Joseph Smith's Sermon Against Polygamy

Joseph Smith's Sermon Against Polygamy

And Other Evidences

Understand the history of Joseph Smith is like looking through muddy water. You just cannot see the truth from an outsiders perspective. Not unless you study LDS/RLDS Church History. First to understand what happened it must be flatly declared someone is not telling the truth. Who that is I'll let you be the judge.

Because of Many False Accusations, Joseph Smith Hired 4 personal clerk as witnesses to record and time his every word and movements.

Joseph Smith's 4 personal clerks which recorded Smith's every move. Defected to Utah after Brigham Young, taking almost all Smith's records.

Joseph Smith's Personal Clerks Betrayed Him

Brigham Supervised Rewriting Joseph's History 

Most of the "good, faithful, and efficient clerks" were not good and faithful to Joseph. Some were polygamists themselves, and they rewrote Joseph's history under Brigham's direction to make it appear that Joseph was the author of polygamy.
The Mormon Church has published, "Moreover, since the death of the Prophet Joseph, the history has been carefully revised under the strict inspection of President Brigham Young, and approved by him" (LDS History of the Church 1:v–vi).Click to continue reading:

Now ask the question, if Joseph Smith was originally a polygamist, why did Brigham Young and the Utah LDS Church feel it necessary to rewrite Joseph's History?

Joseph Smiths denial of Polygamy

What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives,when I can only find one"—

Joseph Smith (LDS History of the Church 6:411).

[ Joseph Smith Fought Polygamy Index ]
Chapter 19

Joseph's Sermon against Polygamy

Joseph Smith's sermon in which he denied being a polygamist is a fitting closing for this volume, even though there are many more conclusive proofs of his innocence in the long and complicated story of Utah Mormon polygamy. The additional proofs are to be treated in later volumes.

In 1844 William Law, a former member of the First Presidency at Nauvoo, formed a conspiracy along with others to depose Joseph and take the leadership of the Church from him. This group of conspirators went so far as to organize a new church called the "Reformed Mormon Church" and issue a call to the Saints to reject Joseph and join the new church (see the Nauvoo Expositor, Friday, June 7, 1844).

William Law and others also went to the county seat at Carthage and gave testimonies which resulted in three indictments being brought against Joseph. One accused him of being guilty of polygamy. The story of this conspiracy will take several chapters in a later volume to discuss in detail, but Joseph's sermon in answer to the polygamy charge is of utmost value here.

William Marks, a member of the grand jury, and Joseph's devoted friend, made him aware of the grand jury's indictments. The news of the indictments arrived in Nauvoo on Saturday, May 25, a month before Joseph's martyrdom, and spread like a prairie fire. By ten o'clock the next morning when the Sunday worship services began, thousands of Saints gathered at the Stand (an outdoor meeting place near the Temple) to hear the Prophet discuss the indictments. Thomas Bullock, one of Joseph's secretaries, recorded the sermon, which appears today in the LDS Church history under the title, "Address of the Prophet—His Testimony Against the Dissenters at Nauvoo." Excerpts from that sermon are given below.

(It is recommended that the reader study the entire sermon in the LDS History of the Church, Period I, 6:408–412.)

Joseph declared:

Another indictment has been got up against me [the polygamy indictment]. It appears a holy prophet [William Law] has arisen up, and he has testified against me [causing the polygamy indictment to be brought forth].... God knows, then, that the charges against me are false.

I had not been married scarcely five minutes, and made one proclamation of the Gospel, before it was reported that I had seven wives. I mean to live and proclaim the truth as long as I can.

This new holy prophet [William Law] has gone to Carthage and swore that I had told him that I was guilty of adultery. This spiritual wifeism! Why, a man dares not speak or wink, for fear of being accused of this.... William Law ... swears that I have committed adultery. I wish the grand jury would tell me who they [the alleged wives] are—whether it will be a curse or blessing to me....

A man asked me whether the commandment [revelation] was given that a man may have seven wives; and now the new prophet has charged me with adultery.... Wilson Law [William's brother] also swears that I told him I was guilty of adultery.... I have rattled chains before in a dungeon for truth's sake. I am innocent of all these charges, and you can bear witness of my innocence, for you know me yourselves.... What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one.

I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago [when charged with polygamy shortly after his marriage to Emma Hale]; and I can prove them all perjurers. (LDS History of the Church 6:410–411; italics added)

Sermons Talking Points

This sermon is extremely important because in it Joseph Smith declared, just one month and one day before his martyrdom, that he had only one wife. In other words, he declared that he was not a polygamist. It is significant that this sermon is published by the LDS Church itself, in its most important history. The sermon alone proves that Joseph was not a polygamist.

There are a number of points in the sermon which deserve close analysis:

I had not been married scarcely five minutes ... before it was reported that I had seven wives.

Joseph was plagued with polygamy rumors all his public life and always denied being a polygamist. Either he told the truth and was a true prophet; or he was a polygamist who was a liar and base deceiver, and was therefore a fraud and a false prophet. There is no half-way situation in this matter. As previously stated, he never hesitated to tell the truth about any other doctrine, in spite of persecution—which is evidence that he was also telling the truth in this case.

This spiritual wifeism! Why, a man dares not speak or wink, for fear of being accused of this.

This is a reference to Dr. Bennett's teachings two years earlier that Joseph taught that "promiscuous intercourse between the sexes, was a doctrine believed in by the Latter-Day Saints ... that myself and others of the authorities of the church not only sanctioned, but practiced the same wicked acts" (Times and Seasons 3 [July 1, 1842]: 839–840). Joseph is declaring that spiritual wifery rumors are still prevalent in Nauvoo, and that they are all false.

A man asked me whether the commandment was given that a man may have seven wives.

If Joseph had been guilty of polygamy, and was trying to keep it secret as the Utah polygamists claim, he certainly would not have made this statement. The truth is that he wanted to get the whole matter out in the open and to put a stop to the polygamous activities which some of the apostles and their friends were practicing at the time.

What a thing it is for a man to be accused of ... having seven wives, when I can only find one.

Here is a definite declaration by the Prophet that he had only one wife—Emma. This statement alone answers the question of whether or not he was guilty of polygamy. Those who later claimed that he had more wives were polygamists themselves, who used his name to cover their own crimes of polygamy. Or, like William Law, claimed Joseph was a polygamist in order to depose him.

I can prove them all perjurers. Joseph's statement that "I can prove them all perjurers" was very significant, for it meant that he had foreseen the coming problem of being accused of polygamy and had taken the measures to be able to prove that he was innocent. He declared in the same sermon:

For the last three years I have a record of all my acts and proceedings, for I have kept several good, faithful, and efficient clerks in constant employ; they have accompanied me everywhere, and carefully kept my history, and they have written down what I have done, where I have been, and what I have said; therefore my enemies cannot charge me with any day, time, or place, but what I have written testimony to prove my actions; and my enemies cannot prove anything against me. (LDS History of the Church 6:409)

Unfortunately, Joseph's carefully laid plans to prove his innocence were thwarted by Brigham Young and his followers—for they took Joseph's papers with them to Utah and kept them from the public.

Joseph Smith III (son of the Martyr) explained:
At the death of my father, Joseph W. Coolidge was appointed administrator of the estate.... The private and personal correspondence of my father, many books and some other matters of personal character were in his office in care of [Apostle] Willard Richards, and others, clerks and officials. These were either retained by the administrator upon his own responsibility; or were refused to my mother's demand at the direction of the Twelve; the latter we were at the time led to believe.... In answer to repeated demands for my father's private papers, journal and correspondence, made by my mother, there was an invariable denial. (Edward W. Tullidge, Life of Joseph the Prophet, 744–745)

In another account Joseph III stated concerning the LDS leaders' refusal to return his father's private papers to Emma:
His private records, biography, portions of history—family and general—manuscripts, memoranda, and parts of his library were all included in this refusal to comply with Mother's request. (Saints' Herald 82 [January 29, 1935]: 144)

Most of the "good, faithful, and efficient clerks" were not good and faithful to Joseph. Some were polygamists themselves, and they rewrote Joseph's history under Brigham's direction to make it appear that Joseph was the author of polygamy.

The Mormon Church has published, "Moreover, since the death of the Prophet Joseph, the history has been carefully revised under the strict inspection of President Brigham Young, and approved by him" (LDS History of the Church 1:v–vi).

Elder Charles Wandell, upon reading Joseph's history as published by the LDS Church, declared that Joseph's history had been changed. He asserted:

I notice these interpolations because having been employed (myself) in the Historian's office at Nauvoo by Doctor Richards, and employed, too, in 1845, in compiling this very autobiography, I know that after Joseph's death his memoir was "doctored" to suit the new order of things, and this, too, by the direct order of Brigham Young to Doctor Richards and systematically by Richards. (RLDS History of the Church 4:97)

After Joseph's death, Brigham Young expanded his polygamous base by bringing more and more Saints into the polygamy fold. After he had led his followers to Utah and Joseph had been dead for eight years, Brigham publicly presented to the Saints a mysterious document (Section 132 of the LDS Doctrine and Covenants). He claimed that it was only a copy of an original revelation which Joseph had received. Brigham claimed that he had kept the copy secretly hidden in his desk. He declared:

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. (Supplement to Millennial Star 15 [1853]: 31; RLDS History of the Church 3:349)

The mystery which was "had in secret chambers" for years was now made public. That mystery was polygamy! Joseph Smith fought against polygamy all of his public life, but Brigham Young managed to bring it into the Church in spite of Joseph's efforts to keep it out. 

U.S. Court Rulings Joseph Smith Did Not Teach Polygamy

February 23, 1880, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, by its attorneys, appeared before the Court of Common Pleas, Lake County, Ohio, (see journal entry, February term, 1880) as plaintiff, asking for possession of the Kirtland Temple, an edifice erected during the early days of the church, and prior to the death of Joseph Smith the Martyr. The church in Utah, then presided over by John Taylor, was named with others as defendants.
 

Judge L. S. Sherman rendered the following decision:


"That the said Plaintiff, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a Religious Society, founded and organized upon the same doctrines and tenets, and having the same church organization, as the original Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, organized in 1830, by Joseph Smith, and was organized pursuant to the constitution, laws and usages of said original Church, and has branches located in Illinois, Ohio, and other States.



That the church in Utah, the Defendant of which John Taylor is president, has materially and largely departed from the faith, doctrines, laws, ordinances and usages of said original Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and has incorporated into its system of faith the doctrines of celestial marriage and a plurality of wives, and the doctrine of Adam-god worship, contrary to the laws and constitution of said original Church.

And the Court do further find that the Plaintiff, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is the True and Lawful continuation of, and successor to the said original Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, organized in 1830, and is entitled in law to all its rights and property."

In a case tried before Judge John F. Philips, in the Circuit Court of the United States, for the Western District of Missouri, Western Division, at Kansas City, Missouri.

In his decision, rendered March 16, 1894, Judge Philips said:

The Book of Mormon itself inveighed against the sin of polygamy.... Conformably to the Book of Mormon, the Book of Doctrine and Covenants expressly declared "that we believe that one man should have but one wife, and one woman but one husband." And this declaration of the church on this subject reappeared in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, editions of 1846 and 1856. Its first appearance as a dogma of the church (the dogma of polygamy) was in the Utah Church in 1852.


Claim is made by the Utah Church that this doctrine is predicated of a revelation made to Joseph Smith in July, 1843. No such revelation was ever made public during the life of Joseph Smith, and under the law of the church it could not become an article of faith and belief until submitted to and adopted by the church. This was never done ....

(History of RLDS Church Vol 5 pp. 238-239)

Joseph Smith's Modern Descendants Still Defend Joseph Smith Being Innocent of Polygamy 

RLDS President Israel A. Smith

in Defense of Joseph Smith

"Joseph Smith was the greatest victim of fraud and conspiracy of the last 500 years. Nothing like it in recorded history. He was simply lied about when something had to be done to justify ... Utah Mormon polygamy."

—President Israel A. Smith, grandson of Joseph the Martyr

(Letter to Pamela Price,September 17, 1956

Other Evidence Joseph Smith's Sermon Against Polygamy

Was Truth

 Mark Forscutt’s Testimony Concerning Emma

Brigham Young insisted his personal secretary, Mark Forscutt take a plural wife. Mark refused and fled Utah to save his life. Mark later became an Apostle in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ. Later he interviewed Emma Smith to get her testimony pertaining weather Joseph Smith ever taught polygamy.  

Here his diary records as reading: 

Thur. Sep. 13/77.
Spent day visiting at Nauvoo, Sister Emma (widow of the Martyr) told me that she remembered Joseph having said in answer to a question from Sister , Mother of the Brothers Brackenbury, as to whether Brigham would not lead the church in case of his (Joseph’s) death,—"I would pity the people that should follow Brigham as a leader," and in answer to another question as to why he would pity them, Joseph answered, "Because He would lead them to hell". She also related that after Brigham came into power in Nauvoo, she sought several times to see him; but did not succeed, and finally sent for him. He came, bringing witnesses with him, and enquired what she wished. She asked him why he was teaching or allowing to be taught the doctrines and practises [sic] he was [spiritual wifery and polygamy], to which he replied he knew of nothing of the kind she referred to, and if she knew of any one indulging in such practises, and would inform on them, they should be taken up and dealt with. She replied, "Why, Brigham you need not talk like that; you know these things are done. It is so plain, that even a stranger can not come and walk through our streets without witnessing it. You know too that Joseph in my presence told you that you had been teaching such things while he was alive, and that he commanded you in the name of the Lord, to teach them no more, or judgments would overtake you." He left and she had no conversation with him afterward (Mark Forscutt’s Diary, pages 81–82).

  

Apostle Jason Briggs’ Interview  Supports Joseph Smith's Sermon

Emma Smith after Joseph Smith's death remarried. She later became Emma Hale Smith Bidamon

Apostle Jason Briggs interviewed Emma about Joseph and the purported polygamy revelation he supposedly given in 1843. Emma Smith Bidamon's answers in blue.

J. W. Briggs.—Mrs. Bidamon, have you seen the revelation on polygamy, published by Orson Pratt, in the Seer, in 1852 [Section 132 in the Utah Doctrine and Covenants]?  

Mrs. B.—I have.

J.W.B.—Have you read it?
 

Mrs. B.—I have read it, and heard it read.

 J.W.B.—Did you ever see that document in manuscript, previous to its publication, by Pratt?
 

Mrs. B.—I never did. 

J.W.B.—Did you ever see any document of that kind, purporting to be a revelation, to authorize polygamy?

  

Mrs. B.—No; I never did.

  

J.W.B.—Did Joseph Smith ever teach you the principles of polygamy as being revealed to him, or as a correct and righteous principle?
 

Mrs. B.—He never did.

  

J.W.B.—What about the statement of Brigham Young, that you burnt the original manuscript of that revelation?
 

Mrs. B.—It is false in all its parts, made out of whole cloth without any foundation in truth 

(The Messenger, vol. 1, p. 23).

Mary Page Eaton Supports Smith's Sermon, She Testified that Joseph Was Not a Polygamist

Throughout her long life, Mary Judd Page Eaton declared that Brigham Young, and not Joseph Smith, had introduced polygamy into the Church. As recorded in the Vision magazine, December 2002 (No. 42), Mary and her husband, Apostle John E. Page, lived in Nauvoo after Joseph’s death. During that time, Apostle Page was expelled for opposing Brigham Young’s measures, which included the introduction of false temple endowments and plural and celestial marriage.Mary later asserted:I can prove, by some of the covenants we were required to make, that Joseph never originated them. Mr. Page was with me, and went through the same ceremonies. The words of our covenants were spoken to us by Brigham. After we had received the endowment in the temple, as soon as we were alone in our house, Mr. Page said to me, "Mary, I tell you that endowment is all of the devil." (The Saints’ Advocate 5 [March 1883j: 295)


Further Evidence Supporting Smith's Sermon
Lorenzo Wasson Testified of Bennett's Guilt and Joseph's Innocence


One of Joseph's primary witnesses to his fidelity and Bennett's immorality was Emma's nephew, Lorenzo D. Wasson, a son of Emma's sister, Elizabeth Wasson. Lorenzo joined the Church and lived with his Aunt Emma and Uncle Joseph, where Bennett also boarded. During the summer of 1841, Lorenzo was upstairs in Joseph and Emma's bedroom at the Homestead, and heard Joseph berating Bennett in the room below. The next summer, on July 30, 1842, while on a missionary journey, Lorenzo wrote Joseph these words: "Uncle, ... If I can be of any service in this Bennett affair I am ready. I was reading in your chamber last summer—yourself and Bennett came into the lower room, and I heard you give J. C. Bennett a tremendous flagellation for practicing iniquity under the base pretence of authority from the heads of the church—if you recollect I came down just before you were through talking. There are many things I can inform you of, if necessary, in relation to Bennett and his prostitutes. I am satisfied of your virtue and integrity. I have been with you to visit the sick, and time and again to houses where you had business of importance, you requested me to do so—many times I knew not why, but I am satisfied it was that you might not be censured by those that were watching you with a jealous eye, and I now solemnly protest before God and man, I never saw a thing unvirtuous in your conduct.... I am your most obedient nephew, L. D. WASSON. (Times and Seasons 3 [August 15, 1842]: 892)


Lorenzo was Joseph's faithful attendant in life and in death. In 1843 Joseph was taken prisoner by Sheriff Reynolds of Missouri at the Wasson home in Dixon, Illinois. Lorenzo and his father's quick action provided Joseph with attorneys and prevented Joseph from being taken to Missouri (see Saints' Herald 82 [January 22, 1935]: 112).

It was Lorenzo who hastened to Nauvoo with a message from Emma, bearing the news to the Saints of Joseph's arrest. And alas, it was Lorenzo that Joseph III remembers seeing "covered with dust, bringing the news" that Joseph and Hyrum had been murdered at Carthage (ibid. [January 29, 1935]: 143).After a mock funeral and entombment for Joseph and Hyrum in June of 1844, Lorenzo and others, carefully chosen by Emma, secretly buried the bodies of the Martyrs in the basement of the Nauvoo House (see George Q. Cannon, The Life of Joseph Smith the Prophet, 529–530). Lorenzo refused to follow the leadership of Brigham Young

Eliza R. Snow Latter Followed Brigham Young To Utah and Became His Plural Wife. 2 years before, she vouched Joseph Smith was not polygamist.

Eliza R. Snow, Signed an 1842 Certificate Which Said There Was No Polygamy in the Church at Nauvoo

1,000 thousand Women Defend Joseph Smith's Innocence

Eliza R. Snow reputed polygamous wife to Joseph Smith

One of the reasons Eliza wanted to barely touch on the subject of polygamy at Nauvoo was because she had helped lead a thousand women in signing a petition, stating that Joseph was not guilty of polygamy as Bennett had charged (see Times and Seasons 3 [August 1, 1842]: 869). After Dr. Bennett left Nauvoo in late June 1842 and published many statements declaring that Joseph was a polygamist, Joseph made a great effort to fight against that false doctrine. Joseph himself published that he "preached ... much against it" (Times and Seasons 3 [July 1, 1842]: 840).

Also, the Ladies' Relief Society, with Emma as the president and Eliza Snow as the secretary, made a strong public stand against polygamy. The Relief Society prepared and published a certificate which declared:
We the undersigned members of the ladies' relief society, and married females do certify and declare that we know of no system of marriage being practised in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints save the one contained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants.... Emma Smith President...

Eliza R. Snow, Secretary.

(Times and Seasons 3 [October 1, 1842]: 940)

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Joseph Smith Gave 1831 LDS Doctrine

and Covenants Revelation Man Should Cleave To one Wife

A revelation received on February 9, 1831, and published to this day in the Utah edition of the Doctrine and Covenants as well as our own, commands: "Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shall cleave unto her and none else" (RLDS Section 42:7; Utah Section 42:22).

Joseph Smith Gave Second 1831 Doctrine and Covenants Revelation Against Pural Marriage

The following month, March 1831, another revelation contained this language: "Marriage is ordained of God unto man; wherefore it is lawful that he should have one wife, and they twain shall be one flesh, and all this that the earth might answer the end of its creation" (Doctrine and Covenants 49:3).

 

One Thousand Men Affirmed That Joseph
Was Innocent of Polygamy

It is significant that approximately one thousand men voted to adopt the resolution to "manifest to the world" that they knew Joseph to be virtuous, and one who upheld the laws and constitution of the state of Illinois and the United States. Bigamy was a crime in 1842 in the state of Illinois. Therefore, if Joseph had (as the LDS Church teaches) plural wives under the title of celestial marriage, spiritual wifery, or polygamy, he would have been guilty of committing a crime. Joseph was so well known that if he had had several wives, many people would have known it, and there would have been more votes against him.The thousand men knew of Bennett's plural marriage charges against Joseph in the cases of Martha Brotherton, Nancy Rigdon, Sarah Pratt, and others. Yet, they voted that he was moral, virtuous, and law-abiding—a thousand additional testimonies that Joseph was not a polygamist.