith, this order of marriage was withdrawn in 1890. Since that time the Church has not sanctioned plural marriages. Anyone who enters into them now is married unlawfully, and is excommunicated from the Church.
"That Joseph Smith actually was the person who introduced plural marriage into the Church and that he practised it himself are amply proved by existing facts.
"1. The revelation known as section one hundred thirty-two in the Doctrine and Covenants, which contains the doctrine of celestial marriage and also the practice of plural marriage, was dictated to his scribe, William Clayton, by Joseph Smith on July 12, 1843, a year before the martyrdom of the Prophet. It had been received by the Prophet some years before, and taught to many, but was not reduced to writing until 1843. William Clayton lived as an honorable citizen, of the highest character, until December 4, 1879, thirty-six years after the revelation was written. He never wavered in his simple declaration that the revelation as now found in the Doctrine and Covenants, was dictated to him, sentence by sentence. He adds that 'after the whole was written, Joseph asked me to read it through, slowly and carefully, which I did, and he pronounced it correct.
"On the day the revelation was written, or the day after, Joseph C. Kingsbury was asked to make a copy of it. This copy was carefully compared with the original, by Bishop Newell K. Whitney, and preserved by him. Elder Kingsbury, of unblemished character and reputation, lived fifty-five years after this event (diedOctober 5, 1898), and always bore solemn testimony to the written origin of the revelation in 1843, through the lips of the Prophet. In further corroboration of the claim that the revelation came from the lips of the Prophet, are the statements of numerous men and women, then living, who either saw the revelation or heard it read. In fact, the document was read to the high council in Nauvoo.
"2. A number of men, who in their lives showed themselves honest, have testified that they actually performed the ceremonies that united Joseph Smith to plural wives. Among these were Joseph B. Noble, Hyrum Smith, James Adams, Newell K. Whitney, Willard Richards, and others. Several of these men lived long after the Prophet's death and always declared that they officiated in marrying the Prophet to a plural wife, giving place, date, and the witnesses present.
"3. Many of the women who were thus sealed to Joseph Smith lived long after his death. They declared that they lived with the Prophet as husband and wives. These women were of unblemished character, gentle and lovely in their lives, who spoke with loving respect of their martyr husband. They substantiated in detail the statements of those who performed the ceremonies.
"4. Many of the elders in Nauvoo entered into plural marriage, under the authority of Joseph Smith who was yet living, as certified to by the men and their wives. Among these were William Clayton, Orson Hyde, Hyrum Smith, John Smith, Erastus Snow, Lyman Wight, James J. Strang, Gladden Bishop, William Smith, Heber C. Kimball, and Brigham Young. These men and their wives who survived the Prophet, made affidavits of their marriages in Joseph's day in answer to the charge by enemies of the Church that plural marriage was not instituted nor practised, neither authorized by the Prophet. These men and women were good citizens, so well known over such long periods of time that their concordant declarations cannot be gainsaid.
"5. The Nauvoo Temple records, which are in the possession of the Church, likewise furnish evidence that Joseph Smith practiced plural marriage. Before the completion of the temple, marriage sealings were usually performed in rooms in the home of the Prophet. When the temple was dedicated in 1846 for such ceremonies, the plural marriages of Joseph were given temple sanction, and where the marriages were for time only, they were often made to continue through eternity.
"This was done within a year and a half of the assassination of the Prophet. Many received plural wives in the Nauvoo Temple. It is utterly improbable, if not impossible, that such a new doctrine could have been conceived and carried out by the men who succeeded the Prophet. There would have been a serious resentment among those who entered the temple, if the teachings of the Prophet had been violated. Such criticism would have overflowed to the outside.
"6. After the death of the Prophet, women applied for the privilege of being sealed to him for eternity. They felt no doubt that in the eternal ages they would then share the companionship of the Prophet. They wanted to enjoy eternity with the man whom they revered as chosen of God to open the last dispensation of the gospel on earth. To these requests, assent was often given. Such action by women who lived in the days of the Prophet implies a belief in plural marriage. These women, who were not in any sense earthly wives of the Prophet, have been counted by uninformed or antagonistic writers as wives of the Prophet.
"Women no longer living, whether in Joseph's day or later, have also been sealed to the Prophet for eternity. The request for such unions has usually come from relatives or friends who would have their loved ones share eternity with the Prophet, rather than with anyone else. Unscrupulous and unreliable writers have even added such marriages to the list of Joseph's wives.
"7. Another kind of celestial marriage seems to have been practised in the early days of plural marriage. It has not been practised since Nauvoo days, for it is under Church prohibition. Zealous women, married or unmarried, loving the cause of the restored gospel, considered their condition in the hereafter. Some of them asked that they might be sealed to the Prophet for eternity. They were not to be his wives on earth, in mortality, but only after death in the eternities. This came often to be spoken of as celestial marriage. Such marriages led to misunderstandings by those not of the Church, and unfamiliar with its doctrines. To them marriage meant only association on earth. Therefore any ceremony uniting a married woman, for example, to Joseph Smith for eternity seemed adulterous to such people. Yet in any day, in our day, there may be women who prefer to spend eternity with another than their husband on earth.
"Such cases, if any, and they must have been few in number, gave enemies of the Church occasion to fan the flaming hatred against the Latter-day Saints. The full truth was not told. Enemies made the most of untruth. They found it difficult to believe that the Church rests on truth and virtue.
"The literature and existing documents dealing with plural marriage in Nauvoo in the day of Joseph Smith are very numerous. Hundreds of affidavits on the subject are in the Church Historian's office in Salt Lake City. Most of the books and newspaper and magazine articles on the subject are found there also.
"The careful study of all available information leads to but one conclusion. Joseph Smith received the revelation in question, and practised plural marriage. The issue is not one of doctrine but of history. No honest student can declare the host of witnesses, hundreds of them, from Nauvoo days, 'Mormon' and non-'Mormon' of various residence, pursuits and temperaments to have united in lying about the matter. The evidence is confirmed by those who place the introduction of plural marriage on others, for they seek feeble, unworthy shelter in the statement that Joseph Smith did practise plural marriage, but later repented of it. That is throwing dust in the eyes of seekers after truth. The case is clear. Authentic history says that plural marriage originated with Joseph Smith the Prophet. And so it did. The apparent denials by Church leaders in Nauvoo days that the Church practised plural marriage were correct. At that time, the Church members as a whole had not heard the revelation, nor had they been given an opportunity to accept it. But many of the leaders knew of it and were polygamists.
"The chaotic conditions of the years immediately following the Prophet's death delayed the formal presentation of the revelation. Soon after the Church was established in the Great Salt Lake region, at the conference in 1852, the doctrine of celestial and plural marriage was accepted as a whole. During the intervening years, however, it was taught and practised."
3.
The reason that the theologian here places so much stress upon the fact that celestial and plural marriage were established and practised by the prophet is that a segment of the saints broke off from the main body of the church in the early days. They were led by a blood descendant of the prophet, and based the reason for their schism upon the contention that Joseph Smith never taught polygamy. They evidently were more inclined toward innate conservativeness and desired more to conform to the accepted Puritan-dominated social customs prevailing in the country than to follow the more vigorous tenets of the new faith. From them has descended the so-called Reorganized Latter-day Saints church. In a series of eloquent and learned debates, leaders of both the main branch of the church and the reformed group over a period of many years presented their varying views of the moot questions of theology and polity.
To the impartial observer, today, the essential difference between the main church and this offshoot appears to be almost entirely political, and there is no sound reason why the two groups should not forget their remaining little differences and reunite.
These are not to be confused, however, with a sect of so-called "Fundamentalists," a small group of families in Utah who recently have been prosecuted for the practice of polygamy in defiance of the edicts of the church, and the laws of the state and federal governments. The trials of these few made front-page headlines during the years of 1943, 1944, and 1945, and served to focus national attention, again, upon Mormon polygamy. The leaders of this small group had previously been excommunicated by the Latter-day Saints church for their violation of church law. Despite the enormous amount of news interest that was created, the entire number of people involved as followers of the "Fundamentalist" sect was only about one hundred.
It is to be expected that further actions along this line might develop from time to time, and that they will receive much more notoriety, because of the uniqueness of the situation, than will such a thing as the fact that during a long period of World War II, more than fifty percent of all babies born in an Atlantic seaboard city, were illegitimate. It all depends upon what the majority of the people of a nation comes to accept as the normal course of events in marital relationships.
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To the impartial observer, today, the essential difference between the main church and this offshoot appears to be almost entirely political, and there is no sound reason why the two groups should not forget their remaining little differences and reunite.
These are not to be confused, however, with a sect of so-called "Fundamentalists," a small group of families in Utah who recently have been prosecuted for the practice of polygamy in defiance of the edicts of the church, and the laws of the state and federal governments. The trials of these few made front-page headlines during the years of 1943, 1944, and 1945, and served to focus national attention, again, upon Mormon polygamy. The leaders of this small group had previously been excommunicated by the Latter-day Saints church for their violation of church law. Despite the enormous amount of news interest that was created, the entire number of people involved as followers of the "Fundamentalist" sect was only about one hundred.
It is to be expected that further actions along this line might develop from time to time, and that they will receive much more notoriety, because of the uniqueness of the situation, than will such a thing as the fact that during a long period of World War II, more than fifty percent of all babies born in an Atlantic seaboard city, were illegitimate. It all depends upon what the majority of the people of a nation comes to accept as the normal course of events in marital relationships.
Next: About the Author