Doctrine and Covenants Week 28: D&C 132, Official Declaration1

1) Background: Origins of D&C 132. a) [SLIDE 2] Were going to begin with the emergence of Joseph Smiths family theology.1 i) It began with the earliest canonized revelation to Joseph Smith, delivered by Moroni in September 1823:
Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming. (D&C 2:13; Joseph Smith History 1:3839.)

(1) This was fulfilled in April 1836 when Elijah returned to the Kirtland Temple and bestowed the sealing keys on Joseph and Oliver Cowdery.2 ii) It continued with revelations that associated priesthood with lineagea patriarchal, father-to-son descent.3 iii) It blossomed in Nauvoo with the revelation of baptism for the dead and Josephs teaching of the necessity of a welding linkbetween the fathers and the children (128:18). iv) Finally, Joseph revealed the doctrine of sealing husbands and wives and children together for eternity, where they would all become kings and queens, gods and goddesses. (1) Thus the family became the fundamental governing body in this world and in the eternities, with Gods work being the work of creating and exalting children. (2) Josephs revelation also included the doctrine of plural or celestial marriage.4 b) [SLIDE 3] Development of the new and everlasting covenant. i) The new and everlasting covenant is the fulness of the gospel (66:2), the sum of all gospel covenants that God makes with mankind. It consists of several individual covenants, each of which is a component of the whole and is called a new and an everlasting covenant.5

1 This is the term used by Richard Lyman Bushman in Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), 445. Bushmans biography explores Josephs practice of plural marriage very even-handedly; see pages 323 27, 43746, 49099, 52627. For a brief review of other works that focus on Joseph Smiths revelation and practice of plural marriage, see Appendix 1: Published works on Joseph Smith and plural marriage, page 12. 2 See notes to lesson 22, pages 910 (https://sites.google.com/site/hwsarc/home/dc/week22). 3 See D&C 68:21 (November 1831); 84:6, 16 (September 1832); 107:40 (March 1835); 124:91 (January 1841); Abraham 1:24 (published March 1842; translated in the mid-1830s); also See notes to lesson 18, pages 7, 13 (https://sites.google.com/site/hwsarc/home/dc/week18). 4 Latter-day Saints today use the terms celestial marriage and eternal marriage synonymously. However, in the 19th century celestial marriage referred almost exclusively to eternal, plural marriages. 5 See notes to lesson 6, page 1 (https://sites.google.com/site/hwsarc/home/dc/week06).

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(1) 132:46; 131:14. The new and everlasting covenant of marriage is one of the new and everlasting covenants, and is essential to enter into the celestial kingdom and continue to have an increase in posterity and become like God the Father. c) How long had Joseph known about the doctrines of eternal and plural marriage? i) [SLIDE 4] The first mention of the doctrine of eternal marriage comes from a letter from W.W. Phelps to his wife in May 1835 (see handout):
A new idea, Sally, if you and I continue faithful to the end, we are certain to be one in the Lord throughout eternity; this in one of the most glorious consolations we can have in the flesh.6

(1) If this was a new idea, then Joseph was teaching eternal marriage in Kirtland just before the dedication of the temple. ii) [SLIDE 5] There are no contemporary records that tell us when Joseph first taught plural marriage, or when he first had a revelation endorsing it. (1) There is eyewitness testimony that he was talking about it as early as the summer of 1831.7 (a) Orson Pratt claimed that Joseph told some early members in 1831 and 1832 that plural marriage was a true principle but that the time to practice it had not yet come (see handout).8 (b) This early revelation may have been prompted by Josephs translation of the Bible. He was working on Genesis in February and March 1831, and may have asked the Lord at that time about the polygamous marriages of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (See 132:1.)

6 William W. Phelps, letter to Sally Waterman Phelps. Journal History of the Church, 26 May 1835 (http://web.archive.org/web/20120428025908/http://www.saintswithouthalos.com/w/wwp_sally_350526.phtml). 7 W.W. Phelps wrote a letter to Brigham Young in 1861, reporting that on 17 July 1831, the Lord told Joseph It is my will, that in time, ye should take unto you wives of the Lamanites and Nephites, that their posterity may become white, delightsome and just. Phelps claimed that he asked Joseph three years later how this commandment could be fulfilled; Joseph replied, In the same manner that Abraham took Hagar and Keturah; and Jacob took Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpha, by revelation. (W.W. Phelps, letter to Brigham Young, 1861, original in Church Archives.) Possibly confirming Phelps recollection is an 1831 letter from Ezra Booth, an apostate Mormon, reporting that it has been made known by revelation, that it will be pleasing to the Lord, should they [the Mormons] form a matrimonial alliance with the Natives, though it says nothing about plural marriage per se. Ezra Booth, letter to the editor, Ohio Star, 10 November 1831; reprinted in Eber D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed (Painesville, Ohio: self-published, 1834), 220 (http://books.google.com/books?id=KXJNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PN220). For more on Eber Howe and Ezra Booths anti-Mormon activities, see notes to lesson 9, pages 24 (https://sites.google.com/site/hwsarc/home/dc/week09) and lesson 14, footnote 5 (https://sites.google.com/site/hwsarc/home/dc/week14). One of Josephs plural wives recalled late in life that in 1831 Joseph told her that he had been commanded to one day take her as a plural wife. Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, letter to Emmeline B. Wells, summer 1905, LDS Archives; cited by Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith (Urbana and Chicago, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1994 [2nd ed.]), 65. Mosiah Hancock reported that his father Levi was taught about plural marriage in the spring of 1832. Mosiah Hancock Autobiography, 6162; cited in Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 1997), 644. 8 Pratt, 7 October 1869. Journal of Discourses 13:19293 (http://en.fairmormon.org/Journal_of_Discourses/13/22#192 ). He also reported that Lyman Johnson heard the same thing from Joseph in 1831. Pratt, Report of Elders Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith, Millennial Star 40/50 (16 December 1878), 788 (http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/MStar/id/27192).

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(2) Joseph himself probably began practicing plural marriage shortly after this time. His first plural marriage likely took place between 1833 and 1836, when Joseph married Fanny Alger, a young woman who lived with the Smith family in Kirtland.9 Joseph was certainly involved in plural marriage by the spring of 1841. (a) He also commanded a handful of select Latter-day Saints to practice it.
Joseph told the Twelve about plural marriage soon after their return [from Great Britain] in 1841, and they began marrying other women soon after. Before Joseph died, as many as twenty-nine other men had married at least one additional wife under his authorization.10

iii) Although Joseph had known about the doctrines of eternal marriage and plural marriage for over a decade, the first (and only) written revelation on the subject was given in the summer of 1843. (1) William Clayton, one of the Prophets clerks, left his testimony about circumstances of this revelation (see handout). (a) According to Clayton, the revelation was written in the morning of 12 July 1843. Joseph and Hyrum Smith had come into the office in the upper story of Josephs red brick store, and were discussing the subject of plural marriage.11 Hyrum asked Joseph to write down the revelation so he could show it to Emma.
[SLIDE 6] Hyrum very urgently requested Joseph to write the revelation by means of the Urim and Thummim, but Joseph in reply, said he did not need to, for he knew the revelation perfectly from beginning to end. Joseph and Hyrum then sat down and Joseph commenced to dictate the revelation on celestial marriage, and I wrote it, sentence by sentence, as he dictated. After the whole was written, Joseph asked me to read it through, slowly and carefully, which I did, and he pronounced it correct. He then remarked that there was much more that he could write on the same subject, but what was written was sufficient for the present.12

9 Unfortunately, there are no contemporary accounts of Joseph and Fannys relationship, so we have no first - or even second-hand reports of what took place between them; what little we do know is late and third-hand. It appears that Emma ended the relationship by removing Fanny from the house. Fanny moved to Indiana in 1837, where she married Solomon Custer; she was separated from the Church by that time, and never returned to it. See Don Bradley, Mormon Polygamy before Nauvoo? The Relationship of Joseph Smith and Fanny Alger, in The Persistence of Polygamy, Vol. 1: Joseph Smith and the Origins of Mormon Polygamy, Newell G. Bringhurst and Craig L. Foster, eds., (Independence, Missouri: John Whitmer Books, 2010), 1458; also Brian C. Hales, The Joseph Smith-Fanny Alger RelationshipA Brief History, JosephSmithsPolygamy.com (n.d.) (http://www.josephsmithspolygamy.com/FannyAlger/MASTERFannyAlger.html). Some historians believe Josephs next plural marriage may have been to Lucinda Pendleton in 1838, but there is no solid evidence for this. See Richard Lloyd Anderson and Scott H. Faulring, The Prophet Joseph Smith and His Plural Wives, FARMS Review 10/2 (1998), 75 (http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/review/?vol=10&num=2&id=290). Josephs first documented plural marriage was to Louisa Beaman on 5 April 1841 at Nauvoo. 10 Bushman, Rough Stone Rolling, 443. Brian Hales 29 men (besides Joseph) and 51 women who were practicing plural marriage in Navuoo by June 1844, 51 men and 135 women who entered the practice after Josephs death and before the opening of the Nauvoo Temple in December 1845, 108 men and 263 women polygamously sealed in the Nauvoo temple, and 7 men and 34 women who were sealed after Nauvoo and before the trek west, bringing the total to 196 men and 521 women (including Joseph and his wives) who entered into plural marriage before the Saints left for the west in the spring of 1847. Hales, Joseph Smiths Polygamyan Overview (http://www.josephsmithspolygamy.com/MISCFiles/JSPOverview.html). 11 By the time the revelation was given, Joseph had been sealed to between 25 and 28 women in Nauvoo, and had shared the doctrine with his closest associates, so it would not have been unusual for him and his brother to have been discussing the doctrine behind it. 12 William Clayton, affidavit before John T. Caine, a Salt Lake City notary public, 16 February 1874. History of the Church 5:xxxiixxxiii (http://byustudies.byu.edu/hc/5/1.html#xxxii).

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(b) William Clayton said the dictation of this revelation took three hours.13 2) D&C 132. a) [SLIDE 7] Section 132 breaks down easily into the following logical divisions: i) 132:13. Introduction. ii) 132:428. The law pertaining to eternal marriage. iii) 132:2945. The law pertaining to plural marriage. iv) 132:4648. Joseph Smith holds the sealing keys. v) 132:4957. Personal instructions to Joseph and Emma. vi) 132:5866. Additional instructions on the law of the priesthood; the law of Sarah. b) 132:13. Introduction. i) Like most of Josephs other revelations, this one came in response to a question he took to the Lord. In this case, Joseph wanted to know if and how the Lord approved of the polygamous marriages of the Old Testament prophets Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, and those of the King David and his son, Solomon. c) 132:433. The law pertaining to eternal marriage. i) [SLIDE 8] 132:7. Two conditions of the law: (1) Anything that is to be eternal must be sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, or it is not in force after we are dead. (a) This includes ordinances pertaining to salvationbaptism, confirmation, receipt of the priesthood, the endowment, and marriage. It also includes any promise made to us in a priesthood blessing, and all forms of earthly contracts and agreements. (b) Weve previously discussed the Holy Spirit of promise, and identified it as a function of the Holy Ghost, who inwardly confirms to an individual that the promises she has received are binding in the Lords eyes and will be fulfilled.14 (i) Its not enough to just receive an ordinance; we must live our lives in such in a manner that the Lord will accept that ordinance and confirm his acceptance of it to us. (2) These covenants or promises must be first administered by one who has authority. (a) Only one person on earth holds that authority by himself, and thats the President of the Church. ii) Case studies: (1) 132:1517. Case study #1: Til death do us part. (a) For those who marry in the worldand today that means outside of the templetheir covenant and marriage are not of force when they are dead. They remain separately and singly for eternity as angels of God.
Bushman, Rough Stone Rolling, 496. See notes to week 16, page 9 (https://sites.google.com/site/hwsarc/home/dc/week16); also notes to week 20, page 2 (https://sites.google.com/site/hwsarc/home/dc/week20).
13 14

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(2) 132:18. Case study #2: For eternity, but without authority. (a) If a person performs a wedding ceremony and uses the terminology for time and all eternity, but does not have the proper authority, the marriage he or she solemnizes ends at death. Authority is essential for the marriage to be efficacious. (3) 132:1925. Case study #3: For eternity, and with authority. (a) These marriages meet the conditions of the law set forth in 132:7, and shall be of full force when they are out of the world. (b) 132:1920, 24. Seeds and eternal lives. (i) [SLIDE 9] These two terms were introduced by Joseph Smith to describe the nature of exaltation.
Except a man and his wife enter into an everlasting covenant and be married for eternity, while in this probation, by the power and authority of the Holy Priesthood, they will cease to increase when they die; that is, they will not have any children after the resurrection. But those who are married by the power and authority of the priesthood in this life, and continue without committing the sin against the Holy Ghost, will continue to increase and have children in the celestial glory.15

(ii) Like Abraham, those who are married for eternity are promised that their posterity shall be as innumerable as the stars; orthe sand upon the seashore (132:30; cf. Genesis 22:1517). iii) [SLIDE 10] 132:26. Exaltation despite all sin? (1) Joseph Fielding Smith called this verse the most abused passage in any scripture.
The Lord has never promised any soul that he may be taken into exaltation without the spirit of repentance. While repentance is not stated in this passage, yet it is, and must be, implied. It is wrong to take one passage of scripture and isolate it from all other teachings dealing with the same subject.16

(2) Read in context with other passages of scripture, the meaning of this verse appears to be that, once sealed in the eternal marriage covenant, only blasphemy against the Holy Ghost (132:27) is an unforgivable sin. All other sins may be forgiven, and the individual may still enter into his or her exaltation, but only after a period of personal suffering and repentance.17 iv) 132:28. The law of the priesthood encompasses the oath and covenant of the priesthood (84:3342) and all the ordinances appertaining to it. This law is fulfilled in the ordinances of the temple, including eternal marriage.

15 Joseph Smith, remarks to Brother and Sister Benjamin F. Johnson at their home in Ramus, Illinois, 16 May 1843. HC 5:391 (http://byustudies.byu.edu/hc/5/21.html#391); Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith 30001. Joseph was married to two of Benjamin Johnsons sisters, Delcena (1842) and Almera (1843). 16 Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1955), 2:95. 17 Compare D&C 19:1617.

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d) 132:2945. The law pertaining to plural marriage.18 i) [SLIDE 11] Jacob 2:2330. The Book of Mormon prophet Jacob taught that monogamy is the rule, and polygamy is the exception to the rule. Plural marriage may only be practiced by the Lords people if he specifically commands them to do so; to do so without his authorization is abominable. The principle here is that we are to obey the Lords commandments. ii) 132:3436. All things are right if God commands them.19 (1) [SLIDE 12] Joseph explained this principle in a letter he wrote in 1842:
That which is wrong under one circumstance, may be, and often is, right under another. God said, Thou shalt not kill; at another time He said, Thou shalt utterly destroy. This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conductedby revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the children of the kingdom are placed. Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire. If we seek first the kingdom of God, all good things will be added. So with Solomon: first he asked wisdom, and God gave it him, and with it every desire of his heart, even things which might be considered abominable to all who understand the order of heaven only in part, but which in reality were right because God gave and sanctioned by special revelation. . [SLIDE 13] Everything that God gives us is lawful and right; and it is proper that we should enjoy His gifts and blessings whenever and wherever He is disposed to bestow; but if we should seize upon those same blessings and enjoyments without law, without revelation, without commandment, those blessings and enjoyments would prove cursings and vexations in the end, and we should have to lie down in sorrow and wailings of everlasting regret.20

(2) [SLIDE 14] 132:3739. Because Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did none other things than that which they were commanded, they have entered into their exaltation, according to the promises, and sit upon thrones, and are not angels but are gods. David also received wives from God, and in nothing did they sin save in those things which they received not of metherefore he hath fallen from his exaltation.21

18 In these notes I use the terms plural marriage and polygamy synonymously. The technical definition of polygamy is more than one spouse of either gender. To be more precise, polygyny is the practice of having more than one wife, and polyandry is the practice of having more than one husband; both of these are types of polygamous marriage. 19 This is the principle of circumstantial commandments. For more on this, see notes to Old Testament lesson 13, pages 1 9 (https://sites.google.com/site/hwsarc/home/ot/week13). 20 Joseph Smith, letter to Nancy Rigdon. HC 5:13436 (http://byustudies.byu.edu/hc/5/8.html#134); TPJS 25557. History of the Church gives the date of this letter as 27 August 1842, but that cannot be correct, as apostate John C. Bennett included its text in a letter he wrote on 3 August 1842 that was published in the Sangamo [County, Illinois] Journal 10/52 (19 August 1842) (http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/IL/sang1842.htm#0819); it therefore seems likely that the letter was written no later than June 1842. 21 D&C 132:38 indicates that the Old Testament kings David and Solomon received many wives and concubinesand in nothing did they sin save in those things which they received not of me. In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Jacob (2:24) taught David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord. Jacob was referring to those things which [David and Solomon] received not of me, meaning the wives they took without the Lords permission and to satisfy their own wants and desires.

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iii) Joseph Smiths practice of plural marriage. (1) How many women did Joseph marry? (a) Because Joseph Smith practiced plural marriage in secret (for fear of persecution and legal repercussions), it has been difficult to determine how many women were sealed to him. 22 What we do know comes from journals and later reminiscences of those who were involved. (b) Estimates of the number of women he married have ranged from a low of 27 to a high of 84 (although the latter number includes women who were sealed to him after his death). (c) [SLIDE 15] Recent scholars have settled on 33 or 34 marriages that can reasonably documented.23 Eight additional marriages are possible, and 8 more women were sealed to Joseph by proxy soon after his death. (d) With the exception of two possible marriages in the 1830s and another in early 1841, all of these took place in Nauvoo in two separate waves: October 1841August 1842, and February 1843November 1843. (2) [SLIDE 16] How old were the women Joseph married? (a) Almost all of Josephs plural marriages took place between 1841 and 1843, when Joseph was 3537 years old. (b) Just over half of the women he married (19 / 54%) were in their 20s and 30s. (c) Five of them (15%) were older than he was, in their 40s and 50s. (d) Ten of them (29%) were teenagers, with one or two of them as young as 14. (i) Although this seems quite young to us, at that time it was common for young women to marry in their teenage years, and a large age difference between wife and husband was not considered an obstacle.24 (3) [SLIDE 17] What was the existing marital status of the women Joseph married? (a) Probably the most difficult element to put into context is the fact that nearly one-third of Josephs plural marriagesincluding virtually all of his early plural marriages in Nauvoowere to women who were already legally married, most of them to active Latter-day Saint husbands.25

22 Joseph always publicly denied that he was practicing plural marriage, but this was to protect himself and others involved in it. For a study and explanation of his motivations in doing so, see Gregory L. Smith, Polygamy, Prophets, and Prevarication: Frequently and Rarely Asked Questions about the Initiation, Practice, and Cessation of Plural Marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FAIR, 2006) (http://www.fairlds.org/authors/smith-gregory/polygamyprophets-and-prevarication). 23 The list of 33 women is per Compton, In Sacred Loneliness. Hales, Joseph Smiths Polygamy, accepts 34. For a list of these women, see Appendix 2: Joseph Smiths plural wives, page 13. 24 See Craig L. Foster, David Keller, and Gregory L. Smith, The Age of Joseph Smiths Plural Wives in Social and Demographic Context, in The Persistence of Polygamy, Vol. 1, 15283; also

http://en.fairmormon.org/Joseph_Smith/Polygamy/Marriages_to_young_women

25 See Brian C. Hales, Joseph Smith and the Puzzlement of Polyandry, in The Persistence of Polygamy, Vol. 1, 99151; also Hales, Did Joseph Smith Practice Sexual Polyandry?, JosephSmithsPolygamy.com (n.d.) (http://www.josephsmithspolygamy.com/JSPolyandry/MASTERSexualPolyandry.html); and Hales, Joseph Smiths Sexual Polyandry and the Emperors New Clothes: On Closer Inspection, What Do We Find?, FAIR Apologetics Conference, August 2012 (http://www.fairlds.org/fair-conferences/2012-fair-conference/2012-joseph-smiths-sexual-polyandry-and-theemperors-new-clothes-on-closer-inspection-what-do-we-find).

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(b) In most cases, the husband knew and approved of the plural marriage. In all of the cases, the wife continued living with her first husband after being sealed the Prophet. (c) Richard Bushman:
The only answer [to this baffling arrangement] seems to be the explanation Joseph gave when he asked a woman for her consent: they and their families would benefit spiritually from a close tie to the Prophet. Joseph told a prospective wife that submitting to plural marriage would ensure your eternal salvation & exaltation and that of your fathers household. & all your kindred. They married because Josephs kingdom grew with the size of his family, and those bonded to that family would be exalted with him.26

(d) These polyandrous marriages were unique to Nauvoo, and did not continue once the Saints went west to Utah. (i) [SLIDE 18] However, the idea that an individual could be sealed to someone to whom he or she was not relatedtypically a prominent Church leader, who could help the person secure his or her exaltation continued to be practiced in the Church for nearly 50 years, and was known as the Law of Adoption. 1. The Law of Adoption was done away with by revelation to Wilford Woodruff in 1894. Since that time, Latter-day Saints have been directed to be sealed as children to their own parents.27 (4) [SLIDE 19] Did Joseph have sexual relations with his plural wives? (a) While we are fairly certain that some of his plural marriages did involve sexual relations,28 manyperhaps most of them probably did not. (i) The available evidence does not support the claim that Joseph had intimate relations with those women who were already married,29 nor is there any evidence that he was intimate with his youngest wives (including 14-year-old Helen Mar Kimball).30

Bushman, Rough Stone Rolling, 439. See addresses by Presidents Wilford Woodruff and George Q. Cannon, General Conference, 8 April 1894; The Law of Adoption, The Deseret Weekly 48/18 (21 April 1894), 54145 (http://udn.lib.utah.edu/cdm/ref/collection/deseretnews6/id/407444). For a study of this doctrine, see Gordon Irving, The Law of Adoption: One Phase of the Development of the Mormon Concept of Salvation, 18301900, BYU Studies 14/3 (Spring 1974), 291314 (https://byustudies.byu.edu/showtitle.aspx?title=5123). 28 This is based on testimony given in the late 19th century by several women who had been married to Joseph. 29 Gregory Smith has noted that a large majority of Josephs marriages in his first wave of polygamous activity (spring 1841summer 1842) were to women where were already married, and has become more and more convinced that [this] was an attempt by Joseph to implement plural marriage as commanded, but without the complications of a consummated sexual relationship. Smith, email to Mike Parker, 2 June 2013. 30 See Hales, Did Joseph Smith Practice Sexual Polyandry? (http://www.josephsmithspolygamy.com/JSPolyandry/MASTERSexualPolyandry.html); and Hales, Sexual Relations with Fourteen-Year-Old Girls? (http://www.josephsmithspolygamy.com/MISCFiles/MASTERSexualRelationsW14YOs.html).
26 27

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(ii) Recent DNA testing has so far ruled out all the children of Josephs plural wives that could have been sired by Joseph Smith. There is still more research to be done on this, but it appears at this point that Josephs only children were born to Emma Smith, his first wife.31 (b) To the best of our knowledge, Joseph never spoke or wrote about his personal feelings about sexuality within plural marriage. Since we dont know how he felt about it, the door is left open for speculation. (i) The standard explanation used by both critics of the Church and by those who are not hostile to Josephs other accomplishments, but are at a loss to explain his Nauvoo marriages, is that Joseph Smith was some sort of sexual deviant. (ii) [SLIDE 20] However, the charge that he was simply trying to satisfy his sexual appetites has a lot going against it, including:32 1. Surely there are easier ways to bed lots of women than (to name but a few accomplishments) translating a 265,000-word book of scripture, organizing a church, establishing said church in four different states, dictating over 100 revelations, building a temple, establishing the largest and most prosperous city in the western United States, and establishing ones self as the leader of 30,000 devoted religious followers. a. Those who see Josephs motivations as mainly sexual completely ignore his significant achievements as a religious leader. 2. Eleven years passed between the organization of the Church and the beginning of Josephs plural marriages in Nauvoo. If his motivation was sex, why did he wait so long? 3. If he was simply looking for sexual escapades, why bother with the complicated and difficult plural marriage arrangements? An affair would leave no witnesses, and if confronted by an accuser, it would be a he said/she said situation. Josephs plural marriages involved witnesses, any one of whom could expose him.33 4. Joseph didnt go around privately asking women to marry him. He typically proposed to the woman and asked permission from her closest male relativeher father, her brother, or her husband. In other instances (like the case of young Helen Mar Kimball), the parents of the young woman approached Joseph and suggested the marriage arrangement.

31 See Ugo Perego, Joseph Smith, the Question of Polygamous Offspring, and DNA Analysis, in The Persistence of Polygamy, Vol. 1, 23356; also Perego, DNA & LDS Church History, JosephSmithDNA.com (n.d.) (http://www.josephsmithdna.com/dna--lds-church-history.html). 32 See also Hales, Problems with the Naturalistic View (http://www.josephsmithspolygamy.com/MISCFiles/MASTERProblemsWithNaturalisticView.html). 33 And, in fact, it was William Laws publication of Josephs plural marriages in the Nauvoo Expositor that led to Josephs death at Carthage. (More on that next week.)

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5. Joseph introduced plural marriage to many of his close associates, but with strict rules as to how it would be carried out. Those who tried to exploit it for purely lustful reasonslike John C. Bennettwere excommunicated.34 (5) When Joseph shared the doctrine of plural marriage with others, the reaction was, without exception, one of shock, horror, and revulsion. (a) [SLIDE 21] Brigham Youngs initial impression of the doctrine:
Some of these my brethren know what my feelings were at the time Joseph revealed the doctrine; I was not desirous of shrinking from any duty, nor of failing in the least to do as I was commanded, but it was the first time in my life that I had desired the grave, and I could hardly get over it for a long time. And when I saw a funeral, I felt to envy the corpse its situation, and to regret that I was not in the coffin, knowing the toil and labor that my body would have to undergo; and I have had to examine myself, from that day to this, and watch my faith, and carefully meditate, lest I should be found desiring the grave more than I ought to do. You will probably wonder at this, and that such should have been my feelings upon this point, but they were even so.35

(b) [SLIDE 22] Lucy Walkers reaction was typical of the women to whom Joseph proposed. Lucys mother had died, and her father was away on a mission, so the Walker children were living with the Smiths.
In 1842, when Lucy was fifteen or sixteen, Joseph told her, I have a message for you. I have been commanded of God to take another wife, and you are the woman. Lucy was astounded. This announcement was indeed a thunderbolt to me. He fully Explained to me the principle of plural or celestial marriage. Said this principle was again to be restored for the benefit of the human family. That it would prove an everlasting blessing to my fathers house. And form a chain that could never be broken, worlds without end. What have you to say, Joseph asked her. Nothing, she replied. Rather than exert more pressure, Joseph backed away. If you will pray sincerely for light and understanding in relation thereto, you Shall receive a testimony of the correctness of this principle. Lucy felt tempted and tortured beyond endureance untill life was not desireable. Oh let this bitter cup pass, she moaned. [SLIDE 23] For months Joseph said nothing more. Then in the spring of 1843, he spoke with Lucys brother William, following the usual pattern of asking for permission from a relative. William told Joseph that Lucy must decide for herself. In April 1843, Joseph spoke again and this time he exerted pressure: I will give you untill to-morrow to decide this matter. If you reject this message the gate will be closed forever against you. Lucy hated that.

34 35

See notes to lesson 26, pages 34 (https://sites.google.com/site/hwsarc/home/dc/week26). Brigham Young, 14 July 1855. JD 3:266 (http://en.fairmormon.org/Journal_of_Discourses/3/39#266). http://bit.ly/ldsarc For personal use only. Not a Church publication.

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This arroused every drop of scotch in my veins. I felt at this moment that I was called to place myself upon the altar a liveing Sacrafice, perhaps to brook the world in disgrace and incur the displeasure and contempt of my youthful companions; all my dreams of happiness blown to the four winds, this was too much, the thought was unbearable. [SLIDE 24] Facing an ultimatum, Lucy bluntly refused, unless God Himself told her otherwise, and emphatically forbid him speaking again to me on the Subject. Joseph blithely replied, God Almighty bless you, promised her a manifestation, and left. [SLIDE 25] After a sleepless night in prayer, Lucy felt something in her room. My room became filled with a heavenly influence. To me it was in comparison like the brilliant sunshine bursting through the darkest cloud. My Soul was filled with a calm sweet peace that I never knew. Supreme happiness took possession of my whole being. Going down the stairs to go out into the morning air, she met Joseph, who took her by the hand, led her to a chair, and placed his hands upon my head, and blessed me with Every blessing my heart could posibly desire. On May 1, 1843, William Clayton married Joseph to Lucy. It was not a love matter, she wrote later, but simply the giving up of myself as a sacrifice to establish that grand and glorious principle that God had revealed to the world.36

(6) [SLIDE 26] On a number of occasions Joseph used the invitation to plural marriage as a test of individuals faithfulness. (a) In the summer of 1841 Joseph told Heber C. Kimball that his wife, Vilate Murray Kimball, was to be sealed to Joseph. Heber was so distraught, that he did not eat or drink for three days while he sought confirmation of this from God.
On the evening of the third day, some kind of assurance came, and Heber took Vilate to the upper room of Josephs store on Water Street. The Prophet wept at this act of faith, devotion, and obedience. Joseph had never intended to take Vilate. It was all a test. Then and there Joseph sealed their marriage for time and eternity.37

(7) Emmas feelings about plural marriage fluctuated between unwilling tolerance and open hostility. She intensely disliked the practice. (a) In a number of instances she gave her permission for Joseph to be sealed to other women, but this was usually followed by regret and hostility toward Joseph and his other wives.38 e) [SLIDE 27] 132:4648. Joseph Smith and the sealing power. i) The sealing power has come up before in Josephs revelations.39 Here it is specifically tied the authority held by Joseph and his successors to bind and loose eternal marriages (and plural marriages, if the Lord authorizes them).

Bushman, Rough Stone Rolling, 49192. Lucys original spelling retained. Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball: Mormon Patriarch and Pioneer (Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1981), 93. 38 See Bushman, Rough Stone Rolling, 49396. 39 It has been mentioned in D&C 1:8; 124:93; 127:7; 128:810, 14. Compare these to ancient prophets who received the same authority: Matthew 16:19; 18:18 (Peter); Helaman 10:7 (Nephi2).
36 37

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ii) Connected with this is the priesthood authority to remit and retain sins. 40 Only Christ can forgive sins, but the priesthood keys held by the Lords authorized servants can lock and unlock the doors to ordinances of salvation, like baptism and the marriage sealing. (1) [SLIDE 28] Elder Richard G. Scott taught:
You always need to confess your sins to the Lord. If they are serious transgressions, such as immorality, they need to be confessed to a bishop or stake president. Please understand that confession is not repentance. It is an essential step, but is not of itself adequate. Partial confession by mentioning lesser mistakes will not help you resolve a more serious, undisclosed transgression. Essential to forgiveness is a willingness to fully disclose to the Lord and, where necessary, His priesthood judge all that you have done. Remember, He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy (Proverbs 28:13).41

f) [SLIDE 29] 132:4957. Personal instructions to Joseph and Emma. i) D&C 132 includes instructions, warnings, and promises directed to Joseph and Emma Smith. (1) 132:49. Within the section directed to Joseph (132:4650, 57) is included the promise that his exaltation has been made sure. (2) In the portion directed to Emma (132:5156) is a very enigmatic commandment to partake not of that which I commanded [Joseph] to offer her42 (132:51), as well as a commandment for Emma to accept Josephs other wives (132:52). g) 132:5866. Additional instructions on the law of the priesthood; the law of Sarah. i) The final portion of the revelation gives instructions on how new plural marriages are to be contracted. ii) 132:5863. The law of the priesthood is that, if the Lord commands a man to take a plural wife, he is justified in doing so and neither of them have committed adultery. (1) This section includes the only statement of purpose for plural marriage that has ever been revealed: to multiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment (132:63; cf. Jacob 2:30). iii) 132:6465. The law of Sarah is that the man must seek approval of his first wife before taking a second. If she does not give her approval, and the commandment to him to take another wife was legitimately from the Lord, then the responsibility for not following the commandment is hers.

Compare John 20:23. Richard G. Scott, Finding Forgiveness, General Conference, April 1995 (http://www.lds.org/generalconference/1995/04/finding-forgiveness). 42 Whatever this means, Joseph and Emma took it to their graves, so all we have is speculation. Was Joseph told to offer something to Emma as an test, like the one Abraham went through?
40 41

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h) One additional thought: The word destroyed is used repeated throughout the revelation (132:26, 41, 52, 54, 57, 63, 64) in reference to those who do not follow the commandments. While this can mean killed, it almost certainly doesnt mean that in this case; rather, it means cut off from the Lords people (excommunicated) and his ordinances.43 3) [SLIDE 30] After Josephs death, Brigham Young and the other leaders of the Church continued the practices of eternal marriage and plural marriage in Nauvoo and in the West. a) Polygamy was eventually made public and announced to the world in August 1852.44 b) Participation in plural marriage varied by location and time period, but studies suggest a maximum of from 20 to 25 percent of LDS adults were members of polygamous households. At its height, plural marriage probably involved only a third of the women reaching marriageable age.45 i) Two thirds of polygamous marriages involved only two wives. Just over 20% involved three, and less than 7% involved four. Marriage arrangements with a dozen or more wives were extremely rare (less than 3% of polygamous households), and almost always limited to general authorities.46 c) Even though most Mormon households were not practicing plural marriage, it became a defining practice for members of the Church. i) [SLIDE 31] While the practice of plural marriage was not requirement for exaltation,47 during the 19th century, acceptance of the doctrine was. Brigham Young said:
I wish here to say to the Elders of Israel, and to all the members of this Church and kingdom, that it is in the hearts of many of them to wish that the doctrine of polygamy was not taught and practiced by us. It may be hard for many, and especially for the ladies, yet it is no harder for them than it is for the gentlemen. It is the word of the Lord, and I wish to say to you, and all the world, that if you desire with all your hearts to obtain the blessings which Abraham obtained, you will be polygamists at least in your faith, or you will come short of enjoying the salvation and the glory which Abraham has obtained.48

4) [SLIDE 32] Official Declaration1.49 a) Opposition to polygamy in the United States began almost immediately after it was made public.50 Congress passed the first federal law against the practice in 1862.51
43 See how the phrase I will require it of him in Deuteronomy 18:1819 is rendered shall be destroyed from among the people in Acts 3:2223, while 1 Nephi 22:20 reads shall be cut off from among the people. The idea behind all three readings is the sinner will be called to account before God. 44 The announcement was made at a special conference held in the Bowery (the predecessor to the Tabernacle) on Sunday, 28 August 1852. Orson Pratt and Brigham Young both preached publicly on the subject for the first time. 45 Encyclopedia of Mormonism (New York: Macmillan, 1992), s.v. Plural Marriage, 3:1095 (http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Plural_Marriage). 46 Stanley S. Ivins, Notes on Mormon Polygamy, Utah Historical Quarterly 35/4 (Fall 1967), 31314, 316 (http://utah.ptfs.com/awweb/guest.jsp?smd=1&cl=all_lib&lb_document_id=34642). My thanks to Gregory Smith for pointing me to this article. 47 On this subject, see http://en.fairmormon.org/Polygamy_a_requirement_for_exaltation 48 Brigham Young, 19 August 1866. JD 11:26869 (http://en.fairmormon.org/Journal_of_Discourses/3/39#266 ). 49 For a history on the end of plural marriage in the Church, see B. Carmon Hardy, Solemn Covenant: The Mormon Polygamous Passage (Urbana and Chicago, Illinois: : University of Illinois Press, 1992). 50 The 1856 Republican Party platform included a resolution affirming it is both the right and the imperative duty of Congress to prohibit in the Territories those twin relics of barbarismPolygamy, and Slavery (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29619),

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b) By the 1880s, federal anti-polygamous laws had become increasingly punitive.52 i) The Church challenged those laws in court, but the Supreme Court upheld them as constitutional,53 leading to a harsh and effective federal antipolygamy campaign. ii) [SLIDE 33] Wives and husbands went on the underground and hundreds were arrested and sentenced to jail terms in state and federal prisons. c) [SLIDE 34] Following a vision showing him that continuing plural marriage endangered the temples and the mission of the Church,54 President Wilford Woodruff issued a Manifesto on 24 September 1890, announcing an official end to new plural marriages.55 i) The Manifesto was sustained as authoritative and binding at the October 1890 General Conference, and has been printed in every edition of the Doctrine and Covenants since 1907 as an Official Declaration. d) [SLIDE 35] But ending plural marriage was at least as difficult as starting it. i) Earlier polygamous families continued to cohabitate well into the twentieth century, and new plural marriages did not entirely cease in 1890.56 (1) This continued to cause political problems for the Church, particularly when Utah tried to seat polygamist and apostle Reed Smoot as Utahs representative in the U.S. Senate. (a) The Senate held lengthy investigative hearings on the Church, even deposing Church President Joseph F. Smith.57 ii) In response to the increased political pressure, President Smith issued the Second Manifesto or Little Manifesto in April 1904.58

51 The Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act was signed into law on 8 July 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln. The act banned bigamy and limited church and non-profit ownership in any territory of the United States to $50,000. 52 These acts include the Poland Act (1874), which eliminated the control members of the Church exerted over the justice system of Utah Territory; the Edmunds Act (1882), which made polygamy a felony offense; and the EdmundsTucker Act (1887), which (among other things) disincorporated the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, made polygamy punishable by a fine and up to five years in prison, and required plural wives to testify against their husbands. 53 The Morrill Act was upheld by the United States Supreme Court in a unanimous decision ( Reynolds v. United States, 1878), and the Edmunds-Tucker Act was upheld in a 6-3 decision (Late Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of LatterDay Saints v. United States, 1890). 54 The upholding of the Edmunds-Tucker Act in May 1980 meant that the Church would have lost ownership and control of any property valued at more than $50,000; this included the three operating temples (St. George, Logan, and Manti) and the Salt Lake Temple, which was nearing completion. 55 Wilford Woodruff, Official Declaration, Deseret Weekly 41/476 (4 October 1890), 476 (http://udn.lib.utah.edu/cdm/ref/collection/deseretnews4/id/15566). 56 For more on post-Manifesto plural marriages, see

http://en.fairmormon.org/Mormonism_and_polygamy/Practiced_after_the_Manifesto

57 The Senate hearings lasted for three years. See Kathleen Flake, The Politics of American Religious Identity: The Seating of Senator Reed Smoot, Mormon Apostle (University of North Carolina Press, 2004). 58 The Second Manifesto was announced and read aloud at General Conference on 6 April 1904. President Joseph F. Smith said that he had prepared an official statement so that his words may not be misunderstood or misquoted. Francis M. Lyman, president of the Quorum of the Twelve, then presented a resolution of endorsement that was sustained by the congregation. The manifesto and the resolution were published in Improvement Era 7/7 (April 1904), 54546 (http://archive.org/stream/improvementera0707unse#page/545); see also Conference Report, April 1904, 7576 (http://archive.org/stream/conferencereport1904a/conferencereport741chur#page/75 ). Apostles John W. Taylor and Matthias F. Cowley opposed the Second Manifesto, and both resigned from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in October 1905 over the matter. (David O. McKay was one of three men called to the Twelve the following April to fill the vacancies left by Taylor and Cowley, and the death of Apostle Marriner W. Merrill. McKay was the first apostle to serve in the post-polygamy era to become President of the Church.)

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(1) Since that time, it has been uniform Church policy to excommunicate any member either practicing or openly advocating the practice of polygamy. 5) [SLIDE 36] Next week: a) D&C 135136, with a focus on the martyrdom and succession in the Presidency.

Appendix 1: Published works on Joseph Smith and plural marriage

In the last twenty years there has been a renewed scholarly interest in Joseph Smiths practice of plural marriage. Four major works have recently been published on this subject. The first book in this new wave of scholarship was Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 1997). Comptons work stemmed from research into the diaries of Eliza R. Snow, who was sealed to Joseph in June 1842 at Nauvoo. Compton undertook to create a definitive list of women sealed to Joseph during his lifetime (see Appendix 2, below), and to document their stories. His book is not without its problems, though: He gives too much credence to late and second- and third-hand accounts, and embellishes his narrative with imagined scenarios.59 The next major work was George D. Smith, Nauvoo Polygamy: but we called it celestial marriage (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 2008). Smiths book is, as one prominent review labeled it, unfailingly hostile to Joseph Smith as well as misleading.60 This book should be avoided. Two recent works have shown great promise. The first is Newell G. Bringhurst and Craig L. Foster, eds., The Persistence of Polygamy, Vol. 1: Joseph Smith and the Origins of Mormon Polygamy (Independence, Missouri: John Whitmer Books, 2010). This is the first volume in a projected series on the origins, practice, and cessation of plural marriage. It is a collection of essays by noted scholars on topics that include Joseph Smiths first plural marriage to Fanny Alger, his practice of polyandry in Nauvoo, demographics of his wives, and research into possible offspring from his plural marriages. I highly recommend this work. The most recent work is a three-volume series by Brian C. Hales, Joseph Smiths Polygamy: History (vols. 1 & 2) and Theology (vol. 3) (Draper, Utah: Greg Kofford Books, 2013). This series is the definitive study into Josephs understanding, teachings, and practice of plural marriage. Together Hales has assembled over 1,500 pages of documentation and analysis that will be considered the standard reference on this topic for many years to come.

Appendix 2: Joseph Smiths plural wives

Todd Compton, for his 1997 book In Sacred Loneliness, arrived at thirty-three plural marriages that can be reasonably documented. Most other scholars have come to accept Comptons list as reasonably definitive, with minor quibbles about a few marriages for which there is less than convincing evidence.61

59 Reviews of and responses to In Sacred Loneliness by LDS historians with scholarly backgrounds in the study of Joseph Smith and plural marriage can be found at http://en.fairmormon.org/Specific_works/In_Sacred_Loneliness 60 Gregory L. Smith, George D. Smiths Nauvoo Polygamy, FARMS Review 20/2 (2008), 37123 (http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/review/?vol=20&num=2&id=721). 61 Brian Hales, for his three-volume series Joseph Smiths Polygamy, arrived at a figure of thirty-four (Comptons 33 plus Esther Dutcher). For a complete list of all women claimed to have been sealed to Joseph by various scholars and authors, see the chart on Hales web site: http://www.josephsmithspolygamy.com/images/JSPluralWivesChart12x12.html

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The following list is based on Comptons work, with notes and updated from other, more recent scholarship:62
Maiden name (married name) Emma Hale (Smith) Fanny Alger Lucinda Pendleton (Morgan Harris)64 Louisa Beaman Zina Diantha Huntington (Jacobs) Presendia Lathrop Huntington (Buell) Agnes Moulton Coolbrith (Smith) Sylvia Porter Sessions (Lyon)65 Mary Elizabeth Rollins (Lightner) Patty Bartlett (Sessions) Marinda Nancy Johnson (Hyde) Elizabeth Davis (Goldsmith Brackenbury Durfee) Sarah Maryetta Kingsley (Howe Cleveland) Eliza Roxcy Snow Delcena Johnson (Sherman) Sarah Ann Whitney Martha McBride (Knight) Ruth Daggett Vose (Sayers) Flora Ann Woodworth Emily Dow Partridge Eliza Maria Partridge Almera Woodward Johnson Lucy Walker Sarah Lawrence Maria Lawrence Helen Mar Kimball Hannah Ells Elvira Annie Cowles (Holmes) Rhoda Richards Desdemona Fullmer Olive Grey Frost Marriage date 17 January 1827 18331836 1838? (likely later) 5 April 1841 27 October 1841 11 December 1841 6 January 1842 18421843 Late February 1842 9 March 1842 April 1842 Before June 1842 Before 29 June 1842 29 June 1842 Before July 1842 27 July 1842 August 1842 February 1843 Spring 1843 4 March 1843 4 March 1843 Early April 1843 1 May 1843 May 1843 May 1843 May 1843 Before mid-1843 1 June 1843 12 June 1843 July 1843 Summer 1843 Josephs age 21 2730 32? 35 35 35 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 37 37 37 37 37 37 37 37 37 37 37 37 37 37 Wifes age 22 1619 37? 26 20 31 33 23 23 47 27 50 53 38 37 17 37 33 16 19 22 30 17 17 19 14 29 29 58 32 27 Wifes marital status63 Single Single Married Single Married Married Widowed Divorced(?) Married Married Married Married Married Single Widowed Single Widowed Married Single Single Single Single Single Single Single Single Single Married Single Single Single

62

98.

For a more detailed list with reasons for marriage, see Bringhurst and Foster, The Persistence of Polygamy, Vol. 1, 290

63 This column indicates if Josephs sealing was to an unmarried woman ( polygynous) or to a woman who was currently married (polyandrous). 64 Lucinda Pendletons sealing date is unknown. When Joseph and Emma moved to Far West, Missouri, in March 1838, they first lived with Lucinda and her husband, George Washington Harris. Compton considers it a good possibility that she and Joseph were sealed at this time. Others have pointed out that it seems out of place with Josephs other plural marriages, and argue that the sealing took place later in Nauvoo. 65 Compton believes her marriage date was 8 February 1842; Hales puts is between 19 November 1842 and approximately 18 May 1843.

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Maiden name (married name) Melissa Lott Nancy Maria Winchester Fanny Young (Murray)

Marriage date 20 September 1843 18421843 2 November 1843

Josephs age 37 37 37

Wifes age 19 14 56

Wifes marital status63 Single Single Widowed

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